A dream within a dream

Took me a long time to encounter this poem by the one and only,the great Edgar Allan Poe.

I was reading his Wiki entry - it's a good read, and gives much more detail than many of the cites about him.

He was 40 when he wrote this  poem.  He was 47 when he wrote "the Raven" his most famous poem. He was off the planet by 49. But the poem reads like a man who has either seen his fate, met his higher self, or seen the flipside.

Poe. Wiki pic.

Poe had a history of lung problems in his family - TB - he may or may not have died of it, but his reputation of being a drunk, drug addict, or other myth seems common for the time - many in his family died of drink and other maladies common in the era.  He was just simply an excellent writer, who loved life (one of his wives left him because of all the illegitimate children he reportedly had, according to wiki) and appears to have had a lot of fun while in it.

On October 3, 1849, Poe was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore, "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to Joseph W. Walker who found him. He was taken to the Washington Medical College where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849 at 5:00 in the morning. Poe was never coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition and, oddly, was wearing clothes that were not his own. He is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring. Some sources say that Poe's final words were "Lord help my poor soul". All medical records have been lost, including his death certificate.

Now. Let's take this apart for a moment - one of the greatest mystery writers ever, who was fond of doing ciphers and mysteries - winds up in "dire condition" wearing someone else's clothes - (How did he get into someone else's clothes? Unless he was naked somewhere else?) And calling out the name "Reynolds."

Yours truly speaking flipside at San Diego Iands

It's like he left behind a puzzle that no one has ever bothered to unravel. "Some sources" say his final words were "Lord help my poor soul" - but we have no idea what he meant by that, or if indeed he said it. 

However, the Guardian posted this following article in 2007 - using some news reports of after Poe's body was moved - they claimed to have seen that his "brain did not deteriorate."  Modern forensics point to a tumor that did not disintegrate, that resembled the brain.

The unusual thing is - it's my contention that no one dies, that everyone is accessible.  Even Edgar.  The trick is to find someone who could access him - perhaps through an item of clothing (sometimes helps mediums or intuitives) but following the logic of my "Flipside" books - some form of our energy is retained by photographs or written materials.  So any photograph of Poe would do - as every photo contains some holographic piece of time with regard to the person in the photograph (or so claim various people while under deep hypnosis accessing the "flipside.") (See above).

So here's Edgar's photo.  Anyone out there want to weigh in on who "Reynolds" was?

I would argue - because look, no one is debating me here, so I can argue whatever I want - but I would argue that if indeed Poe had a "brain tumor" and was dying of cancer in the brain (common enough in the era) that what really happened was that the "filters" or "partitions" that keep people from accessing the flipside had dropped, and he was accessing someone that he knows on the other side.

Where's the science for this?

(Dr Bruce Greyson's talk about Consciousness and the brain)

Well this talk is reproduced in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" in the interview with Dr. Bruce Greyson (UVA - same school as Poe!) where he points out the medical histories of patients in England who just prior to death remember all kinds of events, faces and names - when their brains have atrophied due to dementia.  That when the autopsies are done after their death - they "should not" have been able to access these memories.  But somehow they did.

In terms of Flipside research, they were accessing the "mind" which retains all of our memories - from this lifetime and others - and can be accessed under deep hypnosis, or sometimes during an "outside consciousness event" like with hallucinogens, or near death events.  For that particular cite, I point you to Dr. Greyson's excellent youtube talk "Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain?"

He argues that while it appears that certain things are produced by the brain, there are other events, memories, that are not.

Including "Reynolds."

I would further argue that the name Reynolds came from Edgar Allan Poe's youth.  How could I prove that? Well Edgar's parents were from Ireland.  They were both actors, and he is reportedly named after a character in a Shakespeare play.  His mother died of consumption at an early age, his father left the scene - so he was raised by a wealthy uncle (John Allan).  

Here's where Reynolds comes from in Eire: Reynolds
(County Letrim) Poe's grandfather was from the county next to the county where Reynolds is from. Cavan.

Is it odd to imagine that having been born and raised in Boston by an Irish family, he might have known someone in his youth named Reynolds - from the very next county his family came from - and that friend in Boston was there to greet him on the Flipside, when he crossed over?

Famous Last words?

Steve Jobs; "Oh wow. Oh Wow. Oh Wow." 

Napoleon: "Josephine!"

Poe: "Reynolds!"

The other day, I was interviewing someone I know who died recently. I was with Jennifer Shaffer doing the interview in our usual place, and I asked this friend of mine "So what was it like when you died?"  He said "I saw my father."  I said "So that's how you knew you had died?"  He said "when I saw my father, who I knew was dead, I realized that I also must be dead."

My pal died during an operation - so it's not something anyone was planning, or fearing, including himself.  But nice to know that his dad was there to greet him.

Here's Edgar's Poem that I ran across yesterday and wanted to comment on:

A Dream Within a Dream  
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE (written 1840)

"Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow —
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?  
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand —
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep — while I weep!
O God! Can I not grasp 
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?"

So let's take it apart a bit, shall we?

"Take this kiss upon thy brow" - who do you kiss on the brow? People who are departing from this life.  "His elder brother Henry had been in ill health, in part due to problems with alcoholism, and he died on August 1, 1831." (wiki)

He's not giving this person a kiss on the lips - so it's not a lover. Could be a relative - could be someone you would normally "kiss on the brow" - especially someone who is ill.

So did his brother say to him "Edgar, you're the lucky one - your days on the planet have been a dream!" As in - fortunate.  Perhaps. Or perhaps he's telling him that "life is but a dream" - (merrily merrily merrily merrily).  The song "Row Row Row Your Boat" was written down for the first time in 1852, but had been a "Popular tune for years." Wiki: "Row Your Boat" Origins:
It has been suggested that the song may have originally arisen out of American minstrelsy. The earliest printing of the song is from 1852..."  So perhaps Edgar is referring to the popular children's son: "Merrily, life is but a dream."

So perhaps he's referring to the idea that we roll along merrily in this dream state of life.

Then the reference to a night, a "vision" and then "none" - what brings on visions?  If it's true that he had brain cancer - and a tumor as noted above - perhaps he was already hallucinating.  But dreams bring on visions - but visions are not dreams, they're another word we use to describe something more vivid "more than a dream."

"Visions" - are common in people seeing events or people on the flipside - people who have vivid dreams, or lucid dreaming - sometimes see the world from outside their bodies. Out of body experiences. Floating around the room.  That too is a "dream within a dream." Perhaps he was already having "out of body experiences."

Lots of sand down there.

But then he gets to the heart of the matter; time.

"I hold in my hand... the grains of sand..." Well, some have said this was a reference to the Gold Rush (really?) but obviously it's referring to the time piece we know as life.  What if we could grasp the grain of sand more firmly in our hand? Would we be able to stop time? Or the death of a loved one?

"Can I not save one from the pitiless wave?"

So there you have it - time is like the ocean, we are but the grains of sand on the beach, and the waves come in and pulls us back out... alas...

But aha!

The waves deposit us AGAIN upon the shore. Don't they? And perhaps we're involved with the where and when and decision to return back to this beach.

At least that's what the flipside research shows.

My two cents on Edgar.