Updates

11/20/05
It's been quiet with the "In Another Life" project, but it's been awhile since I've done an Update here so I thought I'd sit down to it and ramble a bit. The documentary is officially listed now on the Films Media Group online catalog, but the wheels of such a large company grind slowly, apparently, and I'm still waiting for them to design the jacket cover. They did a very nice job with the descriptive copy, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they create a respectful, non-sensationalized cover.

I had a video interview scheduled with the vice president of the International Theosophical Society, but it's been postponed due to schedule conflicts. There are people out there accusing the Theosophical Society of having inspired Hitler's regime, and I was hoping he might go into that, but he declined. Hitler was influenced by occult studies, but he had it horribly garbled, and he distorted the teachings to his own advantage and inflated ego. Apparently he was influenced by someone who encouraged him to think of himself as a messianic figure, and became a megalomaniac. You can no more blame Theosophy for this misuse, than you can blame the early Christians for the Crusades and Inquisitions, with this caveat--if someone tries to go public with a teaching, and it is even a little bit "off," then distorted minds can more readily find a "crack" in it to distort it. It's as though someone wanted to stretch a globe of the world made of rubber. If there was an irregularity in the surface, it would be easier to get a finger in there and start pulling. A watered-down teaching is relatively harmless, but a powerful teaching that is a shade off in some respects is the most dangerous. For example, a relationship with a man or woman who is not really right for you but closely fits the type you've been looking for all your life could be the most trouble for you. So all that to say this--it's not Theosophy and similar movements themselves that created Nazism, any more than it is Christianity that caused the Inquisition. It's the distortion of them and hijacking of them by lesser, twisted minds. Certain teachings may be easier to distort than others, but eventually such people can distort any teaching.

There have been a few changes with the website. Just today, as I write this, Gary Larson's organization wrote me a very polite "cease and desist" letter asking me to remove the Far Side cartoon from the website. Of course I complied, but I asked if I could officially request permission, and was told no-one is granted permission. That's fine, he has the perfect right to request that. I just put things on the site on a whim, when I happen to run across them or if it occurs to me, and then I take them off. It's more fun that way, and the site evolves over time. I was extremely careful about copyright issues in the documentary itself, but for better or worse I'm fairly relaxed about them in the website (except as regards permission to use personal accounts, where I maintain a strict policy). I try to give people credit and sometimes provide links, especially with music clips. Sometimes I don't know where something comes from. Occasionally, as with Klaus Luthardt's poetry, the person doesn't want the recognition. Klaus, a poetic genius who I know through my sister, remains obscure through his own preference. Look at the poem that's linked at the bottom of the page from the one he wrote for the "In Another Life" site (see "The Murderer" on the home page). It's full of spiritual fire, and a lot of the rest of his work is like this, but the world may never know. I couldn't get him to let me present more of his work. The music that opens my home page was given to me by another genius, Chris Dedrick, to use for the first draft--it came from another documentary that he composed it for. The first draft came and went and I still use it to open the home page. But I have a very prominent link to both his commercial website, and his 1970's group The Free Design, at the bottom of the page. In any case, no lightning bolts have struck around here yet.

Another change has been for me to clarify the deepest rationale behind this project, in the introductory text on the home page. There have been many changes I've implemented where I thought to myself, "Okay, this time I'm definitely going to lose my audience," and this is one of them. Contrary to what you might think, it is not my concern that anyone become a follower of my own spiritual master, Meher Baba. I certainly do want people to have the opportunity to encounter him, but after that the matter is out of my hands. However, I do want to do my small part in clearing away the underbrush so there is a path for people to encounter the REAL spiritual teachings, and the REAL spiritual masters who gave those teachings. The largest portion of what this culture has seen so far has been watered down and distorted, the life taken out of it. The teachings most people think of, when they think of Eastern spirituality, are as far removed from the genuine teachings as a plastic tree is from a living one. I know because I have immersed myself in these genuine teachings for over 30 years now. I also know that unless you are ready, you can't perceive them correctly. As for Meher Baba...I'm trying to think of a way to express this. Have you ever stood in front of a one-way mirror? From one side, you can't see anything. From the other side, if the lighting is right, you can look right in. You never suspected it. Meher Baba is a little like that. If you can't see him, you can't see him. If you can see him, it's obvious--with bells on. I see people selling his books on e-bay who don't even suspect what they have. They call him a "pop culture figure" or some such. It's kind of sad but then, it's exactly as it should be, I gather.

What else...in previous updates I wrote at length about my feeling that I might have uncovered a historical past life of my own. I still haven't had any dreams, waking visions, or other types of memory from that lifetime. The circumstantial evidence, given the way I uncovered it, is quite strong. If Matthew Whittier wasn't me, he was very much a parallel character, who had a number of very similar patterns develop in his life. Although I have not had any clear past-life memories surface, what has happened is that it's kind of percolated down deep, or up from the depths, perhaps, slowly assimilating. It's harder and harder for me to look at that portrait, and more obvious when I do. That was me, I feel it deep down. What does it mean? Well, I've gained some valuable intuitions from it about my current personality. I've also felt a bit of "bleedthrough," including character traits I would prefer to leave behind and thought I had finished with, like hurting people's feelings with sarcasm. I did it just the other night, and felt terrible about it. I never do that anymore, but it came out. So one has to be careful about delving into these things. I can handle it but not everybody is prepared to. I don't think it's wise to encourage the general public to do this. That's why I wrote that article for Kula magazine about the "impending popularity of the concept of reincarnation, and its misuse." No need to repeat any of those ideas here, however.

On my desk is a coaster with a painting of a lighthouse in the foreground, an inlet with another lighthouse on the far shore, and a small sailing ship navigating between them. There are seagulls and the keeper's house at the bottom. It's my way of honoring Matthew's life and the New England coast--just a piece of a past life on my desk. And I think that's the way we should handle those things. It has its place, it's to be honored, and one must live the present life and not get stuck in the past.

Most of my energies these days have been going into revitalizing my one-man video production business, GTVP. I have a new apartment and have dedicated one bedroom as the office, setting it up exactly as I want. I have cool blue walls, glass desks, modern equipment, and several of my photographs on the walls. It's clean and I have everything I need at arm's reach. Very comfortable and inviting to work in. I'm hoping to get enough work in here to purchase an HD-DV video camera, and toward that end I'm sending a lot of e-mails out to potential clients. I'm also audio editing a version of the Sixth Edition of Meher Baba's "Discourses" (linked from the Articles page and the Links page), narrated by Don Stevens who appears in "In Another Life." Nobody in the general public knows who this is, but Don, who is a regular guy and doesn't want a fuss made over him, no doubt prefers it that way. Someday people will figure this out. I'm doing this "pro-bono" and it's an amazing privilege. I'm very fortunate that way--certainly not in worldly success, but in the work I'm allowed to do on occasion. Sometimes it's sad that I'm doing things that are so far ahead of the popular consciousness that I kind of silently fly under the radar with nobody recognizing the importance of it. Sometimes I come to my senses and I'm glad for it, though it certainly makes it tougher to make ends meet.

Anyway, that's my "state of the nation" blog-type ramble, and it will probably hold me until sometime early next year, unless some exciting news breaks.

Best regards,

Stephen S., Producer

Previous Updates
10/18/05
7/13/05
6/6/05
2/12/05
1/6/05
11/20/04
8/2/04
3/8/04
3/6/04
2/4/04
11/24/03
10/6/03
7/23/03
3/23/03