Last shot of the day on a film set, also the last name of the author of this blog. Martin - Latin singular, those soldiers who work for Mars, God of War. A smith. In this lifetime of words, music and film. AKA "The Afterlife Expert" (Coast to Coast AM) If you want to reach me, I can be found on FB, LinkedIn, or Gmail under MartiniProds (my youtube channel)
I had a friend come and visit me from the Flipside. (Luana Anders) It was after she passed, but it was definitely her, and she appeared to me in a younger form, a form I didn't know because it was younger than when I knew her. But I knew it was her. I dismissed it as fantasy/dream, until I started to reflect on what she had said to me before she passed "I have this recurring dream I'm in a classroom in another universe, everyone is dressed in white speaking a language I don't know, but somehow completely understand." After she passed, a close friend of hers called me about a dream she had the night she died, "she was in a classroom in the 4th dimension wearing white, and seemed really happy." What are the odds?
Michael Newton (newtoninstitute.org)
It led me eventually to read Michael Newton's book "Journey of Souls" where someone describes while under deep hypnosis, being in a classroom in the afterlife where everyone is dressed in white. I thought it would be interesting to interview Michael - and he granted me his last interview. (He passed 8 years later, but at the time he said "this is my last interview" and it was.) I researched what he was doing, I began filming people under "deep hypnosis" and was startled that everyone I filmed, whether they had heard of his work or not, had the same experiences. They offered me one, I thought it a grand opportunity to prove it inaccurate - unfortunately that's not what happened.
The first book
I traveled into the flipside and met with Luana, who's reaction to seeing me there was "What the hell are you doing here?" That has led me to write four books about the topic where I expanded the research from between life hypnotherapy to near death events, to speaking directly with people on the flipside through mediums. That's part of my work; "Flipside" "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" (2 vols) and "Hacking the Afterlife." Ultimately I've filmed 45 deep hypnosis sessions (courtesy a number of Newton Institute trained therapist, including Scott De Tamble in Claremont (lightbetweenlives.com). Recently I've been filming my weekly lunches with Jennifer Shaffer (JenniferShaffer.com) who is a talented medium who works with law enforcement nationwide to help find missing children.
Me, Jennifer Shaffer and Scott De Tamble
She's very good at what she does. As is Scott De Tamble. Together we are able to ask questions to people on the flipside, and get "new information." Information that we could not have known consciously (could not be cryptomnesia). I want to add that what you're about to hear is a modified version of this research - it's a "proof of concept" piece. I recommend, to those who want to explore this fully, to find a Newton Institute trained therapist near you, because hearing me talk about it isn't the same as experiencing it for yourself. But in this radio interview (3 hours long) at some point I asked Heather Wade if she wanted to "go into the Flipside." Using a point of reference as our gateway (she had a near death experience that as you can hear, I was not aware of) I asked her to describe what she "saw" and then shifted the tense to "what she was seeing."
Heather Wade
Midnight in the Desert
In this interview, we go into the Flipside, meet her spirit guide, meet her council, and meet individual council members. All live on the air. I don't know Heather outside of this interview, I appreciate her being so open to "try this out" - but we did it to prove a point. We all have spirit guides. We all have councils. We all have council members that earned their spot on your council because of your efforts in a previous lifetime. They can show you those lifetimes, or you can ask them about them. It's no parlor trick, she's not under hypnosis in any fashion or form. I am merely, and only asking questions. Because I've "been there before" - because I'm like a tour guide who is taking someone on a trip to a place they're familiar with, I am able to ask the questions that allow her to make that journey. It's not for everyone. Nor should it be. But because Heather already had a near death event, this helps give context as to why that happened, and what her journey on the planet will be. But don't take my word for it. Listen for yourself. Share and pass along to someone who needs to hear that we don't die, we come here to learn and teach lessons, and then we go "home." We are all from that place "home" and we come to this planet to partake in the journey called "life." And once we become aware that is the case, we need to think about how to keep this campground clean, so that there's fresh water, fresh air and earth not only for our children - but for ourselves if and when we decide to return. (HackingTheAfterlife) Listen my friend and you shall hear of the midnight ride of... Rich Martini and Heather Wade.
Happened upon two Flipside films over the weekend. (Happy New Year!)
Can you hear me now?
In the film "All the Money in the World" (no spoiler alerts here) J. Paul Getty walks his grandson Paul into Hadrian's villa in Rome and says "I felt like I was returning when I first came to this villa." He claims he is the reincarnation of Roman Emperor Hadrian.
The film is brilliant by the way, and Plummer plays the role of a lifetime, reminiscent of Charles Foster Kane. Since Getty is depicted as a prevaricator (or a fool, hard to tell which) I'll have to dig up the source for that claim. (He did say he wondered that he had been the Emperor Hadrian but in General Patton's case, he "knew it" about his reincarnations as he writes in his poem "Through a Glass Darkly.") But if it's true that he "felt like he had returned" or that he felt that he once been the Emperor Hadrian it's possible that indeed Getty was Hadrian. It's hard to tell when returning to a place that we "knew" in a previous lifetime precisely what it is about the place is so familiar. Everything seems familiar, yet there's no guarantee you were that person who lived in that house - the only way to access the memory is through deep hypnosis (or a coma, nde or some other consciousness altering event.)
Hadrian checking out his empire.
J Paul, looking over his shoulder at the Ghost of Christmas Past.
By doing a between life hypnosis session (and I recommend those done by the Newton Institute because their therapists are trained in exploring the between lives realm where we can access not only a previous lifetime, but why we chose that particular lifetime, why we chose this lifetime and what the two had in common) we can access many details about previous lifetimes. There are many therapists who do this same form of therapy (Dr. Brain Weiss comes to mind) but in the Newton Institute, they examine "why" we chose a lifetime. It's a different experience learning why we chose a lifetime and more like taking "the red pill" in my estimation. And in that instance, it's pretty easy to show what the two lifetimes of Hadrian and Getty had in common, because both lived lives that were written about. Hadrian is remembered for being an architect as well as a builder of an empire (He's credited with the Pantheon and Hadrian's tomb - though it's anyone's guess if he took credit for another's work). Getty was famous for being a scrooge, a curmudgeon, and being fooled by fake art for decades.
Attributed to Hadrian. (from wikipedia)
Attributed to Getty (from Getty.edu)
(I read one account that claimed his curator was "scammed" for millions of dollars - the "Kouros" of the Getty center, the 8 million dollar statue that was claimed to have been found at the bottom of the sea, which clearly had been created in someone's workshop, is one example. I used to chuckle at the artwork in the Getty in Malibu that originally said a famous artist's name - then was changed to say "from the school of" that artist, then eventually they were all called into question, and they've gone into the basement. That's not to say the Getty doesn't now have fantastic art - and as the film clearly shows, there's a moving metaphor for why that happened, and who took over the curation of the estate. But I digress.)
This Getty Kouros went from "Ancient Statue!" to "Ancient Statue?" then to the basement. From a "famous fake art" website.
Back to the Flipside. Let's pretend for a moment that Getty remembered a lifetime as Hadrian in Rome. Was he the Emperor himself? Did he remember all the details of his growing up, his ascension to the throne or his journey on the planet? Or was it just a feeling he had walking through Hadrian's villa? If it was the latter, then he could have been anyone who worked in that villa, including slaves, including a cook, plumber or maybe a gladiator who may have been assigned to Hadrian's front door. Either way, the only method I'm aware of to access that memory is via deep hypnosis, or some other consciousness altered state. But let's pretend he was. Hadrian was also a poet - one of his ditties: "Animula, vagula, blandula Hospes comesque corporis Quae nunc abibis in loca Pallidula, rigida, nudula, Nec, ut soles, dabis iocos... "Roving amiable little soul, Body's companion and guest, Now descending for parts Colourless, unbending, and bare Your usual distractions no more shall be there..."
Flipside anyone?
Even the Emperor understood that this amiable little soul was not going to spend much longer as his body's companion. Funny to think that 1800 some years later, (which according to some accounts, feels like a month on the Flipside) he'd suggest a lifetime as the most unhappy person in the world; "Oh, I think I'll come back and be the richest man in the world. Learn some lessons in being a Scrooge. Sure, why not?" Wonder what he'll come back as next time... we'll have to stay tuned. The other Flipside film I caught was Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle."
I'm not here to criticize my fellow filmmakers or their work. The film had many laughs in it, a few cringe worthy moments, but the screening I was in was crowded with families chuckling throughout. Thumbs up from me. But the Flipside aspect is this: Life is a game. Just like the game in Jumanji. We are who we are back home - back on the flipside before we choose to come here. (Like the high school students in the film) Then we choose our avatars, and we vaguely know what roles we are supposed to play (i.e. Dwayne Johnson, had a character that he knew his strengths and weaknesses, as did everyone else, but had no clue as to how to navigate the game) and we sign our "contract" to come here and play that role. We come here to the planet without a map of how to navigate the game, so to speak, but we dive in anyway. And while we play this game called "Life" we learn, as the characters do in Jumanji (no spoiler alerts here) that we all need to "help each other" in order to successfully navigate the game. It is the point of the game. Some people are offended when I call life a "game" - because they feel its an attempt to diminish the kind of suffering and pain that many people experience while they're here. But it's a metaphor for what is happening. We take the "blue pill" and show up here on the planet and do what we think we've signed up for. Some part of our consciousness is always "back home" aware that this is a game, or a construct, or a university where we are trying our best to learn or teach lessons, often lessons in love, but lessons nonetheless. (People claim only about a third of our consciousness or soul come to any particular lifetime, we leave roughly two thirds behind. When asked why, people claim "it would blow the circuits of the human brain" or "we've got other things to do back home while we're playing this game.") In this version of the film franchise, four people sign up (unwillingly, but to be sure, they did actually sign up to play the game) to experience an adventure. And as a Meta example, there are actors (Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart etc) who are playing characters in the film, who are actually other people "back home." So in their guise of being each avatar, they are also actors pretending to be actors pretending to be... well, you get the point. It ain't real. But it is real. It's the game we play every time we come to the planet.
And according to the research I've been doing (which includes 45 filmed sessions, 5 more that I did myself and filmed, and the 2000 cases from Dr. Helen Wambach and the 7000 cases from Michael Newton) - based on this research, we can opt out, or choose NOT to play a character. Just the way these characters do when they are actually signing up to play Jumanji. "Do you want to play the scientist or shall I?" "You like science, why don't you play that guy?" "Oh okay, I think I'll give it a shot." It's as simple as that.... and yet as profound as that. I'm fairly certain the screenwriters nor Jake Kasdan the writer/director are aware of this between life research - or aware of the accounts of people who claim that the "Journey of Souls" is a bit like the game #Jumanji. But there it is. It is what it is.
It's not my opinion, belief or theory this is the case. I'm only reporting what people consistently say about the flipside. It's not up to me to convince anyone to believe in any particular aspect of it - and I offer it only as research. Take what you need and leave the rest. Happy New Year!
Came across this quote today, courtesy of Iands.org "There is no death, only a change of worlds." Chief Seattle.
Chief Seattle didn't have 10 years of filming people under deep hypnosis under his belt. (Or the 2000 cases from Dr. Helen Wambach, or the 7000 from Michael Newton) (There's dispute whether he actually said these words - even if he's accurate - the dispute is argued here the speech was printed here)* He just had the wisdom and insight from thousands of years, of a people who understood the nature of reality, when those pale faces did not. Still do not. "NOT GONE. JUST NOT HERE." Maybe it's better in caps.
Iands.org has a number of near death experiences worth examining in light of this "between life research" and what I've been filming. This is from their website today: From Peter N's NDE (NDERF): "I felt the small of my back involuntarily arch off the road as a flood of searing pain hammered its way through me. It was as if my whole body was trying to get away from itself. I felt my back start to lower back to the road as what I knew to be a tremendous wave of loss of place and self-started to surge up in me. This wave distressed me very considerably as I knew that it was so strong and was rising so fast that I might not be able to resist it at all. As this thought came to me, I sensed a quick movement near my head as someone came to kneel beside me. I thought I heard words like, 'We're nurses! Get out the way! Move back!' I looked to see a face near me then felt the wave start to swamp me. I knew I was not going to be able to resist it, it was so strong. It was rising too fast for me to get a hold of and deal with it. I felt it rising, I felt myself losing, and... (It was at this point that, I would later know, I lost consciousness.) I was in a dark, blank, black place. I could see nothing at all but blackness. Though I had registered that this was so it was not a matter that in any way I felt concerned about. I seemed to be disinterested in this. It was also the case that I seemed not to have a body, I was existing only as consciousness, and this did not in any way concern me. What was of more interest to me was the nature of something else that was occurring. (I would note that over the years I have read accounts of NDEs in which this kind of situation is spoken of as being a 'void'. I do very much see the parallels between what I have written and the descriptions of such 'voids'. However, I have not used the term here, as I did not experience this place as a 'void' while I was in it. Specifically, I did not have any experience of 'negation' of anything at all while in this phase of the experience. I just experienced it, as it was a 'dark, blank, black place'. However, I do see how others may refer to this as a 'void' particularly so if there is sense of 'negation' associated to being in that place.) It seemed to be the case that I had somehow asked a question. When, how and why I had come to ask this question I did not know. But, by backtracking on my emotions, I knew that I had seemed to have asked a question about my family - about the people that I cared for. I had asked this question as if I was in some way concerned about their future. As if I thought or felt that there might be some kind of impediment to my being able to help them. And the notion of this impediment, whatever it was, made me feel very sad. The feeling was like that I would not be there for them. I had no idea as to why I had had these thoughts, and why I had these feelings - only that this was so. In some ways, it seemed to me that my feelings understood something that did not have a direct, fully cognizant, analogue in my thoughts. As I noted this and noted its existence something happened which very briefly took me by surprise but in no way frightened me. A voice came into being. Where the voice came from I had no idea, but I could recognize that its source was exterior to me. However, though being exterior, it had such a power in terms of authority, understanding and gentleness that so affected my feelings as to make me feel as if in some way the voice were entering me in a way that I had never experienced a voice to do before. The presence of this voice manifesting around, and then, inside me, seemed to be soothing my sadness away in some way. The voice was saying outside me and also inside me, 'It's okay. They'll be fine. Nothing can hurt them. They cannot even be touched.' At the same time as this was happening I had a strong sense of a being that was close beside me, but I could not see it as it was so black and dark in this place. I would have to say that this voice was curious to me because of a strange effect it had that I had not experienced before. Though it was evident that it was literally answering a question its answer did not manifest in me in a way that I understood, for its effect was such that it was clear to me that I was being given the essence of an understanding (not just receiving what, in ordinary life, we would call an answer). The very strange thing about this was that in the way that it was being given to me it seemed that the voice was actually communicating to something inside me that actually already knew of the validity of the answer that was being communicated. The voice was communicating directly to a part of me that knew that this was true. There was an amazing sense of authority embedded in that voice and the communication. It was clear that the being that was producing the communication wasn't guessing as to the truth of its answer, it was utterly clear that it knew what it was talking about. No if's, no but's, no maybe's, it knew. There was then something like a very brief pause. In ordinary life, we might say that it was something like taking time for thought. However, what I seemed to be doing was something that I hadn't been aware of doing before. I seemed to be comparing my sensations of sadness against the understanding that the voice had given me. It was as if I was comparing them in some kind of terms that could be best described as 'how two frequencies matched each other'." https://goo.gl/DpbpiZ I recommend checking out these stories at IANDS' Facebook page - they're pretty consistent and mirror the research that I've been doing for a decade, filming people under deep hypnosis. Here's the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/IANDS.NDE/posts/1736628353055269 Iands is the International Association for Near Death Studies - and they have chapters all over the world. It's a place where people can report what happened to them without any bias or judgment - in fact they start their sessions with an admonition to "listen with an open mind." If people saw something disturbing or witnessed something distressing, this is a place where they can share it with others, and others can talk about their "near death events." I've spoken at a number of Iands groups - including Chicago, Upstate NY, Virginia Beach, San Diego, Tucson, Phoenix, Orange County, LA and Santa Barbara... and at their last year's national convention in Orlando. (Part one below)
So how am I so confident that what my research shows mirrors what is in the research of Dr. Helen Wambach and Michael Newton?(Dr. Wambach did sessions with 2000 patients before publishing a decade prior to Michael Newton, who had 7000 cases over his 40 year career, interviewing people under deep hypnosis about the afterlife - or "Journey of Souls.") What I found in Dr. Wambach's research that mirrors Michael Newton's is that we: A. All have a spirit guide. You may not be aware of yours, but that doesn't mean that your guide isn't aware of you. You may not have access to your guide, but that doesn't mean your guide doesn't have access to you. As I do in this brief example of "the Martini Technique" - (I just made that up) is that I speak directly to people's guides and ask them to help them access other information. Like: B. We all have a council. These are wise elders who have overseen all of our lifetimes. For references on councils, I suggest checking out Michael Newton's books, or my books (based on 45 sessions I've filmed, 5 I've done myself) or even the eulogy that Dave Schultz's father Phillip gave when his son died. He revealed (in PA accounts) during the service, that his son had come to him when he was 5 and said "My council said I could come and teach a lesson in love, but I won't be here very long." He told Phillip they were "old men with gray hair." As we hear in this brief glimpse below - in my "interview with Dr. Drew" - they don't always have gray hair, they aren't all male, and depending upon your path and journey, the number varies (in Newton's research he said he'd only run into between 6 and 12). In the sessions I've filmed (either while someone is under hypnosis, or it's just me asking questions) I've found the number varies from 3 to 12. Everyone has them, and you earned their participation on your council. Which means you lived some difficult lifetime, learned some difficult lesson, and "earned" them the way someone might earn a Doctoral title - sometimes they wear ornaments that reflect what you've learned (as noted in the clips below.) But for those of you familiar with Dr. Drew (who isn't?) he graciously allowed me to badger him life on the air for 15 minutes, so you could see for yourself how far we got. The point is; everyone is different. Everyone has their own council members. Dr. Drew "spoke to" three during this event - and was not familiar with the term or the concept. People may argue (as I bet Dr. Drew would) that somehow I had him "under hypnosis" while he was "viewing these events." As I point out in my summation of what had just transpired, that doesn't account for EVERYONE who has these sessions talking to members of their council, even when they have never heard of a council, have no idea what their "council" is, and in this filmed event, he actually says "What's my council?" As I point out to Dr. Drew, I was talking to his spirit guide and not to him. He may have no conscious idea (or cryptomnesia - because I'm the only one doing this kind of short hand review) but his "spirit guide" does know what I'm talking about. So when I say "Take Dr. Drew to visit his council" - he (or she) knows what I'm referring to, even if Dr. Drew does not. (As is the case in this interview.) To recap, one was a woman dressed like a pilgrim (represented the qualities of "kindness and history") the second was dressed like a Nakota Sioux (represented "Patience and healing" and he experiences a healing during this session). The last person I asked to speak to was the "moderator"of his group. This is the person who normally speaks on behalf of everyone present during these events (according to Newton's research we have two mandatory visits to the council - once prior to incarnating to go over what we plan to accomplish, and once upon our return when we recap what we learned.) Watch for yourself: I've done this live on the air with a radio personality (Heather Wade) and live on stage with people from the audience. I'll post that soon. Here is the one in Santa Barbara - I had no plans to do this kind of exploration prior to this talk, but wound up having two people come on stage and they both got to someplace they weren't consciously aware of: As we approach the New Year, please take a moment to reflect on all the folks and friends you've lost over the past few years, and allow into your consciousness that it's possible they are not gone, they just aren't here. Apparently, just allowing for that possibility, according to recent interviews, opens our minds up to communication from them. (That is, if you want to communicate with them.) Happy New Year. (*As to the controversy of whether Seattle said these words, here's the excerpt from the column where he was quoted in 1887 (from a talk in 1855): "Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as the swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch. Our departed braves, fond mothers, glad, happy hearted maidens, and even the little children who lived here and rejoiced here for a brief season, will love these somber solitudes and at eventide they greet shadowy returning spirits. And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe, and when your children's children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled them and still love this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone. Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a change of worlds." I would only offer that the idea that we can visit as spirits was not something common among the people who were inhabiting his lands, so for syntax and mythological reasons, it "sounds" like it was from Chief Seattle or someone familiar with the concept that we don't die, we return to the "Great Spirit."
Here's the last 20 minutes of this interview, where I walk Dr. Drew into the Flipside. There's no hypnosis involved, he's never heard of "a council" - but according to the consistent reports, we all have them. You just need to know how to "get there." I've been a number of times before, have posted these clips on MartiniProds at Youtube. I recommend doing this with a Newton Institute trained therapist, as they're licensed and trained to do this kind of exploration, but I'm trying to show that we all can access this information if we open ourselves up to it. (Afterwards, Drew said he "really felt something" when the Sioux Chief "waved a ceremonial stick" over him.) Burgermeister. In Mainz, Germany. "Wisdom is Wealth." How could he feel something if he's inventing it? C'mon over to the Flipside, the water is fine. https://youtu.be/36UJD-yNVAA?t=1h15m11s
We spoke with Rebecca Fearing about how some people claim to be able to "speak" or "see" religious figures on the Flipside, and in the last part, a demonstration of "walking" Dr. Drew into the Flipside - using an event that happened in his youth as a gateway to introduce him to his "spirit guide" and his "council." As he put it "This is very strange, but I'm seeing the people you are asking me about." Indeed.
Colby, Dr. Drew, Susan, Fred and Jennifer Shaffer, yours truly
Author/ Film Producer Rich Martini joins forensic psychic Jennifer M Shaffer to Hack Into The Afterlife with out premiere psychic medium Rebecca Fearing. Will they take your questions LIVE and hope to talk to Amelia Earhart about what actually happened to her in 1937! Listen to see if we can get her to call into Calling Out! Then Rebecca Fearing and Jennifer Shaffer will give you a free reading! Hacking the Afterlife is available here: Flipside is here: It's a Wonderful Afterlife is here: and you are Here. Be Here Now.
A rumination on Hamlet's question; "To be or not to Be."
Mr. Day-Lewis. National treasure.
To be or not to have been. Hamlet, the Danish Prince (not to be confused with the Danish Pastry) has the most famous soliloquy in the English language - perhaps in all human language.
Daniel Day-Lewis as Hamlet
"To live or not to live." That's the question - if its noble to stay alive and suffer all the difficulties tossed our way willy nilly or to just end it? And if we end it, what next? What's out there in the "undiscovered country?" A long and glorious sleep? With dreams? What dreams may come?
But hang on. You know how it goes. (reprinted below)
In light of this Flipside research, how should this soliloquy go? (Apologies to the Bard)
To be Benedict or not
Here's the conundrum. What people claim consistently under deep hypnosis (the reports from Michael Newton, 7000 cases over 30 years, or Dr. Helen Wambach 2000 cases a decade prior) is that we choose to incarnate. We choose to be. They claim we can opt out. Choose to not come to the planet. Or choose to not be. Maybe the play calls for "The cranky drunk uncle." The cereal maker. The cereal eater. The cereal killer. "I don't wanna play that part - you asked me to play the marauding drunk uncle in the Viking era! No thank you! Passola. Passorama. Ask someone else. I don't care how good I was as your drunk uncle, I don't want to play him again!!!" "Oooh but you're so good at it" they say. "I can never learn the lessons I need to learn if someone else plays the part. I might forgive them. I need to learn the lesson of forgiveness. Or letting go. They aren't as good as you. You're the best drunken uncle out there. Pleeeease?" Wheedling and cajoling from the soul group and guides. "They do have a point you know. You haven't done that part in at least a dozen other performances..." "Ok fine. If you insist. After all, 80 years on earth feels like a half hour back home. You want an hour out of my existence? I will give it to you because I love you unconditionally. But this is the last time I play that role for you." (applause, bowing) This brings to mind the report of Daniel Day-Lewis giving up acting.
You can give up hats, but you shouldn't give up why you chose to be on the planet.
Hilarious. You can't give up acting. It's what we do each time we choose a new lifetime. We give it up when we graduate to the next level; spirit guide, teacher, council member and no longer incarnate. Etcetera, etcetera, et cet er a. Giving up acting is like giving up breathing. Why would anyone do that? (Besides when has he ever "acted?" He's always "been" in every role I've seen him in. I think he's just refering to the circus around the profession.)
Granny knows a conundrum when she sees it. (Irene Ryan)
I'd say that idea of "giving up" on acting is "kinda" selfish actually. He's been convinced his acting chops came from his environment, from his genes. But he knows that it comes from before that... it was in his conscious mind as a child. Because back there on the flipside, we choose who we are going to be, and what we are going to do, and we choose these occupations because it heals other people. I've filmed 45 sessions, and have asked dozens for the "first conscious thought they had they would be doing what they're doing." The FBI agent said "preschool." I asked why. She said "I started keeping lists on everyone, what they wore, what kind of car they had, what they ate for lunch." We kinda know who we want to be. Question is whether we can get there or not. But we choose these roles to "help other people." We choose our occupation to "heal other people." I've been told that "the energy of a lifetime in the arts is very similar to that in healing. The energy comes from the same place." People often claim they choose a lifetime as an actor, director, musician to use their energy to "heal other people." (Not making this up, just reporting what they consistently say.) Like a doctor. Like a surgeon. Like a shaman. Like a holy man. "One huge belly laugh can do more to change a person's health or dispostion in an instant." "Tears work the same, but they require catharsis." And Daniel Day-Lewis is the walking epitome of catharsis.
Yes. I got an Oscar. From Curtis Hanson. Had to give it back though.
He planned this lifetime. He has honed and crafted and had fun with it. He instinctively knows the shoe maker, the tailor, the working man has the luxury of disappearing into his or her craft. But acting is a craft as well. It's the ensuing trivia, the icing of vanity; all of that is a mental image - a puff of smoke blown his way. Wave those hands, ignore the smoke, and focus on the idea that a profession can and does heal lives. (I love #DanielDay-Lewis' work, he's fantastic in "#PhantomThread." I know the great designer Nino Cerruti, and I felt this performance, unconsciously or otherwise, often captured Nino's bemused smile and design style. But I digress.) Someone somewhere on the planet has been healed by watching a film or a performance. If you can heal one person than your choice to come here was worthwhile.
Really? Hard to believe when you look like this guy.
I get emails from people who say "I read your books and I no longer see the planet in the same way. Thank you." (As I've noted, I'll never get those kinds of reviews from my film work, I have written and/or directed 8 theatrical features. People chuckle, sometimes laugh in my films - but no one was said "That film saved my life.")
With Judy Dench in Hamlet.
Actors can do that for people moment by moment. Heal them, help them see a way out of their diaspora. Out of their doldrums. Out of their predicament.
Daniel is one of those people who can recreate human experience, embody compassion with a flick of his eyebrow, and wave of his hand. If he wants to "give up acting" - he should add a proviso. "I will give up acting until I'm cast opposite Meryl Streep." (Another avatar of intent and healing light within a gesture. I'm not aware of any films they've done together, but would vote to see one.) I'm not saying "don't give it up because you're good and the industry needs you." That's all vanity. "Vanum populatum." (google it) Do it because you still have more people to help and heal and make whole.
Jonathan Pryce checking out Yorick.
But back to Hamlet. He too is talking about a choice, and the choice to give up acting, or to give up life, is after all - a personal one. It is about free will. Because we don't have to incarnate. We choose to. To be or not to be. That's right. Every frog, every fruit fly chose to be here. Don't like that analogy? Sorry, too bad. It's accurate. And we can't kill them either. Because we cannot "not be." (First law of thermodynamics. Energy doesn't "die" or disappear, or even dissipate. It just moves to another dimension, form or in our case realm. Energy cannot be destroyed. Not killed. Not ended. Just transformed.) Once we are formed as consciousness (willed into existence if you will - or won't - like Will Shakespeare) First "there was the word." "Will." And that's how we begin as well. As will. We all have free will. We all are free willed. (We should free poor Willy now and then as well.)
Nice hat. I get it. Tradition. But it's also a costume bearing fardels. Avoid the fardels.
To be on the planet or not. To incarnate or not. It sounds like may people - based on the amount of complainers out there - wish they had not made that choice. I hear you. You don't like being here. It's hard here. It's beyond the capacity of many to navigate. But mark these words. (Not on your screen, please, in a future book perhaps) Note the concept. You made the bargain. You agreed to come here.You said you could handle it. You had the choice to say no but you didn't. You said "I want to be!" "I can handle this! I got this! Let's roll!" And you came here - the mewling welp suckled by his mum, taken care of (or not - it was by your design) and left to fend (or offend) for itself. To have been. That's the victory. To be able to return home to the loving embrace of our brothers and sisters, of our friends and frenemies - of all the people who have ever been on the planet or have existed in any realm - those fellow travellers who we call our "soul group." To return to their loving embrace after we've successfully navigated the stage as we set out to do. We've seen our loved ones before and we'll see them again. Inshallah.God willing. Or our willing.Will Shakespeare? Will he what precisely? Free Will. Indeed. An apt term for telling Will to come to life and unleashing that energy. Anyone who has ever been or ever existed exists still. They're out there. Gone from this stage, but their role not ended. "Not gone, just not here." Never ended, just not here. Off stage. Back stage. Back home. To be or not to be. It is the question we all asked and ask ourselves prior to every lifetime. What say you? "From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remember'd; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day." (Enrico the 5th) "C'mon in the water's fine!" Shall we take up arms, hold hands and leap into the breach, jump into the fray once more? Go down there (or over there) to that planet where we get the luxury of breathing fresh air? Where we have the luxury of drinking cool refreshing clean water? (Unless it's gone. No longer fresh. Polluted and stale.) Why would we pollute, destroy the place we love to return to? Where we get to witness a dawn and sunset.... we get to witness life all around us? Despite closing our eyes for a third of our lives, despite being asleep for fully one third of the trip - we get to be here on this mangificent blue ball hurtling through space. What a joy! What a delight!!!
Why would we ever choose not to be here? Ah yes, back stage. Back home. Where we reconnect with our loved ones. Where we experience unconditional love on a permanent basis. The kind of love Will wrote about in his sonnets, the kind of love that is beyond comprehension, beyond the capacity of the brain to understand which can only be known by experience. That kind of love. I could go on. I will go on. Be. Don't not be. Trust in the choice you made. You chose to be. Try to understand and enjoy that choice. Make others happy they made the choice to be with you. Be all you can be. In your heart. In others' hearts. Catch you on the Flipside.
HAMLET: To be, or not to be--that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. (except we don't... the troubles end to be sure, but we don't end) To die, to sleep-- No more--and by a sleep to say we end The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to. (That we chose to experience so we could understand or know them) 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep-- To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. (Or not. Some are able to lucid dream. Some experience dreams as reality. Some believe that the dream state is reality. We have a poor choice of words for a myriad of experience that we can only refer to as a dream.) There's the respect That makes calamity of so long life. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th' unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? (All stones in our path that become diamonds once we've overcome them. A bodkin is a knife, and one could argue that the cigarette, the drunk driving is a form of bodkin, that we don't see as threatening our existence - except when it does.) Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? (Um, like Jason Bourne - we all come back from that excursion. All, except those who choose not to return. That's up to them. But even you dear Will have made this journey many times.) Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprise of great pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action. (Or, people realize that they chose to be here, that being here is actually a fun place to be, even if someone has murdered your father the King. If it's revenge you want, your best option is to serve it by making the perpetrator realize he too chose this lifetime, and nothing can kill your father - hence why he keeps showing up as your ghost. Or did you not realize that?) -- Soft you now, The fair Ophelia! -- Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remembered. (One can hope that in Ophelia's prayers, she prays for Hamlet to realize that compassion is the greatest gift he can learn, and forgiveness the gift he can bestow. But alas, then we would have no drama. Conflict is the essence of drama, so thank heavens that he existed in Will's mind so that we can witness the kind of drama we don't have to live through! If we watch this kind of drama on stage and learn what we don't want to be, it's arguably a form of "experiencing it during a lifetime" and if we've learned the lesson, we don't have to repeat it.Exeunt.
