Mind & Soul www.coebrownacademy.com

Recent blogs dealing with certain aspects of the life issue brought to mind the opposite side of the coin; a topic not discussed much but, as the saying goes, is as inevitable as taxes. Death is almost a taboo topic. Many faiths tell us of there being a certain clarity after death, albeit not always a happy revelation. Yet we seem afraid to talk about it or probe and learn.

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One part of the issue is determining what is dying. One question (there are others) to ask is: Are mind and soul one or two distinct things. Do mind and soul stay together after death or do they separate permanently at the time of death? Eckhart Tolle in his excellent book ‘The Power of Now’ talks of the saying of Descartes as a great fallacy. That is, the connecting of thought/mind with will/soul or considering them one and the same is…

So let me first start by saying, I’m not one of those people who is hanging on every word Oprah says, reading every book Oprah recommends, or lusting after “Oprah’s favorite things”. Although I’ve been watching Oprah before it was the Oprah show (it used to be called A.M. Chicago, only airing in Chicago), lately I’ve been a little turned off. But last week she finally caught my attention again.

Last Tuesday, Oprah had a show about past lives featuring renowned psychiatrist Dr. Brian Weiss. Weiss is a well published, sought after speaker who uses hypnosis to facilitate past life regression. My interest is twofold: I am definitely a little (ok, very) fascinated by the topic of reincarnation and, I personally attended lectures given by Dr. Weiss at the University of Miami as a psychology major.

Weiss’ first book, Many Lives, Many Masters is nothing short of mind blowing – even if you’re a total…

Want to hear a great story? One that’ll really make you think? Then read on…

I’ve mentioned my father-in-law in a previous post and my last post about naming practices prompted me to share the story behind the birth of my son. My father-in-law, Bill Wallis, was a really great man. A smart business man, a loving husband, a doting father and grandfather, a loyal son and brother and a true friend. When he passed away at 58 from skin cancer, it was an enormous loss for all that knew him. Even before I was pregnant with my son, I knew he would be named for him.

But “Bill”, as he was known, was actually Charles William and my brothers-in-law had already used both Charles and William. So we decided to go with his initials C.W.W. (See my last post for an explanation of this tradition.) So our little C.W., as we fondly called…