Past Lives Put To Present Use Book Review Essay By Willis Harman

Regression Therapy: A Handbook For Professionals

Volume 1: Past-Life Therapy
Volume 2: Special Instances of Altered State Work
by Winafred Blake Lucas
(Deep Forest Press, 1993)

Only a generation or two ago the concept of reincarnation seemed totally alien to the sophisticated, scientific modem world; now the term "past life" comes frequently into casual conversation, either seriously or in jest. The idea that re-experiencing a "past-life" memory might be effective in therapy is a more recent development. Most still would be inclined to dismiss it as fantasy. However, they may be less inclined to do so if they take the trouble to study the two-volume text Regression Therapy edited by Winafred Lucas. The chapters are authored by over a dozen regression therapists, the majority of whom have PhDs or MDs from world-class universities.

Experiencing "past-life memories" is, of course, open to more than one interpretation. Since it is clear that one important eliciting factor is the therapist's suggestion, the possibility is always present that the "memory" was not evoked but unconsciously invented. However, such alternative explanations have a hard time dealing with the cases in which childhood memories of a recent past life have been substantiated by verifying the accuracy of the memory through physical evidence or the recollections of persons still living who had known the person in the earlier life.¹

If, however, we are to accept the impressive amount of evidential data suggesting that in some way people sometimes do recall having been someone else at a previous time, and that those memories are sometimes subject to rather rigorous verification, there is a sobering implication. It will certainly require a major revision of our current scientific view of reality before these data could fit in. There is no way the reincarnation implication and the generally accepted scientific worldview can be reconciled.

In considering these two volumes I intend to temporarily set aside such reservations, and discuss the accounts of regression therapy at face value.

Current work with regression therapy is really an extension of Freud's concept of "psychic determinism". This is the concept that past trauma can underlie present symptoms. Remembering and re-experiencing the trauma can sometimes bring about symptom relief. The Freudian approach was largely restricted to early childhood memories; it has sometimes been extended to reliving birth memories and even what appear to be prenatal memories. As we can well imagine, it did not occur to most therapists to try to push this back before conception; there was nothing in the prevalent belief systems to suggest that there was any individual existence prior to conception.

But changes have taken place in our culture over the past three decades which have made it far more open to the concept of reincarnation. During this period Eastern philosophies and religions became more widely known, and have influenced Western thinking. Modem physics has opened our minds to strange concepts about reality far divorced from common-sense experience. And then there was the psychedelic revolution. As Lucas says in her introduction, the psychedelics "gave direct experience of extended areas of perception to so many people that it became impossible that we could ever as a society return to the sterile limits of ordinary consciousness. Even the misuse of such explorations and the resultant legal restrictions could not dim the exciting landscape that had been unveiled. The brief glimpse of altered states had shaken perception into new patterns, and past-life memories seemed less alien as a result."

Past-Lives Therapy

A therapeutic approach based on the concept of recalling and reinterpreting traumatic experiences in past lives began to enter the professional community in the late 1970s. Morris Netherton's 1978 book Past Lives Therapy (Ace Books) was one of the stimulants. Much of the knowledge was passed along by word of mouth, and by 1980 there was sufficient interest to create the Association for Past-life Research and Therapy. The Journal of Regression Therapy began publication in 1986.

Lucas notes that the concern over whether reincarnation is "true" seems to have died down. As she says, "acceptance of past lives is an integral part of the total paradigm shift" of the latter third of the twentieth century. She quotes one of her authors as saying, "Reincarnation is not a belief; it is a philosophy of life." It is, says another, "the only description of life that makes sense and fits facts."

The basic hypothesis of past-lives therapy as stated by one of the contributors, Ernest Pecci, is: "There is a primordial essence characterized by unconditional love, joy, serenity, and wisdom, from which we have become separated and to which we can return by moving out into the vaster realities of awareness. Movement toward this universal flow of energy is the meaning of spirituality and the purpose of our stream of lifetimes.... There appears to be a super-conscious 'orchestrator' that supervises everything and helps us to learn what motives and attitudes really work in terms of greater happiness, and guides us to make the changes indicated."

The principle of past-life therapy by which basic changes are implemented is similar to that of psychoanalysis-to make the unconscious conscious in order to restore choice. However, in psychoanalysis one seeks the source of an existing condition in some previous trauma or other experience in this lifetime; in past-life therapy it is assumed that the source could be in one or more previous lives. Viewing a sequence of lifetimes can sometimes bring about an enhanced understanding of problems, facilitating their alleviation, and it augments self-acceptance through an expansion of awareness.

Altered-State Therapy

Regression work is conducted explicitly in an altered state of consciousness. The altered state may be as slight as simply allowing inner imagery or imagination to take place. in general, the altered state involves an increase in the inner focus and a corresponding limiting of concern with outer events. This results in two major modifications of consciousness: increased suggestibility and increased ability to tune into other "levels" or dimensions of consciousness. (The first of these is emphasized in hypnosis; the second in meditation.)

Increased suggestibility helps the client believe that regression to a past life is possible. It raises the natural question of whether the supposed past-life experience is simply suggested by the therapist. However, even the therapist is often completely surprised by the nature of the recalled life experience.

Hypnotic induction techniques are used by about half of the contributors to these volumes to achieve access into past-life memory; these typically involve age regression to earlier and earlier time periods. The other therapists simply use some combination of relaxation, breathing, and imaging techniques. The latter may focus on a spectrum of bodily impressions, sounds, fragrances, imagining feeling the sun's warmth, in addition to visual imaging. The induction technique may lead the patient into a prenatal or past-life state through some progressive visualization such as imagining going down a stairway, or leaving the Earth's surface in a spaceship which will take the person back in time. Typically, the patient feels a pull to a certain time, or place, or event, and this often comprises an opening to the lifetime or even the specific experiences which, when recalled and reinterpreted, lead to the therapeutic effects. Phobias, fears or anxieties, guilt feelings, obsessions, depression, relationship difficulties, even chronic physical ailments may be found to have their sources in other fives and to be diminished or eliminated once the origins are understood.

Some of the contributors to this volume use past-life work only in the context of ongoing therapy, and only when it is indicated by the nature of the patient's problems or goals. Others stress past-life work so that most patients who come to them expect to work in this modality.

Evaluating Effectiveness

Ernest Pecci is the most conservative of the group. He specifically states: "I attempt to regress into past lives only a small percentage of the patients with whom I work. I use this modality only when I am convinced it would be of some use and when my patient has explored to the fullest all of the experiences in this lifetime.... Past-life therapy is not a therapy for the narrow-minded or skeptical but for the already partially awakened spiritual traveller who is ready to embrace ... the existence of other dimensions and other worlds, and who is unafraid to explore consciousness in all of its unlimited varieties and forms."

The contributors generally agree that the most obvious barrier to effective regression work is "a belief system that is strongly skeptical of the concept of past lives, even if they are seen as a metaphor." Regression therapy is also not indicated for persons who are stuck in guilt and a need to be victimized—who are not willing to take responsibility for their lives, and who see themselves as undeserving victims. Yet another contraindication is the anticipation of re-experiencing past incarnations of power and glory—anticipations unlikely to be realized. As Lucas says, "Most of us have had humble lives and most of us have experienced violence, war, and hunger, since these have been around from the beginning of time. The wish for past-life situations that will be ego-enhancing is bound to bring disappointment. "

In the process of doing regression therapy, other situations come up; some of these are discussed in the second volume. For example, not only do pre-natal memories seem to show up, but these reflect an understanding of what is going on in the "outside world" (outside the womb, that is) which one would be tempted to say is impossible because of the undeveloped state of the fetus' brain. (It may strain the credulity even further to learn that some therapists are encouraging dialogue with the unborn child to begin bonding before birth.) Other memories include recall of experience during the "interlife" period between earthly lifetimes. One of the issues that comes up is distinguishing the past life of a patient from "the lifetime of a possessing entity".² Large sections of the second volume deal with the implications of these findings for the abortion issue, for health care related to the dying, and for attitudes toward death.

As with all treatments, results with regression therapy are varied. The authors are quick to admit that not all patients are able to successfully regress, and not all regressions result in therapeutic gains. As one of the contributors, Thorwald Dethlefsen, emphasizes, true healing is a matter of development. "Only the patient himself can bring about such development. No matter what, this task cannot be turned over to the therapist." He contrasts this with the passive attitude of "I hope the doctor can give me an injection to make me well again."

But the question in many people's minds will no doubt remain, not whether the therapy is always effective, but how such a "fiction" could ever be effective. To evaluate the claims of past-life therapy it will be necessary to deal with the issue of whether any aspect of consciousness can be adequately researched using the presently dominant scientific epistemology.³

But wherever the reader comes out, anywhere on the scale from total skepticism to wholehearted acceptance of the central thesis, most will find these two volumes make fascinating reading. Not easy reading perhaps—this is not another Search for Bridey Murphy—but rewarding nonetheless.

Willis Harman was the former President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences. From Professor of Engineering-Economic Systems at Stanford, he moved to SRI International in Menlo Park, California, where for sixteen years he did research in futures studies and strategic planning. He was the author of Global Mind Change and Creative Work, among other books. He died in 1997.