Have You Lived Before This Life? Hot

This book is passing into Scientology history as one of the more, shall we say, less studied books of the whole canon. It's interesting to examine why. At the time this book was produced, people generally didn't have access to the kind of equipment needed to play lectures given by LRH recorded onto reel-to-reel magnetic tape in their homes. Research into Scientology periodicals produced in the late 1960's shows that at that time, lectures were typically being sold two to a reel, with each reel generally costing $30. $30 in 1968, accounting for inflation, is $195.30 in 2012. So it's easy to see why such a book would be produced out of the material comprising the 5th London Advanced Clinical Course. Your average Scientologist would not have any access to this material otherwise (generally speaking). This was done with a number of books which have now passed into a state of apocrypha as regards their canonical value, for example, The Phoenix Lectures. Books were far more affordable than lectures and professional/advanced courses, and accordingly, dissemination of material went in that direction.
As for the book itself and its content, it's certainly an interesting read. There were originally 42 case reports presented, as well as the name and training level of the auditor working the case. Most of them follow a similar format, consisting of both the preclear and the auditor's report of the past-life incident contacted as well as a brief summary of the case gain arrived at through the auditing. The 1989 edition, which is shown above, omits the names and training level of the auditors, as well as one of the cases, making a total of 41. It includes an article by LRH, "The Phenomena of Death" as well as two appendices, one on modern procedure and one giving a historical sketch of belief in past-lives.
It's an interesting read, and is best approached with an open mind and an understanding as to the origin and purpose of its content.

This book amazed many readers who hadn't previously seen hard evidence of wholetrack and space opera. But what grabbed my attention was the similarities of societies billions of years ago and light-years away: similar animals, buildings, vehicles, and beings mostly in human-shaped bodies like on Earth today.

It's still useful as background to two lecture series - the London Clearing Congress and the 5th London ACC - in which LRH revisited the technique of engram running.

The first edition is dated 1958, but its publication seems to have been delayed until March 1960. It contained 42 case studies from the ACC co-audit, with a list of names and addresses of 63 auditors who had participated. These included Herbie Parkhouse, Tony Dunleavy, Reg Sharpe, Cyril Vosper, James Momsen, and also James Pembry (who developed a hand-held type of E-meter used in the late 1950s). There are 9 pages of introductory material, two of them signed "The Editors", so only 7 pages are attributed to LRH.

Case reports were written up from the viewpoint of the auditor, the preclear, or sometimes by both. Each originally had the auditor's name attached, with the preclear only identified by a case number. The first case in the book was audited by Jessie Gray, who told me many years later that she had tried by writing at length and in careful sequence to help readers understand the technique being used. Her report explains clearly how an incident was located, dated, and developed by asking the preclear "What part of that incident can you confront?" The other reports range from detailed accounts to sketchy notes, but each one demonstrates the new discovery of raising the preclear's ability to confront the incident on a gradient, instead of just erasing it. No. 2 is an account of a group execution in Qing dynasty China; even after being beheaded, the pc observed the deaths of the prisoners after him in the line. Case 33 is a vivid space opera narrative by a pc who must surely have been a professional author. Some reports are of incidents that were still unflat at the time of writing (engrams weren't always finished in one session in those days), so the pcs' data was still provisional and changing.

I haven't examined the current edition illustrated above, which is said to contain 41 case studies, and wonder which one has been deleted.

I didn't particularly like this book. It was not very informative and much or all was not (to my recollection) written by LRH... It didn't answer anything for me about past lives. It was about stories from other people's past lives.....

In terms of past lives, I learned A LOT from the book "History of Man". This was clearly written by LRH and contained incidents on the track that I could recall. The book "Have you lived before this life" didn't help me recall or understand past lives. Save your money. Buy History of Man.

If reincarnation occurs, what makes it exclusive to Earth? I had never really thought about that before, and yet here is a book that just dives straight into it. The author opens with some interesting opinions on death before introducing a selection of past life accounts. Ranging from somewhat humdrum Earthly affairs to the juicy ancient politics of a far away planet, it's pretty wild stuff.

Whether reincarnation actually exists or if it's all in one's head, the mind is presenting the individual with data that clearly seems to have a positive and highly therapeutic effect (why and how this occurs is still the subject of much debate). Whilst there are a number who have since entered this field with a more scientific approach (the late, great Dr. Ian Stevenson, for example) this is still a fun and interesting read.

A must read just so you know some basic concepts.

This is a great book for new people especially in my opinion because it documents what happens after death! Tremendous insight into the subject of the afterlife. A important subject and it's all good news.