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| The Kindle Edition |
FORWARD TO THE BOOK BY GARY SCHWARTZ, PHD.
“Is life designed in advance? Are we all part of some elaborately plotted mini-series that runs every waking moment? Does it really matter one way or the other? We’re on the planet for a reason, we have roles to play, we might as well play them as well as we can. However, that doesn’t prevent me from perennially rooting for the Cubs.” Richard Martini, author of flipSIDE.
Is there a greater spiritual reality? Does consciousness survive physical death? Are past lives real? Is there a creative grand plan – some sort of a Divine Plot – of which we are all a part, and can we individually and collectively contribute to It’s design and unfolding? And assuming for the moment some sort of a grand planning process exists, the question arises; does It – whom I have come to think of as being an “Infinite Teacher” – have a sense of humor?
I am scientist by training and profession. My laboratory research has led me to address these kinds of questions in various books including The Afterlife Experiments, The G.O.D. Experiments, and The Sacred Promise. Like Richard Martini, the author of FlipSIDE, I am a skeptic in the core sense of this word – meaning a wonderer, a questioner, and a genuine seeker of truth.
Of all these great questions, the hypothesis of past lives – the continued re-living of individual souls for the sake of our learning and evolving – is among the least researched and most controversial. The truth is, science knows virtually nothing about the concept of incarnation or consciousness. Contemporary science simply assumes the idea of incarnation is a myth (and a fallacious one at that), and according to mainstream neuroscience, consciousness is an emergent property of neural networks, an evolutionary side effect so to speak of the invention of the brain and nervous system.
According to the prevailing views of mainstream science, there can be no such thing as the incarnation of consciousness because the brain is the sole creator of consciousness. Most neuroscientists don’t entertain the hypothesis the brain might be a brilliantly designed antenna and receiver for consciousness which somehow returns – incarnates and/or connects (for example, resonates) with the brain.
An emerging body of consciousness research (typically classified under the umbrella of parapsychology), when combined with contemporary quantum physics, seriously challenges the belief the brain is the creator of consciousness. This new evidence requires we reconsider the idea of the incarnation of consciousness, and by extension, the plausibility (if not probability) of reincarnation. Three types of scientific inquiry together can provide us with important evidence which addresses these great questions:
Type I Self-Science: Evidence obtained in the laboratories of our individual lives, where personal observations are recorded and examined from a skeptical (questioning), science-oriented frame of mind.
Type II Exploratory Investigations: Where scientists use themselves as preliminary prototype subjects, testing new laboratory methods and procedures on themselves, and
Type III Conventional Research: When controlled experiments are conducted on human or animal subjects following federal and university rules and guidelines.
Although Type III Conventional Research is the most respected and sometimes the most definitive, Type I Self-Science is often where the most innovative and core discoveries are made. The history of science reminds us that great scientists like Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein took Type I observations made in their personal lives and successfully translated them into revolutionary Type III theories and discoveries. When these three types of evidence collectively come to the same conclusion, their combined impact is significantly greater than either one alone.
Richard Martini’s flipSIDE is an inspiring and well written – as well as entertaining – journey of Type I Self-Science which is focused on the interrelated questions of (1) reincarnation and past lives, (2) past life regression and healing, and (3) the existence of a universal grand designer and plan.
As you read Richard’s journey of personal discovery in the context of these great questions, you will awaken to a vision of mind and the universe which is filled with opportunity and awe. This is the kind of the book where once you have read it, you will no longer be able to see the world in the same way again.
I must confess that after reading flipSIDE, it appears that I may no longer be able to resist bringing past life hypothesis research into the laboratory. Though this book has not resulted in my deciding to root for the Cubs (smile), it has encouraged me to root for the possibility that Richard’s observations and insights will prove to be valid and meaningful for all of us.
Gary E. Schwartz, PhD[1]
[1] Gary E. Schwartz, PhD is a professor of psychology, medicine, neurology, psychiatry, and surgery, and Director of the Laboratory for Advances in Health at the University of Arizona. He received his PhD from Harvard University, was a professor of psychiatry and psychology at Yale University as well as Director of the Yale Psychophysiology Center and co-director of the Yale Behavioral Medicine Clinic from 1976-1988. His books include The Afterlife Experiments, The G.O.D. Experiments, The Energy Healing Experiments, and The Sacred Promise.
