Spirituality In Politics

  • Home
  • Intro
  • Articles Index
    • Introductory
      • 1. Metaphysics in a Spiritual Society
      • 2. The Spirit of Guidance
      • 3. Divination
      • 4. Raynor C. Johnson: The Imprisoned Splendour
    • Articles 2: Headline Policies for a Spiritual Society
      • Education
        • The Importance of Fairy Tales
        • The Importance of Fairy Tales, Part 2 – Fairy Tales and Feminists
        • Fairy Tales and Feminism – the Story of Psyche
        • Fairy Tales and Feminism — the Story of Psyche, Interpretation
        • Save Our Fairy Tales — Concluding Remarks
    • ARTICLES 3: MORE DETAILED IDEAS
      • Politics from a Taoist Perspective – Arguing for the Centre
      • Politics from the Centre — Is that the only way forward?
      • Changing the World – Spirituality or Socialism?
      • The Superorganism – a Challenge to Materialist Science
      • Is the Earth a Superorganism?
      • Humanity as Part of the Superorganism
    • Articles 4 The Role of the Citizen
      • The Role of the Citizen in a Spiritual Society
      • Reflections on Eastern and Western Spirituality
    • The Superorganism Question and the European Union
    • A Vision for a Spiritual United Kingdom Outside the European Union
    • Consciousness
      • Is the Self an Illusion – Series Introduction
        • Is the Self an Illusion? – Neuroscience, Gurdjieff and Buddhism
        • Is the Self an Illusion? – The Opposing Viewpoint
        • Is the Self an Illusion? — Yes and No
        • Is the Self an Illusion? — Summary and Conclusions
      • The Hidden, Deeper Self - Introduction
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self - Freudian Slips
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self - Dreams
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self – Synchronicity
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self - Automatic Writing
        • The Hidden, Deeper Self – Divination
    • Why Christianity Must Change or Die – Introduction
      • Christianity Must Change or Die — Gnosticism and Carl Jung
      • Significant Moments in Church History – Introduction
        • Number 1, The Council of Nicaea, 325AD
        • Number 2 – The Anathema Against Origen, 553 A.D.
          • Reincarnation and Christianity
    • Was Jesus Divine? – Introduction
      • Was Jesus Divine, the Son of God? – 1. The Adoptionist Problem
      • 2. The Jewish Messiah
      • 3. The Eschatological Prophet
      • 4. Shakespeare’s Heretical Play
      • 5. The Resurrection of Jesus – part 1
      • Was Jesus Divine, the Son of God? - Summary and Conclusions so far
      • 6. Was Jesus Married?
      • 7. Was Jesus Married? — part 2
      • 8. Was Jesus Married? — part 3
  • Blog Introduction
    • Blog Index
    • Religion and Spirituality
    • Politics
    • Science
    • Mythology
    • Miscellaneous
  • Contact

Reincarnation — an Interesting Anecdote

30th June 2019

    Recently I’ve published articles describing three extraordinary experiences from the altered-state sessions of Stanislav Grof (whether LSD or intensive breathing). One involved life after death, another healing via access to knowledge not available to the everyday consciousness of the person concerned, and the third an apparent exorcism¹. More recently I’ve written two articles on reincarnation². What follows is an anecdote which brings the two themes together, healing through reliving a past life trauma³.

    The person in question was an Australian psychologist and minister, who was tortured by chronic pain in his shoulder. X-rays revealed nothing, and there was no medical explanation. Injections provided temporary relief for a few hours, but nothing had helped in the long term.

    In his altered-state session he went through a long period of screaming and shaking, then eventually became relaxed and blissful. In the feedback session which followed, he said that he had relived three levels of trauma. The first was an incident which occurred when he was seven years old, playing on a sandy beach. A tunnel had collapsed and buried him; he almost died. In the session he was still in pain, and then relived an experience of being stuck in the birth canal, his shoulder trapped behind the pubic bone of his mother. He stayed there for a while, choking.

    As explained in the previous article on reincarnation, once people have relived their birth, they seem to have access to material from past lives. This man then moved on to the third level of trauma, and experienced himself in a uniform, on a horse in a battle in Cromwell’s England. A lancet went through his shoulder, and he fell off his horse. He was then trampled on by other horses, and he experienced himself as dying, his consciousness detaching itself from his body. He then saw his trampled body from above.

    Following this altered-state session, that was the end of the pain in his shoulder, which never came back. This suggests that fully reliving a traumatic incident, even from a past life, provides the necessary catharsis to enable healing.

    Does such an anecdote prove reincarnation? Probably not, but it is at least strongly suggestive, the word used by Ian Stevenson in my last article.

==============================================================================================

Footnotes:

1. Here are links to these articles: Is There Life After Death? – an Interesting Anecdote. Consciousness and the Brain – an Interesting Anecdote, and Another Interesting Anecdote.

2. Here are the links: Reincarnation and Christianity, and Reincarnation – Memories of Past Lives

3. Grof tells this story on a series of audiocassettes, The Transpersonal Vision, Sounds True (Publishers), tape 3.

· Religion and Spirituality

Recent Posts

  • Quantum Physics and No Spirituality — Carlo Rovelli and Helgoland
  • Quantum Physics and Spirituality — Danah Zohar and a Quantum Worldview
  • Quantum Physics and Spirituality — Danah Zohar and a New Society, part 8
  • Quantum Physics and Spirituality — Danah Zohar and a New Society, part 7, Quantum Relationships
  • Quantum Physics and Spirituality — Danah Zohar and a New Society, part 6

Copyright © 2025 · Simply Pro Theme by Bloom Blog Shop.