Red Dead Redemption and the Flipside

A few thoughts on the Redemption of Arthur Morgan...

Arthur Morgan in RDR2 and Roger Clark who plays him.

I won't get into the particulars of this epic game that others have covered.  (Red Dead Redemption 2) My point is that as technology improves, we are able to experience "life online" the way that we experience "life offline."

For fans of my research into the Flipside, there are multiple layers of the meaning of "offline" and "online."

In the 50 deep hypnosis cases I've filmed, and the thousands I've examined from Dr. Helen Wambach and Michael Newton ("Journey of Souls") they report consistently that life "here on the planet" or "online" is like a performer going on stage, choosing props, a costume, a role, doing their best at learning something or teaching lessons, and then when the play is over, they drop the costume, props and leave the stage.

Where do people go after their "lifetime" on stage?

They go "home."  

In the first case I was filming for the film "Flipside: A Journey into the Afterlife" a woman in a conference in Chicago was recalling her last moments on earth during her lifetime that ended in a gas chamber in Auschwitz.  I was startled by what she was saying for a number of reasons - I later found her records online, I later was able to confirm who she had been, I was startled because she was giving such a graphic description of a difficult lifetime the first time I turned my camera on to film one.

But more importantly, when she was asked after the end of this difficult lifetime where she went, she said "Home."

"Flipside" is about the research of
Michael Newton

At first I wondered if she was talking about the town in upstate New York this woman was from, or if she meant Warsaw, the town that this woman had remembered growing up in and being torn out of it.  Neither in fact.  


She was referring to "home" as in - where we all come from.

Since then I've had people give various descriptions of "home" - the hallmarks are the same, "a place of warmth, no judgment, unconditional love" but the visuals are not.  Sometimes people see their loved ones, sometimes they see guides, teachers (yes, even ones "wearing wings" which appear to be a visual metaphor for speed and not countenance) - but be that as it may, they all say the same thing about where they go after the memory of a previous lifetime.

Home.

Home?

So that forces us to look at the stage they were just on. People consistently report that they "chose their lifetime" that they chose a life with difficulties, with the possibility to learn or teach or love - sometimes they choose difficult lifetimes, sometimes they choose incredibly difficult lifetimes.  In this woman's case, she said that between lives her guides showed her that she had the option of playing different roles, including a "perpetrator."  She said "from what I'm seeing, I know this is hard to express, but from my perspective, I'm glad I chose the role I did instead of the perpetrators, because they had a harder time of it."


Easily the most difficult sentence I've come across in this research, but it was on the very first day I started filming,the first person that I filmed.  She went on to say "Every day in the camp was like an intense lesson in many topics; compassion, forgiveness, redemption, love. But from my perspective, I'm glad I chose what I did in that lifetime."

Which brings me to Arthur Morgan.

Like Jumanji.  We play an avatar.  In this case, the avatar happens to be a bad guy with potential.
If you're playing the game and don't know what happens in Red Dead Redemption 2, STOP READING NOW.

Our family had not seen the original game, so we had no clue as to what would happen or how this game might end.  Our son played it over spring break, and has been caught up in the world of Arthur for weeks. 

I too enjoyed decoding some of the things he would find - the references to Nikola Tesla (there's a lightning shack in Colorado, reminiscent of Tesla's own lab), the references to how slavery hadn't changed men's minds even 20 years later, to many sorts of political easter eggs buried inside this vast amazing story.  (Winning points by killing off the KKK, for example.)

The CGI is so brilliant, that one feels as if they've been horseback riding for most of the day. The gunfire is pretty frightening as well.  But overall, one gets a sense of "time and place."

But there's much more to this game - because at some point, it becomes apparent that our hero, the outlaw Arthur, has a chance at redemption.  The choices that he makes become more about "saving" lives than taking them, more about "helping others" than robbing them.  Like in life, we all have a choice to choose which path to take.  And there are consequences here while having that journey - but those same consequences in the game lead to its conclusion.

Are you someone who is a helping hand? Or are you a cruel person caught up in the same cycle of violence?  Those choices predict how you'll end up.  We had no idea of where this story was headed - and the ending, as played, brought us all to tears.  Someone whom we had come to know, who had changed his stripes during the course of the story, someone that my son came to know and understand - was no longer on the planet.  And there's no way to reincarnate inside of this person any longer - the only way to view "what happens next" is to shift consciousness into someone else.

A bit like life.  Well, alot like life.

We are here, and we play our role - and depending upon our choices, actions, we will find ourselves at the end of our journey looking back upon what we forgot to do, who we didn't help, and what the consequences of those actions are.  In my son's case, his "honor" had risen to the highest amount he could get, as a result his passing was filled with beautiful music, and a gorgeous last sunrise on the planet.  

However, we weren't prepared for this outcome - and when we realized we were in someone else's consciousness looking at our own tombstone - that was as impactful as that sentence sounds.  Like looking down at your feet and seeing your name carved in stone.  "Here Lies You."  "Wait a second! I wasn't ready to leave the planet yet! You mean I have no option to save myself? To continue on?"

Well... yes and no.  

No, we have no option to continue on as the person we once were.  For those of us who were once caterpillars, indeed, the chrysalis is the end of the line. That's it. No more crawling on leaves, chomping on green objects, or spinning silk. We don't do that anymore. But we do have this other option - to fly. To open our wings and take off.  We can come back and visit this earth at any time, but it would be insane to not open up those wings and try them out.

Real Arthurs.

So Arthur is a character that exists in time and space.  

My wife had a dream about Arthur last night - saw him riding his horse in a field of yellow daisies.  When she woke up she remembered the last time she saw those daisies - in a dream she had about her dog the night he died.  She said she was in a field, but there was a turnstyle that prevented her from going over to where her dog was - romping through this giant field of daisies.

I pointed out the turnstyle represented a metaphor for us "not being able to go over there."  But also the field of daises represented the flipside - as I've noted often, we create our own paradise once we return.  And by dreaming of the field of daises - with a character and his horse no less! - she was seeing what that would have meant in our world.

But then one has to ask - does Arthur exist, or does he not exist? Certainly he was created by an actor (the way Travis Bickle existed, or Ethan Hunt) and by seeing them in our dreams, we can see that it's a metaphor for what we perceive. But in this case - my wife was seeing a character and his horse in the afterlife.  Easy to say "because she wanted to" but wasn't aware of how that field of daisies represented the flipside.  Unfortunately for her, she's married to someone who can.

Indeed, an actor went in and spent the better part of five years inhabiting this fellow - that is the voice of actor Roger Clark - and the essence of who Roger Clark is, is also the essence of who Arthur Morgan is.  His comments to his horse,  his conversations with strangers, native Americans, bad guys, bandits, good guys, Pinkertons - all filtered through who Roger is.  And that avatar now exists in some other world.  Not the flipside per se, but somewhere.

I just wanted to comment on how Red Dead Redemption 2 captures the essence of this flipside research; imagine the writers sitting around creating his story the way that guides and teachers sit around and come up with a story for a person choosing a lifetime, how they can argue what the best outcome would be - how they give the person tests and options to take, how it's up to free will for them to follow the "good path" of learning or to screw up, and not accomplish what they set out to do.  

How ego, wrath, anger, jealousy, cowardice, lying - all can lead to unhappy, unfulfilled outcomes - and how the opposite can lead to much more entertaining, learning outcomes.  And when the avatar who plays this character is done with their journey, the writers are there to applaud their return, to compliment the actor on all that they accomplished, learned, taught or experienced.

And on to the next play.

As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. 

At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. 

And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. 

Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. 

And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. 

The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. 

Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616

Oblivion? Or the flipside.  It's your choice.

My avatar circa 23 years old.

The hidden legacy of Michael Jackson

"Those people made up a goddamn story because they wanted money and we will not allow that to go unchecked," Branca said following a talk at Harvard Law School.  From "Michael Jackson Co-Executor John Branca Says He's Considering Suing 'Leaving Neverland' Director Dan Reed" in Billboard.com

Photo Michael Jackson performs during Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Steve Granitz/Getty Images

"Michael Jackson estate co-executor John Branca spoke publicly for the first time about Leaving Neverland on April 16 and indicated that additional litigation -- this time against the documentary's director Dan Reed -- may be forthcoming. Branca and two of the other members of Jackson's estate legal team, Howard Weitzman and Bryan Freedman, were the the key participants in the panel discussion titled "Trial by Media: Guilty Until Proven Innocent" presented at Harvard’s Institute of Politics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

....In response to Branca's comments, an HBO spokesperson said, "Dan Reed is a proven, award-winning filmmaker and we have full confidence in his film."
(Branca said) "Dan Reed's documentary is replete with inaccuracies, lies and stuff they knew not to be true," Branca told Billboard. "They should be ashamed of themselves." ...."Hopefully the real truth will come out, other facts will come out and people will pay attention to both sides of the story," said Branca. "From the point of view of society, I want to make it so people feel comfortable saying, 'I love Michael's music.'"  "Michael," Branca said to Billboard, "is too big to fail."

Well...

Here's the "OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY" - that contains the flipside aspects to this journey. 

It's all disconcerting... until you realize that this may have been planned in advance on the Flipside.

"The Definition of Legacy: The dictionary would define Legacy as a gift or a bequest, that is handed down, endowed or conveyed from one person to another. It is something descendible one comes into possession of that is transmitted, inherited or received from a predecessor."

What we've learned in our deep dive into the flipside, interviewing people post mortem about their lives, their motivations and why they were on the planet in the first place, Michael has "turned up" in our discussions ("Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer.") After "Leaving Neverland" ran, our discussions turned to "why?" or whether it was part of a cycle (as often those who molest were molested themselves.)

In our "interview" he said that was accurate; that he had been molested by a "friend of the family" and it began at the age of 5. (If I "out" someone reporting from the flipside, can they sue? You can't libel folks no longer on the planet. Still, the detail must give one pause.) But the larger, more profound portrait that emerges is his report that this part of his legacy was part of why he signed up for this lifetime.

That teaching lessons in love, forgiveness, redemption takes many forms - and our discussion of these events. he said was also part of his legacy and why he "signed up for it." (According to this research, people claim we "sign up" for lifetimes, even difficult ones, and have the free will to turn one down we think we can't handle.) 

As reported in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" a friend revealed under deep hypnosis the molestation she experienced as a child had been "agreed to" so she could teach the perpetrator lessons in the "negativity of his actions." After seeing this part of her journey from that perspective, she later said "years of therapy" dissolved when she realized she'd known this person many lifetimes, and had agreed to teach him that difficult, profound lesson.

Hearing that some of our most difficult pathways were planned in advance may be disconcerting for many, but it is in the research. I'd be remiss if I didn't report what I've been hearing consistently during these flipside interviews or from folks under deep hypnosis. It's not my theory, belief or opinion people say these things either under deep hypnosis or during a flipside "interview;" I'm only reporting what they consistently say. 

Michael's reputation and our ability to hear his talent will occur only after we come to the realization that the portrait of any soul is much deeper and more complex than we know on the surface. When we come to realize that the actions of one lifetime are merely part of the overall portrait of who someone becomes - that we don't die, we move on to learn or teach more lessons in unconditional love. His music lives on, but his legacy just became more complex.

As it's said; "hate the sin, not the sinner." In this case, we can all learn how to spot signs of abuse early, help the person being abused, help the perpetrator to understand the source of his or her abuse, and how these actions fit into their overall path or journey. People can and do heal from all manner of abuse. "The meaning of life according to Viktor Frankl, lies in finding a purpose and taking responsibility for ourselves and other human beings" or to paraphrase the Dalai Lama; "You can't control how others behave, but you can control how you react to them." 

Excerpt from our interview with "the King of Pop" - (will be part of a book, but since people have asked, here's an excerpt: 

As usual, Medium Jennifer Shaffer and I begin our session with me either mentioning who I invited to the session, or letting Jennifer “guess” who I invited.  Sometimes she says it on the first try, sometimes it takes three different attempts; it’s a bit of a guessing game for our friends on the flipside as well, as they project the images that lead to the name of the person who’s standing by to be interviewed. 

In this case, I remembered that Michael Jackson had shown up a couple of weeks earlier, and I asked him to take a seat while we interviewed someone else. He had shown up with Prince, a frequent contributor to our interviews, and appeared in "Hacking the Afterlife" and often in "Backstage Pass to the Flipside."

My questions are in italics, Jennifer Shaffer replies in bold.  This was filmed on March 12^th, 2019, after the screening of “Finding Neverland” on HBO (which Jennifer and I have yet to view).

RICHARD: Last week we interrupted Prince who had shown up with Michael Jackson. Sorry about that. What do they want to say? That’s my question - do they want to talk? Is Michael here?

JENNIFER: Yes.

So Michael, you’ve been in the news lately.

“He’s happy that it’s out. It’s healing and it’s helping others.”

Anything you want me to say on your behalf? Or what do you want to say about it?

"He didn’t know how harmful it was. He really loved those boys, like he was ... (trying to find the words) there was a love he didn’t know (how to express)... he was so separated from..."

His emotions?

He says “I meant what I said, I know they’re healing, they’re healing now, I know Oprah interviewed the boys and (know) how it’s helping to break the cycle for everyone...” – Not only was he iconic, you know as a pop star, but he’s... he didn’t.. I don’t know how you could say this... but "this was his life path."

I was going to ask him that.

He said, “Yeah.”

(Note: In the book “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife," a close friend did a deep hypnosis session and on the way to it, revealed she’d been molested by someone in her family. I didn’t know that – said I was sorry to hear it, but perhaps she could learn something during her session.  Five hours in, she got to the point of discussing it – the hypnotherapist didn’t know anything about it, but asked her written question “What was up with you and this person in your life?” And she said “I’m seeing that it was part of my life planning process. I’m seeing that he asked me to participate in those actions in this lifetime... and that I agreed to, or did so to help teach him the lessons in the negativity of his actions.  But I agreed to it.”  Afterwards, she told me that 20 years of therapy had dissolved during the session when she saw she’d had other lifetimes with this same person, and how their bond was not about this temporary stage play but something deeper over many lifetimes.)

Prince, please help him with this if you can. So Michael, you chose this life to not only hit the heights musically but also to hit the depths?

“Absolutely.”

We’ve learned this in the research, not from those boys, not from this case or these boys... but from other people - they signed up for a lifetime to help teach others.

(Jennifer aside:) I asked him, “Is that (also) what you want to remembered by?” and he said “Yes.”

So it’s to help teach a lesson in overcoming negativity, overcoming trauma?

“Yes.” He showed me all the layers of it.

Let me ask you this question - Who’s idea was this? (To have this multilayered lifetime). Your guides? Your teachers? Who came up with the idea of teaching negativity in a healing way?

“It was the environment,” (to be able to do that) he says.

Let’s go back to your life planning session if we can... Prince can we help him go back to his life planning session?

“He has it – he says that all of it...  it was everything.”

So was it your teachers who suggested this? My question is, did you suggest it or your teachers, that you would teach that lesson?

He says “It was all of us, everybody agreed upon it.” He goes.. he showed me something interesting. You don’t have a body (back) there – when you agree upon something like this, you don’t feel it, you aren’t connected to it at all... that was interesting (to observe). I went to a spirit space, where you are looking at people who don’t have bodies, you’re looking at how things can work - it’s like looking at a blueprint... sort of thing.

 (Note: Having filmed 50 sessions of people under deep hypnosis, and having filmed a number of “life planning sessions” I can report this is identical to the research.  Some people say it’s like “arguing a PhD to a group of teachers” in their choice of a lifetime, some report going over what they plan to do in an auditorium full of people who can raise their hand and offer to pitch in or participate in some way.  We all agree to these decisions prior to coming here – I know how difficult that is to hear for people who’ve had relatives suffer or who have suffered themselves.  But when under deep hypnosis, people often access these “planning sessions” – and Jennifer, for the first time that I’ve heard it – points out that it’s easier to “plan something” in the blueprint stage, than to be here with the fallout and reverberations of pain or suffering that occur.  However, that doesn’t change what she’s talking about – and it is basically what I’ve heard dozens of times before.  (Including examing the research from Dr. Helen Wambach and Michael Newton). Everyone participates; sometimes they change their minds, but for the most part, they play the role they’ve agreed to play.)

From an engineering perspective?

It took him becoming famous so that it would get to a point where this would be so big (and affect so many humans) that they could heal from it.

How do they heal from it? Specifically thinking of people who were traumatized by some physical act in their own life...  By exposing something on a global scale - it helps people to heal?

“Correct.”

What’s the message in your own words, that might help heal people?

"Just love. Have self love. Know that it or what happened to you wasn’t ... know that you didn’t cause it."

You mean specifically those boys? Or everyone?

"Everyone who has been in (experienced) it."

(Note: In "Hacking the Afterlife" we asked Robin Williams if he had any message for his fans and friends; his reply "Love love."  When we asked what that meant he said "Love is the engine of the universe. Focus on it, explore it, become part of it, and you'll see that's all that matters.")

It’s not that you personally caused it? Correct me if I’m wrong.

"His surroundings did."

So if we’re looking at it like a play and we’re outside the theater, and we say “We’re going to examine these things in this play, but it’s going to be difficult to examine these things, but the purpose is to heal people by exposing it?

When he left the planet, he said “He was taken directly back to the planning session.” 

Okay. Thank you. May I ask, why were you taking that drug that knocked you out, Rohypnol?

“To help him leave.”

You were in a hurry to get home?

"He had his bags packed, waiting."

But you wouldn’t deliberately try to end it all?

“No.”

May I ask, was your consciousness still working while you were in that stupor state, what was your consciousness doing?

He said “He was getting ready to go.” Bags packed. He showed me like a Mayflower moving truck. I just saw the fire.... you know when he caught on fire?

During the Pepsi commercial... Okay. Some did say you never quite recovered from that. If I may ask – did someone abuse you emotionally or physically? Who abused you?

“His father abused him emotionally, and allowed that (other abuse) to happen by being in that industry. But as to who molested him; it felt like an uncle.”

You were molested by someone close?

“Yes. It was someone in the music industry – just feels like an uncle.”

How old were you?

“Five.”

Someone in the music industry?

“Yes.”

But I’ll guess that this “Uncle” was abused as well... the cycle has gone on for everyone. I’m not trying to mitigate it or point a finger.

He knows that.

You said you were... glad... that this documentary came out?

“Yes, that was the point. He had to leave in order for it to come out – because it was so big, many people are able to heal in this way. It took someone as big as him in order to help people heal.”

Okay, Michael thank you – I felt bad because you showed up two weeks ago and we tabled our discussion because we were talking to someone else.

It was to get in your head for our discussion now.

I haven’t seen the film yet and am not looking forward to it. But now I understand why it needed to be made. Thank you for explaining that. (Excerpt from "Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer BOOK THREE. All Rights Reserved, copyright Richard Martini 2019)

My two cents.

Slices of Time and Stephen Hawking

From Wired Magazine - the Nebula where the black home exists. Note the dot at the center.  Reportedly, the black hole of recent photos.

So the other day I was talking to Stephen Hawking...

And he said that he could access time like "floppy disks."

Let's break this down for a moment.  I have been speaking to a number of people on the Flipside via Jennifer Shaffer, and in "Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife" we had a conversation with Mr. Hawking just after he departed.

I asked him if he had seen a black hole since his departure and he said he had, that he had learned what it really was, but that it is more complex than he thought it was.  In subsequent follow up conversations, he allowed that the word "portal" would apply to a black hole, but not in the way we think of the word, as in "window."

Jennifer said that she could "see the location of the black hole" that it was not in the center of our universe (I asked) but that it was the larger one where "most of the matter is going through."

(For fans of "Flipside: A Tourist's Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife" I had an out of body experience of going through a black hole.  I was so enchanted by it that I actually reached out to Hawking to describe it to him - but as of yet haven't asked whether he ever got my email. But I digress.)

According to what Stephen is "telling us" there is matter that moves from our universe to other universes via black holes.  "It's the source of the majority of dark matter as it moves through the hole or holes to create other universes."

Portal. According to Stephen.

Which begat a follow up question for scientists on the flipside - "What is dark matter and/or dark energy?" and I asked Jennifer to line up a "Panel of Flipside All Stars" who might know the answer to the question.

The All Stars include Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking and Nikola Tesla. (I wrote a script about Tesla in the 80's, am familiar with his engineering background, and asked him to "show up for the conversation.")

Nikola

I know how odd this odds. ("Really? Do you Richard?")  But as a construct, it's been effective.  If one takes the time to look at the responses that we get, they'll find that many are accurate, contain new information that can't be ascribed to my mind, to Jennifer's mind, or any other method of understanding how we got the answers we did.

The results of this line of questioning to our "Panel of All Stars" were kind of astounding - no other way to put it. Albert gave us visual references to explain it, Carl Sagan made it more accessible using metaphor, Tesla gave us an understanding that was electromagnetic in nature, and Stephen gave us an actual formula.

A formula!  Indeed.

One that I have written down, and then looked up - and while it doesn't exist anywhere online that I could find, portions of the formula did exist on physics websites.  That alone gave me pause - Stephen Hawking giving Jennifer Shaffer a formula - which she repeated to me, which I filmed and wrote down.

At the moment I have some calls out to people who might be able to connect me with someone who knows physics, or a scientist who could understand this formula... because after all IT'S THE FORMULA FOR DARK MATTER.

I know how insane this sounds ("Really Rich? Do you?").  But it's just what we've been doing. Asking questions and then filming the answers.  Not all of them are going to be 100% accurate - there is the matter of translation involved - they're projecting a signal that taps into an image or sound or feeling in Jennifer's mind or field of awareness, and she tries to describe it using syntax and words and language.  An imprecise science to be sure, but it's what we've been doing.

For example, in one of the replies, she said "I'm seeing things being pulled."  I said "Do you mean a gravitational pull?" She tapped her nose, which is their way of saying to her "Correct." (As she puts it, they only do that when I'm asking questions, so it's not something she had ever thought to see or do in the past - they do it for her when I hit the nail on the head.) I knew that the way they discovered dark matter was because of its gravitational properties ("Dark" meaning "not understood" and "not visible" rather than "light.")

I said "They're showing you that dark matter has gravitational qualities?"  Another tap of the nose.  I say "Well, that's accurate in terms of science" and she made a face and said "I don't know that!"  Of course Jennifer on the planet doesn't know that. But Jennifer the medium just said it on behalf of someone who would know that.

So on to slices of time.

The other day Stephen showed up - as he always does, looking about 27, standing, in a suit.  A professor showing up to share knowledge.  In this case, I had a question for him about time.

The other night, Hank Azaria was on Colbert talking about the time that Hawking had appeared on The Simpsons.  Hank told a hilarious story, and I asked Hawking a question based on that story. 

I said "Hank Azaria was on Colbert the other night, and told a story about you.  He said that while they were at the table read, waiting for you to appear to do the show, Harry Shearer, who does a number of voices on the show, said something funny about you.  Are you aware of what it was?"

Jennifer said "That he has no concept of time."




BOOM! That is exactly what Shearer said. "The man has no concept of time." He said it as a joke, dryly, without looking up from his script. 

Because cast and crew had been waiting a half hour for him to arrive, all in anticipation of this superstar.  On Colbert, Hank said it was the funniest line he'd ever heard anyone say, and I laughed aloud when I heard it.  

But Jennifer had not heard it, and more importantly NEITHER HAD HAWKING.

Because he wasn't in the room when it was said.  He may have heard it afterwards, he may have heard it as a joke later - he may have even heard someone tell him that Harry said it. Maybe even Harry told him.  I don't know. 


But Hawking could not know what Azaria witnessed - nor could Jennifer.  There are some who would claim that somehow Jennifer is "reading my mind" but then that implies accessing consciousness outside the brain, so first they'd have to admit that to be the case before making that argument.

Yes, consciousness does exist outside the brain, (according to scientist Bruce Greyson) but I asked a follow up question for my own edification.

I said "So how are you aware of this Stephen?  You weren't there, you were not in the room - did someone tell it to you later, or did you somehow hear about it at another date?" He said to Jennifer that he had "accessed the time frame."

I asked him how he did that.  He said "Time is like floppy disks." Jennifer said "He's showing me those old floppy disks people use to use, and he says "It's all numbers."

A slice of an earlier time let's say.

So let's unpack this for a moment, shall we?

Some years ago I passed a restaurant that had been closed since the quake of '94, but as I passed it, I suddenly "heard" the sound of people in the restaurant, and flashed on a moment I had in that restaurant decades ago, having breakfast with my friend Luana Anders (who is our guide on the flipside, who helps facilitate these meetings with people over there, including with Stephen.)  In that brief moment, I experienced a slice of time - as it had been years earlier.

(Which is like the time my wife was walking in Washington Heights in Manhattan and turned the corner to see a large outdoor gathering of people dressed in 18th century costumes having a dance; that is until they disappeared and she realized they didn't exist.) 

Or the program that Arthur C Clarke did on "the unexplained" he detailed stories of people who visited Versailles and claimed to see "People in wigs walking around" or those who've been to Gettysburg and claim to see "troops dressed in uniforms marching." It's as if these people are accessing "slices of time." 



In the "Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot, he argues that everything in the universe is holographic in nature. In that if you examine something from the perspective of time, one can see other aspects of it. I've found this to be the case in my research - by merely asking people simple questions about a memory they once had, I've found they can access all kinds of information, including who else was there to witness the event, why experienced the event, if anyone at the event has had a previous lifetime with them, what that lifetime was like, what their guides look like and what they might want to impart to the person I'm speaking with. 

If I did it one time, it could be chalked up to someone's imagination, but I've done it many times - and the people who've never met, never read my books, have no access to flipside discussions or conversations, are suddenly "speaking to their guides" and hearing the same answers they all give. 

One of the oddest questions I ask ("Really Rich? You? Ask odd questions?") is when I'm "visiting a council." "Can I ask you, council person, have you ever heard of me, or what I'm doing?" And often I get the answer "Yeah, you're the guy who goes around asking councils questions." 

Sometimes it's with a person who has no idea why they respond in that fashion, sometimes, a council member will say "No, I have not heard of you" - but generally, even among different members of the same council, some of heard of this method of "asking questions" and some have not. 

I guess there are water coolers on the flipside to have these kinds of discussions. But back to slices of time. If what he's saying is accurate, then any slice of time is numbers. And if that's the case, then we only need to find a method to decode those numbers to recall experiences that occurred before. 

When people are under deep hypnosis, they get to access these "floppy disks" - when people visit "Akashic libraries" they too are accessing the same disks. (I don't use the word Akashic normally, as it's just Sanskrit for "library" despite what new age folks like to say about it. Channeling the Akashic records is literally visiting someone's library.) What I've learned in visiting a few libraries is that no two are the same, the library itself reveals itself to the person who is viewing it based on their subjective reality (like everything in life apparently) and that each person sees different aspects of their own "library." 

The word LIBRARY is consistent - but the objects within it are not. Some see video screens, some see stacks of books, some see microfiche. But when they access these files, they do report it's the "history of a person" or of themselves. And in this particular instance, Mr. Hawking has identified them as "numbers." 

A very complex form of math. 

Slice of time Lawrence of Arabia

But when it comes to coding the future - or having computers change our future - I think people have it backwards. Computers can't decode the past - we can do that, but we have filters that prevent us from doing so. 

If we can disrupt those filters - either via a near death event, a drug, deep hypnosis, or some other method, we can access this information. (For examples of people doing so, I recommend the IANDS website). 

Our experience is tailored to our path and journey, so it won't be like peering into someone else's journey - we do have free will, and disrupting someone else's path (or people on another planet's path) appears to be something that we cannot do, be we can alter our own path and journey by accessing these moments in the past and seeing that we chose them to learn lessons from them. 

By observing the past, we change the present and alter our future. Eventually people will realize that the object isn't to make computers sentient - it's to realize that all living things are sentient, but we have filters in place that prevent us from understanding that. These filters and limiters, like those in a stereo, prevent us from accessing universal information, or even being aware of this information. 

Slice of time Marilyn and Mom

Not the mundane coded intel inside a computer that is keyed in or posted by partisans - (those in charge of what information is uploaded, or ignored)  but the raw intel of the universe - the intelligence one student filmmaker at USC called "the force" or what a professor in Vienna dubbed the "universal unconscious." 

Carl Jung was half right on this score; it's universal all right, permeates everything like the dark energy/matter that is a vehicle for it. (Another thing that Hawking answered; "Would you consider dark matter and energy to be "source?" To which after a long pause, Jennifer said "Yes.") 

Call it Source or The Force, but you tap into it the moment the filters stop functioning. Could be a near death event, deep hypnosis, obe, drugs (or "death") but the advancement in science will come when people learn how to unlock those filters/limiters. Not "code the game" but decoding the filters that keep us from the actual source. 


One final note on slices of time. Was watching a video of some Lakota warriors the other day, and it reminded me of one of my own past life experiences, remembering that lifetime when I walked among those proud people. We tend to think we are separated by time and space. It appears memory is holographic and time is merely numbers held in space by thought. 

If you can decode these numbers a person can relive any moment, explore any previous lifetime. Something foreign like this Lakota song of liberation becomes familiar, the earth opens itself up to memories of sensations, people, events. 

Wakan tanka - dark energy - source - the force - permeates all. 

People and events are not gone. They're just not here.  

Letters about the Flipside and the Second Coming

Couple of letters sent on the same day have me talking the flipside. Excerpts: 

Consider the Source

Hi Rich,

I purchased several of your books on audio, watched your flipside documentary, bought the flipside book (just to have on the shelf for reference), listened/watched some interviews, talks and other shows, etc… with you....  I consider myself a healthy skeptic just like anyone else but if I can somehow find a plausible explanation or perhaps make a connection with a little bit of science, then it becomes all the more believable for me and easier to accept. You have to have an open mind and heart which is a pre-requisite to accepting any of this, I think. Since I currently work in the world of (audio) that is my way to connect the science part of it and explain to others how (electro-magnetic) energy is at the root of so much of it. 

...I've also realized that despite my enthusiasm and realizations, I can’t expect others to share the same feelings and beliefs. It’s funny to see how people react when you mention anything related to the subject of death, ghosts, spirits, life after death, souls, etc... It can be all over the place from one extreme to the other and the funny part is, I was the same way but on the opposite side of the scale until I drank the kool aid and became a true believer.

I wanted to Thank You for all the work you’ve done and sacrifices you made to do all the research and share it. That’s huge and you did it from the angle of just trying to lay out there what you’ve gathered from other people’s work and some of your own experiences and work as well. 

It not only helped me learn a lot and profoundly changed my life but now I look at people, things and the world differently (and countless others out there do as well), thanks to your work. So, if you ever get complacent or it just feels like “ho-hum is it all worth it?”, I would say a resounding “YES!” ....Anyway, that’s pretty much what I wanted to pass on and I recommend your work to anyone that’s willing to listen. Thanks again for doing all you’ve done and please don’t stop; it really is appreciated and enjoyed by many and helping to change the world one baby step at a time! "Tom"

****

Then this one:

Hello Rich,

(I am a mental health professional) I was not particularly religious but had some unusual childhood events that always made me question things. Distinctly remember seeing glowing children around my bedside in hospital singing and dancing when I was really ill and have had many wishes come uncannily true. Always held a belief in something more to this life than what we understand but hadn't given it much thought. Not religious but seemed to intuitively understand that if there is a god he doesn't care about churches and religion (just never made sense that a god would care about bricks so much).....a curious agnostic perhaps.

So, fast forward to mid last year, and I stumbled upon some writing that triggered this 'journey' of discovery that got me searching the meaning of existence. A very metaphysical text that got me thinking about reality in a way that I had never really even considered. I think it was such a shock to the system that it literally jolted me into an awakening. It was bizarre - quite literally like a bolt of lightening whilst I was sat reading on a hotel bed on a business trip. 

Fast forward to the day after (still in shock) and it happens again except this time its like this most incredible feeling of love and oneness followed by this bizarre glow to the world that I cant describe....like a shimmer....and then this indescribable love for Jesus…..I literally cant explain that but it made me want to sign up for a Christian ministry there and then.....it was surreal.

....I have kept a job, maintained a family and function normally...….if it wasn't for those things I would have run into the hills and become a hermit :) .... I think that the second coming of Jesus is also a metaphor for this spiritual journey mankind is experiencing?......not a literal return of Jesus…..is this right or am I crazy? We are literally living out the 'end times' its just not the apocalyptic vision of death and damnation...….just a raise in consciousness that perhaps kicks mankind back into gear. See, these are the thoughts I have, these ideas now just come to me. 

Anyway, that's my surreal experience, still unfolding, still having some strange moments. Has anyone shared anything similar? "Stephen"

**********

Well, yes and no.

In terms of Stephen's epiphany, I've written about various people who've had an experience like his. Mario Beauregard PhD talks about his in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" - when he was 12 and walking in the woods, he suddenly felt "connected to everyone and all things."  He said he spent his life in science (he's a neuroscientist) trying to figure out why that happened.  Sir Francis Younghusband had the same kind of epiphany coming out of Tibet. My wife Sherry had it one day after attending a class that taught the person how to "access left brain memories" and saw everyone in the same light.

It occurred to me last week that the "second coming of Jesus" - aside from the apocryphal nature of the idea - could indeed be, the REALIZATION THAT HE NEVER LEFT.

As I point out in "Hacking the Afterlife" the consistent reports of "seeing Jesus during a near death event" "talking to Jesus between lives" or "Meeting Jesus through a medium" - are consistent.  If they were made up stories they should include the belief system of whoever is making them up - but they don't.  The stories I'm filming and hearing are consistent in that they are "contrary to religious texts" "contrary to reports in the bible" - if they were being "made up" by the individuals reporting them, you'd think they would follow a familiar narrative.

But they do not. What they claim is oddly consistent - that Jesus didn't die on the cross, that he didn't die of old age either - that none of us die. That we "return home" to access the flipside, and that people like Jesus (or other avatars who've come to the planet that brought more of "source" with them - that's a quote from one of the interviews with him).

Further, the more I do this research, the more I'm "hearing" from a variety of people (some friends, some acquaintances, some strangers) that somehow they are involved in "helping adjust the consciousness of the planet."  So maybe that's what's happening - we're going to arrive at a time and place where we realize that we don't die - we realize that we can communicate to others without words - that we will be able to understand intent and a person's path just by seeing them, not by their actions or words - in essence, a shift in consciousness so profound that it literally is the "second coming of Jesus."  Meaning - it's not that he's coming back... he's already back.   I interview him in "Hacking the Afterlife."



In Tom's case, I'm just grateful for the shout out. 

I answered the following question on Quora today:

Is the mind an elevated form of the brain?

I think it’s a semantical discussion that we haven’t begun to understand. The brain is part of the human body. The mind, on the other hand, appears to exist within the brain and outside of the brain simultaneously.

If you’d like the science behind that sentence, I recommend Dr. Bruce Greyson’s youtube talk “Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain?” and his new book. Or Ed Kelly PhD’s “Irreducible Mind” or Dr. Presti’s “Mind Beyond Brain.” Both Greyson and Kelly are at UVA, as members of DOPS they’ve been doing the hard science behind consciousness, Presti is a neurobiologist, psychologist, and cognitive scientist at the University of California, Berkeley.

I’ve been doing the soft science - filming people under deep hypnosis saying the same consistent things about the afterlife, the process, the journey. What they say is this:

We exist prior to coming to life as conscious energy. When we choose to incarnate, we bring “about a third” of that energy to any particular lifetime. So while we are here, we are “semiconscious” as two thirds of our conscious energy is elsewhere (according to this research, “back home.”) Once the physical body dies, the consciousness returns to the consciousness left behind. Once the filters of the brain are “off” we are able to access the rest of our conscious memories - previous lifetimes, why we chose this life, etc.

In this model - as simple as it is - the brain is an organ that functions like a receiver. I used to work in stereo, so it’s the easiest metaphor for me. There are limiters and filters which parse the “radio waves”that bring the information to our brain (as well as what we create through our experiences here) but by and large we can only focus on what we have within the confines of the receiver.

Sometimes the receiver’s limiters or filters get “knocked out.” During a near death event, during an accident, sometimes with drugs, often with deep hypnosis - the filters stop functioning which allow us to access this “other information.”

So mind and brain are apples and oranges. Yes, both edible. Yes, both fun. But the brain functions to parse, limit or filter experience, which appears to have a corresponding reaction with “mind” - some people under deep hypnosis claim that we have fractals or geometric shapes that function as portable hard drives with regard to mind and see them while under hypnosis. (I have).

Further, in the cases reported by Dr. Greyson, hospice care workers for Alzheimer’s patients report in the UK that 70% of their patients “spontaneously” recovered their memory just prior to passing. Sometimes for minutes, hours or days, people remembered things they couldn’t before - and when the autopsies are done the brains have atrophied beyond a point where they should have been able to access these memories. As Greyson puts it “It’s as if the filters have died along with the brain.”

So brain is a subset, an engine to mind (conscious energy). We all have our own, we bring about a third with us, and when we return we can access the other two thirds. Everyone has the same kind of conscious energy - like water droplets - so we are capable of accessing their information, their experiences as well… and therefore the idea of “god” becomes a kind of hub, or ability to access everything at once. As one person told me in “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife” - “God is beyond the capacity of the human brain to comprehend. It’s not physically possible. However you can experience God by opening your heart to everyone and all things.”


Easy to say but hard to do. But indeed - if you can picture accessing all the other ions in the universe simultaneously, you’d have an idea of how mind is more than what the brain functions as."



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