Winston Smith
Flunked Scientology
Re: Life Between Lives — Dr. Michael Newton
I used to have life between girlfriends, but it wasn't very fun.
I used to have life between girlfriends, but it wasn't very fun.
I used to have life between girlfriends, but it wasn't very fun.
That's certainly something, and much better than having no-one else at all to replicate Newton's findings. But I wonder, how many hypnotherapists are there? Is 32 a substantial fraction, or a minuscule sampling?
I'd be surprised if 32 were a larger fraction than one or two percent of the total practitioner pool, just because if there were less than a few thousand hypnotherapists in the world, even if we only count the ones who attempt some form of past life regression, then I'd probably never have even heard of the practice before, and I have. But this is a crude estimate and it could be wrong.
Maybe there are really a substantial fraction of relevant hypnotherapists who all find stuff just like Newton reports, and he just picked 32 of them for his latest book. That would be a reasonable thing to do, since hundreds of case studies would be a tedious book to read.
But if 32 were all he could scrape together who were willing to go along with him at all, then I'm afraid that's a small enough number, that it could easily just represent the number of people who wanted to get in on a good racket.
So what I'm really looking for would be conventions or newsletters for hypnotherapists, where professional audiences of hundreds are all saying, Hey, this Newton guy has made sense of a lot of stuff that we've all been seeing! That wouldn't be at all unrealistic, if Newton's claims were true, right? When a really effective new technique emerges in a professional discipline, that's how you see it taking off and being accepted.
Could be that word is still just getting around, I suppose. But it's been a few years now.
Anyway, the point is that 32 is good as far as it goes, but as far as the issue I'm raising is concerned, it's nothing. Hypnotic past life regression has been a fairly widespread practice for decades now. I think there must be thousands of practitioners worldwide. If most of them had been seeing similar stuff for all this time, then Newton's book would have swept the whole movement like a wildfire. Has this happened? Or is he just pulling in a few people?
snip. Why is it no longer individuals and why do we so often find it being a machine doing the work of some overwhelmer. What happened to the 'self identity' and where did it go? It's all supposed to be mostly accidental or like in a milazzo list of reasons a cluster is formed? Naw.Look around yu at the solid things and see if you can spot any part of it that used to be 'alive'. And that can be looking for trouble on occasion.
No. I don't care to retract it. I already knew Castaneda to be kinky. There's a woman here in Tucson, (where he purportedly lived in his latter years), whom he came on to when they both lived in NYC. So what? You named about six people who were involved in some less than Ozzie and Harriet moments with Carlos. Oh horrors!! How does that compare with the thousands of people whose lives were smashed, whose families were torn apart, who were bankrupted, who were put in chain lockers and dungeons, who committed suicide, etc. after being hornswaggled by LRH? Is there an Anonymous picketing Castaneda's organization? Is there an army of lawyers defending him? Is there an Ex-Castaneda Message Board? The harm of Hubbard spans the globe. The shenanigans of Castaneda are confined mostly to Arizona and California; and most people never heard of him. I never saw one expose of C.C. on TV. There's no comparison.
Monday, 10 May 2010
Dr Michael Newton: Spirit Realm Trailblazer Or Fraud?
People who know me well or who read this blog know I am a great advocate of the work and findings of Dr Michael Newton (MN).
Recently, there have been an increasing number of signs around me that seems to validate what MN postulates in his books yet, the skeptic within compels me to scour the www to seek any articles that refutes MN convincingly.
Well, not only has Google not found any "convincing" counters to MN, I do not remember seeing a single article that refutes him. To me, this is pretty amazing considering the power of Google. I am now more convinced that more people must read his two books, "Journey of Souls" and "Destiny of Souls". The books are available free online too but I would suggest getting and keeping personal copies from the bookshop.
The interesting article below is extracted (without permission) from the website of someone named Larry Carter...another skeptic. I found it when Googling for "Michael Newton and fraud". Please read:
The Spirit World
OK, this is something I've never done before. I don't put bumper stickers on my car - I don't even wear t-shirts with messages on them - so this is as close as I've ever come to proselytizing. However, after 50 years of exploring the great and not-so-great religions of the world, I finally found something regarding the afterlife that makes sense to me. (If an afterlife where some souls play harp all day while others are poked by demons with pitchforks sounds to you like a "Saturday Night Live" skit, you know what I mean.) So, I'm taking a chance and sharing what I've learned in hopes that it might be important to someone else as well.
The basics
Michael Newton is a hypnotherapist, meaning his expertise as a therapist is hypnotizing people to help them recall and resolve hidden memories (childhood abuse, for instance) that are resurfacing as adult problems. As he developed a technique for leading people into deeper and deeper trance states, he discovered that with some particularly sensitive people he was able to get beyond their ego bodies and converse with their immortal souls through past life regression. (If you don't think you have an immortal soul that has reincarnated in numerous bodies, you might as well stop reading right now. If, however, you think you do have an immortal soul, why shouldn't it be able to speak for itself when your physical body is placed in a deep enough trance?) As he developed his technique further, instead of focusing on just past lives he began asking them to describe the time between lives - after death but before incarnating in a new body. Through thousands of such sessions over 30 years of work, he pieced together a view of the spirit world that is very specific and revealing.
New Age mumbo-jumbo
I don't generally pay much attention to people who relate near-death or past-life experiences because, frankly, it all sounds like New Age mumbo-jumbo to me. Near-death experiences (lights at the end of tunnels and such) are by definition NEAR death rather than the real thing, so any observations from someone who "came back" might be based on their physical body reacting to trauma. Past-life memories make a certain amount of sense to me since I believe in reincarnation, but they are also susceptible to current-life egos - like all those people who insist they were someone famous like Cleopatra.
This, however, is something different. If Newton is telling the truth, thousands of people from very different spiritual backgrounds - from atheists to religious zealots - all give about the SAME DETAILS under deep hypnosis of what it is like in the spirit world. These details are far, far too specific to be explained as mere ego fantasies or coincidences, and since he claims to ask non-directive open-ended questions during hypnosis, the consistency of what he claims they report is startling. It is the CONSISTENCY OF DETAILS reported by thousands of very different clients that is most persuasive for me.
Fact or fraud?
Since his books include actual transcripts of hypnotherapy sessions where clients are reporting details regarding the spirit world, what it comes down to is that either these transcripts are real or he's just making the whole thing up. If this is all a hoax, it is an extremely elaborate one that he has somehow managed to carry on for decades. His books have sold around half a million copies over the last 13 years, so critics have had plenty of time and reason to expose any fraud. Given the thousands of people he claims to have personally had sessions with since the 1970s, and given that he has trained other hypnotherapists who have used his technique on countless more people, it seems unlikely to me that he would be able to maintain such an elaborate hoax over such a long period of time without someone, somewhere exposing any fraud. Although he certainly has his critics, I haven't been able to find anything that actually debunks his research claims. IF YOU CAN, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. Until that point, I'm inclined to put my SKEPTICISM (see below) aside and assume that the session transcripts he includes in his books really happened.
It - like - resonates with me, man!
There is an important qualifier: I suspect the spirit world is actually beyond human comprehension (why should the way it REALLY is be limited to what we can comprehend with human brains?), so I suspect any discussion of life after death relates to what REALLY happens in the same way that a kindergarten class in learning to count relates to advanced algebra. Given this limitation, however, this explanation is the first one I've heard that (as they say in California) resonates with me. Further, it seems quite compatible with what I consider to be the underlying assumptions of all peaceful world religions - being kind to others, practicing forgiveness, living a life of service, accepting consequences for decisions that hurt others, requesting spiritual guidance, believing the soul outlives the body, seeing spirit in all matter, striving toward the One, etc.
Leap of faith
Therefore, I'm willing to take the leap of faith and say that, despite some unanswered questions, this is what I believe. If you are interested in knowing what he has to say, a good place to start might be a 30-minute interview with him that someone posted on YouTube.Com. Click HERE or, if that doesn't work, go to www.YouTube.Com and search for "Michael Newton between lives." If the interview appeals to you, you might want to read one of his books - particularly Journey of Souls or Destiny of Souls. They basically amount to transcripts from his hypno-therapy sessions, plus commentary by him. His third book is an instruction handbook for other hypnotherapists interested in learning his technique. Used copies of his books are readily available from places like www.Amazon.Com for under $10.
And there you have it.
Larry, November 2007
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Postcript #1: My SKEPTICISM is based on the following:
1) As a PhD, Newton is very familiar with the rigors of academic research, so what's with the total lack of substantiation for his claims? If this isn't a hoax, his findings are monumental and deserve academic validation - independent reviews of session tapes, for example. If he can include transcripts in his books, he should be able to make the original tapes available for peer review. Anecdotal evidence is interesting for the casual reader, but doesn't really validate his claims. On the other hand - perhaps he just isn't interested in convincing skeptical academics.
2) As a playwright myself who has struggled with writing dialogue, his transcripts don't sound very real. Perhaps that's because the subjects are in deep hypnosis, or because at the soul-level we all sound alike, or because he has edited the transcripts to make them more readable without altering the actual content - or perhaps it's because he's making the transcripts up as he goes.
3) Hypnotism is hardly new - some say it has been commonly practiced by Shamans and healers for thousands of years - so why is he the first person to tell us this specific information? Granted, he claims to have developed hypnosis techniques that allow him to go deeper into the trance state than normal, but even this doesn't sound all that unique. Given how exacting his information is, why haven't these very specific details found their way into numerous tribal mythologies? On the other hand, New Age enthusiasts insist that THIS is the most critical time in human history, and that we should expect spiritual messengers to be among us to lead us into the "new age" of our development.
4) Despite the above reservations, the way he describes the spirit world sounds very convincing to me. Ironically, it is SO convincing that it makes me suspicious. If I were to create a hoax regarding the spirit world, his multi-tiered system of non-judgmental educational development is about how I would have designed it myself. In other words, I am suspicious of being seduced by a vision that is so similar to what I would have created if I had been writing fiction. I realize this is a double-bind, but so be it.
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Postscript #2 - Here are a couple of interesting REVIEWS I found on Amazon.Com from people who claim to have undergone hypnotherapy from either Newton or someone trained by him. Although plenty of reviewers disagreed with him, I didn't find any that disputed the integrity of his claims.
Review #1 - It is the truth and he is legitimate, January 2, 2002
By Reviewer "draiguisge" (Seattle, WA)
I first read Journey of Souls a few years ago, and had the same feeling of resonance that many reviewers did. But I wasn't convinced and still wanted to know more. I wrote to a reviewer on this site who had visited him, and following her suggestion, wrote to Dr. Newton for an appointment. At the time, he had a three-year waiting list, and was seeing about 2-3 clients a week. I saw him just before Destiny of Souls was completed, and while I did not experience my memories with the same clarity the subjects in his book did, I can say with utter certainty that Dr. Newton is not making it up, and is not manipulating his readers.
From my conversations with him, I have found him to be very intelligent, caring, funny, and honest. My experience in hypnosis was a bit unsettling for me, as much as the skeptic in me wanted to dismiss the truths I had learned about myself, I could not attribute my memories to anything that I had seen in his books or elsewhere. Nor did he plant the ideas in my head. He is absolutely the stubborn investigator he describes in his books and challenged the things I said, questioned me during the session, compared to things I had said earlier to make sure I was still saying the same things. Then, at the end of the session told me where I had said something similar to his other clients that had not been in Journey of Souls (but is now in Destiny), such as my detailed explanation of the medallion worn by one of the "Council" members.
In retrospect, I think the most amazing thing about my session was my casual attitude - as I talked about "unbelievable" things like hybrid souls I might as well have been telling him "the sky is blue" with the nonchalant way I felt. In fact, a few times I did get frustrated with his questioning, the same way someone would if challenged with "No, the sky is GREEN". What I was saying felt then, as it does now, to be nothing but pure and simple truth.
For the further skeptical, my small claim to fame is that one of his "One of my clients said.." comments to illustrate a point about soul names was something I told him after my session. So I know that whenever he says a client said something, they did.
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Review #2 - My Experience of Life Between Life, May 26, 2007
By Reviewer "miteyoak" (Sacramento, CA)
I read this book almost 10 years ago, and it totally made sense with the way that I had always believed. I signed up to be on the waiting list for a regression, and I received a letter stating there was an 18 month or so waiting list. I only lived about an hour away from Grass Valley. I never heard anything. Then, about 5 years ago, I had a life between life regression from somebody who was trained by Newton. I had always wondered if I would lose my will and hypnosis would make me cluck like a chicken or if they would plant suggestions, but it isn't like that at all. First, they relax you and then they will ask you a question about what you see. I really saw things -- not always as clear as if I was watching TV -- but, I was able to get images and information and feel real feelings -- it was a very real experience. And, there isn't any way that my conscious mind could have fabricated what I saw. The whole process was mind blowing, and yet it eased my mind. I really went before a council of elders, and the some of the issues I had then are still issues in this life. I wouldn't have been able to make the link at the time -- and even during the process. It is only now -- several years later -- that I can see the pattern and see its relevance. It is hard to process everything all at once.
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Postscript #3 - Having recently read Newton's 3rd book (basically an instruction manual for how experts already trained in hypnosis and therapy can use his technique) I am even more convinced that he is telling the truth as he sees it. After all, if he had made up all of these session dialogues up as a hoax, it seems highly unlikely that he would start a school to train other hypnotherapists on how to use his technique.
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Postscript #4 - I find Newton's research to be compatible with the wide variety of spiritual practices I enjoy exploring. Below are links to some of my personal favorites.
A Chat With...Dr. Michael Newton
A Chat With:
Dr. Michael Newton.
Author, trail blazer, hypnotherapist and for more than thirty years a Life Between Lives pioneer and researcher. His books, Journey of Souls, Destiny of Souls and Life Between Lives have been translated into 30 languages and are sold worldwide. In addition the Institute bearing his name, and carrying on his work – T.N.I. The Newton Institute, is now in 22 countries.
Born in Los Angeles, California, as a child Dr. Newton knew he had a purpose, “I always knew I had something to do for humanity. One major thing. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew I had a purpose. I thought everyone did. As a youngster I’d go on long hikes in the Hollywood Hills – it was much quieter in those days –and flashes of pre-cognition would come into my mind. Occasionally at night, I’d dream of a genderless divine spirit kind of watching me – telling me to prepare myself to be mentally strong -but of course I didn’t know then that this was my spirit guide”.
That understanding allowed him to follow his instincts later in life despite his training as a counselling psychologist/hypnotherapist. In the l960s when a client inadvertently went into a past life even though he was not sure about the validity of the journey, he didn't dismiss the process, the regression itself or the results. Later, in l968, he had his first life between life case that was also a surprise. This experience is described his new book, Memories of the Afterlife. Subsequently, his life work became working exclusively with life between lives although this was way before any great awareness of the innerliife , “My colleagues thought I’d lost my marbles, and they’d say - Michael’s such a good therapist, it’s a shame he’s gone all new-agey” he adds with a grin.
With his subsequent work in the 70’s and 80’s researching and documenting the life between life cases that would become the basis of his book Journey of Souls, he knew that unless he had a solid body of casework that could prove the existence of a time between lifetimes, the whole idea would be dismissed. There was a fear of death, with the thought that death meant going into oblivion , that a person would lose their ‘personhood’. “Right up to the 1980’s even practitioners who were working with past lives thought. that there was nothing they could find between lifetimes. They may have been influenced by the Buddhist premise that there's nothing between our reincarnations. Like a candle going out, and then being re-lit. One life just followed another,"
His main contribution to the world of therapy and healing, has been the understanding
that we each have a soul character which combined with different brain circuitry, nervous system and temperament each time we inhabit a body, enables the soul to learn, and become more enlightened each lifetime. The Life Between Lives enables us to solve the major questions of Who am I? Where did I come from? and Where am I going? “This ,I believe, is my main contribution to humanity” explains Dr. Newton. “My hope for the future is that more traditional forms of psychotherapy will use our methods to help their clients heal more quickly and more effectively.
Since those early days of pioneering alone, thanks to Dr. Newton’s vision and work,
our awareness has changed. I trained with him in 2006, which was one of the last times he attended a training program. I was amazed that this very forthright, down-to-earth gentleman, who at one time didn’t believe in ghosts, could be the same person who had devoted his life to researching and recording the Interlife. It seemed such a dichotomy from previous trainings I had attended elsewhere. My mistake! He is profoundly thoughtful, and dedicated to detail – like the necessity to take the client into really deep hypnosis “Otherwise it’s the conscious ego speaking, not the soul.” We learned our lessons well at that training. We dared not to!
Now 78 years old, Dr. Newton is slowing down – coasting and resting. Spending time with the love of his life for 55 years, wife Peggy and two children. “Peggy and I evolved together, I started as a psychologist and she was a hospital nurse with her Masters in Counselling. Together we’ve seen the changes in the work, and now my work is done”.
Dr. Newton’s work is now guided and taught through the TNI Institute and its graduates worldwide – thankfully making the world a better place.
Michael Newton, Ph.D Biography
Founder of The Newton Institute for Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy
Michael Newton, Ph.D is the Founder of The Newton Institute for Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy (TNI) and served from 2002-2005 as the first President. Our organization began as the Society for Spiritual Regression (SSR) but this name was later changed to The Newton Institute to honor our Founder.
Dr. Newton continues to serve on the TNI Board. He holds a doctorate in Counseling Psychology, is a certified Master Hypnotherapist and is a member of the American Counseling Association. He has been on the faculty of higher educational institutions as a teacher and counselor while also active in private practice. In addition, Dr. Newton has been a corporate consultant and worked as a behavioral counselor and group therapy director for community mental health centers and spiritual renewal organizations in cooperation with hospital and social service agencies. He has been a hypnotherapist for over 50 years and a LBL therapist for over 40 years. He is considered a pioneer in uncovering the mysteries about life after death through the use of Spiritual Regression.
In 1998 Dr. Newton received the National Association of Transpersonal Hypnotherapists annual award of "Most Unique Contribution by a Hypnotherapist" for his years of soul memory research and mapping the cosmology of the afterlife. He is the author of three best selling books, Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives (1994), Destiny of Souls: New Case Studies of Life Between Lives (2000) and Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy (2004) published by Llewellyn. These books have been translated into over 25 languages. In 2001 his second book was awarded "Metaphysical Book of the Year" by the independent publishers association at their annual Book Exposition of America meeting. He is also the editor of the new book Memories of the Afterlife (2009), which includes intriguing case studies written by members of his growing network of Life Between Lives therapists.
Dr. Newton has appeared on numerous radio and television shows and was an active speaker on the lecture circuit before his retirement, explaining his discoveries and beliefs about our immortal life in the spirit world. He is now retired from active practice, devoting his time to TNI, especially our LBL training programs. Dr. Newton can be reached through his publisher c/o Llewellyn Worldwide, Inc. 2143 Wooddale Drive Woodbury, MN 55125-2989. For a response you must include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. A return international stamp coupon must be included if you live outside the USA.
Training Event
October 3-9, 2011, LBL Hypnotherapy Training
Leader: Paul Aurand, MHt (TNI Director of Education ), Bryn Blankinship, CMt (TNI VP/Director of Membership) and TNI Training Staff
Location: Danville, California, USA
LBL Hypnotherapy Training - USA, October 3-9, 2011
San Damiano Retreat, Danville California, USA
We are honored to have Michael Newton, who is retired and no longer teaches, attend as our special guest to join in discussions!
LBL Experiential Training is open to professional hypnotherapists with the training and a passion for Past Life Regression who wish to take their skills and expertise further. During this intensive five day step-by-step course, you will learn and personally experience the methods used to guide clients into the spirit world between incarnations.
To provide the highest quality training and individual supervision, this course is limited to 16 students and is led by two Instructors - Paul Aurand (TNI Director of Education) and Bryn Blankinship (TNI VP/Director of Membership), and 4 Training Assistants. This is the only training approved and authorized by Michael Newton, PhD and The Newton Institute for Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy (TNI).
Registration Requirements for this intensive LBL training requires documentation supporting a minimum of 100 hours of formal hypnosis education and a minimum of two years experience as a hypnotherapy practitioner. Additionally, certification or formal training and experience in using hypnotherapy to facilitate Past Life Regression.
Required Reading "Journey of Souls", "Destiny of Souls" and "Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy" are required reading for this course, all by Dr. Michael Newton. Students may also enjoy reading "Memories of the Afterlife", a compilation of LBL Cases conducted by The Newton Institute LBL Therapists and edited by Dr. Newton.
Registration Information The cost for this all inclusive course is $2200 paid in full before July 1, 2011 and $2350 after July 1, 2011. This fee includes the cost of the course and case study reviews for certification and a single room for six nights and all meals from Dinner on Monday October 3 – Breakfast on Sunday October 9.
After acceptance into the course, payment may be made by Paypal. Do not send payment with your registration application.
Note: The cost for lodging and meals is all included.
Refund/Cancellation Policy
A 90% refund of the Course fee (excluding cost of room and meals) is offered for cancellations received prior to July 1, 2011 and on a sliding time scale thereafter. A portion of retained payments may be applied to a future training within two years of registration date.
Schedule
Students are expected to arrive by Monday evening (October 3) for check in by 4pm and orientation and dinner at 6pm. The LBL Hypnotherapy Course will begin Tuesday, October 4, 2011 from 9:30 – 6:00pm and ends with breakfast on Sunday October 9, 2011 at 9:30am. Check out will be Sunday October 9, 2011 by 10:00AM.
** Participants must attend the entire training from Monday evening through Sunday morning and display the necessary skills in order to be invited to be an Associate Member of TNI while working towards full membership and certification.
What to bring with you to the training
Students are to bring Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy to the training for reference.
Students are required to bring a digital voice recorder (and if possible 2 lapel mics (1 for client and 1 for student) for recording their LBL sessions at the training.
Training Location
The Life Between Lives Spiritual Regression Course will take place at the San Damiano Retreat, Danville California, USA. (http://www.SanDamiano.org) San Damiano, a beautiful Mission-style retreat center located 30 miles east of San Francisco on 55 acres high in the golden hills above Danville, California. Overlooking the San Ramon Valley, the Center offers spectacular views of Mt. Diablo. The peace and beauty of the spacious grounds, gardens, and meandering footpaths and private meditation areas all provide a setting of serenity and peace ideal for this training.
Lodging and Accommodations
Reservation Procedures:
Upon acceptance into the course you will receive payment instructions from our registrar. When payment is received we will reserve your all inclusive single room at San Damiano Retreat and confirm your reservation with you.
To Register
The following information must be provided to Register for The Life Between Lives Spiritual Regression Training sponsored by The Newton Institute.
REGISTRATION FORM (Click here to Register)
Please print this registration form and provide all requested information, mailing it to the Registrar at the address below (or submitting it digitally to the Registrar.)
Provide documentation in support of your attendance and certification in hypnosis training from all schools or training institutions you have attended along with the number of hours of training you received. Be sure to include current contact information for those schools and instructors.
**By submitting registration documents for this course, you agree to have read and to accept the terms of TNI’s Code of Ethics for LBL Practitioners.
At the conclusion of the course the TNI Training team will provide feedback and assessment of each student before they move forward with the accreditation process to become a full member of TNI. All classroom training must be successfully completed in order to be invited to pursue Associate Membership (USD$40) with TNI while working towards full certification. Full certification includes submission of written and recorded case studies for review following the training.
For all applicants:
Registrar:
Jimmy Quast
2 Papermill St
Easton, MD 21601
USA
Email: [email protected]
For questions related to this training program, or, if you require further information, please email Jimmy Quast at: [email protected]
Back to The Training Page
Code of Ethics for Members of The Newton Institute of Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy
All of the certified Life Between Lives hypnotherapists listed on this site operate to the very highest standards of ethics and behavior which are set out below:
- In the sacred quest to provide a meaningful Life Between Lives (LBL) experience, practitioners use all of their skills, training, and experience to reconnect their clients to the loving wisdom of the spirit world. In recognition of the intuitive nature of LBL facilitation, practitioners remain open to spiritual guidance when conducting sessions.
- Practitioners provide their clients with a safe and caring professional environment. The profound trust inherent in the client-practitioner relationship is respected, and therefore each LBL session is conducted with courtesy, sensitivity, and patience.
- Informed consent is always obtained from clients after imparting clearly and honestly the range of experiences that may be realized in an LBL session. Financial policies are declared in advance, and fee arrangements are resolved before beginning a session.
- Individual advertising and promotional campaigns are truthful, and realistic statements are made regarding client outcomes. Personal qualifications are communicated clearly; factual information on relevant certifications and professional affiliations is fully disclosed to clients and prospective clients upon request.
- Complete confidentiality is honored and maintained for each client, as well as for the spiritual beings who may come forth in an LBL session. All client-practitioner communications are confidential. Client permission must be granted when recording a session and when sharing or publishing session material. Records are preserved in a secure environment to ensure privacy.
- The purity of LBL therapy as a stand-alone discipline is protected. When offering non-LBL services during the course of LBL therapy, practitioners advise clients that such services are beyond the explicit endorsement of The Newton Institute.
- In order to expand the understanding and practice of LBL therapy, practitioners may share session records with The Newton Institute’s research department after appropriate permissions have been obtained. Practitioners stay informed of new advances in the field by participating in LBL eGroups, attending Institute trainings, conducting research, and pursuing other relevant educational opportunities whenever possible.
- Practitioners honor collegial relationships by cooperating with all of The Newton Institute’s officials and members. Practitioners speak respectfully of colleagues, and will not solicit another practitioner’s clients.
- As ambassadors of The Newton Institute, practitioners work to illuminate public awareness regarding LBL therapy. Practitioners conduct themselves in such a manner as to uphold the integrity of LBL therapy and The Newton Institute above any individual.
I have Dr Newtons home address and phone number if anyone would like to contact him in a respectful manner and become better informed. (He lives near me)
I would suggest though that the notion of him being some sort of fraud is better addressed in the examination of his ideas rather than the legitimacy of research or CV.
I believe him to be a man of good will, although I disagree with what he may conclude as a result of his work.


Presumably I am one of those tiresome immature souls. I appreciate your kind patience. ...

.. So what I'm really looking for would be conventions or newsletters for hypnotherapists, where professional audiences of hundreds are all saying, Hey, this Newton guy has made sense of a lot of stuff that we've all been seeing! That wouldn't be at all unrealistic, if Newton's claims were true, right? When a really effective new technique emerges in a professional discipline, that's how you see it taking off and being accepted.
Could be that word is still just getting around, I suppose. But it's been a few years now.
Anyway, the point is that 32 is good as far as it goes, but as far as the issue I'm raising is concerned, it's nothing. Hypnotic past life regression has been a fairly widespread practice for decades now. I think there must be thousands of practitioners worldwide. If most of them had been seeing similar stuff for all this time, then Newton's book would have swept the whole movement like a wildfire. Has this happened? Or is he just pulling in a few people?
... What seems to me to be overlooked here, though, is the possibility that Newton is not fraudulent, but deluded. ...

... We're never going to be able to test it really decisively, anyway, except by dying. ...

What seems to me to be overlooked here, though, is the possibility that Newton is not fraudulent, but deluded. Hypnosis is just very tricky stuff. There have been quite a few cases where people under hypnosis seemed to remember something that could only have happened in a past life, but then further research (including further hypnotic regression, in some cases) turned up present-life experiences that fully accounted for the memories.
Was there, for instance, a book or tv show or something that a lot of people Newton's in area might all have seen, even just once in their lives, years before? The right questions, under hypnosis, might trigger similar stories based on that, without the subject remembering where they got the ideas. That would be unfortunately hard to rule out, but a priori it's really not so extremely unlikely, so it ought to be checked into.
Were Newton's questions perhaps too leading, perhaps in some very subtle way? Or did they even become rather blatantly leading at some point, but he had stopped noticing the fact, because he had become a believer, and took for granted the story that he felt was emerging? That's the sort of thing that a large number of unedited transcripts could confirm or disprove, at least to some probability.
Such more 'academic' approaches haven't been exactly encouraged by the professional communities and as you are aware independent funding in support of such activities can be hard to come by. Still, although Newton's material is to some extent unique, I find it to be in many ways consistent with the work of other psychologists and psychiatrists who have published works dealing with regression practices. To my mind such materials appear to be increasingly available as apparently individuals appear to be more willing to risk professional ridicule, or at less concerned about the prospects of such ridicule, in the current decade.
The perspective that Newton presents can also be seen to overlap in some regards with materials from other cultural spiritual traditions, both in the traditional materials themselves as well as in academic anthropological studies of such. Whether, that is due to some sort of intentional editing on Newton's part, or whether it simply reflects common patterns of human conscious experience seems to be the question begged.

Your observation that 'life forms are rare, we've yet to find any outside our planet', prompts me to respond that on a universal or even galactical scale we've hardly been one inch outside our planet...so how do you know what life forms there are elsewhere? Also, there is life without form. A lot of it. One day that's what you'll be. Should you consider George Kavassilas as another "New Age" nutcase? Your question and previous comment officially induct you as an honorable member into the Cement Hall of Fame. So you might as well, if you're to maintain your 'human concrete slab' status in the Hall.Should I consider George Kavassilas as another "New Age" nutcase"?
