Shubhra Pandey
Death! The truth of the impermanence of life. Is it the end of everything tangible or just a transition. The answer depends on how we embrace it. Is it just a biological end of one’s being or is it the soul moving from one body to another?
“I am certain that I have been here as I am now a thousand times before, and I hope to return a thousand times.” – GOETHE. Quoting directly from the book Only Love is Real, by Dr Brian Weiss.
I am reviewing this book in an attempt to explain how it has helped in transforming my life.
I happen to be an avid reader but never considered myself well read as my genre of choice has been limited to fiction. Only Love is Real would fall in the category of a self-help book, but it is much more than that.
A book finds me
I came across this book on the recommendation of a very dear friend. I was struggling with my emotional health due to the sudden and unexpected death of my mother, during the second COVID-19 wave. With the loss of my mother, I had not only lost a friend, but a supporter, a guide, a mentor. I had lost my soulmate. Without her I felt I would never find my true north again. That is when Dr Brian Weiss’s Only Love is Real came into my hands and changed my life. The book is a story of soulmates, who come across each other through various lives, life after life. Dr Weiss describes how Elizabeth, the main character of the book, comes across Pedro, her soulmate, life after life.
The most beautiful thing about the entire story (of course it’s real or as real as you believe it to be) is that he isn’t always her lover. In some lives he is her brother, once her father and also her son. The soul also doesn’t have a gender, it’s just a being.
I could instantly feel a connection with Elizabeth since she was devastated after the death of her mother and I was in depression (diagnosed with PTSD by a medical professional) due to the same reason. When this condition started affecting the functioning of my life, I had to seek help. Timely counselling and Dr Weiss’s book helped me get back on my feet and my life on track.
Coming back to Elizabeth, she has various sessions with Dr Weiss and when she goes through past life regression therapy, she comes across numerous previous births.In most of them she acknowledges the presence of Pedro.
Similarly with Pedro, he is sad, lonely and suffering from grief. He has lost his beloved brother in a tragic accident and has no one to share his troubles with. Pedro also experiences many previous lives during his sessions with Dr Weiss and feels the presence of Elizabeth in most, if not all of them. In one life, she is her mother, in one his brother or when he himself is a woman, she is the lover.
A balm for my nerves
The most reassuring thing about the book is that it very cautiously explains how the soul is immortal. So the loss of life, the death of a loved one can also be perceived as the moving on of the soul from one body to another. To quote Dr Weiss, “the soul changes body like a person changing clothes”. So the soul never dies, its only the body that ceases to exist.
Dr Weiss also tackles the importance of love, the abundance of it makes us who we are and the consequences we face when it isn’t there.
“In the ancient meditations, there is one which is a love meditation. It teaches you to fill yourself with love. That feeling, which can bring a tear of joy to your eye.Fill yourself with it…..feel this joy. In love, all fear dissolves. There is no fear,” writes Dr Brian Weiss.
So, love is the ultimate reality and both the source and destination of our journey.
Another concept that deeply touched me was the concept of partial soulmate. Some people may be slightly less than soulmates but they hold a large portion of your heart.
As the story progresses, the author plays a major role in assuring that Elizabeth and Pedro reunite in their present life, to live in profound happiness.
I have read this book over and over and it now seems to be my guide in a crisis. If one can train their minds and have faith in the concept of soulmates and their presence in every life, then one can live with the satisfaction that a loved one is never lost to death.
I miss you Mummy!. Till we meet again, in another life.
