A perfect Flipside story with a different headline...

Perfect "Flipside" story. Its pretty common, more common than the reporter is aware of. Headline should be "man proves we don't die with loving gesture" 

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/23/living/crisis-apparitions/index.html?c=&page=0

Do loved ones bid farewell from beyond the grave?

By John Blake, CNN

updated 3:41 PM EDT, Fri September 23, 2011

Death doesn't sever the connection between loved ones, say people who've experienced so-called crisis apparitions.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Some people claim that loved ones have contacted them after death
• Paranormal investigators call these events "crisis apparitions" and say they take many forms
• Some witnesses say apparitions appear lifelike, and that the images are reassuring
• Woman who encountered apparition: "He needed to say goodbye"

(CNN) -- Nina De Santo was about to close her New Jersey hair salon one winter's night when she saw him standing outside the shop's glass front door.

It was Michael. He was a soft-spoken customer who'd been going through a brutal patch in his life. His wife had divorced him after having an affair with his stepbrother, and he had lost custody of his boy and girl in the ensuing battle.

He was emotionally shattered, but De Santo had tried to help. She'd listened to his problems, given him pep talks, taken him out for drinks.

When De Santo opened the door that Saturday night, Michael was smiling.

"Nina, I can't stay long," he said, pausing in the doorway. "I just wanted to stop by and say thank you for everything."

They chatted a bit more before Michael left and De Santo went home. On Sunday she received a strange call from a salon employee. Michael's body had been found the previous morning -- at least nine hours before she talked to him at her shop. He had committed suicide.

If Michael was dead, who, or what, did she talk to that night?

"It was very bizarre," she said of the 2001 encounter. "I went through a period of disbelief. How can you tell someone that you saw this man, solid as ever, walk in and talk to you, but he's dead?"

Today, De Santo has a name for what happened that night: "crisis apparition." She stumbled onto the term while reading about paranormal activities after the incident. According to paranormal investigators, a crisis apparition is the spirit of a recently deceased person who visits someone they had a close emotional connection with, usually to say goodbye.

Reports of these eerie encounters are materializing in online discussion groups, books such as "Messages" -- which features stories of people making contact with loved ones lost on September 11 -- and local ghost hunting groups that have sprung up across the country amid a surge of interest in the paranormal.

Although such encounters are chilling, they can also be comforting, witnesses and paranormal investigators say. These encounters suggest the bond that exists between loved ones is not erased by death.

"We don't know what to do with these stories. Some people say that they are proof that there's life after death," said Steve Volk, author of "Fringe-ology," a book on paranormal experiences such as telepathy, psychics and house hauntings.

Scientific research on crisis apparitions is scant, but theories abound.

One theory: A person in crisis -- someone who is critically ill or dying -- telepathically transmits an image of themselves to someone they have a close relationship with, but they're usually unaware they're sending a message.

Sometimes you just sense the presence of someone close to you, and it seemingly comes out of nowhere.
Steve Volk, author of "Fringe-ology," on "crisis apparitions"

Others suggest crisis apparitions are guardian angels sent to comfort the grieving. Another theory says it's all a trick of the brain -- that people in mourning unconsciously produce apparitions to console themselves after losing a loved one.

A telepathic link between loved ones

Whatever the source for these apparitions, they often leave people shaken.

Nor are apparitions limited to visions. The spirit of a dead person can communicate with a loved one through something as subtle as the sudden whiff of a favorite perfume, Volk says.

"Sometimes you just sense the presence of someone close to you, and it seemingly comes out of nowhere," Volk said. "And afterward, you find out that person was in some kind of crisis at the time of the vision."

Many people who don't even believe in ghosts still experience a mini-version of a crisis-apparition encounter, paranormal investigators say.

Did you ever hear a story of a mother who somehow knows before anyone told her that something awful has happened to her child? Have you ever met a set of twins who seem to be able to read each other's minds?

People who are extremely close develop a virtual telepathic link that exists in, and beyond, this world, said Jeff Belanger, a journalist who collected ghost stories for his book, "Our Haunted Lives: True Life Ghost Encounters."

"People have these experiences all the time," Belanger said. "There's an interconnectedness between people. Do you know how you're close to someone, and you just know they're sick or something is wrong?"

An eerie phone call at night

Simma Lieberman said she's experienced that ominous feeling and has never forgotten it -- though it took place more than 40 years ago.

Today, Lieberman is a workplace diversity consultant based in Albany, California. In the late 1960s though, she was a young woman in love.

Her boyfriend, Johnny, was a mellow hippie "who loved everybody," a guy so nice that friends called him a pushover, she said. She loved Johnny, and they purchased an apartment together and decided to marry.

Then one night, while Lieberman was at her mother's home in the Bronx, the phone rang and she answered. Johnny was on the line, sounding rushed and far away. Static crackled.

"I just want you to know that I love you, and I'll never be mean to anybody again," he said.

There was more static, and then the line went dead. Lieberman was left with just a dial tone.

She tried to call him back to no avail. When she awoke the next morning, an unsettled feeling came over her. She said it's hard to put into words, but she could no longer feel Johnny's presence.

Nina De Santo says one of her friends stopped by her salon to thank her -- a day after his death.

Then she found out why.

"Several hours later, I got a call from his mother that he had been murdered the night before," she said.

Johnny was shot in the head as he sat in a car that night. Lieberman thinks Johnny somehow contacted her after his death -- a crisis apparition reaching out not through a vision or a whiff of perfume, but across telephone lines.

She's sorted through the alternatives over the years. Could he have called before or during his murder? Lieberman doesn't think so.

This was the era before cell phones. She said the murderer wasn't likely to let him use a pay phone, and he couldn't have called after he was shot because he died instantly.

Only years later, when she read an article about other static-filled calls people claimed to have received from beyond the grave, did it make sense, she said.

Johnny was calling to say goodbye.

"The whole thing was so bizarre," she said. "I could never understand it."

He had a 'whitish glow'

Josh Harris' experience baffled him as well. It involved his grandfather, Raymond Harris.

Josh was Raymond's first grandchild. They spent countless hours together fishing and doing yardwork in their hometown of Hackleburg, Alabama. You saw one, you saw the other.

Those days came to an end in 1997 when Raymond Harris was diagnosed with lung cancer. The doctors gave him weeks to live. Josh, 12 at the time, visited his grandfather's house one night to keep vigil as his "pa-pa" weakened, but his family ordered him to return home, about two miles away.

Josh said he was asleep on the couch in his home around 2 a.m. when he snapped awake. He looked up. His grandfather was standing over him.

"At first, it kind of took me by surprise," said Harris, a maintenance worker with a gravelly Southern accent. "I wondered why he was standing in the hallway and not in his house with everyone else."

His grandfather then spoke, Harris said.

"He just looked at me, smiled and said, 'Everything will be OK.' "

His grandfather then turned around and started walking toward the kitchen. Harris rose to follow but spun around when the phone rang. An aunt who was in another room answered.

"When I turned back around to look, he was gone," Harris said.

As if on cue, his aunt came out of the room crying, "Josh, your pa-pa is gone."

"No, he was just here," Harris told his aunt, insisting that his grandfather had just stopped by to say everything was OK. He said it took him a day to accept that his grandfather had died.

"Honestly, before that, I never believed in the paranormal," he said. "I thought it was all fake and made up. But I just woke up and I saw him. It couldn't be my mind playing a trick. He looked solid."

Fourteen years after his grandfather's death, there's another detail from that night that's still lodged in Harris' memory.

As he watched his grandfather walk to the kitchen, he said he noticed something unusual.

"It looked like there was a whitish glow around him."

I never believed in the paranormal ... but I just woke up and saw him.
Josh Harris on his grandfather's appearance

'Can you come out and play?'

Childhood is supposed to be a time of innocence, a time when thoughts of death are far away. But crisis apparition stories aren't confined to adults and teens.

Donna Stewart was 6 years old and growing up in Coos Bay, Oregon. One of her best friends was Danny. One day, Danny had to go to the hospital to have his tonsils removed. Stewart played with him on the morning of the surgery before saying goodbye.

She said she was in her bedroom the next day when she looked up and saw Danny standing there. He wanted to know if she wanted to go out and play.

Stewart trotted to her mother's bedroom to ask her if she could play with Danny. Her mother froze.

"She went white," Stewart said. "She told me that wasn't possible."

Her mother broke the news. Danny had an allergic reaction during surgery and died, Stewart said.

"When I went back to my room, he was gone," she said.

Stewart, now an Oregon homemaker and a member of PSI of Oregon, a paranormal investigative team, said the encounter changed the way she looked at death.

"These experiences have made me believe that those we love are really not that far away at all and know when we are not doing as well as we could," she said. "Just as they did in life, they offer comfort during crisis.''

Still, Stewart often replays the encounter in her mind. She asks the same questions others who've had such encounters ask: Did my mind play tricks on me? Could he have been alive? Did it all really happen after he died?

Josh Harris says his grandfather, Raymond, pictured with his wife, Barbara, appeared to him in an apparition.

De Santo, the former New Jersey hair salon owner, has taken the same self-inventory. The experience affected her so much she later joined the Eastern Pennsylvania Paranormal Society, which investigates the paranormal.

She said she checked with Michael's relatives and poured through a coroner's report to confirm the time of his death, which was put at Friday night -- almost 24 hours before she saw him at her salon on Saturday night.

She said Michael's body had been discovered by his cousin around 11 Saturday morning. Michael was slumped over his kitchen table, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot.

De Santo was baffled at first, but now she has a theory.

Michael started off as a customer, but she became his confidant. Once, after one of her pep talks, Michael told her, "You make me feel as if I can conquer the world."

Maybe Michael had to settle affairs in this world before he could move on to the next, De Santo said.

"A lot of times when a person dies tragically, there's a certain amount of guilt or turmoil," she said. "I don't think they leave this Earth. They stay here. I think he kind of felt he had unfinished business. He needed to say goodbye."

And so he did, she said. This is how she described their last conversation:

As they chatted face to face in the doorway of her shop, De Santo said they never touched, never even shook hands. But she didn't remember anything unusual about him -- no disembodied voice, no translucent body, no "I see dead people" vibe as in the movie "The Sixth Sense."

"I'm in a really good place now," she recalled him saying.

There were, however, two odd details she noticed at the time but couldn't put together until later, she said.

When she first opened the door to greet Michael, she said she felt an unsettling chill. Then she noticed his face -- it was grayish and pale.

And when she held the door open for him, he refused to come in. He just chatted before finally saying, "Thanks again, Nina."

Michael then smiled at her, turned and walked away into the winter's night.

Its A Wonderful Afterlife Volume One and Volume Two are now available in print and kindle

Just a quick note to say that the books are available in kindle and print on demand from Amazon. If you click on the boxes to the right and left of this post, you'll find links to them.

Volume One has scientists talking about consciousness in the afterlife, includes near death experiences and between-life sessions.

Volume Two has more scientists talking about consciousness, interviews with hypnotherapists, and interviews with people who claim to be speaking from the great beyond.  If you want to get the latest in research about what happens after we die, these two volumes dive in feet first.

We're having a book launch event towards the end of the month.  So please tune in for that, as there will be DISCOUNTS on all versions of it, in honor of the "day of the dead."  If you can wait that long.

Thanks for tuning in!!!

Here's something from the vault "It's a Wonderful Afterlife."

Its A Wonderful Afterlife Volume One and Two now Available on Kindle

Ta-daaa....

Drum roll please.

It's a Wonderful Afterlife Volumes One and Two are now in Kindle.

They're also in paperback at CreateSpace, but it will take a few days to link them up to the Kindle editions.

For all of you who've helped, THANK YOU.

I will get all the links working as soon as I can.  At the moment, Volume One is linked to film reviews from one of my feature films "Point of Betrayal" - kind of funny, that.  I had to kill the DVD listing to keep my book listing. 

Why two volumes?

Because it's over 700 pages of LBLs, NDEs, interviews with scientists and others about the Flipside.  

I apologize for the verbosity - but it is what it is.

And it is what it should be.

I hope you have as much fun examining this research as I had digging it up!!!!

Here are some links:

ITS A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE VOLUME ONE

IT'S A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE VOLUME TWO

HERE'S A LINK TO THE ORIGINAL BOOK AND AUDIO BOOK FLIPSIDE

LINKS TO THE FILM DOCUMENTARY FLIPSIDE

Don't blame me.  

I'm only a messenger boy.

Deepak Chopra's Million Dollar Consciousness Challenge

Deepak Chopra's One Million Dollar Challenge to the Skeptics

“Please explain the so-called normal, how does electricity going to the brain become the experience of a 3D world of space and time. If you can explain that, then you get a million dollars from me."  

Deepak Chopra 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up6GqgBK5Qo

So the world's foremost "gadfly of consciousness" has issued a challenge (ala the skeptics of the planet and "the amazing randi" and his "million dollar challenge" to prove ESP) to prove what "reality" is.  (for randi's challenge: http://www.skepdic.com/randi.html)

Let's start with the definition of skeptic.  

The definition of skeptic is: 

A person who doubts the truth or value of an idea or belief: (Cambridge Edition) or

noun

1.

a person who questions the validity or authenticity of something 
purporting to be factual.

2.

a person who maintains a doubting attitude, as toward values, 
plans,statements, or the character of others.

3.

a person who doubts the truth of a religion, especially Christianity, 
or of important elements of it.

4.

(initial capital letter) Philosophy.

1. a member of a philosophical school of ancient Greece, the earliest
2. group of which consisted of Pyrrho and his followers, who
3. maintained that real knowledge of things is impossible.
4. any later thinker who doubts or questions the possibility 
5. of real knowledge of any kind.

A skeptic is someone who doesn't believe in the prevailing school of thought.  

And the prevailing school of thought about consciousness is this: it all arises in the brain. 

Forget for a moment about the "paranormal."  Let's define "normal" for a moment. 

What's happening in the brain? Why is it self aware or thinking?  When a child remembers a past life are they delusional? When a person hears a voice and steps back from a speeding car racing by, and no one is around - who told them to step back?  Is everything we see and hear created by the brain?  

Or is it created somewhere else?

I would argue that Deepak's challenge to prove reality - or consciousness - is like those who want to disprove the paranormal.  First we have to agree on the definitions of what we're talking about - and in so doing we have to agree on each particular word, perhaps even agree on the particular letters. Skeptic or sceptic.  We can't even agree on the danged word to begin with.

But let's put this to rest, shall we?  Let's answer the million dollar challenge.  "Explain the so-called normal, how does electricity going to the brain become the experience of a 3D world of space and time?"  

The answer is pretty simple. 
(Profoundly simple, simply profound.)

Consciousness works just like an FM receiver works.  The brain is an instrument that has been honed and altered over millennia, but functions the same way that an FM receiver does.  

The consciousness receiver by Yamaha

There are filters to keep certain information out (below 20 Hz or above 20K hz aren't accessible) the amperage only goes so high, the output is onlyo so many watts per channel, otherwise we would blow the speakers.  The receiver is off when it is in the womb, until about the 4th month (according to the many reports I've gathered from NDEs or LBLs) and then the receiver is turned on (people claim we "merge" with the fetus around the 4th month). 

There's a lot more information that is available to the receiver then it initial receives while it boots up. 

It takes about 7 years for all the circuits to actually form and shape themselves until the back and forth ability to experience other wave lengths eventually becomes moot. (Just the way some kids can remember past lives but no longer do after the age of 7 or 8 - others can experience other dimensions or pick up signals from other realms (just the way bees can see other visible spectrums), and others have different frequencies accessible to them, as mediums do).  

But ultimately, the receiver is accessing information that is being broadcast to it - it translates that information into dreams, hopes, and consciousness.  

Each receiver is different, or at least different enough so that no two circuit boards are the same (even identical twins have different dreams and moments of consciousness - sometimes they can feel what the other twin is feeling, but that's because the receivers are so similar - but not exactly the same.)

However, there is a fundamental difference in this model that I'm describing, and this is why it's worth a million bucks.

Because it's not based on karma or previous editions of the same receiver - the conscious mind exists as a sub unit in this other realm, or the realm outside the receiver and CHOOSES which receiver its going to work with based on a number of factors that have mostly to do with compassion (or agreements, or helping others). 

Not all receivers have all their dials and switches intact however, and when a person chooses a faulty one things can go awry - it's a bit like cranking up the tunes, turning all the dials to 10 at once - you may think that's going to work in theory, but it can actually overheat the system, blow speakers, or cause damage to the system.  However, you wouldn't know that unless you tried it once or twice.  (or over a few lifetimes).

I've laid this all out in my work; "Flipside: ATourist's Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife" (#1 in all its genres at amazon twice) and the two volumes of the new work that interviews scientists that prove my theory (called "It's A Wonderful Afterlife" - volume one is available now, and volume two soon to come.)  This theory is based on the past 6 years of filming people under deep hypnosis, and then expanding the research into near death experiences, out of body experiences, and the scientists who have been on the cutting edge of studying consciousness (Dr. Bruce Greyson at UVA - see his "Is Consciousness Created by the Brain?" on youtube) and Mario Beauregard, a neuroscientist in Montreal (wrote "Brain Wars") RobertThurman and Gary Schwartz PhD ("Sacred Promise"). 

When you combine the research you can see pretty clearly that the brain functions as a receiver of information - but like an FM receiver in your home, it is limited by its construction but at the same time can play some pretty awesome tunes.  

The music isn't created by the machine itself, but it does an amazing job of translating waves and energy into sound.  The same happens with the brain, but in a much more multifaceted, multidimensional way - but the function is the same.  

Consciousness doesn't come straight from the source to our unit - then all the units would play the same song.  We exist as fully formed individuals between lives, and send about a third of our spirit energy to any particular incarnation. (This is based on the over 10K interviews done under hypnosis by Dr. Michael Newton and Dr. HelenWambach).  

According to one person we would "blow the circuits" if we brought too much energy to a lifetime.  Just the way we would "blow the circuits" if we had all of our consciousness downloaded into the FM receiver at once.

When we come here, we do so to learn and teach - and there are filters in place so we don't remember all of our previous lifetimes.  A bit like random access memory (RAM), so that not all the information is accessible at one time.  That function is two fold - we don't spend all day thinking about all of our different lifetimes, and we're able to focus on the obstacles and joy in the one we're currently in.  

We spend our lifetime (or life of the FM receiver) making people happy (happy tunes) or sad (catharsis is involved) as we affect and change and learn from every song we play, every function we perform. And at the end, our circuits eventually burn out.  However, just like the many studies of the brain, people do suddenly access their consciousness at death - in England, the reports are as high as 70% of nurses with alzheimers patients that claim in the last minutes, sometimes hours, sometimes days prior to death, they suddenly are lucid and remember their lifetime with clarity. (For the cite for this see the above talk given by Dr. Greyson - it's statistical research, not hopeful speculation.) 

And after these folks have died, autopsies reveal that their brain was not capable of these "higher functions" - that there's no earthly or physical reason they should have been able to be fully conscious and speak with clarity about their lives. 

The reason is because as the brain and body have died, the filters that keep out consciousness have "died" as well - and are shut off.  Unfortunately it's only for a few minutes, or hours, or even days - but it allows loved ones to say goodbye. What I'm talking about her are scientific results that are consistent and are replicable.  And at the heart of science is the idea that if you can repeat an experiment under certain conditions, whatever the result is the answer, whether we like that answer, whether we believe that answer, whether it's worth a million dollars or not.  

And that, my dear Deepak (whom I met once many years ago in La Jolla) is the answer to your million dollar question.  The electricity that goes to the brain functions just like the electricity that goes to power up a receiver of music.  

It's not the receiver that is creating the 3D experience, the electricity is just powering up the unit that receives, processes and filters the information its receiving (which you could call radiating waves of consciousness (in a back and forth conversation with our higher selves) that allow us to experience reality.  

Once all the circuits of the receiver are up and running, it can process its own myriad of information, including bodily function - but the "mind" or "consciousness" that makes us aware of our world around us comes from elsewhere, works with the circuits in the particular unit and creates (or helps formulate) who we are in temporary, yet high fidelity form. Crank up the volume.

Hope this helps.  Rich Martini

For the book It's A Wonderful Afterlife:
https://www.createspace.com/4733624

Flipside Documentary Gaiam

In Kindle and book

Flipside in Kindle or Book

Typos Typos Typos!!!

Argh.  It's been pointed out that there were a number of typos in the first edition Kindle version of "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" volume one.  http://www.amazon.com/Its-Wonderful-Afterlife-Adventures-Flipside-ebook/dp/B00NJB8UTU

As someone pointed out - "When you're talking about a topic that demands accuracy in reporting, typos don't cut it."

I heartily agree.  (Or is that I agree heartily?)

I worked for some years as an assistant to the great screenwriter Robert Towne ("Chinatown").  He would hand me his yellow pad and say "type it up."

Robert Towne, yours truly, Caleb Deschanel on set of "Personal Best" foto by Steve Vaughan

So I'd go over the yellow pad carefully, and then, when using his Selectra with Elite 10 font, I would correct those words that seemed mispelled, or when he would use two dots .. instead of three ...

I brought him the pages and he said "what's this? You edited me Martinus?" (he like to refer to me in the Latin singular)

It was kind of like talking to God, and he looks at you and says "What were you thinking?"

So I went back and redid the pages - exactly as he'd printed them.

To say that I have a penchant for creating my own syntax and punctuation is an understatement. In a world where we are autocorrected at every step of the way, the art of writing is morphing before our eyes. And I'm helping that along.

But that's not excuse for dropping words in the middle of sentence (see? I dropped one on purpose) or other sundry mistakes.

Sorry about that.

The good news is that we live in a world where typos can be fixed pretty fast, and the new file can be uploaded before the cows come home, or the rooster crows.  So I've done that.

Anyone who feels they've gotten a lousy version, please let me know and I'll send the newer version.

I'm also just finishing up VOLUME TWO.  Yay.  So that (with its typos) will appear on Kindle in a few days.

And then I will do the audio versions of the books and hang up my afterlife cleats.  For now.




Thanks for tuning in.

RM

"It's A Wonderful Afterlife" Volume One now in print and in Kindle

Ta-daaa! Volume One of "IT'S A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE: FURTHER ADVENTURES IN THE FLIPSIDE" is online and in print. Be the first on your block to see what more folks have to say on the Flipside. Many thanks to all of you who've crowd funded this endeavor. (Yes, I will be sending your swag asap!). There are two editions so far, one in kindle, the other in print on demand through createspace. That will expand in the coming days to Amazon POD. Here's the link for the kindle version. Thanks to everyone involved! Volume Two is in the hands of the editor, and inshallah, god willing, will be in print within the month. The audio book for volume one as well.

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Its-Wonderful-Afterlife-Adventures-Flipside-ebook/dp/B00NJB8UTU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410718778&sr=8-1&keywords=It%27s+A+Wonderful+Afterlife%3A+Further+Adventures+in+the+Flipside+%28Kindle+Edition%29

In Print: https://www.createspace.com/4733624

Best Selling Author of "Flipside" (#1 in its genre at Amazon twice!)

"It's A Wonderful Afterlife: Further Adventures into the Flipside" takes a quantum leap forward into the afterlife, includes interviews with scientists discussing the source of consciousness, comparing near death experiences (NDE) with between life sessions (LBL), and includes interviews with people who claim to be speaking from the afterlife.  There are a new between life sessions with astounding claims of contact with the afterlife, with experiencing God and understanding life's journey.

Volume One includes a Foreword by Charles Grodin, interviews with scientists dealing with consciousness outside the brain; Mario Beauregard Neuroscientist ("Brain Wars") Dr. Bruce Greyson, the father of NDE research, the research of Dr. Helen Wambach along with that of Dr. Michael Newton ("Journey of Souls"). It includes interviews with near death experiencers David Bennett ("Voyage of Purpose"), Jeremy Kagan, Dr. Rajiv Parti and Jeffry Martini.   Book interviews Newton trained hypnotherapist Scott De Tamble, compares accounts of Dr. Eben Alexander ("Proof of Heaven") and Colton Burpo ("Heaven is for Real.")

The author explores his own unconventional journey to this research, and includes a between life session of his own.  Interspersed throughout are transcripts of actual between life sessions with some very unusual folks who have clear memories not only of their previous lives, but of the between lives realm where they claim to have chosen their current lifetime. 

Extensively researched, breathtaking in scope, "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" takes the reader on a wild ride, across the yellow brick road, into the Great Beyond. 

Praise for "Flipside"

"Richard has written a terrific book. Insightful, funny, provocative and deep; I highly recommend it!"  
Robert Thurman ("Why the Dalai Lama Matters")

"Everyone should have a Richard Martini in their life."
Charles Grodin ("Just When I Thought I'd Heard Everything!")

"Inspiring, well written and entertaining. The kind of book where once you have read it, you will no longer be able to see the world in the same way again."Gary E. Schwartz PhD ("The Sacred Promise")

“We viewed “Flipside” last night and were blown away about how good it is; the visuals were outstanding - the care taken in putting it all together really shows.”Michael Newton (“Journey of Souls”) (about the film version of “Flipside”)

Last call for Afterlife support!

I don't know where I'd be without your support. Thank you to everyone who has donated to the book and the research! It's been a long haul, and I'm happy to say I'm thisclose to Volume One of "It's A Wonderful Afterlife" appearing in print. Just waiting for the proof to arrive to give it that twice over.

For those of you who've already purchased an advance copy I will let you know as soon as it passes muster so I can arrange to get you one. As mentioned there are two volumes - the first includes a number of interviews with scientists, hypnotherapists and includes some select transcripts of recent between life hypnosis sessions that I've filmed and edited. The second volume picks up on the Flipside of that, with more between life sessions and some other unusual accounts I've gathered from people who've been in contact with loved ones who are no longer on the planet. They're both unusual and sweeping in scope. 

Again, thanks for the support, every penny has been needed and well spent in this effort. Hope you all have a wonderful labor day weekend!

Tibet House Flipside Book Talk "Route 66"

For those of you who couldn't make it - here it is.

Best,

Rich

Thoughts on Robin Williams

I met Robin once.  It was over dinner at a friend's house, and I was at a table with him and Charles Grodin.  He was gracious and friendly, and for some reason took the opportunity for polite chatting, rather than flights of fancy.  I didn't get a chance to tell him that I had also been in the Harvey Lembeck comedy workshop for a number of years, and had heard of his legendary performances in class.  That I too was a huge fan of Jonathan Winters, and that I'd had the good fortune to spend a number of lunches with him as his favorite table at Musso & Frank's restaurant in Hollywood.

That I had once asked Jonathan a question about his father, and how that had sent him into a flight of fancy that took us to the revolutionary war, and fighting with indians, but then realizing we were on the wrong side... but being aware of his difficulties with his Marine corps dad, I knew that the reason we'd gone down this path was because his father was a trigger for him in some ways - that to avoid discussing something of great pain for him, he went into a place of great comedy - so when he was done with 45 minutes of this amazing improvisation, I was able to pick up the sentence we had begun with.  "So I take it you don't want to discuss your dad?"  To which he roared with laughter.

Robin Williams knew how to roar with laughter.  David Letterman ran a tribute to him the other day, where Robin was frequently throwing his head back, roaring like a lion with laughter - David had said something that allowed him to release that laugh - which included a kick back of the head, chin pointed skyward, his legs stretched out - literally roaring with comic gesture.

I read that his friend Rob Schneider raised his voice against the drug he was using to treat his Parkinson's - one of the side effects is suicide.  It's a flag that needs to be raised, because someone so near and dear to the planet, could be given a lethal dose of something that was meant to help him.  And I say lethal because we don't know what the drug was that was given to him - he had a history of depression - and was likely given a myriad of drugs to help with that as well.

I'm told by a doctor friend of mine that there is a simple test for determining whether a person can handle SSRI drugs.  That's seratonin inhibitor drugs - black box warning drugs - the kinds that are commonly prescribed to everyone.  I'm told by this doctor that up to 15% of the population is allergic to these drugs, and the side effect is either suicide, or killing someone else.  Their brains are literally taken over by the drug, morality disappears, and the "flight or fight" trigger turns into a literal trigger.

Congress held hearings on these drugs in the 90's because they were being prescribed for everything from exhaustion to depression - and the results were about 10% of the people were killing themselves.  Every single mass shooting since Columbine has had these drugs involved in the shooter - either in the past, or currently.

So what was the drug that Robin Williams was on? It's not been published. Of course if it was a safe drug, you'd think they'd publish that.

I point everyone to the institute of mental health's own webpage, where they posted a warning that medical professionals were prescribing psychotropic (SSRI) drugs to children that hadn't been tested. That they didn't recommend prescribing them to any one under 25.  I found this posting while doing a casual search - but it had been taken down, it was cached.

The argument goes like this; "well, he was depressed, so we don't know if the depression caused suicide."  Or "The shooter was being treated for depression - so we don't know if depression caused this senseless shooting."  Meanwhile - these drugs are being marketed on TV nightly - they read the side effects while showing images of people riding bikes happily - they should be forced to show the real effects of their drugs without trials.  I won't get into that graphic.

We know that drugs have helped many people.  Many have written to me saying "they wouldn't be alive without the SSRI drugs" they've been prescribed.  Okay, that's fine - but what about the 15% who could have learned they were allergic to these drugs?  What do we tell their families?

I encourage everyone who is thinking of taking a drug to really, really read the side effects carefully.  Read the studies they did to get approved - they're online.  Read what others have done with these drugs - get a second opinion.  Consider alternate therapy.  What happens when these drugs change the "fight or flight" trigger in the amygdala is to cause a person to think nonstop about doing themself in.  And after days or weeks of that, they often succeed - or pick up a weapon and find another way to release that energy.

Finally, look into Tonglen.  Prof. Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin has proven that tonglen can "alleviate or cure depression" in his monumental study of meditation.  He's proven in a scientific way that meditation can change the shape of the amygdala.  So depression is not a death sentence - it's a clarion call that something is wrong - either in the person's environment, either in their diet, either in where they live, who they live with - something is causing the depressions.  It's not there normally - and even if it's genetic, it can still be dealt with.  "One sessions of meditation can change the shape of the amygdala."  It's worth checking into.

And in terms of Parkinson's - I have a close friend with a serious case of Parkinson's.  It's altered her life immeasurably.  But I filmed her during a deep hypnosis session where she examined her subconscious as to why and how she got Parkinson's - and saw the answers.  She understood what had happened mentally that cause her physically to get sick.  And during the 6 hour session she had no Parkinson's.  Her shaking went away and she was basically speaking and talking normally during the session.  The hypnotherapist pointed it out to me as he looked over his shoulder and said "look!"  Her profound shaking had stopped, except for one finger that was curling softly as she spoke.  When she came back to consciousness, all her symptoms returned.  She can't drive, so I drove her to the session.

So if Parkinson's can be changed or eliminated during a hypnosis session, is it possible to find a way to continue that process?  And if Robin Williams was given the alternative - to do a hypnotherapy session every day of his life if need be - wouldn't that be something he'd like to have a choice of?

I urge everyone to take Robin's death not as an example of someone who is depressed who did themselves in, but as someone who gave us something to learn from.

But he's not dead.  He's just not here.

Suicide is a tricky subject. I can only weigh in on the Flipside research. We all choose to come to the planet to learn and teach lessons; we are not here by mistake or happenstance. Each has their own path and journey, each has a myriad of reasons how they choose to experience the journey here or for exiting the stage.

Once we wrap our minds around the fact that we don't die, or in this case can't die, then the matter of our leaving the stage is one of logistics. Do we judge an entire life or performance on how an actor leaves the stage?

"Yes, I loved the play, the first and second act were great, but you tripped as you came off stage and that I cannot forgive. Two thumbs way down." We tend to write reviews on how an actor exits: "A belt, a plastic bag, a box of pills" and ignore those who are checking themselves out with each cigarette, each shot of whisky, each time they drink and drive and/or text. Are they any less "guilty" of choosing the manner of their death than others just because it happens to be a slow lingering exit?

We applaud those who managed to stay on stage til the last breath, surrounded by loved ones, whether its Betty Bacall or the world's oldest man, and wag our fingers at deaths we don't applaud, whether Robin or a child in a wedding party taken out by a drone. We've all got a myriad of exits and entrances behind us, and ahead of us - suffice to say its up to us how we manage them.

Again, the research shows that we don't die. That each life is a sacred, precious choice, that we come here to learn and teach and love for many reasons, and the manner of our passing has roots in our own path and journey. Robin is ok, he's fine, he hasn't gone anywhere - he's just not here or visible to us. And that's a damned shame because he lit up the stage, made the entire planet stand laugh, and there's nothing more healing than laughter.

I have compassion for those who suffer from debilitating depression, and hope they examine methods like tonglen to regain their health, and I bow to their choice of choosing a difficult life that includes stones in their path. As I also stand in applause for Robin's choice to share his wit and charm with the planet during the time he was onstage. Why he exited in the middle of the second act is only known to him. Perhaps that plot twist will be revealed one day as well. My two cents."

And finally one more story - also true:

I was in a bodega in NY helping the owner speak to a family from Spain. After I asked where he was from. He said Nepal. I told him the quick story about our son remembering a life as a monk in Nepal, how it was his 1st sentence to me. As I was telling him some of the stories which verified his sentence, which was something beyond my understanding, the owner asked if he could see a picture of him.

I showed him a pic of the 9 yeard old smiling on a couch. The shopkeeper closed his eyes and said a prayer, moving his hand from his heart to his lips to his forehead. He then looked at the photo and said "you can see it In his face; serenity."

I then realized the man was weeping, tears rolling down his cheeks. The shop owner wiped his tears and said "thank you. That was very powerful."

I told him the story our son once told us - when I sat him down to tell him his grandmother was going to pass away, and to prepare him for her funeral I said the next time he saw her she'd be in a box.

He picked up a bottle of water and said "its ok dad, spirit is like water. Watch." He took the bottle and threw it on the floor, stomped on it until the bottle was crushed and broken. Then he picked it up and showed it to me - the bottle was half full and the cap was on but the outside was crushed beyond recognition. He said "you see dad? The water is ok."

Our bodies may get crushed and old and broken, we may do things to them and check out early - but the spirit, like water, will always be ok. Our loved ones, no matter how they leave the planet, will always be okay."

The water is always ok.

photo courtesy Rita Wilson, all rights reserved

Here's a foto Rita Wilson posted of her last dinner with Robin and her husband Tom.  Robin in Pacet! RIP

Tibet House Flipside Book Talk Aug 8th Free Event 7-8 PM NYC

http://www.gofundme.com/FlipsideTheSequel

Getting ready to speak at Tibet House Friday August 8th from 7-9 in NYC. Hope you can make it, it's a free book launch event. Copies of Flipside in book and DVD will be available for sale at the event. For details and to RSVP, please click this link: http://tibethouse.us/programs/full-calendar/view/706604/114

The book is nearly finished. It's two volumes, and wife Sherry has been editing both of them. We're hoping no later than the end of this month. But meanwhile, I interviewed author and near death experiencer David Bennett - "Voyage of Purpose." and have adapted this interview into a chapter of the book. I highly recommend watching it below for a sample of what's to come.

David had a NDE when he was a science officer aboard a research ship. He kept the journey to himself for over a decade, and then relived the event during a meditation. His memory of it was so vivid that Dr. Bruce Greyson (also interviewed in the book) studied his case at the University of Virginia. David also has had an LBL - a between-life hypnotherapy session with a Michael Newton trained therapist, which allowed him to examine the event in greater detail.

David is also a cancer survivor. What makes his story so unique is that he saw during his NDE that he would survive the illness, so when a (new) doctor came in to tell him the awful news he had six weeks to live, he was able to reply "Yes, I know. But it's okay because I will I survive this." The doctor and the hospital staff thought he was in denial about his impending death. But because David had already seen during his NDE that he would survive the illness, he was able to forge ahead with both traditional and non traditional efforts to heal him. His recovery is complete and truly a miracle. He's written eloquently about it in his book "Voyage of Purpose" which is available online.

But you can watch this wonderful interview for free, and it is a chapter in the book, so it's like getting a taste of what's to be. I appreciate everyone's financial support, I can see the finish line, but your help is needed now more than ever. If there's any donation you can make, it's really needed at the moment. I can't thank all of you angels enough, but only to say think of it as an advance against me sending you your own copy of the book (and a free link to the DVD). It's a futures contract on the book to come. 

Thank you again! And thanks to David for the interview!!!! It's an hour long, but it's an hour of your life you will not regret, nor soon forget. best, RM