Politikos

Black women rock MSM: Oprah for the second year in a row has been named the most famous face in the world by Forbes and its first black woman billionaire. But when not counting a stunning 275-million dollar intake she has been exploring the soul and its role in providing relief from phobias and panic attacks: “Soul Series.” One might say she can afford to navel gaze. As a native Chicagoan I've never met Oprah. However, in the late 1980s I used to work at the now-defunct Provident Hospital where I was PR secretary to Aretha Marshall, now managing editor for NBCs Dateline. This article, however, focuses on the June 24th Oprah show about hypnotic regression, death and rebirth. My interest—the distinct dichotomy between Weiss and Tolle, two "experts" part of the Soul Series. Their emphasis on "the way" is poles apart: Tolle stresses the now while Weiss plies the past.

“Soul Series” from Weiss to Oz to Tolle

I just read two Eckart Tolle books: The Power of Now and A New Earth and watched the Webcasts (excellent) and he clearly makes the arguments that all points on the time compass, i.e., past and future should be discarded in favor of living in the now. I agree. That is the gap (the void) that we must fall into and remain if we are to enjoy enlightenment. On the other hand, her show featuring Brian L. Weiss and his work emphasize what we can learn from “the past.” I heartily agree. In other words, looking into the past and talk of past lives would be a form of compromise if not outright capitulation if you follow Tolle’s system (not affiliated with any religion or spiritual practice) and advice to focus on now.

Mainstream masters 

Brian Weiss and Dr. Oz made a joint appearance for the show where Dr. Weiss hypnotized men and women and analyzed the outcome. I have read countless books on reincarnation over decades. In the book Many Lives, Many Masters and for the show, he explores the use of hypnotic regression to guide those suffering from dark phobias by shedding light on its cause.

And if you think this thematic show was for esoteric consumption only , think again.  An op-ed New York Times article (May), has meditators buzzings. David Brooks wrote something unthinkable for a mainstream source a few decades ago that “[s]cientists have more respect for elevated spiritual states.” Brooks continued with words I predicted would someday be the case when science and religion joined hands: “Andrew Newberg of the University of Pennsylvania has shown that transcendent experiences can actually be identified and measured in the brain.”

Brooks concludes that “science and mysticism are joining hands and reinforcing each other.” I would replace “mysticism” with “religion.” Why? What's lesser known is that mystics and meditators aren’t waiting for scientists to recognize the link between the two. From 30 years meditation experience I concluded that is, “science” is borne out of mysticism and that “mysticism” is the experience of science. Therefore to those who meditate, the body becomes the laboratory of inner-sky surfing—thus mysticism the veritable “experience of science.” It is dogma and religion that remain in the doghouse. Here is a link with books and free downloads from a reliable source highlighting my brand of spiritual science.

Is belief in rebirth required?

It’s Oprah’s show but it begs the question: does she believe in rebirth? My studies make me a believer and hopefully an expert in the laws governing the return of soul to body. If Oprah (and viewers) believe or have interest in rebirth, then does she also believe that hypnosis is the only way to reach the recesses of the heart, the void where the memories reside in timeless limbo? I hope not. Because regression is but one tool to open the door and it is one that I’ve never used. But I have used at least three other spiritual tools successfully: journaling, spiritual reading and meditation.

When any one of these methods is used to reach and contemplate the soul, where all past-life memories are stored, the results are stunning. Through meditation I believe the location to be the heart chakra. Nonetheless, regression has proven that we are all walking time machines. Everyone is able to pivot back and forth in time at will, while remaining in the present.

One can also experience “spontaneous” regression in the face of phobias, panic attacks or recurring nightmare—the fear and the memory rolled into one. My own family has provided a treasure trove of personalities to study. My sister's appearance and panic attacks helped me to connect her to the past. She not only looks "white" but looks as she did in her last life. Her phobias and panic attacks recalled a painful death and last life as Kathleen Kennedy, who died a sudden violent death. The soul houses knowledge of the past, what I call both spiritual and physical DNA. Photographs and faces have shown a person will return (regardless to race) looking near-identical to their past-life self.

Time is not of the essence

I’ll use my experience with phobia and recurring dream (or nightmare) recorded in dream diaries and journals over the past 30 years, hundreds of pages filled with pain-evoked death memories. As early as I can recall I have had a fear, not of heights, which I thought, but specifically of bridges: walking across them or driving across them. What I found interesting was something that I shared in common with Oprah’s guests: the temporary “cure” for a phobia was simply not to look directly if a visual cue was the culprit. Two of the women on her show both shared the same philosophy “simply avoid looking at the offending object.” For one woman it was dolls, for another it was any sharp edge. There are other triggers one woman shared that no one could touch her neck. As expected both sets of phobias led directly to violent-death memories.

My “cure” when driving or walking was simply not to look up or avoid driving over bridges when possible. But on my last long-distance trip I crossed many bridges. To combat the panic I would slow down as much as possible (blinkers help), turn up the radio, close the moon roof, pull down the sun visor and look directly at the road and not even think about the bridge itself. Even thinking about the bridge and the sky overhead would have the same effect as looking at it: extreme fear that I would shoot up out of my body into the sky! Not sure where I would go, but that was the feeling and the fear.  Was the fear faced? No. The fear was suppressed but not eliminated. Even now, knowing the root of the fear has not erased it completely, but it is manageable.  However, the nightmares and recurring dream did stop when uncovering its cause.

The recurring dream experience: I was frozen in one position, one place (not unusual in dreams), on my back, and something material was covering my eyes so that I could not see. And since I could not move in the dream I could not raise a hand to move what was blocking my sight, more frustration. I had the distinct sense that my eyes were not merely closed, but covered (unusual in dreams). I would try to open my eyes but to no effect. That was part of the nightmare I wanted to see where I was going but could not.

The second part of this experience involved high-speed motion. Not at all like pure astral flight, I've experienced many times. But this was a motion I felt as if I were being carried in a vehicle that was moving very fast—flying at a high speed, on my back, unable to see, unable to control affairs. The clarity of the experience was indelible. I continued to record the "recall dreams" for future analysis.

Is there life after reliving death?

Two women who underwent hypnosis came to some conclusions. I have too. My phobias and true dreams took a great deal longer to decipher. While the knowledge of many past lives was already known to me, the life as JFK had eluded me until the very end. After following the threads and checking thousands of facts against my diaries and dreams I actually saw documentary footage describing how the president was loaded into a pine box with a huge towel or sheet draped around his head to staunch the bleeding.

What difference does it make when one has been declared “dead” whether or not they can see? The box was loaded onto Air Force 1 and the 2.5 hour flight undertaken back to D.C. These historical facts account for the fear and the dreams. The assassination took place just before an overpass (bridge) was reached on a clear-blue day in Dallas in an open-top limo. My phobia may seem to be a bridge but it might actually have been riding in a convertible car. If you watched Oprah it was explained that one woman’s fear of dolls was actually the recall and fear of hearing her babies crying as she left them at her demise.

The last two years have brought more confirmations and other additions to the group of people that I have been reborn with to work out present and future karmas. I could easily write additional chapters, to my book Dinner with Da Vinci: The Road Royale Through Rebirth, about other deceased Kennedys “found” in the past two years. I have shared here only a small fraction of what I've learned.

Asking specific questions leads to light. I would ask myself often why I bought the exact home, with that address, here in Texas. Then one day I realized that the very house numbers contained only the numbers “1,0, and 9.”  In addition to finding my house I also found my mother. She was reborn as my daughter. My mother (now daughter) died in a train accident when I was 18. We have shared parent-child roles in many lifetimes.

Hinduism teaches samsara or wheel of rebirth cannot be broken without full payment of all karmic debts, including current ones. Translation: every act (4 types of karma) and each moment is actually a recall or memory of soul experience. So, if this is true then how? That happens, I believe, and is pre-arranged by the souls who actually return together. We die, we sleep, we forget. But that does not mean it did not happen! It was planned by the soul long before now.

 Heloise