amazingNovember 1, 2007 This book was so inspiring to me. I love the way it details the growth of the two people. The doctor is also on a path of spiritual learning and is open minded. Nothing is more real than love of the heart. I want to go see the writer !
A new view on what love really isSeptember 26, 2007 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
As with "Many Lives, Many Masters", you'll need to have a open mind to appreciate this brilliant work of Brian Weiss. Here, he relates the discovery that two of his patients, Elizabeth and Pedro, who had not previously known each other, were actually long-lost soulmates. These two had been husband and wife, father and daughter, brother and sister and were, in each of those lifetimes that were uncovered, bonded strongly to each other. The two were finally reunited, with a little help from the doctor.
I now comprehend the meaning of the word, "soulmates" and "love" at a different level, from a different perspective altogether. These revelations opened my mind to a new definition of love- something that is unconditional, true, and pure. When I look into the eyes of my beloved son now, I no longer question why I love him so. I can only love him even more. And it also gives me reassurance and hope for a better, more emotionally fufilling life ahead, whether it is in my current lifetime or the next.
In many ways, I find this book more powerful than "Many Lives". It touches my life in many aspects, such as the topic of miscarriages, that was briefly mentioned. The explanations for various phenomena in life given in terms of souls and rebirthing leave an everlasting sense of calm within me. This book will be of great help for individuals who are struggling with relationships. For people who think they don't need it, think again, because it helped me.
Shows some weakness in the good doctors understandingAugust 7, 2007 2 out of 8 found this review helpful
In "Only Love is Real," best selling author and psychotherapist Dr. Brian Weiss traces the karmic threads connecting two souls drawn together by "love" over many lifetimes. Ordinarily, I have great respect for Dr Weiss and his work, but in this case I'm afraid he demonstrates a lack of discernment by concluding that a couple whose relationship is characterized by great "passion," would necessarily constitute "soul mates," a little understood and widely abused term.
To be accurate, the term "soul-mate" refers to two separate entities who are friends unburdened by any karmic debt. What is commonly assumed by the term soul-mates is more properly described as "dharmic-partners," meaning souls united in their spiritual purpose, whether physically together or not. We may have several soul-mates, but only one dharmic-partner, a relationship based on service-to-others.
This leaves "karmic-partners," making up the bulk of our relationships, at least until we clear our karma and are ready to connect with our dharmic-partner. Karmic-partner relationships are characterized by "passion," the strong desires that create our karma, precisely the thing that makes Dr Weiss think his couple are soul-mates.
In my own life I've had more than my share of intensely passionate karmic relationships, so many that I gave my autobiography "The Vortex" the subtitle of "A True Story of Passion and Karma." My realizations of how past life trauma accounted for the events of my present life didn't originate from lying on Dr Weiss' couch in trance. They came to me through a continuous chain of spontaneous psychic encounters over 25 years, involving events of a lifetime 800 years ago when I was a nephew of Genghis Khan. From my third wife who would pay me back for abandoning her in favor of a slave girl, to the fourth wife who couldn't trust me because of my putting her to death as my younger brother, and the lover who had been my former slave and had vowed to escape from me "no matter how long it took," both passion and love were central features of each of these intensely karmic relationships.
My journey of discovery began in the spring of 1975. My third wife was sitting in front of me reciting an 800 year old Greek Orthodox prayer that was reputed to dispel evil and quiet the mind when she was suddenly plunged into a spontaneous psychic vision. Before her she saw a shaft of electric blue light coming down through the top of my head and engulfing my entire body, and a very old monk dressed in red robes standing off to my right.
As soon as she described the monk I was immediately struck by his similarity to what a previous psychic had referred to years earlier as my "very powerful spirit guide." But before I could speak of this she reported that his features were morphing, first into a Prussian General, then into a Mongolian Warlord from the time of Genghis Khan. Next she reported seeing an inextricably terrifying amorphous blob of grayish-white energy off to my left.
A few months later we decided to take a seminar in psychic healing given by legendary psychic healer Ben Bibb, and during an aura reading exercise, in which I was the subject, the entire class reported seeing everything she had seen months earlier, and in exactly the same order and detail. According to Bibb the man in red robes was indeed my spirit guide, the Prussian and Mongolian were personas from two of my past lives, and the blob of energy was a "familiar spirit," an artificial being created during a previous life of high psychic development. As to the shaft of blue light he hadn't a clue.
This is the point at which I probably should have sought the help of someone like Dr. Weiss. Unfortunately, I decided to tough it out on my own and for the next 25 years was continuously plagued by spontaneous encounters with "psychics" who seemed bent on answering all the questions I was too reluctant to ask about the events of these two previous lives.
As the evidence continued to mount I eventually began to realize how the tragic events of these prior lifetimes had in fact shaped both the events and the relationships of my current life. Almost everyone in my current life it seemed, friends, lovers, wives, business partners, had played some pivotal role in these former incarnations and had now returned to help me resolve the karmic issues, whether I consciously wanted to or not.
Aside from discovering my own tragic role in Genghis Khan's conquests as his nephew Yegu, and my role in Germany's involvement in World War I as its Chief of the General Staff, there was a lot of other new knowledge to be acquired along the way as well. Things like how to communicate directly with my Guide, how to control my "familiar," what my spiritual dharma (ie purpose) was and how that related to my having been initiated, while still in my teens, into the spiritual brotherhood responsible for the shaft of blue light.
Amazingly, after documenting all these events in my autobiography I was even able to substantiate many of the events described through historical research. My only regret is that for too long my Guide had to drag me "kicking and screaming" just to get me to listen to what he was trying to tell me. In retrospect, if I had it all to do over again, I would call Dr. Weiss. I'm sure the whole process could have been handled a lot faster and less painfully with his help.
But then I try to look on the bright side. My story may serve as a good example of how NOT to go about handling one's karmic issues when they jump into one's face. At least we can hope.
Maxwell Austin van Lack, Author of The Vortex: A True Story of Passion and Karma
Great book for those who have lost loved ones and anyone else feeling alone.July 30, 2007 This is a great book to get yourself refocused on your life and the importance of love. Easy read and very interesting, a page turner.
Only Love Is Real: A Story of Soulmates ReunitedJune 1, 2007 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
