Last shot of the day on a film set, also the last name of the author of this blog. Martin - Latin singular, those soldiers who work for Mars, God of War. A smith. In this lifetime of words, music and film. AKA "The Afterlife Expert" (Coast to Coast AM) If you want to reach me, I can be found on FB, LinkedIn, or Gmail under MartiniProds (my youtube channel)
"Jonathan Taub isn’t a big believer in this sort of thing. He tries to be rational when he says, “For the people who believe in that, they were moved.” And yet he allows that the series of events was “funky.” He decides to stay with that word, but it’s clear he’s considering other words. Stronger words." Casey spends his whole life pointing to a stunt he's going to pull off once he's off the planet. People ignore him... until he can't be ignored. "What are the odds that the goal would be scored at the precise second that reflects the number he'd chosen to represent himself as?" Well, it's not about coincidence. It's about understanding the nature of consciousness. How while we're on the planet, some part of us (and people claim it's the majority of our energy) is always "back home" - back there, back in the place that isn't here - call it heaven, call it the flipside, call it a cheese sandwich. But the reports are consistent, people say the same things about the flipside every time I turn on my camera. That we aren't just here - but we're also back there as well. Only we can't see it - we choose not to see it - or we see it and move on. In this case... "hey #22, thanks for the reminder that life goes on."
When the clock struck 22:22 … by Eric Adelson Columnist Yahoo Sports
Casey Taub (photo from Jonathan Taub via Yahoo sport)
Casey Taub picked 22 for his jersey number when he was in fourth grade. A lot of soccer kids choose 10 or 9, which tend to be the numbers of the sport’s biggest stars, but the boy from Chappaqua, New York, went with 22 and stuck with it. Nobody really knows why.
It was kind of appropriate, though. Casey was a bit more worldly and wise than the typical 9- or 10-year-old. He would go up to adults at his parents’ parties and strike up conversations. He loved history – so much that as a child he put a mustache of soapsuds on his face in the bathtub and told his mom he was President Chester A. Arthur. His dad, Jonathan, used to wonder, “How is there a 40-year-old man trapped in a 10-year-old body?” Casey wasn’t quite like a 40-year-old, though. Closer to 22.
He was 14 when he came down with what his parents’ thought was vertigo. After a battery of tests, though, there was an unthinkable reason for the dizziness: brain cancer. “Initially I thought it was something a lot of kids recover from,” Jonathan says. “Then we saw it was a mutated tumor, which you never want to hear.” A high school sophomore immediately faced a challenge most never have to fathom.
At one point, Casey looked at his father and asked, “Am I going to die?”
“You immediately tell him, ‘No.’ ” Jonathan says. “What do you do? You pray.”
He gets emotional as he remembers this conversation. He says he would have said “No” even if the doctors gave Casey zero chance. There was a chance for Casey, just not a terribly fair one.
He would need bravery beyond his years, and in some ways he would turn to soccer for support. So would his dad. There were six weeks of radiation, five days a week. There were three surgeries. Over many months there was progress, but as the doctors explained, treatment was “like trying to catch up to a speeding car.” Casey wore his 22 jersey as often as he could, but the chemo weakened him too much to play.
He chose London for his Make-A-Wish. He wanted to meet his beloved Chelsea team. He also got introduced to some of the players on NYCFC back home. Forward Khiry Sheltonkept in touch, and he sat with Casey in the hospital. He stayed not for a few minutes, but for hours.
Still, many of the closest relationships for Casey were on his own team. It was hard for him to watch Horace Greeley High play without him, but he became a team manager. Soccer brought him to a place of comfort.
And that made it that much harder when Casey began to struggle even more this past summer.
“When his vision got blurry, when May hit, he really started not wanting to talk to his friends anymore,” Jonathan says. “They’d come over, and just sit with him.”
He gets choked up.
“He soldiered through a lot of stuff,” he says. “He was a trooper. He never gave up.”
Casey Taub entered the hospital the weekend before July 4. He passed away on the 9th. He was 16.
There were 800 people at the funeral. And that would have been enough of a tribute. But there would be one more, at least: a varsity soccer match dedicated to him. It was his teammates’ idea.
“I was all for it,” Jonathan says, searching momentarily for the right words. “For some reason, still, in a way, it sort of gave me comfort that Casey … that I’m still connected to him.”
The decision was made to honor Casey during the 22nd minute, a nod to his number. The fans and players on the sideline would clap for the duration of that minute as the game went on.
The minute came and the ovation began somberly. Then came an unplanned spike in noise and a loud crescendo: Matt LaFortezza, a senior captain on Horace Greeley, scored a goal. The moment was so special that it took another for the crowd to realize: the goal came at 22:22.
Was it cosmic when Horace Greeley High scored at 22:22 during a game honoring its late teammate who wore No. 22? (Courtesy of Jonathan Taub)
“When they started the clapping thing I was OK,” says Jonathan. “As it kept going on, I was overcome. When the goal was scored I was crying and everyone was comforting me.”
Jonathan Taub isn’t a big believer in this sort of thing. He tries to be rational when he says, “For the people who believe in that, they were moved.”
And yet he allows that the series of events was “funky.” He decides to stay with that word, but it’s clear he’s considering other words. Stronger words.
Even if the time of the goal was completely random, the gesture of the game and the tribute was certainly not. Casey’s friends and even his team’s opponents wanted to do something symbolic, and because of that, something even more symbolic happened. Maybe it’s cosmic, maybe not. Who knows? But if anything, 22:22 is a promise to a father and a family that moments with Casey will be easy to remember long after his teammates have left the fields where they all played.
But this story brings another Flipside story to mind. That of Dave Schultz, the wrestler who was murdered by Dupont, the story was told in "Foxcatcher."
Dave Schultz Olympic Wrestler
The part of the story that wasn't told was the eulogy that Phillip Schultz, his father gave at his funeral. In the eulogy, he recounted how the young Dave had come to him and said "Dad, can I tell you a secret?" And how his son had walked him outside of earshot of others behind their home. He said "Dad, I had a meeting with my council, these old wise men who said I could come down here to teach a lesson in love." He dad listened, not sure what to make of his story of this council of old wise men. He said "Okay." His son then said, "But dad, I won't be here very long." His father Phillip had not remembered that conversation until his son's passing. Council? Elders? Not here for very long? I've been filming people under deep hypnosis for over a decade now. And in all 40 sessions, people recount a time when they went to "visit their council" and spoke to them about the life they were planning, or the life that had just happened. Each council is there for each individual to see how they've done in this lifetime. Each council tries to help the soul remember why they chose a particular life and what lessons they are here to teach or learn. In Dave's case - it was a "Lesson in love." To whom? For whom? I don't know, but we'd have to ask Dave. It could be for Dave himself, it could be for his loved ones, it could be for those who loved him from afar. Lessons in love are not easy to explain, nor easily defined. But he knew what his lesson was going to be - even as a 5 year old. He also knew that he "wasn't going to be here for very long." It's a rare gift to know how long we're going to be on the planet, but if your child told you that he or she wouldn't be here for very long, I would do everything in my power to convince their guides that they should be here for very long - I don't know if I would be successful at it, but I'd do everything in my power to give them the opportunity to learn and teach and experience and feel as much as they could. But I would also be aware that when we leave this earthly plane we're not gone. We're just not here. We're just not accessible. We learn lessons in love every day. And this is one from Casey Taub (via Dave Schultz.)
So someone mentioned me on Quora and I felt compelled to respond. And respond. And respond. Have been responding for a few days, wondering "what am I doing responding?" Chances are these questions are computer generated. But maybe the computers need answers too.
But since these questions may be universal, here's a sampling: Q: If there’s an after-life, is there an after-after life? It’s a great question. First of all, when trying to define the ineffable, we spend a lot of time using words that we can’t define. So - what’s the definition of life to begin with? If you look it up, the definition of life is “not dead.” Okay, that’s nice. But doesn’t really help. Because the definition of dead is… wait for it… “not alive.” So we have a conundrum. How do we “know we’re alive?” Our thinking on the topic stems from “I think therefore I am.” (Or as I like to paraphrase it for Buddhist philosophy “I think therefore I am not.”) But either answer really doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. What’s an afterlife, if we can’t really define what life is other than “not dead?” I’m frequently asked “So then what happens?” in my public talks about the afterlife. (MartiniProds on youtube). I report what people consistently say about the afterlife either under deep hypnosis (as pioneered by Michael Newton, or Dr. Helen Wambach) or compare those reports to what people say about the afterlife during a near death event. And the way I parse near death events from imagination, or “cryptomnesia” (having heard, seen or experienced what you’re seeing during your past life memory or during your NDE) by examining “new information.” Information that you could not have known, did not know, but learned from your experience interacting with someone on the flipside, or “in the afterlife.” These reports are consistent and they are replicable. What people say consistently is that “there is no death.” That your body may cease functioning, but who we are does not. Call it a soul, call it an energetic hologram, call it a cheese sandwich, people say the same things consistently and report the journey in a consistent manner. They claim that those who’ve “done themselves in” are startled to discover they haven’t “ended anything.” That they are then witness to all the stress, sadness and suffering their loved ones may or may not go through once they’ve “crossed over.” Further that their consciousness doesn’t dissipate, or travel to a “pool of other consciousness” (as posited by Jung) but that our consciousness travels to a place they refer consistently as “home.” The place where they originated, a place where they reconnect with the “conscious energy” of theirs that was “left behind” and reconnect with their loved ones. (This is not my theory, opinion or belief in these reports - I’m just reporting them.) So when we talk about the afterlife, we’re already using mistaken terminology. Because there is no “after” if you’re returning home. There’s before, then there’s during, and then there’s what happens next. But it’s never described as a finite place, nor are souls defined as “immortal.” What we learn back there is that we are always changing, always learning, always “filling in the blanks” (and for Buddhist theorists, not that there is no “finite soul”per se - because we are always evolving) - as if we are living lives so that we can earn a degree in consciousness. The degree just happens to be the journey of our souls. So when we speak of the afterlife - think of it in these terms: we’ve gotten off stage. We’ve put away our costumes and props, and we now go back “home” where our pals and loved ones are. They may tease us about our performance, or applaud (usually applause), and at some point they’re going to start bugging us about coming back and “doing it again, but better.” Reportedly we can refuse their suggestions, for whatever reason, but inevitably our loved ones and guides will nudge us into seeing that we really do need to work on a few extra things. And then we choose to come back - perhaps looking over the groups we’ve already been here with, or the folks we’d like to be here with… and together make a plan. Yes, the afterlife of the afterlife — is life. And after we’ve graduated from “all our lives” - might be a long time in earth time, but relatively short over there - we can choose to become a guide or a teacher or someone else of service. Perhaps sit on a council of souls and help guide and teach souls that come before us. These positions are reported consistently, both by people under hypnosis, but also, as of late, by people who are fully conscious, but are just being asked questions (by me, the trusty tour guide) of what and who is on their spiritual council. The results have been nothing short of astounding (to me and them.) The afterlife of the afterlife is life - unless you want to stay back home, or you graduate into another level of service…not unlike a video game.
after a reply: As noted, it’s not a theory, it’s just what people say consistently about the path and journey. People come to the planet by choice - learn the lessons they want to learn and “graduate” to another level. That each lifetime might be a particular lesson in some quality - compassion, love, charity, forgiveness - each person has the opportunity to learn from those lessons (or teach.) In terms of the “progression” - each person has their own journey and path. In order to think of it in terms of “human evolution” we’re constrained by generational divides. People come to the planet - live their average lifespan, pass along as much information as they can, yet we continue to make the same “mistakes”or rehash the same lessons but in different guises. The same is true in a university - each teacher comes with teaching and information, the students pass through the class, but in the next semester, or the next year, or the next four years, new students come without the knowledge and have to go through it on their own. During one of these between life sessions, a woman (who had been a skeptic of the process) found herself in a library with one of her guides and asked “So, is the universe a machine?” He answered “The universe is a mechanism, however it’s sentient.” If that’s accurate, then he’s making the point that the universe learns lessons, or perhaps we all learn lessons eventually. It’s the “100th monkey” discussion (which science has disproven) that a certain amount of a species learns something (how to extract food using a tool) that everyone learns it. Science has shown that to not be the case in humans - but if the knowledge and help of how to navigate the planet is also coming from another source - perhaps the consciousness left behind, as so many claim, then perhaps it makes sense how we can adjust and develop. But finally, once we get to the concept of what “good” is - or what we all might agree the end result of being kinder or “more enlightened” is - or even more intelligent - it’s debatable what the collective is trying to accomplish or learn. Some people claim their entire soul group has numerous lifetimes where they explore or examine the”energy of addiction.” If that’s true, then each time they travel down that path, one could argue they’re not “learning anything.” However, they claim that we do learn more days of tragedy than we do from days of joy. As one person said under hypnosis “You can learn more on this planet from one day of tragedy than you can from 5000 years on some other boring planet.” Perhaps that’s the reason behind incarnating on a “polarized” planet - good and bad - yin and yang. There are many lessons to be learned here, and it makes for a great university.
Q: What's the point of life? First define life. What is it? Is it breathing? Actually the definition of life, if you can believe it, is “not being dead.” And the definition of death is “not living.” So we are already on shaky ground just asking the question. Because it assumes that there is a point or a time, or a stasis where we are not living. And I can tell you that does not exist. We are never not alive. We are never not existing. I can describe the process of coming into being - as reported by people who claim to have knowledge about such things - but suffice to say, once we’re in existence, we don’t blend out of it. We can’t get out of it. No matter how hard someone might try - the conundrum is that those who “choose to no longer be alive” can’t do anything of the sort. They find themselves chagrined to discover that they have not died. (They’ve stressed out everyone they ever met or loved, and they have to deal with that, but that’s another topic.) So let’s start there. You can’t not be living. Ever. Then the question becomes “So why am I here in this physical form? What am I doing here? What’s the point of going through all I’ve gone through to get to this point?” Now that’s a good question. Only one person can answer it. That’s you. So if you don’t know why you chose to come here, why you chose this lifetime, if you don’t know what the lessons are that you came here to learn or to teach; then now’s a pretty good time to start searching for that answer to that. And the first step on that path was asking the question. “What’s the point of my being here?” Only one person can answer it.
Q: Why did God create some humans whom he knows previously that they will go to hell? Isn't being the most merciful a logical reason that he didn't create them? Imagine yourself standing in a theater, watching a play on stage. No matter how bad someone acts in a play, we never chase after the actor after the play is over to rail at them. Actually sometimes people do, certain parts “ruin an actor’s career.” But in general, when watching a play that deals with good and evil, happy or sad events, we’re focused on the lessons that are learned on the stage. What the reports show is that we choose our lifetimes after consulting with our loved ones and fellow travelers “back home” - and choose to play a particular role while here on the planet. During one deep hypnosis session I was filming, a woman who recalled a life which ended in Auschwitz found herself standing before her council of guides and asking them “Why did I agree to sign up for this lifetime? It was horrible and I lost everyone I loved.” She then said (it’s in the book and film “Flipside”) “Oh, there showing me something that’s every hard to describe. I don’t know if I can describe it. But they’re showing me that it was harder to choose to play the role of a perpetrator in this lifetime, than a victim.” Easily the most politically incorrect sentence I’d ever heard.(It was the first time for me filming someone under deep hypnosis - but now I’ve filmed 40 and hear the same kinds of reports often.) She said “every day that I spent in that camp was an intense, heightened lesson in life; the nature of forgiveness, of courage, of compassion, of anger, of hate… each more difficult than the last. But from my perspective, I see why I chose this life rather than the other option.” Not to mitigate anyone’s pain or experience or journey. But when we truly examine the nature of what we’re doing here on the planet, we hear these stories over and over. We are responsible for choosing our journey here. We may get here and not fulfill the promises we made, we may fall short of what we set out to do. But that’s okay, because we do get off stage and go back home. We get to examine all of the other choices we made. In the book “Memories of the Afterlife” one woman in Germany recalled a lifetime as a German soldier. She recalled seeing herself as a man, engaged to marry a beautiful girl in Berlin. But his parents discovered she was Jewish and forbade the marriage. Later, the soldier saw himself on the Swiss border; his job to stop refugees from escaping. He recounted stopping a truck, lining up all the passengers and having them shot. And he recognized his fiancee as one of the people on the truck - but didn’t stop himself from ending her life. He said he was physically ill for days/weeks after, and eventually remembered being shot by a US soldier. And when he left his body and returned “home” - out of the grey mist came his fiancee, holding her arms open for him. And he said “I can’t, I’m so embarrassed, I’m so sorry for what I did to you…” and he/she reported that his fiancee said “Don’t remember? This is what we signed up to experience. We’ve had many lifetimes before, and we’ll have many in the future.” And at that moment recognized her as a colleague at work, and after her between life session, connected with her and they started a company together. Might not be what you expected to hear as an answer, but it is what’s consistently in the reports.
Q: Could our consciousness indeed be our soul? There’s every indication that it is. From a Catholic perspective, look to the original text behind the “holy trinity” - which was “father, son and breath.” If you think of father as being “source” and son as being “human” - then the thing that animates that human (and all sentient creatures) is consciousness. If you think of it from a science point of view - people consistently say that our consciousness returns “home” after life. They claim that when we return “home” we reconnect with the part of our consciousness that we did not bring to this life. When asked why that is, people claim that “there’s too much energy, that bringing the whole package would “blow the circuits.” They further claim that when we return home we connect with the roughly two thirds of our consciousness that is always “back home.” When asked what the two thirds of our consciousness is doing back home while we’re here struggling to get through life, the answers are consistent; going to class with fellow travelers, (these classrooms have been described in numerous places, including Michael Newton, Dr. Helen Wambach, Galen Stoller’s “My Life after Life” and other people). I know that sounds disturbing - as it first sounded to me. “Classrooms in the afterlife? Are you kidding? After 18 years of school I thought I was done with classrooms!” But these classes are described as pretty unusual. I’ll leave it at that. But to answer your questions, that appears to be the best way to refer to the soul, since it’s reported to be part of who we are. When we return to reconnect with our other energy back home, we get to see all the previous incarnations we’ve had, and reconnect with all the lessons we’ve learned (and not learned.) It’s who we are. It also explains how when people have an out of body experience, or a near death event, or some other consciousness altering event, they can see or observe, report things that they shouldn’t have been aware of, couldn’t possible have seen. (See Mario Beauregard PhD’s “Brain Wars” where he describes a person telling his doctor about his orange shoes, but this patient was blind from birth; had never seen orange.) Or Dr. Greyson’s hour long talk on youtube “Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain?” for numerous cases where people should not have been able to communicate (death, brain malfunction, loss of brain matter, atrophied brain, etc) but still were able to communicate.
If we think of the brain as a receiver rather than a broadcast unit , complete with filters and volume control, regulating what gets in and out while we’re on the planet, we have a closer picture to how consciousness works.
Q: How can I reconnect with God? "Open your heart to everyone and to all things.” This was the response given by a “spirit guide” to a skeptical film producer who was under deep hypnosis that I filmed for my book “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife.” She had gone into this session not believing that she could access a previous lifetime or anything to do with the afterlife, and on her list of skeptical questions “In case I get anywhere” she included “What or who is God?” Eventually, after a memory of a previous lifetime (details which I was able to verify) she found herself in a giant library with her spirit guide (for lack of a better term.) The guide seemed annoyed by the question about God. His full answer: “You humans feel like by naming something you get a better handle on it. Let me put it this way; God is beyond the capacity of the human brain to comprehend. It’s just not physically possible. But you can experience God. To experience God; open your heart to everyone and to all things.” If you think about that for a moment - how do you open your heart to all people? We live in a conditional love world - “if you love me I’ll love you. I love you until you do something I don’t like.” What people claim is that over there - “back home” it’s an experience of unconditional love. That’s what “god is.” Unconditional love. So that means opening your heart to everyone - even the person who cuts you off in traffic (or builds a wall.) Easy to say, but obviously hard to do. But he added the last part - “and to all things.” What does that mean? I take it to mean that atoms exist in objects in some form of agreement - after all, what’s a pencil but a bunch of wood and lead atoms vibrating together? What keeps them together? Well, they have this right to exist in this space as well, so if I can open my heart to all things - including a pencil, which is composed of the same vibrational energy we are all composed of - then I’m that much closer to “experiencing god.”
So to reconnect with God, I recommend start with mirror. Open your heart to that person first. Unconditional love. Then move that focus to those around you, that you do love on a daily basis, then spread it to those you meet on a daily basis, and finally to those you avoid or hate for reasons you can’t quite elucidate. Because they too come from the same source, and are merely playing roles (perhaps annoying ones) for our benefit. And then… voila, open up that radius of unconditional love to include the pencil, the tree, the car, the book - the earth, this thing we exist on while we’re here. Give the earth unconditional love, and it will repay you a thousand fold.(I made up that last sentence, because it sounds good.)
Q:"Is it realistic to believe in reincarnation?"
Do you believe in gravity? It’s a mental construct to explain something that occurs. Why believe or not believe, and just focus on the data? What’s the data show? Well, if you look at Ian Stevenson’s 30 years of work at UVA, Dr. Jim Tucker’s research at DOPS or Carol Bowman’s research (“Children’s Past Lives”) you’ll find evidence. Detailed examples of children (for the most part) who remember previous lifetimes and their cases are verifiable. Then if you expand your research, you’ll find notable cases of reincarnation in eastern literature, specifically with regard to lamas who remember previous lifetimes. However, I’m happy to add, they remember the previous incarnation for a few years, and then that memory fades. (i.e, the Dalai Lama, who remembered the items he owned as the 13th, but since then, not so much). Why is that? The reports show that children appear to be able to remember previous (verifiable) lifetimes up until about the age or 7 or 8. Some argue that’s when the filters in the brain no longer allow new information, I’ve noted its the age when the skull hardens, perhaps altering the ability to “receive” information that is accessed somehow - the brain acting like a stereo receiver. How do we know there are filters? In Dr. Bruce Greyson’s youtube talk, “Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain?” (reproduced in my book “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife”) he cites the 70% of cases in the UK where Alzheimer’s patients suddenly, spontaneously regain access to their memories “minutes, hours,sometimes days” prior to their death. They somehow have a full memory of their lifetime and can access those memories. However, autopsies of their brains after death show they’d atrophied and should not have been able to access memory. As if the “filters” in the brain had “died” or ceased to function along with other parts of the brain, and yet consciousness returned in those incapable of it. The word “believe” implies that there isn’t evidence of something. The idea of “faith” is to put your mind and heart around something that isn’t verifiable. However, consciousness existing outside the brain is verifiable, and further, points to the answer to the question. “How does reincarnation work?” According to people who claim to have experienced a “memory” of the process - (that is through the research of Dr. Helen Wambach (2000 cases) and Michael Newton (7000 cases)) people under hypnosis claim that the process is the same, has always been the same, and continues to be the same. That once our consciousness (or soul) leaves the physical realm we inhabit, it “returns home” where it sorts out why and how and with who to make the choice to return. They further claim that “this isn’t the only playground.” That people can choose to incarnate elsewhere, in other worlds, but that we like to return to this “difficult polarized realm” because “we can learn more spiritually from one day of tragedy on earth than we can from 5000 years on some boring planet.” Again, not a theory, not a philosophy, not an argumentative supposition about how things should work; just reporting verbatim what thousands have said while either under hypnosis, during a near death event, or in some other consciousness altered mode where they claim to be able to access this information. And their replies are consistent and replicable. (Which by definition, is what science requires when examining data.)
What’s not realistic is to “believe” we don’t reincarnate. That unrealistic premise leads to people living on a planet they don’t think they’re going to return to, therefore leave it in a state of decay. That would be a “belief” as it is contrary to what these thousands of folks have said consistently.
Well, it's that time of year again. Where we remember where we were, what we were doing, the emotions we felt on 9/11.
My 1st trip to NYC in 1959. A few years prior.
As for me, I was teaching in Maine, I drove through an epic lightning storm to hang with some friend's at Harry Cipriani's Downtown - film director Phillip Noyce and artist Peter Tunney. Crashed at Pete's near Canal Street; dawn brought clear blue autumn skies. I planned to stop at H and H for a couple bags of bagels my film students, but somehow I missed the turn off the Westwide Highway. First indication something was amiss that day; the gas station in CT had a crowd around a TV because "some plane had hit the WTC." I called my then girlfriend Sherry in LA and told her to turn on the tv; I just "neglected" to mention had just been blocks away. I spent the rest of the drive listening to the towers fall on the radio. It was eerie to hear it instead of see it - somewhere near Camden I pulled off to watch it on tv at a hotel. I sat by myself in a chair and sobbed. "Oh... the humanity." A week later wife Sherry made the trip to ground zero - she wanted, needed to see it - but I passed on that visit; it took me over a year to return... just too painful for me emotionally to make that journey.
Another kind of journey in Central Park
Since then I've spoken to many people who claim to have spoken to people on the flipside that describe these events from a spiritual perspective, not "them versus us" - but in terms of what's "meant to be" - and that's what I'm writing about here.
I know a child who when looking at a photograph of the twin towers said "I was there." Her mother, knowing that her daughter had never been to Manhattan, said "When?" She said "I was there with my brother, and there was a giant fire, and we were helping all the people come out, and there was paper everywhere; it came down like snowflakes." Neither she nor her brother had been born prior to this event, and this kid's parents avoided all mention of 9/11 as their kids were growing up, avoiding having to explain that particular tragedy. Their daughter described the event as if she was there. "My brother and I were helping people out."Her brother was an infant when she told this story. But she told it as if it was just something she felt she needed to share. I know a fellow who was in mid meditation in a forest in New Jersey when the towers came down - he was out in the woods meditating when he suddenly saw rows and rows of people floating by. As if they were departing from that scene. He was profoundly moved when he learned later that the tragedy had occurred. In Michael Newton's book, ("Destiny of Souls") he makes reference to a between life session where a client recalled seeing a "room full of people" who had been summoned to discuss an event that was about to occur. It was an "emergency event" and people were being asked to either participate in it, or not. The man claimed that he heard some people being offered incentives - like "if you can suffer through this event, we'll make sure to make it up to you in the next life." People either volunteered to be part of this lesson, or in some cases apparently did not. Michael Newton did not clarify what the event was, when it occurred; but as I read it, the description made me think of those who participated in 9/11. If you consider for a moment that no one dies in these events - indeed, they're gone from this plain, they're no longer physically available to their families or loved ones - that's stressful. No mitigating pain of the loss of a loved one.
In between the towers being down and the Freedom going up.
But when you think of the lessons in love, the advancement they might have by participating in a profound lesson like this - you can see how some folks are willing to offer up the rest of their life in order to teach or learn lessons in love. I know that's hard to wrap our minds around on a day where we "remember" those who've gone before us. But it's no different than going to a funeral, going to a cemetery, honoring our loved ones who've gone before us, no matter their method of crossing over. We honor them by talking about them, by remembering them, by thinking of them, by talking to or about them.
Robin Williams and Radioman in Manhattan (Getty)
It's the best way to memorialize anyone. Talk about them. Think about them. (or in Robin's case, post pix of them - I was looking for another photograph, and when this popped up, it was as if he was saying "post this one! It's me! I'm in Manhattan too!") Say kind words about them, say sarcastic things about them - bring them back to life. Honor them by talking about their accomplishments, their path, their journey. They're not gone. They're just not here. And they can hear you. It's just not that easy to have a two way communication with them, but it's worth trying.
Oh look. Manhattan... with palm trees. (Vegas)
And try to have a little perspective on a day like today.
In my life, the events of 9/11 led to an entirely different set of circumstances, directly responsible for my going on adventures and meeting people whom I admire, consider friends, who are in the vanguard of the fight against what caused these events. So from a different perspective, this day 16 years ago led to other vistas, different venues, and helped clarify paths for many. I know it inspired many to join the military, to fight for their country, to become active in defense of their beliefs and part of their journey. I am reluctant to add that is true on "both sides" of the equation, but I add it because that's what's reported in the research. We sign up for a lifetime knowing pretty well what we want to learn or teach or accomplish. And along the way we're called upon to do something selfless - give of ourselves, to save or help or learn from saving or helping someone else. It's the essence of who we are as humans. And once you begin to realize that we are all souls who choose our lifetimes, then the actions of some can only be seen in light of a bigger picture. Again, I'm not arguing this, or trying to force anyone to change their opinion or belief system. I am reporting what people say about the flipside - consistently - whether they've done a session under deep hypnosis, or had a near death event and been able to examine it under hypnosis, or whether they've had access to the flipside in some other manner. They consistently say these things about it. We learn from our errors, we learn from our mistakes, we learn from having the courage to come to this stage and perform difficult journeys. That's consistent in all the reports. So when remembering a day like today - remember those who gave of themselves to save others, those who risked everything to help others, those who went out of their way to help others. And think for a moment (if it's possible) to consider the choices of those who sacrificed their lives to hurt others, to make life difficult for others - I can't imagine why anyone would make that kind of choice, I can't offer any logic or answer that would give solace or understanding why anyone would choose to play a perpetrator than a victim... but I can report that people claim that some do "offer" to play the role of perpetrator because there's some reason for it. ("They needed to learn a lesson in negativity." "They will be a victim in a future life at the hands of the people they hurt." etc) And perhaps one day that information will become apparent. In my case, I can only choose to honor those I know and love who've gone before me, and I choose to honor or talk about those who've sacrificed themselves to help others. For me it's the essence of why we're on the planet. Unconditional love. So when someone says "Never Forget" - it applies to everyone who has ever been in our path... don't forget them, their voice, their actions or their love - which is all that remains.
People often ask; "So if it's true my loved one still exists on the flipside, why don't I hear from them?" There's a few reasons. One is Mechanics. Did you know that a rainbow is different to every person that sees it? (This factoid from Neil deGrasse Tyson). "The exact Rainbow any of us sees in the sky is entirely our own -- a personal, yet communal gift from the laws of optics."
Double Rainbows: Science.com
Because of the nature of optics, light moving through water droplets, every person sees a rainbow differently. How many of us are old enough to remember rabbit ear antennas? (Raise your hand in the back row; I SEE YOU.)
Endless standing in front of the television trying to get a "clearer signal." When the Sears Tower went up in Chicago (later the Willis Tower) people in the northern suburbs (cake eaters in Chicago parlance) had to deal with ghosting images on their tv sets. It was time to either get on the roof and move that antenna, or run to the tv and move the rabbit ears.
So let's say Aunt Betty wants to connect with you. She sees you sitting in your church pew on Sunday like you always do (in this fantasy anyway) and she "sits down next to you." Only you can't see her. She's amused by the fact that you can't see her, but she wants you to know that she's keeping an eye on you, so she thinks of some way to communicate with you.
She might send you a smell. Maybe it's perfume. It's the old Chanel #5 perfume that you bought her every year for Christmas. And she knows that once she wafts that perfume in your direction, you're going to know that she's visiting you. Now, hang on a second. Is Aunt Betty actually putting on perfume? No. But what is perfume? It's a smell that we smell with our noses. But hang on a second, is that accurate? No, it's not. The smell is a wave of information that drifts through the air to your nostril which then translates that information into an ELECTRICAL SIGNAL which goes from your nose hairs to your brain and hits the corresponding filing cabinet where "Chanel #5" is located. "Your ability to smell comes from specialized sensory cells, called olfactory sensory neurons, which are found in a small patch of tissue high inside the nose. These cells connect directly to the brain. Each olfactory neuron has one odor receptor. Microscopic molecules released by substances around us—whether it’s coffee brewing or pine trees in a forest—stimulate these receptors. Once the neurons detect the molecules, they send messages to your brain, which identifies the smell."
It's the same with visual stimuli. You're not "seeing" anything - as we know, light and images hit your eye UPSIDE DOWN first, and then are translated RIGHTSIDE UP into your head, so you can watch out for that basketball coming at you. "Duck!" But back to Aunt Betty. She's seeing you from a particular perspective - according to Aunt Betty's I've interviewed, she doesn't "hear the minister" droning on, she doesn't hear the choir belting out "Sons of God, Hear His Holy Word" or any other the other distractions in the church at the moment. She's just focused on you. So let's figure that Aunt Betty wants to "send you a signal." How does she do that? Is there a decoder up there? A flip phone for communication? No. What people report is that they have to "do a mathematical equation that results in the desired effect." Sound loopy? Well hell yes, it is loopy! What class did you learn how to do the math that would effect a transmission of a signal of a smell to your loved one? You forgot already?
As I've reported in "Flipside" "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" there are classrooms in the afterlife - let's not call it that, shall we, as it implies "ghostly figures" sitting in classrooms. Let's call it what it is: A CLASSROOM.
University of Wisc
When I say that word I know that everyone has a different visual in their mind. Could have been your class, a friend's class, a classroom you saw in a movie, or even at school. But you alone know what classroom means. I don't know what your classroom might look like - I can only point to ones that I've been in. Here on this planet, and while under deep hypnosis.
Old fashioned class. Eames chairs.
So in this class you were taught this method - and again, try not to focus on the "when" part of this information since we're always going to class - prior to this life, during it, and a long time ago as well. And in this class, which might have just a few folks, might have hundreds, but often is reported to be about "20" individuals - you learned the process of how to "throw a smell." A bit like throwing your voice. There's a trick to it and you have to practice to get the trick down.
So Aunt Betty is sitting next to you, does the complex math problem that creates the "idea of a smell" and sends it to your electrical grid so that you can smell it... and not perhaps, the Eau du Bieber on the person in front of you... and this wave of this wafting luxurious smell comes over you, and you instantly - directly - picture Aunt Betty. And instead of giving her a high five, or blinking through happy tears - you look around. "That's funny. Why am I smelling that old perfume? I haven't smelled that since... since... oh my. Is Aunt Betty here?"
Don't forget, there are dozens of other folks in the room, each has their own focus and energy, and your brain is constantly translating, passing along electrical charges to your mind to help you navigate the day... so not so easy to "see Aunt Betty" as it is to "smell her." This is why they generally don't waste all that time and energy trying to reach out to you until you're asleep. In that way you're blissfully snoozing, and Aunt Betty finds it all that much easier to present herself right smack dab in the middle of your dream.
Sister Evangelina "Call the Midwife" Series
And our friends on the Flipside claim that they do so in a fashion "not to frighten you" (unless they have a silly sense of humor) but to reach out to you to let you know something... What are they telling you? Well, that they're okay. That they're watching over you. That you shouldn't worry so much about all the nonsense that you worry about all the time. Because NONE OF THAT MATTERS. What does matter? Only one thing (they say, consistently). If you don't know what the one thing is that matters, take the time right now to ask your loved one. "WHAT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, WHAT'S THE ONE THING THAT MATTERS THE MOST?" Jot down the answer and send it to me.
Like I've said here before - when talking to people on the Flipside, they consistently say that we can communicate with them. That all we need to so is "Say their name." I asked "Do we say it in our head or aloud?" They say "It doesn't matter."
In Ladakh with some peeps.
I asked "So let's pretend that I'm able to reach out to you. And I have questions for you. How can I tell the difference between "making up the replies" and actually getting a reply from you?" They answer; "When the reply comes faster than the question. When the answer to your question is heard in your head before you can even formulate the question, then you'll know you have a connection with us." So g'head. Try it. I can wait. No one will know that you're talking to a passed away relative. It's not like you're talking to yourself in Church.
Per LaChaise, Paris
(You know the old joke - if you pray aloud to God while you're in church or temple, that's normal. But if God replies; then you're insane.) Go ahead and try it. No one will know that you're talking to someone no longer on the planet in your head. Write down what they say. Ask questions you don't know the answer to. Ask hard questions that you don't think they know the answer to. Ask them for help. Ask them to guide you. The worst that can happen is that you "hear them." Then you're in trouble because you'll know "either I'm making this up, or that flipside guy is right." Say hello to your loved one for me.
