I cannot quite put into words my utter detestation for the book, it's author, and all or most of mankind! Given to skepticism all my life I was always weary of any mention of this book. I would always argue that since this book has been around for a good long time and since we are yet to discover all that much compelling evidence about reincarnation, there's probably a snag somewhere. Which is why until recently I never thought about actually reading it.
Let me first tell you what caused me to overcome my inhibition. Someone very close to me is suffering from a bad bout of depression. One I was talking with her about the kind of psychiatrist she visits, she said that what she really needs is a session with Dr. Brian Weiss, that only he had the power to cure her. She has a masters in math, so I allow myself to be taken in. I immediately download the book on my kindle (it only costs about $2), get me a packet of chips, and set my teeth to it.
Let me stress here - I approached the book with a totally open mind. In fact, since none of us could afford a session with Dr. Weiss even if we sold a kidney apiece, I was very keen to actually learn something from it, so that maybe I could actually use it on her to good effect. I was suitably impressed when Dr. Weiss opened the narrative with his brilliant curriculum vitae and what a strong scientific mind he has. And I have nothing against the whole idea of reincarnation either. In fact, whenever I happen to find a show on it on the discovery channel or some such place, I would make sure to watch it.
When he began to describe in some detail he hypnotised Catherine for the first time, I was immediately fascinated and copied the entire thing in a note for reference. It was the 1853 BC thing that killed it for me. Why, Dr. Weiss? Had you merely said AD, maybe I would have been disenchanted a wee bit later. But you really couldn't wait, could you, glutton that you are? And then, as soon as the session ends, you immediately feel the need to inform the readers that you find that ape-shit baloney completely believable, even though you are the oh-so-scientific!
I am understandably shaken, but I decide to wait for the scientific explanation that would soon follow. So, I bite the bullet (or gulp down two beers) and resume with the book. But, after reading some twenty more pages of it, it seems that it goes only one way - downhill. Just when Catherine starts to choke as she recalls her throat being slit in a boat by none other than her current abusive boyfriend, I decide that enough is enough and that it will never get any more scientific than an episode of Monty Python.
That night, I was so livid that I barely remember what I did. I faintly recollect having plonked my kindle down hard on the cheap coir mattress that is my bed and wishing Dr. Weiss' immediate demise and reincarnation with his face glued to his butt. But then, next morning when I regained my composure, I began to wonder - what wrong did Dr. Weiss really do? Or, if a fault had been committed, who exactly was the perpetrator of it? Is Dr. Weiss a scientific man? Yes, and I couldn't agree more. Is Dr. Weiss a good psychiatrist? He's an excellent one! He knows exactly what people want, and he gives it them by the truckloads. When he starts to talk about Catherine, he knows that his readers are immediately going to start judging her, so he wastes no time in telling us how beautiful Catherine is. And then, since he knows that not everyone is taken in by mere good looks alone, he at once jumps to how Catherine is abused in the hands of her own father, which is now getting a little old, really. But then, a better construct for garnering sympathy has seldom been engineered, and he is certain that he has the rapt attention of everyone present.
From here follows a tale so bizarre as to put a pot-headed hippie to shame. Some stories are straight, some circular, and still others, elaborately ornate. This one is shaped somewhat like a Klein bottle. I did not stick around for the greater part of it, but I do believe that for once Twilight is a better love story! Even the end is pure genius - when it comes to squeezing out the tears from your hapless readers there is nothing more potent than the murdered child - the child of the tormented female protagonist of unearthly beauty. Dr. Weiss could count his dollars even before the whole of his plot hatched!
And yet, as I write this scathing review, I feel that something is not quite right. And that feeling of inadequacy comes from the mention of the 1853 BC. If he wished his readers to seriously believe what he wrote, why did he feel compelled to make such a blatant and obvious fib about something so unrelated to the rest of the story? If Catherine heard the dates in the wind, surely the wind would know better than to stick to the Georgian calendar? Or the utter nonsensical notion that someone in 1853 BC would know that the year as 1853 BC (for chirssake)! My best guess is that this is Dr. Weiss' plea for absolution. He is telling his readers - look, this here is absolute horsecrap, and if you choose to believe in it, so much the worse for you. For whatever that happens to you henceforth, the entire liability is yours, not mine! I actually respect Dr. Weiss for this honest admission of guilt, and this is why I struggle to find fault with him.
Then who is to blame? Why, mankind, of course! Right now, it's more fashionable than ever before to turn atheist all of a sudden. When people look at the less developed nations and the religious extremism and mania that ties them, they are shocked and disgusted. This piece of fiction here just gives a perfect insight into how the whole thing works - why men and women ever since civilisation happened have found it easier to believe in bearded beings of the sky, ten armed goddesses, or men giving birth to women out their ribs than the most obvious piece of common sense. Or why somebody like Hitler can dupe an entire nation into killing 6 million for no good reason. People always find it so much easier when their is somebody to think their thoughts out for them, and nothing beats the sheer comfort of knowing that whatever mistakes you made, or howsoever bad your life turned out to be is the result of forces beyond your control.
In a way, I owe a lot to this book. Having been an atheist most of my life, I have often been bothered by doubts such as what if it's all true what they say about god and religion, or can so many people all throughout history be wrong? This book reinstates my confidence in what I stand for, the right to thwart the attempts at deceit by other people an organisations, since this book is one of the best depiction of the way these powers work. And no, it does absolutely nothing to dissipate my interest in reincarnation, and once I finish posting this I will search for afterlife and rebirth on YouTube and binge-watch anything and everything remotely relevant.
Yours sincerely,
Jude
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