The Book of the Soul
Rational Spirituality for the Twenty First Century
by Ian LawtonA Book Review by Reverse Spins
Wherever the father of science, Roger Bacon is right now, he is undoubtedly proud of author Ian Lawton. 750 years ago, Bacon sought to break the back of dogmatism, fanaticism and superstition within the prevalent religion of the day, Catholicism. Bacon was a deeply spiritual man. He wanted to free men from the Inquisitors. He hoped to enlighten mankind and pull Christianity, kicking and screaming, out of the dark ages. There would be a new danger however in the process. People might reject mysticism and spirituality in favor of the new science. But Bacon saw that one day science and religion would merge. The true mystical teachings and universal truths of the World's Religions would one day be verified by the empirical method.
The Book of the Soul fulfills such a purpose. I cannot say enough good things about this book. It is the only book I know of that combines all of the latest and past research on NDE's, past-life regression, childhood memories of past lives and between life experiences. It is scientific yet eminently readable. The author lays out an impressive case for the continuation of the soul.
He felt the need to write it because much of the research had been done in the United States and was not available elsewhere. We in America are fortunate that he included research from Australia, Europe and India as well. It is the complete package.
Mr. Lawton does an admirable job trying to be balanced. He addresses the concerns of skeptics answering their concerns and showing the weaknesses in their arguments. He seeks open and fair dialogue. I found it interesting that there was an explosion of past life regression research in the 70's. Often times the psychiatrists were unaware that others were pursuing the same goals. Many fell into the topic of NDE and past lives by accident. They were in fact resistant to these ideas. The following quote from British psychiatrist Alexander Cannon is fairly typical:
"For years the theory of reincarnation was a nightmare to me and I did my best to disprove it and even argued with my trance subjects to the effect that they were talking nonsense, and yet as the years went by one subject after another told me the same story in spite of different and varied conscious beliefs, in effect until now, well over a thousand cases have been so investigated and I have to admit that there is such a thing as reincarnation. It is therefore only right and proper that I should include this study as a branch of psychology, as my text bears witness to the great benefit many have received psychologically from discovering hidden complexes and fears which undoubtedly have been brought over by the astral body from past lives." p.74, The Book of the Soul.
The point is, these psychiatrists got results. This was the driving force for more research. In difficult cases, exposing the trauma from a past life worked miracles.
If someone is totally new to the subject of NDE's or reincarnation, then some of the other books on this site's Karma, Reincarnation and NDE page might be more suitable. The narrative style and personal experiences of some of these authors like Dannion Brinkley, Dr. Ritchie and Capt. Snow are slightly more readable. I would not hesitate to suggest this as a second book.
The author suggests that some readers might want to skip over some of the NDE and past-life stories that we are already familiar with. Not me. I had to drink it all in as I'm sure you will too.
William C. House
Editor, Reverse Spins
The author self published this quality book and is available at this time only at two places in England. It is not available in the United States:
2. The book is also available from the author at.
