Lyall Watson - The Romeo Error

I just started re-reading this book from 1974 by Lyall Watson. The theme is that it doesn't make any sense at the biological level to distinguish between life and death. The two states blend almost imperceptibly into one another. I find this interesting as although this book was written nearly fifty years ago, it sounds remarkably similar to some of the statements from Dr Sam Parnia, who has argued strongly that the idea of a 'moment of death' is a misunderstanding, there is no particular instant, but rather in Parnia's context, death is a process.

As a biologist, I find this kind of ambiguity embarrassing. It may be old-fashioned, but I believe that a student of life should know where it starts and have some idea of how it ends. Hence this book.

This is not an answer book. It is not even really a question book, but an attempt to establish some sort of solid scientific foundation which will help to formulate the right kinds of questions.

I'm pretty sure I read the Watson book as a borrowed library copy sometime in the late 1970s, but it still seems highly relevant. The book begins rather jauntily recounting various historical cases where a person pronounced dead later unexpectedly came back to life. I was particularly struck by a couple of these,

The Reverend Schwartz, an early oriental missionary, was aroused from apparent death in Delhi by the sound of his favourite hymn. The congregation celebrating the last rites became aware of their error when a voice from the coffin joined in the chorus.

In 1964, the post-mortem operation at a New York mortuary was disrupted just as the first cut was being made, when the patient leaped up and seized the surgeon by his throat. This doctor paid for the error with his life - he died of shock.

Lyall Watson's writing at least tends not to be dull.

Lyall is a favourite of mine.

Lyall Watson's observation seems obviously true - for example there are assorted cancer cell lines kept going years after the person to whom they belong is dead!

OTH people have NDE's, and they tell a rather different story. Death may be reversible for a short period of time, but unless the spirit returns to the body, it remains dead.

I wonder what is happening inside people who are kept alive while 'brain dead'. Perhaps a psychic could usefully investigate that situation.

I wonder what is happening inside people who are kept alive while 'brain dead'. Perhaps a psychic could usefully investigate that situation.

Check out Replacement Reincarnation.

Personally I think it's some of the best evidence for Survival, albeit some of the most disturbing in its implications.

Check out Replacement Reincarnation.

Personally I think it's some of the best evidence for Survival, albeit some of the most disturbing in its implications.

Wow - thanks for that! I was very sorry when you left Skeptiko, because you have such a store of interesting tidbits like that!

If we accept the idea that spirits live in a timeless realm, such weird forms of reincarnation make perfect sense.

I just wish the author hadn't spent so much time trying to categorise the various cases!

I wasn't sure why you feel that these cases are particularly disturbing - more so than vanilla reincarnation!

I wasn't sure why you feel that these cases are particularly disturbing - more so than vanilla reincarnation!

It has a "Bodysnatchers" vibe to it, since it seems one soul departs and the new one slips in.

But given the cases are "drop ins" (no one around the child knows the personality), and it is really hard to give a Super Psi explanation that aligns with evolution, I find these to be the best type of Survival case.

I suspect these are much rarer than regular reincarnation - also not sure what it is that allows a new soul to inhabit the body if the illness was apparently strong enough to eject the previous one.

I wonder too what the link is between body and soul.

I've read of cases of those "earthbound" souls who inhabit unconscious but living humans for a brief 'hit' of physicality. So that's a kind of possession, I guess. Then there's the question of when does a soul enter the physical body - at birth, during pregnancy or at conception? From what I've read it seems to happen sometime in late pregnancy.

By the way, I also read The Romeo Error and Supernature in the '70s.

I wonder too what the link is between body and soul.

I've read of cases of those "earthbound" souls who inhabit unconscious but living humans for a brief 'hit' of physicality. So that's a kind of possession, I guess. Then there's the question of when does a soul enter the physical body - at birth, during pregnancy or at conception? From what I've read it seems to happen sometime in late pregnancy.

By the way, I also read The Romeo Error and Supernature in the '70s.

Where did you read about these "earthbound" souls and their short stints of possession?

Where did you read about these "earthbound" souls and their short stints of possession?

I have read so many books on this subject that I can't remember which one (most of them I first read back in the 1980's). I don't have those hard-copy books now but maybe I can find something online.

I have read so many books on this subject that I can't remember which one (most of them I first read back in the 1980's). I don't have those hard-copy books now but maybe I can find something online.

Ah don't worry too much about it. I'm just curious because I've wondered the degree to which multiple personalities are entities in their own right, as per the Survival vs Super Psi thread.