Socrates, Hemlock and the Wave We're Surfing

When I was at Boston University, I was part of a program called DGE.  It was known as the "Division of General Education" but was considered a prelaw program, that was taught by some of the brightest at the University.  Classroom size was small compared to rest of the 26K students, and each student signed up for a two year program.


Julian Baird was the professor who taught Humanities. As I've mentioned here before, I was a huge fan of Julian's; he had a profound effect on my world view.  He passed away not too long ago, but I was able to spend some time with him and my camera.  I got a chance to speak to the maestro before he checked off the planet.

For those who are fans of "Backstage Pass to the Flipside" - he gets his own chapter.  And here's a link to Part One of his two part story.




I mention Julian and DGA because it had three basic disciplines for four semesters; Humanities, Social Studies, and Science.  So freshman year we began with the Greek's story - how they viewed the arts, how they viewed society and how they influenced science. 

But what DGE's program alluded to - is that throughout human history, movements can be charted in terms of their influence on society.  So when the Greeks were discovering democracy, the politics of the day was exploring what that meant, the science of the day was exploring how the planet worked, and the arts - plays, sculpture, mosaics - were mirroring each other's advancements.

The same is true for the Renaissance - the invention of the public library by the Medici family changed the dynamic of what people could read or study. They started reading Plato and Socrates, and learning about how the world viewed itself prior to the Christian Church taking hold of information - and science had its own resurgence in people like Galileo (until the Church showed him the tools of torture).

But the Renaissance affected societies in how they treated their individuals (in the Florentine Senate, they had a voting system where each Senator would offer a white or black marble (yes or no vote) and at the end of the voting, they'd discover whether a law had passed or not.)  (One of their lesser known laws was putting yellow stars on the Jewish money lenders in a particular part of the city - ostensibly a required "permit" - but we all know how that turned out.)

Simonetta Vespucci

Most aren't aware that the Pope's reaction to all of this liberalism was to send an assassin to Florence to kill both Medici brothers who were ruling the city - they successfully killed one (Giuliano, the popular athlete who appears in "Primavera") but only succeeded in wounding Lorenzo, who not only outlived the Pope, but appointed his son, and his brother's bastard son as Popes (Leo X the "humanist Pope" and Clement VII - both hired Michelangelo, who had lived in their home with them in Florence).

Lorenzo De Medici survived the Pope's attempted assassination.

One hundred years ago, artists and scientists took a new tack - perhaps based upon the invention of the camera, perhaps because history books had come into fashion.  But writers began to deconstruct words, and looked at the art of writing in a new fashion (James Joyce is considered the pillar of this style of exploration.)  

Musicians began to deconstruct music - the time signatures, scores, eventually became atonal, painters began to deconstruct space on a canvas; out of it came the Impressionists, the Cubists, the Dadaists, etc.  In like form, people started exploring the mind (William James psychologist, Freud and Jung via hypnosis), the microscope and the origin of illness came into focus, and on a sociological level, upheavel was the coin of the realm; 17 world leaders were assassinated around the turn of the century.  The new was overturning the old in all areas and in a grand sense deconstructing what had been handed to them.

So what's going on now?
Computers and the internet have caused the most recent trends on the planet.  We have apps influencing how we behave with others (who uses a telephone any more? People prefer to text than speak, communication is changing on all levels.)  In terms of music we have electronic or digital film scores (like Hans Zimmer deconstructing "La Vie En Rose" for the score of Inception) that use digital expression in a new way, people's ability to use libraries online have made information easily accessible, governments and all manner of sociological issues are based on algorithmic data that dictates how the government relate to humanity, writing has become something that combines multiple expressions of reality - from links to other articles, to podcasts where people speak about their experience and anyone can create or listen in.  

The democratization of expression is making it so anyone can create anything anywhere at any time.  There is no one telling them what they can or can't sell, think, write or create.  They can use the internet to meet their audience directly, and whether they charge money for that access, or just do it for the betterment of the planet (open source patents like Tesla) people are altering how they share intelligence.

Picasso and his pal the musician who shot himself over
the beauty next to him. Picasso took care of her financially
for years "in memory of my best friend who died
for her beauty."

Doesn't mean that the old ways aren't clinging on for dear life - the idea of combatting climate change, or trying to parse human behavior into some kind of myopic box that relates to hundreds of years ago - is all part of the mix. As noted, the Pope's reaction to the liberalness of the Florentines was to "excommunicate the entire city" in a fatwa ("the Dissentio") and it was Lorenzo De Medici who used the newly lifted printing press to disseminate his version of events ("The Pazzi Conspiracy" written by Lorenzo's pal and poet Poliziano) which had a direct reaction from Martin Luther who read and reacted to what the Church was up to. It was one of the first cases where the flipside of the story got out at the same time as the powers that be put out their story. 

The Vatican distributed only 11 handwritten copies in Latin (I've examined two of them, one at Yale, the other in Claremont) but Lorenzo's version of events was sent to every capital city in the world.  "The Pazzi Conspiracy" was a revelation in its day, as it had a complete confession of the assassin, and detailed the events that led to the Pope signing his "pardon" that was supposed to save him from the executioner's ax. (Hint: It did not.)  

One of the first examples of "social media" influencing world events (Obviously, Lorenzo didn't get Papal permission to changing the course of history - Lorenzo published the account using a purloined German printing press (the Italians were claiming they had their own); the Vatican's reaction (The City of Florentine executed the entire Pazzi family which included an archbishop) was to excommunicate the entire city and send an army to burn "the den of iniquity" to the ground.  Lucky for us, thwarted by Lorenzo.)

Taj Martini

So we're going through another one of those phases. The same kind of rebirth that occurred in Athens (democratization of humanity, rather than just males), the Renaissance where artists, writers, poets and scientists began to study the human element of their work; the tearing apart of art and science and history that began 100 years ago has culminated into what we're experiencing now. People can express themselves in ways never thought imaginable - whether it's the virtual reality experience of being an immigrant led over the wall by coyotes in Mexico ("Carne Y Arena" by Inarittu) or it's the virtual Westworld of Red Dead Redemption 2, or it's the gender smashing, mind bending reality that we all choose our avatars in life, the way we choose avatars in "Jumanji."

Will there be blowback?  If history is a guide; indeed, there will be. 

Will it cause stress and difficulties?  Again, history offers that all of these revolutions in the consciousness of the planet has its own particular changes that occur.  

Will the effects of this era have on the planet 100, 500 years from now? Well, if we're smart enough to reverse the devastation we've caused, it's possible that we ourselves will choose to come back and participate in the rebuilding of whatever happens now.

But I digress.

What does this have to do with Socrates and hemlock?

The other day I was filming an interview with someone on the flipside, and that person "on the other side" (courtesy of Jennifer Shaffer) said "It's not like what happened to Socrates."  And I said, "Hang on a second, let me ask a question about that. Can we speak to Socrates? Is he available?" Jennifer paused for a few seconds, and said "He's here."

I said "So what was that comment about Socrates? Everyone tells your story as recounted by Plato - that you were this great orator, and that when you were forced to make the choice, chose to drink hemlock, chose to commit suicide rather than succumb to the prevailing powers that be.  The story has been passed along for centuries, and has cemented your reputation as a powerful voice of resistance."  

Giordano Bruno, burned at the
stake for recalling his out of body experience
where he saw the earth went around the sun.

He said "Plato made it up."  

I asked "Why?"  He replied "Why do you think? The powers that be didn't like me, thought I was a pain in the ass, so they had me poisoned.  Plato invented all that because it made a better story."

I thought that was pretty provacative for a number of reasons.  Who knew that Socrates would be available? (Why not? We are "outside of time" when we're off the planet, and I've often heard in my 45 cases that I've filmed, or the thousands that I've examined, that 25 years or 2500 years feels like "not that long ago.") Who knew that Socrates thought Plato was an errant student? (It's possible. We heard none other than G. Washington refer to Jefferson as "that %^shole").  We think history is in stone, when it's never in stone - nothing is stone, even stone - which shifts, adjust, gets worn down and turns into... pebbles. Or sand.

Magnified sand. BBC foto.

People and events that occurred "back then" aren't felt that way on the flipside, and further, since people don't reincarnate fully (they only send back about 30% of their energy, according to these reports) then asking to speak to an individual "if it's possible" - is a matter of connecting with their "higher self" or the portion left behind.

Flipside Painting by Bosch

We've had some people not come forward - for whatever reason "they aren't available right now."  I try not to judge why that is, and move on to the person who is available.

Just found that somewhat amusing to hear that the Hemlock story was in a writer's imagination - a good story to be sure, but according to our pal Socrates; "never happened."  So let's hope that we keep better records of what's happening in our era now, so that 500 years from now, or 2500 years, or even 5000 years, we can "go to the tape" and examine what really happened during this era. 

My two cents.

LATEST BOOKS ARE:

BACKSTAGE PASS TO THE FLIPSIDE: TALKING TO THE AFTERLIFE WITH JENNIFER SHAFFER BOOK ONE.

BACKSTAGE PASS TO THE FLIPSIDE: TALKING TO THE AFTERLIFE WITH JENNIFER SHAFFER BOOK TWO.

Available in print, ebook and Audible.

An Interview with Michael Newton

AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL NEWTON

excerpted from "Flipside: A Tourist's Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife"

Available online at all major outlets in kindle, ebook, audible etc.

(All Rights reserved, copyright 2011 Richard Martini)

Chapter 2

THE NEWTONIAN UNIVERSE

“I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

Sir Isaac Newton

As a therapeutic tool, hypnosis has been around for millennia. The ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Hindus all used forms of “Sleep Temples” to help people with various mental afflictions, and in 1207  Persian physician Avicenna (Ibn Sina) studied altered states where people could be both awake and asleep.^[1]  In 1841 British physician James Braid studied Eastern religious practices, including trances and deep meditation, and coined the term hypnosis. It later became an accepted form of therapy as psychiatrists like Sigmund Freud popularized the concept by famously making it part of his practice and therapy.

Reports of “Past Life Memories” have been around for quite a bit as well. Mentioned in the Upanishads from ancient India, reincarnation is accepted in various forms by a number of religions from Hindus to Buddhists, the Taoists of China, American Native tribes, Aboriginal tribes of Australia to the Celts of England who all believed souls are immortal and after a fixed number of years after death, enter another human body. In the Middle Ages, there were a number or reincarnationist movements in Europe. The Cathars were considered such heretics by the Catholics that they sent them on to their next lives with great dispatch.

Over the centuries, a number of American thinkers embraced the concept, including Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, General George Patton and Henry Ford who said “I adopted the theory of reincarnation when I was 26. Genius is experience; some seem to think it is a gift or talent, but it is the fruit of a long experience in many lives.”

According to the Pew Research Center survey, one out of four Americans believes in reincarnation.  But aside from being a belief system relegated to religious dogma, it didn’t begin to be examined by Western science until the 1950’s when hypnosis and past life regression became a form of therapy in the mental health field. It was new therapy, however, and during hypnosis a patient might be encouraged to remember things that didn’t actually occur, and for this reason, many considered the role of the psychiatrist’s leading questions the culprit in supposed past life memories.  That led the scientific community to believe these memories were the result of “Cryptomnesia,” narratives created by the subconscious mind, using imagination, forgotten information and suggestions from the therapist; in other words, entirely made up.

In terms of popular culture, the first widely reported case of a remembered past life in the U.S. was that of an American woman in the 1950’s who remembered details of a life lived in 19^th century Ireland by a woman named Bridey Murphy. Research at the time could not verify her story and eventually her saga fell into disrepute. Past life regression and hypnosis became a common joke on television shows, from Lucille Ball getting hypnotized into becoming a criminal on “I Love Lucy” to Albert Brooks’ “Defending Your Life” about a patient who has a peer life review with hilarious consequences. 

Dr. Ian Stevenson of the University of Virginia took up the subject of reincarnation as a serious topic in the 1970’s and with the benefit of research, time and money, over 30 years was able to catalogue numerous cases that proved, from a scientific point of view, that reincarnation could at least be categorized and studied. Stevenson said he was skeptical of past life memories during hypnosis because like most critics, he feared the therapist could or would interject false memories via the questions.^[2] However, Dr. Brian Weiss, a Yale trained psychiatrist, encountered spontaneous past life regressions in his work and turned those revelations into his bestselling book “Many Lives, Many Masters.” 

Recently the New York Times noted that “Past life regression” has returned as an acceptable tool for many psychiatrists.^[3] A number of hypnotherapists, including those interviewed in this book, recount patients spontaneously going into a past life regression during a session, and being cured of their psychosomatic illness after examining the source of their illness or pain. There isn’t a known medical reason behind these spontaneous cures, other than “the placebo effect.” As we’ll learn in this book, there may be other verifiable origins involved.  

Dr. Michael Newton had a similar experience as Brian Weiss.  A patient spontaneously regressed into a previous life, and despite being skeptical about past life regression in general, Newton was able to verify that a British soldier had lived and died as described during his session.  As a result, Newton began doing past life regressions, and as he as put it “was dragged kicking and screaming into the movement.”

Over the following decade, Newton began quietly cataloguing his cases of patients who could remember past lives. One day his focus took a giant leap forward.  A client under hypnosis described the “life between lives,” where everyone reportedly goes after they die and, with the help of their soul mates, decide how and where they’ll return.  Newton began to research this new field more fully with his patients, and after 20 years of intense research, published his first of four books in 1994.   

Looking a bit like Charlton Heston, Newton, late 70’s, has an easy, laid back manner. Having retired from his practice as well as stepping aside from his full time duties with the "Newton Institute,” he’s weary of fighting the battles with those who feel his research attacks their belief systems. However his pale blue eyes still flash when he talks of debating critics.

INTERVIEW WITH DR. MICHAEL NEWTON

RM: Is hypnosis a valid scientific tool?

Dr. Michael Newton. A lot of people don't feel it is. Hypnosis is a study of human behavior, adequate scientific proof depends on your willingness to accept self-reports from the mind as data. When someone is in deep hypnosis, it’s not something that can be programmed. Under hypnosis, people are very aware of who they are and have great insight into what they're telling you. Over thousands of cases there was consistency of reporting; it didn't matter whether a client had a deep religious belief system or not; once we had them in deep hypnosis, they all told us the same things.

What was your first past life regression?

I began practicing in 1956, a traditional psychotherapist using hypnosis to try to uncover childhood emotional and physical trauma. It was the year of the famous Bridey Murphy case - the Colorado housewife who remembered a previous life in Ireland. I’d get calls, "May I come for a past life regression?"  I’d say "No, I’m traditional, not involved with “new age” thinking." I was very naive, really.

But then a client asked if I could see him about pain he was feeling in his side.  He'd been troubled since childhood, and doctors said it was psychosomatic - they'd done x-rays and could find no physical symptoms. They told him he should see a psychiatrist.  When he came, I couldn't find any earthly origins at all, so I gave him the command “Go to the origin of this pain.”

Well, he jumped into the life of a soldier in World War I, when he was a British Sergeant and was being bayoneted. I couldn't believe it; this fellow was lying on the couch groaning while I was more interested in verifying if it was real – asking him the British unit he claimed to be with and a number of other facts - instead of desensitizing this horrible trauma he was going through. Eventually I did do that. 

He called a few days later to say "There's no more pain, thank you.” Well that didn’t satisfy me, so I contacted the British war office and the Imperial Museum in London to find out if this British Sergeant ever existed and sure enough he died in 1916.  From that case, I began taking past life clients. So I came kicking and screaming into this movement. 

Sometime later, a woman came to me, depressed over having no friends and couldn't seem to connect with anybody. I reached a point of frustration when I couldn't seem to find any help, so I said "Go to the origin of your loneliness, especially if there's a group of people around you."  I didn't know it, but “group” was a trigger word, because we exist between lives in soul groups - “cluster groups” we call them.  Her face lit up. She got tears in her eyes and pointed to my office wall and said "I see them all."

I was thinking Is she seeing them in this life? In a past life? "Where are we?" I asked. "Oh," she said, "We're in the spirit world. I'm seeing all my soul companions, they're wonderful," and she began describing them. I probed more, took a lot of notes, and had a recording of the session. I found none of her soul companions in her life today and she was lonely because of it. After she left, I said to myself This can't be happening to me. 

I'm the world's worst cynic, skeptic, and past lives was enough of a jolt of cold water, and now this? I studied my notes and the tape for a long time, and then with other clients, I began exploring it more and more. Once I started, I couldn't stop. I closed my practice to all other forms of hypnotherapy and worked quietly and alone. I didn't go to hypnosis conferences, I didn't want to read metaphysical books, and I just wanted to do the research by myself. After twenty years I realized I should write a book, so I began collecting better case notes with an eye to writing "Journey of Souls."

What was the reaction from colleagues or your wife when you came home with this information?

Frankly I didn't go public until the first book was published. I had a lot of criticism from my colleagues; "How dare you keep this information from us, you didn't get our input.” I said “I did not want to be influenced by your thoughts; I didn't want to introduce bias into my work.”

My wife is a nurse trained in psychology, and she was, like myself; initially skeptical. I had to talk to somebody, and what better person than my soul mate, who didn't tell her friends, but quietly absorbed all this. Eventually she came to really believe in what I was doing.

A TYPICAL SESSION 

Can you walk us through a typical Life between Life session?

People come in because there may be a relative who recently died, or emotional trauma from losing a child. This work is not to supplant therapy they should receive from a licensed trained professional; it’s intended to provide them with answers about their inner being. One of the things clients don't understand until they experience it is that there is a dual nature to all of us. We have our brain ego if you will, and we have a soul ego, and when they are combined it creates one personality and one lifetime.

The first hour we pick a couple of childhood memories to get a sense of them recalling events earlier in this life, to prepare them to answer questions on a deeper level. Then we take them into their most immediate past life, because it's their most recent experience. It's very brief as it’s not intended to be a discourse on past lives. There are a number of past life therapists that don’t have a clue about Life between Lives therapies - they think it's grayish ‘limbo’ that has no significance. But we then cross from the death experience into the spirit world, into the afterlife; it's an interesting and exciting time for the client because they begin to really see their soul.

Friends, relatives or their spirit guide, usually both, come to greet them - when a client sees their immortal teacher for the first time they’re usually blown out of their minds. Some religious people think they see Jesus or Buddha or Mohammad coming towards them but they quickly realize, “Oh, no, no, no… this is my personal teacher who’s been with me since I was created as a soul.”

From there, we move to interesting aspects of the spirit world, perhaps soul groups which range from 3 to 25 souls, the average client has about 15. These are all friends, relatives, spouses, dear friends in this life and some clients are shocked by who’s there. There are other soul groups, nearby affiliated souls, that may play an important part in certain lives. There are reasons for that, and we try to explore it.

From there, they typically go in front of a group of wise beings - some call them “The Elders” or “The Wisdom Makers” - wise beings who are a step or two above their guides. These are non-incarnating beings, they’re about as close to God as we get, and there’s usually a very interesting discourse. They may ask the patient “How do you think you did in your last life?” They’re very gentle people.

An interesting thing happens when they’re ready to return in the next incarnation; there’s a life and body selection library where people choose different kinds of bodies and who they think they can work best with. Their elders and guides have a hand in their selection before they come forward into the next life. It’s a fascinating process. What’s key is there’s such order and discipline there and yet it’s a very compassionate loving relationship. It isn’t one that involves the kinds of things we see on Earth with a hierarchy of beings who lord over you and engender fear. There is infinite forgiveness and understanding there. We all make mistakes, some of them terrible, and that’s all forgiven once we cross over.

When the clients wake up after one of these long sessions, some of them are crying and some of them are laughing, some of them can’t talk - and generally there’s just this “Wow. I can’t believe it.”  Trying to process what’s happened.

From the film "Flipside"

AFTERLIFE CLASSROOMS AND THE COUNCIL OF ELDERS

I’ve spoken with a few people who’ve referred to their own recurring dreams of being in a classroom somewhere in the Universe, some working with or without energy. Also, I’d like to know more about “The Elders.”

We get flashbacks from time to time that break through that amnesiac block, folks who’ve had no LBL experiences, and just ordinary people that don’t know about our work. Suddenly they’re in a classroom in their dreams and they think “Hmm. That’s a strange image; where’s that coming from?” Most of us between lives spend time in a spiritual classroom. They are usually described as buildings, a library, or the place where they meet their council looks like a beautiful domed structure and in some cases a temple. Of course, there aren’t buildings in the ethereal space between lives, but people free-associate or have flashbacks of buildings; “I’m in a classroom, I have people around me that I know, there’s a teacher…”

Essentially we’re given instruction by a Specialist Soul in areas we may have a talent or affinity for.  They may be areas we’ll specialize in after our incarnations are over - when we will be helping others.  I often hear about an energy creating class where they’re working with raw energy to create certain things.^[4] I have the theory a lot of what we see on Earth in terms of plants and animals and geographics has been created by groups of advanced souls. 

When we visit the Elders, we talk about our lessons and what we might do differently in the future. We’re not standing before God or a Creator or a Source - But people describe feeling kind of a God like presence at these meetings. It’s hard for people to describe it; I need to speak to someone who’s not incarnating anymore to give me answers to that sort of thing. Once in a while I got a highly advanced client who was in their last series of incarnations, who’d open the door a little bit, and it’s beautiful to listen to.

What kinds of questions would you like to know the answers to from this work?

When I get an advanced client in my chair, I feel sorry for them because I’m a relentless inquisitor. I’ve asked the question “What does it all mean?” with certain advanced clients. One thing I’ve learned is that we are only one of many universes. I’ve been able to hear about nine or ten dimensions, either parallel universes or universes that overlap in timelines, through patients.  Once you leave Earth, of course, you’re not in linear time anymore, you’re in what we call ‘now time^[5]’ - which is past, present and future... that’s the best I can do on the question about creation - I wish I could tell you more.

QUANTUM PHYSICS AND THE AFTERLIFE

What do you think about the concept that photographs may be captured time?

It feeds into what we know about quantum physics - the Cherokee Indians believe no event in time is ever lost. I think from what I have discovered, nothing is ever lost; every moment of time represents particles of energy. It’s like a movie that’s being shown. That frame is there forever and can be recalled in the spirit world.  Souls are able to go back to any event in any past life and review it completely.

This is one of things we do that is so valuable. When they’re in the spirit world, in a library or a classroom, they’re able to recall everything from their past; nothing ever dies and when you have past, present and future all conjoined into “now time” think of the advantage that brings to studying and reviewing what you’ve done and how you can make it better. 

There are possibilities and probabilities in the time continuum and there have been wonderful books about parallel universes, the “Holographic Universe” by Michael Talbot for example. It’s very much in synch with reports we get from clients who’ve never read the books, so I feel the knowledge we’re gaining now is greater than it’s ever been about our inner being and the forces behind our creation.

Why hasn’t this information been available earlier in our history?

I think there are a couple of reasons.  We've never been so over-populated in history, with so many of us running in so many directions. Second, I think it's the pervasive use of drugs which has even reached our elementary schools - when someone is taking drugs to "escape from reality” it shuts down the soul. And maybe the powers that be decided it’s time to loosen up this amnesia bloc we all have when we come into this world so we're able to gain information that perhaps earlier was not really available.”

INTERVIEW WITH PEGGY NEWTON

I spoke with Dr. Newton’s wife, Peggy. Michael told me his entire life he’d had a vision of meeting a woman dressed in a white uniform named Peggy. After he came out of the service, he saw an ad in a magazine that reminded him of his lifelong vision. A poor grad student on the G.I. Bill, he caught a bus and asked the driver to “Let me know when we are near the largest hospital in Phoenix.”  The driver let him off next to a dormitory, which was fortuitous as he thought it was the main entrance. When he walked inside and asked “Do you have a nurse named Peggy?” a woman brought her out to meet him.  He knew the moment he saw her she was the woman in his dreams, and they’ve been together ever since.

RM: How did you meet Michael?

Peggy Newton: I was a student nurse and he was in graduate school. He had this feeling about a woman with dark hair dressed in white he was supposed to meet named Peggy. Off he went looking for a dark haired Peggy in a white uniform; he maintains from the moment we met he knew I was going to be with him for this life. And had probably been with him for many lives.

Can you remember that day?

He came to our dorm and we had a charming house mother on duty. He said "I can’t remember her last name but I’m looking for a Peggy with dark hair." Then he told me this rather crazy story I won’t repeat, because it made no sense to me at the time, when I asked him to sit down and clarify why he was there. We wound up talking for four hours; I went upstairs and told my roommates I’d met the man I was going to marry. We’ve been married almost 51 years.

What was it like when he first came home to tell you about a past life regression?

I thought it was too bizarre. "Past lives?"  I had my medical scientific brain and I tended to put that to one side. I did think he might be ‘over the bend’ though, and worried about his sanity.  But then he played me the tapes. His clients’ tapes are private, so anything I heard never left me, but I realized these people were all saying the same things about the spirit world. Seeing the same things, saying the same things, how could that be if it wasn’t true? You just can’t take strangers through an experience where they relate stories that are all the same. I became a real believer at that point, and then I became a true fan.”

I felt it key to hear from his wife that she’d been hearing the tapes of his sessions dating back to the beginning of his research. She confirmed the detail her husband had avoided metaphysical sections of bookstores during his research so he wasn’t be influenced by other’s work in the area. Newton said he’d had over 7000 patients who said the same things about the hereafter while under deep hypnosis. If true, then Michael Newton’s work may become one of the greatest discoveries in human history. 

My documentary on reincarnation took a turn after this interview.  I began to focus on the science behind reincarnation, as well as stories of people who either had a direct experience of remembering the life between lives, or those who’ve spontaneously gone there via near death experiences or other means.  I began with interviews with hypnotherapists trained by Newton as well as others who’d never heard of him.  I also filmed sessions with various patients, some friends of mine who were skeptical about the entire process, and finally, I was invited to have my own session which I would film as well.

As a matter of logic, either what these patients were saying about the afterlife was true, or it wasn’t.  If it was true, then others must be able to visit the same place without his help or guidance.  Also, if it was true, then there must be cases of others who’ve traveled this same route, without the direct guidance of Michael Newton.  I was invited to film a session conducted by a Newton trained hypnotherapist, Paul Aurand.  I was about to head down the rabbit hole.

Walt Whitman: M. Brady

"I know I am deathless. No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before. I laugh at what you call dissolution, and I know the amplitude of time."

Walt Whitman

---

[1] Wikipedia; Hypnosis, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avicenna

[2] "A large part of what emerges under hypnosis is pure fantasy. Some of these "previous lives" have been traced back to historical novels."  Interview with Omni Magazine, 1988.

[3] “Interest In Reincarnation is Growing,” by Lisa Miller. NY Times 8-29-2010

[4] These energy classes are mentioned in a number of sessions in this book.

^[5] For those who watched the final episode of “Lost,” one of the characters refers to “Now time” as the reason they all had multiple time lines.

An unusual ghost story with photo evidence

Is there such a thing as ghosts?

Robbie Hodge

I asked the question when I was a toddler. My dad told me there was not. End of story.

Or was it?  All my life I've seen them, but because I had no compelling need to share that information with anyone, I never mentioned it. "Oh, you have a dead guy living in your house."  It just didn't seem appropriate or necessary.

First one I "ran into" was a fellow who was living in my apt. in Santa Monica. How do I know it was a fella?  Because I saw him numerous times. About 5'8, then, brown hair.  At first I was FREAKED OUT because he would sit on my bed in the middle of the night and wake me up.

Then I woke up to find him sleeping NEXT TO ME in bed.  "Okay buster!" I jumped out of bed. He disappeared. I said "Stop that!  You're welcome to be here, I just don't want you to wake me up anymore!"

He didn't.

Until the next door neighbor came screaming into my apt.  She had just moved into an apt. that had oddly been empty for years.  She said "I was brushing my teeth and this guy was standing in the mirror behind me! I turned and he disappeared!  I said "Oh, was he about 5'8, brown hair? Yeah, he lives here. Just tell him not to bother you."

Didn't seem to calm her down.

There was the guy who woke me up in Sydney Australia. Was staying at Phillip Noyce's home in Darlinghurst; he was having a 20th anniversary party of his film "Newsfront" and had invited me down. He had sold the house, so it was empty save for a bed and a couple of plates and a working fridge.  I spent three weeks in his nearly empty apt.

All no longer on the planet. But all keeping an eye on us.

Nearly because I shared it with a ghost.  I woke one morning to see a guy "Hanging from a rafter."  He saw me see him and said with an Aussie accent "Sorry mate, it's just something I feel the need to do."  He proceeded to pull the rope (which wasn't attached! Yet he was hanging!) and descended down a ladder which "appeared" beneath him. I noted he was wearing painters clothes.

Later that day, I asked Phillip's wife Jan Sharp about it.  She looked at me wide eyed. "Wwhwhat?" She asked as only an Aussie can.  I told her the story; she said "Well our painter hanged himself a few blocks from here in his own home."  I said "Well, he must like your place because he's still hanging around."

Badum bum. 

Or the Iroquois Indian who stood over me in the apt. I was in while teaching in Camden Maine at the Workshops.  He was in full battle gear, holding an axe and a giant knife, his arms dripping in blood (or red paint, I had no idea) and he was SCREAMING at the top of his lungs at me in Iroquois (I guess - I don't speak it. Later I looked up the gear, thinking he was a Mohawk, but realized it was more Iroquois than Mohawk.)  I assumed he was saying "Wake up and get the F out of my place!"  

Iroquois fella

I sat up and he disappeared.  But I definitely saw him.  I said "Look, I'll be gone in a couple of weeks.  Please don't do that!"  I slept with every light on in the place, the tv on, the clock radio on.  I barely slept for the two weeks I taught that film class.

There have been many others; old hotels in Colorado (Boulderado), old apts. in Washington DC (older man watching me sleep) - I just assumed EVERYONE must have a guy or two hanging around their apts or old houses.

Taj Martini

Then I started my documentary into the Flipside in 2011, and started hearing ghost stories from people who were the ghosts themselves - people remembering previous lifetime where they HAUNTED some place - when asked "why" they would say "Because I felt comfortable doing it."  Not because they were "trapped between lives" or the "devil made them do it" - just because they felt more comfortable repeating that journey, whatever it was, the emotion of it - instead of "going back home" (the term people have used in the 45 deep hypnosis cases I've filmed and transcribed in my books "Flipside" "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" and "Hacking the Afterlife."

Robbie Hodge

The other day, a mom posted a really touching, heart warming message about the loss of her son.  I reproduce it here, because it's worth repeating.

I sent her a note on Facebook, telling her a little about the research and how some people who are suffering immeasurably, can be helped by this kind of work.  She replied with a note of emojis that meant basically "thanks for the love."

Then yesterday, she posted something really unusual.  It was from the "Nest" app in her house, that records any movement.  Perhaps to keep an eye on things while away, but it clearly recorded a ghostly image of someone who looks an awful lot like her son.

From the Hodge Nest camera

I've compared the photos - and read all the comments about people who knew her son, and are convinced it is him.

Just visiting

I would offer that it was a younger version of him - to my eye.  How can that be?

For those who've read "Flipside" they'll know my friend Luana Anders came to visit me often after her passing, but always in younger form - about the age of 20, about 18 years younger than when I met her.  I recognized her instantly in these visitations, by her voice, her vibe, our connection together - and was startled to learn that people on the flipside can appear "as they would like to appear."

So appearing at a younger age would make sense for someone wanted to hang out in his mom's house.

Here's what I posted on FB: 

Some better angles on this angel. We get caught up in words; "ghost," "angel" "death." (Can't be dead if he's still alive; can't be gone if he's still here.) "Believe" is a faith term. People looking at this photo will say "can't be." "trick of light" invent, argue, convince themselves life ends. 

Deny the ghost in the machine. Ignore what consciousness is. It's not my theory, opinion or belief life goes on, it's just what thousands consistently say under deep hypnosis. And also not under hypnosis. Ecce uomo. 

Beyond that; they say "try to fathom why you chose to come here. It makes the path smoother. Leave fresh air, water, earth for your next trip here." My two cents. 

His mom is Jennifer Bryant Hodge

Jennifer Bryant Hodge (via Kennedy News & Media)

Yay Jennifer!  Thank you for sharing your experience and your boy with us!!!

But the reason I'm commenting on this story - is not because it proves that life goes on - because of course that's subjective.  I wanted to point out that people - even the ones who get smacked in the face with a fish - still can't believe that a fish could jump out of the water even when they get smacked in the face by one.

Can you hear me now?

Further, there are many people who take a sign of the flipside as being 'I TOLD YOU SO!" or 'PROOF OF ANGELS!" or "I TOLD YOU TO BELIEVE IN GOD!"  One person asked "Did your son believe in Jesus Christ our lord and Savior?"

That's code.  I know it's code because my dear niece said it to me when I told her that her grandfather, my father had come to visit me in our home in Santa Monica. My daughter saw him, said "Grandpa is here" and he told her that he had come to see the new baby, that he loved us very much, and that we "needed a bigger home" just for the toys we had.  I thought it was cute, charming... she worried it was the devil.  

Per Lachaise, circa 1995.

She said "Did you ask him if he believed in our savior, the lord Jesus Christ?"  I paused.  I can't imagine our 4 year old daughter stopping to say "Hey, you, guy who looks just like grandpa, what the heck are you doing here? You got ID?"  People are so convinced that their church or religion has the only answers that they get stuck in the dogma.

I can tell you that in the thousands of cases that I've examined, the 45 I've filmed - zero, none have ever claimed that any religion is correct, or even close to being accurate about the afterlife.  They offer that all religions are about the same topic - love, loving each other - and that they are all part of the same garden. Muslim, Jew, Catholic, Jehovah's Witness, Atheists - it doesn't matter.  

We all head back "home" after our lifetime - there is no hierarchy over there, there is no prison (other than what we might suffer over what negative things we've done in life) - but no, there's not someone with a guest list on the flipside, no one at the pearly gates.

Jennifer Shaffer, medium extraordinaire.

Except Luana Anders. 

For those who are fans of "Backstage Pass to the Flipside" they'll know that during an interview with none other than Tom Petty, he identified her as the "person with the clipboard" in terms of conversing with me and Jennifer Shaffer, my medium friend who works with law enforcement nationwide on missing person cases.  Tom said "She's like the person with the guest list, and if you're not on it, you don't get to talk to Rich and Jennifer." He dubbed our book "Backstage Pass to the Flipside."

This is who stops you at the door to our class. If she lets you in,
you get to talk to me and Jennifer.  I'm just sayin'. Luana Anders
in Rockefeller Plaza

It's not something I would have called it, nor would have Jennifer.  We did not ask Tom if our lord and savior Jesus Christ was part of this mix - because if he just turned around he'd find Jesus sitting in one of the chairs. (Oh yeah, that's right, he's been interviewed extensively in "Hacking the Afterlife.") What he has to say about why he was on the planet and what he's still doing in terms of his work off the planet is pretty unusual.  


I won't paraphrase him, but suffice to say, he is someone who walks around with tons of unconditional love, he is someone who helps people realize "it's not their time" during a near death experience, and he is that fellow that people often call upon for help - which he will attend to if its within his ability to do so.  

It's a building JC didn't build.

You see not everyone signs up for a lifetime to have everything work, or be solved. They come here to the planet to learn deep and profound lessons about life, about love, about pain, about suffering, about joy - and yes, about losing those things by leaving the planet.  All of those are within the research.

It's not my theory, belief or opinion people say these things consistently about the afterlife, I'm just filming them do so.

Which brings us back to Bobby Hodge.

Here in this photograph.

Visiting his mom.

He's younger now, because he wants to be younger. He's still hanging around because like most of our loved ones, they want to keep an eye on us, they want to be part of our journey, they want to communicate with us, but most of us "don't believe they exist" so we make it harder for them to do so.


But thank god for Nest.

Because despite whatever someone might say about this photograph - that it's younger than he was when he departed for example - they aren't aware that people can "appear at any age" when they cross over.

For example, my dear aunt Elma, a devout Catholic if I ever met one, was in bed one night when her husband appeared at the end of it. She told me he was about 25, the year she had met him. He said to her "I love you. I'm okay. Just wanted to say goodbye."  Seconds later the phone rang with the hospital telling her that her 85 year old husband had passed in the hospital. She told no one that story but me - not even her religious children.  And even when I told them the story they disbelieved it. 

For this particular mom it's proof positive that her son still exists. That he isn't "gone" he's just "not here."  

It doesn't have to be proof to anyone else - nor should it be. In my ten years of research I've learned that not everyone signs up to learn how the play ends.  Not everyone is supposed to know the inner workings of the ghost in the machine.  And that's okay too - it's okay to be on the football field in the midst of a life or death battle, while it's also okay to be in the stands, popping a soda, spilling popcorn and cheering our loved ones on.

We do both, and we do them often.  

So now you know.  Life goes on. We choose our lifetimes.  Take the time to contemplate why you chose this particular path, this particular journey. As well as why you chose to click on this article and have read all the way to the end.



I got an email yesterday from a fan in Canada. He said he was driving down the road 6 years ago, turned on Coast to Coast AM radio and heard me talking about the flipside to George Noory. 

Jennifer Shaffer and George Noory

He said suddenly he realized he was weeping. Tears of joy were coming down his cheeks, because what he was hearing was ringing a bell in his heart.  Ringing some kind of truth that he needed to hear at that moment.  He's learned how to do hypnotherapy and is now working on helping other people.

All I can say is "Don't thank me. Thank the folks on the flipside who directed you to that radio station so you could hear me talk about what people consistently say about the journey."   

Finally - as I was typing this post, this FB comment came in:

"Hypnosis should not be really trusted,it’s really an occult practice...people don’t realize this and when you let someone hypnotize you ,you are actually leaving room for something else to come into your vessel...just not a good thing to do or trust...just my 2 cents."

(I often add "my two cents" to my posts, a way of saying, "at least that's what I've learned."  I get the snarcastic comment.) To which I replied:

"Don't be silly. You hypnotize yourself every time you binge watch TV.  Hypnosis is no different than guided meditation - unless you've tried it you really don't have an idea of what it's about.  Doctors use it to treat patients with psychosomatic illnesses (Dr. Brian Weiss, I could cite hundreds more) and I've seen it heal and cure people of a variety of health issues.  

Having spent ten years filming people under deep hypnosis, having done 5 sessions myself, having filmed 45 sessions and examined thousands of cases - I'm not sure why you would even write this comment.  If you had the experience yourself, I can understand - but obviously you have not - all I can say is "it's not for everyone my dear."  

Not everyone is supposed to understand that they chose their parents, chose their lifetime, chose what they're supposed to learn and who they're going to teach or help in this lifetime.  

All I can tell you is that there's a reason someone on the flipside wanted you to reach out to me - read Michael Newton's "Journey of Souls" and you'll see how hypnosis can help people worldwide. I'm not a hypnotist, I am not trying to get anyone to try hypnosis - I'm just filming people who are doing it - I've chosen them because of their religious beliefs or lack of them - used different hypnotherapists - and they all say the same basic things. 

Anyways, love to you! And thanks for taking the time to express your opinion... my work is not theory, opinion or belief - I've just been filming people for ten years saying the same things during the process - and as of late, filming people not under any hypnosis at all saying the same things. XXX"

And that really is my two cents!