| My Book Reviews |
| Mysteries - Colin Wilson I came to this book after a period when my interest into the paranormal had stagnated, but which had been reignited by the completely crazy(Well it seemed to me then) belief that there was something worth investigating in the idea of reincarnation. To me this was an intellectually exciting time and I felt I was truly beginning to open my mind to the full range of the paranormal field. It was in this exact state of mind that I discovered Mysteries and Colin Wilson as a writer. Mysteries was bursting with ideas and energy, reaching out enthusiastically in every direction and I found it catching. To me it was the closest to a page turning thriller as you can get in a non fiction. But in just that way that it kept you on the edge of your seat, it's downfall came when it has to eventually reveal whodunit at the end and that of course it couldn't do. In fact the whole book is a collection of promising leads that look like they're going to explain the whole paranormal field that just end up like a mess of loose ends. That Wilson or his editors were aware of this, is reflected in the rather poor title of Mysteries, that made it sound like one of those slung together collections of scary stories. But it's strength lies in the bringing of this information to a wider audience, rather than attempting to present neat answers to things which there are no simple answers to. And for me personally all those loose ends acted as a springboard for me to investigate the subjects myself, which I have been doing ever since. The other thing Mysteries that did for me was introduce me to the other writings of Colin Wilson and two particular books Poltergeist and Afterlife. In these books the excitement was now under control and the down to earth analysis of the whole history and nature of these phenomena proved extremely formative in my understanding of things 'non material'. He believes something survives bodily death but he does not go all gooey and silly over it, his extremely calm and practical approach is an attitude that I immediately warmed to. To conclude my feelings towards Mysteries are of disappointment and so I have not visited it often, but I do see it as important book in my own personal development. There were however other things in it that just passed ne by. His interest in Gurdjeff and Ouspensky smacked of the stuff of cults and I never chased them up. There is also one memorable description of Sex, that if done properly can create a state of sublime ecstasy of a quasi-mystical kind. I do believe this argument has some relevance to it, but I do think is going a bit over the top, or is it that I'm just not that good at it! |
| 20 Cases suggestive of Reincarnation - Ian Stevenson Hardly a catchy title huh! This book didn't accidentally fall through the cracks,it was designed to.Absolutely no attempt was made to make the knowledge presentable to a wider audience.It was obviously written to be read by scientists and academics,but if he expected them to listen he was a little bit naive. The premise of the book was to examine the reality of Reincarnation through the strongest evidence for it, which are the cases involving very young children from about two years old remembering past lives.The 20 cases he presents to us read like a detectives notebook.He plods meticulously case through case in such a dry and dull manner that I found it hard work to read. But it was the explosive nature of subject matter that kept me going, and what he demonstrated quite clearly was that the four 'rational' explanations for the phenomena, Cryptoamnesia, fantasy, fraud and contamination of knowledge of the dead persons identity were untenable. With the character of a true scientist he refuses to give a final definition on the phenomena. But I'm not one and will argue that the information presented in this book is clearly the most powerful and persuasive reason to accept reincarnation. And personally after years of contemplating and researching it,that's exactly what I believe is happening. We reincarnate,and we've always been reincarnating,it is as fundamental part of life as breathing. Since coming to this conclusion I still have no affiliation to any particular religious group and try to view it in as detached manner as possible, but I cannot avoid the conclusion that it serves a moral and spiritual purpose. Two of the abiding things I have taken from this book are firstly the patterns that are revealed,they are stronger evidence than even the strongest individual case and secondly all these cases themselves are suggestive of a malfunctioning of the process.The idea of the 'old self' surfacing in a new body in completely different circumstances presenting emotional and spiritual problems for the individual and all the families concerned, just sounds like a mistake to me. For those people who believe in a religion in which reincarnation is involved,this kind of mistake doesn't smack of an all powerful divine presence or process controlling everything, but something similar to Genetics which of course as we know goes wrong from time to time. Fascinating stuff! Note I feel I've simplified my views of reincarnation in this piece and I will eventually write an article to explain myself more clearly. |
| Books reviewed on this page are |
| Mysteries - Colin Wilson |
| 20 Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation - Ian Stevenson |
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