Updates

11/9/09

I have the whim to write, this morning, about being ahead of my time...but the paradox checkmates me, that anything I say will be deflected and reinterpreted. First of all, it will be interpreted that I am bragging. Then the hearer will get not one word I say after that. He, or she, is now short-circuited.

I can say that I have been practicing strict honesty for about 35 years. From this it may be concluded that I am sincere but deluded. This reader, also, will not get one word thereafter.

I can give examples of people who are ahead of their time and are ignored; the result of that is that I am ignored along with them.

I understand what I'm up against--spiritual ignorance, what in Eastern philosophy is called "avidya." A frontal assault against spiritual ignorance doesn't work. If you want to see this in action, try an "intervention" with an alcoholic who won't admit he has a problem. The parallel is a close one--alcoholism is merely a subset of spiritual ignorance, which is--as Buddha taught--built largely on attachment.

Alcoholism is the adopting of a provisional solution as though it were a real solution, which makes it a vicious circle. It is the embracing of an imitation of something which is our birthright--bliss, self-forgetfulness--as though it were the real thing. Hence, so long as that distinction is not fully understood, it is very attractive.

So we are addicted to our ignorance; and we would prefer to ridicule someone who attempts to break through it than to consider even for a moment that he might be telling us something true.

This was in my mind when I wrote my article, "The Futility of Reincarnation Education." You can find it in the articles section of this website.

The two people I've cited on this website as examples of being ahead of their time are Chris Dedrick, Canadian composer and head of the 1970's singing group, "The Free Design," and guitarist Eric Johnson. Neither have had much success or recognition (i.e., as groups); both express what I would call a high spiritual energy. By definition, as this world is caught up in spiritual ignorance at present, the large numbers of people required for fame and fortune cannot relate to it. The artists, themselves, don't seem to understand what's causing the problem. Both of them have tried to be popular, but as artists, they've still had to express what was inside them. The result is a very small group of devoted fans, while their work is ignored by the majority of the music-listening public. In Eric Johnson's case, what fame he has is primarily among guitarists for his virtuouso playing (he has been ranked among the top ten guitarists in the world).This is similar to those who admired Ansel Adams for his printing technique. In fact, Adams was a stickler for technique, and loved to share what he knew, as Johnson does. But that was only the means of expression for Adams' greatness, and in my opinion, it is the same with Johnson. Chris Dedrick has achieved success as a composer for movies and television in Canada--this would be comparable to Adams' success in his commercial photography. But as far as large numbers of people understanding and appreciating these men's music as art, fame seems to have eluded them. (I have heard that The Free Design is more appreciated today in Japan.)

I saw the same thing happen to a local group when I lived in Atlanta. The core of the group was a husband and wife team, Nancee and Steve Kahler. (You will see in this link that used copies of their CD's are now going for half a dollar or less.) You'd hear snippets of their music as segues on NPR occasionally. They had a very loving, spacious, high spiritual vibe, and a small, devoted following. Someone told Nancee that her songs needed more "bite," so as a kind of ironic compliance, she wrote a song called "Scorpions in Your House." It had "bite," but it still wasn't spiritually ignorant--so it wasn't a hit. Here are a couple samples off the "Midnight Over Tokyo" album: The Peactree Road Race and Remembrance. Or, for a change of pace, here's a very nice guitar solo from "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts." The song was written by their bassist, Greg Juchem, who, ironically, died suddenly from a brain aneurysm not too long afterwards. The guitar solo is by Cooper Tisdale, who I used to see in the audience at Eric Johnson concerts. (Make them wonder what the heck's going on--buy their CD's!)

Just recently, I put a re-edited, very clean, no-commercials version of my documentary on the internet for free, and made a prominent link for it on the home page and the announcements page. Most days it is viewed--meaning someone at least starts to view it--one time. Occasionally a few times. This is out of the entire world. The program contains a man interviewed on his own grave, scientific and anectodal proof of reincarnation, an introduction to past-life therapy by a real genius, Roger Woolger, and a glimpse of him working. It contains information about two God-realized spiritual masters and a fifth-plane saint who brought Eastern philosophy to America. One of the interviewees is a direct disciple of the second God-realized master, who was the Avatar or Buddha of this age.

And it gets viewed once a day.

Notice that none of this has to do with me. Okay, I put a lot of work into it, and given that I had a piddling sum to work with and tremendous resistance from many quarters, it turned out pretty well. I can, and have, gotten into a long sympathy-seeking description of how hard I worked under such difficult circumstances.

But that's not the topic of this Update. The point is, here is this gem which is ahead of its time, and it gets viewed by one person per day out of the entire world.

Now. Let's think about that one person. Why that person? Well, all the other people would assume that he was gullible, or ignorant.

And this is where it gets interesting. Because it's the same principle that is cited when the program wraps up, as my last interviewee comments: "There's two realities going on here--which reality do you buy?"

Somebody's right here--either the one person who is watching the show, or the rest of the world who is not. Either that one person is the wise one who recognizes something valuable--or the rest of the world is wise in ignoring it.

Well, look at the world. Does it look wise to you?

So, I'm just dancing around this thing because there is really nothing to say to all the people who assume it's nonsense. The only exception is that I can talk to you as you will be in 35 years. This is a kind of time-travel--I am not talking to you, but rather, I am talking to who you will be in 35 years.

I know that this kind of time-travel exists, because there are people who talked to me 35 years ago, and I am just now understanding them.

So, it will have been nice meeting you...

Best regards,

Stephen S., Producer

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