This morning I was doing my usual, poking around looking for something to grab my attention. For some reason, Dr. Sam Bailey has not been censored by YouTube, That makes me cautious. She did a 17-minute presentation on the existence of viruses, concluding that there is not enough evidence supporting the idea, and that viruses probably are not real.
If this world had anything resembling a “reality”, the failure to isolate and prove the existence of even one virus would bring down the house of cards we call allopathic” medicine, as opposed to osteopathic or homeopathic. Allopathic medicine is said to be “science based,” and indeed much of it is. But so much of it is not.
And this is where it gets complicated. Not only do most people think viruses are real, but so do most doctors, nurses, and on down the line to the lowly janitor who dons a mask to enter an operating room to scrub. It is more than just the madness of crowds, but rather utter mass illusion replacing reality.
Without viruses, there could be no pandemics, lockdowns, masking regimes, and most importantly, vaccines.
I’ve been ruminating lately about my age, and how little time I’ve left on this planet. Our grandson recently turned 16, and trying to avoid being trite by wishing him a happy birthday, I merely suggested he enjoy that day, and also that 16 is a “wonderful age”. Indeed it is, a fully functioning body, a mind that can be turned on and off to a fascinating world, the ability to fall in love, to be devastated by a subsequent breakup, to be part of a sports team, even sometimes to be part of winning big events.
Would I like to go back and be 16 again? No. No way, actually. The primary reason is this: I would have to set aside everything I have learned about this thing called life and this world. I would revert to knowing nothing while thinking I knew anything at all.
Sure, it would be nice to be that young, to have a crush on a girl, to be able to run like the wind, and get excited by new ideas. But having learned over the years that just about everything around us is part of a mass illusion, and to live inside that illusion, does not appeal to me.
Woody Allen made a film (2011) called “Midnight in Paris“, which I enjoyed very much. The plot involved being transported back to the 1920s, but the overarching theme of the movie was that nostalgia is useless, even pointless. Things were never like we remember them, and in fact were often less enjoyable than we remember. To live in the present as I do, as so many others who come here do, requires awareness of the “self” variety and of the world as it really is.
At age 16, I had friends that turned out not to be, and believed in the Cold War (mass illusion), Jesus (mass illusion), elections (ditto), contagion*** (ditto), news and newspapers (“), the Beatles (“), JFK as a martyr, (“), the Catholic Church, the Vietnam War and on and on it goes. I was completely swamped in illusions. I would not want to have to get through them, shed them, form a better world view, again. It has been work, and yes, there is much more to be done.
I sat down here several hours ago to make a list of mass illusions, but it is too much work. It is much easier to just to quote the lines from a song sung by John Lennon, written by some unknown author, as follows:
Chorus:
Let me take you down ’cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
Nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields foreverLiving is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It’s getting hard to be someone but it all works out
It doesn’t matter much to me
(Chorus)No one I think is in my tree
I mean it must be high or low
That is you can’t, you know, tune in but it’s all alright
That is I think it’s not too bad
(Chorus)Always, no, sometimes think of me
But you know I know when it’s a dream
I think a “No” will mean a “Yes” but it’s all wrong
That is I think I disagree
(Chorus)
At age 16 that song imparted meaning on me. But looking back now, I can see that it blew by me. The songwriter is telling us that nothing is real, that we live with our eyes closed and do not understand anything. That writer had the ability to say what was true, and sing it right past us.
I once told an Internet correspondent that I thought that political boundaries were an illusion. Money is an illusion. But if we all agree to believe in the illusions, they work. What we have done here, to step into reality and out of illusion, makes us different. As a consequence, we do not fit, and have to spend most of our waking lives dealing with regular people with mouths tightly sewn shut.
But even so, I prefer that world to the one I lived in at age 16. No one ever said that life would be easy. My biggest fear now, based on watching a video by Howdie Mickoski is that even if reincarnation is real, it is a trap. Our minds are wiped before we return here, and so we have to start from scratch unraveling the mystery. This makes Earth a true prison planet. We are allowed to learn nothing in the process of living and then living again. Mickosky seems to be saying that after we are dead we need to keep going past dark forces who divert our attention in order to send us back here.
Oh well, reincarnation might just be an illusion anyway, but if there is a shot at living on a planet less insane than this one, I will jump at it.
______________________
*** There is this stumbling block: Hanging out with a bunch of guys one night, we met a car full of girls, and so I ended up in the back seat with one of them, who claimed to be suffering from strep throat. She was cute, and so in spite of the risk, we made out. I knew I was going to be sick as a result, but damn if it is not worth it! In spite of the huge exchange of saliva involved in face sucking, I never became ill. That caught my attention, as I could not understand why.
Piece of Mindful 
My read of gay John’s lyrics was that he was faking it with Yoko- nothing to get ‘hung’ about. The saying “Close your eyes and think of England” was for unwilling wives to say when having unwanted sex with their husbands. Living is easy with eyes closed, though, while it is ‘hard’ to be someone, it doesn’t mean anything to his true nature.
I ‘imagine’ his kid is IVF. Since John was a Stanley through his mother, and Yoko’s family were bankers, this union was of some significance, gay father or not.
LikeLike
I approach Beatles music from the standpoint that they did not author it, one thing Sage of Quay was convincing about, at least up until Rubber Soul. After that he goes all Billy, but he makes a convincing case that the boys did not have time at the completion of an American tour and holiday to write, instrument, rewrite, record, and package an album by early December, the British deadline. Especially high quality songs of a different turn than anything previous. So he assumes that they returned, that the songs had been written (by a new team of song writers), the instrument tracks laid down, and they, like the Beach Boys and Monkees, merely provided voices. That does not mean that the Strawberry Fields song was not written for John, and you could very well be right in your interpretation.
LikeLike
I agree the Beatles were a manufactured product for wider political and psychological purposes rather than just 4 lads expressing themselves, but a juiced, mid 20’s artsy fartsy type who fancies himself a poet, with money and the time, would contribute something to the process just because he could. To barely tip his hand regarding his, at the time, criminal orientation probably seemed like having a go at The Man, even though he outranked any officer of the law or court who would be compelled to do something about his queerness. Once homosexuality was decriminalized in England in ‘67, Yoko becomes a much larger figure to bury John’s reality even more, paradoxically. Frankly, she looks like a tight leash they put on him, the witch keeping him drugged, shaggy and editing his utterances. I’m digressing, but that couple never ever looked legit.
PS- Thinking now of the timing, I think SFF is about Cynthia, not Yoko.
LikeLike
Love your takes on the Mysteries of the Mersey Mop-tops, TM and MT. SFF is still one of my favorites. When I was preteen, the song conveyed a sense of mystery and the unreal which resonated in those hippy times. Oddly, I heard it getting back in the car after a contemplative (as per usual) hike last week. The contrast between the sounds of the natural reality of life in the LSD (Lower Sonoran Desert, near the extreme NE corner of it in this case per MT’s earlier map), which included being startled by the sudden appearance of three deer scampering downhill in the brush parallel to the trail, and the contrivances of the 60s daze to nowadays black mirror daze was stark.
LikeLike
Hey Tyrone I keep meaning to ask you, is the https://postflaviana.org/ site a dead duck now? shame had some amazing content, what happened?
LikeLike
Looks like the last article is from 2018. One of the writers who used to be there does a regular series with Tim Kelly – Our Interesting Times podcast – called Powers and Principalities. Been a long time since I listened to it.
Ab linked to a good recent episode where Kelly interviewed a young woman who’s a standup comic. She had an interesting story of “waking up” from her background to a more critical view of society. Kelly frustrates me a bit in his speaking style – he has a way of saying interesting things, but at high speed while sort of mumbling. He seems to assume you’re already as familiar with the points he’s making as he is.
LikeLike
I like Howdie. He collaborates at Free Voice with my buddy, Matt. Matt and I converse about this stuff, as it is of the utmost importance. Matt has a lot to offer in this regard (on his Quantum of Conscience channel) – and he keeps it on-the-level and humorous.
While I do not dispute what Howdie says with regard to the reincarnation trap, I am not sure he is taking the discussion where it ultimately needs to go (TBD, as I am also still figuring out this stuff); nor offering us anything new (as it is regurgitated material, for the most part – going back to David Icke and Max Spiers – two individuals who have spoken publicly about this over the years, and that is indeed, some cause for concern).
But it is a start, and I am glad to see you entering my ethereal neck of the woods. About time, my friend. That said, proceed with caution as you enter this vast exploratory realm – that offers very little in terms of definitive answers.
Personal discernment is crucial.
For now, though, this gif may make some sense to you: https://giphy.com/gifs/filmeditor-horror-1980s-poltergeist-xT9KVHloEUHBDhkRR6. It reflects (in a whimsical way) what I say to family and friends (more seriously and compassionately) before crossing over.
My sense is the darkness is where it is really at. The dark void can seem scary, yet it most often presents the safest pathway (that is…out of this manufactured matrix). The light most often signals trickery.
When you begin to discuss loosh and Archons and the demiurge, I will know you have absorbed much with respect to this illusion we inhabit, as per Howdie and others. However, it is a story being perpetuated in New Cage circles, so we need to continually refine our tools of discernment. I think something is drastically missing from the greater conversation – which is where I have been turning my attention. If you are interested, I am happy to share (privately or publicly). Just know…the topic of magenta may arise (wink, wink).
LikeLiked by 2 people
He does refer to Ickes in the linked video presentation but I did not gather from tone or context if he is on board with the guy. I am entering the ethereal neck of the woods? I do tend to be practical – but my reading of the landscape beyond life is not something I can know.
LikeLike
See Janeway . . . Be like Janeway (?) . .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyo0ZegAhX0 (4 minutes long).
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks for that. I did not pay much attention to Star Trek after captain Jean-Luc Picard. Janeway with someone I never paid much attention to.
LikeLike
That is a compelling scene, much to ponder. I have sensed the loosh thing acutely at times during these last 30 months or so. It forced me to smile and look positive in grocery stores when I was the only one with a face and normal breathing; I felt positivity was the least I could do, to show that at least one person could survive the fear. That positive desire, which required conscious effort, forced out the initial negativity and anger of “how the actual fuck could so many people be so fucking dumb after months (at the time) of an on-going fraud?” Now we see the damages; a kid masked, the parents not. An older person, clad head-to-toe in shiny polyester (sometimes magenta), wearing a mask and sunglasses. A fit 20-something, fashionable in action wear, sporting a blue paper mask. Toddlers and babies are the hardest to see suffocated, yet it persists in some. It makes me pause that some might be actual zombies, or some type of programmed entities.
The compulsion toward the light or the darkness is also the dialectic, no? Good Day Sunshine or Hello Darkness My Old Friend?
LikeLike
I used to like Howdie, but nowadays not so much. He wrote a book about the world’s fairs, but this was based on research at stolen history, where he was a contributor (as am I). There are many threads on the site with links, videos, etc – I can’t see that he did much more than collect the data from there and put it out as his own research and book. Absolutely its must be hard vwork to put together a book, but I’m not sure how much originality there is there. Again that’s not a problem, but if you try to pass it off as your own work, that’s more problematic. I don’t recollect that he gave much or any credit to stolen history when he was doing the circuit promoting his book.
The soul trap idea is also much discussed, even by me. I wrote a little intro to it here, https://stolenhistory.net/threads/alternative-mega-theories.6114/post-114201. The thread is a collection of my best ideas about what the metaphysical realities may be. 8.5 talks about the modern incarnation of the soul trap – let’s not forget that Buddhism and Hinduism also holds to this sort of idea – that we need to end the cycle of reincarnation. Soul trap is a modern reboot, with evidence from near death experiencers (NDEs) and out of body experiencers (OBEs).
I personally don’t think any of these people are quite right in their analyses, with logical errors in their thinking. The answers we seek are not going to be found in a video. I do think it is more than possible though that there is a metaphysical element to the trickery we experience though, and even think that the metaphysical bit might be the most important. The way I think about it at present is nicely summed up by chiron last – perhaps if we get it right, we have a chance of chance to move on, that this experience might be preparation for what comes next, when we get a chance to put whatever our understanding is into action.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the link, a nice discussion board too. I read some CC back in day, when I was younger and more aware. Whatever his cultic or juiced backing, some interesting points are made at explaining how/why humans became possessed by egotistical doubts and fears. Getting back to that youthful awareness has been a priority, well, since about March 2020!
LikeLike
Yes, thanks for the link. I like your approach to the “mystical” side of things – I am interested, but it’s not always palatable as presented by many. You however maintain a lot of caution and skepticism, and openly admit to speculating, rather than laying down a dogmatic view, which is appreciated.
I’ve been more interested of late actually – I think I’ve been through so much Fakeologist, Hoaxbusters, Miles Mathis (and POM of course!), etc. that I’m persuaded at least to the general thrust of those worldviews. I’ve thought about them a long time, and now view things through that lens. However it then leaves me asking – is there a bigger picture behind all that? How can it be possible, it’s so incredible in some ways, still. It seems to be the case, and yet, can it be the case, in a universe that operates on “rational” or “materialistic” lines, strictly? Would some other model better explain how this all has come to be. So, I was very interested in your “big picture” speculation thread.
LikeLike
Meant as reply to Al above
LikeLike
“My sense is the darkness is where it is really at. The dark void can seem scary, yet it most often presents the safest pathway (that is…out of this manufactured matrix). The light most often signals trickery.”
I concur wholeheartedly.
“Personal discernment is crucial.”
A lot of stuff here, but the Majestic and World-Line info is, I believe, worth the lengthy required digging. https://metallicman.com/terms-and-conventions/
LikeLike
DSK,
From my perspective – having delved deeply over the years into self-professed spooks like Metallicman, who offer claims of ETs and UFO crashes, and involvement in secret space programs – I suggest he is taking people for a ride.
While I do not suggest he is doing this intentionally (as it seems to me more likely that he was indeed engaged in black projects, and has not fully de-programmed from heavy duty mind imprinting), I do think his material is heavily tainted.
It seems he thinks the Roswell crash was very real; when, in fact, it was a psyop. Presently speaking, he believes the Trump raid was real (another psyop), and that the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian situation is real (again, another psyop).
He is heavily coded with magenta (starting with his cover photo – not to mention his story about magenta, and another story about receiving his ‘pink’ slip, which is placed in quotes).
His stories echo many narratives I used to read (and actually believed at one time) – reminding me of one person in particular, Randy Cramer (claiming to be a super soldier): https://planetaryliberation.community/2021/02/10/randy-cramer-mars-super-soldier/comment-page-1/.
Both Metallicman and Randy believe in an ET mantid species. In my opinion (after falling for numerous bait, lures, and traps years ago), the alien disclosure is a psyop through and through. I was once intimately involved with the “Disclosure movement.” I get the sense these individuals claiming contact with ETs have been heavily mind controlled (via black projects) for some other purpose/agenda – the ET narrative being the cover story.
Metallicman (note the MM = 33) also seems enamored ((https://metallicman.com/tag/roswell/) with afterlife explorer Bruce Moen https://www.thegatewayexperience.com/explorers-of-hemi-sync/bruce-moen-guide-to-the-afterlife-and-beyond/, who I am fairly sure (if I recall correctly) discussed the McCann (Madeleine) family situation, as if it were true (yet another psyop).
To clarify, I do not think these individuals are intentionally lying. In fact, they are probably well-meaning people who have been duped by astral trickery. As a psychonaut (having never been influenced by plant medicine), I have explored the “afterlife” and the space/time between lives, and much more. In the late 1990s, I was also trained in past life regression therapy, and led many regression sessions for my clients. Additionally, I have had my share of paranormal experiences, including observing what most would term “UFOs” (what I now consider to be holographic projections emanating from inside the earth). I feel I was led (externally) to believe that what I observed and experienced in my astral travels was very real – by inter-dimensional tricksters. My story may seem even more outlandish, of course, than ETs and UFOs, but that is my truth at this time – applying my own personal discernment. It is my premise (based on personal experience) that not only is this 3D reality highly controlled, so too is the 4D and 5D, and possibly dimensional space/time beyond that. I have not ventured farther out than what could be termed “5D.” (Note: I use these terms loosely, for lack of a more suitable/accurate vernacular.)
LikeLike
Actually, I agree. I especially disliked his nearly blanket acceptance of the Roswell story and proffered document. I suggested very much of what you have stated, to him, in private email – including the likelihood that he is STILL being controlled (in any number of ways, by any number of overlord agencies, using a multitude of hidden high tech). He is roughly my age, and purportedly grew up in suburbia U.S.A. We share many commonalities. I questioned his formal [engineering] education – especially with regard to the electric universe. My commentary there is both vulgar and friendly. I strongly dispute the “we all have a guardian angel” shite. My usual: “Prove it,” stated in colorful and provocative terms. I can’t count how many times I have stated “zzzzzz, same old childish games,” regarding China, U.S. or any of those buffoons speaking their propaganda and outright fear mongering lies.
If you throw away the alien aspect, you may still keep the [physics of the] World-Line view. I see truth in the collective consciousness; I do not like that though. Somewhere in there I found agreement with the general reincarnation presentation – just not who (or what) controls the process.
I so very much wish that we could clean up this planet. Sometimes I grab on to whatever is handy.
LikeLike
“M” is the 13th letter of the alphabet, so that two M’s in initials produces 13 and 13, which can be stated as 11 and 33.
I think most entertainers are backed, or at least allowed to gain wide exposure because of family associations, and some Intel (think Beatles, an Intel project). So I wonder why Louis Alfred Székely chose the name “Louis CK” as his stage name. C is the 3rd letter of the alphabet, and K the 11th, so that 3 X 11 =33. Odd, to me anyway.
And, the Ku Klux Klan … KKK = 11 11 11, or 33. Controlled, you think maybe?
LikeLike
I came across Metallicman when looking for Miles Mathis articles, and thought it was Miles on another website, but it’s a different dude. His blog includes interesting art, foodie and retro articles. However he goes along with the mainstream news, Alternative news outlets and high school text book versions. Covid is real, Ukraine war is real, USA going to war with China(which may eventually happen in hoaxy way), holocaust, and other topics, which kinda of discredits him. He thinks the USA is bombing China with virus bombs. Nothing happened after Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, at least not yet. And his coversations with the Alien commander just comes across as an interesting read of self written fiction.
Same with Brother Nathanael, alot of good information yet he always sticks with the mainstream versions and forgets that most of his current and potential audience, is aware of the behind the scenes fine print. Plus he always asks for money to fund his videos even though I could do a better job with a cellphone camera and free adobe effects software.
Louis CK apparently has a well to do family and definitely not a break out rookie from the stand up club circuit. Haven’t seen much of him since his show stopped, I think after a masterbation scene?
LikeLike
Nailed it, my friend. Absolutely nailed it.
LikeLike
Dear friend,
For the record, and for what it’s worth, thrice I’ve posted replies to a few of your pieces only to have them disappear into the digital abyss. I first assumed, because I lean skeptical, that they’d been auto-censored. Then I began to suspect they’d been blocked by the original author for some reason. Still not sure what to make of my inability to post my hwarfelt responses to your work. Could it be Old
Age taking her toll?
As I’ve grown longer in thw tooth and none the wiser, I feel drawn to the idea of Divine Intervention. Not the fancy kind that makes good stories. The subtle kind the glazes over young eyes and loses friends for seemingly no reason. Perhaps my comments were swatted away for your benefit, or mine, or the both of us. When dancing with the digital devil I try to resist the temptation to indulge in superstition.
For what it’s worth, I was genuinely interested in your ankle and trip to France. I had offered up tried and true remedies, cheap and effective too, to cure what ails ya. So far all those commets have not been seen fit for air. That be as it may, please know there’s somebody put here rooting for you and and enjoying what he imagines as the sound of a sane man’s voice in his head.
More to come? It’s a mystery to me.
Dr. Tom Few.
LikeLike
I found the three comments in SPAM, and see nothing in them to make them go there. They are all set free now. That happens every now and then and I do not know why, a WordPress algorithm thing. You should be OK from this point on.
LikeLike
That’s good news. Thank you for the update, friend. I’m probably on a list. All that aside…
How’s the hoof?
LikeLike
I will find out this coming week. Probably a torn tendon.
LikeLike
I like this post of yours and that song. But, I don’t agree with this belief of HM: “Our minds are wiped before we return here, and so we have to start from scratch unraveling the mystery. This makes Earth a true prison planet.”
I don’t think our minds are wiped clean at all, I think they are layered on/veiled by civilization and what we currently call the ‘left brain’. There is wisdom and knowing that comes from other places than books, that means there is ‘cellular’ memory. If mice have it, we most certainly have it too, no? I don’t mean it has to be specifically in the ‘morphic resonance’ sort of way, only that we have all gotten information come here with us, or at random intervals, that cannot be explained by a ‘wiped clean’ hypothesis.
Man makes the world a prison planet. Men who call it as such, and make sure it is so. So much so, that those who get it, don’t even want to produce offspring anymore.
LikeLiked by 2 people
“…if there is a shot at living on a planet less insane than this one, I will jump at it.”
Amen, Brother!
LikeLike
Why might it be that anyone is or is not censored from YT? To be censored these days is just as it was to be censored, and ‘imprisoned’ by the Soviets and every other authoritarian regime. Soon one of the ‘censored’ will become President, just as ‘dissident poet’ Havel was in the Czech Republic and L. Senghor of Senegal. Line up, schmucks, the gettin’ is good just now! Who’s next in line?
LikeLiked by 1 person
No one seems to make a loosh detector. If you can’t detect it, is it real?
LikeLike
What about The Hole??
30 days…
I’m doing time in “the ghetto”.
Save me from Kensington Street and “The Ghetto”.
Really??? So Help Me God…REALLY.
LikeLike
Howdie Mickoski is just selling his book. He’s like “no one wrote anything about this, no one, i checked” and later “There may be a whole chapter about it in my book”. This entire mystery thing with reincarnation is as fake as Mandela effect, he even mentioned himself. When I started to go through all this old world channels on youtube, I soon realized that this stuff is like 3 years old maximum. It came out with the corona show. Before it no one had all this old pictures. The countless fairies or exhibitions were rarely mentioned. It is just now that there is so much of it online.
As for Mickoski he’s educated, no doubt. He’s eloquent and even writes books. Others, like Jon Levi, are not well educated and only street wise. The know little of anything and are easy to fall into this traps and take it for real. They then even seriously consider flat earth and such. Lots of this old pictures are fake. There are buildings on it that probably never existed. I focus on objects that still exists and were supposedly once photographed in the 19-th century. There are pictures from NY or other cities from the 19-th century where you can see lots of electrical cables on poles.
Where did the electricity came from? Without engines.
IMO there was a great reset back then when they made people forget about machines, electricity and such for a few generations and then they introduced this technologies again, maybe improved for the new world. What we see on this pictures from the 19-th century are people still without any knowledge and a few centuries later people were educated again. You can achieve this by simply not teaching this stuff in schools anymore or probably just closing schools for a few generations. Children without education become grownups anyway but with no understanding of the technologies they’re still witnessing. It happens today again already.
LikeLike
this picture above is titled with “Red Pageant, Mardi Gras Parade, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, Detroit Publishing Company, 1890 PUBLIC”
LikeLike
On the illusion of isolation and seeing through the mass illusion . . .
Despite spending the past 21 days cooped up in a room (nearly 22 hours a day), caring for my injured cat, the solitude has been a gift to me. I have somehow (via osmosis) enhanced my gift of sight/insight (piercing through the veil like only a keen kitty can), and most certainly, my ability to listen (which over my lifetime has been sorely lacking).
I do not equate solitude with isolation, nor loneliness. Everyone should be lucky at some point to spend time honing in on intuitive capabilities that get squashed when in the steady company of busy, unaware human beings. To this end, my cat has been my teacher. Paradoxically, while getting only one or two hours of sleep each night for these past few weeks, my health (which had been challenged the few months prior) has improved, and my mental awareness has expanded. Go figure.
In any case, I will leave this generous and pertinent offering from a friend (Cliff) of a friend (Alison). I hope it resonates, as it has with me . . .
https://wrenchinthegears.com/2022/08/16/listening-paths-and-reflections-in-mind-guest-post-from-cliff-gomes/
*I should add that when re-reading Cliff’s penetrating prose, I am reminded that over these past few weeks, the aspects of reflection, responsibility, and surrender (while still operating from a place of empowerment) have bubbled to the surface for me. Along with my previously unrefined ability to listen, these are elements of myself that needed cultivation.
LikeLike
Wonderful stuff, Stephers! The video is helpful too. Nicely done, Cliff.
LikeLike
The Trees
There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas
The trouble with the maples
And they’re quite convinced they’re right
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can’t help their feelings
If they like the way they’re made
And they wonder why the maples
Can’t be happy in their shade
There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream, “Oppression!”
And the oaks just shake their heads
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
“The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light”
Now there’s no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw
~~~
My boy Neil Peart, drummer extraordinaire and lyricist for Rush.
LikeLike
Nice. I have not forgotten your story Dave. Will get it published this week.
LikeLike
Re: Reincarnation
I’ve probably mentioned this here before, but the late Dr. Ian Stevenson appears to have been a legitimate and exacting scientist who, over the course of his career, rigorously documented a whole lot of compelling cases for reincarnation. I’ll link to a YouTube video of him, where his work is discussed by another scientist, Walter Semkiw. I also dug up a 1999 interview with Stevenson himself, which you can read here: https://nyti.ms/3c7lydb
Mark, you say: “…even if reincarnation is real, it is a trap. Our minds are wiped before we return here, and so we have to start from scratch unraveling the mystery.”
I’d like to challenge you on this. Yes, the majority of us are “wiped clean” of narrative, fact-based memories. But my (admittedly limited) understanding of Stevenson’s finding, combined with my life experience, suggests that wisdom gained from past life experiences is available to us via intuition. Unfortunately, most of us are cut off from and conditioned to mistrust our intuition from a young age.
Also, after watching the Semkiw interview below, I learned something I hadn’t known about Stevenson’s research. He found that, in some cases, reincarnated people apparently return in a physical form that’s very similar to their appearance in their previous life. In the video, Semkiw talks about the specific case of a Lebanese woman named Hanan Monsour who died in the 1960s and was apparently reincarnated ten days later as Suzanne Ghanem. I found pictures of both women and–though I don’t have Mark’s face-chopping skills–I attempted my own chop in Microsoft Paint. The results were interesting. Since I don’t know how to post them to this comments site, I’ll email the images to you, Mark.
Lots more I could say about Stevenson, but I hope readers will look into him for themselves. Here’s the video:
LikeLike
Thanks Scott. I replied privately before seeing this very insightful comment. I’d like to tour the video evidence and the interview with Stevenson. This stuff does grab me. Do you imagine that we are paired with other people, like me and my wife who were so instantly attracted and permanently paired? I like that thought because it makes me think I get to be with her again and again … silly me, a romantic I guess.
LikeLike
I’m a romantic too, though it hasn’t panned out into long term romance. A few years ago, I was at a large gathering, and as I shuffled through the crowd, I approached a woman from behind that I’d never met. I had a sudden, mystical sense of knowing things about her I couldn’t have known–not autobiographical details, but the type of person she was, how her spirit resonated with mine, as well as a complete certainty regarding a few odd (and oddly specific) quirks in the way she moved and carried herself. All of this happened before I even saw her face… I’m not even sure I heard her voice. Everything I sensed or “knew” about her proved to be true, including those specific quirks I couldn’t have possible known about. We became and still are friends, but I had to keep my distance–she was 20, I was in my mid-40s, and I’m not one of those middle-aged guys who deludes himself that “age doesn’t matter.” It does… but I’m convinced we have some kind of soul link, even if it’s not romantic.
I remember feeling a similar transcendant lightness and “knowing” the first time I stepped on a community theatre stage at the age of 6 (I played the prosecutor’s Santa-believing son in Miracle on 34th Street.) Intuitively, I knew I’d performed on many stages many, many times before, and when I opened my mouth and naturally projected my voice to the back row, I felt like muscle memory was guiding me.
Reincarnation seems like a no-brainer to me. And the fact that the autobiographical details and misguided beliefs or certainties of previous lives get dumped when we enter a new one–well, I think that’s more of a feature than a bug… but only if we can connect to our true selves at the level of intuition.
LikeLike
I stumbled upon (and almost lost) a woman who is kind, considerate, authentic, who loves me and all my shortcomings, and is as an aside, physically attractive.In my dating life, these qualities (except physical attraction): were rare, and most of the women I knew were of the “dodged a bullet” variety. I went through periods of being in heat, and then settling down to realize I have to get out of this. One thing I did, and this may apply to Greg’s comment, was to seek out venues where I might meet such people, in my case, on mountain trails. If you are a hiker, on the trails you meet a different type of folks, drawn to aesthetics. Even the bikers we encounter are supremely nice. But it is unusual for a woman to hike or ride alone so you need to encounter them in group settings, where they feel safe.:The one you want might be in that group, laid back, checking you out. That was my experience. I did not meet her at a bar or a party. That’s a total crap shoot, a one night stand, not worth the walk of shame that follows.
LikeLike
” I’m not one of those middle-aged guys who deludes himself that “age doesn’t matter.” It does”
Not unless you don’t have other options. If the females in an area are younger or fit into whatever stereotype they can be described as, overweight, single mothers, poor, unemployed, methheads, strippers, etc…, then that is who the men will have to date. The men don’t get a choice, unless they want to travel and spend time consuming hours and miles away. Also keep in mind that these days relationships do not last. Having a lifelong monogamous partner is now considered a story of fiction.
At least among a percentage of us which seems to be increasing.
LikeLike