Hi,
yes it seems there are some issues that not go together well when comparing Newton with Monroe and Bruce. As in every case, we don't know what exactly causes these differences. It may even be that all this stuff is true for the person who gets it, but not true for everyone. There can be different ways to read it, and there can be different layers of reality.

Me I see that a soul "there", able to be aware of all their incarnations, must be something very different than a person here on earth. From that a soul group is probably not the same, likely not even very similar as/to a group of old friends here in the physical. Further, if there are soul groups, and interaction, souls are not like atoms. Interactions/communication over there is (or can be) for sure deeper than most communication we have between incarnated persons, so that we even must consider the possibility of mergings over there. Btw, as far as I remember, Newton wrote only some vague notes about how souls initially were created, so that leaves some space for speculation, of their origin as well as their destiny.

I think generally we have to leave space for possibilities we cannot see from here in the physical, which we have no words for and no thought-system. Our terms might be not very good to describe everything.


Spooky

Be careful with what you read, Dude.  Newton is a hypnotherapist.  His information was all received when the hypnotized patient is very prone to suggesitons.  If he asks leading questions about past lives or pre-life, he may hear what he wants to hear.  Our own hypnotherapist, Dave-MBS does not ask as many leading questions, so his experiences are likely more reliable - in a purely scientific sense.  Still there are counter arguments to the validity of past life regression you should be aware of:

First, is the possibility that what one is led to is not a past life, but a merging of your soul with the memories of someone in your disc or soul cluster.  When you open the door and look into that life, you may be seeing out of another's eyes, but so immersed that you assume it was yourself in a past life. 

Second, when one explores either with meditation, hemisync or OOB, one is often alert and in control.  When one is hypnotized, one is extremely relaxed but taking cues/directions from the hypnotherapist.  Thus, the data may or may not be accurate.  Remember when young children were interviewed about possible child abuse at their daycare center out West a few years ago.  Later on, it was proved that nothing bad happened.  However, the prosecutors grilled the kids so often, that their minds filled in the blanks and made up scenes of abuse that really did not occur.  A suggestible mind may make mistakes.

Third, is my favorite, and that is the fact that the artificial boundaries we draw are meaningless in the grand scale of things.  There is a unity of all things.  Everything that seems separate, opposing ideas in the physical really share a common nature, and everyone is a spark of God/the divine.  Thus, does it really matter if you name a group as a soul cluster or a disc?  In the end, there is still duality in those definitions, and in order spiritually mature you will, at some point recognize that all consciousness, indeed all manifestation is one.  Thus does Bruce's disc merge into a higher disc, and up several levels until you reach the godhead, and find that we are all one being. 

I find the idea of my soul reincarnating again and again with a wiped memory to be quite problematic.  I could understand the point, if I were to reincarnate with valuable past life knowledge available, and sort of accumulate vasts amount of wisdom and experience.  The problem with the simplistic notion of reincarnation is that it hinges on "getting it right or getting it wrong," as our reason for living.  Most of my intuitive knowledge tells me that, while our ultimate goal is to move closer to God, closer to universal love, that we really wouldn't reincarnate to "get it right" the next time.  There are too many ways to learn and love on the spiritual plane. 

Several mystic sources deny the routine reincarnation process as one that happens regularly; others like Newton disagree.  I'm still on the fence about it myself, and as I said it is possible that while merging with memories of another, we get so "into it," that we feel and say that it is our own past life. 

M
*****************
Be careful here, Doc. Like most things, this is a double-edged
sword...
You'd prefer to believe in one life, then you stay in the "world
of the undead" forever. And that's O.K. EXCEPT...
If you get what you want... what about the autistic... the schizophrenic...
OR the poor schlub living in a 3rd World nation who's too dumb to
ever hope for anything more than a gray life of back-breaking
menial labor...
For them, SUCCESS on the Earth plane will always be a deep, dark
MYSTERY... they will never get to know what the awesome life of
a "top dog" on Earth is like. Something perhaps, to gnaw at their
guts for all eternity... that all they ever got to know, was the pain
and boredom of being a LOSER, a cipher, a nebbish. (Worse yet,
in this scheme - it may be that "the tree lies as it has fallen" and
you'll be a nebbish... an object of contempt... a SLAVE maybe
even, to your "disk-mates" for the next googolplex to the googoleth
power eons plus infinity! ) You might not be capable of change, or
self-improvement in this situation... EVER!!!
Sound like fun, Doc???
If Newton is right on the other hand...
We ALL get to be "Somebody" at least once!
And even better...
What if BOTH "you only go 'round once" AND reincarnation are
true? That you can CHOOSE which afterdeath fate suits you
better? (And it would be best of all for me, if true death/oblivion
constituted a THIRD choice..!)

B-man

Maybe that guy that came up missing Taylor Kramer..he used to be in Iron Butterfly and went on to work for the goverment on arms. He then started his own company and started invinting a way to control gravity. He was either killed or commited suicide. Interesting story about him you should read that, because he was onto something, he read a book alot like Monroes stuff also before he dissapered.

Suppose you died, and were surrounded by light and love.  The love was not judgemental, but in reviewing your life, you saw/felt all the slights and hurt you may have done to others in your quest to be a material success.  How would you feel?

"That a*(&Y*x deserved it," you might say, but surrounded by such love, you would feel remorse, perhaps unworthy of that love.  This is the idea many New Agers have about the afterlife. 

In order to meet jerks in spirit, you would have to be on a plane where they interacted - a hell you willingly went into for your own reasons. 

We all have the same subconscious, Chum.  Irrational, symbolic, at times it seems idiotic.  Swedenborg and others do not say this is our true self.  Merely that your true self is your soul without the mask of civility you put on for show.  Some do good deeds because others are watching them, to put on an image.  In the afterlife, they can't do things for show.  This is different than our shared blubbering subconscious minds.

The subconscious is our connection to the universe and power.  But it does not think, does not make decisions.  It reacts to our deepest beliefs.  It is not our real self.


M

This is my problem with the idea of reincarnation (or one of them).  Reincarnation implies that we come down to earth to "get it right."  That if we, in spirit wanted to change, it would not be as sincere, as if our memories were wiped, and we naturally acted more loving on earth.  I don't buy into that argument, because as human beings we are far too complex to take a schoolboy type of test and "get it right."  Our lives are so rich both for the errors we learn from and the love we give spontaneously.  We are brilliant beings, despite all our flaws.

Thus, I see no reason this "memory wipe, get it right" idea of reincarnation would be part of a divine plan.  Now if I, as an immortal spirit decided to dive down to the earth plane and willingly play out a game - that would be something else completely. 

We are our own harshest critics.  Part of being a mature soul on earth is to accept our flaws, shortcomings and mistakes.  We strive for the better but don't deny our true essence or nature - that would be unnatural. 

I think one blessing of this type of personal acceptance would be a willingness to be surrounded by love in spirit, and not feel unworthy.  Sure we all made mistakes, acted in anger or jealousy, etc.   But that was part of our nature along with our selfless and loving tendencies. 

My 2 cents

M

Yo Dude!
Doc is 100% correct in his caution. I like Michael Newton from a casual meeting - he signed my copies of his books and gave a talk at the IARRT. He does prolonged sessions, whcih I also like, although I can't get people to sit still for that long. PLR is real work, and about 2 hours worth is generally plenty.Incidetly, Newton has a competent PhD and is a scientist (medical related if memory serves) in his own right. (So am I, incidently, social science and methodology) the label "hypnotherapist" is a legal matter.

Michael Newton has uncovered a good deal of useful information. I suggest you take it on face value and then make your decisions aas to how generalizable it might be.

Newton's methodology has always left me with a strong sense of caution. He uses leading and directive words, "Go to the group to which you belong." might be a typical direction. OK, so we invent a group and go there. If you read his books you'll notice that they give an excellent image of Newton's own beliefs and feelings, while they are uncertain about the range of variability for his clients.

Here's a couple of the things that I personally feel important: (1) to lead to the general area, but not to restrict, not to direct, not to imply, just ask questions like, "And now, what do you feel is taking place?" - (2) tell it like it is regardless of whether it "makes sense" - Bruce sees things hooked together by "disks", one of which terminated in Snidely Whiplash. Great! He told what he experienced. That is ever so much more useful than to be told, "Yes, now go to your group when you are being evaluated." and then try to figure out how much crap there is among the real data. For example, maybe there is no group to which to go. - (3) If you have a theory, call it such. For example, based on the nature of his retrievals, Bruce has described characteristic things such as BSTs and attachments to ego, fear etc that seem to have restricted many souls to an unhappy or suboptimal state. He tells it like that, giving his reasons. He does no claim that his data are the Be-All nor End-All of psychical research. nstead, he suggests that we go there ourselves and look. - (4) I have helped people acquire spirit guides (lots of spooks would like a part time job!) and psychic assistants, and so on. The popular notion that everyone has a spirit guide or guardian angel or whatever is just that, a popular belief. It has yet to be tested. My observation is that it just isn't true. However, the important thing is to look for yourself and make your own decision, because that's only my OPINION, and not a FACT.

All that having been said, I like Michael Newton's boks and believe that he has been instrumental in opening doors to new experiences for many All of us are open to methodological criticism so that's just a matter of being aware. I also like Bruce's books, and I think that Bruce has developed his resources far better - there's no Michael Newton Past Life Forum - or if there is, I haven't found it yet. In fact, he won;t even respond to my letters.

dave

I too find the idea of me-who I am percieved to be right now here on earth-with my unique personality, to have to start over a new life and potentially wipe out my current personality.  I feel like this is not a personality I had before this life, but one I aquired throughout my life expeirences that is constantly growing and learning.  I am more in tune with the idea that we are connected to a higher consciousness in which me, this personality, only has one earth life, but since we are essentially connected to these other aspecs of our higher self, they may go and learn and experience different things than me, but I am also learning these things and growing because we are connected, we are one.  Going with this idea, I also believe that when we move on to new levels of consciousness and become closer to simply becoming everything, becoming the whole, we gain the new lessons, experiences, and knowledge that every conscious being has ever experienced.