Past Lives, Epigenetics and the Light at the End of the Tunnel

I was conversing with someone on Facebook about their native American heritage.  When we think about "past lives" and reincarnation, we often connect it to what we know about DNA and genetics.  "Hey, I'm Irish and Italian, is it possible that my genetic code remembers the lifetimes of my ancestors?"

My favorite pic of Sitting Bull. Sitting at the same table
I sit at every time I go to Rome and sit in Caffe Greco.
He's with Bill Cody, from the Wild West Show. You can't see me because
I'm in this photo 100 years later.

Epigenetics is a new branch of science that claims this to be true. Well, actually it's a new branch of psychology meets biology, and people are trying to prove or disprove the theory. The idea being "imagine if I could take a pill and I would no longer be connected to the diaspora my relatives suffered through!" (Note: Scientific research is driven, in the most part, by capitalism.  If someone wants to be able to sell or profit from science, they sponsor a study.  This isn't news - it's just the nature of the beast.) 

The basis of the research comes from a study where rats were killed while the smell of roses was prevalent. Then their offspring were exposed to the smell and they showed panic and fear.  "Oh no, the creep who murdered my dad for an experiment is back."  As William James, father of modern psychology (and some credit with marrying quantum theory with psychology) points out - "Just because we can observe something in the brain does not mean  that it necessarily springs from the brain."

Meaning, there are many reasons why the rats fear humans who smell like roses.  It could be that they're remembering the fear from their progenitor (I assume their parents were murdered first, and then extracted to make new mice to prove this diabolical point.) or it could be that their loved ones on the flipside are screaming "Look out! This guy who smells like Minnie is coming to kill you!" 

The reason I sound disbelieving is because based on this afterlife research I've become aware that all animals are sentient.  Full stop.  Their sentience is related to their journey on the planet, just like ours.  And the fact that we continue to experiment on animals so that we can benefit humans is... well... kind of old fashioned, let's say.  

Cruel?  Perhaps.  Insane? Okay, I'll accept that.

I'm not arguing vegetarianism here, although my billion or so pals in India have embraced it. (Older dataset and all).  I mean plant based diet may be the healthiest diet around, but why force people to do what's good for them? How would they learn?

But it's possible the "spirit" of these rats has returned to warn their offspring.  I mean it's not a likely scenario, but is also a possibility.  When we look at the rodent in Africa who when bit by a poisonous snake knows what plant to rub against to cure themselves of the snake bite - what's happening there?  Is it that their code has that information? Is it one of their parents whispering in their ear? And when did the code begin to pass itself along genetically?

Or ants that move their colony after 5 years due to overcrowding.  At what point did they determine that five years was enough? And how is the message sent? (ant mail?) And who sends it?  And why?

I had a professor in college who said "You don't have to know the answer to your question in order to ask it.  In fact it's better if you don't know the answer, because asking the question gets the reader to think."  Smart guy that Julian Baird.

So today I was thinking about the journey.  Here were are on the planet, with a limited amount of time to pass along information.  We do our best to learn as much as we can, and then pass it along. Either we speak it, film it, tell our family, friends, or write it into books.  Now we have facebook and email to pass along information.  And what percentage of that information gets to the rest of the species to keep it moving along?

Hello? Any sentient beings left?

Well not much apparently.  

Here we are arguing about things that people have been arguing about for decades, and perhaps longer - and yet, its as if we're starting the arguments over from scratch.  That might be part of the journey on the stage of life - that we get onto stage with only so much information and try to enact it.  After all, how do we get notes from all the other actors that have played this same part?  Wouldn't it be lovely if just prior to going out to do Hamlet, we could converse with everyone else who has played the part?

Perhaps.

So today a woman wrote me about her son who is part native American and is just beginning to access and process that information.  And is hopeful it will take him out of his depression he's had since the election - as everything from his perspective is looking dark, is looking pointless, is looking like there's no light at the end of the tunnel. 

I sent her this video.  It's Scott De Tamble doing a spontaneous "past life regression" with a woman who was at one of my book talks.  I was talking about my own past life memory of being a native American and witnessing the massacre of my wife, son and tribe. And how I thought it so extremely odd that if I was making this information up, why I'd allow myself to feel that kind of tragedy.  And I did feel it when I saw it, experienced it. 

Woman listening to my talk burst into tears.  Scott asked her if there was something I had said that caused that reaction.  She said there was, and he asked "would you like to explore it?"

So she did.  In front of an audience.  I know this woman pretty well, we've been friends for a long time, we had never talked about this work or research.  She worked at a University, and told me she was interested in the topic of "between life hypnotherapy" which "Flipside: A Tourist's Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife" is about.

Here it is: 



As noted in the text, she remembers some details that aren't easily accessible. That she came from a Sioux tribe in Virginia sounded implausible as she said it - until I found her tribe living in Virginia prior to the "Trail of Tears."  She mentions having to burn all the clothing of her tribe so that they could "rest in peace" in the afterlife is not an easy detail to access - I found a reference to it in a book about western native American traditions written in the 1800's. I also found it mentioned in Apache death rituals mentioned here:

So - is she like the mouse remembering an event that happened to someone in her blood line?  She is not part of this blood line, so that's not physically possible.  

Is she remembering a lifetime of someone else, who just happened to experience these events? (The Jungian unconscious theory) Also not likely, since the memories seem to be related to her journey through all of her lives - the lessons she signs up to learn.  

I've shown in Flipside that two people have had identical memories of previous lives - they were married to each other in the 1840's - but I used two different therapists to ask the question on two different continents - and neither the subjects or the therapists knew of their shared background (but I had heard it from one person, and suggested we do a blind test with the person he saw in his past life memory.)  I arranged for the session with this woman who didn't know anything of my friend's session, nor did the therapist asking the questions.

So remembering a previous lifetime is not someone picking up on the "leftover" energy of someone else's lifetime.  

Could it be hypoxia or cryptomnesia? (Hypoxia - hallucinations from lack of oxygen, cryptomnesia remembering something you read or heard somewhere else)

What she says is "new information."  It's not anything that she could have known (most people will automatically argue that the Sioux are from western US and not know their history without the forensic search) - the information she recounts is specific and detailed - unlike the accounts that are written that are available through forensic research and the information is not anything that could come from a hallucination - as it's accurate.  

Could it be synthesthesia? (The wiring of the brain somehow picking up the wrong message). 

Well, that wouldn't account for the details she's remembering that are not part of the public record... burning clothes to release spirits, or building model huts and burning them to release spirits... it's not a common practice among any tribes.  

It's just light in the Vatican. Its only light in the Vatican.

And it's not part of her lifetime of memory or experience.

So why is this experience light at the end of the tunnel?

Because the veil is lifting. I'm talking about events and experiences that are becoming more and more common on a daily basis.  And once a person has had these kinds of experiences,they start to end seeing the planet as some kind of polarized, walled off experience.  It's like the overview effect that astronauts report after circling the earth; they no long see borders. They no longer see races. They no longer see gender. They no longer see clothing or status or wealth.

All they see are humans.

Diamonds in the rough and Quantum butterflies

Was chatting this morning with a friend who works in the health care industry. She's had an unusual path - born in Africa, eventually found her way to the US and helps heal people.   We were joking about success, how relative it is, and the elusive money that always seems outside of our reach.  It's a familiar refrain, she jokingly wants to "make millions" or "make enough money to get whatever she wants."

Hanging with my Homies in Leh, Ladakh

She recounted how in college, she had a philosophy class where the teacher asked "How many people in this class are happy?"  A few raised their hands. "How many people think they'll be happy in the future?"  Everyone raised their hands.  "How many want to become millionaires?"  Everyone's hand went up.  The teacher said "Well, let me get real with you..." and then rattled off the statistics that showed how many people were likely to get the success that they aimed for, and how difficult it would become - to be rich or happy - in the future.

It's those pesky statistics that stop us in our tracks. 

How many times have we heard or thought "Well, if I had only taken this path, or opened that door, I would have had more success?"  Or "I was this close to winning that deal, that contract, that project, and it was snatched away from me." We never stop to think that it was better for us that the deal did not happen. We only think of the lost opportunities. Or lost income.

So I asked her "Has anyone ever complemented you on your work?"  She said someone had recently said to her "I feel so privileged to know you.  You make me feel great whenever I'm with you."  I asked her to put a price on how much that compliment was worth.  A dollar? A million dollars?  

She thought about it - "More than a dollar.  Okay, I'll say it was a million dollar compliment."  I said "Okay, now you're a millionaire.  Look at that.  One compliment and you've discovered that you're actually what you've always been wanting and looking to become!"  

She said "What are you saying? That I'm looking the wrong way for fulfillment?"  

I reached out my hand.  I said "Everyone is reaching for something. Success, money, fame. Reaching for that victory, that money, that reward.  Perhaps all they have to do is turn their hand over and look inside their hand. It's already there.  You've already "won." You get to be here on the planet. Living life, breathing air, experiencing love and all that comes with it.  And you've altered the path of, changed or helped people in your life.  What more could you possible want than that kind of million dollar compliment "You've changed my life. Thank you"?

I said "Think of each compliment as a diamond.  And then go through your life and think about everyone who ever complimented you in such a way.  Each one of those compliments is a jewel in your necklace, a flower in your garland. Then look at how many jewels you have.  You'll see that the thing you were reaching for is actually in your hand when you turn it over.  Just turn your hand over..."

This discussion reminded me of a dream I once had. (as recounted at the end of "Flipside: A Tourist's Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife.") 

While working on the film "Salt" I was working 18-20 hour days, 6 and 7 days a week, trying to help this film into the world. (I'm also in it - I drive Angelina out of Korea)  I was working for my friend Phillip Noyce, an amazingly hard working director, who requires a bit of energy just to keep up with him. I was thinking "My family is back in LA, I'm stuck in the winter of NY with this crazy film. This isn't furthering my career in any way. What the heck am I doing here?"

That night I had a dream.  I was in a large room.  The children looked Asian. They were eating soup out of wooden bowls, using wooden spoons. I looked around.  "Where am I?" I realized I was in an orphanage in Cambodia. Looking at these children being fed.  Then I remembered, Angeline Jolie, the star of the film, owned an orphanage in Cambodia - or rather donates 7 million of her salary each year to support these orphans.  And I realized I was being shown the connection between my long hours of work and her donation.

To which I thought "Oh come on. Really? She's making 20 million or something on this movie, and you're telling me that my overtime in some way contributes to these kids in Cambodia?" I scoffed at my own dream, as if it come from some mistaken place.

The next night I had another dream; another "vision" that was more than a dream. This time I saw myself standing on a street in Mumbai.  It was a street that seemed familiar to me, as I've been to Bombay a few times, and in this vision I was hovering at the end of a street near an alley. 

I could see two people having a transaction. One was an older man, and the other was a man in his 20's. The older man handed the younger one about 400 rupees ($10) for a copy of a bootleg copy of the film "Salt."

I knew it was a bootleg, because 1. it had a composite picture of Angelina on the cover, and 2. the film had not even been finished yet, so it could not exist anywhere other than my head.  

But this older gent was buying this bootleg copy from the younger fellow.  The younger man took his 400 rupees, turned and handed it to his wife - who was living in a large cardboard box with their four children.  This is a common site in various parts of Bombay - people living in boxes, literally on street corners.

But it was in that moment I saw what this vision meant. The energy of the wheel of life.  How our work influences people millions of miles away, people we'll never meet nor realize we've helped. 

It was a bootleg copy, to demonstrate that no one on the film, no one producing it, or starring in it were profiting from the transaction.  It was part of this gigantic "Energy wheel of life" - where turning the bottom of the wheel from where I was, changed something at the top of the wheel on another side - something I would never consciously be aware of.

All the labor of everyone, my contribution minuscule - in a tiny, insignificant way - was turning that giant wheel so that the energy of creativity could help this poor family in a slum in Mumbai.

We can't see the good that we do. Or our effect on others.

But we can appreciate that if we put our heart and soul into something, someone somewhere will benefit from it.  That's how the energy works. 

You do a small simple good deed for one person - and like the quantum butterfly effect - it affects someone on the other side of the planet. 

From a definition of "the quantum butterfly effect" 

From Nature.com

"In the paper, Lorenz claimed the large effects of tiny atmospheric events pose both a practical problem, by limiting long-term weather forecasts, and a philosophical one, by preventing us from isolating specific causes of later conditions. The "innumerable" interconnections of nature, Lorenz noted, mean a butterfly's flap could cause a tornado - or, for all we know, could prevent one. Similarly, should we make even a tiny alteration to nature, "we shall never know what would have happened if we had not disturbed it," since subsequent changes are too complex and entangled to restore a previous state.

So a principal lesson of the butterfly effect is the opposite of Redford's line: It is extremely hard to calculate such things with certainty. There are many butterflies out there. A tornado in Texas could be caused by a butterfly in Brazil, Bali, or Budapest. Realistically, we can't know. "It's impossible for humans to measure everything infinitely accurately," says Robert Devaney, a mathematics professor at Boston University. "And if you're off at all, the behavior of the solution could be completely off." When small imprecisions matter greatly, the world is radically unpredictable."

Or, radically complex. My two cents.

The Goddess of Memory

Something odd happened to me yesterday....

(How many posts start this way?)

...related to the flipside.

Goddess of Memory by Rosetti

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I was having lunch with Jennifer Shaffer near her office in Manhattan Beach when it appeared that Michael Newton had shown up while we were chatting about making it easier for people to access the flipside. 

But as I was leaving our lunch, I checked my cellphone for texts, and a word appeared on my instant message app:

Mnemonic

I've never used this word before, had to look it up. You'd think at my old age, most words would have come into our view, and we've used or dismissed them. But this word means a couple of things; it's related to memory.  The original word in Greek means "mindful."

It's often used in terms with a "Mnemonic Device" - which is like a place holder for a memory.  Like "Every Good Boy Does Fine" to remember the notes on the treble clef. But it can be a phrase, a visual, or any kind of "place holder" to help us with our memory.

Jennifer and I had just been talking about remembering our loved ones.  Could this be a message from the flipside with regard to how to do it? Or how to make it easy to do?

Michael had suggested that my method of trying to help remember people - like toasting them in present tense - or taking a photograph out and imagine how and where the photograph was taken, and then to ask that person questions you don't know the answer to...  it was amusing that Michael replied "keep it simple."  As in KISS - "Don't make people think they have to work to remember their loved ones, just allow it to happen when they speak their name aloud or in their mind."

A tree we planted in Paul Tracey's memory,
Billy Meyer and Mark Caplis. Now only
Mark remains. (Billy and the tree are on
the flipside)

Isn't that a version of a Mnemonic?  I also noted - as I tried to reproduce the word on my phone to see if it would appear with two letters - MN - I remembered that whenever I wrote about Michael Newton on my blackberry, by typing MN I got another phrase.  "Auto spell" is like a Mnemonic. It takes your symbols and turns them into phrases.  And the word itself begins with his initials. Michael Newton.

It turns out my phone needs the first four letters M N E M to automatically make that word appear.  Did my pocket type MNEM?  Not sure how it could have, I had my cell in my hand, took it to the table, walked it into lunch, set it on the table, walked it back to my car, looked at it and saw the word had appeared.

MNEMONIC.

Pronounced like "Demonic" but with an N. (amusing)

So I looked up the word. Where does it come from?

NOW IT GETS INTERESTING.

It comes from the Goddess of Memory.   That's Mnemosyne (good luck pronouncing that without a key) - but it's "Nee - moz - a - nee."  And it turns out she's one of the most famous Goddesses of all time, but has been ignored by authors for centuries.

Because her name was invoked before every Greek play.  They would stand in front of the audience and ask for Mnemosyne - Neemozanee - to help  them with their memory because plays are memorized, and they'd ask the Goddess of Memory for help "in getting it right."

Statue de Mnémosyne du parc du château de Compiègne

Which relates to how epic stories were told through human history.  People like Homer would recount stories that had been repeated to him - aloud - in the old tradition - and people would ask for help in making sure they got all the details correct.  This is how human history was carried for millenia before we started writing (and re-interpreting it) for others.

Mnemosyne was a Titan.  Her mom was Gaia - the mother of all mothers - and her dad was Uranus. Here's her Wikipedia entry:

Mnemosyne (/nᵻˈmɒzᵻniː/ or /nᵻˈmɒsᵻni/; Greek: Μνημοσύνη, pronounced [mnɛːmosýːnɛː]), source of the word mnemonic,[2] was the personification of memory in Greek mythology. A Titanide, or Titaness, she was the daughter of the Titans Uranus and Gaia. Mnemosyne was the mother of the nine Muses, fathered by her nephew, Zeus:
Calliope (epic poetry)
Clio (history)
Euterpe (music)
Erato (lyric poetry)
Melpomene (tragedy)
Polyhymnia (hymns)
Terpsichore (dance)
Thalia (comedy)
Urania (astronomy)
     In Hesiod's Theogony, kings and poets receive their powers of authoritative speech from their possession of Mnemosyne and their special relationship with the Muses.
       Zeus and Mnemosyne slept together for nine consecutive nights, thus birthing the nine Muses. Mnemosyne also presided over a pool[3] in Hades, counterpart to the river Lethe, according to a series of 4th century BC Greek funerary inscriptions in dactylic hexameter. Dead souls drank from Lethe so they would not remember their past lives when reincarnated. Initiates were encouraged to drink from the river Mnemosyne when they died, instead of Lethe. These inscriptions may have been connected with Orphic poetry (see Zuntz, 1971).


Similarly, those who wished to consult the oracle of Trophonius in Boeotia were made to drink alternately from two springs called "Lethe" and "Mnemosyne." An analogous setup is described in the Myth of Er at the end of Plato's Republic."

Okay - there were two springs... one was "Lethe" which you drank TO FORGET ALL YOUR PREVIOUS LIFETIMES (before coming here).

It's the "drink" we take before we come to the planet.  On your way in, stop, get a slurp of Lethe, and voila - no memory of your previous lifetimes.

But on your way back?  Another pit stop, get a slurp of the Mnemosyne spring and voila - YOU REMEMBER ALL YOUR PREVIOUS LIFETIMES.

So - was Michael Newton trying to put a word onto my cellphone that related to his life's work?  That he actually was a version of Mnemosyne - helping us to remember our past lifetimes? That reading "Journey of Souls" "Destiny of Souls" "Life Between Lives" and "Memories of the Afterlife" was like taking a drink of the spring of Mnemosyne?

Modern day Mnemosyne MN

By the way, if you want to take that drink, I highly recommend visiting the Newton Institute website - they have trained hypnotherapists who have learned the technique from the master himself.  They have a searchable database to find someone trained near you.  I recommend getting reviews from others, and speaking to the therapist first, before you go in, to see and hear what might be in store for you on your adventure.

Scott's the fellow on the right

If you're in California, I highly recommend my pal SCOTT DE TAMBLE who is in Claremont, CA, whose website is "lightbetweenlives.com" - who I've filmed 35 adventures with, and every single one of those that I've filmed he's been able to take people not only into a past life, but into the life between lives. (And when someone did not go into the life between lives, it was explained by this person's spirit guide why that wasn't going to happen.) Here's Scott giving a lecture in May of Last Year.

Scott is a virtuoso.  Full stop.  If you're reading this sentence and you're considering going on a between life adventure and you have the means to get into his office, do it.  Bring a camera, film it, show it to your friends.  That's what I've been doing for the past 8 years. (Flipside is a small sampling of those sessions)

Here's a talk the three of us did together last year.

But back to this discussion of the Goddess of Memory - she is the mother of the 9 muses.  ("Spirit council" perhaps?  When people have a near death experience, or a guided meditation, or a hypnosis session, or some rare individuals who remember these events, say that they saw themselves "standing before a council.")  

In Newton's work that council was between 6 and 12 individuals, and each member of the council represented some quality of learning that the person had achieved during their "successful" lifetime.  So, if asked "who is on your council and why are they there?" a person might answer "I see that person represents selflessness because I learned that profoundly during that lifetime, and there's one who represents music, and then there's another who represents courage..." etc.  

(Note: I know this experience because I've had it myself, thanks to Scott.  "Rich, go back to a previous time you were in front of your council - count how many people are there.  Now go into the most recent trip to your council, is there anyone new there who you can identify?"  I clearly saw the "new council member" and described why she was suddenly in my circle of advisors.)

So maybe the person who first wrote the story of Mnemosyne was someone who met her on his or her council. And counted the other 9 folks in the room and identified who they were.  In the Goddess of Memory's case, she has Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Euterpe (music), Erato (lyric poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (hymns),Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), Urania (astronomy).

Look at these various talents; Epic Poetry (narrative story telling), History, Music, Tragedy, Hymns (Music with spirituality), Dance, Comedy, Astronomy, and Lyric Poetry (songs with emotional or spiritual content that are sung.)  It may seem oddly foreign to us - but if we examine the time frame, let's say its 2500 years ago - we're talking about 25 hours ago. (I had one person describe ten minutes on the flipside like 25 years of here - if you do the math, 2500 years may be like 10,000 minutes - or ABOUT A WEEK on the flipside.  So perhaps not so hard to remember those who've gone before from that time frame.) 

I spoke with Scott and Jennifer about doing a joint project together.  And I think it's going to revolve around something like this - the three of us in a room with someone who is willing to do hypnotherapy, then speak to people on the flipside while I pepper them with questions, while Jennifer downloads, unpacks what they're experiencing.  How cool would that be?

One other note - the last time that Michael "showed up" while we were having lunch, he said that from his side, he was doing a version of "noetic science" about how people on the flipside could communicate with us back here. Neither I nor Jennifer knew what the term meant.

"Noetic science" refers to "In philosophy, noetics is a branch of metaphysical philosophy concerned with the study of mind as well as intellect. Noetic topics include the doctrine of the agent/patient intellect (Aristotle, Averroes) and the doctrine of the Divine Intellect (Plotinus)." wikipedia. 

The Institute of Noetic Sciences is The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) is an American non-profit parapsychological[1] research institute. It was co-founded in 1973 by former astronaut Edgar Mitchell,[2][3][4] along with investor Paul N. Temple, and others interested in purported paranormal phenomena,[1] in order to encourage and conduct research on noetic theory and human potentials.[6][7]
The institute conducts research on such topics such as spontaneous remission,[8][9] meditation,[8] consciousness, alternative healing practices, consciousness-based healthcare, spirituality, human potential, psychic abilities, psychokinesis[9] and survival of consciousness after bodily death.[10][11] 

The institute maintains a free database, available on the Internet,[2] with citations to more than 6,500 articles about whether physical and mental health benefits might be connected to meditation and yoga.[8] Headquartered outside Petaluma, California, the organization is situated on a 200-acre (81 ha) campus that includes offices, a research laboratory and a retreat center (originally the campus of World College West).[12] Its current director is Cassandra Vieten."

I don't know much about the institute, but will check it out. 

So the words of the day (from Michael Newton) are "noetic" and "mnemonic."

Worth thinking about.

And finally... I sent someone a copy of the film "Flipside" today to a grieving parent, someone whose loved-one checked off the planet, and reached out to let them know they were still around via a "medium."  I sent the film to show the background of my work in this area and added this note, which is my way of trying to express what it is that I'm doing.... and that I'm not trying to "sell anyone" on this information. It's tailored to those who have a compelling interest in the topic.  In case anyone was wondering;

"I'm a film guy, about ten years ago started a documentary because my close pal died and came to visit me. I was trying to figure out how that could be (saw her, we traveled together, etc). Took me awhile, but stumbled onto the work of Michael Newton (Journey of Souls) which led me to DOPS at UVA and near death experiences.  And I was seeing the same info coming from people under hypnosis, as well as people experiencing near death events.  Which then led me to the science behind esp (Gary Schwartz Phd, Mario Beauregard PhD, Dr. Sam Parnia, Dr. Bruce Greyson - all consciousness investigators) and finally to mediums.  

And in my case, I worked with mediums that I knew of their work, and focused my attention on talking to one person on the flipside, through three different mediums to see if their reports were similar.  (in many cases identitical)  

Not all mediums are the same, everyone is different as you know - but when you get a consensus of opinion, the architecture of the flipside becomes a little bit clearer. as I try to point out in my blog these reports appear to be tailored (by those on the flipside) to not upset the world order, or to alter someone's path - they're so specific that only the person hearing them would be convinced beyond a shadow of doubt that they're coming from their loved ones. 

Others hearing the same info will remain unconvinced, skeptical - which is okay, because apparently we all choose our paths, and that may include a life in a closet... which is okay too, because "we're not in any hurry to get to the flipside."  Check it out - if it rings true to you, then (it's worth pursuing this research.)

My two cents.