For Immediate Release
Contact: Patricia Sousa
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888 234 4472
Phone: +1 (305) 668-4668
Fax: +1 (305) 668-4663
Email: florida@iacworld.org
Web: www.iacworld.org
Book
launch & signing:
Tuesday
June 1rst - 6pm
296
Aragon Ave, Coral Gables, Florida
Please
RSVP to the International Academy of Consciousness on 888 234 4472
New book taking new
approach to past-life theories
Retrocognitions:
An investigation into memories of past lives and
the periods between lives
By Wagner Alegretti
Retrocognition: perception through psychic means that provides
access to memories of previous physical existences and the periods between
existences.
In Retrocognitions,
Brazilian engineer and consciousness researcher Wagner Alegretti analyzes
past-life recall in a comprehensive way rarely found in other books on the
subject. Many books have been written
about memories of past lives, some based on case histories from hypnosis
sessions, others from research with children who report past lives. But such approaches, while invaluable, can
only glimpse at the greater context for this experience.
By contrast, Alegretti approaches Retrocognitions from the leading-edge
branch of consciousness research called conscientiology, which he has been
researching since the early 1980s. In
conscientiology, consciousness (the essence, soul, or ego) is studied from a
multidimensional perspective, using psychic means such as inducing out-of-body
experiences to conduct research.
Primary premises of conscientiology are that consciousness has multiple
bodies (physical, energetic, emotional, and mental), and that it has multiple
physical existences interspersed with periods when it does not have a physical
body. Alegretti elucidates these
concepts in a rational, serious, and objective manner, with no mysticism or
over-extrapolation, leaving the reader with a much expanded sense of their own
nature and purpose.
Alegretti first introduces core concepts about
memory and consciousness that lay a foundation for the discussions to
come. He then anatomizes all aspects of
the retrocognition phenomenon, beginning with an analysis of possible objects
of the experience, possible subjects, possible causes, and the varying degrees
of certainty that are attainable. He
then details related phenomena such as clairvoyance, déjà vu, intuition, and
the out-of-body experience, and the states of consciousness within which the
phenomenon may be experienced. And he sets out a number of factors that can
help induce the experience, including youth; music; emotional states;
historical films; scents; being in the hypnagogic state; hyponosis; rapport with
objects, places, or people; travel; and self-analysis.
A number of techniques are given for inducing the
experience, as well as several means of optimizing one’s chances of
success. These include energetic
techniques that lead to increased mental, emotional, and energetic
balance.
One of the key themes of the book is that
retrocognition’s benefits transcend the therapeutic ends to which it is
customarily applied. Those benefits
include: increasing self-knowledge; making positive intra-personal changes;
understanding and improving our relationships; expanding our sense of
universalism; and identifying our life objectives (existential program). Yet Alegretti does not see accessing a life
from 3000 years ago, for example, as being the optimal means of achieving these
benefits. Instead, his premise is that:
“[w]e grow much more by remembering our last period
between lives than by recovering the memories of several previous, repetitive
and semiconscious lives. This can, and should, be the main goal of
retrocognition.”
That
is, we can gain a broad perspective on our past and nature by accessing
memories of the period prior to our current life, when we were preparing for
this current life. By contrast, our
physical history is replete with omissions and mistakes that, taken alone,
confer few benefits other than to reinforce our shortcomings.
Overall Alegretti writes in a very agreeable style,
with a liberal use of sub-headers to demarcate topics. Technical terms are used in places, but they
are gradually explained as the book unfolds, and there is a glossary at the end
for reference. The book also includes
an index and a bibliography, as well as a rich filmography. Retrocognitions
is highly informative and is strongly recommended for anyone interested in
this intriguing and enriching phenomenon.
Alegretti is available for
interviews, as are the directors of the Florida office, Patricia Sousa and Nelson
Abreu.
ISBN:
0-9702131-6-6
Will
be available through Ingram Books (May, 2004)
END