Friday, June 17, 2016

Orlando and the Flipside


Wow. What's up with Orlando?



Christina Grimmie is shot by a crazed fan.

49 people shot by a crazed gunman.

An alligator stealing babies from Disneyworld?

It's hard to wrap our minds around.

Allow me to quote a spirit guide in "Flipside:"

"You can learn more spiritually (courage, compassion, loyalty, forgiveness) in one day of tragedy on earth than you can in 5000 years on some other boring planet."

I personally feel awful, and distraught over the events in Orlando.  I know that this individual should never have been allowed to buy an AR 15 - and it's proven that one gunshop owner refused his service and notified the FBI.

Why the FBI, after interviewing this fellow twice, chose not to do anything - or that another store sold him the guns and ammo - is beyond me.

The facts are loopy in many fashions - hanging out a gay bar, hitting on patrons, drinking, etc - not practicing any religion.  The fact that he claimed allegiance to "ISIS" is fatuous, since he wasn't a practicing Muslim, nor was he targeting gays for any reason other than he thought it was an easy target.

So I'm not interested in the debate about religion - since it's nonsensical in this case.  He wasn't Isis or Al Qaeda, or Bob Qaeda... he was just a mixed up wife beater from New York who was able to buy an AR 15 and act on his rage.

That being said - how to file this into the "Flipside?"  Well, there is quite a bit of research on this... once we get back there, or "off stage" we get a chance to see these actions for what they are.  Actions on stage, during a play so that we can learn from the actions involved.  The actions move out like a wave across the planet, influencing people to not want to kill others, or influencing them to copy his behavior.  It's part of what we sign up for when we come to the planet in the first place.

Ah, but there's the rub.  We have free will, and we can refuse to play the role of a villain in our lifetime.  We can say "Uh, actually, I've done that sort of thing before, and no, I'm not interested in playing that role.  Even if it takes 5000 years for these people to learn these lessons in some other fashion, I'm just not interested in taking on all the negativity and tragic emotions that will be associated with these acts.

We can take some solace in the research that shows that no one is dead - their physical bodies are not here, and that's stressful, painful and causes anguish. But they're okay.  They stepped off this stage and have gone back stage, and are doing their best from the perspective to help those here deal with tragedy.

But they are all okay.

Just not here.

That's not to mitigate or take away from the tragedy.  It is tragic. My heart goes out to every one of them, the parents of all involved, and the families of everyone.  It's an incredibly courageous thing to sign up for a lifetime where we're going to experience this kind of tragic loss, or giving up our lives for some noble reason - so that others can experience courage, saving lives, giving their lives to save others.

These are all part of the reports that we get from people who experience these events - people no longer on the planet who claim from the flipside perspective, they completely understand why and how they signed up for a life where they "wouldn't be here for very long."

Phillip Schultz,the father of wrestler Dave Schultz, who was killed by Dupont (as shown in the film Foxcatcher) spoke at his son's funeral.  During the euology he recounted the day when Dave was 5 years old and asked if he could share a secret. He took his father by the hand and walked out into the woods.

He said "I spoke to my council and we agreed that I would come here to teach a lesson in love.  But I won't be here for very long."

It's hard to imagine how Dave knew what his life trajectory would be.  It's hard to imagine how he could have agreed to that event, and even harder to imagine that he was able to remember it well enough to pass it along to his father to "soften the blow."

I have no idea if he softened the blow.  I suspect as we hear the stories of those who've been killed this past week, we're going to hear stories where they "came to visit their loved ones" after the event, or where someone in their family remembers some "odd conversation" that the victim had some time ago - either about "not being around very long" or "not going to be living to an old age."

It's as if we all know what we've agreed to and while we're on stage here, we do our best to forget it so we can have the most impact.  But too late - I'm here to turn the lights on the theater and say "Hey, wait a second. We agreed to do this play. But we don't have to learn these lessons the hard way - we have other ways to learn these same lessons, through sacrifice and helping others."

But I suspect everyone on stage might just say "Oh, stop it already, turn off the lights and get back to playing your part already."  That could be.

Still, my heart goes out to all those involved, all those who are suffering, all those who are trying to wrap their minds and hearts around such "senseless acts." 

They are never senseless, and they always make spiritual sense to those people who are involved... and they do come out of the experience realizing that they're not "dead" but are continuing to live on - and they will do their best to contact their loved ones to let them know they're still with them (kind of hard to do so at first, as the energy of the communication is all haywire) but eventually, people will see that these tragedies are part of a grander design.

One long way of saying hug your loved ones, do something for someone else, donate money if you can, or just stop and lend a hand.  Out of every tragedy comes some rose of enlightenment, and its up to us to look for them.  My two cents.  

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Speaking at the IANDS Conference in July in Orlando

 IF YOU'RE IN ORLANDO AT THE END OF JULY, SWING ON BY... SPEAKING AT THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NEAR DEATH STUDIES CONFERENCE IN ORLANDO..... (ALSO LIVE STREAMING)

JULY 28-31 ORLANDO, FL - INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NEAR DEATH STUDIES PRESENTS:

THURSDAY | JULY 28 @ 4-5:30 

“THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE AFTERLIFE”
AT THE EMBASSY SUITES BY HILTON – ORLANDO, LAKE BUENA VISTA SOUTH
Author, Filmmaker “Flipside: A Tourist’s Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife” and “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife.” Talks about his research into the flipside via deep hypnosis as detailed in his best selling amazon books. He began to focus on NDE’s, OBE’s and others altered states of consciousness, interviewing scientists and near death experiencers who were able to use hypnosis as a tool to examine their NDE in more detail. He’s learned that based on his experience with the architecture of the afterlife, he’s been able to interview people who are fully conscious, yet are able to access or remember their near death experience, a hypnosis session, or even dreams. His new book “Hacking the Afterlife” details attempts to reach out to those no longer on the planet in search of “new information.” A blueprint of what is happening on the flipside is needed – a tourist map if you will. The map he’s constructed allows us to examine what scientists say about consciousness, along with what thousands have said about their journey in the flipside.   Visit his website www.richmartini.com

For tix and info, please visit HTTP://CONFERENCE.IANDS.ORG/

SPEAKING AGAIN ON:

| SATURDAY | JULY 30 - 3:15-4:15| LIVE STREAM
“NEAR LIFE EXPERIENCES; HOW EXAMINING NDE CASES GIVES INSIGHT INTO HAVING MORE FUN WHILE ON THE PLANET"

He’ll talk about the “flipside of the flipside” – how there are some fun stories about interacting with the other side… how realizing that we don’t die (in spirit anyway) can help us navigate our lives.

Hurry Up! Discount ends July 5 - Live streaming registration starts Jun 14
Students 60 % discount on registration. Free Public presentation Thu Jul 28 7:30 pm.
Free Spanish Workshop NDE101 Fri Jul 29 at 4:45 pm. HTTP://CONFERENCE.IANDS.ORG/

Visit his website at www.richmartini.com

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

A Message of Love from Muhammed Ali

The end of an era.

Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Ali boxing, Muhammad Ali boxer, Muhammad Ali dead, Muhammad Ali death, Muhammad Ali passes away, Muhammad Ali death 74, Muhammad Ali boxing video, sports
In this April 28, 1967 file photo, Muhammad Ali is escorted from the Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station in Houston by Lt. Col. J. Edwin McKee, commandant of the station, after Ali refused Army induction. (Source: AP)

When I heard that The Greatest had passed away, I felt that same odd feeling I felt in 1968, when as a child of 13, I heard the news that Martin Luther King had died. 

I wept, not knowing why, not really knowing how his life had affected me, or why.  I grew up in another part of the world away from him - but I knew and heard and felt the honesty of his words.

I felt the same way about hearing Muhammed Ali speak.  There was a poignancy and honesty in his words that cut to the core.

I've become a fan of his daughter Maryum having seen her on the reality show "60 days in prison" or whatever that show is called.  It's a shame that it didn't live up to its billing.  Thomas Mott Osbourn was an attorney who voluntarily put himself into jail so he could show the corruption going on at the highest levels. His book changed how prisons operate.  But as evidence from that show, they haven't changed much since 100 years ago.

I'm sorry that the prison officials were more interested in "how do drugs get into prison" than they were in "how can we learn how to treat human beings like human beings so that they can return to their life as individuals?"

Maryum obviously attempted to do that - but the show fell short of allowing any discussion of that.  It was about "finding the contraband" and creating an environment of fear.  Having worked in the film biz a long time, I know how reality shows are scripted, how they're shot, and how they try to manipulate the message.  It's a shame, because at the end it becomes what Muhammed Ali observed about boxers:

In 1970, Ali shared what he felt about two black men boxing. “Half the crowd is white. We’re just like two slaves in that ring. The masters get two of us big old black slaves and let us fight it out while they bet: ‘My slave can whup your slave.’ That’s what I see when I see two black people fighting.”

It's what we do here on the planet.  We watch ourselves attack each other on television every night. We watch people in poverty shooting other people in poverty, we watch scripted shows about billionaires cheating, lying, stealing from other billionaires, we have politicians running for office who put people down on a daily basis - especially one for how a person looks, their heritage, their religion - it doesn't matter.  It's always PUT THE OTHER PERSON DOWN.

But the truth is odd.

Between lives we are all equal.

We are exactly the same.

We don't see sinners as evil, or celebrities as famous.  

We see them as other souls.  Other individuals who are glowing with light, who may have caused suffering, who may be suffering themselves.  But we are all equal.

We aren't black or white, as if that mattered, we aren't male or female, as if that mattered, we aren't tall or short or rich or poor - as if that mattered. We are all equal.  Always equal.

Sure, there are people who are wiser, smarter, have been around the block more than us - they're our teachers.  But they regard us as bright, exciting, thrilling individuals - no less important, no less part of the vast inexpressable network of souls that are in the universe.  

And when people return to the flipside, whether through a near death experience,or under hypnosis - they all say relatively the same thing - they talk about that experience of feeling "unconditional love."  That's love that has no conditions. 

Hard to find it here on the planet, we might get it from a parent, or from a loved one, or give it to our children.  But to everyone else - extremely difficult to give out unconditional love because we're so busy judging them by how they look, their heritage, their race, their gender, their sexuality, their body parts, their lack of body parts, their afflictions, their handicaps, their legs, their feet, their toes - when all of it is a projection.

All of it is a projection - like light flickering in a movie theater.  Lights on a screen. Because we are what we project.  And on the flipside, when people show up who are no longer who they once were, they project the essence of who they were - and we see them in those brief moments not as wounded individuals, but as the whole person they once were.  We see them as they project themselves to us. We see them as THEY WANT TO BE SEEN.

Not as we used to see them - as some object of pity, or scorn, or love, or lust, or whatever nonsense we project onto them - they're doing the projecting now, and they can appear to us in whatever form they want to.  It's usually at the point they felt the best about themselves, and yet they want the person they're visiting to be able to recognize them, and not jump out of their skin when they appear.

Muhammad Ali and Maryum Ali
Maryum "May May" Ali, eldest daughter of Muhammad Ali, embraces her father. (Maryum Ali)

I've seen it.  I know many who've seen it as well.  I've filmed people seeing it. Seeing their loved ones once again, holding their hand, hearing their voice, feeling that unconditional love.

Meanwhile, the veil continues to thin. I've had this experience (my father visiting me with info about his pals on the flipside, my aunt had her husband appear at her bed to say goodbye, our kids have been visited by my dad and our pal Luana, etc). 

Maryum told the LA Times: On Sunday, Maryum Ali shared memories of her father with The Times, often still referring to him in the present tense, because “his energy is present,” she said. “It will always be around.”

maryum ali
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-maryum-ali-20160605-snap-story.html

"My father has many sides, like most people do. My father is a gregarious person. He’s upbeat. He has a positive, optimistic outlook on life. He’s a generous person, and loving. He simply loves people. So when people came to visit him in his hotel suite or came up to him on the street, he would look them dead in the eye and [say], “What’s your name, how ya doing.” He loved the energy of people.

Everyone who talked to him or dealt with him in some way, shape, form or fashion remembers the human qualities of him.  They called him the peoples’ champ. That what makes him so beloved. My father really was a ball of love. He really exuded that love to even a stranger. He didn’t treat that stranger as inferior. I am just so happy that I was able to experience that quality as a girl looking up and seeing him interact with people.

What did he teach you? 

The beauty of him is that he made time and made it a priority to be a good father. So the time he had with us, he was really trying to build up our character. I’m the woman that I am today because of him. I really listened to his lessons: How to be a respectful woman, how not to let men chip away at your esteem, how not to get involved in the dark side of society, in bad habits; stay healthy, watch who your friends are.


And what’s most important for me is that I love my religion of Islam. I stand up for being a Muslim, with all the craziness going on, all the negativity in this country about who Muslims are. I am proud to be a Muslim and unapologetic because of my father. He was going to give up his boxing profession for his faith. That was a beautiful example to have guide me.
.....

How do you think he would like to be remembered?

I really think he just wanted to be seen as a human being who loved humanity, who wanted to fight for humanity, for all people. When you look at religious wars, when you look at racial tensions, all of that is divisiveness. And it comes in many shapes and forms: the pretty, the ugly, the black, the white. My father, through the essence of what he was, thought there should be no divisions, that this is wrong, that this is not what God wants. God made all of us beautiful in his image. Outside of the ring, that’s what he was about. And that’s how he wants to be remembered. A man who used his celebrity, who used his God-given talent to propagate the idea that we should not be divided as the human race in any way, shape or form. To me that’s the essence of him."

This just in from Maryum - a flipside tweet - 

maryum ali @maryum7 
"I know him as THE GREATEST father. I love you so much, Dad. His spirit visited me last night. Thank you world for your love & support!!!"

Thanks for sharing him with us.

Journey Into Tibet

I spent a few weeks with Robert Thurman in Tibet, documenting his journey there. There are clips avail on youtube, but here is the complete documentary "Journey Into Tibet."

GoodReads