Roots of Empathy

After James Holmes went on a shooting spree in a Colorado theater showing the Batman movie Dark Knight, Peter Bogdanovich, an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic, told The Hollywood Reporter magazine, “Today, there's a general numbing of the audience. There's too much murder and killing. You make people insensitive by showing it all the time. The body count in pictures is huge. It numbs the audience into thinking it's not so terrible. Back in the '70s, I asked Orson Welles what he thought was happening to pictures, and he said, "We're brutalizing the audience. We're going to end up like the Roman circus, live at the Coliseum." The respect for human life seems to be eroding.” Yes, cultural conditioning. Audiences are being conditioned to accept murder and violence as a form of entertainment. Violence is in the news every day. Respect for human life seems to be a thing of the past. What to do about it? One woman has an answer. Mary Gordon is the Founder/President of Roots of Empathy which is an organization whose mission is to build caring, peaceful, and civil societies through the development of empathy in children and adults.

Roots of Empathy's goals are:

• To foster the development of empathuy
• To develop emotional literacy
• To reduce levels of bulling, aggression and violence, and promote children's pro-social behaviors
• Ro increase knowledge of human development, learning, and infant safety
• To prepare students for responsible citizenship and responsive parenting

Roots of Empathy's program is successful. In 2001, the Government of Manitoba commissioned a three-year follow-up study of Roots of Empathy, measuring pro-social behavior, physical aggression, and indirect aggression. Results show a significant improvement in all three behaviors.

Roots of Empathy is an international organization based in Canada. The program has crossed the border to Seattle, Washington. Maybe its time to make more people aware of this program and expand it throughout the United States. If Roots of Empathy was taught everywhere in the world there would be no war or bullies. Everyone would be able to respect and understand their own feelings and also other people’s feelings. Roots of Empathy would be able to change the world making peace and there would be no harm. I think that it could change the world forever.” - a Sixth Grader.

 For more information about this program, or to make a donation please visit rootsofempathy.org

Lucifer's Redemption

Every now and then I think about Brett Dean McGibbon.  Brett is a self-published author who binds his books in leather and sells them on a street corner in Seattle, Washington. 


I was walking the streets of Seattle camera in hand. Click, click, click. I noticed a small restaurant that I liked, click, and then crossed the street. As I walked by, a guy at a table handed me a piece of paper. I usually try real hard to ignore these things as it seems everyone wants something; a dime, a quarter, a dollar; some thing. You can only give so much, you know? I took the piece of paper and looked at it. Words. I started reading them out loud. "..men and women who were raging with life, who looked within and wrestled with their beasts, who were engaged in mortal combat with what mattered and were not gonna let what mattered escape." I liked the words. I was attracted to the words. The guy drew my attention off the paper and pointed out that he was selling books and signing them (he was an author). I looked at him for the first time. I became conscious of this - I was so fascinated by the words that I never looked at him. I picked up a copy of the book, Lucifer's Redemption,  and started reading the Preface. He encouraged me on. After the Preface, the Introduction. I was hooked. I was also attracted to the physical form of the book. Apparently he prints the pages himself on a laser printer (that is explained by a character in the book). The pages are then hand bound in leather with (Irish-linen twine). It had a nice feel. I liked the font. Like an old fashioned typewriter. I liked the book. The sign said twenty bucks so I gave him twenty bucks. I wanted it. I asked him if I could photograph him. That night I read half the book in my hotel room. It hit, drew me in. Made me think. Made me ponder. Made me reflect. At times I identified with the main character, James. We share similar attitudes about some important things. I finished the book off in Seattle Tacoma International the following day. Toward the end I almost felt that it was written about me - the inner thoughts. Then I decided anyone who reads it probably feels that way. It stuck with me. It stuck in my mind for two days. It also occurred to me that I have not read a book in years. This was the first in years. And it somehow seemed that I was fated to read this book.

If you are ever in Seattle you might run into Brett.  I have talked to people who say he is still there.  I see a used copy of Lucifer's Redemption going for $70 on Amazon.  Not only a good read but a collector's item as well as each copy is unique.

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Exotic Energy - A Pure and Perfect Body

A near-death experience (NDE) refers to a broad range of personal experiences experienced by people who have been pronounced clinically dead and brought back to life or by people very close to death. Often a sense of detachment from the body and the presence of a bright white light are reported as well as a variety of additional experiences. These experiences seem to be quite common and are often described as either hallucinations or evidence that there is an afterlife.

 "In their quest to find answers about the cause of the NDE, the mainstream scientific community has so far come up with two explanations. The first one considers the NDE a neurological phenomenon. The second explanation considers the NDE a supernatural phenomenon. After more than ten years of study, I am convinced of a third possible explanation..." Maureen Venselaar, PhD.

In an article published in Noetic Now, Maureen Venselaar presents a new theory on what happens during a near death experience (NDE) which is rooted in the dynamics of both physics and astrophysics. Venselaar's theory takes the severity of the trauma the patient is experiencing into consideration and addresses the idea "that an NDE becomes more profound and more complete as a trauma or a sickness grows more life threatening."

Venselaar is a spiritual/mental coach who works with elderly and sick people in The Netherlands. She has been studying near death experiences for over ten years and is convinced that there is a third way of looking at near death experiences other than as either a neurological phenomenon or a supernatural phenomenon.

According to Venselaar, "As we approach the end of life, our sensorial observation decreases, our normal consciousness disappears, and deep down in our physical body, at the (sub)atomic level, a fundamental process starts which releases an 'exotic energy' (i.e. light-energy/photons). This special 'exotic energy' is the foundation of another new, pure and perfect body, and another kind of consciousness/awareness. With this new body, of exotic energy/photons, we can travel through the barrier of space and time. The near-death experience is without a doubt a real voyage."
A near death experience is a five stage process in which there is a separation from the physical body, a journey through a tunnel, an experience of being in the presence of the light near a border, a return through the tunnel and a unification once again with the physical body. Those who pass on do not return but cross over the border. Venselaar refers to this as The Five Phase Theory.   For detailed information about each of these phases visit Noetic Now or visit Venselaar's website   De (binja) dood ontrafeld 


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The Agony and the Ecstasy

"Art has a magic quality: the more minds that digest it, the longer it lives." - Irving Stone

While writing a review of Irving Stone's The Origin, Rob Alan Marsh reminds us, "Great books remain relevant for a reason – because they teach us something. They better us; broaden our understanding of the world and its many fascinating inhabitants. And for that reason they deserve to be re-introduced, from time to time, so they may find in this vast ocean of distractions, some few new fertile islets upon which to propagate."

Irving Stone wrote The Agony and Ecstasy after living in Italy for several years and visiting many of the historic places he would be writing about in the book. The Agony and the Ecstasy is a "biographical novel" based on the life of Michelangelo. In addition, it is a historical novel which brings the Italian Renaissance to life. Anyone with an interest in Renaissance Italy can gain quite alot of insight into it simply by reading this book. Although it is about the life and struggles of Michelangelo, the reader will learn about the art, wars, and religious and political atmosphere prelavant during this time period.

In order to make a living, Michelangelo was at the mercy of his patrons who were Popes, Cardinals and Political Leaders each with their own agenda. He was forced to create whatever works they desired and lived under the threat of being imprisoned if he chose to deny his services to the Vatican. His contemporaries included Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Martin Luther, Machiavelli, and Lorenzo de Medici among others.

"There are the Florentines – lusty, artistic, and wealthy; the Romans – dangerous, dark, self-involved; the Carrara – interdependent, suspicious, isolated; the Bolognese – joyous, hearty, uncultured. As Michelangelo travels and interacts with these different people, their cultures come to life and these too have lasting impact on Michelangelo’s works and methods." - Roofbeamreader Review.

Irving Stone had 495 of Michelangelo’s personal letters translated from Italian to English in order to help him write this book. It took Stone six years to complete the book. Stone spent much of this time living in Italy in order to research the book and visit the many historical sites that were part of Michelangelo’s life. The book is very factual and extremely interesting as it allows readers to experience this period of time from Michelangelo’s point of view.

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My Reincarnation

 My Reincarnation is a documentary film about the relationship between a father and his son.  Tibetan-trained Buddhist master Choegyal Namkhai Norbu and his Italian born son have differing goals and desires in regard to how Yeshi (the son) should live his life.  Yeshi is believed to be the reincarnation of his father's uncle who was a famous Dzogchen master who died after the Chinese invaded Tibet. Yeshi refuses to accept the destiny he inherited from birth which is to return to Tibet and be a spiritual teacher. Yeshi just wants to live a "normal" life.

 My Reincarnation was Directed and Produced by Jennifer Fox who spent twenty years filming this documentary. My Reincarnation utilizes archival film, still photographs, and over 1,000 hours of intimate scenes shot between 1988 to 2009. In addition, interviews with Namkhai Norbu and Yeshi help tell the story of one man's struggle to keep a spiritual tradition alive and another man's struggle to maintain his personal identity.   Over time both begin to change as documented in the film.

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Play and Imagination

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” -Albert Einstein

Drinking coffee, looking at what comes up on my Facebook news feed or whatever they call it.  This one catches my eye and makes me think:

"OK, so you are ten years old, you have a laptop, iPod, Facebook, and a Blackberry.... Dude. when I was ten I only had one thing to play with. It was called outside!"

Oh yes.  Playing outside.  That was it!  That was all we wanted to do.  We played every kind of thing:  house, army, cowboys and indians, tag, hide and seek, baseball, football, all kinds of things.  Most which required making things up and imagination. Our bikes were motorcycles after all.

"I remember when we used to play a game
Take you by the hand and spin you very fast
Midspin, let you go, stop yourself
Switching into statues, rock hard
Necessary spinning in the front yard, necessary spinning in the front yard,
Everybody's spinning in the front yard
Necessary spinning in the front yard
Sometimes I wish that I were nine years old again ... "

~ Necessary Spinning -  Translator

Letting your imagination run free is an important part of growing up which is at some point socialized out of us. On her blog Social and Emotional Living, Kimberly Hackett writes,  "My children played well when children. They built forts out of blankets and pillows, upturning sofas and chairs, making a mess of the house. It didn’t matter. Their creativity and freedom made me happy and it was easy to make them happy this way. They worked together, linking imaginations through interior tunnels that had few words. This is how they loved each other. I wonder where freedom goes. As my children grow older, I find myself missing their childhood freedom. No longer can we whimsically float down the wide river of play and imagination. There was school yanking us to shore, to a reality I could not control. School gave my children what I couldn’t, the chance to become socialized. They needed to maneuver on their own. Their ability to be with other children gave them another kind of freedom, the freedom in friendship. But school is a demanding taskmaster and the freedom of play and imagination is not usually welcome. "

Wouldn't it be great to be nine years old again?  Nine years old before laptops, iPads, Blackberries, Facebook so on and so forth.

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Lennon Bronte

No, this is not John Lennon.  It sure does look like him however. This is Branwell Bronte's self-portrait.  Branwell was a poet and a painter, and the brother of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte.  Branwell is said to have been the most talented of the bunch though Emily and Charlotte are more famous.  Branwell is said to have had an affair with a Mrs. Robinson (remember the Simon and Garfunkel song?  How about the movie The Graduate?  Based on Branwell's affair?  Hmmm. Maybe). Like many talented artists, Branwell became an alcoholic and a drug addict.  He eventually died of tuberculosis in 1848.

Fast forward to now.  In the book All You Need is Love,  Jewelle St James points out similarities between John and Branwell:

"Branwell, like John, was an artist and a poet. Branwell drank and did drugs, actually he did more than doing drugs, he was an addict. Branwell, like John, lost his mother at an early age, and had sisters but no brothers. Oh, and Branwell had good friends in Liverpool. … Branwell and John both drew caricatures, depicting aspects of their lives. [And finally - ] Branwell’s self portraits are the image of John Lennon! The nose, the glasses, everything." -  Jewelle St James.

What you need to know is that All You Need is Love by Jewelle St james is not about The Beatles.  It is "The heart-wrenching spiritual journey of one woman discovering her past life shared with John Baron, the seventeenth-century incarnation of John Lennon."

Apparently Jewelle St John had a session or two with Kevin Ryerson who confirmed that Lennon was Michael Byrne, John Baron and Branwell Bronte in past lives. Ryerson also went on to say that Cynthia Lennon was Mrs. Robinson in the past. 

Kevin Ryerson is an intuitive and trance channel much like Jane Roberts and Edgar Cayce.  Jewelle St James wrote a follow-up book titled The Lennon-Bronte Connection in which she talks about Lennon as Branwell and herself as Emily Bronte.

The interesting thing is that John and Branwell do look alot alike!  Do some googling.  You will see.


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An updated version of this article can be found here

Psychedelic Sufi Trance Rock

Stumbling around the internet I came across the phrase "psychedelic sufi trance rock."  What I found was an article about a singer/guitarist named Haale (Gofori).

"Haale grew up singing in Sufi with her Iranian family while listening to Patti Smith and Jimi Hendrix on the side. She fuses these two styles instinctually, combining meandering guitar riffs with transcendental Sufi lyrics and Persian rhythms, played on instruments such as the sitar and tonbak drum - Janera: Curating Conversations

Being that Patti Smith is my favorite artist, I like middle eastern music, and I have a thing for psychedelic music, I naturally went over to YouTube to see what I could find.  The first few videos I did have a Patti Smith/middle eastern/ psychedelic flavor.  No doubt about it.  I was going to post one of those but after watching a few more I decided this one is my favorite:



This is called "Wild Poppies" by The Mast.  The Mast is Haale (vocals/guitar) and Matt Kilmer (percussion). 

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Learn to Avoid The Taste That Kills

Diet Soft drinks. Don't bother. You won't lose weight, actually you might gain some. When confronted with a choice of sweeteners, steer clear of anything in a pink, blue or yellow packet. Choose the brown or white packet. Raw sugar is the best choice. Artificial sweeteners are excitotoxins. Excitotoxins kill brain cells. 

“Ex-ci'-to-tox-in: a substance added to foods and beverages that literally stimulates neurons to death, causing brain damage of varying degrees. Can be found in such ingredients as monosodium glutamate, aspartame (NutraSweet®), cysteine, hydrolyzed protein, and aspartic acid.” - Wikipedia.



The best source of information on excitotoxins is the book Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills by Russell Blaylock. Blaylock is a retired neurosurgeon who studied and researched excitotoxins for many years before publishing this book. He knew the food industry would do everything in their power to keep his findings from public awareness and attempt to stifle his work. Knowing this would be the case, he took care to make an airtight case against excitotoxins which would be hard for anyone to dispute.

Seventy-five to ninty percent of the food products found in a typical food store have been enhanced to some degree by the addition of excitotoxins. These chemical agents are often listed as “spices” and “natural flavors” on ingredient labels. Learn to read labels and avoid the following ingredients:

Monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed protein, hydrolyzed plant protein, plant protein extract, sodium casseinate calcium casseinate, yeast extract, textured protein, autolyzed yeast and hydrolyzed oat flour.

Think twice about these additional ingredients: malt extract, malt flavoring, bouillon, broth, stock, flavoring, natural flavoring, natural beef or chicken flavor, seasonings and spices. Most of these terms are used to disguise the use of chemicals that are excitotoxins.

Aspartame alone is found in over 6,000 food products (read the label on that container of non-fat yogurt). Although they have not banned its use, the FDA released a list of 92 side effects associated with aspartame consumption. These include: Abdominal Pain, anxiety attacks, arthritis, asthma, bloating, edema (fluid retention), blood sugar control problems (hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia), brain cancer, breathing difficulties, burning eyes or throat, burning urination, chest pains, chronic cough, chronic fatigue, confusion, death, depression, diarrhea, dizziness, excessive thirst or hunger, fatigue, flushing of face, hair Loss or thinning of hair, headaches/migraines, hearing loss, heart palpitations, hives, hypertension (high blood pressure), impotency and sexual problems, inability to concentrate, infection susceptibility, insomnia, irritability, itching, joint pains, laryngitis, marked personality changes, memory loss, menstrual problems or changes, muscle spasms, nausea or vomiting, numbness or tingling of extremities, panic attacks, phobias, poor memory, rapid heart beat, rashes, seizures and convulsions, slurring of speech, swallowing pain, tremors, tinnitus, vertigo, vision loss and weight gain.

For more information on aspartame click here.  Better yet, get a copy of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills.  It's a real eye opener.

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Raisin Bread Cosmology & Deja Vu

I took an astronomy class in junior college in order to satisfy the science requirement. I have never been very interested in studying science as it seems so dry. Sitting in a classroom which doubled as a planetarium seemed more interesting than studying the Periodic Table of Elements (which by the way, ended up being an important part of the study of astronomy).

 A major topic in astronomy class is The Big Bang Theory. This is a cosmological model which is said to explain the origin of the universe.

According to the Big Bang theory, a tremendous explosion occurred about 15 billion years ago causing the universe to expand. Prior to this explosion, all the matter and energy in the universe was contained in one point. After the explosion, matter and energy was thrust out into space in the form of particles rushing away from each other. We learned to visualize it as a loaf of raisin bread baking in an oven. It is a process that is still going on with the universe continuing to expand. We also learned that the universe may someday stop expanding and begin to collapse until it is once again one single point containing all matter and energy. And then, guess what, another Big bang may occur repeating what happened before.

This made me start thinking about Deja Vu. This is the feeling that what you are experiencing has already happened before. I started wondering if every time the Big Bang occurs everything happens exactly as before.

A couple of weeks ago I read The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin by P.D. Ouspensky. Ivan is given a chance to relive his past as he has a desire to correct his mistakes. He meets with a magician who sends him back in time warning him that although he will be fully aware that he is reliving his life in order to change it, he will do everything exactly as he did it before.

As it turns out, the concept of eternal recurrence is a major theme in Ouspensky's teachings and writing. The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin was published in 1915 and explores the idea that even given the free-will to make changes in our lives, the same events will occur regardless of our free will.

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche often wrote about the concept of eternal recurrence in his works. It is first mentioned in section 341 of The Gay Science

"This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence—even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it . . ."

If the universe should ever collapse in upon inself ( The Big Crunch) and start over again with another Big Bang, I suppose there is a possibility that everything can reoccur as before, which would explain Deja Vu. But why would this happen and what purpose would it serve????


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Mental Radio

Upton Sinclair is a Pulitzer Prize winning author who wrote over one hundred books including the classic novel The Jungle. Sinclair had a deep interest in psychic phenomena and wrote a book called Mental Radio documenting a series of tests he conducted with his wife, Mary Craig Kimbrough, in order to understand her self-claimed telepathic abilities. Sinclair devised a series of 300 tests that were said to prove the reality of mental telepathy and remote viewing while revealing untold powers of the mind.


Sinclair is said to have sat in one room drawing a picture and then placing it into a sealed envelop while Mary, who was in another room, would "tune in" and draw what she perceived. In other tests, Mary would write out a message sent from someone "far away." Her accuracy rate was said to be astonishing ruling out random chance as an explanation. The couple conducted these experiments for a period of three years. They conducted 290 trials consisting of 65 (23%) successes, 155 (53%) partial successes and 70 (24%) failures.

Sinclair used radio broadcasting as a metaphor to explain how telepathy works. One person's brain sent out a mental "vibration" that the other brain picked up. Sinclair concluded that telepathy is real, uneffected by distance and can be trained, verified and scientifically studied.

Mental Radio documents these experiments and includes Mary's instructions on how to learn the "art of conscious mind-reading." William McDougall, known as the "Dean of American Psychology" at the time, was inspired by the Sinclair's work. McDougall went on to establish a parapsychology department at Duke University. Parapsychology is a discipline that seeks to investigate the existence and causes of psychic abilities and life after death using the scientific method.

Mental Radio was originally published in 1930 and republished in 2001 as a part of Hampton Roads series Classics in Conciousness, edited by Russell Targ. The 2001 edition has an addendum containing an analysis of the raw experiment documentation by Dr Walter Franklin Prince of the Boston Society for Psychic Research. Albert Einstein wrote the book's Preface:



I have read the book of Upton Sinclair with great interest and am convinced that the same deserves the most earnest consideration, not only of the laity, but also of the psychologists by profession. The results of the telepathic experiments carefully and plainly set forth in this book stand surely far beyond those which a nature investigator holds to be thinkable. On the other hand, it is out of the question in the case of so conscientious an observer and writer as Upton Sinclair that he is carrying on a conscious deception of the reading world; his good faith and dependability are not to be doubted. So if somehow the facts here set forth rest not upon telepathy, but upon some unconscious hypnotic influence from person to person, this also would be of high psychological interest. In no case should the psychologically interested circles pass over this book heedlessly.

Albert Einstein - Preface - Mental Radio

In order to achieve a receptive state of telepathy and be able to distinguish between true psychic impressions and normal thoughts, Mary suggests, on page 105 of Mental Radio, that you "Give yourself a suggestion to the effect that you will relax your mind and your body, making the body insensitive and the mind a blank , and reserving the power to break the concentration in a short time. By making the body insensitive, I mean simply to relax completely your mental hold of, or awareness of, all bodily sensation. After giving yourself this suggestion a few times, you proceed to relax both body and mind. Relax all mental interest in everything in the environment; inhibit all thoughts which try to wander into consciousness from the subconsciousness, or from wherever else thoughts come." She adds,  "the way to relax is to let go. Let go of every tense muscle, every tense spot, in the body. This deep relaxation is important for if the body is tense it affects the thoughts in the mind. Likewise, if the mind is full of thoughts it will tense the body." More precise instructions are given on the following pages of the book.

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Edgar Cayce's Apple Diet

Edgar Cayce recommended eating apples for three days in order to detoxify and purify the body. After doing so, one should feel energetic and full of vitality. According to Cayce, the Apple Diet alkalizes the system and helps bring relief from chronic aches and pain. It is important to eat the right type of apples. Cayce referred to these as the "jenneting" varieties which means apples which ripen on or before St. John's Day which is June 24th.

Raw apples should always be eaten alone and not combined with other foods. When eating apples in order to detoxify the body, eat at least five or six apples each day, drink plenty of water and rest. It is as simple as that.

At the end of day three, follow up with two to three teaspoons of cold-pressed olive oil. If you are on an oil restricted diet, continue eating apples for another day or two instead.

Remember to rest. Do not attempt the apple diet when you will be busy. Choose a time when you have nothing to do other than rest and relax.

Disclaimer: This is not medical advice. It is advice given by Edgar Cayce while in a trance state. Follow your own intuition in regard to the Apple Diet.

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Death Makes Life Possible

Death Makes Life Possible is a feature length documentary film which follows the journey of noetic scientist, Marilyn Schlitz, PhD as she sets out to discover the mysteries of life and death. Marilyn's journey began about 15 years ago when she began interviewing scientists, anthropologists, spiritual teachers, and philosophers about death and the possible survival of consciousness following physical death. Marilyn recorded people’s personal experiences of near death, out-of-body, mediumship, reincarnation, and the final days of life.  Marilyn and Deepak Chopra worked together with a small team of filmmakers in order to create a feature documentary that could bring these stories out into public awareness and in the process, help heal a widespread fear of death.

In order to bring the film to completion additional work needs to be done including purchasing additional stock footage,  creating some animation, producing a musical sound track and editing the film.  If you are interested in helping with a financial donation please make a donation through the project's Kickstarter page.  You can view the film's trailer here:  Death Makes Life Possible

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