42 pages • 1 hour read
Brian WeissMany Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1988A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 15-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 15 Summary
Two months later, Catherine visits Weiss’s office to discuss her visit to a psychic astrologer “who specialized in past-life readings” (199) and confirmed much of what they experienced together during hypnotic regression. Based on nothing but an astrological wheel customized for Catherine, the astrologer brought up some specific moments of Catherine’s regression therapy, including her hand pain during a sea battle and her throat being slit during wartime. Weiss acknowledges that this experience might not count as “a valid scientific experiment” (202). At the end of the chapter, Weiss highlights the importance of separating psychic charlatans from genuine psychic experiences and suggests a “scientific methodology” (203) for evaluating psychic claims.
Chapter 16 Summary
Four years later, Weiss’s life “has changed almost as drastically as Catherine’s” (207). His intuition has improved, he starts feeling more responsibility for his actions, and his “values and goals […] shifted to a more humanistic, less accumulative focus” (208). He now sees his main job in life is to meld the traditional scientific world he’s been a part of with “the greater world of the nonphysical planes” (208).
Weiss occasionally has vivid dreams about a lecturer named Philo who answers his questions and grants wisdom. He offers Weiss many lessons: Theory without practice is insufficient; “happiness is really rooted in simplicity” (209); for humanity to achieve a permanent “altered state” of love, charity, and simplicity requires “knowledge and understanding” (210-11). In response to Weiss’s question about how there could be equality if people appear to be so unequal, Philo offers the metaphor of a diamond inside each person which represents their many facets and explains that the surfaces of some people’s diamonds are “covered with dirt and tar” (211) while others polish their diamonds to a glorious finish. Philo also urges Weiss to stay true to the positive roots of the psychiatric profession including speaking compassionately with patients and using “hope to heal” (212) rather than relying on modern technology to fix people’s symptoms.
The final chapter concludes with Weiss confirming that he still receives wisdom through his sharpened intuition that feels influenced by the Masters.
Chapters 15-16 Analysis
On the one hand, Weiss appears to be validating the work of a spiritual practitioner who uses astrology to care for clients (Catherine’s psychic astrologer confirms information Catherine already experienced under hypnotic regression). On the other hand, this is the chapter in which Weiss explains his desire to separate the wheat (authentic psychic practitioners) from the chaff (charlatans who steal money from vulnerable people) using the tools of science. This is a compelling position that asks a lot from Weiss’s audience, who may have skeptical dispositions. While he doesn’t say that one must believe in astrology to believe his work is valid, he suggests in this chapter that there may be authentic spiritual practitioners from many different disciplines, including astrology. A skeptical audience or those with traditional religious beliefs may experience doubts about Weiss’s claims in Chapter 15.
Philo, the spiritual lecturer that Weiss engages in lucid dreams, passes down wisdom that summarizes the lessons of this book as well as highlights some of the great moral codes of world religion. From the dictum that “balance and harmony […] are the foundations of wisdom” (209) to the statement that “happiness comes from filling one’s heart with love, from faith and hope, from practicing charity and dispending kindness” (210), one feels that the interest of these statements is less to do with the content, which is fairly banal, but with the idea that these pronouncements are coming from an authentic representative of the supernatural realm, the wise spiritual being Philo.
The final lesson this book offers its readers is to listen to their “dreams and intuitions” (213), which appears to be the lesson Weiss was made to learn by the Masters to fulfill his purpose in this particular lifetime on Earth.
