My "Inner Healing Advisor"

In the late 1980s, I was put into a hypnotic trance by Dr. Martin Rossman for the purpose of demonstrating the principle of the "inner healing advisor." This session was videotaped for the InnerWork series produced by my production company, Thinking Allowed Productions. Upon returning to normal consciousness, I described the imagery I experienced.
 
I encountered a man wearing a toga who identified himself as the Roman Seneca. After a detailed discussion (in the trance state), I asked this figure how I should proceed to work with him as a "healing advisor" and Seneca responded by saying, "Study my life."

At this point in my life, I was consciously aware of only miniscule details regarding the life of Seneca some 2000 years earlier. Rossman, the hypnotist, had made no specific suggestions pointing toward Seneca (nor any other specific figure) as my "inner healing advisor."

Interestingly, Seneca's last moments allegedly exhibited some of the features of an archetypal hero transcending death - in this case, a moral hero bravely facing his imminent end and overcoming his attachment to life, rather than a savior or god-man magically resurrected. Seneca lived during the reign of Emperor Nero, whom he had tutored and advised in statecraft during the early years of the young emperor's reign. After retiring in 62 CE, Seneca eventually lost favor with Nero and in 65 CE was accused of being involved in a conspiracy against the emperor (an event known as the Piso Conspiracy) for which he was ordered to either commit suicide or suffer a more degrading and (in Roman eyes) shameful execution by the centurion's sword. Good Stoic that he was, Seneca is said to have accepted his sentence graciously and severed the arteries of his arms without protest. Tacitus describes the last scene:

Seneca calmly requested tablets for making a will, and on the centurion's refusal turned to his friends and declared that as he was prevented from showing gratitude for their deserts he would leave them his only, but fairest, possession, the pattern of his life; if they heeded this they would win reputation for good character and the reward of steadfast friendship. At the same time, now by persuasion and now by rebuke, he led from tears to fortitude, asking them repeatedly, "Where are those philosophical precepts, where the logic you have so long studied for just such an event?  Has Nero's savagery been a secret?  After the murders of mother and brother it is natural that he should add the death of his guardian and tutor."

Tacitus depicts Seneca in this scene as a man who heroically retains his philosophical integrity, his compassionate concern for his friends, and even his deportment and civility up to the bitter end.

Upon reading this passage, I noticed that the message I received from the Seneca figure in hypnosis, "Study my life," resonated synchronistically with Seneca's last words. I made a point of studying the life of Seneca -- who turns out, I think, to be one of the most fascinating individuals in western history. He was a statesman, playwrite, philosopher, scientist and spiritual teacher. At one time he was banished to live alone on a desolate island. At another period, he was the wealthiest citizen in the Roman empire.

On subsequent occasions, I was surprised to hear from two different psychics that they believed me to have been Seneca in a past lifetime. I would prefer to think of my connection with Seneca as "archetypal synchronistic resonance."