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Q. "A recent issue of Soaring Spirit included a picture of you and Richard Matheson, author of Somewhere In Time, so I assume he's a friend. I just saw What Dreams May Come, the movie version of his metaphysical book. In your opinion, how close is the movie to the way things really are after death?" R. T. Rosenblatt A. What Dreams May Come was originally published in 1978 and includes a five-page bibliography of source material: from C.W. Leadbetter to Raymond Moody to Jess Stearn, so the after-death aspects were as close as one could get without crossing over. But the book is different from the film. What they called "hell" in the movie, I would call the lower-astral planes -- a level where evil, greedy, cruel, or addicted souls find themselves at death. Suicides also go there. In time, souls are retrieved from this undesirable place. In my early days of conducting individual past-life regressions, I often moved my subjects through the past life by years. In other words, I'd say, "Let's move forward five years. On the count of three you'll be there." Occasionally, my subject would begin to tremble and tell me that they were in a cold, dark and nightmarish place. By moving them back in time, I found they had died and crossed over into spirit. Every time it happened, my subjects responded the same way. Eventually, I realized that the only people who ended up in the lower astral, were those who had lead negative lives or had killed themselves. With this realization in mind, I began to move my subjects by event, to avoid this experience. But since I was regressing them in their current life, obviously they had made their way from the lower astral to the light and eventually back to the earth via reincarnation. In regard to our day-to-day world being illusion and the other side being reality (this idea has irritated some film critics), let me point out the obvious: Ever since Einstein discovered that E=mc2, we've known that matter is energy. And since energy is nonphysical by nature, nothing is really solid. Everything on earth, including the earth itself, breaks down to atoms which break down to smaller particles, which break down to even smaller particles, which eventually break down to nothing. Leading-edge physicists are now saying that our reality appears to be a giant thought form. In regard to the after-death creations in the film: judging from the thousands of people I've regressed into death and beyond, thought is reality on the other side, just as depicted on the screen. Souls can adjust to the transition by creating an environment that makes them feel more comfortable. And both Tara and I loved the movie. In my 1997 book, New Age Short Stories, "Childhood Hero" is about retrieving a soul from the lower astral, and "Time Heals All" is about a husband making contact with his deceased wife who has created their thought-form dream house on the other side. The book is available at our Valley of the Sun Publishing site which is linked to this site.
Q. "For someone that talks about unconditional love and rising above judgment, it seems to me that your 'Controversial Questions' column in Soaring Spirit #70 is pretty judgmental towards rednecks." Unsigned A. Rising above judgment doesn't mean you stop deciding what does and doesn't work for you. There are only so many hours in each day, and if you're intelligent, you will spend what time you have as efficiently and pleasurably as possible. If I said, "I don't want to spend time with Ralph, because I don't enjoy his company," you probably wouldn't have a problem with the statement. But if I said, "Ralph is a self-centered braggart who dominates every conversation," you'd accuse me of being judgmental. But that's why I don't want to spend time with Ralph. I'm not judging him to be wrong for being a self-centered braggart, but I know it's wrong for me to spend time with him. I don't expect him to be anything other than what he is, and I have no desire to change him. When you're concerned about being non-judgmental, realize you need to resolve three kinds of judgments: 1. Judgments based upon your expectations. 2. Judgments which result in trying to change someone else. 3. Judgments generated by fear-based emotions. These judgments echo your ideas of right and wrong--your desire to control and your fear issues.
Q. I know you tend to be very liberal, but I'd love to know how you view the Bill Clinton debacle? Ramon Lopez A. Several people in recent seminars have also asked this question. Let me begin my response as I often have when questioned about politics: Conservatives (A) support the opportunities of capitalism and the right to enjoy the benefits of your labors, but (B) they want to dictate your lifestyle and force you to accept their values. Liberals (A) support individual rights and free thinking, but (B) they want to coerce social parity and distribute your resources to serve their view of the greater good. To me, the ultimate metaphysical goals of freedom of the self and from the self are in keeping with the A aspects of both schools of thought but I reject the B aspects as unacceptable. The conservatives' anti-gay and anti-abortion positions along with their desire to merge church and state are unacceptable. The liberals' penchant for quotas and throwing money at social problems are unacceptable. Bill Clinton has stood for the A aspects in both categories. I totally support him. He balanced the budget for the first time in 30 years. We have a $70-billion surplus that could be used to support Social Security and pay our debts to the IMF. We have the lowest unemployment I can remember. Home ownership has shot up during the Clinton years. More cops are on the street and crime is going down dramatically for the first time in decades. The strong economy and stock market has reflected his leadership. He has tried to support gays in the military, gay rights, woman's rights, establish a national health care system (like they have in Europe and Australia) and fix social security, only to see his efforts constantly shot down by a Republican majority. Don't his accomplishments over-shadow lying to cover up an affair? Powerful, driven men usually have an intense sexual drive. If that energy is repressed, it becomes the focus of attention. By forcing sexual abstinence, the military channels soldier's frustration into anger, which can be focused upon the battlefield. I'd rather have my President sexually satisfied and mellow. His finger is on the "button" for God's sake. I'd vote to give him a private room and a lot of women (obviously there would be no shortage of volunteers). No one knows what kind of a sexual agreement Bill and Hillary share. As a human potential trainer and one who has conducted several sexual polls over the years (see my book, Radical Spirituality), I know that a fair percentage of married couples have agreements that differ from the Christian standard. Consider one Eastern view of sexual morality: In the Six Paramitas of the Bodhisattva, adultery is one of the precepts. It is explained as meaning that the person having sex with another must consider his own happiness, that of his companion and of the third person who will be most affected by his action. If these three concerned people can be satisfied, then the sex act comes under natural law and is completely acceptable. Americans are not grown up enough to accept sexual realities, much less discuss such things in public. We prefer to pretend that the Ozzie and Harriet myth is reality. But when research shows that over half the married men and a third of the married women in this country have had an affair, you have to accept that there is a lot of difference between the myth and the reality. And I'll bet 95 percent the millions of people who have had an affair lied about it at some point. Doesn't that make Clinton just like everyone else? Don't argue that he lied under oath, because those questions should never have been asked under oath in the first place. After four years of trying to nail Clinton for something--anything . . . all they could come up with was sex. The Starr/Republican witch hunt is a classic example of a group of people wanting to be right, even it means losing the game. Of course they don't see it that way. They can't deny Clinton's accomplishments, so their only chance to elect a Republican president in the next election is to destroy the man currently in office. I fear a naive public will allow them to get away with it.
Q. Is the Maria Bello who voices the women on your Meditation Journey CD titled The Wave, the same woman who plays a doctor on the ER TV show? I'm a fan. Joanne Greene A. Same woman. Maria left ER after last season to pursue a movie career. Her first film to reach the theaters is Permanent Midnight. Then she co-stars with Mel Gibson in Payback. Before her career ignited, she was also helping me re-edit Unseen Influences, a Pocket Books title that is now out of print. We want to republish the book in the near future.
Q. In your October 1997 mailer for the California New Day seminars, Tara's spirit guide Abenda warned of an impending financial crisis that would start in Japan. It seems to me that the prediction has come true, but it certainly isn't so bad as to necessitate the preparedness you advocate. And although the stock market goes up and down a little, its obvious strength should be apparent to the world. Melissa Martin A. Tara's Master teacher (not Abenda) warned of a "forthcoming financial collapse" that would begin in Japan. We haven't seen a collapse. As of this writing (Oct 1, 1998), Japan has been ineffectual in dealing with a crisis that may worsen and effect us much more adversely. I hope this does not turn out to be the case. In the event of a financial collapse, huge numbers of people will be out of work and our social systems may break down. During the Depression, 85 percent of the population grew their own gardens or lived in farming areas. In other words, they could still eat even without an income. Today only 5 percent of the population would be in a position to do this. (See the "Preparedness" articles at this site under Dick Sutphen Articles.) In regard to your comments about the stock market: Do some homework. For starters, in 1969, 40 years after the start of the Depression, the Dow hit 1000 and then the market didn't make any more money until 1982--13 years later. In 1987, while I was guiding our company pension plan, the crash resulted in nearly a 50-percent loss in value. Yes, it came back, and I have faith that it will in the future. But a major "correction" is coming. Be responsible to what this will mean to you. * * * * * Web visitors are invited to ask questions and send letters about your seminar experiences or experiences using our tapes. I can't answer personally online, due to the volume of mail and my heavy seminar and writing schedule, but I will regularly provide answers at this site. I also respond to questions in my "Controversial Questions" column in Soaring Spirit magazine. Write me at Box 38, Malibu, CA 90265. Our e-mail address is soaringspirit@earthlink.net Thanks for searching us out, |
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