In issue 2, we published an excerpt from Robert Schwartz's book and also a book review. We talk to the author to find out more about the background of writing the outstanding book.
1. How did you get the inspiration to do the book?
I started down this path in mid-2003 after I had my first personal session with a medium. The medium channeled my spirit guides, who told me that I had planned many of my greatest challenges before I was born. We then discussed why I had wanted to experience some of these challenges. This information allowed me to reframe many of the seemingly bad things that happened in my life. It was a healing experience for me, and I realized that an awareness of pre-birth planning could bring healing to others. So, I decided to write a book about it.
2. How much of our lives do you think we have planned before incarnation? Is it down to the details?
In my research for Courageous Souls, I found that we plan our lives in great detail, down to the schools we will attend and the homes in which we will live. But keep in mind that we always have free will once in body. We can choose at any moment to adhere to or deviate from the pre-birth plan. That said, if someone tried to avoid a painful event that was planned by the person's soul and is very important to the soul, our guides will "work overtime" to bring that experience to us. It's not in our best interest to avoid challenges simply to avoid suffering. The suffering is ephemeral, but the wisdom we acquire becomes part of our souls literally for all eternity.
The limitations we choose to experience by agreeing to incarnate cause us to experience emotions that we would otherwise not experience, and growth occurs through these emotions.
3. What, from your understanding, is the reason for souls incarnating with limited or defective intelligence?
Incarnation itself is an experiment in limitation. Even if someone is born with a stratospheric IQ, that person is still much more limited while in body than when in spirit. The limitations we choose to experience by agreeing to incarnate cause us to experience emotions that we would otherwise not experience, and growth occurs through these emotions.
But to be more specific, someone might choose, for example, to be born with Down's Syndrome because they wanted to experience a lifetime of limited responsibility and/or be of service to others by giving them the opportunity to play the role of caretaker and thus come to know themselves more deeply as compassion and unconditional love. As I said, growth occurs through emotion in this realm.
4. Out of the various case studies documented in the book, which is the most special case study to you personally?
One of the most powerful stories is that of Christina, a woman who planned before she was born to be the "victim" of a bomb explosion. One of the mediums with whom I collaborate was able to hear the conversation she had with the soul of the bomber before either of them was born. Christina planned this experience because she wanted to be a great healer in this lifetime. She knew that if she could heal herself from the bomb explosion, she would be able to take all the wisdom and knowledge she acquired about healing and turn it outward in service to humanity. And that's exactly what she did. She went on to obtain a PhD in speech language pathology and has now healed thousands.
