Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives

Choosing a New Body

IN the place of life selection, our souls preview the life span of more than one human being within the same time cycle. When we leave this area, most souls are inclined toward one leading candidate presented to us for soul occupation. However, our spiritual advisors give us ample opportunity to reflect upon all we have seen in the future before making a final decision. This chapter is devoted to the many elements which go into that decision.

Our deliberations over body alternatives actually begin before we go to the place of life selection. Souls do this in order to adequately prepare themselves for viewing certain people in different cultural settings on Earth. I sense those souls who set up the screening room know in advance what to show us, because of these thoughts in our minds. Great care must be taken in choosing just the right body to serve us in the life to come. As I have said, guides and peer group members are part of this evaluation process prior to, and after, we visit the place of life selection.

When listening to my subjects describe all the preparations which go into picking a new physical body, I am constantly reminded of the fluidity of spiritual time. Our teachers use relative future time in the place of life selection to allow souls to measure human usefulness for working on unfinished lesson plans. Blueprints for the next life vary in the degree of difficulty the soul-mind sets for itself. If we have just come off an easy life, making little interpersonal progress, our soul might want to choose a person in the next time cycle who will face heartache and perhaps tragedy. It is not out of the ordinary for me to see someone who has skated through an unchallenging life overloading themselves with turmoil in the next one to catch up with their learning goals.

The soul-mind is far from infallible as it works in conjunction with a biological brain. Regardless of our soul level, being human means we will all make mistakes and have the necessity of engaging in midcourse corrections during our lives. This will be true with any body we select.

Before taking up the more complex mental factors in a soul's decision to join with the brain of a human baby, I will begin with the physical aspects of body choice. Despite the fact that our souls know in advance what they are going to look like, a national survey in the United States indicated 90 percent of both males and females were dissatisfied with the physical characteristics of their bodies. This is the power of conscious amnesia. Much unhappiness is created by society stereotyping an ideal appearance. Yet, this too is part of a soul's lesson plan.

How many times have we all looked in a mirror and said; "Is this the real me? Why do I appear this way? Am I in a body where I belong?" These questions are especially poignant when the type of body we have prevents us from doing those things we think we ought to be able to do in life. I have had a number of clients who came to me convinced their bodies prevented them from achieving satisfying lives.

Many handicapped people think if it were not for a genetic mistake, or being the victim of an accidental injury which damaged their body, their lives would be more fulfilled. As heartless as this may sound, my cases show few real accidents involving body damage which don't fall under the free will of souls. As souls, we choose our bodies for a reason. Living in a damaged body does not necessarily have to involve a karmic debt we are paying off because of past life responsibility for an injury to someone else. As my next case will demonstrate, when a soul is inside a damaged body, this choice can involve a learning path to another type of lesson.

It is difficult to tell a newly-injured person trying to cope with physical disablement that he or she has an opportunity to advance at a faster rate than those of us with healthy bodies and minds. This knowledge must come through self-discovery. The case histories of my clients convince me that the effort necessary to overcome a body impediment does accelerate advancement. Those of us whom society deems less-than-perfect suffer discrimination which makes the burden even heavier. Overcoming the obstacles of physical ailments and hurt makes us stronger for the ordeal.

Our bodies are an important part of the trial we set for ourselves in life. The freedom of choice we have with these bodies is based far more on psychological elements than from the estimated 100,000 genes inherited by each human being. However, I want to show in the opening case of this chapter why souls want certain bodies based largely on physical reasons without heavy psychological implications. The case exhibits the planning involved in the decision of a soul to be in contrasting physical bodies in different lives. After this case, we will examine why souls choose their bodies for other reasons.

Case 26 was a tall, well-proportioned woman who enjoyed participating in sports despite being bothered all her life with recurring leg pains. During her preliminary interview, I learned the pain was a dull ache in both legs, about midway down the thighbones. Over a period of years she had been to a number of doctors who could find no medical evidence of anything wrong with her legs. Clearly, she was worn down and willing to try anything for relief.

When I heard the doctors had concluded her discomfort was probably psychosomatic, I suspected the origin of this woman's pain might lie in a past life. Before going to the source of her problem, I decided to take my client through a couple of past lives to ascertain her motivations for body choices. When I asked her to tell me about a life in which she was the happiest with a human body she told of being in the body of a Viking called Leth around 800 AD. She said Leth was "a child of nature" who traveled by the Baltic Sea route into western Russia.

Leth was described as wearing a long, fur-lined cloak and soft, form-fitting animal skin pants with roped-up boots and a cap wrapped with metal. He carried an ax and a heavy, broad-bladed sword which he wielded easily in battle. My subject was intrigued by the picture in her mind of again being inside this magnificently proportioned warrior with "dirty strands of reddish-blond hair spilling over my shoulders." Standing well over six feet tall, he must have been a giant of his time, with enormous strength, a huge chest, and powerful limbs. A man of great endurance, Leth navigated with other Norsemen over long distances, sailing up rivers and hiking through thick, virgin forests, pillaging settlements along the way. Leth was killed during a raid while looting a village.

Case 26

Dr. N: What was most important to you about this life you have just recalled as Leth the Viking?

S: To experience that magnificent body and the feeling of raw physical power. I have never had another body like that one in all my existences on Earth. I was fearless because my body did not react to pain even when wounded. In every respect it was flawless. I never got sick.

Dr. N: Was Leth ever mentally troubled by anything? Was there any emotional sensitivity for you in this life?

S: (bursts out laughing) Are you kidding? Never! I lived only for each day. My concerns were not getting enough fighting, plunder, food, drink, and sex. All my feelings were channeled into physical pursuits. What a body!

Dr. N: All right, let's analyze your decision to choose this great body in advance of Leth's life. At the time you made your choice in the spirit world did you request this body of good genetic stock or did your guide simply make the selection for you?

S: Counselors don't do that.

Dr. N: Then explain to me how this body came to be chosen by you.

S: I wanted one of the best physical specimens on Earth at the time and Leth was offered to me as a possibility.

Dr. N: You had only one choice?

S: No, I had two choices of people living in this time.

Dr. N: What if you didn't like any of the body choices presented to you for occupation in that time segment?

S: (thoughtfully) The alternatives of my choices always seem to match what I want to experience in my lives.

Dr. N: Do you have the sense the counselors know in advance which body selections are exactly right for you, or are they so harried it's just an indiscriminate grab bag of body choices?

S: Nothing here is careless. The counselors arrange everything.

Dr. N: I have wondered if the counselors might get mixed up once in a while. With all the new babies born could they ever assign two souls to one baby, or leave a baby without a soul for a while?

S: (laughing) We aren't in an assembly line. I told you they know what they are doing. They don't make mistakes like that.

Dr. N: I believe you. Now, as to your choices, I am curious if two bodies were sufficient for your examination in the place of life selection.

S: We don't need a lot of choices for lives once the counselors get their heads together about our desires. I already had some idea of the right body size and shape and the sex I wanted before being exposed to my two choices.

Dr. N: What was the body choice you rejected in favor of Leth?

S: (pause) That of a soldier from Rome ... also with the strong body I wanted in that lifetime.

Dr. N: What was wrong with being an Italian soldier?

S: I didn't want ... control over me by the state (subject shakes head from side to side) ... too restrictive ...

Dr. N: As I remember, by the ninth century much of Europe had fallen under the authority of Charlemagne's Holy Roman Empire.

S: That was the trouble with the soldier's life. As a Viking I answered to nobody. I was free. I could move around with my band of invaders in the wilderness without any governmental control.

Dr. N: Then freedom was also an issue in your choice?

S: Absolutely. The freedom of movement ... the fury of battle ... the use of my strength and uninhibited action. Life at sea and in the forests was robust and constant. I know the life was cruel, too, but it was a brutal time. I was no better or worse than the rest.

Dr. N: But what about other considerations, such as personality?

S: Nothing bothered me as long as I was able to physically express myself to the fullest.

Dr. N: Did you have a mate-children?

S: (shrugs) Too restrictive. I was on the move. I possessed many women-some willing-others not-and this pleasure added to my expression of physical power. I didn't want to be tied down in any way.

Dr. N: So, the body of Leth was your preference as a pure physical extension of sensual feeling?

S: Yes, I wanted to experience all body senses to the fullest, nothing more.

I felt my subject was now ready to go to work on her current problem. After bringing her out of superconscious into a subconscious state, I asked her to go directly to a life which may have involved leg pain.

Almost at once the woman dropped into her most recent past life and became a six-year-old girl named Ashley living in New England in the year 1871. Ashley was riding in a fully loaded, horse-drawn carriage when suddenly she opened the door and tumbled out under the vehicle. When she hit the cobblestone street, one of the heavy rear carriage wheels rolled over her legs at the same point above both knees, crushing the bones. My subject reexperienced a sharp pain in her legs while describing the fall.

Despite efforts from local physicians and the prolonged use of wood splints, Ashley's leg bones did not heal properly. She was never able to stand or walk again and poor circulation caused repeated swelling in her legs for the rest of a rather short life. Ashley died in 1912 after a productive period of years as a writer and tutor of disadvantaged children. When the narration of Ashley's life ended, I returned my subject to the spirit world.

Dr. N: In your history of body choices why did you wait a thousand years between being a physically strong man and a crippled woman?

S: Well, of course, I developed a better sense of who I was during the lives in between. I chose to be crippled to gain intellectual concentration.

Dr. N: You chose a broken body for this?

S: Yes, you see, being unable to walk made me read and study more. I developed my mind ... and listened to my mind. I learned to communicate well and to write with skill because I wasn't distracted. I was always in bed.

Dr. N: Was any characteristic about your soul particularly evident in both Ashley and Leth the Viking?

S: That part of me which craves fiery expression was in both bodies.

Dr. N: I want you to go to the moment you were in the process of choosing the life of Ashley. Tell me how you decided on this particular damaged body.

S: I picked a family in a well-established, settled part of America. I wanted a place with libraries and to be taken care of by loving parents so I could devote myself to scholarship. I constantly wrote to many unhappy people and became a good teacher.

Dr. N: As Ashley, what did you do for this loving family who took care of you?

S: It always works two ways-the benefits and liabilities. I chose this family because they needed the intensity of love with someone totally dependent upon them all their lives. We were very close as a family because they were lonely before I was born. I came late, as their only child. They wanted a daughter who would not marry and leave them to be lonely again.

Dr. N: So it was a trade-off?

S: Most definitely.

Dr. N: Then let's track this decision further back to the place of life selection, when your soul first saw Ashley's life. Did you see the details of your carriage accident then?

S: Of course, but it wasn't an accident-it was supposed to happen.

Dr. N: Once you came to Earth, who was responsible for the fall? Was it your soul-mind or Ashley's biological mind?

S: We worked in unison. She was going to be fooling with the carriage door handle and ... I capitalized on that ...

Dr. N: Tell me what was going through your soul-mind in the life selection room when you saw the scene of Ashley falling and being injured?

S: I thought about how this crippled body could be put to good use. I had some other choices for body injuries, but I preferred this one because I didn't want to have the capability for much movement.

Dr. N: I want to pursue the issue of causality here. Would Ashley have fallen anyway if she had a soul other than your own?

S: (defensively) We were right for each other ...

Dr. N: That doesn't answer my question.

S: (long pause) There are forces beyond my knowledge as a spirit. When I saw Ashley for the first time ... I was able to see her without me ... healthy ... older ... another life possibility ...

Dr. N: Now we are getting somewhere. Are you saying if Ashley had begun her life with another soul entity that she might not have fallen at all?

S: Yes ... that's a possibility ... one of many ... she could also have been less severely injured, with the ability to walk on crutches.

Dr. N: Well, did you see a physically healthy Ashley living happily without your soul?

S: I saw ... a grown woman ... normal legs ... unhappiness with a man ... frustration at being trapped in an unrewarding life ... sorrowful parents ... but easier. (voice becomes more firm) No! That course would not have worked well for either of us-I was the best soul for her.

Dr. N: Were you the prime mover of the fall, once you elected to become Ashley's soul?

S: It ... was both of us ... we were one at that moment ... she was being naughty, bouncing around in the carriage, playing with the door handle when her mother said she must stop. Then ... I was ready and she was ready ...

Dr. N: Just how rigid was your destiny? Once you were Ashley's soul was there any way you could have backed out of this entire incident in the carriage?

S: (pause) I can tell you I had a flash just before I fell. I could have pulled back and not fallen out. A voice inside my mind said ... "It's an opportunity, don't wait any longer, take the fall, this is what you wanted-it's the best course of action."

Dr. N: Was that particular moment important?

S: I didn't want Ashley to get too much older.

Dr. N: But, the pain and suffering this child went through ...?

S: It was horrible. The agony of those first five weeks was beyond belief. I almost died, but I learned from enduring it all and I now see the memories of Leth's capacity for managing pain helped me.

Dr. N: Did your inner mind have any regrets during those moments when the pain was most severe?

S: As I slipped in and out of consciousness during the worst of the ordeal, my mind began gaining in power. Overriding my damaged body, I started to better control the pain ... lying in bed ... the doctors helpless. The skills I developed in managing pain were later used to concentrate on my studies and my counselor was helping me, too, in subtle ways.

Dr. N: So you gained a lot in this life by being unable to walk?

S: Yes, I became a listener and thinker. I corresponded with many people and learned to write with inspiration. I gained teaching ability with the young, and felt guided by an internal power.

Dr. N: Was your counselor proud of your accomplishments after you returned to the spirit world?

S: Very, although I was told I had become a little too indulged and pampered (laughs), but that's an okay trade-off.

Dr. N: How does your experience with the strong body of Leth and the weak one of Ashley help you today, or is this of no consequence?

S: I benefit every day by my appreciation of the necessity of a union between mind and body to learn lessons.

During my client's reliving of the street scene which broke her legs, I initiated desensitization measures. At the close of our session together, I then deprogrammed her generational memory of leg pain entirely. This woman later notified me she has had no further pain and regularly enjoys playing tennis.

The two past lives I have represented in this case were largely devoted to physical choices for soul actualization in two quite different environments. Souls search for self-expression by developing different aspects of their character. Regardless of what physical or mental tools are used through the use of many bodies, the laws of karma will prevail. If the soul chooses one extreme, somewhere down the line this will be counterbalanced by an opposite choice to even-out development. The physical lives of Leth and Ashley are examples of karmic compensation. The Hindus believe a rich man sooner or later must become a beggar for his soul to develop adequately.

By surviving different challenges our soul identity is strengthened. The word strength should not be misunderstood. My subjects say the real lessons of life are learned by recognizing and coming to terms with being human. Even as victims, we are beneficiaries because it is how we stand up to failure and duress which really marks our progress in life. Sometimes one of the most important lessons is to learn to just let go of the past.

While souls carefully consider the physical attributes of an Earth body in a variety of cultural settings, they give much more attention to the psychological aspects of human life. This decision is the most vital part of the entire selection process for the soul. Before entering the place of life selection, it is to a soul's advantage to ponder the factors of heredity and environment which affect how a biological life form will function. I have heard that a soul's spiritual energy has a fluctuating influence on whether the temperament of its human host will be extroverted or introverted, rationalistic or idealistic, emotionally or analytically dominated. Because of such variables, souls need to reflect in advance on the types of bodies which will serve them best in the life to come.

From what I can gather, a soul's thoughts about certain human behavior preferences for themselves in the next life are known by guides and those masters charged with operating the life selection stations. It appears to me some souls take this responsibility more seriously than others. Yet, a soul in the prelife selection phase can reflect only so much on how they would fit into a specific body. When souls are called to the place of life selection the guesswork is over. Now they must match their spiritual identity against a mortal being. Why one soul joined, for psychological reasons, with two human beings thousands of years apart is the basis of my next case.

Case 27 is a Texas businessman who owns a large, successful clothing firm. During a vacation in California, Steve came to see me on the advice of a friend. As I took his history, I noticed he was tense and hypervigilant. While his fingers toyed with a key chain, Steve's eyes darted anxiously around my office. I asked if he was nervous or afraid of hypnosis as a procedure and he replied, "No, I'm more afraid of what you will uncover."

This client told me his employees were demanding and disloyal and the multitude of personnel complaints had become intolerable. His solution had been to increase discipline and fire people. I learned that he had two failed marriages and was a binge alcoholic. He said he had recently tried a recovery program but quit because "they were getting too critical of me."

As we talked further, Steve explained that his mother disappeared after leaving him on the steps of a church in Texas within a week of his birth. After a few lonely and unhappy years in an orphanage, an older couple adopted him. He added that these people were stern disciplinarians who seemed to disapprove of him all the time. Leaving home in his teens, Steve had many scrapes with the law and once attempted suicide.

I found this client's personality to be overly assertive and untrusting of authority. His anger was rooted in feelings of isolation and abandonment issues. Steve said he felt like he was losing control over his life and was willing to try anything "to find the real me." I agreed to short-term exploration of his unconscious mind if he would consider seeing a therapist later in his own town for sustained counseling.

As this case unfolds, we will see how Steve's soul maintains its identity while responding to physical life in a human body. The intensity of this association is increased in hypnosis when my subjects discuss their motives for body selection. One reason why I have used this case is to expose a difficult barrier to discovering our identity-that of childhood trauma. Souls who unite with people that develop early personality disorders deliberately set themselves up for a difficult life. Before taking my client into the spirit world to learn why his soul chose this life, it was necessary to relive his early childhood memories. In the short excerpt which begins this case, this subject will see his real mother again. It is one of the most poignant scenes I have ever facilitated.

Case 27

Dr. N: You are now a baby in the first week of life and your mother is seeing you for the last time. It doesn't matter that you are a baby because your inner adult mind knows everything that is going on. Describe to me exactly what transpires.

S: (subject starts to shake) I ... I'm in a basket ... there is a faded blue blanket around me ... I'm being set down on some steps ... it's cold ...

Dr. N: Where are these steps?

S: ... In front of a church ... in Texas.

Dr. N: Who is setting you down on the church steps?

S: (the shaking increases) My mother ... is bending down over me ... saying goodbye ... (begins to cry)

Dr. N: What can you tell me about your mother's reason for leaving you?

S: She ... is young ... not married to my father ... he is already married. She is ... crying ... I can feel her tears falling on my face.

Dr. N: Look up at her. What else do you see?

S: (chokes) Flowing black hair ... beautiful ... I reach up and touch her mouth ... she kisses me ... soft, gentle ... she is having a terribly hard time leaving me here.

Dr. N: Does she say anything to you before leaving?

S: (subject can now hardly talk) "I must leave you for your own good. I have no money to take care of you. My parents won't help us. I love you. I will always love you and hold you in my heart forever."

Dr. N: What happens then?

S: She ... takes hold of a heavy door knocker ... it has an animal on it ... and bangs on the door ... we hear footsteps coming ... now she is gone.

Dr. N: What do your inner thoughts tell you about all you have seen?

S: (almost overcome by emotion) Oh ... she wanted me after all ... didn't want to leave me ... she loved me!

Dr. N: (I place my hand on the subject's forehead and begin a series of post-hypnotic suggestions which end with the following instructions) Steve, you will be able to recall this subconscious memory in your conscious mind. You will retain this picture of your mother for the rest of your life. You now know how she truly felt about you and that her energy is still with you. Is this clear?

S: Yes ... it is.

Dr. N: Now, move forward in time and tell me how you feel about your foster parents.

S: Never satisfied with me ... made me feel guilty about everything ... controlling and judging me ... (subject's face is dripping wet with tears and perspiration) don't know who I am supposed to be ... I'm not real ...

Dr. N: (I raise my voice) Tell me what is unreal about you.

S: Pretending ... (stops)

Dr. N: Keep going!

S: I'm not really in control ... constant anger ... mistreating people to ... get even ... hopelessness ...

Note: After additional conditioning, I will now take my subject back and forth between his subconscious and superconscious mind.

Dr. N: All right Steve, now let's go back to the time before your birth into this life. Tell me if you have ever lived in another life with the soul of your birth mother.

S: (long pause) Yes ... I have.

Dr. N: Was there ever a particular life you lived with this soul on Earth which involved any sort of physical or emotional pain between the two of you?

S: (after a moment subject's hands grip the arms of his chair) Oh, damn-that's it-of course-it's her!

Dr. N: Try to relax and not go too fast for me. I want you to enter the life you see in your mind at the most crucial point in your relationship with this soul on the count of three. One, two, three!

S: (a deep sigh) Oh my ... it's the same person ... a different body ... but she was my mother then, too ...

Dr. N: Stay focused on the Earth scene. Is it day or night?

S: (pause) Broad daylight. Hot sun and sand ...

Dr. N: Describe what is happening under the hot sun in the sand.

S: (haltingly) I am standing in front of my temple ... before a large crowd of people ... my guards are in back of me.

Dr. N: What is your name?

S: Haroum.

Dr. N: What are you wearing, Haroum?

S: A long, white robe and sandals. I have a staff in my hand with gold snakes on it as a symbol of my authority.

Dr. N: What is your authority, Haroum?

S: (proudly) I am a high priest.

Note: Further inquiries revealed this man was a tribal leader who was located on the Arabian peninsula close to the Red Sea around 2000 BC. In preclassical times, this area was known as the Kingdom of Sheba (or Saba). I also learned the temple was a large oval structure of mud bricks and stone dedicated to a moon god.

Dr. N: What are you doing in front of your temple?

S: I am on the steps judging a woman. She is my mother. She is kneeling down in front of me. There is a look of pity and fear in her eyes as she looks up at me.

Dr. N: How can her eyes show both pity and fear at once?

S: There is pity in her eyes because of the power which has consumed me ... in taking so much control over the daily lives of my people. And there is fear, too, for what I am about to do. This disturbs me, but I must not show it.

Dr. N: Why is your mother kneeling on the temple steps before you?

S: She has broken into the storage house and stolen food to give to the people. Many are hungry at this time of year, but I alone can order distribution. The food must be measured out carefully.

Dr. N: Did she act against some rule of food rationing? Was this a question of survival?

S: (abruptly) There is more to this-by disobeying me she is undermining my authority. I use the distribution of food as a means of ... control over my people. I want them all to be loyal to me.

Dr. N: What are you going to do with your mother?

S: (with conviction) My mother has violated the law. I can save her, but she must be punished as an example. I decide she will die.

Dr. N: How do you feel about killing your own mother, Haroum?

S: It must be done. She has been a constant thorn in my side-causing unrest among my people because of her position. I cannot govern freely with her here any longer. Even now, she is defiant. I order her death by banging my staff on the stone steps.

Dr. N: Later on are you sad about ordering your mother's execution?

S: (voice becomes strained) I ... must not think about such things if I am to maintain power.

At this point Steve's mind had relived two emotionally wrenching events involving voluntary actions of separation between mother and son. Although he had made the karmic connection, it was important that his abandonment as a baby not be isolated as pure historic retribution. For healing to begin we had to go further.

The next stage in our session together was designed to recover Steve's soul identity. To do this, I took him into the spirit world. In each of my cases, I try to bring the subject back to the most appropriate spiritual area to get the best results. In Case 13, I used the place of orientation. With Case 27, we will go back to relive the spiritual time just after his return from the place of life selection. In this setting, I want Steve to see the reasons for his current body choice and the role of other soul participants in his life.

Dr. N: By what name are you known in the spirit world?

S: Sumus.

Dr. N: All right, Sumus, since we are now in the spirit world again, I want us to go to the period just following your initial viewing of the man who is Steve. What are your thoughts?

S: Such a resentful man ... he is so angry about his mother dumping him on a doorstep ... and those hard-nosed people who will take over as his parents ... I don't know if I even want to take this body!

Dr. N: I understand, but why don't we put that decision aside for a few minutes while other things develop. Tell me what you actually do once you leave the place of life selection.

S: Sometimes I might want to be by myself for a while. Usually, I am anxious to have the opinions of my friends about the lives I look at, especially one this rough.

Dr. N: Surely, you had more than one body option?

S: (shakes head) This is one I should take ... it's a rough decision.

Dr. N: Tell me, Sumus, when you are back with your group of friends, do you discuss the possibility of yourself associating with some of them in the next life?

S: Yes, more often than not, these close friends are going to be in my life to come, just as I will be in theirs. Some of my clutch will not be in certain lives. It doesn't matter. We all discuss our next life with each other. I want to get their ideas on details. You see, we all know each other so well-our strengths and weaknesses-former successes and failures-what to watch out for ... that kind of thing.

Dr. N: Did you discuss with them any details about the kind of person you should be in your next life before actually going to the place of life selection?

S: Oh yeah, in a roundabout way. Nothing concrete. Now that I have seen Steve, and who the others might be in relation to him in this life, there are reservations. So I talk to Jor.

Dr. N: Is Jor your guide?

S: Yes, he listened a lot to what I had to say about who I thought I should be before I was sent to the place where we look at lives.

Dr. N: Okay, Sumus, you have just returned to your primary cluster group from the place of life selection. What do you do first?

S: I talk about this guy Steve who is so unhappy ... no real mother ... all that stuff ... what kinds of people will be around him ... their plans, too ... it must fit all together for us.

Dr. N: You mean which souls are going to take certain bodies?

S: Right, we need to firm that up.

Dr. N: Are soul assignments still negotiable at this point, or is everyone told which body they will be in after leaving the place of life selection?

S: No one is forced to do anything. We know what should be done. Jor ... and the others help us make adjustments ... they are sent in to round out the picture ... (subject's face becomes grave)

Dr. N: Is something bothering you at this moment, Sumus?

S: (in a cheerless manner) Uh ... my friends are moving away ... there are others coming ... oh ...

Dr. N: I gather some deliberations are about to occur with other souls. Try to relax as best you can. On my command you will clearly relate to me everything that is happening. Do you understand?

S: (nervously) Yes.

Dr. N: Begin! How many entities do you see?

S: There are ... four of them ... coming over to me ... Jor is one of them.

Dr. N: Who is first?

S: (subject grabs my hand) It's ... Eone ... she wants to be ... my mother again.

Dr. N: Is this the soul of the woman who is Haroum's and Steve's mother?

S: Yes, she is ... oh ... I don't want to ...

Dr. N: What's going on?

S: Eone is telling me it's time for us to ... settle things ... to be in a disordered life as mother and son again.

Dr. N: But Sumus, didn't you know this at the place of life selection when you viewed Steve's mother taking her baby to the church?

S: I saw the people ... the possibility ... it was still an ... abstract consideration ... it wasn't actually me yet. I guess I need more convincing because Eone is here for a reason.

Dr. N: I take it none of these newly arrived entities is from your own clutch?

S: (sighs) No, they are not.

Dr. N: Why did you and Eone wait 4000 earth years before discussing a balancing out of your treatment of her in Arabia?

S: Earth years mean nothing; it could have been yesterday. I just wasn't ready to offset the harm I did her as Haroum. She says the circumstances are right for this exercise now.

Dr. N: If your soul joins with the body of Steve in Texas, will Eone consider this karmic payment for your debt?

S: (pause) My life as Steve is not supposed to be punishment.

Dr. N: I'm glad you see that. So what is the lesson to be learned?

S: To ... feel what desertion is like in a family relationship ... deliberate severing ...

Dr. N: The severing of the mother and son bond by deliberate action?

S: Yes ... to appreciate what it is like to be cast off.

Dr. N: Allow Eone to move away and have the other entities join us, Sumus.

S: (distressed) Eone is floating back to ... Jor ... coming forward are ... Oh shit-it's Talu and Kalish! (subject squirms in his chair and tries to ward off the two spirits in his mind by pushing the palms of his hands outward)

Dr. N: Who are they?

S: (in a rush of words) Talu and Kalish have volunteered to be Steve's-my foster parents. They work together a lot.

Dr. N: What's the problem, then?

S: I just don't want them again so soon!

Dr. N: Slow down for me, Sumus. You have worked with these souls before?

S: (still muttering to himself) Yes, yes-but they are so hard for me to be with-especially Kalish. It's too soon. They were my in-laws in the German life.

Note: We digress for a few minutes while Sumus briefly explains a past life in Europe as a high-ranking army officer who neglected his family and was the object of scorn from his wife's influential parents.

Dr. N: Are you saying that Talu and Kalish lack the capability for the assignment of being your foster parents in Texas?

S: (shakes head with resignation) No, they know what they are doing. It's just that with Kalish, it's always a rough ride. She chooses to be people who are critical, demanding, cold ...

Dr. N: Does she always present that sort of behavior in human bodies?

S: Well, that's her style with me. Kalish is not a soul who engages easily with others. She is independent and very determined.

Dr. N: How about Talu as your adoptive father?

S: Stern ... allows Kalish to lead ... can be too detached ... emotionally private... I'm going to really rebel against them this time.

Dr. N: Okay, but will they teach you something?

S: Yes, I know they will, but I am still arguing about it. Jor and Eone come over.

Dr. N: What do you say next at this conference?

S: I want Eone to be my foster mother. They all laugh at me. Jor won't buy my explanations. He knows I am close to Eone.

Dr. N: Do they make fun of you, Sumus?

S: Oh no, it's not that way at all. Talu and Kalish question my reluctance to tackle my faults with them.

Dr. N: Well, I was getting the impression you thought these souls were ganging up on you to force a decision to join with the Texas baby.

S: That's not how it goes here. We are discussing my misgivings about the life itself.

Dr. N: But I thought you didn't like Talu and Kalish?

S: They know about me ... I need strict people or I ride over them. Everyone here sees I have a tendency to indulge myself. They convince me an easy life without them will be like treading water. Both of them are very disciplined.

Dr. N: Well, it sounds like you have about made up your mind to go with them into the Texas life.

S: (musing) Yes... they are going to make a lot of demands on me as a child... Kalish sarcastic ... Talu a perfectionist ... losing Eone... it's going to be a rough ride.

Dr. N: What will playing the roles of your parents do for Talu and Kalish?

S: Kalish and Talu are in different ... configurations than me. I'm not supposed to get all muddled up in their business. It has something to do with their being rigid people and overcoming pride.

Dr. N: When you are on Earth, does your soul-mind always know the reason why certain people who influence you positively or negatively are significant in your life?

S: Yes, but that doesn't mean the person I am in that life understands what my spirit knows. (smiles) That's what we should be able to figure out on Earth.

Dr. N: Which is what we are doing now?

S: Yeah ... and I am cheating a little with you helping, but it's okay, I can use it.

It does seem an enigma that the knowledge of who we really are as souls is so difficult for many of us to reach through our conscious minds. By now I'm sure the reader has discerned that even in a superconscious state, we do retain the ability to observe ourselves with a portion of the critical center of our conscious mentality. Assisting clients in reaching their inner selves by linking all facets of the mind is the most important part of my work in hypnotherapy.

I want Steve to gain insight into the motives for his behavior by understanding his soul. The dialogue which follows provides us with further disclosures as to why Sumus integrated into Steve's body. The spiritual conference with Jor, Eone, Talu, and Kalish is over and I have taken Sumus to a quiet setting in the spirit world for this discussion.

Dr. N: Tell me, Sumus, how much of who you really are as a soul identity is reflected in the human beings you have occupied?

S: Quite a lot-but no two bodies are alike. (laughs) Good body and soul mergers don't always happen, you know. I remember some of my former bodies more fondly than others.

Dr. N: Would you say your soul dominates or is subordinated by the human brain?

S: That's difficult to answer because there are subtle differences with the brain of each body which affects how we ... exhibit ourselves from that body. A human would be pretty vacant without us ... we treat earth bodies with respect, though.

Dr. N: What do you think human beings would be like without souls?

S: Oh, dominated by senses and emotions ...

Dr. N: And you believe each human brain causes you to react differently?

S: Well, that which I am ... is able to utilize some bodies better than others. I don't always feel fully attached to a human being. Some physical emotions are overpowering and I ... am not so effective.

Dr. N: Such as the high level of rage displayed by Steve's temperament, perhaps affected by the central nervous system of this body?

S: Yes, we inherit these things ...

Dr. N: But you knew what Steve would be like before you chose his body?

S: (in disgust) That's right, and it's typical of how I can make a bad situation worse. I am able to interpret only when the storms of the human mind are quiet, and yet I want to be stormy people.

Dr. N: What do you mean by interpret?

S: Interpret ideas ... make sense out of Steve's reactions to turmoil.

Dr. N: To be frank, Sumus, you sound like a stranger inside Steve's body.

S: I'm sorry to give you that impression. We don't control the human mind ... we try by our presence to ... elevate it to see ... meaning in the world and to be receptive to morality ... to give understanding.

Dr. N: That's all very well, but you use human bodies for your own development too, don't you?

S: Sure, it's a ... blending ... we give and take with our energy.

Dr. N: Oh, you tailor your energy to fit a host body?

S: It would be better to say I use different facets of expression, depending on the emotional drives of each body.

Dr. N: Let's get specific, Sumus. What is going on between you and Steve's brain at this time on Earth?

S: I ... have felt ... submerged ... sometimes my energy is tired and unresponsive to so much negativity.

Dr. N: Looking back to your choices of Haroum, Steve, and those other human bodies in between, do they all have traits in common which attracted you?

S: (long pause) I am a contact entity. I seek humans who involve themselves ... aggressively with others.

Dr. N: When I hear the word aggression, this means hostility to me as opposed to being assertive. Is this what you intended to say?

S: (pause) Well, I'm attracted to those who influence other people ... ah, vigorously-at full tilt.

Dr. N: Are you a soul who enjoys controlling other people?

S: I wouldn't say control, exactly. I avoid choosing to be people who have no intense involvement with those around them.

Dr. N: Sumus, aren't you being controlling when you try to direct other souls in their lives?

S: (no response)

Dr. N: What would Jor say about your human relationships?

S: Hmm ... that I like power as a means of influencing the acts of humans who are decision makers. That I crave social and political groups where I lead.

Dr. N: So, you would not enjoy being in a human body which was quiet and unassuming?

S: Definitely not.

Dr. N: (I push harder) Sumus, isn't it true you took pleasure in the way you were a part of Haroum's misuse of power in Arabia, and that you gain satisfaction as Steve from mistreating your employees in Texas?

S: (loudly) No, that isn't true! Things get out of hand easily when you try to lead humans. It's the conditions on Earth which screw everything up. It isn't all my fault.

Dr. N: Is it possible that both Haroum and Steve became more extreme in their conduct because your soul was with them?

S: (heavily) I haven't done well, I know that ...

Dr. N: Look Sumus, I hope you know I don't think you are a bad soul. But maybe you are easily seduced by the trappings of human authority and you have now become someone who feels in conflict with society.

S: (disturbed) You are beginning to sound like Jor!

Dr. N: I don't presume to be doing that, Sumus. Perhaps Jor is helping us both to understand what is going on inside you.

S: Probably.

Steve and I have reached a productive stage of contact with his soul. I address this subject as if he were two people, while tightening the bowstring between his conscious and unconscious self. After applying additional conditioning to pull these two forces closer together, I close our session with a final series of questions. It is important his mind not be allowed to drift or his memories to become dissociated. To foster responsiveness, my questions are confrontive and spoken rapidly to increase the tempo of my subject's answers.

Dr. N: Sumus, begin by telling me why you originally accepted Steve's body.

S: To ... rise above my attraction for leading others ... always wanting to be in charge ...

Dr. N: Is your soul identity in conflict with the direction Steve's life has taken?

S: I don't like that part of him which is fighting to be on top and, at the same time, having thoughts of escape by self-destruction.

Dr. N: If this is a contradiction for you, why does it exist?

S: ... childhood ... sadness ... (stops)

Dr. N: Who am I listening to now? Sumus, why aren't you more active in helping yourself, as Steve, overcome the shame of abandonment by Eone and your anger from an unloving childhood with Talu and Kalish?

S: ... I am grown now ... and managing others ... won't let people hurt me anymore.

Dr. N: Sumus, if you and Steve are now speaking to me as one intelligence, I want to know why your lifestyle is so self-destructive.

S: (long pause) Because my weakness is ... using power for selfpreservation on Earth.

Dr. N: Do you feel if you were less controlling of people as an adult, life would revert to the way you were treated as a child?

S: (angrily) Yes!

Dr. N: And when you don't get self-gratification from the body of your choice, what do you do as a soul?

S: I ... tune out ...

Dr. N: I see, and how is this accomplished, Sumus?

S: By not ... being too active.

Dr. N: Because you are intimidated by a body in an emotional tailspin?

S: Well ... I go into a shell.

Dr. N: So, you use avoidance in not actively dealing with the major lesson you came to Earth to learn?

S: Uh huh.

Dr. N: Steve, your adoptive parents were rough on you, weren't they?

S: Yes.

Dr. N: Do you now see why?

S: (pause) To know what being constantly judged is like.

Dr. N: What else?

S: To ... overcome ... and be whole. (bitterly) I don't know ...

Dr. N: I think you do know, Steve. Tell me about the damaged self you present to people around you.

S: (after some procrastination) Pretending to be happy-covering up my feelings by drinking and mistreating people.

Dr. N: Do you want to stop this cover up and go to work?

S: Yes, I do.

Dr. N: Define who you really want to be.

S: (tearfully) I ... we don't want to be hostile to people ... but don't want to risk being a ... non-person ... without respect or recognition, either.

Dr. N: So you are on a fence?

S: (quietly) Yes, life is so painful.

Dr. N: Do you think this is an accident?

S: No, I see it isn't.

Dr. N: Steve and Sumus, repeat after me: "I'm going to give back the pain of Eone, Talu, and Kalish, which they gave to me for my own good, and get on with my life by becoming the identity I really want to be. (subject repeats these words three times for me)

Dr. N: Steve, what are you going to do about revealing yourself in the future, and taking responsibility for improvement?

S: (after a couple of false starts) Learn to be more honest.

Dr. N: And to trust that you are not a victim of society?

S: Yes.

This case ended with my reinforcing Steve's understanding of who he really is and his mission in life. I wanted to help liberate him as a person of value, with a contribution to make in society. We talked about his love and fear choices, as well as the necessity to get in touch with himself frequentlyI felt we had laid the groundwork for his dealing with resentment and a lack of intimacy. I reminded Steve of the need for follow-up counseling. About a year later, he wrote to tell me his recovery was going well, and that he had found the lost child within himself. Steve realized his past mistakes were not failures, but the means to improvement.

Case 27 demonstrates how the hard tasks we set for ourselves often begin in childhood. This is why considerable weight is given to family selection by the soul. The idea that each of us voluntarily agreed to be the children of a given set of parents before we came into this life is a difficult concept for some people to accept. Although the average person has experienced love from his or her parents, many of us have unresolved, hurtful memories of those near to us who should have offered protection and did not. We grow up thinking of ourselves as victims of biological parents and family members whom we inherited without any choice in the matter. This assumption is wrong.

When clients tell me how much they suffered from the actions of family members, my first question to their conscious mind is, "If you had not been exposed to this person as a child, what would you now lack in understanding?" It may take a while, but the answer is in our minds. There are spiritual reasons for our being raised as children around certain kinds of people, just as other people are designated to be near us as adults.

To know ourselves spiritually means understanding why we joined in life with the souls of parents, siblings, spouses, and close friends. There is usually some karmic purpose for receiving pain or pleasure from someone close to us. Remember, along with learning our own lessons, we come to Earth to play a part in the drama of others' lessons as well.

There are people who, because they live in a terrible environment, suspect the spirit world of not being a center of divine compassion. However, it is the ultimate in compassion when beings who are spiritually linked to each other come forward by prior agreement into human lives involving love-hate relationships. Overcoming adversity in these relationships may mean we won't have to repeat certain abrasive alliances in future lives. Surviving such trials on Earth places us into a heightened state of perception with each new life and enhances our identity as souls.

People in trance may have trouble making a clear distinction between their soul identity and human ego. If the human personality has little structure beyond the five senses and basic drives for survival without ensoulment, then the soul is our total personality. This means, for example, that one could not have a human ego which is jealous and also possess a soul which is not jealous.

Yet my cases indicate there are subtle variations between their soul identity and all that is manifested by the human personalities of many host bodies. Case 27 showed similarities and differences in the personalities of Haroum and Steve. Our constant soul-self seems to be a governing agent of human temperament, but we may express ourselves differently with each body.

The souls of my subjects apparently select bodies which try to match their character flaws with human temperament for specific growth patterns. In one life an overly cautious, low-energy soul might be disposed to blending with a quiet, rather subdued human host. This same soul, encouraged to take greater risks in another life, could choose to work more in opposition to its natural character by melding with a temperamentally high-strung, aggressive body-type on Earth.

Souls both give and receive mental gifts in life through a symbiosis of human brain cells and intelligent energy. Deep feelings generated by an eternal consciousness are conjoined with human emotion in the expression of one personality, which is as it should be. We don't need to change who we are in relation to life's experiences, only our negative reactions to these events. Asian Buddhists say enlightenment is seeing the absolute soul ego reflected in the relative human ego and acting through it during life.

In the chapters on beginning, intermediate, and advanced soul levels, I gave case samples of soul maturity. I think souls do demonstrate their own patterns of ego in the bodies they inhabit, and they exert a powerful influence over body performance. However, making hasty judgements on a soul's maturity based solely on behavioral traits has its pitfalls. The design plan of souls could include holding parts of their energy in reserve in some lives. Sometimes a negative trait is selected by an otherwise developed soul for special attention in a certain body.

We have seen how a soul selects the person with whom it wishes to associate in a given life. This does not mean that it has absolute control over that body. In extreme cases, a fractured personality struggling with internalized conflicts may result in a dissociative reaction to reality. I feel that this is a sign the soul is not always able to regulate and unify the human mind. I have mentioned how souls may become so buried by human emotion in bodies which are unstable, that by the time of death they are contaminated spirits. If we become obsessed by our physical bodies, or carried along on an emotional roller coaster in life, the soul can be subverted by its outer self.

Many great thinkers in history believed the soul can never be fully homogeneous with the human body and that humans have two intellects. I consider human ideas and imagination as emanating from the soul, which provides a catalyst for the human brain. How much reasoning power we would have without souls is impossible to know, but I feel that the attachment of souls to humans supplies us with insight and abstract thought. I view the soul as offering humans a qualitative reality, subject to conditions of heredity and environment.

If it is true that every human brain has a host of biological characteristics, including raw intelligence and the facility for invention, which are separate from the soul, then choosing our body raises an important question. Do souls choose bodies whose intellectual capabilities match their own development? For instance, are advanced souls drawn to human brains with high intelligence? In looking at the scholastic and academic achievements of my clients, I find there is no more correlation here than with an immature soul being inclined to bodies with lower intellectual aptitudes.

The philosopher Kant wrote that the human brain is only a function of consciousness, not the source of real knowledge. Regardless of body choice, I find souls do demonstrate their individualism through the human mind. A person may be highly intelligent and yet have a closed attitude about adjusting to new situations, with little curiosity about the world. This indicates a beginner soul to me. If I see someone with an evenness of mood, whose interests and abilities are solidly in focus and directed toward helping human progress, I suspect an advanced soul at work. These are souls who seek personal truths beyond the demands of ego.

It does seem a heavy burden that in every new life a soul must search all over again to find its true self in a different body. However, some light is allowed through the blackout of amnesia by spiritual masters who are not indifferent to our plight. When it comes to finding soulmates on Earth and remembering aspects of the lives we saw in the place of life selection, there is an ingenious form of coaching which is given to souls just before the next life. We will see how this is done in the following chapter.