Updates

1/6/05
This section is where I speak more freely and personally, though sometimes I edit it back out when I'm discouraged and realize I've used this space to vent too much! I actually feel pretty upbeat as I head into 2005, except for tape and DVD sales, which remain around 6-7 per month, but I remind myself that's not the primary purpose of this project. The main purpose is to get the word out, to provide accurate information about a topic which 75% of America doesn't believe in and for which there is zero information quality control. That work is moving forward nicely as I continue to expand on and improve the website, and through other types of outreach.

For example, I was invited to be on another radio talk show. I was going to say this month, but actually it was on the 29th of Dec. last year. This one was with host David McMillian, a broadcaster-turned family therapist-turned broadcaster, on his show, "Strategies for Living." I was a little nervous beforehand (not a lot), but once I got going I was surprised how well it went. The link to the archived show is on my home page.

I've also been invited to give a 15-minute mini-presentation of this project at a live local event (see the Announcements section). Walter Semkiw, author of "Return of the Revolutionaries" is organizing it, and Kevin Ryerson, psychic to stars like Shirley Maclaine, will be there, along with a local psychic. It is organized around Jeff Keene, who is featured in "In Another Life" (I was the first to film an interview with him, though A&E scooped me in 2000, with my willing assistance, to give Jeff a chance at national exposure). Walter and I don't totally see eye-to-eye, but I appreciate the publicity he's giving to reincarnation issues and I think his basic theory--that leaders of the American Revolution have reincarnated to assist in a spiritual revolution--is almost certainly correct. I think his methods should not be put forth as scientific, at least not as they stand now. They need "tightening up" before they can stand skeptical scrutiny, and that has bearing on how seriously people take the entire field. You can see it doesn't set well with my focus of providing the most accurate information! Still, each of us seems to have a different role to play. Jenny Smedley, for example, by claiming memories of having been married to country singer Garth Brooks in a past life (he wasn't famous in Britain when she saw him on the television, and didn't know who he was), has gained entry into the world of popular culture. I even coached her by e-mail briefly about an upcoming radio interview on a rock station here in Atlanta--I wrote her hurredly a couple hours before the show, that the hosts were obligated by the format to keep things funny and lively. If she went in deadpan they would have to make fun of her to achieve that requirement; but if she went in joking and kidding with them, they would probably go right along with her and treat her as a good sport. That's exactly how it went. But, that seems to be Jenny's "field of operation." I don't even try to impact that area.

I've written a couple new articles, along with some extended commentaries, on this website. The articles, "Gnawing Through the Knots" and "A Multi-Incarnational Approach to Chronic Illness" can be found on the bottom of my Articles page. They've been submitted, one to my friends at Omplace.com who have published me several times, and one by invitation to Thinkholistic.com. Neither article has been published yet, if they ever will be. I pulled out all the stops on both of these articles, and as a result they're a bit more challenging. However, the "Knots" article was picked up by 21stcenturyradio.com (where I had previously been interviewed), and a past-life therapist picked up the "Multi-incarnational" article in her newsletter.

I also commented on two Billy Graham columns dealing with reincarnation. Normally I don't address Christian beliefs at all, because open-minded Christians gradually see the truth of reincarnation and come around, while fundamentalists are in their own world of slogans and won't discuss it with you rationally (despite the fact that they truly believe they are being rational). They have abdicated rationality in favor of blind faith, and then with that as a base they start thinking again--but the base is a series of interwoven beliefs they have learnt by rote, rather than reaching deep into their being for the Truth that goes beyond beliefs. It's a state and stage you can respect as having its own type of merit--kind of a "cocoon". But you can't have a rational discussion about anything outside the cocoon with someone inside the cocoon--you can't have a rational discussion about anything which contradicts the belief system. Nonetheless, when Billy Graham started using these religious slogans in what sounds like a rational discourse to discredit the idea of reincarnation, I felt as though I had to respond, at least in a private way here on my own website. You have to get into my Articles page to run across it, and then you have to get to the bottom of that page to get to my theory about Paul. That idea has been brewing in my mind for a very long time, and I've been extremely selective who I run it by, for obvious reasons. But I think the time has come to say it clearly. I think there's a good chance it's correct. Haven't you ever wondered about it when you heard of Saul/Paul's dramatic conversion?

The problem with all of the Christian fundamentalist objections to reincarnation not being "in the Bible" is this--reincarnation is real. So there are two choices--either the Bible is wrong, or else the picture is much more complicated than they portray it to be. Sadly, I think atheists will have no problem at all accepting my theory about Paul, because they certainly don't believe he had a conversion experience. I would prefer that Christians face and understand it before the atheists pick up on it, because if the atheists and Humanists get hold of it first, they will have a field day with it, throwing the baby out with the bathwater (i.e., trying to discredit Jesus's teachings by association). Paul is so deeply embedded in Christianity, at least Protestant Christianity, that it will be very difficult to extract him without killing it altogether. But once he is extracted, it is my prediction that a great deal of what the rest of society has come to feel is most objectionable about Christianity will disappear along with him. In short, it is not Jesus's teachings which have made so many people turn away from Christianity--it is Paul's, and what came from Paul. The judgementalism, the superiority, the lack of receptivity to the esoteric teachings--and, as the feminists have pointed out, chauvinism--none of this came from Jesus's teachings. But from what I have seen, a great number of Christians are really as much "Paulites" as they are Christians. So this is not going to be an easy transition. I think it is an inevitable one.

Have you ever had a friend who was in a relationship with someone who had a sociopathic personality, a "player"? Didn't they go downhill, and wasn't it impossible to convince them? When things hit a crisis point and they finally let go and kicked him out, didn't they brighten up again after going through emotional withdrawal, and regain their health and sanity? That's the situation I see with Paul and the Church.

As regards reincarnation and Christianity, I made one very interesting "find" recently. While I was promoting IAL to college professors late in 2003, I ran across a number of them who specialized in the area of ancient Christian texts, including Elaine Pagels, and put the question to them as to whether reincarnation appears in any of these documents. They all said "no." However, more recently I was reading through the paragraphs that make up the Gospel of Thomas in the Nag Hammadi documents. Most of the ancient apocryphal literature strikes me as fanciful--like much of the new age writing today. But this one seems to run parallel to the existing New Testament, except that the original esoteric phrases are left in. When I got toward the bottom, I found what I'd been looking for--paragraph #109. Here is the page where I quote it. One philosophy professor who is receptive to reincarnation, when I brought it to his attention, agreed with my interpretation--another (Dr. Almeder, who is interviewed in IAL), thought it was "stretching." I think it's self-evident.

Sorry, this comment on Christianity is getting as long as an article!

The big news for the "In Another Life" project is that I finally have a distributor, named Don Shafer. He's a former theatre owner, and while he's a very small operator like myself, he has connections and he will allow me to retain control of the project--what deals are signed, where "In Another Life" airs, etc. And while he is a Christian and politically conservative, he does not object to the topic and remains open-minded about it. When I had lunch with him recently, I found out why. When Don was ten years old, he had an OBE (out of body experience), floating above his body and seeing the silver cord, long before he had ever read anything on the subject. This information only came out after I explained to him how I started the project, after hearing so many "paranormal" accounts from ordinary people once I got to know them.

Don told me something else interesting. He said he is often approached by students who have created horror films on a low budget, selling it through their own website. He says they average about 10 sales per month. That's about 3 more per month than I average. I guess that says something, but I'm not sure what...

That I have a distributor does not mean that the project could not still benefit from funding. I would ideally like to improve the packaging, but more importantly, I would like to have new, consistent, professional-quality illustrations done for the show itself (they run about $1,500 each), or if I had a large donation, even shoot some re-enactments. I would like to have a "name" introduce the show--someone well-known who believes in reincarnation. If you are such a person, I need you to contact me, because I can't get through the protective wall to contact you. And that will require funding to rent equipment and a set, for travel, crew, etc. I am already in correspondence with one famous person, and I'm responsible about it--I don't give their e-mail to anyone, and I respect their wishes.

In 2004 my focus was on making connections, on getting the word out via the internet, articles, interviews, etc. In 2005, my hope is to get the show broadcast again, with Don Shafer's help. The one way you can help the most, if you agree with what I'm tryng to do here, is to write to your local television station, including (but not only) your public television station, telling them that you'd like to see "In Another Life" broadcast there. If you are in a country besides the United States (as many visitors to this website are), Don is especially interested in getting it aired overseas, so any leads would be appreciated. If enough people request this show consistently, the stations may or may not broadcast it, but at least they will eventually broadcast something on reincarnation. The information on those shows may be sensationalized and may not be as accurate as "In Another Life," but it will represent progress. But if they do broadcast IAL, that will get good information out to more people than is possible through any other method. About 50 people visit this website each day. That means that as many people saw the Denver broadcast on one evening in 2003, as visit this website in a whole year.

It also means that of the roughly 1,500 people who visit this site every month and enjoy the free information, only 7, or about half a percent, purchase the documentary. There's this pull between the entrepreneur in me, and the educator. No doubt this is why people like Brian Weiss hardly give any free information on their website--everything is for sale. Others, like Carol Bowman and Victor Zammit, give away large portions of their work for free. Setting aside the battle within myself between the entrepreneur and the educator, there's also the artist. The artist in me is disappointed, because people aren't seeing my real creative work as it's meant to be experienced. My counseling training, my 30-year study of metaphysics, my natural photographic ability and study, my writing ability, my producing and networking ability, my video expertise--I poured all of it into the documentary, over a five-year period. And now, because I want to make information available for free, people don't purchase the hub of the entire project, the documentary.

Okay, I've gotten it out of my system. I didn't feel so bad (except that I felt bad for her) when I found out that Carol Bowman can't get funding for her work, either. Do you understand how weird that is? Carol has proven that our children are trying, trying to tell us about their past life, and we keep patronizing them. In her second book she has proven--I wouldn't even say suggested, I'd say proven--that our own grandparents and great aunts and uncles and other relatives are reincarnating back into our own families more often than anyone suspected.

It's too far-out, you can't even get your mind around it to take it seriously for a half a second, right? That's the problem. It's true--but who in our Western society dares face it? And if they face it and accept it, who dares proclaim it publicly?

One last note. I have provided a link at the bottom of the home page for a "click to help" website. I am assuming this is genuine--someone tell me if it isn't. If it is, I encourage you to take a few moments to click through the various charities. I've also placed a link at the bottom to a live video webcam of a beach in North Carolina. This isn't the kind of webcam where it refreshes a bad photograph every minute or so. This is live streaming video, and you can enlarge it to full screen and turn up the sound of the ocean. Take a quick trip to the beach--but if you're at work, don't let the boss see it!

Best regards,

Stephen S., Producer

Updates Archive