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)
Promises to be a fun Afternoon on Saturday July 11th, festivities begin at 2 pm sharp. C'mon down and get a full dose of flipside fun.
Chicago IANDS The International Association for Near-Death Studies, Inc. Into-the-light Guest Speaker: Rich Martini Chicago native, Author, Filmmaker, Award-winning American film director, producer, screenwriter and free lance journalist.
After Rich Martini had several “Other” experiences, including the death of a soul mate, which revealed to him that there is more to life than is apparent, he started exploring and looking for more information and answers to the truth about life and death. Flipside was his debut non-fiction book. The film documentary is distributed by Gaiam TV and Amazon Prime. After experiencing a dream visit with his friend on the other side, Martini went on a literary quest to find out how science and philosophy are currently explaining these phenomena. He journeyed into Tibetan Philosophy, made documentaries in Tibet and India, and eventually was introduced to the work of the Newton Institute, founded by renowned author and hypnotherapist Dr. Michael Newton (Author of Journey of Souls). The book contains interviews with numerous hypnotherapists who talk about past life regression and life-between-life therapy, using the information to help patients examine their immortal identity. Flipside went to #1 at Amazon (Kindle, all its genres) and Rich’s follow up series It’s a Wonderful Afterlife also went to #1 due to his appearances on “Coast to Coast” radio. It’s a Wonderful Afterlife expands his research into the afterlife, including interviews with Bruce Greyson,MD, Mario Beauregard, PhD, and Gary Schwartz, PhD, about consciousness existing outside the brain. The author interviews people who’ve had both near-death experiences and between-life hypnotherapy sessions and includes transcripts from between-life sessions….including his own. In 1978, Rich graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boston University with a BA degree in Humanitiess. He attended USC Film School and received an MA degree in 2008 from their Master of Professional Writing Program. He also took improv classes at Second City in Chicago under Jo Forsberg and with the Harvey Lembeck Workshop in LA. Reviews: Richard has written a terrific book. Insightful, funny, provocative and deep; I highly recommend it! ~Robert Thurman (author of Why the Dalai Lama Matters) Everyone should have a Richard Martini in their life. ~ Charles Grodin (Author of Just When I Thought I’d Heard Everything!) Inspiring, well written and entertaining. The kind of book where once you have read it, you will no longer be able to see the world in the same way again.~Gary E. Schwartz PhD (Author of The Sacred Promise)
We viewed Flipside last night and were blown away about how good it is; the visuals were outstanding - the care taken in putting it all together really shows.~Michael Newton (Author of Journey of Souls)
CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR NEAR-DEATH STUDIES (Chicago IANDS) support and study group…..Near-Death Experiences, Out-of-Body Experiences, After-Death Communication, Losses, Research. All are welcome.
TIME: 2-5 p.m. on the Second Saturday of each month
COST: Suggested Donation - $20. No one is turned away.
PHONE: For more info, call (847)251-5758
LOCATION: Frank Auditorium in Evanston Hospital, 2650 Ridge Ave. (& Central), Evanston.
Chicago IANDS Merchandise: ,http://zazzle.com/chicagoiands* Good quality T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, keychains, and much more….
DIRECTIONS:
From the Kennedy Exprswy: Take Eden’s Expressway to Old Orchard Rd. Go east to Gross Point Rd. Turn Left. Go one block to Central Street. Turn right and stay on Central about a mile, crossing over Green Bay Rd, until you get to Evanston Hospital, which will be on your left. Turn left immediately after you go under the “L” overpass (on Girard). Then turn right into the parking garage (free).
From Sheridan Rd.: Follow Sheridan north along the Lake until you reach Central St. Turn left (W). Ridge Ave will be the first stoplight. Continue one block further to the “L” overpass. Turn right on Girard, immediately before going under the overpass, then turn right into the parking garage (free).
On the “L”: Take the purple line into Evanston. Get off at Central St. (Metra is less than a mile away.)
Story barely made a ripple in the national media, but having been painfully aware of so many Tibetans who've self immolated over the Chinese occupation of Tibet, 140 and counting, this was an unusual event inspired by the Tibetans, but over the cause of racism. And as the nation has a dialog about whether to put away an archaic battle flag, which deserves a prominent place not flying over a state, but in a museum of intolerance, it's worth hearing what Reverend Charles Moore actually said as to why he committed this act. We usually honor those who "sacrifice their lives" for the greater cause, if they're wearing a uniform, or taking a bullet on behalf of what we care for or believe in. But in this case, Reverend Moore took a bullet on behalf of racism.
Photo by Bill Renfro
First a little background: Rev. Charles Moore was profoundly disturbed his entire life by a racist event that happened in his home town in Texas that he was forced to "ignore." "Moore explained that his death was not an impulsive act, but one to which he had given great thought. Renfro told The Post that Moore left behind a copy of a New Yorker article entitled “Aflame.” It was about the Tibetan Buddhist monks’ protest of China’s domination of Tibet. They, too, set themselves on fire.... (Rev. Moore wrote) “I will soon be eighty years old, and my heart is broken over this,” he wrote. “America (and Grand Saline prominently) have never really repented for the atrocities of slavery and its aftermath. What my hometown needs to do is open its heart and its doors to black people, as a sign of the rejection of past sins. … So, at this late date, I have decided to join them by giving my body to be burned, with love in my heart not only for them but also for the perpetrators of such horror.” Wow. Self immolation for a teaching in love. It's hard to wrap our minds around, but worth noting (and hearing his entire letter). The heart wants what the heart wants or needs. We honor his life of self sacrifice by at the very least examining how this ultimate sacrifice came to pass (which was completely missed by any media I'm aware of). Here's an indepth article about him "I have always felt that death for a cause was my destiny, but never so much as during the past several years — when it has admittedly been a preoccupation,” he wrote. In his typewritten notes, he said that his efforts seemed futile, the progress of the world too slow. He underlined a passage in a New Yorker article about Tibetan monks who set themselves aflame to protest China’s rule. Moore wrote that he attempted the act several times, but fear and the simple beauties of the world tempted him to stay. “The turning leaves on the trees in my front yard are almost reason enough to keep living,” he wrote. Did you catch that? Some things on the planet are worth sticking around for. But I found the letter he left behind posted online. I must tell you, typing it up, knowing how this fellow died, and what was in his heart when he wrote this - it's pretty powerful. These words are his legacy. Obviously he had a strong connection to the word "hometown" and his self identity - being shunned at the age of 20 for applauding what the Supreme Court had ruled. (Here's CNN in 2006 talking about Grand Saline's dark history) Reverend Moore spent 60 years living with that anger - and after traveling to India, observing poverty close up - he writes how he was ashamed of his hometown. Knowing that he had a vision of sacrificing his life for a cause (a very Flipside concept - how could you know that if it wasn't something you'd already agreed to?) he ended up self immolating for a cause - which he spells out eloquently in this letter. If we don't open our doors and hearts to people, then what are we doing on the planet? All I can add is "Amen" and "Rest in Peace Reverend Moore." On behalf of Reverend Moore's selfless act, without judging it (since he reports he talked himself out of it many times) I give you his reasons in his own words: O GRAND SALINE, REPENT OF YOUR RACISM by Reverend Charles Moore I was born in Grand Saline, Texas almost 80 years ago. As I grew up, I heard the usual racial slurs, but they didn’t mean much to me. I don’t remember even meeting an African-American person until I began driving a bus to Tyler Junior College and made friends with the mechanic who care for the vehicles: I teased him about his skin-color, and he became very angry with me; that is one way I learned about the paint of discrimination. During my second year as a college student, I was serving a small church in the country near Tyler, when the United States Supreme Court declared racial discrimination in schools illegal in 1954; when I let it be known that I agreed with the Court’s ruling, I was cursed and rejected. When word about that got back to First Methodist Church in Grand Saline (which had joyfully recommended me for minister – the first ever from the congregation) I was condemned and called a Communist; during the 60 years since then, I have never once been invited to participate in any activity at First Methodist (except family funerals), let alone to speak from its pulpit. When I was about 10-years-old, some friends and I were walking down the road toward the creek to catch some fish, when a man called “Uncle Billy” stopped us and called us into his house for a drink of water --- but his real purpose was to cheerily tell us about helping to kill “niggers” and put their heads up on a pole. A section of Grand Saline was (maybe still is) called “Pole town,” where the heads were displayed. It was years later before I knew what the name meant. During World War II, when many soldiers came through town on the train, the citizens demanded that the shades in the passenger cars be pulled down if there were African-Americans aboard, so they wouldn’t have to look at them. The Ku Klux Klan was once very active in Grand Saline, and still probably has sympathizers in this town. Although it is illegal to discriminate against any race relative to housing, employment, etc., African-Americans who work in Grand Saline liver elsewhere. It is sad to think that schools, churches, business, etc. have no racial diversity when it comes to blacks. My sense is that most Grand Saline residents just don’t want black people among them, and so African-Americans don’t want to live there and face rejections. This is a shame that has bothered me wherever I went in the world, and did not want to be identified with the town written up in the newspaper in 1993, but I have never raised my voice or written a word to contest the situation. I have owned my old family home at 1212 N. Spring St. for the last 15 years, but have never discussed the issue with my tenants. Since we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer in 1964, when people started working in the South to attain the right to vote for African-Americans along with other concerns. This past weekend was the anniversary of the murder of three young men (Goodman, Schwerner and Cheney) in Philadelphia, Mississippi, which gave great impetus to the Civil Rights Movement --- since this historic time is being remembered, I find myself very concerned about the rise of racism across the country at the present time. Efforts are being made in many place to make voting more difficult for some people, especially African-Americans. Much of the opposition to President Obama is simply because he is black. I will son (sic) be eighty years old, and my heart is broken over this. America (and Grand Saline prominently) have never really repented for the atrocities of slavery and its aftermath. What my hometown needs to do is open its heart and its doors to black people, as a sign of rejection of past sins. So what's this all got to do with the Flipside? Well, as people who've read "Flipside" or "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" are aware of, it appears to be possible to communicate clearly with people on the flipside. Michael Newton has done so in his books, various mediums have done so in their sessions, and people having a near death experience where they learn "new information" about their loved ones, appear to be able to do it. And what they say is consistent: We choose to be here on the planet. We choose the lifetime that we want to explore and learn about. We do things out of compassion for fellow humans, including incarnating here on behalf of a loved one's request. That suicide has no ramifications in the afterlife in terms of "judgment" - that we only can judge ourselves and our own path. Only we can know if we "failed" in our journey, perhaps failed at overcoming anger, failed at overcoming bullying, failed at overcoming an addiction to drugs, or failed at overcoming our brain being wired differently. What we learn on the flipside is that NONE OF IT IS A FAILURE. It's just another experience that we've attempted to do, and have not quite accomplished. Like being in a class and failing a test. It's not the end of the world, or even the end of the class. It just means that you have to try harder next time. Any good teacher can tell you that. Any good student knows this. You just have to try harder. I'm just repeating what is said in the research. As the good Reverend said above, "Many times" he almost killed himself, but stopped because of the "beauty of the planet." And I would argue that is enough of a profound reason to stick around - the beauty of the planet which is real and accessible, is more profound, more of a reason to be here, than to not be here. That there's no amount of mental stress that can't be overcome, or changed through meditation (see other posts to read about Professory Richard Davidson's (U of W) work on curing depression through meditation), there's no amount of stress or disaster that can't eventually be understood. Because we don't die. Let's start there. We are here, and then we're somewhere else. We can't come back here, at least immediately, but we do get the perspective of "Oh - that was the wrong thing to do" - not by way of judgment, but by way of observation. In many of the cases I've examined in "Flipside" and "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" a person stands before their spirit guides and argues "I couldn't have done anything else. I was at my last straw." And out of compassion and love, their guides show them - "Actually there were many other avenues you could have taken - let's examine them..." and people report seeing "different outcomes" of their actions. Like if they had not killed themselves, they could have seen a different path to take. Which reminds me of a story I repeat in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife." I call it "the Wednesday option." I was talking in Virginia Beach about how people who do commit suicide are not punished for their actions, but they do find all of their loved ones back there saying "What the heck were you thinking? We had so many plans worked out in advance, and you've screwed them all up!!! We love you man, but if you had only waited until Wednesday, you would have seen that tickets to Italy were coming your way and we were all going to meet up there!" After my talk, a woman came up from the audience and said "i'm a wednesday person." She explained that she was so depressed that she went online and learned the easiest, less painful way to do herself in and went down to the hardware store to buy the chemicals required. And while standing in line she met these two kids from Uganda who were part of the wars over there, they'd lost their families and were here in the US trying to adjust. And she in that moment realized that this was something she could help with, and now lives in Uganda and takes care of children in an orphanage. She had literally "waited until Wednesday." So when we think of Reverend Pinckney this week, and all the things we lost with his eloquent voice - gunned down - know that he is elsewhere enjoying the fruits of his love. And think for a moment about Reverend Moore who died burning alive in a parking lot in Texas because of his anger about racism. One who was sacrificed, and one who sacrificed himself - both people who believed that love was paramount, that love is the key to our existence on the planet.
RIP Rev. Charles Moore. RIP Rev. Pinckney. May your paths on the flipside bring you closer to your goal of universal love.
Author and award winning filmmaker Richard Martini explores startling new evidence for life after death, via the "life between lives," where we reportedly return to find our loved ones, soul mates and spiritual teachers. 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, this audiobook documents interviews with hypnotherapists around the world trained in the method.
Tragic events in the news these days. So sorry to hear of the loss of the planet of Reverend Pinckney.
Rev. Clementa Pinckney was one of the nine people to die in Wednesday night’s shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston. In the 2012 documentary, “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.," Pinckney was asked why black political participation mattered. Here’s what he said: “We don’t have the privilege to say our vote doesn’t count, because history tells us differently.”Learn more: http://to.pbs.org/1JYmWII
So amazed to hear of the amount of grace, love and compassion that emanates from that church. "We forgive you." Powerful sentiments indeed. I heartily agree with the Detroit Free Press article that asks "Why aren't people burning the Conferate Flag more?" But burning the flag is just burning who or what we are.... Which brings us to SSRI drugs. (Prozac, paxil, zoloft, seratonin inhibitors) Every single mass shooting since Columbine (that's 70 since 1982, according to Bill Moyers) has had pretty dramatic events in common. Let's examine them for a moment, shall we? White, young men or boys, filled with rage. Check. Easy access to guns. Check. A history of psychotropic drugs use or prescription. Check. Wait, what? Every single mass shooting has had all three elements involved. How can that be? Well, here's some stats.
Eric Harris age 17 (first on Zoloft then Luvox) and Dylan Klebold aged 18 (Columbine school shooting in Littleton, Colorado), killed 12 students and 1 teacher, and wounded 23 others, before killing themselves. Klebold’s medical records have never been made available to the public.
• Jeff Weise, age 16, had been prescribed 60 mg/day of Prozac (three times the average starting dose for adults!) when he shot his grandfather, his grandfather’s girlfriend and many fellow students at Red Lake, Minnesota. He then shot himself. 10 dead, 12 wounded.
• Cory Baadsgaard, age 16, Wahluke (Washington state) High School, was on Paxil (which caused him to have hallucinations) when he took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates hostage. He has no memory of the event.
• Chris Fetters, age 13, killed his favorite aunt while taking Prozac.
• Christopher Pittman, age 12, murdered both his grandparents while taking Zoloft.
• Mathew Miller, age 13, hung himself in his bedroom closet after taking Zoloft for 6 days.
• Kip Kinkel, age 15, (on Prozac and Ritalin) shot his parents while they slept then went to school and opened fire killing 2 classmates and injuring 22 shortly after beginning Prozac treatment.
• Luke Woodham, age 16 (Prozac) killed his mother and then killed two students, wounding six others.
• A boy in Pocatello, ID (Zoloft) in 1998 had a Zoloft-induced seizure that caused an armed stand off at his school.
• Michael Carneal (Ritalin), age 14, opened fire on students at a high school prayer meeting in West Paducah, Kentucky. Three teenagers were killed, five others were wounded..
• A young man in Huntsville, Alabama (Ritalin) went psychotic chopping up his parents with an ax and also killing one sibling and almost murdering another.
• Andrew Golden, age 11, (Ritalin) and Mitchell Johnson, aged 14, (Ritalin) shot 15 people, killing four students, one teacher, and wounding 10 others.
• TJ Solomon, age 15, (Ritalin) high school student in Conyers, Georgia opened fire on and wounded six of his class mates.
• Rod Mathews, age 14, (Ritalin) beat a classmate to death with a bat.
• James Wilson, age 19, (various psychiatric drugs) from Breenwood, South Carolina, took a .22 caliber revolver into an elementary school killing two young girls, and wounding seven other children and two teachers.
• Elizabeth Bush, age 13, (Paxil) was responsible for a school shooting in Pennsylvania
• Jason Hoffman (Effexor and Celexa) – school shooting in El Cajon, California
• Jarred Viktor, age 15, (Paxil), after five days on Paxil he stabbed his grandmother 61 times.
• Chris Shanahan, age 15 (Paxil) in Rigby, ID who out of the blue killed a woman.
• Jeff Franklin (Prozac and Ritalin), Huntsville, AL, killed his parents as they came home from work using a sledge hammer, hatchet, butcher knife and mechanic’s file, then attacked his younger brothers and sister.
• Neal Furrow (Prozac) in LA Jewish school shooting reported to have been court-ordered to be on Prozac along with several other medications.
• Kevin Rider, age 14, was withdrawing from Prozac when he died from a gunshot wound to his head. Initially it was ruled a suicide, but two years later, the investigation into his death was opened as a possible homicide. The prime suspect, also age 14, had been taking Zoloft and other SSRI antidepressants.
• Alex Kim, age 13, hung himself shortly after his Lexapro prescription had been doubled.
• Diane Routhier was prescribed Welbutrin for gallstone problems. Six days later, after suffering many adverse effects of the drug, she shot herself.
• Billy Willkomm, an accomplished wrestler and a University of Florida student, was prescribed Prozac at the age of 17. His family found him dead of suicide – hanging from a tall ladder at the family’s Gulf Shore Boulevard home in July 2002.
• Kara Jaye Anne Fuller-Otter, age 12, was on Paxil when she hung herself from a hook in her closet. Kara’s parents said “…. the damn doctor wouldn’t take her off it and I asked him to when we went in on the second visit. I told him I thought she was having some sort of reaction to Paxil…”)
• Gareth Christian, Vancouver, age 18, was on Paxil when he committed suicide in 2002,
• (Gareth’s father could not accept his son’s death and killed himself.)
• Julie Woodward, age 17, was on Zoloft when she hung herself in her family’s detached garage.
• Matthew Miller was 13 when he saw a psychiatrist because he was having difficulty at school. The psychiatrist gave him samples of Zoloft. Seven days later his mother found him dead, hanging by a belt from a laundry hook in his closet.
• Kurt Danysh, age 18, and on Prozac, killed his father with a shotgun. He is now behind prison bars, and writes letters, trying to warn the world that SSRI drugs can kill.
• Woody ____, age 37, committed suicide while in his 5th week of taking Zoloft. Shortly before his death his physician suggested doubling the dose of the drug. He had seen his physician only for insomnia. He had never been depressed, nor did he have any history of any mental illness symptoms.
• A boy from Houston, age 10, shot and killed his father after his Prozac dosage was increased.
• Hammad Memon, age 15, shot and killed a fellow middle school student. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and depression and was taking Zoloft and “other drugs for the conditions.”
• Matti Saari, a 22-year-old culinary student, shot and killed 9 students and a teacher, and wounded another student, before killing himself. Saari was taking an SSRI and a benzodiazapine.
• Steven Kazmierczak, age 27, shot and killed five people and wounded 21 others before killing himself in a Northern Illinois University auditorium. According to his girlfriend, he had recently been taking Prozac, Xanax and Ambien. Toxicology results showed that he still had trace amounts of Xanax in his system.
• Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen, age 18, had been taking antidepressants before he killed eight people and wounded a dozen more at Jokela High School – then he committed suicide.
• Asa Coon from Cleveland, age 14, shot and wounded four before taking his own life. Court records show Coon was on Trazodone.
• Jon Romano, age 16, on medication for depression, fired a shotgun at a teacher in his
• New York high school.
Missing from list… 3 of 4 known to have taken these same meds….
• What drugs was Jared Lee Loughner on, age 21…… killed 6 people and injuring 14 others in Tuscon, Az
• What drugs was James Eagan Holmes on, age 24….. killed 12 people and injuring 59 others in Aurora Colorado
• What drugs was Jacob Tyler Roberts on, age 22, killed 2 injured 1, Clackamas Or
• What drugs was Adam Peter Lanza on, age 20, Killed 26 and wounded 2 in Newtown Ct
What to do? The NIMH (Nat Inst of Mental Health) posted A WARNING on its website that psychiatrists were prescribing psychotropic drugs to children, and the drugs had not been cleared by the FDA (or any studies) to prove them to be safe. That post has been taken down, but it was cached, and I included it in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife." Psychiatrists, under pressure from their clients, are prescribing drugs that are supposed to be safe to adults to children, and they're doing so illegally, immorally. So, how can we stop this if the NRA won't allow us to discuss easy access to guns, if the drug companies won't allow us to discuss how these drugs may be affecting children's brains? We discuss the roots of rage until we're blue in the face, but until we address the elephant in the room, it will continue on.
Now, what has this all got to do with Jesus? Recently, I've been gathering reports of what people say under deep hypnosis about Jesus. I've written about them in the book "Flipside" and "It's a Wonderful Afterlife." And there's a clip of one of those stories in the DVD "Flipside." But I've expanded the research into a new area. Since every incident that I've filmed or found includes an event where a person's body suddenly reacts as if a person is in the room, I began to question that part of it. Let me explain. In every incident, whether it was a person having a "past life memory" where they claim "they knew Jesus" - or if it's a medium accessing what can only be described as "the energy of Jesus" or someone who bears a resemblance to him (they're not wearing name tags to be sure, but they describe the same kind of persona) these people have a visceral reaction to this "presence."
Their cheeks turn red, tears fall from their eyes and they claim they "can't breathe." So, thinking that this event can't be random, since it happens to everyone who claims to be in his presence - and mind you, psychosomatic illnesses include people breaking into hives or a rash, all apparently done with the power of the brain - these people describe the same symptoms. So I asked Jesus, "what's up with that?" I mean, I was interviewing a medium on camera, and during our three hour free wheeling discussion I asked if it was possible for "jesus" to appear in the session. She described him in detail, and then I asked for "him to come closer" suddenly her face turned red, tears fell from her eyes and she "couldn't breathe." I asked "Jesus" or whoever this entity was (How do they know its him? I mean really? Is it the toga? Sometimes he shows up in a tee shirt, actually. But he ain't wearing a name tag "I'm Him.") why he had that affect on people who were close in proximity to him. And his reply (yes, I know, it's the medium replying on his behalf, whatever that construct means) was that "i'm energetically closer to the source than many people, most avatars in history are like that, it's just that when you get closer to us, you feel that energy." Meaning the closer you stand to this person or their energy, the more intense the feeling, like standing near a light bulb. Which brings me back to South Carolina. Reverend Pinckney oversaw a church where they spoke of the love of Jesus on a daily basis. I know that to be a fact because of the reaction these people had in the arraignment - "I forgive you" are three of the most powerful words we own, and they said them. This kid has his own path and journey, he was taking drugs, but he's got a long history of rage. But then so do every other mass killing shooter. So the question is, what are we doing about it? I suggest that the events are not separate - we should have compassion for everyone, including ourselves, by examining this research closly and figuring out a way to help our society, our planet, to benefit from its knowledge. My two cents.
Two unusual stories on the net this week. One that is full of awe and shock and surprise, and the other is about a woman in search of an identity. Ba-dum-bum. First let's start with this Gator ridin' Raccoon. What's up here? Is this just a game that animals play when humans are watching them? Like as soon as we turn away, they go back to playing cards and doing high fives?
From the BBC website. Raccoon rides an alligator when no one is looking.
Anyone remember the fantastic Eddie Murphy sketch where he walked around in "white face" dressed like a white guy, ("White Like Me") and as soon as the black people got off the bus, everyone let their hair down, the loan officer offered him money free of interest, and Eddie's eyes were opened to the "true nature of the white world?" Both of these stories remind me of that bit.
Let me break it down for you; Flipside Style. I'm going to assume for a moment that Rachel Dolezal, the former head of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, is a sane, responsible person who just did what her heart asked her to do. Or so it would appear.
First I'm going to follow Dave Chapelle's enlightened response in the Hollywood Reporter to acknowledge first that "she's a person and deserves a chance to speak for herself." Then I'm going to further consider what her son said in an interview today on a morning talk show, when asked "what do you consider your mother?" and he replied "a human being." Is anyone listening? Here's the Flipside deal. Between lives, after we die, before we come back - we're all equal, all the same, all the same stuff that stars are made of. No one is higher, lower, better, smarter, prettier, more interesting, richer... at least that's what the research and the reports tell us. I'm not making this up, it's not my opinion - I'm just referring to the mountains of data and research. That's 7000 cases from Dr. Michael Newton, thousands from Dr. Helen Wambach, thousands from Dr. Bruce Greyson (with regard to near death experiences) and 25 that I've filmed of people under deep hypnosis. They all say relatively the same things about being "back there." They also say the same things about being "over here." That this is 'like a stage' or it's 'the playground' where he don costumes and play roles of various individuals. To what end? So we can learn from our mistakes, from our experiences, from our loves and our losses. Now - I'm sure you're asking, and if you haven't asked, you should - is it possible that Ms. Dolezal is remembering a previous lifetime where she was African American? Well, aside from the psychological influences on her - her parents adopted four black children, she married an african american and has african american children - she went to Howard - she's obviously "self identified" as black or African American her entire life. And if anyone bothers to ask her - likely before that as well. Whaaaat? Excuse me? Let's start with the case of the boy in Ohio who "remembered" his lifetime as a young black girl in Chicago who died in a tragic high rise fire. He gave his mother enough details so she could look up the name and date of that child's death. Does he "self identify" as black? Does it matter? Does he need to? People "self identify" all the time - as in "I feel like I was born a man, but I have a woman's body." In the cases of Ian Stevenson at the University of Virginia, he found people who were born into a family of a different religion than the one they had been in a previous lifetime and refused to eat the food they were served, considering it "unholy." Dr. Jim Tucker ("Return to Life") has taken over Stevenson's research, and has also found cases - where a Korean child remembers their previous life as a Japanese child and insists on getting the food he loved best. So let's start there. Is it possible? Yes. Is she claiming that? No. Is she subconscious aware that she might have had a different lifetime as a black person? I don't know, you'd have to ask her. But is it in the research? HELL YES. Now take this gator riding raccoon. Is this like the story of the scorpion and the duck? (or is it a snake?) where the duck offers the poisonous creature a ride across the river, but halfway across the scorpion stings the duck. The duck says "What did you sting me for? We're both going to die!" and the scorpion says "Eh. It's my nature." But wait a second. Reports from the afterlife about animals (and there are many, and they are replicable) tell us that over there, animals don't fight it out, they have their own realms, their own paths and journeys and our beloved pets are happy to hang out with us in the afterlife. They're just like us in that regard - reports are that we don't generally mix it up with them, they don't appear as humans, and vice versa - there are exceptions that I've heard or read about, but by and large, they're just like us) At least that's what thousands have reported. Don't shoot me. I'm just reporting what they say. So are these two animals, that might be antagonistic on the planet suddenly dropping their costumes to enjoy a ride on the lake together? I don't know, you'd have to ask them. But the point of this post is - WE THINK WE KNOW REALITY BUT WE DON'T. We think we can judge people for their actions but we can't. We think we're aware of what black or white means, what male or female means, what raccoon or alligator means - but we don't. It's not the whole picture. And it's not reflected in the research. Odds are, some in the medical profession would prescribe her drugs to "help her" with her identity confusion. Just like they use to use electroshock therapy to help gay people. (Alan Turing for one, who committed suicide rather than be cured.) Again, I'm not a philosopher, I'm not a preacher. I'm just reporting what thousands say under deep hypnosis and have expanded that research into what thousands say after a near death experience. As well as asking questions to people who are no longer on the planet (through mediums, or other means) and getting answers from them that include new information. Meaning information I couldn't have heard, read or otherwise had access to ("cryptomnesia"). New information from the Flipside. So while you chuckle your way through the day's events, please bear in mind - we can't possibly know the motivations for a person's journey or path during their life. We can only know our own. And it's about time we started looking at ourselves to examine what the hell we're doing on the planet - and what we're doing to it. My two cents. Okay, go back to whatever it was you were doing. Enjoy your new day.
![Flipside: A Tourist's Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife | [Richard Martini]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vJP-EmpE0DuECqy8mgOkq02WJoDNfj52GiGGVIAwdU0AH3R0ugjGbocso7kD3m6mAdw_rcVsPG4NPvLVakdYV4ibxzSJr0PtscOmHYWOKcsx3agiD911yExfEAj0gmCC4=s0-d "Flipside: A Tourist's Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife | [Richard Martini]")
