Memories of the Afterlife: Life Between Lives Stories of Personal Transformation (Michael Newton's Journey of Souls, 4) Paperback – October 8, 2009

Will read multiple times! Many little stories and each one with great lessons for the soul and can read at own pace

I have read all Newton's major books which have been fascinated and very helpful in giving new insights especially in regard to in-between lives. Having personally experienced non-stress related out-of-body and white light experiences such research has re-enforced and expanded my understanding.I was hoping to find satisfactory answers to some questions that all my life have caused me much heartache despite all my readings still do not make sense even in the big picture and continue to go unanswered:1. What purpose does it serves individuals who die suddenly or from indiscriminate natural "disasters?2.Prior to having the ability to learn from the experience in their present lives why do the very young suffer and die?3. Since animals do not have free will as humans and live mostly by instinct, what purpose does their suffering serve?...And why would a compassionate creator allow a natural system of carnivores/predators causing so much ongoing stress, fear and suffering in the animal kingdom?4. Why do so many people with so much talent and skill find themselves in circumstances with little opportunity to use those special abilities to make this a better world...Why do not the spirits not work along side us for the greater good rather then allow us to become so discouraged and allow others of greed and cruelty to continue to dominate and decimate our planet?5. Why does prolonged suffering occur amongst animals ...how could they be learning anything to further there spiritual evolvement since unlike man they are instinctual beings without free will ?6. It seems that“lessons” can often be so hard, and or prolonged as to severely traumatized a person and loved ones causing understandable bitterness and regression, especially when earthbound the reasons are unfathomable yet still not revealed to them, which seems counter-productive and cruel ? Christ knew with certainty where he came from, his purpose and where he was going and why he was being crucified while God in spirit by his side, giving much needed comfort and fortitude etc. ...so why not the rest of us ?7. Childhood would seem waste of time rather then starting at a mature age or where one left off from their last incarnation. Children being more prone to engage in abuse (...and further bad karma) cause unnecessary suffering, especially toward the defenseless such as animals?It would be a great relief as well as remove a substantial hindrance to my spiritual progress if any anyone could answer these questions as specifically as possible or give me references to some text that does, or if unable to ask someone appropriate during your hypnotic therapeutic questionings who could, such as a spiritual guide which if published would be of great interest and worth to others as well.Thank you such much for your time and considerations,Brad Kalita“Sum greater than parts”:The multi-faceted elements of human beings as a whole may be more comprehensible to make a comparison to the facets of water.Water is probably the most wondrous of substances having several distinct forms/properties depending the environment: Solid, liquid and vapor.Solid State…which we know well. Humane similarities in liquid state: Potential to let go, and just flow...exampfied by the wise elder who fell into a raging riversurviving by not struggling and exhausting himself but rather flowing over the rapids until reaching calmer waters.Vaporous State …ethereal/spirit state, as in transcending or “passing over.”In scientific terms; Matter and energy never lost but transformed ...“having continually evolving integrative emergent qualities”.Such deductions may be comforting as well as enlightening since they coincide with laws of physics, thereby lending fascinating possibilities to human transformative potential.Life after Life based upon personal and thousands of documented case studies:Evidence: Those experiencing an“Out-of-body” often see/report things that they couldn’t possibly have seen/known.Core experiences independent of pre-religious etc. beliefs.Very young unaculterated children have same experience as adults.Contrary to claimed as stress induced, experiences are often situationally non-threatening spontaneous events.“The Unified Field”: Before returning earthbound “Near-Deaths” are often met by loves ones and animals experiencing surroundings of luminous radiant harmony and great beauty.Any questions/concerns are satisfactory answered telepathically, then consciously deleted.A detailed review is made of ones life during a wonderful restful period prior to corrective co-strategy...including race, gender, planet etc. for next incarnation.For teaching progressive/evolvement purposes unless prior reconciled, abuses inflicted are likewise experienced.“Ye shall do even greater things” – Jesus: Through further effort, varied life situational experiences and resulting acquired wisdom,eventually an ultimate magnificently blissful eternal multi-dimensional state of incredible opportunities and abilities is achieved.

It's time, I think. to consider the question of the evidence of reincarnation. There are two main bodies of evidence, spontaneous memories and evoked memories (both well summarized in "Lifecycles: Reincarnation and the Web of Life" by Christopher M. Bache). Spontaneous memories are the accounts of young children who remember pieces of previous lives and are able to recognize people they have never met and and towns they have never visited. Ian Stevenson is the most prolific of the researchers in this field having documented hundreds of cases in numerous countries. A fascinating recent entry is "Soul Survivor" by Andrea & Bruce Leininger telling the story of their two year old son remembering his previous life as a World War II pilot shot down in the Pacific. Evoked memories are memories most frequently elicited by hypnotic regressions of the type described in "Memories of the Afterlife". By now there are thousands of mutually reinforcing case histories. Michael Newton's work is a major contribution to this evidentiary pillar.If you examine all this evidence dispassionately, you might well wonder why reincarnation has not been embraced by the scientific community and society at large as accepted fact. The main reason seems to be that from early on, it was strongly suppressed by organized religions as a threat to their exclusive agency of the divine. As an example, Christianity excluded reincarnation from its orthodoxy at the Fifth Ecumenical Council in A.D. 553. It seems that this discouragement has cast a long shadow across the centuries.Michael Newton has built his career concentrating on what happens after we die and before we are re-born, the Afterlife. In his newest book, he introduces us to some of the many therapists he has mentored, giving them an opportunity to demonstrate their skills and showcase some of the amazing cases they have encountered. The subtext of this book is that there are now competent LBL therapists in many parts of the world, whose competence is vouchsafed by the master. And that once again, as we saw in "Journey of Souls" and "Destiny of Souls", the range and depth of healing and growth facilitated by this modality are truly impressive and, not to mince words, astounding.So Newton introduces us to his lineage of therapists who work with his imprimatur. They are an impressive group, but he has not cut them loose and abandoned them. One of the best features of this book is the footnotes that Newton has appended to each of the cases presented, which elaborate some of the themes and refer us to more extensive material in his previous works. Thus the current cases can be viewed as adding bricks onto an existing conceptual structure. This is an elegant touch.Finally, I want to acknowledge Michael Newton for being a courageous pioneer in a field with a heavy religious and societal headwind and a most generous mentor, who has graciously introduced us to a talented new generation of LBL therapists.

PROS* A fast read, easy to read in small chunks* A lot of case studies reviewed* Footnotes reference Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls (both by Newton)CONS* Case studies very short, not discussed in depth* Inconsistent writing stylesThis book is good, but not as good as Michael Newton's other books on the topic (linked in second "pro"). In his other books he goes in depth into each person's case study, but in this book the case studies are very cursory, taking only about 5 pages each. It leaves me wanting more. Also, each case study is written by a different psychologist, so they are in different writing styles, not all as good as another.I would recommend this but would recommend his other books first. Start with Journey then read Destiny, the order in which they were written. If you think you're only going to read one then read Destiny of Souls. I thought it was the most fun to read.

Great addition to my Michael Newton collection. Book came just as described.