ABORTION & REINCARNATION By Bryan Jameison & Lee Boothby ISBN: 0-9609478-0-9 [out of
print] Copyright © 1990 by Bryan
Jameison and Lee Boothby. All rights reserved,
including the right to reproduce this book or portions in any form. [Here reproduced with the
permission of Beryl Brown, Bryan Jameison’s widow, and Lee Boothby] According
to the most recent statistics available, there are over one and a half million
abortions performed annually in the United States alone. These abortions not
only affect the expectant mother, but also other family members and this
society as a whole. Because of this fact, it is imperative that we understand
the forces, seen and unseen, which have contributed to the creation of this
major social schism. The sole intent of this booklet is to share
information acquired by Bryan Jameison during the course of over twenty years of
research into the phenomenon of human reincarnation. As a past life
regressionist he has facilitated over thirty thousand past life regressions,
and has gained certain insights into the reincarnational process which are
unattainable through any other means but regression. This work is a part of his forthcoming book entitled,
“The Reincarnation Report”, which explores, in greater depth, the entire
reincarnational process and its effect upon every facet of our lives. However,
because of the importance of the abortion issue, this portion of the book is
being published under separate cover. Our hope is that this booklet will
provide you with some much-needed answers to a present life problem facing
millions of people today. Introduction The age-old practice of willfully terminating a human
pregnancy is one of the most emotionally explosive and controversial issues of
our time, comparable to the Civil War or the Vietnam conflict in its divisive
effect upon the American people. Nearly everyone has an opinion on the subject, either
for or against. Yet, just as occurred with the volatile issues of slavery and
Vietnam, where passions run high, rationality runs dry — and when reason fails,
violence prevails — whether it involves bombing abortion clinics or going to
war, the end result is chaos in the name of righteousness. To millions of people, the abortion issue is more
important than matters of foreign policy, national health care, education, or
the pathetic plight of the homeless. It has turned many religious congregations
against their ministers, priests, or rabbis, while it has turned other
congregations into armed camps. It has destroyed political careers, turned
family members against each other, and has cost many people their jobs. In
short, it has become an open festering wound in the soul of our nation. Until now, I have made it a policy to avoid publicly
discussing the subject of abortion. However, in the course of pursuing my career
as a past life regressionist, I have been a witness to the severe, emotionally
agonizing impact that this issue has had on so many of my clients, and as a
result, I have decided to share what only someone in my position could know. As a regressionist, I have interviewed thousands of
people who have, as living, intelligent souls, made their transition from the
spiritual to the physical realms and vice versa over and over again. As a
result of these interviews, I have collected invaluable data, and have gained
certain insights and knowledge about the reincarnational process, which is
unattainable through any other means except regression. My observations and
conclusions can, I believe, shed new light on the questions of what a human
being is, when a soul actually enters the human body, and the karmic
repercussions of abortion. Hopefully, what I have found will help to set a few
people’s minds at ease, while at the same time inject some sanity into an
otherwise irrational melee. Bryan Jameison At
the beginning of each session, I interview my client in depth prior to the
actual regression. If a woman has ever had an abortion, it will invariably
surface during this talk. All too often, when this is the case, she will have
silently suffered from years of unresolved guilt, which, in many cases, has
nearly destroyed the quality of her life and distorted or severely damaged her
self-esteem and sense of self-worth. More often than not, these women have
lived for years with the haunting fear that they may have murdered their own
helpless unborn babies without consciously realizing it at the time of their
abortions. The majority of these women believed that they were
merely ridding their physical systems of an unwanted “it” — a something that
could ruin the rest of their lives unless “it” ceased to exist. Later, however,
many became tormented by the question of whether this “it” was actually a
“complete” human being. This question is at the heart of the abortion issue,
and since my business is dealing with the subjects of human life, death, and
rebirth (not morality or legalities), my clients have naturally assumed that I
might be able to provide a more objective perspective into the issue of whether
having an abortion is the equivalent of taking a human life. But what is a human being and what is human life
comprised of? Films such as “The Silent Scream”, which features a living, human
fetus moving around inside its potential mother’s womb, implies that biological
life in fetal form equals the existence of a human being. Granted, the fetus appearing in this film certainly
looks like a human baby, however, my research has shown that in order to be
classified as a “complete” human being one must be imbued with two separate and
distinct energies, namely, life force and the human soul. The failure to recognize
this distinction between life force and the human soul, is, in my opinion,
the primary factor which clouds and distorts the abortion issue. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, Second
College Edition, a soul is, “an entity which is regarded as being the immortal
or spiritual part of the person and, though having no physical or material
reality, is credited with the functions of thinking and willing, and
hence determining all behavior.” (Emphasis added). Now, let’s take a look at Webster’s definition of
life: “That property of plants and animals which makes it possible for them to
take in food, get energy from it, grow, adapt themselves to their surroundings,
and reproduce their kind: it is the quality that distinguishes a living animal
or plant from inorganic matter or a dead organism.” There is a clear distinction between these two
definitions — each describes a different energy. Life force is that
animating element of human life, which as human beings, we share with every
other living thing on this planet. The same life force, which animates you, is
operational in your pet cat, the roses in your garden, as well as the
earthworms in the ground. In other words, just because an organism is alive as
a result of this life force, it doesn’t necessarily follow that a soul is
embodied therein. Few of us would argue that earthworms have souls, and yet,
they are as alive as any one of us. We all share the same life force — life is
life, regardless of the form it takes. There are those among us who contend that prior to the
biological act of conception, the soul does not preexist, and therefore, that
souls are created through the process of copulation. To me, this position is
not only absurd, but also profane, since my research has shown that as
spiritual beings we have always existed. However, regardless of your beliefs
about the soul’s preexistence, or how and when the soul comes into being, I
think we can all agree that without its presence in a fetus or a human
body, a human being as we know it, can not and does not exist, even though a
life force is present. When, then, does a soul first take possession of a
human body? Many of the world’s greatest minds have grappled with this question
for centuries. For instance, history tells us that Aristotle was of the opinion
that the soul was first present in a male fetus forty days after conception,
and in the female after ninety days. I have no idea what led the great Aristotle
to arrive at this conclusion, unless it could have been a touch of chauvinism. We also have the belief of Aristotle, who concluded
that the fetus was, “infused with a soul at the moment of quickening,” (the
moment when the fetus first moves within the mother’s body). This movement, of
course, indicates the presence of life force in the fetus, but it does not necessarily
mean that the soul is also present. In my research, I have found that after the
brain is formed, the soul may drop in and out of the developing fetus for
occasional visits, up to and including going through the actual delivery
process. However, the soul makes no final commitment to incarnate until the
newborn baby takes its first independent breath. It is at that very moment,
that the bond between body and soul is set for the duration of its upcoming
lifetime. This part of the soul’s incarnational process is
similar to having a suit tailor-made: even though you might try it on from time
to time, you would NOT accept delivery until it was finished — ESPECIALLY if
you knew the tailor had no intention of completing the garment. With this in
mind, it should be obvious that having an abortion is quite different from
murder, since the fetus — although imbued with life — is not yet in possession
of a soul, nor is a soul in possession of it. The soul’s choice is ALWAYS the determining factor
behind any earthly experience, regardless of its nature or duration. On this
point, even the late Pope Pius XII agreed, for he defined a human being as a,
“psychosomatic unit which is directed and controlled by the dictates of the
soul.” The fact that, as souls, we choose what our next
incarnation will be, should be of some interest to anyone who has either had,
or is now thinking of having an abortion. The soul knows exactly what it
will get into during any given incarnation — for better or for worse — BEFORE
choosing a particular lifetime. In order for the soul to make an intelligent
decision, it not only must be, but also is, in complete possession of all
necessary information pertaining to its upcoming lifetime — including the
beginning and ending of it. Prior to incarnating, the soul is also in constant
communication at a psychic level with the woman who may or may not choose to be
its mother. During its preincarnational state, there are no secrets between the
potential mother and the incoming soul. If the soul’s potential mother has
decided to have an abortion, the soul is INSTANTLY aware of this choice, and
therefore is elsewhere at the time of the abortion. Obviously, no soul would
choose to be present in the body for such a traumatic experience, and for the
record, I have never interviewed anyone who has. When a soul has decided to be
reborn, it will NOT pick a fetus that is not going to be born alive, any more
than you would accept delivery of an unfinished suit. If a soul has chosen to incarnate through a particular
woman, for some karmic reason or otherwise, it will do so regardless of the
number of times she chooses to abort, and NOTHING can stop it. In one case, a client waited in spirit for his future
mother to go through two abortions and one miscarriage before she was finally
ready to have a baby. While still in spirit form, he was completely aware of
the circumstances surrounding her choices to abort as well as the miscarriage.
He waited to incarnate until the timing was perfect for all parties concerned.
Her abortions were something that she had to experience for her own karmic
reasons and had nothing to do with him. However, mother and son had an appointment
to keep during this lifetime and it was eventually kept. It is important to note here, that the soul’s choice
to incarnate through a particular female is apparently often influenced by her
choice of mates. For instance, if the potential father’s genetic or
psychological make-up is unsatisfactory for the soul’s purposes, it will choose
to pass on that opportunity to incarnate, and will wait until a satisfactory
mate has been selected by its future mother. In cases of stillbirth and crib death, the soul has
obviously decided, for its own reasons, either to leave the body or never
occupy it, and its decision may have nothing to do with the parents wrong-doing
in the past or the present. From what I have seen, the soul is very much in the
same position as a new actor joining a theatrical company already in
production. Before incarnating, the soul has an opportunity to preview its
up-and-coming life on earth as a human being. It is well aware of who its
parents will be, and the life style it will have an opportunity to experience.
It also knows what its karmic history is involving other members of the family
unit, as well as significant individuals it will meet along the way. Its
decision to incarnate or not to incarnate is also made in concurrence with other
significant members of its future incarnational cast of characters. As to the karmic repercussions of abortion on the
woman, I have conducted countless regressions where it has been discovered that
in a past life my clients have terminated a pregnancy. In these cases, I have
found no evidence of negative, spiritual after-effects associated with their
act, unless they carried unresolved guilt to their death. In those cases, this
guilt could and has created emotional distress in subsequent lives. The problem
has resulted from the guilt associated with the act, however, and not the act
itself. There are as many reasons for women choosing to have
an abortion as there are women having them, and in many cases, these reasons
can be traced to past life experiences. Traditionally, a woman’s role on this planet has been
to bear children. In the past (and in many cultures even today), children were
looked upon not only as a means to carry on the family name, but also as a
source of cheap labor, and as a form of old age insurance for the parents — the
more children you had the greater the likelihood you would have someone to care
for you, when you were no longer able to care for yourself. As a result, a
woman’s ability to conceive and bear children was one of the primary factors in
being chosen as a wife, and oftentimes, the more children a woman had, the more
honored her social position would be in her community. In fact, a woman’s
inability or refusal to bear children is still grounds for divorce in many
cultures. Although a married woman in traditional society was
encouraged to bear children, pregnancy out of wedlock was forbidden. In those
societies, if an unmarried woman became pregnant, she could face punishment
ranging from the inhumane practice of shunning, to even death. Even today, many
a small-town girl is forced to leave her home, family, and friends when it is
discovered that she is pregnant. In my practice, I have regressed hundreds of women
who, in a past life, have been on the receiving end of such punishment and
discrimination, and, in many cases, the humiliation, fear, and emotional trauma
they sustained in a past life has left permanent scars on their souls, which
have bled through into their present incarnations. This bleed-through effect
has often caused these women to react in seemingly illogical ways, and has had
a decided influence, at an unconscious level, on their choice to terminate a
present life pregnancy. For example, one seventeen-year-old girl came to me
when she was only two months pregnant. She was inordinately terrified of her
pregnancy, but was opposed to having an abortion because of her strict
religious training. She believed that having an abortion would condemn her to
Hell. By the time she came to me, she was extremely distraught. Being caught
between her religiously instilled guilt and her overwhelming fear of being
pregnant, she saw no way out of her situation, and hoped that I could help her
to resolve this dilemma. We traced the reason for her panic to an incarnation
in the Middle East many hundreds of years ago. There, once again as a
seventeen-year-old girl, she became pregnant by a young man who had promised to
marry her, but changed his mind and deserted her, after he learned she was
pregnant. During her pregnancy, she was kept in seclusion and
cruelly mistreated by her family until the child was born. Shortly after the
delivery, as she was still lying exhausted on the dirt floor with her baby by
her side, her father grabbed her by the hair, jerked her head back, and
proceeded to cut her throat — all the while screaming threatening obscenities
at her and her newborn baby. She died strangling on her own blood, wondering
what fate would befall her child after she was gone. Upon leaving the body, the
last thing she was aware of was her father reaching for the baby. The pain and the horror she experienced during her
months of pregnancy, left lasting emotional scars, which carried over into her
present life. At soul level, she still believed that if she gave birth, she
would die horribly. She was also experiencing a deep sense of humiliation and
unworthiness, even though, in this lifetime, her parents were supportive and
understanding. Through regression, my young client was able to release
her long-held guilt, terror, and feelings of unworthiness. She was also able to
set aside her fears of going to Hell, because she realized that there was no
such place — except for the one her distorted beliefs had created. During her regression, she also discovered that what
she had endured in the past life where she had been murdered, was a direct
consequence of yet an earlier life where she, as a male, had deserted a woman
he had gotten pregnant. Because of this knowledge, she was able to see that the
entire scenario was part of a larger picture and that her tragic experience in
a former life need not be played out again. Subsequently, my client chose to go
through with her abortion, and then went on to live a normal life, free of the
crushing guilt and fear that had once plagued her. (Fortunately, the non-hypnotic process which I use
enables my clients to reexperience and release the emotions created by their
past life traumas, without having to reexperience the physical pain which often
accompanies those traumas.) In another case, a career woman in her late thirties,
came to me several years after having an abortion. At the time of her abortion,
she wanted the child, but felt COMPELLED to terminate her pregnancy for some
inexplicable reason — as if it were something she HAD to do. She never had a problem with her abortion, until she
was exposed to pro-life propaganda. Then she became confused, and eventually
came to see me in the hopes of discovering whether or not she had murdered her
baby, and why, at the time of her pregnancy, she felt compelled to abort. During her regression, we discovered that in many of
her previous lives as a woman, she had done nothing but bear and raise
children, even though she felt capable of accomplishing much more. In the past,
all other outlets for her creativity were barred, and she felt as if her only
reason for existing was to repopulate the world. Because of the number of children she had brought into
the world, she often found herself, throughout her past lives, trapped in
unrewarding and unfulfilling marriages with men whom she felt had used her and
abused her relentlessly. At soul level, she equated having children with
enduring a life sentence of abuse, humiliation, and frustration, and as a
result, was determined NEVER to let that happen again. In the course of her regression, she came to
understand her aversion to having children, and recognized the reasons
underlying her avoidance of becoming involved with any man who wanted to get
married. She also became aware of the fact that no soul was present within the
fetus at the time of her abortion. These insights not only allowed her to release
whatever fears she might have had about murdering her unborn baby, but also
enabled her to better understand her negative attitude about marriage, and her
burning desire to maintain her independence at any cost. Another story involves a lady who had just recently
had an abortion, and was puzzled by the fact that she felt exhilarated by the
experience. She had expected to feel guilt or anxiety but instead had felt
nothing but relief and joy. Through her regression, we found that she had died
during childbirth in three separate incarnations. In two of her past lives,
both she and the baby had died. In the third incarnation, the baby survived but
she had died shortly after giving birth. Her fear and grief from these past life experiences
was overwhelming. Consequently, at soul level, to spare herself from going through
a similar situation in this lifetime, she had been DETERMINED to get “IT” (the
fetus), before “IT” got her! Here again, we are looking at the human need to
survive, and a willingness, on the soul’s part, to do whatever it takes to stay
alive in body. After the regression, her mind was at ease, and she
later chose to marry. At the time of this writing, she is the happy mother of
two healthy children. Because stories such as these are so commonplace, I
couldn’t possibly recount them all. However, these few examples serve to
illustrate the fact that as souls we all have reasons for doing what we do,
even though these reasons are often buried deep within our unknown past.
Although we are all accountable for our decisions, in order to understand the
motivations behind them, we have to look at the larger picture. This is
impossible, of course, if one excludes reincarnation from their belief system. My focus throughout my research has been on the
spiritual facts of life and not morality. First one survives, and then one
moralizes. However, as ego-centered human beings, we have the freedom to
agonize, moralize, and theorize over life’s apparent tragedies as much as we
choose. History has proven, however, that whatever is or is not moral has a
tendency to change, as ignorance is eventually replaced by knowledge. A woman’s right to choose the course of her life,
including the decision to have an abortion, is, and should be, hers, and hers
alone, just as the soul’s right to choose is its alone. From a spiritual standpoint,
we are all free souls capable of making independent decisions and responsible
for our individual choices. As Shakespeare once said, we are all but players on
life’s stage — and as such, we are responsible for the way we choose to play
out our respective roles. On a spiritual level of consciousness, there are no
villains, victims or heroes, however, because of our human nature, we tend to
see everything that happens to us within the narrow context of our current
lifetime, and once in body, we usually lose sight of the big picture. We forget
that as spiritual beings we have always existed and that we have already lived
through many other incarnations before this one. I am not saying that having an abortion is nothing to
worry about, because to some women who have had one it is. However, having such
an experience need not shatter the rest of one’s life because of some
self-imposed, inappropriate and disproportionate guilt resulting from erroneous
beliefs, which have no basis in fact from the standpoint of spiritual
realities. Bryan’s
first book, published in 1975, “How To Explore Your Past Lives Without
Hypnosis”, established him as a pioneer in the field of reincarnational research.
Since its publication, Bryan has facilitated over one hundred workshops, and
has lectured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Western
Europe. He has appeared on both Canadian and U.S. national television, most
recently, facilitating two regressions on the Gary Collins Show, (Hour
Magazine). Stories about his research have also been featured in several
national and international publications, as well as numerous radio programs
throughout the country. Bryan resides in San Diego, California, … [the rest
has been left out since sadly he died in December 2002. His several new books –
but not this booklet, which is out of print – are available via the Internet
under the following WebPage address: www.pastlife-therapy.com]. Lee Boothby, in addition to being an author, has been
a practicing attorney for more than 25 years. She is a partner in the law firm
of Maestas, Baker, Boothby and Warren in Taos, New Mexico. Her first book, Mind-Power –
The Ultimate 15-Second Formula to Transform Your Life Forever, a powerful
4-step process that represents the feminine model of deliberate manifestation,
can be ordered at the following link: http://taosmountainpublishing.com/store.
Watch for her up and coming second book, How to Exceed Your Financial
Potential and Maximize Your Quality of Life (expected publication date
January 2007), which can be pre-ordered through Taos Mountain Publishing.
[Added 2006 to this website version.] Note: A percentage of publisher’s profits will be donated
to those organizations supporting orphans and homeless children. Driftwood Publications
[new address: P.O. Box 23732, San Diego, CA 92193, www.pastlife-therapy.com]
Foreword
Lee Boothby
Abortion & Reincarnation
About Bryan Jameison
About Lee Boothby