![Destiny of Souls [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2017] Michael Newton](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71KphI0AdzL._AC_UL116_SR116,116_.jpg)
![Destiny of Souls [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2017] Michael Newton](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71KphI0AdzL._AC_UL200_SR200,200_.jpg)
Dr. Michael Newton, in The Journey of Souls, provides a fascinating and complete worldview, presented with a remarkable level of objectivity and supporting data.
Michael Newton is a former atheist, who used hypnotic regression therapy in his Psychological counseling practice to help patients recall the sources of trauma. Some, when asked to recall the source, would relate past life experiences. A very few were able to relate events from between lives. Newton has compiled the messages so related, and found they provide a self-consistent worldview.
He is admirably careful in the book. Rather than relating HIS interpretations, about 90% of the worldview he describes comes directly from the transcripts of what his subjects related while under hypnosis. He quotes from 29 different sessions in the book. While hypnosis is a process notorious for the suggestibility of its subjects, and Newton does ask a few leading questions, the transcripts actually include many more instances of his challenging the worldview than leading it on, and rather than accept his challenges as valid, the subjects argue and try to refute them. So while hypnosis IS a weak research tool, and cannot be pursued without both interviewer and subject bias, I considered his method to be as objective as the media allowed, and to fairly well answer the objections that any skeptics might have about the material. Without a leading interviewer, and with material from dozens of subjects converging, I consider this is a very credible source of evidence about the universe.
(As an aside, I actually consider it TOO objective and evidential. Dr. Newton in many of these interviews was putting his own desire for information above the therapeutic needs of his clients.)
What Newton describes in these transcripts is a process of continual learning. Souls are created in the spirit world in an insensitive state, with little ability to connect with others through caring and love. They enter lives in order to learn maturation lessons, and these lessons are learned in environments of adversity. In many lives people fail to learn their lessons and must repeat similar circumstances. Karma is often referred to as valid, but there is no formal law of Karma. Instead, abusing others in past lives is a sign of a maturation failing, not of a debt to be repaid, and it is often useful to suffer similar abuse in order to overcome the failing. Sometimes suffering at the hands of those who were previously abused is the most effective way to mature.
Between lives, souls study their decisions form past lives, and how to make better decisions in future lives. They do this under the guidance of more advanced human souls, who are always described as very wise.
These advanced souls plan out lives for the subjects, in mutual consultation with the other major participants in that life. Lives are planned out with way-points for major events, and backup waypoints should the souls miss the primary ones. Free will exists, despite this highly scripted future, and it is possible to live a life completely different from plan. This, however, is experienced at the time and seen in retrospect as a wasted and pointless life.
Other bits revealed about the universe: There are other planets where this same process takes place, but little cross-experiencing between planets. Similarly, humans can live as animals, but this is done very rarely - the human brain seems to provide a necessary level of complexity for soul evolution (animals also have souls, but they are not really discussed). Human past-lives are reported back only to 200,000 yrs ago (there are earlier lives reported, on earth, in cities, but these are not modern humans, and are not consistent with either paleontology or archaeology - so he is apparently getting Atlantis lives for a previous human species). Souls can live several lives concurrently, but generally do not. Some bits of a soul are always present in the spirit world. Some of the more advances souls practice manipulating the physical - and some report modifying plant and simple animal genetics, while others report creating toy-sized star systems. The strong implication is that advanced souls who matured on another world genetically modified homo-erectus in order to create modern humans. The ultimate purpose of this maturation process is to re-merge with the omnipotent Source.
Newton recognizes some of the theological flaws in this worldview (as some of them are probed by his questions in the transcripts). Since souls are created from a near-perfect and near-omnipotent Source, it makes little sense for them to start out so imperfect. Why start out imperfect and only slowly approach perfection when perfection was already at hand?
Also, humans are capable of learning a great deal very rapidly. We have mastered the process of educating ourselves well, and it requires:
- Knowing to goal of what one is to learn
- Having lessons broken down into small, manageable steps
- Examples provided, then practice by the learner
- Immediate feedback on what was successful/unsuccessful, and why
The excruciatingly slow process of soul maturation Newton describes (even the most advanced souls interviewed are far from mature, and have lived hundreds of lives) is traceable to violating every one of the learning principles above. The mindwipe of all past memories includes a wipe of the purpose of a life. Life lessons are in massive steps. The example/practice process is described between lives, but abandoned once one is actually in a life/learning environment. And while guides are claimed to be with us always, their "feedback" is either not perceived or remarkably ineffective. So if our purpose in this universe is emotional/moral maturation, the "wise souls" and the Source in Newton's worldview seem to be remarkably clueless and inefficient in running it.
There are numerous other examples in his book of apparently unwise/ineffective/clueless behavior from the spirit guides. Some of these highlight the problem his worldview has with mindwipes. If mindwipes are supposed to be good for us (so claimed in the book), why does partially reversing them, as Newton does in his practice, seem to benefit his clients? And if they don't, why aren't all such memories blocked (he says most are)? If targeted partial reversals are good for us, why don't the guides provide such partial reversals for all of us? Neither Newton nor his subjects answer these questions.
One typical example provides further problems. A patient suffered untreatable pain in her thighs, and regression revealed a life where a childhood carriage accident left both thighs crippled for life, and regression provided a complete cure. Strangely, the patient actually saw the life positively, as the crippling lead to an introspective life of caring and being cared for, so the present life disability was not due to any conscious spiritual trauma. This just multiplies the problems for Newton's worldview. Why would a trauma-free injury cause an "unconscious" spiritual disability? How could the extensive counseling by numerous "wise" guides leave this spiritual trauma unresolved, while Newton was able to cure it immediately without effort? And why did the guides block all other memories of that life, but let the feeling of disability slip through the block? This example makes the spirit guides look like bumbling incompetents.
Another example is similarly disturbing to the claims of wisdom by the guides. A subject was counseled into a life as a giant Viking warrior who never fell ill, and the subject's goal in life was to revel in the perfection of his physical strength. The Viking used this physical perfection to live a life of murder, abuse, and plunder, with no compunction shown by the soul or guides. However, with other clients, we see them spend many lives struggling to overcome their inclinations to abuse, and their anger/emotional injury over having suffered abuse in past lives. The guides have counseled the CREATION of the abusive behavior which causes all the psychological problems which are the subject of hundreds of subsequent life lessons.
Newton discusses this point obliquely in a discussion of the Problem of Evil. He notes that his worldview solves this challenge for monotheism since evil in the world has a long-term good. But he also admits the Oversoul of the universe described in his material is morally imperfect, since it uses pain, anguish, and psychological harm integrally in the maturation process for souls.
Abandoning Benevolence is one way out for monotheisms from the Problem of Evil, so Newton's worldview does pass this test. Although I think his Oversoul can be described more strongly than "imperfect". The immaturity at creation, the inefficient "teaching" process, and the deliberately introduced setbacks are not credibly the result of "imperfection" in an omnipotent being, but are much more credibly seen as deliberate choices to draw out the process of soul maturation for as long as possible. The reason for this is never given, even to Newton's most advanced souls, so it can reasonably be inferred it is a reason which not in the best interest of souls. A deity which puts souls through trauma for its own welfare, can at best be described as morally neutral, rather than "imperfect". This concession resolves the "incompetence" problems highlighted earlier, but makes Newton's model much less attractive than he implies.
Newton's model deals less successfully with some of the other tests theist metaphysics must pass. If there is only one spiritual reality, and only one spiritual force in the universe, and only one set of coordinated guides (plus a smattering of unerased memories of this reality), then all spiritual messages over the last 200,000 years should be basically congruent. But they are not. The jealousy/arbitrariness of the Abrahamic God, the fickle European Pantheons, the bloody Gods of the Aztec/Maya, the ritual-focus of the Zoroastrians and Hindus, the practical-world focus of Confucism, and the efforts of Sikh and Buddhists to escape rebirth, all reflect VERY different assumptions about spiritual realities. He has not way to explain the failure of the convergence test.
Also according to Newton's model, channeling of spirit guides should provide basically the same information that his regression techniques provide. But even within the modern North American New Age movement this is not so. The bizarre Seth universe, in which with every act of imagination we spawn a new reality in which the imagined event occurs, the self-aggrandizing "guides" who related Joe Fisher's version of Life Between Life, and the multiple varieties of spiritual realms and fauna of Ben Swett's guided revelations are each dramatically at odds with Newton on many major issues.
Even other users of past life regression techniques end up with different results than Newton, which brings the accuracy of what he reports into question. Edith Fiore, William Baldwin, and Louise Ireland-Frey all have found ghosts, attachments, and evil entities to be significant features of our spiritual universe, in contradiction to Newton., who declares they are not. Again, his model provides no explanation for the variant results.
From my own spiritual background, I question two of Newton's unstated assumptions:
That if a subject relates a past life memory, it is THAT SUBJECT's past life memory
That the between-life memories and guide's messages related by many subjects must necessarily reflect the experiences and observations of many souls
For 1, the presence of spiritual attachments can potentially lead to memories or fantasies of attached souls being mistaken for the subject's memories. For 2, a possessing entity or set of entities residing in Newton's office could explain the consistency between the experiences related. There two points are not exhaustive of the alternatives Newton has not considered.
Like Newton, I have found that we live many lives, suffer mindwipes, advance slowly, have human soul guides, and have scripted lives with free will. Unlike Newton, I have found that mindwipe is an effect of the evil opposition (not a poorly rationalized benefit), that we screw up in life due to demonic influence countering the Godly influence of our guides (not because God wishes to create adversity), and that "spiritual insights" one gets from "guides" or "past lives" are not always trustworthy. The only way to trust these messages is to apply a moral test to them - is the message and methodology always higher and better than what I can come up with on my own? If not - well - find some other Guide to listen to.
In my judgment, Newton's messages, and the spirit world he has tapped in to, seem to be more positive than not, but are not fully Godly. The worldview seems to be an effort by the residents of one of the lesser realms of Ben Swett's moral spectrum to rationalize their experiences, when for some reason they cannot see the actions of the Dark forces, and have not embraced the loving-kindness that lets them gain the benefit of the Light. Newton is on the right track when he questions the moral imperfections he sees in the Source, but he does not have a methodology which allows him to tune to a higher spiritual Truth.
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The key to growth is understanding we are given the ability to make mid-course corrections in our life and having the courage to make necessary changes when what we are doing is not working for us.Highlighted by 3,048 Kindle readers- The important thing is to recognize our faults, avoid self-denial, and have the courage and self-sufficiency to make constant adjustments in our lives.Highlighted by 2,876 Kindle readers
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As the world's oldest and largest independent publisher of books for body, mind, and spirit, Llewellyn is dedicated to bringing our readers the very best in metaphysical books and resources. Since 1901, we've been a source of illumination, instruction, and new perspectives on a wealth of topics, including Paganism and witchcraft, astrology, tarot, wellness, magic and the occult, and the paranormal.
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From the Publisher
Over 700,000 Copies Sold
Using a special hypnosis technique to reach the hidden memories of subjects, Dr. Newton discovered some amazing insights into what happens to us between lives. Journey of Souls is the record of 29 people who recalled their experiences between physical deaths. Through their extraordinary stories, you will learn specifics about:
- How it feels to die
- What you see and feel right after death
- The truth about "spiritual guides"
- What happens to "disturbed" souls
- Why you are assigned to certain soul groups in the spirit world and what you do there
- How you choose another body to return to Earth
- The different levels of souls: beginning, intermediate, and advanced
- When and where you first learn to recognize soulmates on Earth
- The purpose of life
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| Destiny of Souls | Wisdom of Souls | Life Between Lives | Memories of the Afterlife | Llewellyn's Little Book of Life Between Lives | |
| Other books by Dr. Michael Newton/The Newton Institute: | "Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls are two of the most fascinating books I have ever read."—Academy Award-Winning Actress and Author Shirley MacLaine | Following in the footsteps of Dr. Michael Newton's bestselling books Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls, this book shares awe-inspiring stories of healing and wisdom experienced by real people just like you. | This groundbreaking guidebook is designed for both hypnosis professionals and the general public. | Dr. Michael Newton, best-selling author of Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls, returns with a series of case studies that highlight the profound impact of spiritual regression on people's everyday lives. | This handy pocket-size book provides an introduction to Life Between Lives, regression hypnotherapy, past life regression, and reincarnation. |
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Definitely if you're looking for answers on the afterlife, read Michael Newton's books! It has all the answers in there. Especially if you're a spiritual soul. Good luck on your journey :) ❤
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Unexpectedly disheartening and depressing
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A book that really changes the way you think about your life and what you need to do with it
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Gaining deeper understanding
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