Updates

7/23/03
Recently I've been requesting links from online directories and other websites, and while going through my own links list, I happened to write the webmaster for Shirley Maclaine's website. The unexpected result was that I was invited to be a guest on Shirley's online radio show, "Independent Expression". I completed the telephone interview last night, and I understand it's in the line-up for broadcast and will be featured soon. The show airs each Sunday at 7:00 pm Pacific Time, and then the interview is archived (membership fee required).

Shirley is a long-time reincarnation advocate who has courageously risked her career and faced public ridicule to promote these ideas, and it was fascinating to have the opportunity to "talk shop" with her. I think I rose to the occasion and provided some interesting conversation. We agreed on almost everything except the idea of parallel lives, that all lifetimes are happening at the same time. I think it's true that from the exalted perspective of a God-Realized spiritual master there is only the eternal Present, but for those of us in the ego-realm of consciousness, time is still linear. For people in the astral (who still have egos), time may be more fluid and subjective, and they may be able to see more clearly into the past and future. But I don't think that's the same thing as all lives running parallel at the same time. I don't think people in the astral realm can time-travel, or incarnate into any time-period they want to. I think they can wait until the right kind of civilization comes around, for hundreds of years if necessary, but I don't think they can go back in time, which is what the parallel lives concept would suggest. I'm also not convinced that the same person can be alive in two different incarnations at the same period in history. When people have memories of lifetimes that overlap in time-span, personally I think either some part of it is imagination, or they're accessing someone else's memories psychically somehow. Other than that I think Shirley and I were pretty-much on the same page.

Aside from preparing for the interview, I set aside the day to read Victor Zammit's book, "A Lawyer Presents the Case for the Afterlife" (Victor's site is linked from my Links page). Victor has applied the legal standard to examining the evidence for life after death, and he wins the case hands-down. It's a very comprehensive, carefully researched overview, and it's strong. The digital version of the book can be downloaded from his site for free, but I urge you to support him by buying it if you can afford to.

I'm opening myself to the idea of being a guest lecturer, since I did well in the interview with Shirley and I have a knack for teaching. Actually, I had opened myself to the idea of "going public" right before Shirley invited me to be on her radio show, so maybe that's the direction I need to go in. If you're interested in having me visit, check out the archive of the show and contact me at ssake@goldthread.com. After 30 years studying Eastern mysticism and six years of immersing myself in Western reincarnation studies, I think I do have something to offer and I can field just about any question thrown at me.

I'm leaving the previous update intact, below, since it contains some thoughts and history about the project that I'd like to remain available.

Best regards,

Stephen S., Producer

Previous Update
3/23/03