Amazing Grace, Sydney, Aretha and Dave Chappelle

Aretha in the film "Amazing Grace" photo Rolling Stone

Run, don't walk to see "Amazing Grace" - the 1972 film that features footage of a live "in church" concert that Aretha gave in 1972 in Los Angeles.

 



"Amazing Grace" is the fourth live album by American singer Aretha Franklin. Released on June 1, 1972 by Atlantic Records, it ultimately sold over two million copies in the United States alone, earning a double platinum certification. As of 2017, it stands as the biggest selling disc of Franklin's entire fifty-plus year recording career as well as the highest selling live gospel music album of all time. It won Franklin the 1973 Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance.The double album was recorded at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles during January 1972. A film documenting the making of the album was set to be released in 1972, but was shelved by Warner Bros. (Wikipedia)

The film has not been seen since it was shot (and directed) by up and coming filmmaker Sydney Pollack.  Sydney had just come off of "They Shoot Horses Don't They?" and have obviously been influenced by the cinema verite' style of shooting. 

Mick's Dad hanging out with his son and me

(Mick Jagger is glimpsed, along with Charlie Watts and Billy Preston, who apparently stopped by while making "Exile on Main Street" but for some reason - none are ever in focus in the film. Every time the camera finds Mick, somehow they can never bring him into focus.) 

Sydney's film "Amazing Grace" is Amazing

Having a dozen or so cameramen filming allowed Sydney to capture the show in its rawness.  I would offer that since he wasn't familiar or used to shooting concert footage, there's some serious gaps in the footage - many out of focus shots, a sparing use of split screen that could have been utilized more often, barely any footage of the band, for example, who are amazing musicians. (Cornell Dupree – guitar, Kenneth "Ken" Lupper – Hammond, Pancho Morales – congas, Bernard Purdie – drums, Chuck Rainey – bass backed by Southern California Community Choir with Alexander Hamilton conducting.)  

But the film was eventually finished by producer Alan Elliott who took it over from Sydney once he passed in 2008.  Aretha blocked it from being shown for reasons unknown (going to court to stop even this version being seen). As a filmmaker, I would guess it is because she looks like she's seriously ill, has a cough - the first night of the two night concert, she didn't crack a smile, and night two she looks a little better, but at one point is literally held in place, (the way FDR was held up for his speeches) by James Cleveland.  

A still from "Amazing Grace"

It's almost as if she wasn't well enough to be seen performing - and  yet somehow she gives one of the greatest performances of all time. It's as if she channeled this performance from somewhere deep in her soul, but didn't want people to see her that way.

Aretha blocked the showing of this film for most of her life. She's clearly suffering from something; perhaps flu, or a chest cold, and looks absolutely miserable when she takes the stage.  She's resplendent in a white dress covered with sequins - but since they're shooting in an non air conditioned church, everyone is soon drenched in sweat, she has to ask for water, and noisy air cooling fans were not anywhere to be seen. 

The only person who comes to Aretha's physical assistance is her father Reverend Franklin, who at one point mops her face dry while she's singing with her eyes closed.

Aretha's father mopping her face

But it's the give and take between her and the Reverend James Cleveland that is the heart of the show.  We find out during the second night, that Aretha has been singing and playing with James Cleveland since they were children in Detroit. Aretha is feted by her father, the famous preacher C.L Franklin - who sits on the front row. He admits that Aretha had called him and asked him to come down at the last minute as he reveals he didn't sleep the night before, worrying about what he might say.

How sweet that sound

The interaction between them is revealing and fascinating - when she attends to him, she's polite, but all business,and makes a point of scraping off a piece of lint on his pant leg.  He's sitting next to a famous singer who is introduced, and at some point during his brief introduction to his daughter, where he recalls Aretha singing when she was 6 or 7 in the living room, and then on tour with him at age 11.  

Even in his speech to his daughter, he can't help but say that she's "borrowed" her talent from others, clearly "learning from James Cleveland" from "Mahalia Jackson," and from "Clara Ward" (the woman sitting next to him, who Aretha "preferred to view strictly as his friend.") Even when her father talks about her, he can't give her the "props" she deserves - (and she fired her father as her manager) it's clear he still can't give her unconditional love.

Aretha did not want people to see this film, or to see
her in it the way she's depicted.

The good reverend also singles out another singer in the audience, a woman wearing a white streaked hat, who overcome with something... (perhaps a need to share the spotlight) leaps up at one point and storms the stage, only to be tackled by those around Aretha, put back down into a seat (so she can't "interrupt the filming") Perhaps she just wanted to sing along, or dance along - and some folks do get up and dance.

Night two from the film

But none of this takes away from perhaps the greatest filmed recording of a singer at the height of her powers ever made.  

Watching her craft a phrase, is a master class in music - in counterpoint, in harmony, in syncopation, and in soulfulness...  She clearly is one of the greatest singers of all time (as if it needed to be said) but also perhaps the greatest gospel singer of all time. Not only for her ability to craft a song, but for the way she channels what she's singing from somewhere deep inside. 

I've made a point of visiting the Gospel tent in New Orleans whenever I make it to the Jazz Fest and I've heard some of the greats Gospel choirs - but nothing like what is depicted in this film.

Alexander Hamilton leads the choir

She is so raw and real in this film, at one point she is transported - clearly in some kind of zone, where she's singing without even being aware that there is no microphone near her, calling and responding from a place deep within her heart. 

Thankfully James Cleveland moves the mic in front of her. This moment is something to behold - because all of the songs are about where she is now.

On the flipside.

She sings that she longs to be in that place "where there is no age."  She longs to be "back home" where unconditional love exists. She longs to be with Jesus. She longs to be in the light of unconditional love.

She sings it over and over again - but with such ferocity, such tenderness, that the audience is transported to where she is now.  The queen of soul, is also the queen of gospel, and she's also the queen of the flipside.

Jennifer Shaffer and I have interviewed Aretha, as well as a number of her associates and friends on the Flipside. We spoke to Ray Charles (who appeared in my film "Limit Up" playing God) and Ray jokes about how out of focus much of the movie is - "They would have done better to have me shoot it instead!"  (He can joke about that now, because, well - he can SEE the film now.)  

Everyone that is part of our group has weighed in on this film, this performance - "Transcendent" "Why there is a heaven" "Timeless" "Beyond Sound" "Channeling from the Ethers" to "she's why it can be so much fun back home."

Here's an excerpt of the interview that Jennifer and I did which will appear in "Backstage Pass to the Flipside; Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer" (Book Three)

This is a combination of two interviews with Aretha. My comments and questions are in italics, Jennifer’s replies are in bold.  The first was conducted just after her elaborate funeral.

Richard: Does Aretha want to talk to us?

Jennifer: "Yes." She says “She’s having a blast, she’s having so much fun... I feel like she’s still learning how to learn how to heal herself... I felt her doing that. (Listens) Does she have a sister? I feel like she’s up there with her... there are two up there with her... one is... down here?

(Note: All of Aretha's sisters have crossed over, but she may be referring to someone who “feels like a sister” that is still here, as she says later.)

I don't know. I did read that she didn’t leave a will. 

She says “She does have a will but they don’t know where it is.”

It’s not with an attorney?

It’s very old. It could be an old email. Was she married a lot, or did she have a lot of relationships? Five?

(Note: Wikipedia reports she was married twice, but had “five long term relationships.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aretha_Franklin)

I don’t know.

She’s laughing... she’s trying to give me a timeline.

Roughly what year was your will written?

"1982."
(Note: Asking again, later, she said she hand wrote it in 1979, and that it was later typed up, and remains in a box of "old newspaper clippings" in a distant relatives home)

The person you were married to in 1982 will know where it was or his heirs?

"No, they won’t know where it is." It it feels like one of her sisters does, or someone who is like a sister to her. “She won’t know but she will know.” She’s explaining that she won’t know... but that she should know. It could be like an email archive.

What’s her name?

Something with an S.
(Note: I tracked down this person with an S in her name, who is her niece, and is currently overseeing the estate.) She's telling me she watched over Whitney Houston.
(Note: This is accurate as well, Aretha worked with Dionne Warwick, Mavis Staples, and Cissy Houston, who began singing with Franklin as members of the Sweet Inspirations. Cissy sang background on Franklin's hit "Ain't No Way". Franklin first met Cissy's daughter, Whitney, in the early 1970s. She was made Whitney's honorary aunt and Whitney often referred to her as "Auntie Ree". (Wikipedia)

Okay, you want me to write about this?

She wants you to write about it... (Jennifer aside) I can’t believe I’m talking to Aretha! I just have to go with it. I’ve never heard her voice up close.  She’s putting me in a sweat... Hold on... She says “She wants to go back to the will. Feels like it’s in a house back in the 1980’s.”

Did she write it on a computer and save it? What’s the file called?

“Will.” But it’s not her house.

(Note: I've been told she didn't use a computer. This was written last fall when no will had been found, and Forbes was writing how that is a problem. (Don’t forget to write a will.) https://www.forbes.com/sites/markeghrari/2018/10/16/aretha-franklin-left-an-80-million-estate-and-no-will-heres-why-that-matters-to-you/#39e8c8005375)

Richard: Aretha who was there to greet you when you crossed over?

Jennifer: Prince says he was there (to greet her) with Ray Charles.

(Note: Prince began showing up in our work since “Hackingthe Afterlife.” I directed Ray Charles in a film called “Limit Up” – we talked to him as well (in “Backstage Pass to the Flipside” where he detailed who greeted him when he crossed over.)

Is there anything we should pass along for your friends Miss Franklin?  Or family?

“They’re fine.” (Tell them) “I have no pain.”

Prince has her in his arm and he’s walking her up the aisle.

Anything you want to say about your funeral?

“Extravagant.”

So who greeted you when you crossed over? Prince is telling us he was there, but who were you first aware of?

She just showed me dancing with this guy – he brought her into a memory.

Stevie Wonder said he went to see you before you passed.

“Two days before,” she said.

What did he say to you?

She says that he said “It’s okay, she’s got a lot of friends up there.”

Some of whom are in our class. So Miss Franklin, who have you been visiting with?

"Everyone." (Jennifer aside) They’re all laughing.

There’s a video of you playing “Nessun Dorma” for your granddaughter; quick question, I was wondering if you were you an opera singer in a past life?

"Yes."

What era?

"16^th century... somewhere in Paris. And she married somebody Italian."

Let me ask you a musical question, so the coloratura which you had in your voice, which is so unique -- which you carried throughout your life... was that related to your previous lifetime?

“Yes, yep.” She’s showing me, as an example, my work – showing me my brain and what I’m doing here, and how my ability to use this ability to talk to people on the other side is something I’ve carried through all of my lifetimes. Its more accepted now, and I would be struggling now if I hadn’t figure it out.

Is that true most musicians carry their frequency from life to life?

“Yes.”

Who did you admire as a singer or performer?

"Sammy Davis Junior."  Sammy showed up earlier... (he’s) hanging out with Prince.

You know Michael Jackson, don’t you?

She’s like “Of course I did, that’s such a stupid question.” She loved him.

(Note: We talked to Michael later, after the HBO film came out, and his interview was unusually revealing and complex, which I’ll share at a later date.)

What do you want us to pass along to your friends and family?

"They’re still looking for the will." She said “Tell them to breathe.”

You said it was on a computer that your sister once had – all your sisters are on the flipside now.

Then it’s someone who was like a sister to her.

So it’s on her desktop, in a file somewhere that’s named “will?”

I asked her: “Is it supposed to be found?” I’m getting it might never be found. She says they’re “still not looking in the right place.”

Things could change...

I think they’re going to find something – and (then) I think it’s going to be contested...

You met some great singers back in grade school in Detroit... they interviewed Smokey Robinson for example, he was talking about listening to your dad Reverend Franklin on the radio, and when they heard you’d moved into the neighborhood, everyone went to see and meet him.  That’s when he first heard you playing and singing in your home.  Smokey said “her voice never changed; I heard her when he was 5!” What was it like being born into such a famous reverend’s family?

She says “He wanted to change the world like Martin Luther King; it felt like he might have gotten corrupt a little bit – she saw (him do) a lot of things that just didn’t make sense.

(Note: I'm told that Reverend Franklin and Aretha were close, and there's no evidence of any malfeasance or wrongdoing when he managed her career. But as always; "we are just reporting.")

But in terms of choosing the family and neighborhood to be born in...?

“That’s what she charted,” she says. “That was her math.”

(Note: This is consistent in the reports from the flipside that I get from people under deep hypnosis. They claim that we all choose our lifetimes, and work out the “story points” in advance of what we’re going to accomplish, as well as who is going to participate in that journey.  “Charting” is a way of saying “Planning.” The term “math” refers to the complex math involved in having people react at the particular time they’re supposed to, like planning out the math of a pinball game in advance, and already knowing where the ball is going to hit... but that giving it that “extra English” you’re able to influence events.  Not that a lifetime is “locked in stone” or destiny is already planned – because we have free will (to screw things up if we want to) but in general, she’s saying she “did the math” of the equation that would bring her to fame by being born into the family of C.L. Franklin.)

Who was your biggest influence?

“God.”

Okay, but on the planet – that you want to give a shout out to?

He was white – (Jennifer aside) I'm trying to figure out who it is..

A singer?

No.

Producer?

Yes.

From Detroit?

New York. Feels like.  He believed in her and also he kind of saved her from her own family. (Jennifer aside) I don’t know anything about her family.

Who’s the friend from New York?

She’s dancing with him... She met him when she was like 14.  Her dad wanted control over her though, (which caused friction) they reconciled later though.

(Note: If I was to hazard a guess, she would be talking about Columbia record producer John Hammond who signed her after hearing a demo recorded in NY at 16. Her father was her manager at the time. From an interview with John: “I’ve always been a freak for gospel music. So one day a songwriter named Curtis Lewis came in with a demo of about five of his tunes. The third tune was a thing called “Today I Sing the Blues,” and it was just this girl on piano. And I screamed! I said "For Chrissakes who is this?" He said: “She’s a 17 year old girl from Detroit.” And I said "Can she do anything else?" And he said she was a gospel singer who sang with her father’s choir with Sam Cooke.”  That was Aretha.)

Her dad was a nationally famous preacher – who left buffalo and moved to Detroit. I saw her in a show in Pittsburgh once when she had a Charley horse and had to limp offstage.

“Shit happens,” she says.

So what was your favorite song? Everyone asks.

She says “Somewhere over the rainbow.”

That was your favorite song?

She loved the one you mentioned earlier – she showed me that she’s holding a flower (when singing it) That song that you saw her sing (on YouTube), she’s mentioning that.

“Nessun dorma?” Lovely. Kind of a metaphor for the flipside. The lyrics are so amazing.

She’s saying “(the words) they’re so very important.”

It means “No one’s asleep or no one sleeps” in Italian. A metaphor for the afterlife; as “no one dies.”  Nessuno dorma.

She said she had a premonition before that... when she was going to pass.

Luana, is this exciting for you to meet Aretha or have the Queen of Soul in our class?

Luana says, “There is no hierarchy (on the flipside) but she definitely adds spice to the class.”

Well that’s an understatement. And you can say hello to Sydney Pollack; he’s in our class as well. You’re always welcome to chat with us Aretha.  Thanks for coming!

JenniferShaffer.com

Jennifer was at the Chateau Marmont recently when she met Dave Chappelle. Or rather; Dave met Jennifer. When she told him she was a medium, he said (paraphrasing) "There's one person I'm thinking of, that I miss."  Jennifer said "It's Aretha."  He nearly fell over as indeed, that's who he was thinking of.  

She went on to tell him and his associates that they were on their "way to a meeting where it would be decided that they would go to Japan."  They were floored by this detail, as they were on their way to a meeting and had no idea what was in store. Yesterday Jennifer received a text message from one of his associates who was there when they met, who wrote: "We just landed in Japan. And we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."

Dave uses Jennifer's camera for a selfie at the Chateau Marmont

You just never know where messages are going to come from. Try to stay open to them.  And whatever you do, run, jump, walk, swim to the theater (or when it's on cable) and see this film about Aretha.  It's the most unbelievable singing I've ever heard.

During our next session, I asked folks on the flipside about who had orchestrated Jennifer's being at the Chateau. We were told it was folks who "hang out there" including one who died there.  So we asked Aretha to weigh on, and what her connection to Dave Chappelle might be and Aretha said she once "sang in his ear."  (I don't know if she literally did this, or he had a dream about it). I asked "What song did you sing to Dave?"   

Jennifer said "She's showing me an image of you playing the piano."  I thought "That's funny - I play, but I don't know any Aretha songs except..." and I said "Does she mean "Amazing Grace?"  And Jennifer tapped her nose; her way of saying "that's it."  

I had uploaded a version of Amazing Grace - based on the original story of the song, how it has a flipside element to it, and posted it on youtube.  By putting an image of me playing the piano in Jennifer's head, I was able to figure out what song Aretha was referring to.  And it happens to share the name of this amazing film.

In the film, Aretha's version of Amazing Grace is so powerful that James Cleveland bursts into tears and has to leave the piano to sob in the seats behind her.  (When he introduces the song, he mentions that when she sang it during rehearsal, he remembered what their lives were like 20 years earlier (1952) when they met. And he's overcome at the impact of her version.) 

She is transcendent when singing this song - as if she is channeling something beyond time and space to accomplish what she does in the film.  

Once you hear her version, you will never hear the song again without thinking of Aretha Franklin.

An epiphany about the university we have chosen to be in

Per Lachaise University

epiphany noun
epiph·​a·​ny | \ i-ˈpi-fə-nē  \

Definition of epiphany

3a(1) : a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something
(2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking
(3) : an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure
b : a revealing scene or moment

In light of this recent mass shooting - not done by a US citizen, but according to his manifesto, inspired by hatred, inspired by people who espouse or engender hatred, I wanted to share a conversation I had this morning.

Mick's epiphany.  First Day of School.

My wife Sherry had an epiphany.  After reading the reports of what this angry man in New Zealand spoke of, what inspired him to murder 49 church goers and wound 20 others, she reflected on the source of his anger. 

He claimed he was furious over the death of a young girl who had been murdered in anger. (Leaving aside his identifying her, what country she was from, and who killed her). It was a death caused in hate.

"Realize we don't die."

Which made her think of the other murders that have been done in the name of hate. Whether it's a mass shooting in a nightclub in Orlando, or a mass shooting in Vegas, or a man shooting up a high school or an elementary school - mass shootings can be anywhere, everywhere; the roots of the event are most often mired in that one emotion; hate.

"If what you're saying is correct," she began her thought to me - "that we do choose to come here, that people reincarnate and come back to Earth, they do so because it's a school.  It's a beautiful school, but a difficult school - it's filled with many possibilities for anger and hate and cruelty.  But it seems to me that the lesson that we learn when we come here, is to rise above the vibration of hate, to rise above what causes people to react in such a violent way - and respond with what hate is not."

Which got me into this post.

If we can respond with an idea of what love is - allowing for people to make mistakes, to work out their anger and hatred and fear, then we've learned how to respond with love.

  

The logic goes like this:

Earth is a school.  We choose to incarnate here for many reasons, including teaching and learning lessons in love.  We come here knowing that it's a rough and difficult location for a school, that the lessons can and will be difficult, that the school itself is complex, complicated and difficult to attend.

Tortured for 30 years, outlived all of his torturers.
Because he meditated on love.

There's great beauty here, there can be episodes of courage, of tender moments of love, there can be great acts of compassion - but when events happen that challenge our concept of love, challenge who we are as a human, if we choose to respond with hate, then we are just perpetuating that hate over and over again, and have learned nothing.

If we respond to hate and anger with hate and anger - its what keeps us mired in the muck and desolation and cruelty, sadness and pain.

School of Hard Knocks.

But if we respond differently - respond with a concept that this is a school that we've all agreed to attend, and that when a difficult lesson appears before us, we see it for what it is - a temporary state of ill will, a temporary state of confusion, fear and desolation - a class in anger and hate if you will - then we can respond in the way that will allow us to "succeed" or "graduate" from that lesson.  

A note from Garry Shandling to himself

To overcome that lesson by responding with "love" - in the true essence of that word.  When love is given freely, unconditionally, it's something quite different than love that is given conditionally, or based on the idea that you can't love unless you're "loved back."

So the only logical, lesson learning way to respond to hate and anger and violence - is by not allowing ourself to be mired in it.  Further, if we can wrap our minds around the research that no one dies, that we only bring a portion of our conscious energy to each lifetime, that when the lifetime is over we don't disappear, aren't "gone" - we transform back into who we were before we came here, before we walked into this university.  

University of To Be or Not To Be

And when we're outside the classroom, or "back home" from the university, we are able to reflect on all the things we learned, shared, gave up, or gave into - all the things we set out to learn and teach and share, and what we failed at in terms of our progression, and what we succeeded at.

So in essence, every tragedy, every difficulty, every illness, every setback in terms of the classroom, in this university we all participate in - is a form of a lesson in our curriculum.  We've set the curriculum ourselves (according to this research) in that we have "agreed" to come and participate in this university even when some of us are aware of how short or long we're going to be in on the campus grounds.

Hard to, but try.

In essence, every tragedy is a lesson in love - not the kind of "throw my hands in the air and dance among the flowers" kind of love, (although nothing wrong with that either) but the kind of unconditional love that is tested, that is honed like a piece of rough gold, polished and smoothed by each experience that we go through so that at the end of all of these classes we take, we emerge this solid gold piece of jewelry - so bright as to blind the eye, so beautiful as to elicit gasps.

Tragedy 101

Those 49 who died - and the 500 in Vegas, and all those children in Sandy Hook, and all the people who sacrifice themselves to teach us lessons in hardship and love, have all been given merit badges, have all been graduated to a higher level because they sacrificed their journey for this profound teaching, and this profound example of what love is, what love can be, what we can learn from their example of courage.

It's around us always - courage to endure illness, courage to endure hate and racism, and anger, and to get through these damn classes without falling off the bus that brought us here.

Graduation gift; epiphany

So while I may enjoy posting comedic commentary about the idiots who claim to be in charge of the classroom - the fools who can't see that they're destroying the university with every tweet that promotes hate, chokes the air, pollutes the water or kills the planet - while I may enjoy poking fun at their insanity - part of this journey is to respond to hate with the opposite of hate.

Unconditional love.

It's the thing that permeates the universe, it's what our consciousness is part of, it's what two thirds of us is always aware of "back home."  And so while we're in class together, let's take the time to embrace each other, enjoy the sunshine, and say a prayer for those folks who left the planet early in order to teach us all a lesson about unconditional love.

Professor Martini

A little perspective on Quora

I comment often on Quora about my research into the flipside... and someone posted a not uncommon question - which I take no offense at, but the links may prove valuable to someone who is curious about the science involved.

Do you realize that what you report about the nature of human existence is incredible? If it is true, why do so many scientists reject it out of hand?

Richard Martini, Film Director Writer at Internet Movie Database (1985-present)

Answered 7m ago

I appreciate your comment. But having spent some time doing this research, I can tell you the scientists who don’t dismiss it “out of hand.” In fact, having interviewed a number of scientists about this particular topic, I can tell you that they not only don’t dismiss it “out of hand” but are doing their own studies on the same topics.

Gary E Schwartz PhD from Harvard (“Sacred Promise”) former head of a Yale hospital, wrote the introduction to my book Flipside. He’s currently at the University of Arizona running a lab on the topic.

Mario Beauregard PhDappears in my book “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife.” He wrote “Brain Wars” and we’ve spoken often about his studies into consciousness - including doing MRI with people who are under deep hypnosis. Trained at the University of Montreal, he’s currently working with Gary in Arizona.

Dr. Bruce Greyson psychiatrist, part of DOPS at UVA and Iands (dot) org. I spent a couple of days with Dr. Greyson, he is known as the godfather of near death experiences, the scale that scientists use to measure NDEs is named for him - he also appears in “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife” discussing how consciousness is not only produced by the brain. For your own reference, I can recommend watching his YouTube talk of the same name.

His colleague, Dr. Sam Parnia has studied near death events as well, as part of the “Aware” project - a ten year study of near death experiences. In these near death reports, people claim the same things that people under deep hypnosis claim.

I can recommend reading the 2000 cases from Dr. Helen Wambach, a psychologist in New Jersey who reported ten years before Michael Newton reported the same things with his 7000 cases. As I’ve reported, I’ve only filmed 50 - people I chose to be part of a study based on their skepticism. As it turns out, the most ardent skeptics are often the people who go the furthest in these deep hypnosis sessions.

Other scientific research worth examining: Ed Kelley, who wrote “Irriducible Mind” - a textbook on consciousness, who is also part of DOPS at UVA - someone who is a scientist who studies Psi phenomena, or Dr. Jim Tucker, also part of DOPS at UVA who has written books about the verified cases of reincarnation. Or perhaps take a look at David E Presti’s latest book “Mind Beyond Brain.” David being a professor or neurobiology, psychology and cognitive science at UC Berkeley. In his latest tome, he digs into the concept of consciousness existing outside the brain.

I could go on - but what’s the point? You are obviously not familiar with the books I’ve cited, or the work I’ve done in this area (which cites the above books and interviews a number of the authors.) I’m happy to give a hand to anyone who wants to understand what the data shows - that is, reports that are consistent and reproducible. I’ve been doing the same kind of research for over a decade now, and am happy to help guide anyone to the research involved. All I can say is that for those who want to “dismiss” the research “out of hand” that’s great. It’s not my task or job to hold anyone’s hand, or to direct anyone’s hand to the research. I’m a filmmaker after all - everyone that I film I put in my books and transcribe what they have to say, and then compare it to the thousands of other cases.

In my case - none of this is theory, belief or opinion - I’m filming people saying the same things consistently, and then transcribing what they say. If one has a problem with what they’re saying - or any scientist has a problem with what they’re saying - I suggest taking it up with them, or conducting their own experiments.

I suggested the same to UVA when I presented my research to them in 2011. At the moment, I’m told they have had the same results using people who have used deep hypnosis to access near death memories - which in turn leads to other bits of new information. But thanks for weighing in.

Interview with Bill Paxton on the flipside

I was finishing up my film for Gaia "Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to Bill Paxton" when Dr. Medhus reached out to me and asked if there was anyone I wanted her to speak with.  I suggested Billy.

I asked these same questions to two other mediums (as mentioned in "Backstage Pass") and got the SAME ANSWERS from all three mediums.

Further, she nails a number of things in this interview - including that I met Bill in a pub in London when he was working on Aliens.  No one knows that story but me and Bill.

Welcome to the flipside.

Enjoy.




Love you Billy!

Early film director

In Cannes

Alex Honnold's Amgydala and Free Soloing with Tonglen

For those who got a chance to see the Oscar wining film "Free Solo" on National Geographic channel, they got a glimpse into the inner workings of the mind of the most amazing climber ever put on film. Directed by Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, it's in theaters now as well as the safety of the National Geographic Channel in your own home.

There was a key moment in the film, when Alex agreed to have his brain MRI'd. The doctor looking at the inner workings of his brain, said "Your amygdala isn't functioning normally."

Alex made a comment like "I guess my brain's different."

Typical amygdala - Wikimedia

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Some can argue that the evidence of why Alex appears to be unafraid of heights, is because the "flight or fight" mechanism in his brain is malfunctioning.  It's the catchall phrase that people use when talking about the amygdala - a peanut sized part of the brain that regulates serotonin.

I'm not a doctor, but I've studied a little bit about the amygdala because it appears in an epic study on meditation, something I am familiar with.

Using MRI to study meditation

Richie Davidson

Part of his study with a monk trained in meditation.

Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin did a study with MRI of brains of people who were expert at meditation, where he showed that a "single session of meditation can change the shape of the amygdala." 

I attended a lecture he gave at UCLA where he talked about this research to a room full of psychiatrists, eager to find an alternate to the customary methodology of prescribing SSRI drugs to children who are depressed.

I attended the lecture because I know that Davidson is part of the Dalai Lama's mind science program, and was curious what his research might show about meditation.  But after the lecture where he demonstrated that his study showed that "mediation can cure or alleviate symptoms of depression," hand after hand went up.

The psychiatrists in the SRO room were concerned because parents were insisting, asking for help with depressed children, or with children who were acting out - and the only medicine they had in their arsenal was medicine that would "inhibit serotonin release." (SSRI drugs like Prozac, Zoloft, etc).  (The "misfiring" of serotonin is frequently cited in everything from autism to not being able to sleep properly)

As it turns out, there had been no definite studies done with teens and these SSRI drugs, and the side effects (one pediatrician told me that it was as high as 15%) could be severe; ideations of suicide or violence.  Here is a warning from the National Institute of Health: 

"The documented efficacy and long-term benefit of antidepressants in patients with recurrent forms of severe anxiety or depressive disorders support their use in those individuals with these disorders, who experience suicidal thoughts or behavior. In general, it is assumed that antidepressants are beneficial for all symptoms of depression, including suicidality. However, some evidence suggests that Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors [SSRIs] may cause worsening of suicidal ideas in vulnerable patients. Systematic reviews and pooled analysis of experimental, observational, and epidemiological studies have investigated the use of SSRIs and their association with suicidality. Taking account of the methodological limitations of these studies, the current evidence fails to provide a clear relationship between their use and risk of suicidality in adults. However, in children and adolescents, there appears to be a bit of increased risk of suicidal ideations and attempts, but not of completed suicides."  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3353604/

(And further, if one wants to make the case that every mass shooting since Columbine has had an SSRI or "antidepressant" component - that case can be made. Many of the shooters had been under psychiatric care, or had a history of Serotonin Release inhibitor use). 

Michael Moore weighs in on the topic:




It's not my opinion, theory or belief that is the case - it's just in the public records when there has been an autopsy done on the shooter or shooters, or there is a known record of that kind of medical prescription.

Be that as it may, this isn't a post about SSRI abuse, or the medical community prescribing something that hasn't been fully studied - it's about the part of the brain that for some reason, wasn't "functioning normally" in the brain of Alex Honnold, the man who is the first to free solo "El Cap" in Yosemite.

Robert Thurman (left) leading a meditation under the north face of Mt. Kailash in Western Tibet

If you've seen the film, it's thrilling, dizzying, almost disturbing to see him defy gravity and reach the top.  His casual comments of his success - not screaming, hopping up and down, but of sitting down and smiling profusely - point to someone who has his amygdala "not abnormal" but functioning perfectly well.

In the voice over, he talks about "controlling his fear" by "expanding his horizon" - by expanding what it is that he is doing in his mind with regard to each step of the journey.  It's as if he's "meditating on what he should be doing" and "visualizing what can be done."  Further, he had done the trip "40 or 50 times" the year prior, so he was very familiar with the journey. He was able to previsualize each step.

However, there are not many human beings that could make that trip, as is noted throughout the film.  He has an amazing ability to either compartmentalize fear, or as the MRI shows - to not have it both him at all.

El Capitan in Yosemite (wiki)

Was it his determination to succeed that caused the amygdala to work differently in such adverse conditions?  Or was he born that way?

Well, in Davidson's epic study, he showed that anyone can change their amygdala by being mindful.  In fact, the idea of "mindfulness" comes directly from his study, because the word "meditation" is often associated with religious practices, or worse - yoga - meaning a person would have to do "some form of exercise in order to accomplish a task."  Which is why the word meditation was changed to something more precise about what was going on.  Mind. Full. Ness.

Palden Gyatso was able to endure thirty years of torture
at the hands of the Chinese authorities through meditation.

After his lecture, I asked Richard Davidson what specific meditation he used to achieve the results.  I figured since there are so many different meditations that are possible, the specific meditation might hold a clue as to why he achieved those results.

He told me; "Tonglen;" but a "non-specific version," using the idea of "healing of the Earth as an object" instead of a person to not skew the scientific results.

As close as I'll get to climbing a mountain
in Tibet

I happen to know what "Tonglen" is and how it's used.  And indeed, it does hold a clue - not only to why Alex Honnold can climb a mountain without fear, but as to how we can help cure or alleviate depression without the use of drugs.

Tonglen means "give and take" in Tibetan.  It refers to the practice itself, where the person meditating imagines someone (or in this case, the non specific Earth) that is ill and needs healing.  The meditator pictures their loved one (or object) in front of them, then imagines the problem that needs repair (or illness) as a "color or smoke."  It doesn't matter which color they choose to represent "illness" or "trauma" - they imagine it on the person or object they're trying to heal.  It's up to the person doing the imagining to determine what color or smoke they see.

Then as they breathe in, the imagine "pulling that illness" out of the person or object, pulling that color or smoke into themselves.

It may sound counterintuitive - pulling an illness out of someone and imagine pulling it into yourself - but as the illness arrives, you're supposed to imagine a healing light ("the healing light of the universe") blasting that illness and transforming it into a healed light - and the color or smoke changes.

So for example, if you're imagining someone's broken rib, you might imagine a color for that injury - perhaps red, or red smoke.  As you picture your friend, you imagine "pulling that color out of them" as you breathe in - the color finds its way into your own rib, but as it arrives, you turn on a "klieg light of healing energy" - and turn that color into a healed energy and then breathe it back into the loved one.

Or in this case the Earth.

Richard Davidson and HHDL

As you breathe in, you pull the color out of the loved one, as you breathe out, you breathe healed light back into them. Perhaps you "take the red" and "give back gold" into your loved one.

In one case, I know of someone who tried this with someone who had pneumonia - they got a call from their friend who was deathly ill, and was asking for help.  First he called a doctor who agreed to go to this person's home, and then as a test of their ability, imagined trying to heal the loved one using Tonglen. First, the person saw the wife's chest as a fireplace with coals inside of it, burning red. And as he breathed in, he saw the coals get brighter, with flames - but then as he breathed out, he imagined his breath was a cool ice filled mist, that damped the coals. 

Eventually the imaginary cool mist turned to snow, and he said that he pictured snow falling on the red coals in his wife's chest - until the fire went out.  

A few moments later, prior to the doctor's arrival, he called his wife, and she said "I don't know what just happened, but my fever broke. My pneumonia just seemed to end. I feel better now."  The doctor arrived moments after that and gave her a dose of antibiotics. It's not as if the meditation saved this person's life where antibiotics did the trick, but it's an anecdotal story of someone claiming to "feel the physical effects" of the tonglen meditation.

There is no scientific proof (that I'm aware of) that demonstrates that prayer or meditation can cure or help the object of the prayer or meditation (there is plenty of anecdotal tales) but there is medical evidence that proves the person doing the prayer or meditation can "cure or alleviate symptoms of depression" in themselves.

Literally "doing unto others" selflessly has a physical healing effect on the person doing the selfless act.

When they imagine themselves healing someone else - doing something selflessly, indeed, they heal themselves.  They alter the amgydala in such a way that it now is able to regulate serotonin normally, or better - or whatever term they use to describe the normal function of the amygdala.  

Which indeed, may very well by the way that Alex Honnold's amygdala works - just fine, thank you very much.  His amygdala may be what we all might aspire to - to be able to experience life without fear on a daily basis.

For further information, Richard Davidson's website is here:https://centerhealthyminds.org/about/founder-richard-davidson  Pema Chodron has a book and technique on teaching Tonglen which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwqlurCvXuM and for further adventures into the flipside, my film can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0081U6K1Y - highly recommend watching Free Solo as it's a monumental achievement in film and in sport: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7775622/

Talking to Harry Dean Stanton on the Flipside on Coast to Coast Radio

It's always a treat to be invited onto Coast to Coast radio.

This interview was after Harry Dean Stanton passed away, and Jennifer Shaffer and I had a chat with him about his arrival on the flipside.  Harry Dean was famous for being a skeptic and atheist - but he has some funny things to say about his arrival over "there."

Here's the book "Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer" 

Jennifer Shaffer, medium extraordinaire

And as an addendum to this post:

For "Chris C", who wrote the following to me on "The Book of Faces:" 

"So when will you tell me about Art Bell in afterlife, it was a request made on Coast to Coast with George Noory"

Indeed, I remember one of the callers asked a question about Art Bell - I didn't know Art, but he did reach out to me about appearing on his radio show after hearing me on "Coast to Coast" (a show he created) which I did with his Heather Wade (and posted below).  But to this fellow on the Book of Faces I replied:

"Honestly bro i dont have any questions for art bell. If you do you can ask him. Just say his name. Ask your questions.  When you hear an answer before you can form the question you'll know you've made a connection."

(I'm not ducking the question.  I get asked all the time; "why don't you talk to so and so?"  I also offer that "so and so" is welcome to come to one of the times that I'm filming a medium speaking - (including my weekly chats with JenniferShaffer.com) - but I really don't have much to ask Art - "Why did you get involved in this kind of research?"  "Who was there to greet you when you crossed over?"  I didn't know him - so I couldn't verify any of his answers.  The answer that I gave Chris came directly from someone on the other side as a "method of how anyone can speak to us over here.")

To which Chris replied:

"You led us to believe you could talk to the dearly departed, I will bring this up on Coast to Coast during open lines, I am sadly sorry you sound like a fake, I thought maybe you were real."

 Ok. Chris C - since you weren't listening; I don't speak to the afterlife; I film people who do.
As per one of those conversations, we can all communicate with the afterlife - not just mediums. 

Art Bell is waiting for you to reach out to him. Tell him I said hi. (Not knocking Art, he reached out to me to be on his show before he died - but find it ironic my reluctance to talk to him would piss off one of his fans.)

And because I didn't answer your question the way that you preferred ("Wait, hold on,  yes, let me get on my headphone and speak to Art on your behalf") you are promising to go to "go on Coast to Coast" and tell everyone what a fake I am.

Too late. I'm way ahead of you bro.

Again. I'm not claiming to "talk to the dead." I've been filming people for ten years "talking to the dead" "talking about the dead" "talking about how the dead are not dead" "talking about how we don't die." 

So in that vein, "Hey Art Bell, do me a favor and "ping" this fellow so he can know that you still exist, so he can ask you questions - because as we both know, no one dies, no one is gone, everyone we've ever known or loved is accessible if we take the time to ASK THE QUESTIONS."

(Of course Art is welcome to join our chats, just not going to seek him out without a booker paving the way. I'm sure he's a busy man even on the flipside, answering all of the questions everyone has for him.)

So here's the interview I did for Art Bell's show with Heather Wade (his hand picked replacement). Heather reached out to me on his behalf years earlier, but it took a couple of years before they had me on his show, and sadly, Art passed a few months after this aired.  But Heather goes to a place pretty unusual during this interview - visits some things that are pretty unusual - so it's a fun listen either way. I know he enjoyed hearing it.

Enjoy.