Monday

Posts on Quora from the Afterlife Expert

So someone mentioned me on Quora and I felt compelled to respond.

And respond. And respond.

Have been responding for a few days, wondering "what am I doing responding?"  Chances are these questions are computer generated.  

But maybe the computers need answers too.




But since these questions may be universal, here's a sampling:  

Q: If there’s an after-life, is there an after-after life?

It’s a great question. First of all, when trying to define the ineffable, we spend a lot of time using words that we can’t define. So - what’s the definition of life to begin with? If you look it up, the definition of life is “not dead.” Okay, that’s nice. But doesn’t really help. Because the definition of dead is… wait for it… “not alive.”

So we have a conundrum. How do we “know we’re alive?” Our thinking on the topic stems from “I think therefore I am.” (Or as I like to paraphrase it for Buddhist philosophy “I think therefore I am not.”) But either answer really doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. What’s an afterlife, if we can’t really define what life is other than “not dead?”

I’m frequently asked “So then what happens?” in my public talks about the afterlife. (MartiniProds on youtube). I report what people consistently say about the afterlife either under deep hypnosis (as pioneered by Michael Newton, or Dr. Helen Wambach) or compare those reports to what people say about the afterlife during a near death event. 

And the way I parse near death events from imagination, or “cryptomnesia” (having heard, seen or experienced what you’re seeing during your past life memory or during your NDE) by examining “new information.” Information that you could not have known, did not know, but learned from your experience interacting with someone on the flipside, or “in the afterlife.”

These reports are consistent and they are replicable. What people say consistently is that “there is no death.” That your body may cease functioning, but who we are does not. Call it a soul, call it an energetic hologram, call it a cheese sandwich, people say the same things consistently and report the journey in a consistent manner. 

They claim that those who’ve “done themselves in” are startled to discover they haven’t “ended anything.” That they are then witness to all the stress, sadness and suffering their loved ones may or may not go through once they’ve “crossed over.”

Further that their consciousness doesn’t dissipate, or travel to a “pool of other consciousness” (as posited by Jung) but that our consciousness travels to a place they refer consistently as “home.” The place where they originated, a place where they reconnect with the “conscious energy” of theirs that was “left behind” and reconnect with their loved ones. (This is not my theory, opinion or belief in these reports - I’m just reporting them.)

So when we talk about the afterlife, we’re already using mistaken terminology. Because there is no “after” if you’re returning home. There’s before, then there’s during, and then there’s what happens next. But it’s never described as a finite place, nor are souls defined as “immortal.” 

What we learn back there is that we are always changing, always learning, always “filling in the blanks” (and for Buddhist theorists, not that there is no “finite soul”per se - because we are always evolving) - as if we are living lives so that we can earn a degree in consciousness. The degree just happens to be the journey of our souls.

So when we speak of the afterlife - think of it in these terms: we’ve gotten off stage. We’ve put away our costumes and props, and we now go back “home” where our pals and loved ones are. They may tease us about our performance, or applaud (usually applause), and at some point they’re going to start bugging us about coming back and “doing it again, but better.” 

Reportedly we can refuse their suggestions, for whatever reason, but inevitably our loved ones and guides will nudge us into seeing that we really do need to work on a few extra things. And then we choose to come back - perhaps looking over the groups we’ve already been here with, or the folks we’d like to be here with… and together make a plan.

Yes, the afterlife of the afterlife — is life. And after we’ve graduated from “all our lives” - might be a long time in earth time, but relatively short over there - we can choose to become a guide or a teacher or someone else of service. Perhaps sit on a council of souls and help guide and teach souls that come before us. 

These positions are reported consistently, both by people under hypnosis, but also, as of late, by people who are fully conscious, but are just being asked questions (by me, the trusty tour guide) of what and who is on their spiritual council. The results have been nothing short of astounding (to me and them.)


The afterlife of the afterlife is life - unless you want to stay back home, or you graduate into another level of service…not unlike a video game.



after a reply:

As noted, it’s not a theory, it’s just what people say consistently about the path and journey. People come to the planet by choice - learn the lessons they want to learn and “graduate” to another level. That each lifetime might be a particular lesson in some quality - compassion, love, charity, forgiveness - each person has the opportunity to learn from those lessons (or teach.) In terms of the “progression” - each person has their own journey and path.

In order to think of it in terms of “human evolution” we’re constrained by generational divides. People come to the planet - live their average lifespan, pass along as much information as they can, yet we continue to make the same “mistakes”or rehash the same lessons but in different guises.

The same is true in a university - each teacher comes with teaching and information, the students pass through the class, but in the next semester, or the next year, or the next four years, new students come without the knowledge and have to go through it on their own.

During one of these between life sessions, a woman (who had been a skeptic of the process) found herself in a library with one of her guides and asked “So, is the universe a machine?” He answered “The universe is a mechanism, however it’s sentient.”

If that’s accurate, then he’s making the point that the universe learns lessons, or perhaps we all learn lessons eventually. It’s the “100th monkey” discussion (which science has disproven) that a certain amount of a species learns something (how to extract food using a tool) that everyone learns it. Science has shown that to not be the case in humans - but if the knowledge and help of how to navigate the planet is also coming from another source - perhaps the consciousness left behind, as so many claim, then perhaps it makes sense how we can adjust and develop.

But finally, once we get to the concept of what “good” is - or what we all might agree the end result of being kinder or “more enlightened” is - or even more intelligent - it’s debatable what the collective is trying to accomplish or learn. Some people claim their entire soul group has numerous lifetimes where they explore or examine the”energy of addiction.” 

If that’s true, then each time they travel down that path, one could argue they’re not “learning anything.” However, they claim that we do learn more days of tragedy than we do from days of joy. As one person said under hypnosis “You can learn more on this planet from one day of tragedy than you can from 5000 years on some other boring planet.”

Perhaps that’s the reason behind incarnating on a “polarized” planet - good and bad - yin and yang. There are many lessons to be learned here, and it makes for a great university.



Q: What's the point of life?

First define life. What is it? Is it breathing? Actually the definition of life, if you can believe it, is “not being dead.” And the definition of death is “not living.” So we are already on shaky ground just asking the question. 

Because it assumes that there is a point or a time, or a stasis where we are not living. And I can tell you that does not exist. We are never not alive. We are never not existing. I can describe the process of coming into being - as reported by people who claim to have knowledge about such things - but suffice to say, once we’re in existence, we don’t blend out of it. 

We can’t get out of it. No matter how hard someone might try - the conundrum is that those who “choose to no longer be alive” can’t do anything of the sort. They find themselves chagrined to discover that they have not died. (They’ve stressed out everyone they ever met or loved, and they have to deal with that, but that’s another topic.) 

So let’s start there. You can’t not be living. Ever. Then the question becomes “So why am I here in this physical form? What am I doing here? What’s the point of going through all I’ve gone through to get to this point?” Now that’s a good question. Only one person can answer it. That’s you. 

So if you don’t know why you chose to come here, why you chose this lifetime, if you don’t know what the lessons are that you came here to learn or to teach; then now’s a pretty good time to start searching for that answer to that. And the first step on that path was asking the question. 

“What’s the point of my being here?” Only one person can answer it.



Q: Why did God create some humans whom he knows previously that they will go to hell? Isn't being the most merciful a logical reason that he didn't create them?

Imagine yourself standing in a theater, watching a play on stage. No matter how bad someone acts in a play, we never chase after the actor after the play is over to rail at them. Actually sometimes people do, certain parts “ruin an actor’s career.” But in general, when watching a play that deals with good and evil, happy or sad events, we’re focused on the lessons that are learned on the stage.

What the reports show is that we choose our lifetimes after consulting with our loved ones and fellow travelers “back home” - and choose to play a particular role while here on the planet. 

During one deep hypnosis session I was filming, a woman who recalled a life which ended in Auschwitz found herself standing before her council of guides and asking them “Why did I agree to sign up for this lifetime? It was horrible and I lost everyone I loved.”

She then said (it’s in the book and film “Flipside”) “Oh, there showing me something that’s every hard to describe. I don’t know if I can describe it. But they’re showing me that it was harder to choose to play the role of a perpetrator in this lifetime, than a victim.”

Easily the most politically incorrect sentence I’d ever heard.(It was the first time for me filming someone under deep hypnosis - but now I’ve filmed 40 and hear the same kinds of reports often.) She said “every day that I spent in that camp was an intense, heightened lesson in life; the nature of forgiveness, of courage, of compassion, of anger, of hate… each more difficult than the last. But from my perspective, I see why I chose this life rather than the other option.”

Not to mitigate anyone’s pain or experience or journey. But when we truly examine the nature of what we’re doing here on the planet, we hear these stories over and over. We are responsible for choosing our journey here. We may get here and not fulfill the promises we made, we may fall short of what we set out to do. But that’s okay, because we do get off stage and go back home. We get to examine all of the other choices we made.

In the book “Memories of the Afterlife” one woman in Germany recalled a lifetime as a German soldier. She recalled seeing herself as a man, engaged to marry a beautiful girl in Berlin. 

But his parents discovered she was Jewish and forbade the marriage. Later, the soldier saw himself on the Swiss border; his job to stop refugees from escaping. He recounted stopping a truck, lining up all the passengers and having them shot. And he recognized his fiancee as one of the people on the truck - but didn’t stop himself from ending her life.

He said he was physically ill for days/weeks after, and eventually remembered being shot by a US soldier. And when he left his body and returned “home” - out of the grey mist came his fiancee, holding her arms open for him. 

And he said “I can’t, I’m so embarrassed, I’m so sorry for what I did to you…” and he/she reported that his fiancee said “Don’t remember? This is what we signed up to experience. We’ve had many lifetimes before, and we’ll have many in the future.” And at that moment recognized her as a colleague at work, and after her between life session, connected with her and they started a company together.

Might not be what you expected to hear as an answer, but it is what’s consistently in the reports.




Q: Could our consciousness indeed be our soul?

There’s every indication that it is. From a Catholic perspective, look to the original text behind the “holy trinity” - which was “father, son and breath.” If you think of father as being “source” and son as being “human” - then the thing that animates that human (and all sentient creatures) is consciousness.

If you think of it from a science point of view - people consistently say that our consciousness returns “home” after life. They claim that when we return “home” we reconnect with the part of our consciousness that we did not bring to this life. 

When asked why that is, people claim that “there’s too much energy, that bringing the whole package would “blow the circuits.” They further claim that when we return home we connect with the roughly two thirds of our consciousness that is always “back home.”

When asked what the two thirds of our consciousness is doing back home while we’re here struggling to get through life, the answers are consistent; going to class with fellow travelers, (these classrooms have been described in numerous places, including Michael Newton, Dr. Helen Wambach, Galen Stoller’s “My Life after Life” and other people). 

I know that sounds disturbing - as it first sounded to me. “Classrooms in the afterlife? Are you kidding? After 18 years of school I thought I was done with classrooms!”

But these classes are described as pretty unusual. I’ll leave it at that.

But to answer your questions, that appears to be the best way to refer to the soul, since it’s reported to be part of who we are. When we return to reconnect with our other energy back home, we get to see all the previous incarnations we’ve had, and reconnect with all the lessons we’ve learned (and not learned.) It’s who we are.

It also explains how when people have an out of body experience, or a near death event, or some other consciousness altering event, they can see or observe, report things that they shouldn’t have been aware of, couldn’t possible have seen. (See Mario Beauregard PhD’s “Brain Wars” where he describes a person telling his doctor about his orange shoes, but this patient was blind from birth; had never seen orange.)

Or Dr. Greyson’s hour long talk on youtube “Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain?” for numerous cases where people should not have been able to communicate (death, brain malfunction, loss of brain matter, atrophied brain, etc) but still were able to communicate.


If we think of the brain as a receiver rather than a broadcast unit , complete with filters and volume control, regulating what gets in and out while we’re on the planet, we have a closer picture to how consciousness works.




Q: How can I reconnect with God?

"Open your heart to everyone and to all things.” This was the response given by a “spirit guide” to a skeptical film producer who was under deep hypnosis that I filmed for my book “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife.” 

She had gone into this session not believing that she could access a previous lifetime or anything to do with the afterlife, and on her list of skeptical questions “In case I get anywhere” she included “What or who is God?”

Eventually, after a memory of a previous lifetime (details which I was able to verify) she found herself in a giant library with her spirit guide (for lack of a better term.) The guide seemed annoyed by the question about God. His full answer:

“You humans feel like by naming something you get a better handle on it. Let me put it this way; God is beyond the capacity of the human brain to comprehend. It’s just not physically possible. But you can experience God. To experience God; open your heart to everyone and to all things.

If you think about that for a moment - how do you open your heart to all people? We live in a conditional love world - “if you love me I’ll love you. I love you until you do something I don’t like.” What people claim is that over there - “back home” it’s an experience of unconditional love. 

That’s what “god is.” Unconditional love. So that means opening your heart to everyone - even the person who cuts you off in traffic (or builds a wall.) Easy to say, but obviously hard to do.

But he added the last part - “and to all things.” What does that mean? I take it to mean that atoms exist in objects in some form of agreement - after all, what’s a pencil but a bunch of wood and lead atoms vibrating together? 

What keeps them together? Well, they have this right to exist in this space as well, so if I can open my heart to all things - including a pencil, which is composed of the same vibrational energy we are all composed of - then I’m that much closer to “experiencing god.”


So to reconnect with God, I recommend start with mirror. Open your heart to that person first. Unconditional love. Then move that focus to those around you, that you do love on a daily basis, then spread it to those you meet on a daily basis, and finally to those you avoid or hate for reasons you can’t quite elucidate. 

Because they too come from the same source, and are merely playing roles (perhaps annoying ones) for our benefit. And then… voila, open up that radius of unconditional love to include the pencil, the tree, the car, the book - the earth, this thing we exist on while we’re here. Give the earth unconditional love, and it will repay you a thousand fold. (I made up that last sentence, because it sounds good.)



Q:"Is it realistic to believe in reincarnation?"

Do you believe in gravity? It’s a mental construct to explain something that occurs. Why believe or not believe, and just focus on the data?

What’s the data show? Well, if you look at Ian Stevenson’s 30 years of work at UVA, Dr. Jim Tucker’s research at DOPS or Carol Bowman’s research (“Children’s Past Lives”) you’ll find evidence. Detailed examples of children (for the most part) who remember previous lifetimes and their cases are verifiable.

Then if you expand your research, you’ll find notable cases of reincarnation in eastern literature, specifically with regard to lamas who remember previous lifetimes. However, I’m happy to add, they remember the previous incarnation for a few years, and then that memory fades. (i.e, the Dalai Lama, who remembered the items he owned as the 13th, but since then, not so much).

Why is that? The reports show that children appear to be able to remember previous (verifiable) lifetimes up until about the age or 7 or 8. Some argue that’s when the filters in the brain no longer allow new information, I’ve noted its the age when the skull hardens, perhaps altering the ability to “receive” information that is accessed somehow - the brain acting like a stereo receiver.

How do we know there are filters? In Dr. Bruce Greyson’s youtube talk, “Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain?” (reproduced in my book “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife”) he cites the 70% of cases in the UK where Alzheimer’s patients suddenly, spontaneously regain access to their memories “minutes, hours,sometimes days” prior to their death. They somehow have a full memory of their lifetime and can access those memories. However, autopsies of their brains after death show they’d atrophied and should not have been able to access memory. As if the “filters” in the brain had “died” or ceased to function along with other parts of the brain, and yet consciousness returned in those incapable of it.

The word “believe” implies that there isn’t evidence of something. The idea of “faith” is to put your mind and heart around something that isn’t verifiable. However, consciousness existing outside the brain is verifiable, and further, points to the answer to the question. “How does reincarnation work?”

According to people who claim to have experienced a “memory” of the process - (that is through the research of Dr. Helen Wambach (2000 cases) and Michael Newton (7000 cases)) people under hypnosis claim that the process is the same, has always been the same, and continues to be the same. That once our consciousness (or soul) leaves the physical realm we inhabit, it “returns home” where it sorts out why and how and with who to make the choice to return.

They further claim that “this isn’t the only playground.” That people can choose to incarnate elsewhere, in other worlds, but that we like to return to this “difficult polarized realm” because “we can learn more spiritually from one day of tragedy on earth than we can from 5000 years on some boring planet.”


Again, not a theory, not a philosophy, not an argumentative supposition about how things should work; just reporting verbatim what thousands have said while either under hypnosis, during a near death event, or in some other consciousness altered mode where they claim to be able to access this information. And their replies are consistent and replicable. (Which by definition, is what science requires when examining data.)


What’s not realistic is to “believe” we don’t reincarnate. That unrealistic premise leads to people living on a planet they don’t think they’re going to return to, therefore leave it in a state of decay. That would be a “belief” as it is contrary to what these thousands of folks have said consistently.

The Flipside of 9-11

Well, it's that time of year again.  Where we remember where we were, what we were doing, the emotions we felt on 9/11.


My 1st trip to NYC in 1959. A few years prior.
As for me, I was teaching in Maine, I drove through an epic lightning storm to hang with some friend's at Harry Cipriani's Downtown - film director Phillip Noyce and artist Peter Tunney. Crashed at Pete's near Canal Street; dawn brought clear blue autumn skies. 

I planned to stop at H and H for a couple bags of bagels my film students, but somehow I missed the turn off the Westwide Highway.

First indication something was amiss that day; the gas station in CT had a crowd around a TV because "some plane had hit the WTC." 

I called my then girlfriend Sherry in LA and told her to turn on the tv; I just "neglected" to mention had just been blocks away. 

I spent the rest of the drive listening to the towers fall on the radio.  It was eerie to hear it instead of see it - somewhere near Camden I pulled off to watch it on tv at a hotel.  I sat by myself in a chair and sobbed. "Oh... the humanity."

A week later wife Sherry made the trip to ground zero - she wanted, needed to see it - but I passed on that visit; it took me over a year to return...  just too painful for me emotionally to make that journey.


Another kind of journey in Central Park
Since then I've spoken to many people who claim to have spoken to people on the flipside that describe these events from a spiritual perspective, not "them versus us" - but in terms of what's "meant to be" - and that's what I'm writing about here. 



I know a child who when looking at a photograph of the twin towers said "I was there."  Her mother, knowing that her daughter had never been to Manhattan, said "When?"  

She said "I was there with my brother, and there was a giant fire, and we were helping all the people come out, and there was paper everywhere; it came down like snowflakes."

Neither she nor her brother had been born prior to this event, and this kid's parents avoided all mention of 9/11 as their kids were growing up, avoiding having to explain that particular tragedy.

Their daughter described the event as if she was there.  "My brother and I were helping people out."Her brother was an infant when she told this story. But she told it as if it was just something she felt she needed to share.

I know a fellow who was in mid meditation in a forest in New Jersey when the towers came down - he was out in the woods meditating when he suddenly saw rows and rows of people floating by. As if they were departing from that scene.

He was profoundly moved when he learned later that the tragedy had occurred.

In Michael Newton's book, ("Destiny of Souls") he makes reference to a between life session where a client recalled seeing a "room full of people" who had been summoned to discuss an event that was about to occur. It was an "emergency event" and people were being asked to either participate in it, or not.  

The man claimed that he heard some people being offered incentives - like "if you can suffer through this event, we'll make sure to make it up to you in the next life." People either volunteered to be part of this lesson, or in some cases apparently did not. 

Michael Newton did not clarify what the event was, when it occurred; but as I read it, the description made me think of those who participated in 9/11. 

 If you consider for a moment that no one dies in these events - indeed, they're gone from this plain, they're no longer physically available to their families or loved ones - that's stressful.  No mitigating pain of the loss of a loved one.


In between the towers being down and the Freedom going up.
But when you think of the lessons in love, the advancement they might have by participating in a profound lesson like this - you can see how some folks are willing to offer up the rest of their life in order to teach or learn lessons in love.

I know that's hard to wrap our minds around on a day where we "remember" those who've gone before us. 

But it's no different than going to a funeral, going to a cemetery, honoring our loved ones who've gone before us, no matter their method of crossing over.  We honor them by talking about them, by remembering them, by thinking of them, by talking to or about them.  


Robin Williams and Radioman in Manhattan (Getty)
It's the best way to memorialize anyone.  Talk about them.  Think about them. (or in Robin's case, post pix of them - I was looking for another photograph, and when this popped up, it was as if he was saying "post this one! It's me! I'm in Manhattan too!") Say kind words about them, say sarcastic things about them - bring them back to life.  Honor them by talking about their accomplishments, their path, their journey. 

They're not gone. They're just not here.

And they can hear you.  It's just not that easy to have a two way communication with them, but it's worth trying. 


Oh look. Manhattan... with palm trees. (Vegas)
And try to have a little perspective on a day like today.

In my life, the events of 9/11 led to an entirely different set of circumstances, directly responsible for my going on adventures and meeting people whom I admire, consider friends, who are in the vanguard of the fight against what caused these events. So from a different perspective, this day 16 years ago led to other vistas, different venues, and helped clarify paths for many. 

I know it inspired many to join the military, to fight for their country, to become active in defense of their beliefs and part of their journey.  I am reluctant to add that is true on "both sides" of the equation, but I add it because that's what's reported in the research. 

We sign up for a lifetime knowing pretty well what we want to learn or teach or accomplish. And along the way we're called upon to do something selfless - give of ourselves, to save or help or learn from saving or helping someone else.  It's the essence of who we are as humans.  And once you begin to realize that we are all souls who choose our lifetimes, then the actions of some can only be seen in light of a bigger picture.  
Again, I'm not arguing this, or trying to force anyone to change their opinion or belief system.  I am reporting what people say about the flipside - consistently - whether they've done a session under deep hypnosis, or had a near death event and been able to examine it under hypnosis, or whether they've had access to the flipside in some other manner.  They consistently say these things about it.  

We learn from our errors, we learn from our mistakes, we learn from having the courage to come to this stage and perform difficult journeys.  That's consistent in all the reports.

So when remembering a day like today - remember those who gave of themselves to save others, those who risked everything to help others, those who went out of their way to help others.  

And think for a moment (if it's possible) to consider the choices of those who sacrificed their lives to hurt others, to make life difficult for others - I can't imagine why anyone would make that kind of choice, I can't offer any logic or answer that would give solace or understanding why anyone would choose to play a perpetrator than a victim... but I can report that people claim that some do "offer" to play the role of perpetrator because there's some reason for it. ("They needed to learn a lesson in negativity." "They will be a victim in a future life at the hands of the people they hurt." etc) And perhaps one day that information will become apparent.

In my case, I can only choose to honor those I know and love who've gone before me, and I choose to honor or talk about those who've sacrificed themselves to help others. For me it's the essence of why we're on the planet.  Unconditional love.

So when someone says "Never Forget" - it applies to everyone who has ever been in our path... don't forget them, their voice, their actions or their love - which is all that remains. 


The Apple Store on 5th Ave




Friday

Talking to the Flipside

People often ask; "So if it's true my loved one still exists on the flipside, why don't I hear from them?"

There's a few reasons.

One is Mechanics.

Did you know that a rainbow is different to every person that sees it? (This factoid from Neil deGrasse Tyson). "The exact Rainbow any of us sees in the sky is entirely our own -- a personal, yet communal gift from the laws of optics."


Double Rainbows: Science.com

Because of the nature of optics, light moving through water droplets, every person sees a rainbow differently. 

How many of us are old enough to remember rabbit ear antennas?  (Raise your hand in the back row; I SEE YOU.)

Endless standing in front of the television trying to get a "clearer signal."

When the Sears Tower went up in Chicago (later the Willis Tower) people in the northern suburbs (cake eaters in Chicago parlance) had to deal with ghosting images on their tv sets.  It was time to either get on the roof and move that antenna, or run to the tv and move the rabbit ears.



So let's say Aunt Betty wants to connect with you.  She sees you sitting in your church pew on Sunday like you always do (in this fantasy anyway) and she "sits down next to you."  Only you can't see her.  She's amused by the fact that you can't see her, but she wants you to know that she's keeping an eye on you, so she thinks of some way to communicate with you.

She might send you a smell.  Maybe it's perfume.  It's the old Chanel #5 perfume that you bought her every year for Christmas.  And she knows that once she wafts that perfume in your direction, you're going to know that she's visiting you.

Now, hang on a second.  Is Aunt Betty actually putting on perfume?  No.  But what is perfume?  It's a smell that we smell with our noses.  But hang on a second, is that accurate?

No, it's not. 

The smell is a wave of information that drifts through the air to your nostril which then translates that information into an ELECTRICAL SIGNAL which goes from your nose hairs to your brain and hits the corresponding filing cabinet where "Chanel #5" is located.

"Your ability to smell comes from specialized sensory cells, called olfactory sensory neurons, which are found in a small patch of tissue high inside the nose. These cells connect directly to the brain. Each olfactory neuron has one odor receptor. Microscopic molecules released by substances around us—whether it’s coffee brewing or pine trees in a forest—stimulate these receptors. Once the neurons detect the molecules, they send messages to your brain, which identifies the smell."



It's the same with visual stimuli.  You're not "seeing" anything - as we know, light and images hit your eye UPSIDE DOWN first, and then are translated RIGHTSIDE UP into your head, so you can watch out for that basketball coming at you.

"Duck!"

But back to Aunt Betty.  

She's seeing you from a particular perspective - according to Aunt Betty's I've interviewed, she doesn't "hear the minister" droning on, she doesn't hear the choir belting out "Sons of God, Hear His Holy Word" or any other the other distractions in the church at the moment.

She's just focused on you.  So let's figure that Aunt Betty wants to "send you a signal."  How does she do that?  Is there a decoder up there? A flip phone for communication?  No.  What people report is that they have to "do a mathematical equation that results in the desired effect."

Sound loopy?  Well hell yes, it is loopy!  What class did you learn how to do the math that would effect a transmission of a signal of a smell to your loved one?

You forgot already?



As I've reported in "Flipside" "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" there are classrooms in the afterlife - let's not call it that, shall we, as it implies "ghostly figures" sitting in classrooms.  Let's call it what it is:

A CLASSROOM.


University of Wisc

When I say that word I know that everyone has a different visual in their mind.  Could have been your class, a friend's class, a classroom you saw in a movie, or even at school.  But you alone know what classroom means.  I don't know what your classroom might look like - I can only point to ones that I've been in. Here on this planet, and while under deep hypnosis.


Old fashioned class. Eames chairs.

So in this class you were taught this method - and again, try not to focus on the "when" part of this information since we're always going to class - prior to this life, during it, and a long time ago as well. And in this class, which might have just a few folks, might have hundreds, but often is reported to be about "20" individuals - you learned the process of how to "throw a smell."

A bit like throwing your voice. There's a trick to it and you have to practice to get the trick down.



So Aunt Betty is sitting next to you, does the complex math problem that creates the "idea of a smell" and sends it to your electrical grid so that you can smell it... and not perhaps, the Eau du Bieber on the person in front of you... and this wave of this wafting luxurious smell comes over you, and you instantly - directly - picture Aunt Betty.

And instead of giving her a high five, or blinking through happy tears - you look around.  "That's funny. Why am I smelling that old perfume?  I haven't smelled that since... since... oh my.  Is Aunt Betty here?"

Don't forget, there are dozens of other folks in the room, each has their own focus and energy, and your brain is constantly translating, passing along electrical charges to your mind to help you navigate the day... so not so easy to "see Aunt Betty" as it is to "smell her."

This is why they generally don't waste all that time and energy trying to reach out to you until you're asleep.  In that way you're blissfully snoozing, and Aunt Betty finds it all that much easier to present herself right smack dab in the middle of your dream. 
Sister Evangelina "Call the Midwife" Series
 And our friends on the Flipside claim that they do so in a fashion "not to frighten you" (unless they have a silly sense of humor) but to reach out to you to let you know something...

What are they telling you?  Well, that they're okay. That they're watching over you. That you shouldn't worry so much about all the nonsense that you worry about all the time. Because NONE OF THAT MATTERS.

What does matter?

Only one thing (they say, consistently).  If you don't know what the one thing is that matters, take the time right now to ask your loved one.

"WHAT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, WHAT'S THE ONE THING THAT MATTERS THE MOST?"

Jot down the answer and send it to me.


On Amazon

Like I've said here before - when talking to people on the Flipside, they consistently say that we can communicate with them.  That all we need to so is "Say their name."

I asked "Do we say it in our head or aloud?"

They say "It doesn't matter."


In Ladakh with some peeps.
I asked "So let's pretend that I'm able to reach out to you.  And I have questions for you.  How can I tell the difference between "making up the replies" and actually getting a reply from you?"

They answer; "When the reply comes faster than the question.  When the answer to your question is heard in your head before you can even formulate the question, then you'll know you have a connection with us."

So g'head. Try it.  I can wait.

No one will know that you're talking to a passed away relative.  It's not like you're talking to yourself in Church.
Per LaChaise, Paris

(You know the old joke - if you pray aloud to God while you're in church or temple, that's normal. But if God replies; then you're insane.)

Go ahead and try it.  No one will know that you're talking to someone no longer on the planet in your head.  Write down what they say. Ask questions you don't know the answer to.  Ask hard questions that you don't think they know the answer to.  Ask them for help. Ask them to guide you.

The worst that can happen is that you "hear them."

Then you're in trouble because you'll know "either I'm making this up, or that flipside guy is right."

Say hello to your loved one for me.



Sunday

What Dreams May Come

Had the most unusual dream last night.  It was long and involved, and I was in some kind of limousine... the world zipping by outside, and I was focused on the individuals inside this limo. And there was a young child in the limousine, funny, giggling... but by the end of this dream, he was 21... long hair, blonde, easy laughter.  Kind of a surfer dude.

And realizing that I'd been in this limo driving around for over 20 years, I said "Wait a minute. Who are you, and why am I dreaming about you?"  He said "I'm your son."  


Mind blown. NASA


He smiled, matter of factly, revealing something I did not know, and could not have conceived of.  And then I did the math, and sure enough, it's possible that he was a child that we did not have because of a miscarriage a long, long time ago.

I bring it up, not to disturb anyone - but it made me think about the onset of life. What people say under deep hypnosis about the nature of life is consistent and unusual.  One guide described it as "uniting two photons of energy, one male, one female - not necessarily either or more or less of one, but those are the easiest words to use - and they're overseen by a group of souls who are like caretakers.  Then bits of energy are added, here and there, until they're "old enough" or "ready" to take life in some form. It might be on the planet, it might be somewhere else. They're assigned a guide to watch over all of their lives, and together with their guide, they map out what kind of journey they're going to have."

In my case, I had this discussion with my guide - someone who used the analogy of a "giant canvas."  He said "think of a blank canvas, and each lifetime is color. And Richard and I worked out all the various colors we'd like to explore and use, and at some point we'll look at the canvas and say "you need more red here, or more blue here..." and at the end of all of his lifetimes, we'll have this amazing portrait of a life well lived.  


Lotta stars up there. NASA

He said "And then at that point, when Richard has gone through all of his lifetimes, and this canvas is finished, he will have the option to become a guide, and then he'll oversee someone else's journey."  He said "when I graduated from all of my lifetimes, Richard was my graduation gift."

Ok.

Like a diploma on a plate.  

Handed over to a guide; here you go.  Now get to work.

But in terms of each lifetime, it's worth considering how or why we choose to come to this planet, to be born in this era.



We live in an era where abortion is legal, and there's a hot debate whether or not life begins at inception. 

Well, the research is consistent in this area, and it bears repeating; we choose to come here, we choose to be born, we choose the manner and person and method of that birth.  We do so with the guidance of our spiritual guides, friends and loved ones in the between lives realm. 

This is not my opinion belief or philosophy.  It is just consistent in the research. Sorry if that bothers people - it's not my intent to bother anyone.  But it is my intent to report what the research consistently shows.

Michael Newton did over 7000 hypnosis sessions, Dr. Helen Wambach did over 2000; both had the same results. I've filmed 40 sessions, also had the same results. 

So what about miscarriages, stillbirths, abortions?  Who are these folks and why did they choose to not be here?

Every story is unique.  

I have one close friend who lost her baby just prior to birth. She had a profound vivid dream sometime later where she "spoke" to her baby - and recognized him as someone she's known for many lifetimes. In his own words he "Changed his mind" just prior to coming here.  He "thought he could handle it" and then decided he "could not."  In her vision, she saw they had many lifetimes together.  Did this help her recover from her pain and loss? I don't know. I'm just reporting what she said.

In my lifetime I've known many women who've had abortions or miscarriages.  And in some of the research I've done, either via mediums or while a person is under hypnosis, or even during a near death experience - someone "meets" someone in the afterlife that is reported to be their "sister" (in "Heaven is For Real" during his NDE he met a sister he didn't know had died in childbirth, or in Eben Alexander's "Proof of Heaven" he's guided by a woman he later learns was a sister he didn't know he had), sometimes people meet brothers or sisters who died after coming here, and in some cases meet brothers or sisters that were "supposed to be here but couldn't make it."

I don't know what this dream was about - but it was a startling revelation to my conscious mind, meeting a son I didn't know, had never met, but who was letting me know that he was always with me and his mom, no matter what our "current reality" might be.

Oddly affirming.

It makes one wonder if all births are "meant to be" - after all, someone signs up to be part of our world, and then we decide they should not be.  I've always been an advocate of free choice, but perhaps in the future, part of counseling might include a hypnotherapy session where the mother (or father) gets to connect with this soul that is planning on coming here, and wants in on the decision whether to come or not.

I'd hasten to add, that everyone has their own path and journey, and I'm not here to admonish or tell anyone what their path and journey should be.  But I am here to say that consciousness doesn't occur at conception - it only opens the door to that person who is planning to come here.

Mind bending, isn't it?



So I'm editing together some of my "Hacking the Afterlife" sessions with Jennifer Shaffer.  It's hard to find a way to tell these stories - basically Jennifer and I meet up, have lunch, and then I interview "whoever shows up."

The interviews are free wheeling, accompanied by noisy restaurants, clinking cutlery, and occasional jokes that some might find bizarre, even offensive.  I'm not sure how much of that to change, cut out, or leave in - as the raw nature of these conversations are part of the unusual investigations I'm doing.

For example, most people prefer to have their music recorded on a sound stage in a quiet setting, so they can really hear the music - I'm a guy who likes the raw open air sound of people performing in their natural setting.  In my CD of the Nechung Monks I recorded them live in a temple. You can hear birds chirping, clocks ticking, monks pouring tea. The quality of the sound includes all the other prayers done in the same place.  

But I understand why we have microphones isolate so we can hear dialog. Robert Altman was a fan of overlapping sound - some people found it crazy making - but others found it liberating. Our ears are always being inundated with sound, and it's part of our own filtering that allows us to focus on one voice at a time.

But back to my dream.









I asked this boy what his name was. He laughed. "Let's call me "Zero" as I don't really have one."  I said "Zero? That's an odd thing to call you, it's not really a name."  He smiled and said "Right."  

So Zero.  Nice to meet you.  It may very well have just "been a dream."  But it also may have pointed to something more profound than any dream - those that are with us, part of our journey, are never not part of our journey.

I'm continuing my research as best I can, and that new research will go into the book "The Afterlife Expert." Thanks for tuning in.


Monday

Hacking the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer







And now for something completely different... (costs $3 to view, but at 30 mins, only ten cents a minute!)  Toying with the best way to share my "flipside" interviews with medium Jennifer Shaffer​. In this 30 min episode, we talk to two old friends, one an actor, the other a producer, and a couple of other pals.  I ask the questions about what it's like to "no longer be here"; Jennifer supplies their answers.  If you're not familiar with "Flipside" research, I don't recommend it... if you're both feet in, are familiar with what I'm doing; check it out. We've filmed about 20 so far. I try to ask questions about my friends' journeys and perspectives; what it's like for them to reach out to us. Figured a nominal fee is one way to not freak some folks out as we casually "Hack the Afterlife" with people "off planet." Again - not for everyone. Apologies in advance, but it is... what it is.  ("Hacking the Afterlife" can be found in audible/kindle/paperback online)

Writing Your Eulogy and your "Won't."

As I was traveling to my book talk this past weekend, I had a thought:


Ms. Vespucci, beloved Florentine

"When's the best time to write your eulogy?"

It sounds like a morbid thought, but bear with me.

If it's true that we live many lifetimes, if it's true that we come back here to the planet by choice, and not by force, karma or a willy nilly sense of humor....

If what people say about the flipside is true - that we come here for a reason, we choose our lifetimes for a reason, we come to learn and teach lessons (usually about "love" or the "loss of love" or "unconditional love"):

Why not think about your eulogy?

You know, that thing that they're going to read at your funeral (if you're lucky.) That thing they're going to put in the paper about you (if you're lucky.)  Think about the LONG VERSION instead of the version most of your family members will print because it costs so dang much per word.



Let's offer two options: 
1. You write the dang thing yourself. 
or 2. Someone else writes it for you.

What is it going to say?

A list of accomplishments?  Often.   
A list of things that you did for others? Perhaps.

A list of all the junk you own or purchased?  Never.

Save that for the will.  Go ahead, you've thought about your will, even if you've never written one - everyone tells you "write your will now because it's a pain in the ass later!" - this is true.  I've seen it, witnessed it, been around the horn with it - and if you don't leave a will - you'll leave a "won't."  

As in - no one will do anything that you thought they would about what you thought you wanted. They'll do whatever they think you wanted but aren't really sure because you forgot to write it down.  So think of your "will" as your "won't."  As in "I don't want you to do this with my stuff!!!"

Got it?

Write your won't.

Now let's write your eulogy, shall we?

(Oh, you forgot. There's two options. You write it or someone else will write it.  So if you're going to let me write it, I will.  If you want to write it, fine - you don't have to physically write it, but you gotta think about it.)

MY EULOGY FOR YOU

By Dear Reader of the Blog.

"Hi.  I'm speaking to you from the afterlife.  It was an odd event when I crossed over.  Odd because I thought for sure "I'm going to die!!!" and then... I didn't die. I just crossed over.  Because... well... I don't know how to put it to you any other way; there is no death.  We don't die.  We just move from here... to there."

Now if you're someone who chose to move from here to there - perhaps you're someone who thought that "death" might be a way to nirvana, or happiness, or heaven... I've got some bad news for you.

We don't die.  
SAY WHAT? Everyone in this foto is no longer on the planet.
They're not dead. They're just not here.

So you can't kill the thing you wanted to kill, which is yourself.  So if you're thinking about it - hang on - you can't do it.  Because you aren't making the problems easier, or better, more fun, or happier.  You just aren't doing anything at all except stopping yourself from having the chance to experience life.

Let me recap. You signed a contract. You agreed to come here. You even agreed to stay here "until the bitter end" because that's what people do.  They sign up to "experience it all."  You think by cheating, by breaking your word, breaking the contract, you're going to make it easier on yourself.  Au contraire.

It's not because the devil is waiting for you. It's not because you've done a bad bad thing, committed a sin... although that's accurate - you've sinned against yourself.  You've cheated yourself of all that work!  all that effort! all those people who conspired to get you here! to help you learn the lessons!!!  And the first people you're going to run into on the flipside are all those folks you let down.

And they're not going to be happy with you.  And you won't be happy with you either.  Sure... you'll eventually "get over it" - but it's going to be really hard for anyone to take you seriously again... for anyone to believe you when you ask to sign up for another lifetime.  "But I'll do better this time! I promise! I won't DO IT AGAIN!" 

Yeah, yeah, sure you won't. Tell that to all the people you made upset, miserable, unhappy. We forgive you, but oy, don't ask us to all help you when times get tough.

But I digress.

It's an inevitable question people ask - "If it's true I chose this lifetime, then why is it so difficult?"  

Well - look to the theater for the answer. What play have you ever sat through - fell asleep in - where he didn't ask "why is this so boring?"  "Why isn't anything happening?"  "I paid a fortune for these tickets and nothing is going on!!!"  

Remember, we have audience members too - keep it interesting. Keep it lively.  Enjoy the show, not only because you signed up to perform, but because everyone you ever loved is watching you perform. As I heard from a famous film director currently on the flipside: "No one comes to this side wishing they held back more during their lifetime."


There are a number of "life planning" transcripts in this book.

In Hacking the Afterlife, I include transcripts from a number of "life planning sessions."

Back to eulogizing.

What is your eulogy going to sound like?  

As I'm trying to point out - your eulogy should be just as entertaining as your life.  "He jumped!  He tried! He flew with angels!  He fell and crashed and burned! He laughed at misery!  He joked with tragedy! He sword fought with bad guys, chastised the good guys who were lazy, he screamed his lungs out!"

"She never gave up."  "She was knocked off her feet numerous times, she got back up, dusted her self off, and went back in there, swinging."  "She fought hard, she fought well, and never, ever lost her sense of humor!"  "She made people weep at the sound of her voice, she made children laugh and pine for her presence, she made everyone who met her fall in love with her."


Her maiden name was Cattaneo. She married the map making brother
of the guy America is named after.

While I was researching "the DeMedicis" project I sold to HBO some years ago, (they made "Rome" instead) I came across an entry about Simonetta Vespucci.  

She was the model for "The Birth of Venus" and was one of the most beloved people in Florence.  They said of her "She was envied by no one, but she was loved by everyone.  Men and women both fell in love with her, and her generous spirit." 

She died at the age of 21 from pneumonia.  The entire city turned out for her funeral - but Sandro Botticelli immortalized her.  Here we are 500 years after her death, talking about her.  Marveling at her portrait - in "The Birth of Spring" and "The Birth of Venus" and many other canvases.  

She really lived, she was really loved.  She only lived to 21, but her spirit carries on.  Because of her eulogy?  No, of course not, but because of her enduring qualities. Her beauty? Certainly. But Sandro also captured an "essence of who she was."  A physical eulogy if you will.


Simonetta's "Birth of Venus" was a wedding gift and reportedly
was hung over the Medici wedding bed. She was reported to be the love of Giuliano De Medici, who appears with her in "Spring."

So what are your enduring qualities?

Look back over your life.  What age did you first have a conscious thought that you might be doing the kind of work you're doing? (As noted in my books, I once asked an FBI agent this question and she said "In preschool. I kept lists on everyone!")

Think about those moments in your life where you had some clarity.  Someone showed up that you felt like you'd known forever.  The moment you realized that the significant other in your life was someone "you'd know forever."  Think of the moment you first realized "She/He's the one."
A short eulogy.

It's in there - people remember the stories of their life, but they forget the "epic moments of them." Some people remember these moments with clarity, others, I have to fish it out of them.  "Go back to that moment when you really, really knew that he or she was the person you were going to spend a significant amount of time with."

In those moments we see a glimpse of our "life planning session." We all have them, we all have been through them - some of us might have decided to come back to the planet on a whim, because "all our friends were coming" - but most of us, have a planning session where we work out the details.  "Who's who in the zoo" so to speak.


My grandfather's medal - the Legion of Honor.
Haven't a clue why he won it.
But he does.
Don't believe me? 

I reprint a number of them in "Hacking the Afterlife."  I've accessed my own a number of times. Each time I do it comes in more clearly - who was there, what was said, what was promised, what my intent was (and hopefully still is.)

If your eulogy was only two words, what would they be?




"She loved baseball"  


Okay. That's pretty funny. That's enough for her family and loved ones.  I guess some might wonder "And she disliked everything else?"  But that's up to Effa's family.  (great name - "Effa B. Manley"- fun repeating it at the DMV, I'm sure.)

Don't forget you're going to have a number of Eulogies, you're also going to write a number of "Won'ts" -- you're going to write them for friends, loved ones, for yourself - many times.  Not just here this time, but for the next time you choose to come back.  


Cemeteries - a bunch of physical eulogies.

A eulogy should be an attempt to find the theme in your life.  

What is it?  Then, if you're taking the advanced class - what's the theme over a number of your lives?  What's the theme that your soul group is working on?  Once you become aware of that, it's helps clarify why you'e on the planet.

Why you agreed to come to the planet.

Why you're here and who you're here to help.

Finally, think of the music you'd like to be played at your funeral. 

What's the musical theme of your lifetime? What's the music you think would most remind folks of you, and what you represented while you were here?  Make a note of it somewhere for someone to find.  "At my funeral I'd like people to hear...."

Whatever it is.  

(Here's mine...  although I doubt many would stick around for the 120 minutes. Maybe that's a good way to thin out the crowd. When I was in college I wrote a paper on how Beethoven's 9th was a metaphor for the four stages of life - how each movement represented what youth, middle age, old age and then spiritual reflection meant... and finally the last glorious journey into Shiller's poem.... Which gets me every time - almost like a physical example of what it's like to cross over - it seemed like an apt musical eulogy for my own life, though I doubt whoever's around will remember that I wanted the entire symphony to be played live, in full... and let that be the memory of me.  Oh well, It's here, ain't it?)

Write your eulogy like you mean it - like it will guide you through the rest of your days here on the planet. 

 Make it mean something, make it fun, make people happy who come across it.

"He laughed."






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