Saturday

Upcoming Radio Show, Appearance with George Noory, and an LBL talk by Paul Aurand

Like most of us, I was introduced to Art Bell's world while driving late one night in my car.  Working in San Francisco at the time, selling "hi-fi" equipment at 69 Green ("Systems Warehouse") at the tender age of 22, I was cruising down route 5 near Bakersfield, looking for an AM radio station to "keep me awake."



I had just declined an offer to manage a new stereo store in Santa Cruz - which the owners (Eckart, Jim) tried to point out was a "huge break" for someone so young - but I felt my path lay elsewhere, and I trusted that instinct. Before I headed back east to finish college in Boston, I drove down to LA when I found Art Bell on the radio dial. (LA is where I would return years in the future to USC film school, which led me to a screenwriting class with Luana Anders, who led me to the Flipside some 30 years later).

The older one gets, the clearer the path appears. 

The first photograph.  An old road and a ghost in Paris.
 The signposts, although zooming by on a dark desert highway, all were pointing in one direction - something we realize once we get where we're going.  The journey - windows rolled down, crickets chirping as a passing symphony - may seem random, even coincidental, until you reach your destination.

But as I've recounted, I took Flipside around to all the major publishers via agent Joel Gotler - Joel did his best to let me down easily "They're telling me they don't know how to sell you.  It's not like you're a doctor, or famous - so how can they book you on a talk show to sell the book?"  I understood the point, and went the self publishing route, via Createspace (prior to its being purchased by Amazon.)  I put my book out - a couple of people read it - I got one "mediocre" review on Amazon, and thought "well that was that!"

Flying Saucers alas, is no more.

But I asked my friends at the "Flying Saucer's cafe" in Santa Monica if I could do a book talk, and the owner said "sure."  At the last moment, I decided to set up a camera to film the event.  Ten people were in the audience - some old, old friends, from Larry Grennan from grade school, to Peter Bill from nearby Venice.  I posted the hour long talk on my youtube filmmaker's account - and a thousand people watched it.  And from that thousand, one invited me to the IANDS (international association of near death studies) in Virginia Beach.

It was while talking about "Flipside" at the Edgar Cayce institute, (to a larger crowd of about 300) a former Baptist minister said to me, "Oh, you should be on "Coast to Coast!" You're perfect for that show!"  

I vaguely remembered that night driving down the California Coast, listening to Art Bell, wondering if his guests were "kidding" or some kind of theatrical construct designed to haunt or amuse the audience.  Like a version of "Firesign Theater" but without the Second City feeling.  I said to this retired Minister: "Heard of it, just haven't listened to it lately."

But this minister said "Art Bell has retired - George Noory is the host, and he'd love you."  I admitted I'd never listened to the show since that night so long ago - and when this person offered to "write a letter to George to get me on the show" - I chuckled.  Jaded Hollywood guy that I am, I thought "Right. Some producer will get this enthusiastic letter and choose the guest that the publicists were hawking." And that will be the end of the proverbial "that."

But that's not what happened. 

I got a call from a "Coast to Coast" producer - two producers actually - both asking me to come on the show. "We'd like you on for an hour on Sept. 11."(2012)  I said "Auspicious date. Sure."  He said "What else can you talk about besides the Flipside?" I said, "Well, I've spent 20 years working on a film about what happened to Amelia Earhart after she crashed... based on eyewitness evidence."  He said "Okay, we'll have you on for 3 hours. One to take calls."

So I did the first of six interviews with George - (two on his TV show) and he's an excellent interviewer.  Each time I'm on my books jump to #1 in kindle in their genres at Amazon.  George single handedly turned this obscure, not-a-doctor, not-famous-for-anything a "best selling author" in one day.
George Noory - Coast to Coast AM

He's invited me to join him on June 27th at the Great Greek in Van Nuys California.  Details can be found here: "Enjoy gathering with other like-minded people as you have fun at lunch and meet some of your favorite people in the world of the unknown and curious. Tickets will go fast, so reserve a spot now! Email your name and phone number to: lunchwithgeorge@gmail.com. You will be called back with details."  

George and Mr. Flipside
About a year ago, I got a call from Art Bell's new show - "Midnight in the Desert" - Art is producing a new show, hosted by Heather Wade.  I'll be on Wednesday May 24th at 9 pm West Coast time.  It should be interesting, as they're giving me 3 hours as well - one hour for calls - and 2 to talk about the latest developments in my Flipside research.

Tune in, call in, drop out.

http://midnightinthedesert.com

Can you hear me now?

Now... onto the topic at hand.

I interviewed Paul Aurand for the film "Flipside" and book. He is the former President of the Newton Institute, and runs workshops in Europe for those who'd like to learn the technique.  Paul has incredible insight into the Flipside, into the between lives realm, and has amazing personal experiences to back them up.  (Including a between life experience after being struck by lightning.)

Paul posted this interview the other day, and I wanted to reproduce it here for people who'd like to know more about "Between life" hypnotherapy from the former President of the Newton Institute.  

If you're in the NYC area, or can make one of his workshops in Tuscany - I can vouch that it (and he) will change your life.


Exploring Life Between Lives with Paul Aurand  
by David Stang for The Academy for Spiritual and Consciousness Studies, Inc   

Based in New York City and founder of the Holistic Healing Center there, Paul Aurand, MHt, is an award winning Master Hypnotherapist and hypnotherapy instructor who has worked in the field for nearly 30 years. He has been honored as “Educator of the Year,” “Therapist of the Year,” and “Hypnotherapist of the Year,” and has been featured in films and on television (Flipside, On the Threshold, Dying to Know, and Discovering Regression Therapy) for his work with the ground breaking Life Between Lives Regression Therapy developed by Dr. Michael Newton....  
 
Michael Newton


Please describe Dr. Newton’s Life Between Lives (LBL) process.  

PA: “Life Between Lives is a deep hypnotic regres­sion to that very special time a soul spends in spirit between incarnations. During an LBL you experience yourself as an immortal soul, meet your guides, loved ones and otherwise beings who help you explore your soul lessons, life’s purpose and other questions that you have prepared for the session. During this time in spirit many experience healing, unconditional love and oneness with all things. LBL is a profound, life transforming experience.  

LBL regression therapy is based on research by Dr. Newton that spanned more than 25 years with over 7,000 of his clients. Since his initial research approximately 35,000 LBLs have been conducted by 200 LBL therapists in about 40 countries.  

An LBL begins with a long and very deep hypnotic induction to help the conscious mind to disengage and achieve a highly expanded state of consciousness. The actual regression begins with going back to some pleasant childhood memories. From childhood, we continue back to that unique time in the womb, after conception and before birth. Here, we get the first soul memories. In the womb, we can explore such things as how you feel about coming to be born and what it is you hope to do, learn or work on. From the womb, we go back to the most recent past life to review some of the significant events as well as how that life ended.  

This is one place where LBL differs greatly from traditional past-life regression. Rather than doing a detailed review of the past life combined with interventions, we want to use the past-life death scene as a doorway into spirit. Once the soul enters the spirit realm, the reviews, interventions and heal-ings will be done in a most loving way by the guides and loved ones rather than by the therapist. 

It is important to note that once the soul remembers returning to the spirit world, it enters ‘Now Time.’ Being in now time, allows for review of the soul’s past experiences and it also allows for insight and guidance about the current life and future events.” 

 The Newton Institute

Would you describe what you and other Newton trained LBL practitioners have learned about the nature of soul and its stages of evolution, soul mates and spiritual guides and also how the several hundred practitioners he trained and worked with came to understand that the voice of the patient being hypnotized, who speaks about recalled personal experiences involving LBL and past-life states of being, is actually that patient’s soul?  

PA: Simply put, souls come to earth to learn and grow. Some come hoping to accomplish something great, most come hoping to refine certain aspects of their soul character. “Regarding the voice of the soul, learning to distinguish these differences is part of the art of LBL therapy. The tone of voice, the choice of words, and the energy of what is being spoken is identifiably different when coming from conscious mind, sub­conscious mind or soul mind. 

Ultimately, determining the meaning and the validity of the retrieved memories during an LBL is up to the client. If there is doubt, I use three criteria to help the client gauge the validity of their memories. One is, ‘How much emotion is there during the experience?’ A pure fan­tasy or wishful thinking is usually devoid of strong emotion. This is one place that the recording of the session can be so valuable. When the LBL client hears their laughing, crying, surprise, confusion, elation, awe, being moved beyond words, on their recording, it is easier for them to trust their experi­ence. 

The second is ‘If you are going to make up a story, why this particular story?’ Long held, limiting beliefs, old patterns and misunderstandings in the soul are being addressed and transformed during an LBL. When the conscious mind and even the soul are having difficulties understanding and absorbing the love, insights and wisdom that are being com-municated, this too, I trust. And thirdly, ‘What is the result? Is there healing and transformation from what is received?’”  


In your case study “Love as a Catalyst for Change,” (Note: This is a chapter from the Michael Newton edited book "Memories of the Afterlife") you present a case where there is a long-term primary soul mate (Mark) and a companion soul mate (Raul). In your experience is it common to have multiple soul mates in a single lifetime, and if so are they alternate possibilities as in this instance or are they sequential, as in one following the death of the other? Also, are multiple soul mates always (or usually) within the same soul group as in this case?  



PA: Although there are many variations, I think it is safe to say that we have a number of soul mates, one of which is our primary soul mate. Soul mates are usually in our soul group or a closely related soul group. If you have more than one soul mate in your current life, it is well worth exploring why that is.  

Most often, soul mates come into our life to love and support us or to help us learn something or both. In spirit, from a higher perspective and an expanded state of consciousness, soul mates make plans about the life to come. They decide how they want to help and challenge each other. As the soul incarnates and the brain and body develop these plans are forgotten. Meeting these soul mates in life evokes deep emotions and stimulates growth. We always have free will, but remembering these plans and these relationships can help resolve so many issues in life.”   

What are the principal insights you have gained about the state of superconsciousness?  

PA: I often say: ‘My mind thinks. My heart feels. My soul knows.’ My mental (meaning analytical) mind is an important thing. It helps me function in my daily life. It helps me reason and analyze. With-out it I could not function on this planet. As bright and intelligent as an analytical mind might be, it is still a rather limited thing. My analytical mind would love me to believe that all I am is it! But I am so much more than my analytical mind.  

It is essential that we learn to expand con­sciousness beyond the limits of the analytical mind. In this way we can experience ourselves as some-thing far greater than our analytical mind.  

There is a great trend today to move from thinking into feeling. We hear leaders in consciousness tell us to ‘listen to your heart’ and to ‘follow your heart.’ Listening to the heart is an essential step towards moving beyond the limits of the analytical mind. But, we must go beyond the heart mind into the soul mind and the superconscious. In the expanded state of the soul mind we can, not only remember, but really re-experience what it is to be loved unconditionally. We can once again swim in the sea of universal consciousness and re -experience what it is to be one with all things.”  



In practical terms, how do you deal with the problem of fear and other impediments to clients accepting, comprehending, embracing and integrating the spiritual insights and challenges they encounter in their LBL work?  

PA:  I think there are primarily three things that we are working with while conducting any kind of regression therapy. These are the emotions we carry from the past, the limiting beliefs that develop as a result of our experiences, and the unconscious strategies we develop in order to survive and get love.  

The fear and other ‘impediments’ as you call them, arise from these emotions, beliefs and strategies. This is why I think the methodology that Dr. Newton developed is so brilliant. On the way into spirit, we pass through childhood, womb and past life where these fears and impediments develop, so we can identify and resolve them on the way back to or in spirit.  

LBL is truly profound soul work. After a transformational, consciousness expanding, mind blowing return to spirit, it can take time to digest and live what is revealed in these sessions. I know for me personally, although I understood the deeper soul lessons I learned from my first LBL session, it took me a more than year to really be able to live what I learned.”  

Can you give some examples of the types of transformational benefits attained by LBL and past-life clients as a result of their usual two sessions and any other follow-up work done with you and other LBL practitioners you know, and in your opinion what causal factors are key to meaningful transformational growth?  

PA:  Some people think reincarnation, guides and having a soul are interesting concepts that might be true. Others believe in reincarnation, guides and having a soul. During these sessions, you not only remember, but you experience your own reincarnation, your guides and yourself as an immortal soul. After these sessions, you know that you have reincarnated, you know your guides, and you know yourself as the soul that you are.  

I would like to quote Ann Clark, our director of research, here: ‘From our pilot study The lived experience of a visit to the spiritual realm during LBL, we learned that participants reported less fear of death, a clearer sense of their life purpose, a new perspective on troubling relationships in their lives, and less anxiety about challenges they were currently facing, as well as learning new strategies for coping.’  

What casual factors are the keys to transfor­mational growth? 

I would say that the first key is the desire and willingness to learn and grow. The second key is the readiness to take in and act on, the insights, love, support and wisdom received.  

How do you answer criticisms of the LBL process expressed by some psychologists, psychiatrists and academic scholars involving accusations such as “the patient is making up all this soul stuff” out of fantasies and therefore it is unreliable information, and other common criticisms by such skeptics?  


PA: There was a time when I, too, was quite skeptical. Long before learning past-life regression, I was practicing medical hypnosis at a clinic for patients with chronic pain and chronic illness. While administering hypoanesthesia to a patient who had suffered with chronic shoulder pain for nearly seven years, a mysterious thing happened. During the treatment, she began to tell a highly emotional story of being a slave who was caught stealing food and beaten to death for it. As part of the process she described her shoulder being stomped on and crushed. After describing her own death, she emerged from hypnosis and exclaimed: ‘My shoulder does not hurt! It is the first time in years that I have had relief!’ We were both stunned. Was her past-life story a fantasy? Was it a psychotic break? Was it a metaphor? I was not sure, but for me, the most important thing was that she was pain free. She remained pain free! It was after a few of these accidental or spontaneous regressions that brought inexplicable healing, that I knew I had to study regression therapy.  

That said, the Newton Institute has a highly-qualified research team that continues the research that Michael Newton began in the 1960s. We have very consistent case studies from LBL therapists who continue the work as reported in Memories of the Afterlife and we carry on the research across many religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds.” 

How do you regard alternative approaches to spiritual growth and transformation such as meditation and related spiritual practices?  

PA: I think that any practice that raises one’s consciousness and vibrational energy is beneficial. Something that I often hear guides tell clients during their LBL is that they ‘should stay in touch more.’ The most common ways they recommend doing this are through meditation and spending time in nature.  

One thing I’ve noticed is that after an LBL session the client finds it easier to reconnect with their own personal guide and the spirit world. It is as though a door has been opened or the connection strengthened.  

Although it was my clinical work that led me to past life regression, it was my near-death experience that led me to LBL. In 1998, I was struck by lightning. During the brief time that I was ‘dead’ I experienced many of the same things that years later, I would hear clients report during their LBLs.  

Whatever the modality might be, my preference is for a client centered, transpersonal approach. When you walk through my door, I trust that you have all the answers within or that you can find them. For me, this is the ultimate form of respect. I am an expert at helping you achieve the state necessary to find those answers. I am a skilled facilitator that can guide you on your journey within, but it is not me, the facilitator, giving you the answers. My intention in facilitating a session for you is to help you find the answers yourself. The flip side of this transpersonal approach is that it is up to you, the client, to take responsibility for the answers you receive and for what you do with them.  


If there is one thing that I have learned from conducting LBL sessions it is that you cannot judge. Sometimes things that seem to be wrong or even bad from a human perspective aren’t at all. The answers a client receives have a particular meaning to them. I do not feel it is for me to judge or interpret the answers they receive.  

I think it is only natural that there are simi­larities between Life Between Lives, near-death experiences, out -of-body experiences, deep meditation, journey work and other forms of exploration through expanded consciousness. Part of my search was to find a way to experience these higher realms without the trauma I experienced during my near death experience. LBL is the best way I have found to do that.” 

(Excerpt from "Exploring Life Between Lives with Paul Aurand"  by David Stang for The Academy for Spiritual and Consciousness Studies, Inc) for more info, please contact Paul Aurand here:    http://www.paulaurand.com





Friday

Happy Birthday Luana!

Time, they say, heals all wounds. 



I'm aware of the fact that I'm older now than she was when she took her last breath on the planet... but I'm also aware (as are fans of "Flipside: A Tourist's Guide On How To Navigate the Afterlife "It's a Wonderful Afterlife: Further Adventures in the Flipside" and "Hacking the Afterlife" are) that she's kept in touch all these years.  

And just yesterday - I spoke to her. 


By that I mean I was meeting with my pal Jennifer Medlyn Shaffer (a medium/intuitive) and we were doing a live interview with a mutual friend of me and Luana's... one of her oldest pals, a very successful film person. He's speaking to us on Skype - this person specifically wanted to speak to a few old friends - when I asked Jennifer if "perhaps Luana could come forward" to help assist us.  

with Dennis Hopper in "Night Tide"
And she did - with her wit, she made her old pal laugh and cry, and gave some criticism about a film project this person is  working on ("open your heart more in the 3rd act." ) 

Just prior to arrival at jennifer's office, I had thought to myself "Well, it's Luana's birthday tomorrow, I wonder if we can get her to come by to speak to us..." and I added a subconscious question - which was "How does it work for you over on the Flipside to prepare or gear up to talk to us over here?"  

And before I could get past the word "how..." she replied (in my head) "It's just like preparing for an acting role." (Luana appeared in over 30 films, 300 tv shows) "You bring up all the memories you have associated with that person, and then appear to them in that role as they knew you while you were alive." - 




I recounted that story during the interview, and Jennifer turned to me and said "Yes. She's saying just that as you speak.  Just like an acting role."  

The idea is - we've had many lifetimes here, we've played many roles - so if someone asks about you, who knew you at a particular time and place in their life, the person who is "being called upon" gears themselves up by accessing the memories of how they looked, how they appeared, all of the details that get filed away... so that the loved one can see and sense or hear them as they once knew them.  

With my pal in Rome
That my friends - and her friends - is a small gift from Luana on her birthday.

Sunday

Flipside and Choosing Your Parents

Appearing with George Noory June 27th at the Great Greek in Sherman Oaks.  What fun!
Here's a link to my appearances with George on Coast to Coast.  More details to follow....

Meanwhile:

Saw a young woman sobbing on the street yesterday. I stopped and asked if I she was ok. 

She said "I'm sorry. I don't think you can help." 

I said "Maybe talking can help." 

She said "I just heard my dad is smoking crack again."

Hanging with George Noory.

I asked if he'd been arrested or was ill. She said "No. He's back in rehab. I heard it from my sister." 

I said "I'm sorry you both have to go through that. But may I ask you a personal question?" She said "Sure."

I asked "Why did you choose him as your dad?" 

Latest tome.

She paused. Looked at me with her purple hair and nose ring. 

"I don't understand the question." 

I said "Just try and open yourself up to the answer. If it was possible; why do you think you chose your parents... this particular mom and dad?"

She said "To learn how not to behave. To understand what I didn't want to become. To learn from their mistakes." 

I said "Well then, it sounds like you chose wisely. It's not easy for him to learn the lessons he's signed up for, just as it's not easy for you to sign up to learn lessons from the both of them. 

But maybe you've done it for a reason you don't consciously know, but agreed to learn. Sometimes people say they learned how to heal others after recovering from an illness."

I got lucky in choosing this guy.

She said "I've heard something like that before. That we attract those things and people we need to learn from." 

I said "So maybe that's why I stopped to talk with you."

She wiped her tears and said "Thank you. I feel much better now." 

I said "Thanks for sharing your story. First time I've ever heard that particular sentence; "My dad's back on crack." 

She laughed.

Mission accomplished.

Documentary version at Amazon. 

In posting this story, some pals weighed in - and these were my replies:

Scott: I was adopted at birth. I have never met another blood relative, but my entire life I have felt as though I am where I am supposed to be, with the parents who were meant to be mine.


Rich: Cool. I've filmed people under deep hypnosis, both adopted and adopters, who claim they could see that they had chosen their families. It seems counterintuitive, but I think it's related to quantum entanglement. The idea that those individuals you know and love from previous lives are on the planet and somehow they "seek" each other out. Like magnets. Either way it's consistently reported that we choose (agree, ask, plan) the circumstances of our being here. Reports have been gathered via transcripts of hypnosis sessions, interviews with near death survivors, etc. ("Flipside," has the adoptee info.) Pretty mind blowing.

Gayle: Doing God's work


Rich: Well, to be fair, just saw a woman in distress on the sidewalk in front of Starbucks. I was sharing science with her. (Consistent reports that are repeated in the work of Dr. Wambach, Michael Newton and others.) But during one filmed session (in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife") a woman asked "what or who is God?" 

And her "spirit guide" said "God is beyond the capacity of the human brain; it's too complex. However you can experience god if you open your heart to all people and things." 

So yes, if that's accurate, then it isn't only that "God is love" - but love, the ineffable term we can't define, is what God is. When you share science you are sharing love (of humanity, of the planet, of existence) my two cents.

Richard: Wonderful. I'm so glad we choose you as our neighbor:) (from my old neighbor)


Rich: It's funny how when we have that feeling when you meet someone "I feel like I've known you forever." Sometimes it's with a "soulmate" sometimes with your literal "mate." ("Check, mate?") 

I've found if you really examine it - that conscious moment when you felt that way about someone - you find the seeds of this research. How could you "know" someone you've just met? How does that feeling of comfort - often described as "home" - square with the linear time line of our journey? 

So the idea "there are no mistakes" or "there's no such thing as coincidence" may be rooted in that quantum reality. "Oh no, not YOU again!?" (Just kidding) In my case I get that a lot.


And finally:

Rich: Six degrees of Kevin Bacon. I found this woman's profile on Facebook, and we have two mutual friends. 

(Were the friends somehow spiritually involved, quantum entangle-mentally involved in my stopping to speak to her? Remains to be seen.)  My two cents.

Friday

A dream within a dream

Took me a long time to encounter this poem by the one and only,the great Edgar Allan Poe.



I was reading his Wiki entry - it's a good read, and gives much more detail than many of the cites about him.

He was 40 when he wrote this  poem.  He was 47 when he wrote "the Raven" his most famous poem. He was off the planet by 49. But the poem reads like a man who has either seen his fate, met his higher self, or seen the flipside.


Poe. Wiki pic.
Poe had a history of lung problems in his family - TB - he may or may not have died of it, but his reputation of being a drunk, drug addict, or other myth seems common for the time - many in his family died of drink and other maladies common in the era.  He was just simply an excellent writer, who loved life (one of his wives left him because of all the illegitimate children he reportedly had, according to wiki) and appears to have had a lot of fun while in it.

On October 3, 1849, Poe was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore, "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to Joseph W. Walker who found him. He was taken to the Washington Medical College where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849 at 5:00 in the morning. Poe was never coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition and, oddly, was wearing clothes that were not his own. He is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring. Some sources say that Poe's final words were "Lord help my poor soul". All medical records have been lost, including his death certificate.

Now. Let's take this apart for a moment - one of the greatest mystery writers ever, who was fond of doing ciphers and mysteries - winds up in "dire condition" wearing someone else's clothes - (How did he get into someone else's clothes? Unless he was naked somewhere else?) And calling out the name "Reynolds."


Yours truly speaking flipside at San Diego Iands

It's like he left behind a puzzle that no one has ever bothered to unravel. "Some sources" say his final words were "Lord help my poor soul" - but we have no idea what he meant by that, or if indeed he said it. 

However, the Guardian posted this following article in 2007 - using some news reports of after Poe's body was moved - they claimed to have seen that his "brain did not deteriorate."  Modern forensics point to a tumor that did not disintegrate, that resembled the brain.

The unusual thing is - it's my contention that no one dies, that everyone is accessible.  Even Edgar.  The trick is to find someone who could access him - perhaps through an item of clothing (sometimes helps mediums or intuitives) but following the logic of my "Flipside" books - some form of our energy is retained by photographs or written materials.  So any photograph of Poe would do - as every photo contains some holographic piece of time with regard to the person in the photograph (or so claim various people while under deep hypnosis accessing the "flipside.") (See above).

So here's Edgar's photo.  Anyone out there want to weigh in on who "Reynolds" was?

I would argue - because look, no one is debating me here, so I can argue whatever I want - but I would argue that if indeed Poe had a "brain tumor" and was dying of cancer in the brain (common enough in the era) that what really happened was that the "filters" or "partitions" that keep people from accessing the flipside had dropped, and he was accessing someone that he knows on the other side.

Where's the science for this?

(Dr Bruce Greyson's talk about Consciousness and the brain)

Well this talk is reproduced in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" in the interview with Dr. Bruce Greyson (UVA - same school as Poe!) where he points out the medical histories of patients in England who just prior to death remember all kinds of events, faces and names - when their brains have atrophied due to dementia.  That when the autopsies are done after their death - they "should not" have been able to access these memories.  But somehow they did.

In terms of Flipside research, they were accessing the "mind" which retains all of our memories - from this lifetime and others - and can be accessed under deep hypnosis, or sometimes during an "outside consciousness event" like with hallucinogens, or near death events.  For that particular cite, I point you to Dr. Greyson's excellent youtube talk "Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain?"

He argues that while it appears that certain things are produced by the brain, there are other events, memories, that are not.


Including "Reynolds."


I would further argue that the name Reynolds came from Edgar Allan Poe's youth.  How could I prove that? Well Edgar's parents were from Ireland.  They were both actors, and he is reportedly named after a character in a Shakespeare play.  His mother died of consumption at an early age, his father left the scene - so he was raised by a wealthy uncle (John Allan).  

Here's where Reynolds comes from in Eire: Reynolds
(County Letrim) Poe's grandfather was from the county next to the county where Reynolds is from. Cavan.

Is it odd to imagine that having been born and raised in Boston by an Irish family, he might have known someone in his youth named Reynolds - from the very next county his family came from - and that friend in Boston was there to greet him on the Flipside, when he crossed over?


Famous Last words?




Steve Jobs; "Oh wow. Oh Wow. Oh Wow." 

Napoleon: "Josephine!"
Poe: "Reynolds!"


The other day, I was interviewing someone I know who died recently. I was with Jennifer Shaffer doing the interview in our usual place, and I asked this friend of mine "So what was it like when you died?"  He said "I saw my father."  I said "So that's how you knew you had died?"  He said "when I saw my father, who I knew was dead, I realized that I also must be dead."

My pal died during an operation - so it's not something anyone was planning, or fearing, including himself.  But nice to know that his dad was there to greet him.


Here's Edgar's Poem that I ran across yesterday and wanted to comment on:

A Dream Within a Dream  
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE (written 1840)

"Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?  
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand —
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep — while I weep!
O God! Can I not grasp 
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?"



So let's take it apart a bit, shall we?

"Take this kiss upon thy brow" - who do you kiss on the brow? People who are departing from this life.  "His elder brother Henry had been in ill health, in part due to problems with alcoholism, and he died on August 1, 1831." (wiki)

He's not giving this person a kiss on the lips - so it's not a lover. Could be a relative - could be someone you would normally "kiss on the brow" - especially someone who is ill.

So did his brother say to him "Edgar, you're the lucky one - your days on the planet have been a dream!" As in - fortunate.  Perhaps. Or perhaps he's telling him that "life is but a dream" - (merrily merrily merrily merrily).  The song "Row Row Row Your Boat" was written down for the first time in 1852, but had been a "Popular tune for years." Wiki: "Row Your Boat" Origins:
It has been suggested that the song may have originally arisen out of American minstrelsy. The earliest printing of the song is from 1852..."  So perhaps Edgar is referring to the popular children's son: "Merrily, life is but a dream."

So perhaps he's referring to the idea that we roll along merrily in this dream state of life.

Then the reference to a night, a "vision" and then "none" - what brings on visions?  If it's true that he had brain cancer - and a tumor as noted above - perhaps he was already hallucinating.  But dreams bring on visions - but visions are not dreams, they're another word we use to describe something more vivid "more than a dream."

"Visions" - are common in people seeing events or people on the flipside - people who have vivid dreams, or lucid dreaming - sometimes see the world from outside their bodies. Out of body experiences. Floating around the room.  That too is a "dream within a dream." Perhaps he was already having "out of body experiences."


Lots of sand down there.
But then he gets to the heart of the matter; time.

"I hold in my hand... the grains of sand..." Well, some have said this was a reference to the Gold Rush (really?) but obviously it's referring to the time piece we know as life.  What if we could grasp the grain of sand more firmly in our hand? Would we be able to stop time? Or the death of a loved one?

"Can I not save one from the pitiless wave?"

So there you have it - time is like the ocean, we are but the grains of sand on the beach, and the waves come in and pulls us back out... alas...

But aha!

The waves deposit us AGAIN upon the shore. Don't they? And perhaps we're involved with the where and when and decision to return back to this beach.

At least that's what the flipside research shows.

My two cents on Edgar.






Monday

Thinking Outside the Box

"It's all about the box."

A bunch of boxes at Pere LaChaise cemetery in Paris


Some years ago, when directing my first feature film "You Can't Hurry Love," I was basing the film on my short film "Video Valentino."  And in that story, I had the character working on the beach at a skate shop not far from my apartment in the Sea Castle. I even kept the sign "Skate City" after the place was demolished - too bad it was filled with termites.



But "Skate City" had an unusual cat working there.  He lived in a box next to the shop.  I mean it was a long crate, made out of wood, the kind of crate one might ship bicycles in - about four feet high and ten feet long.  He had furnished it with books, a mattress, even had a TV in there with him.  I remember Tony showing me his box, and he said "Everyone lives in a box."  

He was slightly off kilter - and when I turned the short film "Video Valentino" into the feature length "You Can't Hurry Love" I included a Tony character in the story, played by household name and soap star Anthony Geary.  He played the role of the Greek chorus, who was advising young Eddie on how to live his life - and how to keep it "100%" while everyone else was lying.

The premise of the film - Eddie comes out from Ohio and is told by his cousin "In LA everyone makes up who they are, they pretend to be someone, and then that's their reality."  So he goes into a video dating service and lies about who he is to go on dates with women - but of course "everyone" including the women he dates - are lying about who they are as well.  The moral of the story "You don't have to be someone else in order to be liked."

Charles Grodin is in "You Can't Hurry Love"
Studio said "We'll make it if you can get celebs
to cameo. Charles did it as a favor. Thanks.

Oddly enough, a woman came up to me at a party some years later and said "You directed "You Can't Hurry Love?"  It changed my life."  I looked around to see what smartass had sent her over to talk to me.  I said "I think you're thinking of "You Can't Buy Me Love" - much more successful."  She said "No. I saw your movie six times. I really needed to hear the message that I didn't have to be someone else in order to be liked.  It was an key moment in my life where everyone was trying to get me to be somebody else. Thank you."

I laughed.  It's like I made the movie for this one person to see, and they got it!  No review, no comment, no critic came as close to telling me why I made that film.  And here at a party, I met the one person on the planet who understood it.

But back to Tony.

"Everybody lives in a box, man."

It's true.  We tend to think of our apartments, our houses, our estates, our mansions as "property" or something we "own."  Something we aspire to own. Something that we design, work hard on and inhabit.  It's still a box.  Just a big elaborate box.

A box of ashes of my friend Paul Tracey.

Cars are just moving boxes.  I mean, yes, there are Italian boxes, German boxes, Japanese and Chinese boxes (not too common, but I've been in them.)  Indian boxes too (Tatas rule!)  There are boxes from Detroit, boxes from Tokyo, boxes from "across the border."  But make no mistake - no matter how much money has been spent on the box; it's a box on wheels.

A royal box in the UK

There are two wheeled boxes - but that's another illusion as well.  Cars - if they were built out of glass - would be hilarious to see driving down the street. People sitting down, hands in front of them - eating chips, listening to tunes - driving glass boxes.

Then we have the stories of people in car accidents who at the moment of death suddenly say to the EMT; "I can't die now. I just one a million dollars. I just signed a contract. I have a new life to lead." (as Sam Kinison reportedly did just prior to death - argued with the guides who showed up to take him.)  "It's not my time!"
A big box in Rome

And then what happens?  

They go into a box.

Some call it a coffin. But it's just another box.

We enter the world coming from dark to light - from mom to world - from womb to birth... a metaphoric box perhaps, but eventually we all go back to the box.

Unless you're cremated. Or blown to pieces in a bomb blast.  Maybe not so much of a box, but you get the idea.  It's all temporary. 

We spend so much time trying to get into our giant box, our giant car, our expensive plane, our giant moving boxes - our floating box, put up a wall to protect our box, put concertina wire around the box - and then when we're "outside the box" - we go back home.

No boxes there. No boxes on the Flipside. 

Standing in front of one of the most famous boxes:
the mausoleum of the Taj Mahal

I mean, we can create one with our mind - we can imagine ourselves in some kind of construct where we exist in a home, or a place - even a car I imagine - but it's just a construct as well.  "living in a box."

So the next time someone says "Think outside the box" - imagine they're saying "Don't think about the things that you think you can acquire, own, or put yourself into - the box of the false sense of reality.  Put yourself outside that box, and see the nature of reality for what it really is."

Sad to say, I was on Santa Fe and Los Angeles streets  in downtown LA yesterday.  Rows and rows and rows of homeless people living in tents. Living in cardboard boxes.
A box at Alcatraz

And there are people on the planet living in giant homes. Gigantic fortresses.  Living in homes where they need cellphones just to find or reach their children.  Giant boxes.  They spend all day driving in their box, then going home to their box.  And they can't see the people who don't even have boxes to sleep in. Just tents.

What kind of screwed up planet is this?

Never mind.  

The box that you seek you will find. Even if it's only one to be put six feet under the ground. My two cents.

Outside the box in Muir Woods looking at ... a mysterious box.


Sunday

The Discovery and Unconditional Love

There's a film about the Flipside that has gained some attention lately - starring Robert Redford, Jason Segal and Rooney Mara.  Written and directed by Charlie McDowell, the premise is that Redford is a scientist who has proved that "there is an Afterlife."



The result of that discovery is that people decide they're going to commit suicide - for whatever reason - they aren't happy here, I guess, but there's an epidemic of people choosing to be somewhere else rather than being here.  It's so pervasive that people just can't wait to get off the planet, and depending upon whatever their feeling is at the moment, they're dropping like flies.


Which is pretty funny if you think about it.  (Actually, I laughed often watching the film, seeing the writing of it as a comedy, and the dark music and cinematography betrayed what is - in my mind - a dark comedy).  People who are so unhappy with being on the planet they can't wait to get "somewhere else."

Only in this story, without going into what happens too much (spoiler alert), we discover that things aren't what they appear to be.  That this version of reality - might actually be somewhat manufactured.  Which of course leads us to a myriad of other questions - what other details in the storyline are manufactured? Imagined?  And if all of it is a construct, then why this particular construct?  And why the idea that Jason Segal needs to fix anything? If it's a construct to begin with - what's the point of reliving the construct if you already know where the story will conclude?

Here's the good news - they're making films about the Flipside.  This allows people to examine it, talk about it, be part of that journey.  So that's a good thing.

The bad news - they're still trapped in the idea that being on the Flipside - outside your body - is a bad thing.  I'm not saying it's a good thing - I'm just saying "It is what it is."  If you chose to come here to the planet to live this life (as all the research points to that only conclusion) then there's a pretty good reason why you're here - on this stage, on this playing field, in this game.  In this construct, if you will.

And the reason to be here is to figure that puzzle out. To realize why you're here, and what you're here to learn, to teach, to explore.

Ain't no pizza on the flipside.  Ain't no cappuccinos either.  Oh, to be sure, there's plenty of fun things to do over there, and quantitatively, people report consistently that it's "better" over there - because they're this feeling of Unconditional Love.


Let's chat about that for a moment.


A majority (roughly 70%) of people who've had near death experiences say that at some point in their journey they experienced "unconditional love."  I've been filming people under deep hypnosis for the past decade, and out of the 35 cases I've filmed, a majority of them say something equivalent.

Further, as I've interviewed people (who are fully conscious) about their experience and journey, when I ask them to "examine" those moments - they can actually feel that experience again.  Feel the feeling of unconditional love.

What the heck is it?

It's not something that we commonly speak of. There are no books about "unconditional love" - no TV shows, no movies, no commercials. "Hey drink this beer and you'll feel unconditional love."  In fact I have no idea of the entomology of the concept - "unconditional love."  It's just what people say about the afterlife.

Consistently.


This guy.  Still loving from the Flipside. Makes an appearance in "Hacking the Afterlife"

That while they were there - during an NDE, during a between life hypnotherapy session - they argue that they had this feeling of "unconditional love."

When I ask them about it - they'll say "It's like nirvana. It's blissful. It's all encompassing. It's beyond words to describe."  

We know what unconditional love is here - it's that love between a parent and child (often) or a person and a pet (often.)  It's love without conditions.

As I'm fond of saying "hard to do when someone runs over your foot. Or pointing a gun in your face. Or claiming they're going to build a wall."  We tend to love "conditionally" while on the planet. If you love me, I'll love you.  Or... I love the way you love me, I wish I could love you that much. Or... I love you so much I don't know myself - but when you reject me, I can't stand the thought of you.

Conditional Love.

Then we have this unusual description of "what or who God is" in the book "It's a Wonderful Afterlife."  "God is beyond the capacity of the human brain to comprehend, it's just not physically possible. However, you can experience God by opening your heart to everyone and to all things."

That's a pretty good description of what unconditional love is.

Open your heart to everyone and all things.

Easy to say, hard to do.

But if we can conceive of it - we can understand it. And if we can experience it, then we can know it.  So you want to know what God is?  Just open your heart to everyone and all things.

Go ahead. I'll wait.

But while I'm waiting, back to the film.

Yes, the flipside is a place of unconditional love. No, you shouldn't be in a hurry to get there. Why?

Because you chose to be here. You came for a reason. You may even have come "under a contract" - meaning you agreed to come and experience things and learn things and teach things that are hard for you to experience, learn or teach while you're here - and seem impossible to do - but you promised your loved ones, your spirit guides, your soul group that you would accomplish these things. You promised you would.

If you break your promise - there's no hell waiting for you. No punishment, other than disappointment - from yourself mostly, for setting out to accomplish something and screwing it up.  But no one is going to spank you, put you through the spanking machine (as we used to have in "kick the can") - but you will be disappointed because you screwed up everyone else's play, you screwed up everyone else's game, out of selfish reasons. "I couldn't take it anymore. I know I signed up for this life, but I just couldn't hack it. It was too hard."

Okay. No one is going to punish you. But think of all the work it took to get you to that sentence - think about having to do it all over again. Just to learn the same damn lesson.  Kind of annoying to think about isn't it?

So stick around.

When science proves there is an afterlife (and I've had it proven to me dozens of times, and I write about it in my books, and I can't change anyone else's mind - because everyone has their own path and journey and if it's not in the cards for you to change your mind about life and death this time around - hey, that's allowed, it's okay) I don't think everyone is going to sign up to get off the planet.

 But for those of you who are looking to see into a deeper reality, see beyond the limitations put upon us by society, see what the science really says (and I mean science in terms of consistent results that are replicable under any circumstances) - then it's okay to go down this path with me.



But - now the question is - how do we experience "unconditional love" while we're here on the planet?  What is that?

Well, get a pet is a start.  You can experience it while you stare into your pet's eyes.  Or have a child. Hold that baby in your arms and look into its eyes and ask yourself "why have you come into my life?"  You'll hear an answer - you may dismiss it, but you'll hear it.  Then practice unconditional love when you're out in the world - someone got your order wrong, screwed up your plans - smile at them. Say "It's ok, I understand. No worries" when you're really saying "I love you unconditionally. There's nothing that you can do wrong or that would screw up my appreciation of being on the planet.  I'm here. You're here. We both get to experience this together."

As one famous film director said to me recently - from the flipside, he's been off the planet for awhile now, and he showed up while I was interviewing Jennifer Shaffer - with a message for his widow which I passed along - he said "No one comes over to this side wishing that they had "held back" more during their lifetime."

Think about that for a second.  "No one on the Flipside wishes they held back more."  How cool is that????



That applies to all of us. Don't hold back. You're having a hard time? Don't hold back. You're feeling judgmental? Let it go. Don't hold back. Someone is making it hard to love them unconditionally? Don't hold back.  Let it go.  Let it be.  Let it surround you.  If you can't love unconditionally, then live unconditionally.


My two cents for the day.

POST SCRIPT:

I mention this in my books, I usually mention it - if you're having suicide ideation, you need to seek out some experts in this field.  It turns out that a side effect of SSRI drugs is suicide ideation - and it's also why doctors prescribe SSRI drugs.  I would ask anyone who is depressed to seek professional help - as the brain can trick us into wanting to check out.  

Trick us?

I say that because the monumental study done by Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin shows that "Meditation can cure or alleviate the symptoms of depression."

CURES DEPRESSION.

How does that work? Well, I attended a lecture he gave at UCLA. He showed that the study proves that meditation can "cure or alleviate depression." Because meditation affects the amydala - which is the regulator of serotonin.  Why is this important?

Because people who have amygdalas that aren't working - have misfiring serotonin.  We find misfiring serotonin in people who are having trouble sleeping, people who are depressed, upset, or some other brain function that is awry.  And meditation helps the amygdala - in fact "one session of meditation can change the shape of the amygdala."  This isn't opinion - it's in the study. Scientific fact.

I asked Richard what form of meditation he was using in the study. He said "Tonglen, but a non specific version."  Meaning instead of the typical Tonglen session where a person imagines curing or helping another person using only their mind - they would imagine the planet Earth was in need of being cured instead of one person.

Why is this important? Tonglen is a meditation that allows the meditator to try and "cure" or "help alleviate" pain in someone else. And it turns out - the amazing fact is - that it cures or alleviates depression in the meditator.

Do the meditation, do it every day, like doing pushups, and the depression, the ideation of harming yourself will GO AWAY. Without drugs.  There's no side effects.  If you have depression, or symptoms of depression - seek out someone who can help you find the best meditation expert near you.  See your doctor - indeed - but make sure your doctor has seen the statistics that show up to 15% of the people who use SSRI drugs have ideations of suicide (this state comes from a friend who is a doctor) - and make sure your doctor has seen the evidence that shows that meditation can "cure or alleviate the symptoms of depression."

I can promise he or she is not aware of it - unless they were at the lecture that Davidson gave. And there were easily 500 people in the room, many who identified themselves as psychiatrists "trying to learn a way to wean their clients off Prozac" or to "find an alternative to prescribing SSRI drugs to their teenaged patients."

Okay?  Seek a doctor, but make sure the doctor knows about the research that you've already done into the condition.

The Dalai Lama and his pal Richard Davidson, University of Wisconsin

Friday

Speaking to the Flipside

I'm doing this unusual experiment.


I'm filming people talking to the flipside.

I mean I'm filming people who are talking to their subconscious mind about things that they could not know, are not aware of, have not experienced or seen before.

I've done this about a dozen times so far.  Sometimes it's a friend who is curious about the kind of work I'm doing, sometimes it's someone who reached out to me because they had a bad dream, or some kind of odd experience.

And I ask if they want to "explore" it.


Yesterday I spent half an hour talking directly to a friend of mine who passed away a couple of weeks ago via medium Jennifer Shaffer. He was telling me what it was like for him over there - how after awhile, he has been able to "settle down" and have a conversation. He was eager to converse - not that he has no one to talk to - he appears to be enjoying himself over there, but he told me that he visits me often when I'm asleep and we go "on trips together."

I have no conscious memory of that.  But I do have a conscious memory of my friend's sense of humor, who he was, the kinds of projects he was interested in - the kind of dad he was.  I teased him a bit, to see if things might be different for him over there - but no, he's just like he was when he was here.  

"Only faster."


I hesitate to say who this friend is, because I haven't been in touch with his family about these conversations, I will share them with them when it's the time and place.  But my friend suggested that we find a way to make a film out of these conversations and he's offered to "help me" get the appropriate people on the phone to do so.

We'll see.

It's a fun project though - I get to see my pal Jennifer Shaffer every week - she's an intuitive/medium who works with law enforcement nationwide to help in missing person cases.  I know how effective she is, and she appears quite a bit in "Hacking the Afterlife" giving me key information from the Flipside about some of the people who appear in the book.


I turn my camera on and we "talk" to whomever has decided to join us that afternoon - sometimes at my request, sometimes they just "show up."  But when they appear, I ask questions about their perspective. What's it like over there? What do we look like to you? If you were going to try to send a message to someone how would you do it? Give us a "one, two, three" process in how to communicate with our loved ones."  What they say is simple, yet fun.  Worth exploring.

Stay tuned!




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