posted October 30, 2016 09:14 PM            

"Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?" By Robert Schwartz www.CouragiousSouls.com
I have the old version of this book, the updated title is "Your Soul's Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born"

EDIT : link to online book in a post from SDragon below

Amazon purchase - http://www.amazon.com/Your-Souls-Plan-Discovering-Meaning/dp/1583942726/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1583942726&pd_rd_r=7P107SQMY1K274H07TX1&pd_rd_w=BcjOg&pd_rd_wg=3

I want to start the thread with this book, because in a quest to know oneself a question that persistently lingers is : why do certain things happen/ed to me ?
Diving into the secrets of our personality, character and behavior in hope of an answer, we find some things painful to understand or simply left unanswered. The book talks about the pre-birth planning process, that occurs while in spirit before each incarnation, and variety of reasons a soul may have chosen the particular challenges to deal with in this lifetime. The real life stories discussed in the book explore the pre-birth planning of physical illness, having disabled children, deafness, blindness, drug addiction, alcoholism, the death of a loved one, and accidents.

I read this book some time ago, when my life was crumbling underneath my feet. To be frank I do not agree 100% with the idea suggested in this book, but it nevertheless gave me a different perspective on life experiences and people who pass through my life.

The issue that I have with the premise of pre-birth planning of traumatic life events in particular is that it absolves the evil from responsibility for the vile things that happen, suggesting that we ourselves planned it that way and that people who are causing our suffering are doing us a favor we've asked them to do. This is perhaps more obvious in the author's second book that deals with rape, suicide, incest etc. He points out that we need these experiences for our growth. I find it hard to believe that anyone needs to experience being kidnapped and tortured in order to grow spiritually, and that people who inflict this type of pain and suffering on others are playing a loving helper role rather than commit a grave trespass that comes from an evil place.
It seems to me that, in a non direct way, the underlying message is that God or Creator or Source is commanding this process of planning horrific experiences. Which contradicts the fact that suffering does not come from One who is pure Love. It also negates the fact that each one of us has free will to choose to be kind and has control over how life unfolds, suggesting instead the inevitability of things. This conflicts with how I feel and understand astrology.
I don't believe that every event in life is planned, rather that there are things to be learned through constantly re-configuring possibilities which depend on several factors and on people that show up in our life.

Nevertheless, its worthwhile to take a look at this book, it challenges ideas about life design, experiences and how we perceive them, and the role that other people play.

posted November 03, 2016 08:45 PM            

This is one of the best books about interpretations of Sabian Symbols.

posted November 04, 2016 03:38 PM            

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Originally posted by Ayelet:
Thanks SDragon!

I've been reading some of it. I am familiar with the notion of pre-birth planning of life from Newton's books. Novabronte, have you read them?
I have to say I am more suspicious concerning channeling than I am toward regression via hypnosis. There is only one channeler on whom I quite trust: Edgar Cayce. Besides him it is hard for me to trust anyone, especially those who take a lot of money for their information. There are so many charlatans, and it's hard to find someone reliable. Concerning the mediums in these books, I guess I need to read some more before I try to form an opinion, though in the mean time it is quite interesting.

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posted November 04, 2016 09:49 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Ayelet:
Thanks SDragon! I've been reading some of it. I am familiar with the notion of pre-birth planning of life from Newton's books. Novabronte, have you read them?

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posted November 06, 2016 02:50 PM            

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Originally posted by SDragon:
I kind of prefer Newton's books a bit more. Not sure why, the material is very similar but the writing style just appeals to me more.

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posted November 06, 2016 03:00 PM            

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Originally posted by Novabronte:
I'm not familiar with Newton, I'll check him out. The book I've posted was given to me, and though I found it interesting to some extent, I'm not sold to the idea of pre-birth planning in the way it is described. And similar as you I am suspicious of channeling, though also toward regression hypnosis or any hypnosis really. As for Edgar Cayce, I read 3 or 4 of his books, the ones on Atlantis especially, some 20 years ago when I was much younger...his description of light bodies ( astral projections I think he called them) and life on Atlantis just seemed ...well, familiar:-) Don't maybe because I have Atlantis conjunct DNA on my Vertex axis.

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posted November 07, 2016 05:07 PM            

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Originally posted by Randall:
Not a fan of hypnosis.

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posted November 08, 2016 02:39 PM            

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Originally posted by Ayelet:
But hypnosis is being used on every day level, through t.v. commercials and music and education... there's really no end to it. I rather think of hypnosis like an assisted meditation. There is also, of course, self hypnosis. And it has released people from all sorts of pains and ailments... when it is used constructively. I think some people may not like the idea of mind control, but no one can really break your free will through hypnosis, that is, as far as I am informed...

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I have a problem with hypnosis being released on unsuspected population, we best to call it for what it really is which is mind programming. TV induces alpha brain waves after only 10 minutes of watching.
Hypnosis involves changing your brain waves in order to gain entry, otherwise the hypnotist would not be able to command you.

In tetha waves the hypnotist can break your free will, why would you run around the room and oink like miss piggy or try to shake an invasion of ants from your coat... people do this things under hypnosis, they follow commands. The hypnotist takes the place of your conscious mind, which normally commands your unconscious.

Of course, yes, there are enormous benefits of this modularity of brain, like pain management you have mentioned... but given this almost vulnerability there must be more to our abilities than we know of. Perhaps this knowledge was highjacked from us at some point in history of existence.

posted November 09, 2016 05:52 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Novabronte:
I have a problem with hypnosis being released on unsuspected population, we best to call it for what it really is which is mind programming. TV induces alpha brain waves after only 10 minutes of watching.
Hypnosis involves changing your brain waves in order to gain entry, otherwise the hypnotist would not be able to command you.

In tetha waves the hypnotist can break your free will, why would you run around the room and oink like miss piggy or try to shake an invasion of ants from your coat... people do this things under hypnosis, they follow commands. The hypnotist takes the place of your conscious mind, which normally commands your unconscious.

Of course, yes, there are enormous benefits of this modularity of brain, like pain management you have mentioned... but given this almost vulnerability there must be more to our abilities than we know of. Perhaps this knowledge was highjacked from us at some point in history of existence.

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I didn't know hypnosis can break one's free will. How, then, are Dr. Newton's patients able to block his inquiries sometimes, and not supply him with the certain information he is interested in?