Updates

10/18/05
I've just returned from the library, where I was pouring over a dissertation entitled "The Life and Works of Matthew Franklin Whittier." You may have read in my Update of 6/6/05 that I was considering the possibility that I had located one of my earlier incarnations as this younger brother of poet John Greenleaf Whittier (who included reincarnation among other mystical topics in his work). Actually I already knew on a deep level that I had been him, because of the expression in the eyes in his portrait., though my mind kept questioning, and rightly so. But, today's adventure has clinched it. There's very little question, for me personally. There is no possibility of convincing anyone else, and I don't intend to hit the road as a "reincarnation case." I could certainly present a convincing argument for the possibility, but I couldn't prove it, especially in the absence of any tangible flashback memories. However, I'll present one of Matthew Whittier's humorous pieces here, and you can compare the style of humor to my "Lighter Side" page linked from the home page of this website. I created the Lighter Side page in 1998, many years before I'd ever heard of Matthew.* What strikes me is the style of humor. Whittier is known (where he is known at all) as a satirist. But look closely at the mental gymnastics that actually produces the humor. Whittier is taking on an assumed stance of, or as in the above example, reporting on, a naive person, a clown if you will, who then gets duped or encounters misfortunes. Some portion of it, I feel intuitively, is more than a little autobiographical, drawing on and exaggerating some aspects of his own character. In my "Lighter Side" page, the mechanics (if humor can be said to have mechanics) are identical.** I am assuming the stance of a naive clown who is misunderstanding and misinterpreting things, and is being duped. And, forgive my immodesty, but it's good. I have no training whatsoever as a humorist, any more than I had as a photographer when I began taking qualitatively excellent compositions on my first or second roll of film with an Instamatic. I knew how to write instinctively, and I knew this kind of humor instinctively. Further, I definitely recognize this particular piece by Whittier. It stands out because it is not really a part of his "Nathan Spike" series of social and political satire. Did I read it in school as part of an assignment? It's extremely obscure. If it turns out I was exposed to it in school, this would actually be an indication of karma--not a reductionistic proof of "cryptoamnesia," that the real source was my reading in this life. In short, if I saw it in this life, I was drawn to it through karmic synchronicity, because (correct me if I'm wrong) the likelihood of reading this in one's high school or college studies is very remote. To give you an idea of how remote, as of 1941, this college disseration was the only collected source on Matthew Whittier. The voluminous material on John Greenleaf rarely mentions him at all, except that he is referenced as a child in the opening of "Snowbound."

When I went to the library I was a bit afraid that I'd read in the biography things that were clearly not compatibile with my own personal tendencies and experience. However, the parallels are extremely close, both in terms of his personality, and in terms of his life-experiences and the overall trend of the things that happened to him. This makes sense inasmuch as half of karma is the inner man, and half of it is his destiny, the circumstances he is placed in. It shows me clearly that we progress from life to life, but not so much as we might imagine. We fine-tune, hone an edge here, make some progress there. But in general the story repeats with variations.

Incidentally, if anyone is wondering where Matthew's more famous brother, John Greenleaf, is, my intuitive sense is that he is not currently incarnate but is enjoying a long, well-deserved stay in a relatively higher plane on the astral. I do not feel he is among any of the people I have met in this life.

What's the significance of this? I don't know. Although I publicly discourage people from pursuing their past lives, secretly, for many years, I have wished I could find one. I think it is a gift, somehow, and one that I have earned through my spiritual practice. I do find a very interesting effect. I can't prove that it isn't imagination, but I seem somehow to have a greater strength, to be personally "amplified." It is a little like the way that people in two locations can "triangulate" on a sound, locating it between them. I feel as though I have the personal intuitive assets of two people, as though I can bring both to bear in tandom on any life-situation. I'm just reporting what I'm feeling without trying to analyze it too much. It's very interesting. A lot of things that weren't quite clear have become clearer to me in terms of my overall karmic patterns, as well, but I won't go into that.

On other fronts, I was invited back to the Lou Pate Show in Seattle on KIRO recently. This time, I was joined for the first hour by Angela Grubbs (see the Cases page on this website), and in the second hour, I was joined by none other than Carol Bowman, author of "Children's Past Lives" and "Return From Heaven." By prior agreement, Carol really took the second hour by herself, and I was kind of in the background as a silent guest. That was fine--I was pleased just to have been the liaison to get Carol on the program. Apparently KIRO has a conservative format during the day, but Lou Pate's show at night is the most popular program in Seattle. Every Friday, as I understand, they tackle a "paranormal" topic. I should have a streaming audio archive of that program linked from the home page soon.

Coming up on Sept. 8th (recorded, to be aired later) is an interview on a radio program called "Common Threads," on Michigan NPR affiliate WGVU. (I'm not putting links to any of these things--I figure if you're interested enough you'll find the link where I'm indicating. This one is linked on the home page.) This will be my first NPR affiliate interview, and it came about in an interesting way. When Films Media Group accepted "In Another Life" to sell to universities and libraries--and it's supposed to be ready and in the catalog by the time the radio program is recorded on the 8th, I'm told--I created an online press release, citing the irony that a program about the "flakey" topic of reincarnation had been accepted by the oldest and largest distributor to the academic market. The only entity to pick up that press release was Hindu Press International, and it turns out that the host of Common Threads is a Hindu who noticed the release. So, NPR, which offers programs like "The Infinite Mind" which ironically has a humanistic/materialistic philosophy, will soon be "invaded" by a non-materialistic presentation on reincarnation ;-).

A number of people have contacted me--some by phone--trying to purchase a copy of "In Another Life," or to get me to slip them one under the table. The thing is, if I relaxed my ethics enough to sell one on the sly, why should you believe anything I've put in the program? It's a Catch-22.

Outside of this project, my personal and business life has suddenly gotten ridiculously busy. I've just purchased an iMac G5 with Final Cut Pro editing software, top-of-the-line. Next, hopefully, is a good HD-DV camera. So aside from commercial work, I will once again be in a position to shoot my own documentary work. I won't do it without funding, however. And I mean serious funding--I learned from my last effort that to create a documentary without cutting corners takes probably $100,000. Travel, re-enactments, illustrations, stock footage and photographs, permissions, assistants--all cost money. (Re-enactments in particular have the same types of costs associated with them that feature films do--actors, crew, locations, set design, costumes, etc. which is why I turned to illustrations in the making of "In Another Life"--but I couldn't even afford to pay for those, and had to seek out volunteers. Ever try to get an artist to do something for you for free? About reincarnation?) Sometimes I think there must be potential patrons out there. It's fine with me either way--the secret is, that if it is supposed to be done, and I don't do it, someone else will. I am dispensible. But, even though I know I am dispensible, I am willing, and I'm capable.

I have a couple more interesting "gigs" coming up related to this project: I've been invited back to present to the local Theosophical Society lodge in Atlanta on Sept. 25. And, I've negotiated to videotape an interview with John Algeo, vice president of the International Theosophical Society, who is connected with that lodge. I first saw Prof. Algeo on an online video introducting Dr. Ian Stevenson, who was speaking to the Society (that video is linked from my "Links" section). I enjoyed his introduction so much, that when I learned he was connected with the lodge here, I decided to pursue an interview for the website. It is scheduled for mid-November, and I'll edit it and post it in the Streaming Video section as soon as it's ready. As yet another attempt to introduce interactivity into this website, where I announce it on the Interviews page, I'm inviting visitors to e-mail me questions to put to him, so long as they are relevant to the broad topic of the interview.

*Note also my comment about feeling connected with the Romantic poets, in my online interview for Spiritual Atlanta, given well before I learned of Matthew Whittier or had more than an intuitive feeling of kinship with the poetry of John Greenleaf Whittier.

**Identical, that is, with one significant exception. I have made a strong effort in this life to correct a habit of sarcastically poking fun at people and hurting their feelings, which I used to do in my teens. So now using basically the same style of humor I am making myself the clown rather than anyone else.

Music opening this page: "High Landrons," Eric Johnson (Ah Via Musicom album)
All I can say is, if you have a chance to see Eric in concert, don't pass it up...
(look for video on above page of "When The Sun Meets the Sky")