Buddhism and the Flipside

Miscellaneous

Saturday

Carl Sagan, a visit to Coast to Coast and "Children's Past Lives"

A question asked on Quora the other day....
Hacking the Afterlife - link to the 
book "Hacking the Afterlife"

Richard Martini
Richard Martini, Film Director Writer at Internet Movie Database (1985-present)


My reply: 
"Ha! That’s an easy one. Because I label them, Amazon does not.
If I could label them under “science” I would get a lot of people arguing about the research. So why bother with arguing? As I’ve heard consistently in this research from folks on the Flipside: “Tell people to believe in the possibility of an afterlife, then they won’t waste any more of their time arguing about it.” 
Harry Dean and a furry friend
But let’s consider what you’re asking for a moment. Have I been able to present my research to scientists? Yes, I have. It happened after I finished “Flipside.” I was invited to the University of Virginia’s Dept of Perceptual Studies to speak about what I’d learned by filming people under deep hypnosis about the afterlife.
In the room were some of the top scientists in the world with regard to consciousness studies, including Dr. Bruce Greyson (NDE), Dr. Jim Tucker (reincarnation) Ed Kelly PhD (Psi) and others. They had all read the book, and began our conversation with telling me that “hypnosis is not considered a valid scientific tool.” (And Ian Stevenson, the founder of DOPS had written about why that’s the case.)
(A good place to take a look at near death experiences is IANDS.ORG - The website for DOPS is here: (see article below)
Fortunately, I was aware of Ian’s prejudice against the practice, and agreed wholeheartedly that “hypnosis as it was practiced by Freud” is not a valid tool. Too many factors can influence the process, including the desire of the patient to be cured, the doctor wanted to effect a cure, as well as the time element - “in the next hour please tell me why you’ve got a phobia.”
I pointed out that in Michael Newton’s case (before I was aware of Dr. Helen Wambach’s identical research a decade earlier) the time element was gone - as the sessions took from four to six hours. The questions by design were neutral; “What do you see if anything? Where are we now? Is it day or night? Are you a man or a woman?” But most importantly, and this was my point of pursuing this line of research, it didn’t matter who the person was asking the questions, it didn’t matter who the person was answering the questions, they all said relatively the same things about the journey; having a guide or guides, seeing their friends or loved ones in a “soul group,” all visited a “council” where they saw their life review, etc.
I argued that the fact that thousands of people across the globe said the same basic things during their session created a database of research. I gave them a challenge; to take any person off the street, or anyone that they chose, a skeptic, didn’t matter, and have them do a session; if they got contrary results, then fine the experiment was over; end of discussion. 
But if they got the same results that Michael Newton did, or that I was claiming anyone could, then it was up to them as scientists to prove why that is the case.
Because I am not a scientist. I’m a filmmaker. All I was doing was filming these people (which no one had done before) and transcribing exactly what they said, and comparing what they said - different hypnotherapists, different people from across the globe. Everyone said relatively the same thing.
Ultimately, I’ve learned second hand that indeed they have done that - that someone who is in the film “Flipside” has done sessions with scientists and had the same results. As I said at the time “It’s not up to me to prove why that’s the case, I’m just a filmmaker. If you guys are scientists, then it’s up to you why that is the case.”
They pointed out that it was nearly impossible to mount a university based study on what I was proposing. It would cost money, and the people who sponsor these kinds of studies are by and large pharmacological entities who want the results of the tests to help them market and sell their products. That’s not a pejorative - it’s just stating the facts. Very hard to mount a study about something if someone isn’t financing it. (I’m glad to see that DOPS has just published results of a study about reincarnation in children.) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/...
Now that study is science. (I don’t need to be a scientist to stand outside the school and point in the right direction.)
This topic came up the other day when I was filming an interview with a medium who was answering questions I was posing to people on the flipside. (Jennifer Shaffer - “Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer”) At some point, I was asking questions directly to Carl Sagan. (Yes, that Carl Sagan.) I asked “Carl” if he had any advice for his fans.
Jennifer: “He says tell them to stop wasting time doing what he did.”
Rich: “Arguing about the afterlife?”
J: It’s so pointless.
R: Well how can we help them?
J: It’s paradise over here.
R: But how can we help them?
J: We can’t.
R: So these books are not helping. Is that what you’re saying, these books are a waste of time Carl, “Mr. Blue Dot?” (I have a tendency to tease whomever I’m talking to).
J: They’re all laughing. “No. The books are timeless, people can come or go and think what they’ll think and they’ll find them… like if I (Jennifer) had come across your book “Flipside” in my 20’s I wouldn’t have been ready for it, but coming across it when I did was the perfect time for it.” 
(Excerpt from upcoming Third Book of “Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer.” All Rights Reserved. Copyright Rich Martini 2018)
So I’m not concerned AT ALL whether people find this research annoying, promising, science or fantasy. I know what I know, and I can only report what I’ve experienced, what I’ve filmed and transcribed. I’ll leave it up to posterity to figure out whether or not any of it is accurate. But thanks for the shout out! 
Happy Thanksgiving.'
Book Two - both available on Audible.com

I'll be appearing with George Noory this coming Dec. 2nd at 10 p.m. PST.  Tune in if you'd like to hear the latest about whatever the latest thing is that's on my mind.  Always a treat to talk to George.


George and moi
Here's the article from DOPS on the scientific research regarding children remembering past lives:
"Some young children, usually between the ages of 2 and 5, speak about memories of a previous life they claim to have lived. At the same time they often show behaviors, such as phobias or preferences, that are unusual within the context of their particular family and cannot be explained by any current life events. These memories appear to be concordant with the child’s statements about a previous life.
In many cases of this type, the child’s statements have been shown to correspond accurately to facts in the life and death of a deceased person. Some of the children have birthmarks and birth defects that correspond to wounds or other marks on the deceased person whose life is being remembered by the child.  In numerous cases postmortem reports have confirmed these correspondences. Older children may retain these apparent memories, but generally they seem to fade around the age of 7 .  The young subjects of these cases have been found all over the world including Europe and North America.
For the past 16 years, Dr. Jim Tucker, now the director of the Division of Perceptual Studies, has focused mainly on cases found in the United States. His most recent book Return to Life offers accounts of  very strong American cases of young children who remember previous lives.
Types of Statements a Child Might Make:
Statements made by a child who seems to be remembering a previous life can be quite varied. The following is not an exhaustive list by any means. It is designed to give an idea of the kinds of things a parent or caregiver might hear, and in our Western culture, tend to dismiss as fantasy. It is also true that a child might say one or more of these things and not be remembering a previous life. It is probably best not to pump a child for information, nor to try and prevent him or her from saying such things.
  • “You’re not my mommy/daddy.”
  • “I have another mommy/daddy.”
  • “When I was big, I …(used to have blue eyes/had a car, etc.).”
  • “That happened before I was in mommy’s tummy.”
  • “I have a wife/husband/children.”
  • “I used to…(drive a truck/live in another town, etc.)”
  • “I died … (in a car accident/after I fell, etc.)”
  • “Remember when I …(lived in that other house/was your daddy, etc.)”

Please contact us if your child appears to be having memories of a previous life:

  • We are very interested in hearing about cases of young children who are currently spontaneously speaking about memories of a previous life.  If you are a parent or a caretaker of a young child, please contact us to submit your observations and experiences of your child’s behaviors and statements about memories of a previous life.

Advice to parents of children who are reporting memories of a previous life.

  • If you are a parent seeking advice about your child who seems to remember a previous life, please refer to Advice to Parents.

Books about the research being done at DOPS into memories of previous lives:

We invite you to view a list of books on reincarnation written by our faculty. The list includes books written by our director, Dr. Jim Tucker, as well as the long list of books authored by our founder, Dr. Ian Stevenson.  Among the many ground breaking books by Dr. Stevenson is his comprehensive two volume set, Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects, Volumes I and II. In this 2268 page, two volume set, Dr. Stevenson wrote about his extensive research into cases of birthmarks and birth defects which appeared to strongly correlate to memories of a past life in particular subjects. Dr. Stevenson also wrote an abridged version of this research called Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect.
In 2013, Dr. Jim Tucker, appointed director of the Division of Perceptual Studies in 2014, authored his second book on the topic of cases of children who report memories of a previous life. In his most recent book Return to Life, Dr. Tucker describes the research into strong American cases being carried out at DOPS. In Tucker’s first book, Life Before Life, he reviews forty years of research into children who report memories of previous lives. This book contains some accounts of interesting American cases, as well as descriptions of Dr. Ian Stevenson’s classic cases in Asia.
(RM: I'd include Carol Bowman's work "Children's Past Lives" in this list) 

Other publications on past-life memories:

For a list of academic papers specifically on the study of past life memories written by our faculty, please see Publications on Past-life Memories.

Expanded List of Publications:

To view the expanded list of publications generated by the UVA Division of Perceptual Studies researchersgo to the Academic Publications Page.


Sunday

A Star Wars fighter, 11:11 revised, Wilfred Owen and Anthony Bourdain

My thoughts on the ubiquitous 11:11 (revised).  
Pinturicchio - The Annunciation (detail) - WGA17770.jpg
Gabriel before he blows his horn
As I've mentioned in "Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer" - my wife Sherry had a dream where she ran into my old friend Luana Anders.  

She asked "How can you be here? You died 20 years ago."  

Luana showed her a spaceship - a TIE fighter that Luana had seen in a toy store hours earlier.  If you look at a TIE fighter it looks like a physical interpretation of 11:11. 


Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens Villain Star Fighter Bluetooth Speaker by iHome
Two sides with a place in the center to meet

Two identical sides with a place in the center to meet.

Sherry pointed this out to me yesterday.  That dream had another detail that I had missed. The TIE fighter. She didn't know what it was called.  But Luana essentially said "I took this to come here."

I thought Luana was joking "I took a space ship to get here."

But she was being SPECIFIC.

Then Sherry asked "How can that be?" And Luana replied "Think of 11:11. We meet at the decimals."

What does that mean?

I take it as this; in my research I've asked people on the flipside (sometimes through Jennifer Shaffer, sometimes while speaking to someone who is accessing the flipside without hypnosis) and they say "I have to slow my energy down" or "I have to adjust my frequency to yours" - and I also have heard "And you have to adjust your frequency to mine."

I just read this, this morning. A physical representation of 11:11. It came from a comment posted to a question I'd answered on the topic; a reply on Quora. 

"Eight-months after my first husband passed away, I had a wonderful dream about him. Back then I was a student of lucid dreaming, so I “awakened in the dream” quickly as I sat on our “dream” living room couch. I could see my husband materializing next to me on the couch, but then he began to disappear. It looked like he was being beamed in, ala Star Trek. Intuitively I knew I needed to raise my vibration in order to connect with him. I did a quick centering meditation in the dream state and was able to meet him in the middle-ground where I was vibrating faster and he, slower.

I asked him how he was, and he said, “Wonderful.” Then I asked if he’d heard all the things I’d said to him as he lay dying in the hospital - how much I loved him, etc, and he said, “Yes, but I didn’t die.” I felt confused and said, “But Michael, your ashes are in the urn in our armoire.” And he said, “I know. But I didn’t die.” And then I understood. Then I asked if it was alright with him that I’d started dating again, and he laughed a little and said, “Of course.” And then I woke feeling wonderful."

Got that? 11:11. Raise your vibration on your side to match theirs on the flipside. They have to lower theirs to match yours to communicate. (Like in a star trek transporter.  You have to match the frequency.)

It does not get any more specific than "I am still alive." Not "partially alive." Not "kind of alive" Not "let's define what that means if i don't have a body." THEY ARE NOT GONE. THEY ARE JUST NOT HERE. (Thanks for sharing Tamra)

From a previous post about Armistice Day:
Armistice Celebration (wikipedia)
11:11:18. At 11:11 a.m. the guns fell silent over the fallen dead 100 years ago. But 11:11 is also a metaphor for how we can resurrect those dead.

Think of the left 11 as a hallway for the flipside, the right 11 as a hallway here. As i was told by someone on the flipside: "We meet at the decimals." They have to slow down their frequency to chat (sense/talk/appear in dreams) and we need to speed up ours (meditate/hypnosis/talk via a medium).

We meet in the middle. You can ask questions. When you hear an answer before you can form the question you'll know you've made a connection.

There. I just blew a trumpet and brought back everyone who died a century ago. Up to you what to ask them or what you can learn from their journey. 

Some years ago Sherry had a dream she saw two WWI British soldiers in our living room. One said "you have a book with some of my poems." She heard a name. We looked up his name and Sherry recognized his photo; an English poet who died during the war. The man with him, his best friend who died as well. His name; Wilfred Owen.


Image may contain: 1 person, standing
Wilfred Owen
This is the WWI poet who stopped by our home one day a few years ago. Sherry saw him (and a friend) in a dream. He leaned down to look at my library of books and said something like "You have one of my poems." The next day Sherry mentioned this to me, as she had heard his name and saw his face. We looked him up and indeed, we did have one of his poems in a book of English Literature. (Reprinted below) On this VETERANS DAY I'm here to tell you that no one is dead. They are not here, but they are not gone. This is not unique, have been documenting this for ten years now. Not gone. Just not here.

WILFRED OWEN

When war was declared, Wilfred Owen was in France working as a private tutor. He returned to England and joined the Artists' Rifles in October 1915. He was subsequently commissioned into the Manchester Regiment and was sent to France in December 1916. In April 1917, after a traumatic period of action, he was diagnosed with what became known as shell-shock, and was sent back to Britain. While recovering in Craiglockhart War Hospital he met Siegfried Sassoon. There, with Sassoon's support, he found his poetic voice and wrote the famous poem, Anthem for Doomed Youth.

Owen returned to France in August 1918 and was awarded the Military Cross in October. He was killed in action on 4 November, just a few days before the Armistice. (Actor Daniel Day Lewis is the head of his society.)

 https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/9-poets-of-the-first-world-war

Anthem for Doomed Youth

BY WILFRED OWEN

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
— Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; 
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds." 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47393/anthem-for-doomed-youth

(Interesting to note that Daniel Day Lewis is the head of the Wilfred Owen society.  Coinkydink? Perhaps.)

Today, a complete stranger asked me what his rabbi tried to tell him 50 years sgo. I asked him to recall the event. He said he could see him with his eyes closed. 

I asked what his hands felt like. "Soft. Comforting. Unconditional love." I asked if i could ask his rabbi a question directly. "Yes." I asked what he wanted to tell this boy 50 years ago. "Follow the path." I asked if the man now understood what he meant by that. He did.

They are not gone. They are just not here. Up to you what to ask them. They're eager to continue the conversation.


Backstage Pass to the Flipside
(Technique is covered in "Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Medlyn Shaffer ")

Finally, yesterday on Reddit someone posted a link to the article where the french chef Daniel Boulud says (in his opinion, no evidence cited) that Anthony Bourdain "died of a broken heart."

That's NOT what Anthony says in "Backstage Pass to the Flipside."
Image result for anthony bourdain
Anthony on wikpedia. Straighten that tie dude!
I wrote this reply on his behalf:

"Sorry. That's BS." That's a direct quote from Anthony on the "flipside." We interview him in "Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer." He talks about WHY he split, and who was there to greet him on the flipside (that French chef pal of his who shot himself, his pal Bernard Louiseau.) 

Anthony can tell you himself if you ask him. Yeah, he was broken from the grind of working nonstop and didn't have any support system or mechanism. (Like if this chef was such a good pal, he would have been up in his grill prior to this, knowing he was having a hard time). 

As Anthony put it "Tell people to learn to meditate." I asked "Why?" He said "Because if I knew how to meditate I would fucking still be alive." 

He's not gone, he's just not here. Stop blaming others for his act. I asked if we should ban bathrobes from hotel rooms so people like him couldn't use them to do themselves in. He laughed "You don't want to see me naked." The medium could see him looking pretty much the same, but with no tattoos. And whenever I'm interviewing someone new in our "classroom" and I find it tough going I ask him to help. 

Last week I was talking to someone who had a successful life all the way to the end. I asked Anthony if he wanted to ask this famous guy a question. He said "How did you do it? Stay alive with all the pressure?" And this person said "Because I had a group of friends I could call day or night for help. Which you did not." Touche'. So.... Chef DB; Don't claim he "died of a broken heart" if you weren't there to make him laugh or heard him tell you that himself."

     Which was met with the reply: "Seriously? I wish I had more than one downvote. Go plug your bullshit somewhere else."

      To which I replied:

"Good for you brother. I'll give the opportunity to downvote this comment as well. It's not my theory opinion or belief this is the case. I've filmed people under deep hypnosis for ten years (45 so far) and they claim the same thing. I've examined thousands of cases from Dr Helen Wambach and Michael Newton; they say the same thing. I've presented research to scientists at UVA and subsequently interviewed dozens of NDE cases. 

I'm sorry this post upset you; that's not my fault. I am just quoting what my pal the medium said (who works with law enforcement nationwide on missing person cases.) Whatever: vote away."


I sound like a broken record but it bears repeating:

It's not my opinion, belief or theory that a medium reported what Anthony had to say. I have it on film and anyone can judge it for themselves.  I have film of this particular medium (and others) accurately talking to people on the flipside (dozens of times) about things only they could know, things that are "new information."  It's not my theory that it's new information, I then follow up the research and prove it to be accurate (or not).  You have a problem with what people say on the flipside about their departure, take it up with them.

Anthony didn't die of a broken heart. Sorry. That may be the scenario people want to believe, it may be what makes them more comfortable with their own journey, it may be what they want to take away from the loss of such a smart, erudite and compassionate human.  But hang on - he hasn't gone anywhere, he's not gone at all.  It's only our inability to see/hear/talk to him that prevents us from knowing that he hasn't gone anywhere.

What's more important? Hanging onto the belief that he checked himself out over a broken heart? Or realizing that he's still accessible?  Ask him yourself.  He's happy to reply.

And that's my two cents for the day. 




MEANWHILE... enjoy this tune that I came up with about Luana's visit in a dream describing 11:11.  Something fun I created on my keystation 88 and improvising "whatever popped into my head" while listening to the tune.  Flipside songwriting.