The Big Book of the Soul

There is persuasive evidence from near-death and out-of-body experiences that the physical brain is merely the instrument through which our soul consciousness expresses itself in the physical world. There is equally persuasive evidence from children and adults who spontaneously remember past lives, and from past-life and interlife regression, that we are individual souls who reincarnate to experience and grow. A careful analysis of skeptics' arguments in each of these areas of research proves in most cases just how reductionist, and in fact illogical, they are. Nevertheless not all the evidence put forward by believers stands up, and careful discrimination is required. Such a balanced and in-depth critique of both sides of the argument is rare if not unique. Equally unique is the accompanying collation and comparison of the interlife regression research of a number of pioneering psychologists. But what of the idea that 'we are all One', which is the universal message of all transcendental experiences? Can it be squared with the idea of the individual, reincarnating soul, or is this merely an 'illusion' in itself? Perhaps the answer lies in a theory of total elegance and simplicity... that of 'the Holographic Soul'.

Ian Lawton is a spiritual philosopher, and the architect of Rational Spirituality and the idea of the holographic soul.