Wednesday, 27th November 2002, 10:12pm
An opinion by: Nette

 

Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss

What is fun about this adventure is that we have the psychiatrist protesting like Scully to the patient who is our Mulder. This story, which is by its very nature told backwards, still somehow manages to be suspenseful, even when Weiss himself is bored by the past life tales and just wants to get to the good bits - conversations with the spiritual masters that come through when Catherine, the patient, is in between lives. Once we get past the gender bias of the term (sheesh), the masters seem to provide easy to understand insights into other planes of existence. You can't help wondering how much this model is structured so that Weiss can understand it. The whole thing makes spiritual life and the journey of the soul sound suspiciously like university, but hey, maybe they were just using terminology they knew he'd relate to and could convey easily, right? After all, his academic credentials are apparently crucial to adding weight to the story - you know the argument, smart very educated guy who knows better than everyone believes so it must be true. That's right, he's a master, so don't be telling him it is all a lie!

Despite all the boys - uhm, I mean, masters - the story is well-written, perhaps because much of it is transcribed from the actual hypnosis sessions, and the long-suffering Catherine has an excellent sense of narrative. Makes me squint at people near me now and wonder which ones I've known before.

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