Books That Changed My Life discussion
Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?
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well, wonderful.your book is about life before death, mine is life after death. my book too just came out earlier this month.
I find the similarities in our books quite amazing. November Rain: New International Version is also about a true story of someone who chooses a a very difficult path for her next life after a medium establishes connects her with her lover post her death.
my life was changed by this experience and started my writing career 15 years ago in India. I have since then done thousands of hours of Tv and Film but this remains my most inspired work till date.
the book can be bought at Amazon. here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0979...
I don't mean to be abusive or indelicate, but are you suggesting that one chooses, say, molestation or cerebral palsy like an inedible egg-salad sandwich from some celestial automat beyond space and time? This is insulting, not inspirational.
I agree with Steve. The idea that a baby chose to be born infected with HIV for instance both belittles the child's condition and demeans the child. There is no inherent meaning to suffering, particularly when random. That is what makes it so tragic. If I had a baby born with Down's Syndrome and someone implied that he brought it on himself on some imaginary plane of existance, I don't know that I could hold back my anger.
Eric, Steve.You are both missing the point of the above book. You are looking at it from the point of view of the person in the throes of suffering in this current life.
but the soul journeys through many lives and sufdfering is sometime chosen by souls to learn and add a new dimension to their being.
the chld who is thrown by a swimming coach into the water experiences suffering brifly before he finds the joy and ability of swimming. similarly with cycling. you have to fall before you can ride it well.
these are brief sufferings in a long life. similarly Downs Syndrome may be a huge problem measured on the scale of a single life but it is just a blip for the soul that has done may be a million births already.
your problem is one of imagining life on this vast scale. but then 100 years back no one knew there are 100 billion galaxies in the universe and there are 100 bilion stars in each of them.
the scale in physics has changed, the time has come for us to expand the scale of our pyscological/metaphysical universe.
"your problem is one of imagining life on this vast scale. but then 100 years back no one knew there are 100 billion galaxies in the universe and there are 100 bilion stars in each of them." That's because I don't imagine my beliefs, I construct them from empirical analysis and experiential, practical living (and yes, they are consistently revised and ruminated upon). I can see and experience and empathize with suffering right now, at this very real, concrete moment. To relegate this life's experience (the only one we can be certain exists) to a rubber stamp on the side of the 'Soul Fuselage' is comforting for you perhaps, but is noxious and irresponsible in my own view.
“…But the soul journeys through many lives and sufdfering [sic:] is sometime chosen by souls to learn and add a new dimension to their being.”
I'm sorry, but I still can't see beyond your condescension. You state this as fact when it is clearly no more than an assertion. If suffering adds dimension to being, than it’s to the very being who is experiencing the suffering in present reality, not one that you like to believe exists beyond spacetime. Again, I’m sorry to be harsh, but I believe that your thinking is clouded by escapism and fatalism. Can’t you see how some may find this offensive? Especially as they suffer?
Steve & Eric & Al:As the parent of two handicapped children, one with mental illness & one with chronic lung disease/mild cerebral palsey/assorted developmental delays (all associated with being a "micro-premie"), I find the discussion you're having quite interesting.
To begin, I find it interesting to note that although you each seek to speak for people who have undergone very difficult circumstances (such as disablilities, terminal illness, etc.), I have yet to read any reference to situations like those described which any of you claim to have experienced firsthand.
Although I do not agree with Al's argument regarding pre-life choices for life, I do not find it offensive. Basically, I think what I want to think about my family's situation; your opinions are merely that -- your opinions. And I don't need to let others' opinions influence my personal feelings regarding my own situation.
The fact that one's child/ren is/are disabled can be frustrating (and even agonizing at times). It can also be a blessing. Yes, disabilities & traumas & all kinds of "negative" circumstances can be seen as both blessings AND curses; it just depends upon where one is in the middle of it all. There are even times when one feels total ambivalence about the whole thing.
Don't be so stuck within your own point/s of view that you neglect to see the weaknesses & strengths of both -- and remember that there are other viewpoints out there regarding this, as well (the blind following of which have resulted in much bloodshed throughout history & continuing to the present day).
"I have yet to read any reference to situations like those described which any of you claim to have experienced firsthand"I have MS. I don't dwell on it and only bring it up because you did. We all have our crosses to bear. Suffering is a global condition that visits us all eventually.
To trivialize other people's suffering by making it into some mystical new-age hokum is unconscionable. To imply that children starve to death because they asked for it gives people another intellectually lazy reason to ignore the horrible realities of global hunger. After all, it WAS their choice, right?
By the way Al, claiming that Downs Syndrome is a mere "blip" in the grand scheme of things kind of proves my point, doesn't it?
kudos Lynnda well spoken "Don't be so stuck within your own point/s of view that you neglect to see the weaknesses & strengths of both -- and remember that there are other viewpoints out there regarding this, as well (the blind following of which have resulted in much bloodshed throughout history & continuing to the present day)."
I wish that people would apply this statement to many more aspects of life and living that just the question whether pre-manifest soul-choice is responsible for our current personal situation.
It seems like there are many more relevant things in this world that people could turn this "out-of-the-box" thinking to (overpopulation, world hunger, global environment, etc.)
kind of off topic i know.
thanks
Robert went looking for people to read and review his book, and I took him up on his offer. I've cogitated a bit before saying anything about it, but here goes:
The book's central premise makes for an interesting thought experiment. Imagine that you CHOSE this life. What does that mean for you now? WHY did you do it? It gives people who try it a chance to create a sense of agency out of events, physical, and mental attributes that may have always seemed thrust upon them. Does it help you see suffering as hard-won wisdom? Does it help you reimagine your traumas as building blocks of character that shaped you or that had to be overcome?
I don't believe at all the book's assertion that people choose their lives, but I do think Robert writes with a clarity of thought and an open-minded flair that makes the book an interesting read. It's also fairly well-edited. As a professional editor, I appreciate that.
Of course, I'm still sorry in a way that Roger and other believers in modern-day magical phenomena will lead people from reason and psychology to fantastic, irrational beliefs about unsubstantiated and unprovable things like mediums talking to ghosts, past lives, and channels. I think being practical, open-minded, and reason-based yields the best results for the most people.
But, still, it was an interesting read to see how people who DO believe these things transformed their lives positively. For some, fairies, ghosts, past lives, and imaginary friends make our world--a place that can seem brutal and unforgiving--finally livable. We shouldn't always be so quick to crap on irrational beliefs--they don't make scientific sense to study, but whatever gets good people through the day counts for something.
We can't all be Spock, after all.
The book's central premise makes for an interesting thought experiment. Imagine that you CHOSE this life. What does that mean for you now? WHY did you do it? It gives people who try it a chance to create a sense of agency out of events, physical, and mental attributes that may have always seemed thrust upon them. Does it help you see suffering as hard-won wisdom? Does it help you reimagine your traumas as building blocks of character that shaped you or that had to be overcome?
I don't believe at all the book's assertion that people choose their lives, but I do think Robert writes with a clarity of thought and an open-minded flair that makes the book an interesting read. It's also fairly well-edited. As a professional editor, I appreciate that.
Of course, I'm still sorry in a way that Roger and other believers in modern-day magical phenomena will lead people from reason and psychology to fantastic, irrational beliefs about unsubstantiated and unprovable things like mediums talking to ghosts, past lives, and channels. I think being practical, open-minded, and reason-based yields the best results for the most people.
But, still, it was an interesting read to see how people who DO believe these things transformed their lives positively. For some, fairies, ghosts, past lives, and imaginary friends make our world--a place that can seem brutal and unforgiving--finally livable. We shouldn't always be so quick to crap on irrational beliefs--they don't make scientific sense to study, but whatever gets good people through the day counts for something.
We can't all be Spock, after all.
This sort of conversation can easily get heated but it's fascinating to see what other people truly believe. Personally I think there is a huge difference between choice before birth and being subjected to free will of others. That's where Karma comes in. I don't think anyone chooses abuse and it can become a horrible cycle. As for handicaps, they can be sacfices made by the people who experience them. There's absolutely no way to prove any of this, but it's an interesting perspective. I read a book years ago and it included an account from one woman who was struggling with her mothers death, or rather her life before death. She described her mother as a fiercly strong and independent woman who had fought her whole life only to be stricken with a terminal illness, leaving her bedridden and sickly years before she died. The woman was beside herself from watching her mother waste away, having to rely on family and hospital staff for every need. She found peace when in a dream it was explained that her mother had fulfilled her life lessons before she died- one of those lessons was to learn she could rely on other people. That we were meant to help and be helped. The dream also explained that it only took a few years of sacrifice to learn this, not a lifetime of dependency on others. Another aspect of this could be that someone sacrifices their ability to function independently in order to try and teach another the value of patience... or maybe some debt through karma needs to be balanced where one soul helped carry another in a past life and this is a way they allow them to return the favor. There are as many possibilies as one can imagine and this makes more sense to me than other things i've been taught.
Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth? explores the premise that we are all eternal souls who plan our lives, including our greatest challenges, before we’re born for purposes of spiritual growth.
The book contains ten true stories of people who planned physical illness, having handicapped children, deafness, blindness, drug addiction, alcoholism, losing a loved one, and severe accidents.
The information about their pre-birth plans was obtained by four very gifted mediums and channels, including one who has the ability both to see and to hear the conversations we have with one another before we’re born. The book therefore contains the actual conversations people had with their future parents, children, spouses, friends, and other loved ones when they planned these challenges.
For readers, suffering that once seemed purposeless becomes imbued with deep meaning. Wisdom may be acquired in a more conscious manner; feelings of anger, guilt, blame, and victimization are replaced by acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, and peace.
A free PDF with a large sample of the book is available on the About the Book page at www.CourageousSouls.com. People may also wish to read the reviews on Amazon.
The book may be ordered on the Courageous Souls web site or from Amazon, including Amazon Canada, UK, France, Germany, and Japan. It may also be ordered in most countries from your local library (at no charge) or bookstore by providing them with the ISBN number (9780977679454).
Thank you for permitting me to post this message.
Kind regards,
Robert Schwartz
author, Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?
www.CourageousSouls.com