I usually like to read historical biographies, but is this book really a departure from that? After all, To Save Russia: The Reincarnation of Nicholas II, by Donald Norsic, could be considered a biography of sorts. But really, it is one man’s spiritual journey, a topic that, along with the Romanovs, fascinates me.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Nicholas II and his family, I suggest you take a look at Frozen Tears. This is a website that contains fascinating documentaries on the Romanovs, as well as links to additional sites. Also, I suggest reading Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie.
Note: This book review contains some spoilers!
This book is, as its title indicates, about a man named Donald Norsic who has come to believe that he is the reincarnation of Nicholas II. At first thought, such a belief would be dismissed by many as being outlandish. The book begins with Norsic himself as an unbeliever. He’s just a normal person living in Chicago, working in advertising.
However, the nightmares he’s been having, along with his reaction to seeing the movie Doctor Zhivago, prompt him to consider digging deeper into what the root causes are. A friend suggests that he sees a hypnotist, and Norsic reluctantly agrees, although he thinks he can’t be easily hypnotized. After having some doubts about the first hypnotist he meets, Norsic meets another hypnotist, and attends one of his workshops. The results from that workshop intrigue the hypnotist, who convinces Norsic to do some past life regression sessions with him.
Some of the transcripts from the sessions are included in the first few chapters of the book. Although there is some discussion about Nicholas II’s personal life, most of the focus has to do with Nicholas II’s political life. I would have liked to have seen more transcripts about the former, rather than the latter. However, Norsic’s writing style is such that I didn’t lose interest (I’m not particularly interested in wars and the military). One thing that I learned in my college writing courses is that the first line of a literary piece has to be enough to hook the reader in. The first line of this book is, “They’ve come to kill me!”. If that doesn’t get a reader’s attention, I don’t know what does.
Anyway, back to the hypnosis transcripts. Something that I found rather odd was the reluctance of Norsic, while under hypnosis, to give specific details. Ironically, just as I thought it, he made mention to the fact that his regressions weren’t standard. In fact, there are several other parts of the book that had me questioning things, but each time, he would acknowledge that readers might question this or that, and then back it up with some evidence.
Speaking of evidence, Norsic uses quite a lot of references, both metaphysical and historical, in this book, which will appeal to readers who have interests in one, or both, genres. However, as intriguing as this book is, and as logical as Norsic presents himself to be, I cannot help but feel that at some points he was attempting to fit some incongruous puzzle pieces together.
Examples:
- He says he looks like Nicholas II, and that he positions his hands in the same ways that Nicholas II did when posing for photos. Well, he gives a couple of examples of both these claims in the photo section at the end of the book. The photos that are in the book don’t particularly look like Nicholas II to me. However, the back cover photo, which is the same photo of him you’ll see on sites like 1st World Publishing does resemble like Nicholas II, but that could just be because of the beard, which can make many men, regardless of who they are, look similar to each other. I haven’t seen any other photos on the Internet of Norsic, who is now in his seventies, but I would like to for comparison purposes. As for the hand positions, many people pose with in such ways. If the hand positions of Nicholas II and Norsic
- Norsic had his handwriting professionally analyzed and compared to Nicholas II’s. The results? The handwriting samples were not similar. However, a detailed analysis in terms of personality revealed that they could be identical because in each trait that Nicholas II had shortcomings, Norsic did not. This would then indicate that Norsic had spiritually evolved. However, in my opinion, that could just be an assumption. I would like to have seen more examples from Nicholas II and Norsic compared.
- Towards the end of the book, Norsic makes reference to a book he wrote about two students in communist Russia, and how they fought to end the communist regime. Norsic believes that the book, written before the downfall of the Soviet Union (he does give proof of this) closely parallels how the Soviet Union actually fell. He believes that writing the book somehow influenced the events that happened afterward. Although he does give many examples, I found that still rather hard to believe.
- Norsic doesn’t believe that the family was murdered in Ipatiev House in July of 1918. Rather, he believes they were murdered outside of a train the following November. As part of his evidence, he sites a fake family theory (they, not the Romanovs being murdered in the house), and additional testimonies from people who claimed to have seen the family alive after July, 1918. Conspiracies abound, there just isn’t any concrete proof.
Sometimes, proof isn’t needed, and can’t be given, in metaphysical or spiritual situations. I searched for more information on Norsic, and didn’t find much beyond this book. He seems to be a private person without an Internet presence. Therefore, fame certainly couldn’t have been one of his motives for writing this book. Instead, he seems to have written this book as part of an awakening process for himself, and for others who are interested in reincarnation. I really liked how he ended the book, wherein he makes mention that, despite his findings, it’s time for him to continue on with the life he has now. So, is Donald Norsic the reincarnation of Nicholas II? I really don’t know. What I do know is that some books can lead to fascinating discussions amongst their readers, and this is definitely one of those books.
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