Memories of God and Creation

[NamelessMonster]

I'm not sure whether any of you have heard of this book or not, but the author claims to have found the origin of the universe through hypnotherapy and past-life regression therapy. Through her therapty, she found says that she found consistant stories on the origin of the universe, God, and even "Lucifer. She claims that she did not to ask any leading questions, and even posted manuscripts of sessions.  Here is a quick review of the book

"Psychiatrist Shakuntala Modi has been in private practice for more than twenty-five years. During her training and in her practice, she realized that “no single treatment worked for every patient.” Despite learning various therapies, she was unable to help certain patients.
She used hypnotherapy when it seemed appropriate, and one day, a patient responded in an unexpected way and regressed into a past life. While under hypnosis, the patient resolved some issues from an earlier life that had created difficulties in her present life. Dr. Modi discovered that other patients had this same ability, and she published her findings in her first book, in 1997.
She has continued to work with patients, and Memories of God and Creation: Remembering from the Subconscious Mind, her third book, presents the startling results of her research.
Dr. Modi and her patients learned that they can not only regress to past lives, they can regress all the way back to when the universe was first formed and they were one with God. Under hypnosis, people have described how souls were created, how angels and masters were formed, and how evil and dark entities developed.
They also describe how souls, while still in Heaven, plan for their earthly lives with the help of teachers and masters. Souls reincarnate on Earth time and time again, always with the purpose of furthering their spiritual growth.
Dr. Modi doesn’t just tell us about all thisâ€"she includes dozens of transcripts of what people have said while under hypnosis. Although details may occasionally differ, the accounts are remarkably similar when taken as a whole. Within our subconscious is the memory all everything that has happened in the Universe from the instant it began until the present time.
Memories of God and Creation “answers almost everything we always wanted to know about God and creation, that is, how it happened and why, and everything since then. It is the history of our soul.” It’s a history that will fascinate and enlighten readers."

Now here are some links for more descriptions and comments on it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1571741968/ref

http://illuminati-news.com/000-spiritua ... /0901.html

I know this might sound silly, but I find this a little troubling. How did so many people come up with the same thing? Again, she even has manuscripts of her sessions with the people. This view on the origin of life also parallels certain Gnostic concepts, and the whole "bright light" thing mentioned in that last link fits nearly perfectly with Tibetan Buddhist. I have been sort of stuck in this whole spirituality/occult mess and want out. Stuff like this is keeping me trapped and filling me with doubt and worry, though. I would greatly appreciate some help to debunk this.

[penfold]

Stuff like this is keeping me trapped and filling me with doubt and worry, though. I would greatly appreciate some help to debunk this.

To be honest I am not even going to try and debunk this. I'm pretty happy rejecting it out of hand. You will always be able to find oddities, what Charles Fort referred to as 'damned data', and from these oddities pretty pictures can be drawn. But in terms of empiricism (ie trying to understand the universe as external to us) what is noticeable in most occultist writings is a lack of methodology. In terms of method a psychiatrist who is using 'past lives' as evidence for God's creation has more in common with a snake oil salesman than a scientist. If you are interested in why, wiki, as always, is a good place to start http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method.

I don't think 'spiritualism' or 'occultism' are necessarily bad ways of interacting with the world; though they most definately have the capacity to be. I myself use the practice of meditation; I find it helps keeping me mentally balanced (which living in the 21st C is surprisingly hard) â€" though I am not advocating it for anyone else.

If your beliefs are causing you suffering just let go of them. They are only beliefs, words in your head, they aren't important, you've just fooled yourself into thinking they are.

Be kind to yourself and others, be prepared to laugh, and accept that there will always be that which you cannot understand. The universe will continue as it has regardless. Enjoy it while you have the chance. In short, don't worry overmuch about this kind of thing.

peace and good fortune.

[Tanker]

Correct me if im wrong here but hasn't past life regression been proven to be psudo science nonsense and hypnotherapy only works if you allow it to. I've been hypnotised before I was fully aware of this the whole time. This guy is a money hungry quack and you should find a better source for inspiration.

[Gawen]

http://www.skepdic.com/pastlife.html
http://www.skepdic.com/hypnosis.html

[The Magic Pudding]

I would greatly appreciate some help to debunk this.

OK, I think you should review your medication and go for a walk.
Whenever you venture into the world of the fantastic, and you find yourself saying something like;
"her third book, presents the startling results of her research" take heed, you could be turning troll.

Within our subconscious is the memory all everything that has happened in the Universe from the instant it began until the present time.

Cool, so where are my keys?

[NamelessMonster]

But along with this there are a lot of spiritual movements that hint at the same sort of thing. Kabballah, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism and such. When I see a pattern like this turning up in every mystical movement, it makes me wonder if there is truth to it. I wish somebody would go investigate Shakuntala Modi themselves and try to expose her. If you google her name you can find where she works. Yes, it is most likely bunk. I am trying to get over my anxiety when it comes to stuff like this. I've been mixed up in researching spirituality for about a year now, and I'm trying to get away from it.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Hey, do you have any peer-reviewed data?

I could think of several explanations for the quackery herein.  It'd be much more interesting if this was reviewed by scientists in the relevant fields, i.e. psychiatry, psychology, physics, cosmology, astronomy, and so on.  

The fact that she'd publish her "findings" in a book, for profit, rather than a reputable peer-reviewed journal, causes me to be skeptical of any scientific underpinning for these silly claims.

[McQ]

Ditto to what Thump said. Peer reviewed journal publications carry quite a bit more weight than publishing a book that is, in essence, a load of [strike:1vguqapo]horsehit[/strike:1vguqapo], new age psychobabble. I found no recent publications for this doctor, although she is apparently actually a board certified psychiatrist in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Let's just say she's full of baloney and look instead for credible data on this. Oh wait, there isn't any. Never mind.

I don't think you'll find legitimate answers using this type of reference material. Seriously, you can't give this any credence.

[NamelessMonster]

I wish that a scientist would go in and analyze her methods, but currently she is nothing. the last book she published (the one in question) was a decade ago, and her methods must not be that ground breaking if nobody has said anything about here since the release of this book. That last article on it was released in 2007, but I don't expect much from a site named "Illuminati News".

[Kylyssa]

Unless the people involved in her "study" lived in the middle of the jungle and had never encountered anyone from the outside world it would be shocking if she got different results.  The world is steeped in religion!  People will come up with what they believe or what has wiggled its way into the subconscious mind.

[DropLogic]

I tried the hypnotherapy stuff one time.  It just felt like one of my narcolepsy episodes....a two hour long dream in the space of 5 minutes.

[NamelessMonster]

I posted this on the JREF and got some really good responses, one post pretty much destroying the author's credibility.

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=189635