Requiescat in Pace - Resting in Peace

Funny.

Sometimes I wake up having had a long and deep discussion with someone... not entirely sure who, about the flipside.

Luana Anders in the Mirror

This morning it was "resting in peace."

I'm going to assume this isn't your first time visiting this page.  If it is, it's going to throw you for a loop - so perhaps take a step back, check out some of this research at "Flipside" the book or the film, if you're interested in that topic, you might continue on into "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" and if that piques your interest, you might foray into "Hacking the Afterlife."

And if you'd like some reference books to look into, I recommend a bit of everything - Robert Monroe, Michael Newton, Brian Weiss, Jim Tucker, Carol Bowman, Raymond Moody, Helen Wambach, Bruce Greyson, Gary Schwartz, Ed Kelly, Mario Beauregard... I put bibliographies in my books, and you could spend the next ten years reading about research into consciousness, into near death experiences, out of body experiences, people under hypnosis, reincarnation - and if you come to another conclusion than I have, I'm eager to hear it.

I'm still in this mirror. Somewhere.

We don't die.

I know that upsets people. You'd think it wouldn't.  "Oh boy! We don't die! Life goes on! How cool is that!!??" 

But that's not what happens.  Our entire worldview is based on the fact that we die. That we earn or deserve what happens to us on the planet based on sociological factors, on genetics, on the ethics and morality of good and bad.  

If it's true that we don't die - then all of our societal institutions are incorrect - and then? Woah - we've got a major dilemma on our hands.  

What do we do with criminals?  If we don't die, then putting them to death serves no purpose. In fact, it's giving them a golden ticket "home."  If we really wanted to help a soul - or solve a problem - or even address a problem - we'd have those who've committed heinous crimes the chance to right some of their wrong. The family who lost a loved one could benefit from this person learning more lessons, even if it's in the drudgery of a prison cell - because every day they're on the planet, they have the capacity to learn lessons in compassion by giving compassion.

Gandhi understood this. A man came to him who said he was bereft because his Hindu son had been murdered by a Muslim.  Gandhi advised the man to adopt the orphan child of someone who was Muslim - but then raise that child as a Muslim.  Lessons in compassion over and over again.

What do we do with the concept of abortion?  If we don't die, then there's no point in fighting tooth and nail over it. People need compassion - if they can possibly bring this life to fruition, it's a good thing. It can be a difficult choice, but knowing how difficult it was for this baby to choose them as a parent might make them consider a different path.  In equal fashion, we realize we have no right to judge others for their path and journey - if as reported, we choose our lifetimes,then we have no right to tell others what kind of lifetime to choose unless we are in their shoes.

What to do with evil in the world?  Well, there's a problem there too. In these reports, thousands of between life sessions, they report that evil does not exist "back home" in the realm we return to after death. No Satan, no evil per se, ruling our lives.  I know the conundrum of the concept - but what about evil on the planet? We live in a world of positive, negative - good, bad - yin, yang - it's a polarized world after all.  If we experience one aspect, that means the opposite exists... here.  

How to deal with evil on the planet? First recognize that it's in the eye of the beholder - nature doesn't commit evil acts, animals can't commit evil acts, there's only hunger, desire, fear... and we too contain all those aspects. Fear, desire, hunger... but mostly fear.  We can master fear within ourselves, but can we do so in others? We can if we recognize it as fear and not evil - and then react accordingly.  

Do our best to teach, educate, disarm - but on the other hand, knowing that when we pick up a weapon to kill another person who is threatening to kill us - what we're really doing.  Ending another's temporary journey on the planet.  It's not something to be desired, or wished, and when our time comes we will understand why we needed to do that.  Even the Dalai Lama argues that a person who takes on the "karma" of killing a killer, may do so to protect other sentient beings.  It's all relative.

I know, it's a big topic. I can't solve it here. But I can certainly discuss it here.

Back to resting in peace.  "RIP"

Per Lachaise cemetery. Who's resting here?

Think of it this way - since we don't die - we come to the planet and we experience as much as we can, hopefully its lessons in love and compassion,and we leave behind the energy of all the people we've loved and learned from.

After we check off the planet, our energy returns to "the rest of our energy" that is on the flipside. In Michael Newton's work, he learned from his 7000 clients that only about a third of our energy comes here to any lifetime - and about two thirds of our energy is always "back home" or doing something else.  People describe teaching, being in class, learning, playing, having adventures - all kinds of things that happen or occur while that third of us is down here on stage.

Dalai Lama's bedroom as he left it in Lhasa. Is he here sometimes?

But like a great actor who leaves a stage - once we're off stage, we leave behind the residue of our energy.  It might be in other's behavior, it might be in people's memories of us - it might be in physical objects like photographs, which are slices of magnetic holograms of time - it might be in footage of us, film, it might even be in objects that we owned. Hence why mediums like to hold onto an object of someone who once lived.

How does that work?

Well, from my research, think of everything we touch as gaining our fingerprints.  They're energetic fingerprints and contain all the information that's needed to find us anywhere in the universe. So if you owned a pocketwatch for example, and you check off the planet, and a 100 years later someone takes hold of that timepiece - depending on whether they're thinking of "who owned this before" you can choose to show up and examine "who's holding my watch?"  Remember that you've been busy doing other things for that 100 years (which in flipside time may feel like a few hours or minutes) - but allow for a moment that you have the time to zip back here and see who it is that is "channeling" you.

Old fotos retain some of the energy of the people in them.

And you may show up to them - you may answer their questions. You may tease or cajole them - depending - or maybe you're straight with them and give them some form of insight or teaching.  They may ask you a question and you have to muster up the energy to reply - to focus your energy towards their energy so they can "hear" or "see" you - and you give them a concept or a thought to chew on.

"Everything's going to be okay."

That's a common thought that people claim to hear from their loved ones - sometimes while under deep hypnosis, sometimes in a dream - sometimes during an out of body experience, sometimes during a near death experience. "You're going to be okay."  (Aside from the answer to "How are you?" - the answer is usually "I'm fine.")

In this foto in Caffe Greco in Rome:
Wild Bill Cody and his pal Sitting Bull.
Still existing.

But beyond that... as people pass away and head back to the Flipside - people no longer on the planet - they go about their business and continue to live their lives - there's no other word for it but life - because life, as indefinable as it is as a word, is what we're talking about.  Existence. Consciousness.  It continues on.

And at some point - everyone who knew you - who knew what you looked like, who heard your stories, who knows who you are in a photograph - is no longer on the planet.  So absence of some reason to be here - there's absolutely no reason for you to show up here in the old form that you once held focus on. 

Let's say you were a slave in Rome 2000 years ago.  And you haven't accessed that file, or that information in all your lifetimes since.  Then, at some point, you're in Rome, and suddenly you start to see that it seems familiar. You're not really sure why, but perhaps you have a dream where you access those memories of living in Rome. You wake up, and they disappear. It's just part of your "life" - part of the makeup of who you are. Part of the hard drive of memories that we all retain and compare to our currenty path and journey.

Old Romans

We're never resting.  We're always continuing on, always making the next step on our journey.  (There's been reports of how that process begins and where it winds up, but I'll leave that for another discussion. It's in my books if you can't wait.)

Never resting in peace.  Not that we are being haunted, or that we're haunting - which it's possible to do if that's your thing - the funny part of that is that it's up to you to haunt or not to haunt... most people just want to "go home" after their lifetimes, but sometimes people like to stick around.  It makes for good story telling, makes for kind of silly TV shows, makes for great story telling if you're Will Shakespeare. 

But ghosts give us a glimpse of the afterlife.  Like residue outside the pool that indicates someone got out of the pool and left a wet spot.  Eventually it will dry up - and that soul will eventually head "home."  Michael Newton asked a woman about her memory of haunting an English castle for 200 years... she said "She felt comfortable doing so" and enjoyed the occasional startled tourist. 

Michael Newton in a still from "Flipside"

When Newton asked her "so how did you decide to return home?"  She said that her guide showed up and tapped his wrist - as if pointing to an invisible watch - as if to say "Have you had enough time lounging around here?"  And at that point she decided to "return home" - prior to this lifetime where she was telling Newton about her journey.

I reported in "Hacking" that I used to "sense" a ghost in a friend's home back east. It was a "scary ghost" - someone who whenever he showed up was accompanied by a chill, or a feeling of dread. Something awful happened to this fellow.  I researched the property and found that indeed this location used to contain a British jail.  And what I was seeing was soldiers who had been beaten, tortured, or were dying in this cell.

The next time it happened, I was armed with this research.  Before, I had gotten some sage, had walked around to all the corners of the home and burned it - I heard this from a Tibetan healer when I asked her about it - but again, this was before I came to realize that we choose where we're going to be, and it was my job to investigate why this fellow was showing up.

I asked "So show me you're life, who you are." And what "came to mind" was a British soldier, ginger, unhappy, who had lived and worked in this jail, and who had seen immeasurable suffering.  I didn't ask him to show me precisely what that was - I'm not into revenge videos - but I did ask "Do you see a light anywhere near you?"  And I got the feeling that it was behind him and far away.  I said (in my mind's eye, I was lying in bed when I felt him enter the room) "Behind that light is everyone who ever loved you, everyone who was your friend in your lifetime, and they're waiting for you to come home. Just go into that light, and you'll see that I'm right."  

It was a year later that we were at the same location, and I felt his presence enter the room one early morning. Except this time, he wasn't bloody, worn and beaten - he seemed to be dressed up, his hair shorter, trim.  And he said (in my mind's eye - it's what i heard or dreamed, no way to prove or disprove any of it) "I just wanted to come and thank you for sending me home."

Home

What's interesting about that is that he still had the capacity to return to this location. Again, from his perspective, his fighting for the Brits in 1812 (that's when the jail was there) had occurred 200 years earlier - but in terms of the Flipside, it had only felt like a month earlier.  As I report in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" my friend had a between life session where she remembered a lifetime in 1610. (which i was able to verify).   When she returned to what she had been doing (she was teaching a class) she said "wow, that lifetime (of 25 years) felt like I was gone for ten minutes."

Her class was waiting for her while one third of her energy went and lived a lifetime on the planet.  Those 25 years felt like ten minutes over there. So if 25 years is ten minutes - then 200 years feels like less than 100 minutes over there.,. about an hour and a half.  Not so strange to see that people who've lived years ago might still want to hang around here. It's their choice after all.

So rest in peace! Yes, but the words are meant for us really.  We need to put them to "rest in peace" within ourselves. Our loved ones: They're okay. They're not gone. They're just not here.

Speaking of the dead.... with the "Afterlife Expert"

Had a lovely event yesterday with George Noory, illustrious Coast to Coast AM host -  at the Great Greek in the valley.

With JenniferShaffer.com and George Noory (Coast to Coast AM)

As I mentioned to the intimate gathering, it was George who dubbed me "The Afterlife Expert."  Which is an unusual moniker, not one I would have given myself (who am I again?) but in light of the past decade of research that I've been doing about the afterlife, and what it's all about, I'll take it.

The Afterlife Expert.  That's me.  

Someone asked me if I "talk to the dead." My answer; "I've focused on interviewing people no longer on the planet, and I can tell you how they say they want to be talked to, and how to listen for messages."

I've been doing this for awhile now with friends and some different people, and after many requests to do it on a one to one basis, I've decided to hang out my shingle to do a session.  I've posted the details at TheAfterlifeExpert.com  If you'd like to book an "Afterlife Session" with me, email me at richardmartini (at) gmail (dot) com.

During the event I explained how I'd lived a decade a few blocks from the venue, and how unusual my journey back to Ventura Blvd. was.  (People have read about it in "Flipside" so I won't go into here.)  But ultimately it was giving a public talk at the International Association of Near Death Studies" that led me to George Noory's show, so the idea that we would be in this location together - about a mile from his offices, and a few blocks from my old residence - was uncanny for me.

Flipside film or book.

I spoke about how I came to interview "people who are no longer on the planet" with the help of people under deep hypnosis (via Michael Newton's work, and local hypnotherapist Scott De Tamble lightbetweenlives.com) and how mediums like Jennifer Shaffer (JenniferShaffer.com) had helped me "prove beyond a shadow of doubt" that I was actually speaking to people no longer on the planet.

(During one of our many sessions, someone told me a detail about their passing that no one knows - no one had ever heard, including myself with 30 years of research into this person - and yet she told Jennifer a detail about her passing that was not public knowledge - until I literally dug it up months later, confirming its accuracy.)

Available online everywhere.
ON SALE NOW!

When we hear "new information" from people on the flipside - meaning something that could not by explained by cryptomnesia (hearing or reading it somewhere else), could not be hypoxia (hallucination), could not be synthesthesia (wires mixed in the brain) - new information that only the person on the flipside would know and could impart to us, then it's either that some part of our subconscious is revealing a mystery that has been hidden from civilization for eons - or we're actually speaking to people no longer on the planet.

So I can help people do that - set the table so to speak - or put the empty chair out for Elijah in the Seder tradition - to make themselves available for a conversation with a loved one.  I've asked the question many times during interview - "So how can someone get a hold of you?" And I've heard consistent answers about that topic.  

Not just to have someone we know and love "show up" in some kind of etheric way, via a dream or a vision - which itself is something to examine - but in a way that allows for them to answer your questions directly.

Only we are capable of knowing when our loved one contacts us - no one else is privy that the feeling or energy involved when a loved one takes our hand, our shoulder, or gives us a hug - only we know that feeling. Someone who doesn't know that feeling might assume it's a "memory" - but memory doesn't include all the senses, normally, unless it's something dramatic.  

A pal on the other side whom I've spoken to often. Heard back as well.

So talking to a loved one on the other side involves all of our senses, and allows us to ask and get answers to our life's more profound questions.  It doesn't mean we're going to always get answers to whatever question we have ("and what were those lottery numbers again?") because we have our own path and journey that would be disrupted by any number of things. Including having a conversation with a loved one who is no longer here.

However, in my research I've found there are numerous "non invasive" ways for our loved ones to reach out to us, ways that won't alter our path and journey, yet will allow us to feel as if we've reconnected with them - perhaps to alleviate grief or stress.

If someone wants to speak directly to their loved ones, I highly recommend seeing a hypnotherapist trained in the Michael Newton method of hypnotherapy (there's a searchable database on their website NewtonInstitute.org) or finding a medium that you have a connection with, that has come recommended to you for whatever reason. (I happen to know and be friends with JenniferShaffer.com , so that's one person that I can recommend. There are many others, but you need to do the research before you reach out to them.)

But if you have a desire to talk to me about it - I've available for that (for a fee!) and you can schedule you're own conference with me by writing me at my gmail address - richardmartini - (not richmartini at gmail, that's another guy) but richardmartini (at) gmail (dot) com.   Let me know if it's something I can help you with. Let's see where we get to...

Not a cemetery per se Per LaChaise.
But a place for memories of loved ones.

And finally, this near death was posted recently at the IANDS.org site (a wonderful place to share and hear about other worldly events)






NDE Account Submitted to IANDS (International Association for Near Death Studies):

"Moved to a new city. There was a water advisory I was unaware of.

Thought I had a bladder infection so drank more water. Had very high fever with excruciating back pain. Went to doctor who prescribed me antibiotics that were too weak. It was getting worse. I went back to sleep. 

I was in too much pain but passed out anyway. All of a sudden I was floating in an upward trajectory towards a bright omnipresent light through a tunnel of sorts. The pain was completely gone and I felt lighter than air. The light was unconditional love unlike anything I have experienced here on Earth. 

On my left was a light-being speaking telepathically to me. He welcomed me and we had a bit of a discussion. I was given the option whether I wanted to stay or go back. I suddenly realized I was dead and I came back. 

I returned to the painful, heavy body I had just left. It was as if I had convulsed upon re-entry. It's taken me 28 years to fully integrate this experience into my life."

My comment:

"The light was unconditional love unlike anything I've experienced here on earth." 

Sound familiar? We experience "conditional love" on the planet: "if you love me... I'll return it." But "back home" (as many call it under deep hypnosis) that's where this "unconditional love" is. Not here. There. 

This is "new information" - if you imagined it the feeling would relate to a feeling you had here. But that's not what's reported. The feeling is unique to being "off the planet." 

And how could we remember that feeling if we hadn't been off the planet? NDEs not only prove there is an afterlife, they offer insight into WHY we come here in the 1st place. 

Why would anyone bother to go into a movie to experience feelings or emotions they don't already know? Why read a book, see a play that makes you learn new feelings or emotions? 

Why bother coming to the planet to experience non-unconditional light or love? 

The answers are right in front if you. 
Open the door. 
Open the drapes. 
Let the light in. 

My two cents."

Photo: WR 25 (center) - the brightest known star in the galaxy, 100X more massive and 6 million times brighter than the Sun (Bring extra sunscreen when visiting). Credit: #NASA, #ESA and Jesús Maíz Apellániz

Tomorrow with George Noory - Be There Or Be2

Luncheon with Coast to Coast's George Noory and "The Afterlife Expert" Rich Martini

Enjoy gathering with other like-minded people as you have fun at lunch and meet some of your favorite people in the world of the unknown and curious. Tickets will go fast, so reserve a spot now! 

Email your name and phone number to: 

lunchwithgeorge@gmail.com. 

You will be called back with details. The following dates are available:

Tuesday, June 27, 2017 – Lunch with George Noory & author/researcher Rich Martini Special Event Series: "Eat & Greet" 
Luncheons at the Great Greek Restaurant in Sherman Oaks, California

The Flipside of Father's Day and Bruce Springsteen

Happy father's day.

RC Martini chillin' during WWII

If you're like me, then your pop is no longer on the planet.  Maybe you're thinking of him, maybe you're thinking about how you miss him, or thinking about how you don't miss him.

If you've never visited this blog before, you'll know I'm not about to throw shade, or disrespect to anyone - everyone has their own path and journey on the planet, but because it's father's day - we reflect on our own journey in the shadow of our father's. So you could say that I'd like to talk about Bruce's dad, Doug Springsteen - but really I'm referring to all dads by extension of Bruce's dad.

Bruce talks about this trip with his dad in his book. Two smilin' NJ guys.

If you're a fan of "Flipside: A Tourist's Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife" or "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" or "Hacking the Afterlife" what I'm about to say isn't new to you.

But it will be to Bruce.

Reading his autobiography "Born to Run" this paragraph jumped out at me:

"One night I had a dream. I'm onstage in full flight, the night is burning and my dad, long dead, sits quietly in an aisle seat in the audience. Then... I'm kneeling next to him in the aisle, and for a moment, we both watch the man on fire onstage. I touch his forearm and say to my dad, who for so many years sat paralyzed by depression, "Look, Dad, look... that guy onstage... that's you... that's how I see you." (pg 414 "Born to Run" Simon and Schuster)

Now I know Bruce doesn't believe in an afterlife - I know it because earlier in the book he took the time, while talking about his life, he added in parenthesese to a comment he was making about "life" - "there is only one."

I think that's funny when people opine that to be the case.  "Based on what evidence?" I'd like to ask.  I mean, sure, we all think that people die when they cease breathing on the planet.  Doctor's declare people dead all the time. But the sun goes away ever night, and we don't declare it dead.  Or that it's "reincarnating every day."

I've been documenting cases for the past ten years where people either have a near death experience (they die, then come back) or they remember a previous lifetime while under deep hypnosis (based on Michael Newton's 7000 cases over 30 years, or New Jersey native Dr. Helen Wambach's 2000 cases done a decade prior)- all of these people say the same thing while under hypnosis - that we don't die, that we can't die - that we "go home" and then decide with advice of loved ones and guides plan our next lifetime.

Another famous dad: Basil Jagger. He reminded me of Stan Laurel,just as sweet and fun..
and his kid ain't bad either.

There are hundreds of thousands of clinical cases of "near death experiences" - many books on the topic, and I've interviewed a number of near death experiencers. And they are all convinced, all of them - that there is life after death.  Why is that?

It's a bit like talking about what it's like to jump in a cold pool of water. If you haven't done it before, you can talk about it - sing about, tell stories about it - but if you're never done it before, then you're bound to get it wrong.  If you've spent your whole life outside of pools, maybe even afraid of the water, saying "hey jumping in the pool is great, it's liquidy, and every piece of skin enjoys it" - it's meaningless to someone who's never been in a pool. 

Doug Springsteen on the Jersey Shore. (from pinterest)

 So let's go in the pool, shall we?

This isn't my belief, opinion or philosophy. It's just based on the data.

If you take the time to read Newton ("Journey of Souls") examine the science (Dr. Greyson at UVA, Dr. Tucker's books about reincarnation) Gary Schwartz PhD, Mario Beuaregard PhD, Dr. Eben Alexander - Dr. Sam Parnia's epic study over ten years "the Aware project" etc, etc, etc - you'll find bona fide doctors - psychiatrists, scientists talking about how consciousness doesn't die, it lives on. (Or appears to)

I'll prove it to you.

Bruce says in his book he had a long a tempestuous relationship with his dad.  As I wrote to a friend today who was talking about his "deadbeat dad" who had abandoned the family: 

"For what it's worth; I've been filming people under deep hypnosis for a decade. ("Flipside") what they say about the journey is consistent. It can be disconcerting to hear, as I've had an earful. But I try to report what they say without opinion or prejudice. I've filmed 40 sessions (5 of my own) examined the work of Michael Newton (7000 cases) and Dr Helen Wambach (2000 cases). What they say consistently is that "we choose our parents for specific reasons." That the choice is made with "help and guidance from our guides and teachers." That when we ask "why?" 

The answer is often "so you could become who you are." (A better person, more compassionate human, or perhaps an artist who uses pain to help others.) This is not a belief, philosophy, or opinion on my part. I'm just reporting verbatim. So if this is true - I would argue - that you chose well. Your difficult choice has made you a better human, a better father. Happy dad's day."

The same applies to Bruce. If he examines his art, his work, his life, he's lived a lot of it in reply to his father. After all, he was only living with his father until he 17, the rest of his life his father was elsewhere - so for 40 some odd years, he had his own world to inhabit, and yet when you read his book, you can see how much his father had an influence on him.

Bruce reading with his pop. (fansite)

First some bonafides. I've been to about a dozen shows, starting with a bar next to Fenway, then in Cambridge, Charlie's, Harvard Square opening for Bonnie Raitt, Boston Garden, then a number of times in L.A. - I've met Bruce, twice. Once was backstage at Charlie's in Boston. I was brought there by an old friend of his Donna Stearns (she's from Deal, spent time at his place in Freehold when he was young, she grew up to marry the Allman Bros' Dickey Betts whom she met at the Stone Pony after an AA meeting.)

She took me to see Bruce twice - once after "Wild Innocent and E street" came out - his name was misspelled on the Boston marquee - "Springstein" - and she spoke to him after the show. Then months later, at Charlies benefit (where Jon Landau wrote his famous review for the Phoenix "I have seen the future or rock and roll and its name is Bruce") she took me backstage to meet him.

(An aside here: I just became aware of Donna having legal troubles in Fl. I wish I could help. I knew her before both parents died in a car accident, which led to her alcohol abuse - I knew her in college - she's a sweetheart, and struggled with alcohol her whole life. I've sent her cards over the years, tried to reach out to her - perhaps this page will find her - if so, Donna! Reach out. This research can help you as well.  "There is no act that we can't overcome.")

The book, like Bruce, is deep and rich.

I know I met Bruce backstage with Donna at Charlie's because he was complaining that someone had stolen his notebook with all his songs in it.  (Not me!)

Some years later, I met Bruce backstage at Sting's show at the Wiltern (I was covering it for Variety) and I reminded him of Donna - which he said "I don't know who that is." (His book says there were "lots of teen girl" who hung out at his house - whatever - I know what happened when I met him, so I found it a bit odd.) In response looking for something to say other than "when I went to school in Rome we had only your 3 albums, and we danced to them every night for a year" I said - "whatever happened to David Sancious?  He said "Ask him, you're leaning over his shoulder."

I realized he was sitting with the great keyboard artist David Sancious, who left his band when it hit big. D'oh.  End of conversation.

I had more fun conversations with other E street members:  Clarence Clemons at a party in Long Island - we had a mutual pal Lilia Chacon, (Chicago Fox News reporter) and Danny Federici who sat in with our band (played my Casio like it was a Hammond!) - so I do have bonafides when it comes to Bruce.  

In terms of this research, I have bonfides as well - the ex-wife of one of his band members is a good friend, did a between life session after losing her mom, and she appears in my film "Flipside" and the book as well - remembering a lifetime where she knew the alpha and omega. Talk about name dropping! Not only is she tight with everyone in the band, (name rhymes with Miss) she clearly remembered a lifetime where she knew the "real Boss."


Okay, enough about me.

Bruce's dad showed up to let him know he was still alive.  Showed up to him in a "dream" to let him know that he's okay.  How do I know that it was his dad, still alive, reaching out to his son from the Flipside, and not some figment of his imagination?  

Doug from a fan page.

 "One night I had a dream. I'm onstage in full flight, the night is burning and my dad, long dead, sits quietly in an aisle seat in the audience. Then... I'm kneeling next to him in the aisle, and for a moment, we both watch the man on fire onstage. I touch his forearm and say to my dad, who for so many years sat paralyzed by depression, "Look, Dad, look... that guy onstage... that's you... that's how I see you." (pg 414 "Born to Run" Simon and Schuster)

First of all - he saw his dad in the audience. Sitting on the aisle. 

How old did he look in the dream? Old? Or younger? Well it has to be at least a little bit younger, because he wouldn't have seen him sitting upright in a chair if it was based on the last time he saw him - just prior to his passing. So his dad somehow was able to get into the show and was sitting in the aisle.

People would argue "he imagined him there at the show."  But then I would ask "what was he wearing?" and Bruce might describe some outfit that his dad felt comfortable wearing. Perhaps he'd seen him in it before. But whatever it was, it was a "normal" set of clothes - as otherwise, he'd have mentioned them.

 Sometimes people remember precisely what the other person in the dream was wearing - it's usually it's some relatively "normal" version of how they looked on the planet.

But not always.

Evelyn Salt (archive pic)

While working on the film "Salt" I had an NYPD detective pull me aside after hearing me talk about this research on set, and he said "Can I talk to you? I think my house is possessed."  

I asked him why he thought that. He said his 8 year old daughter "sees a ghost."  I asked him who the ghost might be - someone he knew? He said "Well, I asked her about it, and she said "Daddy, he dresses like you." (an NYPD uniform.)  So he wracked his memory and pulled out a picture of his former partner, an African American policeman who died 10 years earlier.

And she said "That's him, but he looks younger now. He's got hair and he's thinner."  The Detective said to me "If it's my old partner who died 10 years ago, how does he show up to my 8 year old daughter thinner, and with hair?"  

And I said, "Well, time over there isn't like time over here. People tend to appear as people remembered them, because it makes it easier for them to get the message. And people report that they appear to people over here, as they'd like to be seen."

I said to the Detective "So did you like this guy?"  The cop looked at me and said "I loved him."  I said "So is it a bad thing that the guy you loved is hanging around your house keeping an eye on you and your 8 year old daughter?"

He said; "Not when you put it that way."  

Mom and Dad, Venice. Took me awhile to find the upside down sign.

He then brought up the fact that his daughter had suddenly been talking about reincarnation - how one day she claimed that she was "born in Australia and died there." He wanted to know if that was related to the ghost thing. 

I asked him if he was watching a tv show about reincarnation or about Australia.  He said he didn't own a TV.

I said "Well, the best way to find out the answer is to ask her. Why don't you bring home a map of Australia and see what she says?" The next day I returned to the set of "Salt" and he was waiting for me. He took me into a back room, locked the door and said "I did what you asked. I brought home a map of Australia and unfolded it in front of her.  I asked "So where were you from?"  

He said she pointed to Perth (a place he'd never heard of) and she described a lifetime there where she was a father and that the family was stuck in a terrible drought, and they all died from starvation."  He said his daughter said it as if she'd been waiting 8 years to tell him the story, and then she bursts into tears.

As I said to the NYPD Detective - "we're not used to not knowing the answers to things for our kids - but clearly she knew more about these events than you did."  Needless to say he locked the door to our conversation for a reason - it's something he could not share with anyone, as his department would "think he was nuts."

  But back to Bruce's "dream" of seeing his dad in the audience... then there's a quantum shift in the dream...

He's talking to his dad in the audience, and then refers to himself on stage. How did you get into the audience with him while you were still on stage?  How could you be in two places at the same time?  

We assume that was some kind of fantastical part of the dream - but I can point to numerous cases where that's a possibility, where people report seeing not only their "higher selves"  while under hypnosis, but people who are "still on the planet' during a near death event.

  People claim in this research that when we incarnate, we only bring about a third of our energy to this lifetime. When asked why - people say "if I brought any more I'd blow the circuits."  When asked where the other two thirds of their energy is they say "it's back home. It's always home.  It's always accessible."

This is why when people have a near death experience they sometimes see people who are not dead - but they usually see them in a way to indicates a more etheric version of them. (David Bennett's book "Voyage of Purpose" describes him seeing a friend back home during his near death experience who is still alive - then some years later, after his friend died, he saw him back home during a deep hypnosis session) 

(For those curious about "between life hypnosis, in LA, I recommend Scott De Tamble of the Newton Institute - "lightbetweenlives.com" if you're curious - I've filmed 35 sessions with him, and he's always successful taking people "back home.")

Bruce experienced "new information" - because he touched his father's arm, only he would know what that felt like - and he simultaneously observed himself on stage performing.  That's not physically possible - unless your consciousness can be in two places at the same time. Which according to this research; it always is.

And it could not be "cryptomnesia" (as materialist science calls these events - either "hypoxia" from a hallucination - which Bruce obviously wasn't having - or something he'd heard or seen somewhere, like in a movie (no film I can think of where a person is in two places at the same time - one with a passed away relative,looking back at himself on Earth). So it can't be cryptomnesia, hypoxia, or synesthesia (the latest claim that the wires of the brain are mixed up) because everything else about the dream was real. 

Touching his dad's arm, having his dad in the aisle, conversing with him, and then gesturing to himself on stage.  And being consciously aware of it to be able to say "Hey dad - see that guy on stage? That's how I think of you!!!"

 Because if he was making it up, imagining it, he never would have created two of himself - there's no basis in human experience to create two of ourselves in a dream - so therefore it must not have been a dream. And I'll bet (who wants to cover this bet for me?) he's never had another dream like it - where there were two of himself in the dream. Ever. 

Further, as I'm fond of pointing out - many folks refer to our lives here as "being on stage." That while two thirds of us are "back home" observing how we're doing on stage - think of it as sitting in the balcony watching yourself below - or even further, imagine it as a marionette and you're responsible for how the strings are moved - where you're literally in two places at the same time; on stage, and in the balcony watching yourself on stage.

Onstage with Walter and Chuck Grodin

I'd also bet Bruce is not aware of this research or information, nor are any of the therapists he's seen in his lifetime, because, well... they just aren't. I've had people say to me "someone should study this in a university setting" and I've had scientists say "well, the big pharma companies fund research so we can sell a pill to fix something" - that's why there are no studies to figure out what the heck is going on with consciousness. If you can't market it, what's the point?

It's contrary to the popular method of psychology. I'm happy to report the Newton Institute  (where they train therapists in between life therapy) reports that they have many psychiatrists and psychologists who are learning this method of therapy,so perhaps that will change.

Can you hear me now?

So Bruce got a chance to be himself standing next to his dad. How very cool is that? But his dad appeared to him to let him know he was okay, to let him know he was "still alive." Not gone. Just not here. 

If I was interviewing Bruce about it, I'd ask him if it was possible to "shift his consciousness to his dad's point of view" - and take a look at the Bruce in the aisle. How do you look to him?  

People often describe a color or light.. or someone different than what they thought they'd see.... but once you "shift your consciousness" to allow for new information to come forward, I'd ask his dad to see if he can't bring other people forward for Bruce to see or say hello to.  After all, this research shows that they're all accessible, because no one dies, they're not gone - they're just not here.

Clarence is accessible, as is Danny.  

And if Bruce wants to talk to his dad, or Clarence, or Danny - he can.  He just has to open himself up to the possibility.

I've been filming people talking to their loved ones for a decade now. And as anyone can tell you, when you hold the hand of your loved one, only you know what that's like. When you look into their eyes, ask them a question and they reply before you get the question out, only you know how real that feels.  It's next to impossible to describe what it's like to be in a pool if you haven't an idea of being in the pool - but when it happens, you come away knowing that you had a conversation with your loved one.  Directly, and through the heart.

There's another passage in the book that Bruce mentioned - and it was at a point when his father was feeling better. He was visiting with Bruce he spoke to him in an open, honest fashion and said in essence; "Money doesn't matter. Fame doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that you've opened your heart to other people." I'm paraphrasing, but that in its essence is what I hear over and over and over again in this research.

That we come here to learn lessons in compassion and giving love. And that the difficult journey we choose for ourself is so that we can reach other people with lessons in love and compassion. And I would say that Bruce did an excellent job in choosing just the right kind of dad, just the right kind of environment, so he could continue teaching lessons in love to a planet hungry for it.

Hangin' with my homies in Ladakh

So - that's it for father's day. My gift for the reader is to understand that our dads are always accessible to us - to ask why, or how, or what they were thinking - the answers aren't always hilarious, but sometimes they are - and it's something that we can all access if we take the time to do it.

And one more thing - it's what his wife Patti Scialfi is referring to when she recounts that she had met Bruce as a teenager, but he was "swimming in different lakes" prior to finally realizing they were meant to be together. She was 17 when he first met her, and it took him all those years to realize that she was the love of his life. That she was meant to be by his side. 

Ms. Patti Scialfa Springsteen (publicity page)

People often talk about those kinds of kismet connections - and I'll bet him a HUNDRED BUCKS - (relatively small sum, but worth it, as I can buy some sheet music, or he can send me a free CD) and there's only one way to find out - that Bruce's dulcet toned wife Patti knew from the day she met Bruce that he was the guy she was supposed to be with.  It just took him awhile to figure that out.  But that's for him to ask her:  "Honey, when did you first know that you and I were meant to be together? When was your first conscious thought that "this is the guy?"

I can name a dozen people who either the man or the woman knew "the moment they met" their loved one that they knew they were supposed to be together.  Knew it as in "past tense" - like "I've always known you, and now I'm just running into you in this life." 

Just ask her if I'm right. If I'm not, send me the bill. But if I am, then let me know.

Happy Father's Day Bruce.

Tribute to Michael Newton

Lovely tribute to the author/psychologist Michael Newton.

The raw footage at the beginning, after the introduction by Pete Smith, current President of the Newton Institute (TNI) is from my original interview with him.

Great to hear him speak again.


Enjoy.

Lunch with George Noory and "The Afterlife Expert"

Luncheon with Coast to Coast's George Noory and "The Afterlife Expert" Rich Martini

Enjoy gathering with other like-minded people as you have fun at lunch and meet some of your favorite people in the world of the unknown and curious. Tickets will go fast, so reserve a spot now! 

Email your name and phone number to: 

lunchwithgeorge@gmail.com. 

You will be called back with details. The following dates are available:

Tuesday, June 27, 2017 – Lunch with George Noory & author/researcher Rich Martini Special Event Series: "Eat & Greet" 
Luncheons at the Great Greek Restaurant in Sherman Oaks, California

States of Mind and the Flipside

I have a friend who used to have OCD.

The Universe is a state of mind.

Obsessive compulsive disorder.  He's had it since he was a youngster; it may or may not be related to a car accident he was in as a youth.  I have relatives who have variations of the same - inability to throw stuff away is one of them, I know it's part of who I am as well. But in this case, I'm here to examine the genesis of "states of mind."

We all know people who have this "disorder" as medicine calls it - it's where the brain is firing willy nilly across a part of the brain, misfiring is more accurate - where a "loop" can be created and it causes them to wash their hands obsessively, count money obsessively - and a whole host of phobias, including not being able to get out of the house.  Or perhaps is causing a "tic" that can be identified as "tourette's" in extreme cases, as a twitch in those less so.

One could argue that we all have varying degrees of this "disorder" - which would make it not a disorder, but a natural example of how the brain works - like many flowers in the garden - it's why some of us can't stand crowds, can't stand certain foods, can't stand not being able to not stand something....

But today we were having this discussion, and some of the flipside notions discussed here began to line up.

An unusual state of mind in DC these days.

Bear with me.

While discussing "partitions" in the mind - Dr. Bruce Greyson notes (in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" and in his public talk "Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain?") that in the reports from the British Health system, 70% of the Alzheimer care givers reported a moment when their patient's memory would come back to them just prior to passing. 

It could be "a few minutes, an hour, sometimes months" where people whose brains have atrophied - suddenly rally and remember everyone around them, and it's as if they've come back to say farewell. Come back to say goodbye to their loved ones.

But when the patient dies, autopsies show that the brain should not have been able to function - it's as if the "partitions" that kept us from accessing our higher consciousness - or past memories - have fallen, or died as well. The brain was dying, so perhaps the partitions died as well. 

And for that brief moment, we're able to access some form of higher consciousness which appears to retain those memories.

Dalai Lama and Richard Davidson

So in discussing OCD today, my pal was talking about his own "partitions."  And pointed out that when he was a young person, he'd "created" an alternate persona - someone who didn't have OCD, someone who could handle navigating the world.  He said that he knew a "tough guy" at work - and while his mind was worrying about the smallest details ("did I count that person's change correctly?" "Maybe I'm responsible for someone getting sick when I served them food...") he adopted this "tough guy" persona to be able to navigate the world. 

My film director persona

He says he borrowed another person's persona, someone at word he knew that was tough, and didn't care or worry about the small things he normally worried about during an OCD event.

Then he pointed out that at another time in his life, he had another persona that would appear - and this person was entirely selfless, would literally give the shirt off his back to someone in need, invite homeless people over to stay who needed a place to sleep.  Then he'd wake up and wonder "what did I do? I let this homeless person in my house, am I crazy?"

I pointed out that perhaps that the selfless fella, was actually giving him a glimpse of what it's like "between lives."  Because back there, people report (consistently) a place of selflessness, where we give and share love equally, without judgment.  That when he was acting without judgment, but just out of love, he was actually tapping into the nature of who we are when we're "back home."

Literal states of mind.

I pointed out that perhaps his brain was giving him a glimpse of another side of himself (and not what psychiatry might categorize as an illness.)  

In like form, adopting the tough guy persona was a way to deal with issues of the brain - and if someone could figure out to do that, how to actually get the brain to compartmentalize, or create partitions from the parts of it that cause problems (auto immune illnesses, viruses, OCD, things that occur as a result of certain pathways) then whoever figured out how to do that would win the Nobel Prize for medicine.

The seat of consciousness in Tibet, the Potala Palace

So let's look at some people who can do that.

Tibetan Monks for example. They've perfected the art of meditation in such a way as to change the body's reaction to pain, to cold, to any number of things that cause problems. (see "tummo" on youtube for examples.)  They've also perfected the meditation that directly affects the amygdala in the brain, which regulates serotonin release. (see Richard Davidson's work on it at the University of Wisconsin.)

Davidson with his pal HHDL

Davidson's work is monumental, because he shows that a single meditation session (and the one he used with Tibetan monks was "Tonglen" but a "non specific version" which he told me at a conference at UCLA years ago.)

What's a specific version of Tonglen?  I talk about it in "Flipside" and my other books. In essence it's imagining being a "mental physician" where you conjure up a vision of someone who is ill, you draw their illness into you as you breathe in, and then blast it with the "healing light of the universe" before you breathe the cured energy back into the patient. (In Richardson's study, he had the monks substitute the whole planet for a single individual - making it "non specific.")

But hang on.

So if its possible to mentally change the shape of the amygdala in one meditation session (according to Davidson's study) then that means that any one of us can do the same kind of work to change pathways in our brain.

You've heard of those cancer studies where a person helps the healing process by imagining a real "battle" against cancer cells.  I've heard the same from a doctor who talked about teaching his patients to imagine a "loving affection" towards cancer cells, to isolate and eliminate them using "love."  That doesn't mean that someone should stop doing traditional therapies - surgery, chemo, etc - but it does mean that there are ways that you can use your brain to affect healing.

No longer the lovable losers. They earned that.

It does mean that you can use your brain to change OCD behavior. It does mean that you can use your brain to eliminate phobias and other issues.

Because when you examine the mind more fully - you may find that the phobias are related to a past life experience - not a past life experience based on your DNA, as science is trying to prove that DNA has a "fear" memory - which may or may not be accurate, but is not necessarily the source of your fear - but being able to examine your previous lifetimes, and further, the life between lives, where you can access and understand all your lifetimes, and by doing so, pinpoint precisely when the phobia began, and more importantly...

Why you chose this lifetime to experience this phobia (again, or for the first time - it's really up to you.)  Why you chose this lifetime to experience this problem or dilemma, or illness, or whatever it is that's the stone in your path.  

It's hard to see that the stones in our paths turn to diamonds after we've overcome them.  And it's hard to see that we may appear to be "crushed" by the stone in our path - and it actually may be in a future lifetime that we've overcome them - we can't think of our lives in that fashion, that each one is part of the overall journey we've signed up to take.  That even the most difficult of stones, in this context, may be the stone we revisit over a couple of lifetimes in order to master it.

Which brings us back to states of mind.

If you can partition your mind to create a better happier healthier you - it doesn't mean you have to lose who you are to do so - it means that you've mastered the ability to see all your states of mind as what you've created to deal with your reality on a day to day basis.  And realizing that everything is part of your consciousness dealing with what's in front of you on a day to day basis, is a path to an enlightening way to view your journey on the planet.

N'est pas?