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)
Flipside Redux: Received an amazingly generous donation from a Pulitzer prize winning author for the sequel to Flipside. How cool is that? I'm in the midst of transcribing interviews with neuroscientists (Mario Beuregard, Bruce Greyson) interviews with scientists (Gary Schwartz) with hypnotherapists (Pete Smith, Scott De Tamble) about the latest research and reports from the afterlife.
I made a documentary (FlipsideTheFilm.com) about what thousands say about the afterlife under deep hypnosis; the book became a best seller in its genre at Amazon (#1 twice - FlipsideTheBook.com) and I took to crowd funding to help finance the sequel. I've been filming between life sessions with a number of friends, strangers, also gathering sessions from therapists nationwide, and interviewing post materialist scientists about their findings that coincide with the research I've been doing.
The new book explores near death experiences and how they coincide with between life hypnosis and scientists weigh in on the evidence they've found that consciousness can exist outside the brain. There are some other surprises inside, interviews with folks I didn't know I'd be able to reach. Right now it's weighing in around 500 pages, and I'll pare that to something that won't hurt your hands or mangle your kindle.
The research is basic, the results less so. What they report is;We don't die. That's the good news. The bad news; we don't die. Meaning, we've got a mountain of new lifetimes, adventures, and lessons to learn about why we chose this particular lifetime, those we've affected or helped (or hurt) during it, and how in the future we can learn from those explorations.
The book is not based on belief, philosophy or a desire - just eyewitness accounts from people who've taken this trip, and the scientists who corroborate what they're saying. Shy of a near death experience, it's the closest I've found where people have a consensus about what happens in the afterlife. Stay tuned, and thanks for the support. http://www.gofundme.com/FlipsideTheSequel
With the death of the great actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the news, it's worth noting that there are a number of things about his death worth noting.
“I try to live my life in such a way that I don’t have profound regrets,” Mr. Hoffman told The NY Times. “That’s probably why I work so much. I don’t want to feel I missed something important.” A lot to be missed. Family. Friends. We'll miss his craft. I curse the poppy in the field, I curse those who sell it, I curse the needle, trying to capture a feeling of bliss or nothingness; if only ODs could see the day after. No judgment here, only compassion for friends and family, for the lessons he chose to explore and learn from this all too short journey. RIP http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/movies/philip-seymour-hoffman-actor-dies-at-46.html?_r=1&referrer When someone we love dies, it doesn't take the pain away to realize that they might not actually be dead. We experience loss, we experience pain in the way we're built as humans to experience it. But when we examine the reports of consciousness existing outside the brain (see post below) or we examine accounts from people who have died and come back to report their stories, it's worth noting that all of these reports are not faked, or false. Take for example Annie Kagan's "The Afterlife of Billy Fingers." Billy was a person who struggled with drug addiction his whole life - and yet when he passed over, he came to his sister and recounted the reasons behind his addiction and life in a very direct way. In "My Life After Life" written by Dr. Ken Stoller, his son Galen died at 16 and came to him to recount what he was experiencing in the afterlife. Interesting to note that the realm or region he seemed to be in - the place he was reporting from - was a place where a number of other people either weren't aware they were dead, or were having a hard time adjusting to it. In Dr. Medhus' "Channeling Erik" she has full and detailed conversations with her son about people and events that are uncanny in their scope. Personally, I experienced one of those sessions as she allowed me to supply a series of questions to the people involved, questions that I alone know the answers to, and they were accurate. So I'm convinced that these conversations with her son are happening - whether they're 100% accurate, or whether they hit or miss particular events are subject to the odds of anyone getting stories 100% accurate - suffice to say I've yet to come across any account from any story that was 100% accurate since no one can take into account all the differing points of view to any event. Be that as it may - here we have another Doctor, trained in materialist science, who is communicating with her son in the afterlife.
In the numerous accounts I've researched and reported on, people recall past lives where they died in some fashion where their minds were altered - and they claim that it takes awhile to gather up the ability to focus your energy so you can realize where you are, and what's happening to you. There are a myriad of reasons why people take their lives. Some can't handle the pain - that they signed up for. It's a bit like walking off the field in the middle of the Super Bowl - "nope, sorry, these guys are just too big for me to play against." (I'm actually surprised that doesn't happen more often). But we can't judge why someone sticks a needle in their arm - any more than we can judge why the poppy flower delivers such pain and sorrow to so many and retains its beauty. Start with the idea that between lives people (for the most part, and always at some point) experience a blissful kind of existence that's beyond any bliss they've ever felt as humans. One can argue that drugs (and addictions) are a way to try and recreate that blissful feeling - which of course, we get to experience for eons between lives. So what's the hurry?
I'm reporting on this topic because I think it's important - it's important to realize that we're not going to die, if only to realize that we have a lot of work ahead of us - we aren't just in it for this one 8 second ride aboard a bull - we're in it for multiple rides, multiple lessons, multiple fractures each time we take the bull into the arena. And that's why we sign up for it. I heard Scott De Tamble (Lightbetweenlives.com) speak in Orance county to an iands.org group (institute of near death studies) and he said "You are the courageous ones. We don't have to come here, we don't have to incarnate, but yet you had the courage to do so - to come here to this planet to experience all the difficulties life has to offer." So here's to the courageous ones. It takes courage to come here in the first place, and whatever reasons Mr. Hoffman had to check out early are part of his own journey and are only known to him and his soul group. My two cents.
Proof consciousness exists outside the brain. Given two years ago by Dr. Greyson of UVA, (interviewing him for the next edition of "Flipside")90 mins of scientific (peer reviewed case studies) evidence the mind works just peachy when our noggin is switched off. In some cases better. Why does it matter? Think about it. And don't shoot the piano player. http://youtu.be/sPGZSC8odIU
As long as materialist scientists rule the allocation of funds for studying this sort of thing, we'll see materialist results. However, scientists like Dr Greyson, Dr Kelly ("Irreducible Mind") or Dr Beauregard ("Brain Wars") neuroscientists, psychiatrists, physicists are allowing the data to lead them in a new direction. Looking for funding outside the box of traditional sources is the way of the future. As Dr Greyson says in his talk, it was xerox founder Chester Carlson who funded his program at UVA. Tons of money gives people access to new ideas, and there are folks who want to help science find the light at the end of the tunnel. If you can, watch the entire talk - it's prettyMIND BLOWING. Dr. Greyson is pretty much the foremost authority on near death experience, (NDE) and is the foremost scientist studying it. This talk is from his nearly 1000 cases. As he says in the talk: "this evidence is not accepted or known by most American scientists – nevertheless it is there, and it is reliable and reproducible evidence – we have cases of people whose brains have been deteriorating for years suddenly think clearly on their deathbeds, people who function normally sometimes with high intelligence who have virtually no brain tissue, NDE experiencers who think more clearly than ever when their brains are not functioning, and we have very young children who can barely speak, who talk about their past lives with accurate details. These phenomena, all well investigated by modern scientific methodologies, and building upon decades or centuries of prior research, strongly suggest that under extreme circumstances, consciousness can be produced and can function without the intercession of the phsycial brain." If you'd like to invest in the next edition of "Flipside" please click on this link: http://www.gofundme.com/FlipsideTheSequel
Award-winning filmmaker Richard Martini explores startling new evidence of life after death via the "life between lives," where we reportedly return to find loved ones, soul mates and spiritual teachers.
The film is based on the evidence of thousands of people who claim that under deep hypnosis they saw and experienced the same basic things about the afterlife. Included are interviews with hypnotherapists from around the world trained in the method pioneered by Dr. Michael Newton, along with filmed past-life-regression sessions.
Many thanks to NY Times, Pulitzer Prize winning author,Bill Vlasicfor making a generous donation to the completion of this next edition of "Flipside." His"Once Upon A Car" is a must read to understand the history of Detroit, the bailout, and what's behind the politics of that arena. A generous fellow! Thank you!
Speaking of "Flipside" am nearing the end of my interview phase with scientists. I had an amazing chat with Mario Beauregard, a neuroscientist in Montreal who explained what "post materialist" science is about, and his theory that the human body may function as a kind of television set for consciousness, complete with its own set of filters (V chip?) for accessing certain kinds of information. His book "Brain Wars" talks about the research he's done using EEG and fMRI to understand more fully what's going on in the brain when someone is having a near death experience. He cited 5 studies that have examined 100's of cases where are person has died during cardiac arrest, there's no blood to the brain, and yet they come back to life with accurate reports of what they saw in the operating room, conversations doctors had, even in adjoining rooms in the hospital.
Just got the great news that I'm going to be able to submit some questions to Dr. Bruce Greyson and Dr. Edward Kelly - authors of "Irreducible Mind" - Both at UVA, Dr. Greyson is considered "the father of near death studies," and Dr. Kelly is a cognitive neuroscientist who has written extensively on consciousness outside the body. (Their 800 page book on "Psychology for the 21st century" is required reading) I'm hopeful to get their opinions on this research into the idea that consciousness exists outside our mental framework.
I had a lively discussion with an Oxford trained Neuroscientist who teaches at one of my alma maters, who telling him about "Flipside" repeatedly said "I don't believe a word you're saying." He also lumped me in a group of "Hollywood people trying to cash in on new age nonsense." But he revealed that he once had a mystical experience where he was in a gymnasium and felt Jesus was jogging alongside him. I pointed out that there's no rational logic for why he thought that to be the case (He agreed, and felt he'd imagined it) but when discussing the actual "feeling" of knowing that someone was running next to him, he said the same words people do under hypnosis, or during an NDE about things they witness; "I just knew it was him."
I pointed out that "knowing" implied that he'd met the fellow before, else how would he "know" someone unless he'd met them previously? And further, people claim to see Jesus often during NDE's - of course non Christians don't - but how do these people know that it's Jesus they're meeting? Is he wearing a name tag? Could it be someone else pretending to be Jesus? Again - they have this feeling of "knowing" who is in front of them - I don't doubt that, but how can you know who someone is if you're meeting them the first time? (unless it's not)
Which is what I'm trying to explore. If we can experience things outside of our conscious minds that include "knowing" or "remembering" or "reliving again" or "between lives" - logic tells us either they're accurate or they are not. If they are not, then why have thousands had nearly the same experience when they've not met each other, read anything that related to their experience, or for other reasons could not be making it up? (I point to some of these cases in "Flipside"). If they are accurate - or are based on some universal objective truth - then they bear further scrutiny. If only to understand what the heck we're doing on the planet.
Someone sent me this pic - oddly looks like me, but not me.
Oddly enough, is me.
Again, thanks for your contributions - I know this is an odd way to ask for support, but it came to me - if Lorenzo de Medici could pick artists out of an academy and tell him he'd like to support them (as in the case of an 11 year old Michelangelo) is it that much of a leap to imagine artists of any era should find create ways to help fund their work? We're not talking "the David" here - but most folks don't know Michelangelo won that piece of marble in a competition, found a flaw in the marble, and built the statue around the flaw by following it to its end and beginning there (David's left knee, according to my professor sculptor Peter Rockwell when I took his class in Italy). And young Buonarotti was only 25.
I'm just looking for the flaw in the idea that consciousness exists only in the brain and beginning there.
Here's
a pretty dramatic "Flipside" moment, and I will endeavor to interview
Chaz Ebert about it for the next book. I knew Roger Ebert, my brother
Jeff worked with him at the U of I on the school paper, and Roger had
given me a brutal "thumbs way down" review of my film "Limit Up" which
literally killed it while it was in the theaters. I thought he'd
appreciate the story about a guardian angel who helps a woman become the
first female soybean trader at the Chicago Board of Trade and Ray
Charles played her boss, God; I had no idea he was an atheist when I
insisted to the studio that they get Roger a copy of the film for his
review. One of the many errors I've made in my film career. (No really,
it's a fun movie; Danitra Vance, Ray Charles, Brad Hall, Nancy Allen -
just hard to find.)
However, he was always friendly when I
saw him at Cannes or other fests. I met his wife Chaz a few years back
as well - a lovely couple. So when he was pronounced dead and then
revived some years ago, he wrote how Chaz reported she heard him saying
"I'm still here." She insisted the Doctors revive him - and they did.
He went on to live another four or five years with her. It didn't
change Roger's opinion of an "afterlife" as he wrote a column about what
happened - how he wasn't conscious of calling out to her, but she was.
I noted how funny it was that the proof there is "consciousness after
life" actually happened to him - and to the person he loved the most on
the planet - but he was blind to it. And six days ago, this appeared in
Esquire, Chaz's recollection of his final days. He was experiencing
what so many have experienced - some in near death experiences - and
some while under deep hypnosis as pioneered by Michael Newton and
outlined in my first book "Flipside."
Take a moment to read
this description of Roger's last moments on the planet. "The one thing
people might be surprised about Roger said that he didn't know if he
could believe in God. He had his doubts. But toward the end, something
really interesting happened. That week before Roger passed away, I would
see him and he would talk about having visited this other place. I
thought he was hallucinating. I thought they were giving him too much
medication. But the day before he passed away, he wrote me a note: "This
is all an elaborate hoax." I asked him, "What's a hoax?" And he was
talking about this world, this place. He said it was all an illusion. I
thought he was just confused. But he was not confused. He wasn't
visiting heaven, not the way we think of heaven. He described it as a
vastness that you can't even imagine. It was a place where the past,
present, and future were happening all at once. (http://www.esquire.com/blogs/news/roger-ebert-final-moments)
Funny how he reviewed his glimpse of the nature of reality; "It's all a
hoax." He could have said "It's all a movie" or "It's all a theatrical
piece" which would have been a bit more accurate (according to the
research). "Hoax" implies there's someone behind the curtain pulling the
strings, and pulling something over on people. "Illusion" is accurate,
but again, so is film; funny he didn't make that connection. But when
you examine the "Flipside" you find that there's no one but you pulling
the strings - albeit with help from spirit guides and other resources -
but we experience events and problems in our paths because we put them
there, to examine them, to learn from them - to learn compassion for
others. We are directing the hoax, so to speak, and when we experience
the vastness, the "stepping outside of time" that one can experience
during a near death experience or under deep hypnosis, we see the past,
present and future as other events to experience. And we experience the
vastness, as Eben Alexander did in "Proof of Heaven" as a "glittering
darkness" where we are all connected at the same moment. But don't take
my word for it; take Roger's. Two thumbs way up.
Send it to your relatives who already think you're off your rocker.
Send it to relatives who you think need to hear about this research.
What the heck, make a donation in their name at GoFundMe for the sequel!
Either way, Happy Holidays from this side of the Flipside... and as we honor and remember all the amazing or lousy experiences we've had over countless holiday seasons (you know the ones I'm talking about - like driving around for four hours trying to find a New Year's Eve Party when I was in high school - which we never found - but was like looking for a ghost in the ether that we couldn't find).
Then imagine that you've had dozens, perhaps hundreds, even thousands of lifetimes! Oh my! What holiday fun!
And remember; Santa is more real than you think.
Santa is reflected in quantum theory - at least in the quantum butterfly effect. The good that you do on the planet, the good intentions and gifts that you give, are like an energy wave that goves out and affects other people. And when you consider that Santa is part of our hearts - it's easy to understand how he can be in two places at once, travel through portals that wouldn't make sense in a materialistic world - and because we emanate his kindness from our own hearts, our own sense of kindness and love and compassion - then he exists as a reminder to see that we are all connected. So the gifts that you give this holiday season will continue to gift and help others, and the love that you create this season, will live on long after you - like Santa.
And like The Overview Effect, once you've experienced Santa, then your perspective on the planet changes forever.
Interviewed Dr. Mario Beauregard today at his home in Montreal. Dr. Beauregard, author of "Brain Wars" is a neuroscientist on the forefront of "post materialist science." He credits William James as the father of this branch of modern psychology (as opposed to the "materialist science" that believes consciousness only exists inside the brain). Dr. Beauregard has gathered numerous case studies in "Brain Wars" and his new book, and he cited over 100 where people were clinically dead, and were still hearing, observing and participating in the world we inhabit while supposedly "clinically dead." In essence his research proves (from a scientific basis at least), that consciousness indeed can exist outside of the brain's ability to function. His peer reviewed ground-breaking study of Carmelite nuns proved that there is no "god spot" in the brain - as their results showed that religious experiences are recorded in many different parts of the brain.
Meanwhile have continued transcribing amazing between life sessions - (sessions are based on work and research in Michael Newton's "Journey of Souls") - I've filmed over 20 people under deep hypnosis, and collected accounts of NDE's and other phenomena. These people under deep hypnosis claim to have experienced their life's purpose and met and connected with loved ones who've died - these sessions are remarkably similar to clinical accounts of near death experiences, or NDE's.
Today I was transcribing footage I'd shot of a woman with fairly severe Parkinson's during a session- an illness that has knocked her off her career path with its constant phsyical tics and involuntary body movements. However, when she was able to "travel" to the deepest recess of her subconscious, and recall her between life arena during the session, the camera recorded that for an hour and twenty minutes she was completely still, save for her thumb tapping a rhythm to what she was saying about her journey in this lifetime. In essence, her Parkinson's stopped completely, and the camera recorded it. If it's possible to stop the involuntary movements in this form of therapy, what other illnesses and body ailments could be treated in this fashion?
When I aksed Dr. Beauregard why he thinks this research is coming to the forefront showing that consciousness may exist outside the brain, and how more revelations seem to be coming on a daily basis about the nature of consciousness, he smiled and said "I think you're right, Richard. I think it's because the veil is thinning."
I appreciate all of you who've helped me to raise funds needed to continue this research. If you'd like you can order your advanced copy now, please make a donation of whatever amount you can. Happy holidays to you and yours, and those who no longer are on the planet as well! http://www.gofundme.com/FlipsideTheSequel
We had the afterlife convention here in Santa Monica last September. Because of the time constraints, I gave a semi-abbreviated version of my Flipside talk, this one is entitled "Here I am."
Eben Alexander's "Proof of Heaven" is a remarkable account of a neurosurgeon's near death experience. Lying in a coma for 7 days, his brain ceased functioning and was given a 3% chance of survival in a vegetative state. But during the coma, he experienced a journey through various realms of the afterlife where he learned some of the same things that people have said consistently under deep hypnosis, as written about in "Flipside: A Tourist's Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife."
Recently, I was transcribing a session where a spirit guide told the person under hypnosis (or so they claimed) that "God is beyond the capacity of the human brain to comprehend, it's not physically possible. However to experience God, open your heart to all people and things." In essence, that God is love, or the flipside of it; love is what the essence of God is.
In Dr. Alexander's "Proof" he experiences a profound sense of love; "Love is without a doubt the basis of everything... In its purest and most powerful form, this love is not jealous or selfish, but unconditional. This is the reality of realities, the incomprehensibly glorious truth of truths that lives and breathes at the core of everything that exists or that ever will exist, and no remotely accurate understanding of who and what we are can be achieved by anyone who does not know it, and embody it in all of their actions." Love, as this Harvard trained scientist is reporting, is the essence of the universe and the essence of who we are.
I'm finding the same reports coming from just about everyone I've filmed under deep hypnosis. One reports "You know it’s not endless love the way people describe it, that’s just something we say so we can relate to it, but it’s so much bigger than that. It’s everything. But there is a wisdom to it and the wisdom is what people call God." One describes the experience; "It’s like taking a bath in love."
The premise of my next book is simple; are reports of near death experiences similar in scope to reports from what people say under deep hypnosis about the afterlife? If so, doesn't it make sense to examine them, since they offer profound knowledge without the need to be in a state of near death? As reported earlier, in one session a woman had a message from her elders (as she saw them in her "council") : "The wisdom of the ages is ours for the taking." I think they meant to say "The wisdom can be yours for the taking." Which means we - humanity - have a golden opportunity to tap into the past, learn from elders and loved ones who've gone before us, and bring forth this wisdom of the ages (and from scientists, philosophers, writers who've preceded us) to help guide our future here on Earth.
If you can donate to the creation of this next book in the series, I really appreciate it. Thanks to all those who've done so, and I hope this next book exceeds your expectations. Rich
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