Many Lives, Many Masters » (Abridged)

Brian L. Weiss, M.D., a graduate of Columbia University and Yale Medical School, is Chairman Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. Dr. Weiss is the author of many books, including the bestselling Many Lives, Many Masters and Through Time into Healing. In addition, he conducts national and international seminars and experiential workshops as well as training programs for professionals. He maintains a private practice in Miami.

Dr. Brian Weiss is a highly respected psychiatrist from the mainstream of the medical establishment. Catherine is one of his most difficult cases, a twenty-seven year old woman racked by phobias and anxieties. In the course of Catherine's treatment, Dr. Weiss makes a startling discovery. Under hypnosis, she recollects, in vivid detail, events from past lives ranging from the prehistoric times and ancient Egypt to the 20th Century and the fires of World War II. Encouraging Catherine to relive her most painful experienceeven her moments of deathDr. Weiss steers her toward recovery, while his own life is dramatically changed forever.

In Many Lives, Many Masters, Dr. Weiss tells the true story of Catherine her many existences, her remarkable therapy sessions, and the vision she revealed of the human mind and soul.

Publishers Weekly

In 1980, Weiss, head of the psychiatry department at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, began treating Catherine, a 27-year-old woman plagued by anxiety, depression and phobias. When Weiss turned to hypnosis to help Catherine remember repressed childhood traumas, what emerged were the patient's descriptions of a dozen or so of her hitherto unknown 86 past lives, as well as philosophical messages channeled from ``Master Spirits.'' Catherine's anxieties and phobias soon disappeared, says Weiss, and she was able to end therapy. The previously nonspiritual, scientific Weiss, awed by Catherine's and the masters' revelations, has written this book to share his new-found knowledge about ``immortality and the true meaning of life.'' Whether or not one believes in reincarnation and channeling, Weiss's book will disappoint. Catherine's descriptions of her past lives are not particularly compelling or insightful. Moreover, the teachings of the Master Spirits (``We are not to kill. . . . Only God can punish,'' ``Charity, hope, faith, love . . . we must all know these things,'' and ``Our body is just a vehicle for us while we're here. It is our soul and our spirit that last forever''), while admirable and comforting, are little more than restatements of traditional religious values. (July)