Wondrous tale...believe if you will

Subject: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 01:34 AM

This is a true story, though some may not believe it. I know it's true, because it's my story. It's taken me nearly a year to "go public" with it, and I'm still a bit uneasy about it. But I'm doing so because I think there's a chance it might help someone who is going through a tough time, and because I think it's a wondrous story, and because this time of year brings it all back to me so strongly. Warning: this is a long story, but it's as short as I can make it for now.

For those who don't know, I live on the Big Island of Hawaii, I'm a pediatrician, an amateur songwriter and mediocre guitarist, and I'm creeping ever closer to finality in a divorce that's been more unpleasant than most.

Last December, I had finally decided to end what was becoming a minor addiction to Microsoft chatrooms. "I'll see if this one woman is online tonight," I told my friend Rick, whose house I was temporarily sharing, "and if not, that's it, no more chatrooms." (I won't go into details about the chatrooms...they're a world of their own.) Well she wasn't...but I did "meet" someone new, a 31-year-old woman named Lani, from Virginia, also ending a difficult marriage, and brand-new to the chatrooms that night. Her mother was full-blooded native Hawaiian (hence her name, which is Hawaiian for "heavenly"), but she had never been to the islands.

We "talked" online that night, for about 3 hours. And the next night we talked, on the phone, for about 2 or 3 hours. And it went on like that, online and on the phone, every day. Now, I don't expect anybody to believe this, but before a week had gone by, we knew, unquestionably, that we loved one another. I'm not going to argue about projection and limerence and transference and all that stuff that I know very well. All I know is that my heart opened up, as it never had opened in the past, including during my eight-year marriage. I was planning on visiting my daughter in Boulder in mid-January, and we arranged that at the end of my visit Lani would meet me in Denver and we'd fly back to Hilo and she'd stay with me for a week.

She listened to me over the phone as I lit Chanukah candles, and listened to my new recording of Gordon Bok, Ed Trickett and Ann Mayo Muir singing "The Farthest Field". Just before New Year's I moved back into my too-big house to try to get it ready to sell. It would have been depressing...but I knew Lani was going to be there soon, and that made it tolerable, even enjoyable. I called her from the house on New Year's Eve, and again on New Year's Day. The next night I got an email from her, saying she'd had a fight with her soon-to-be-ex and was going out to stay with a friend.

After that, I didn't hear anything more from her: no calls on my pager, no emails, nothing. I was concerned, and became more concerned as the days went on. A few days later, I was walking on the old cane road above my house, looking at the ocean, and I heard her voice, inside my head, saying "I'm all right, Mark." Nothing more than that. "I hope so," was all I could say in response.

On January 9th, I finally got an email. It was from her best friend, who knew about me and had found my email address in Lani's address book. She told me that Lani had died in a car crash early in the morning of January 4th. Her friend said that she had never seen Lani as happy as she'd been during the two weeks we'd known one another: "She seemed to be walking on clouds."

I walked out of the office and drove blindly up to my house, screaming and shaking with grief. Amazingly, on the way up to the house, in the depths of pain, I happened to look up and saw an 'io, a Hawaiian hawk, circling. In that instant I felt the pain and grief fall away and I had a sense of quiet and peace for a short while.

The next day, still grieving, I managed to get through the morning in the office, and then called a good friend who's a counselor, hoping she'd be able to give me some guidance to get me through this pain. In the middle of our conversation, she suddenly said to me: "Wait--I'm getting a message from Lani." This was utterly unexpected; I couldn't say anything. My friend went on: "She says she's sorry that you had such a short time together, that she didn't feel any pain, that she's very happy, that she loves you very much, and that she will always be there with you if you want her to be."

I know, this is where it starts to become a little less than believable. Understand, I'm a physician, with a firm understanding of science; and while I've had a few experiences that might be called mystical, I'm not your typical star-struck new-age aura-reading channeler. But somehow, in that moment, I felt my profound grief change to wonder and joy. I walked outside and said, out loud, "Are you really here, Lani?" And in the same clear soft Virginia accent I'd heard that day overlooking the ocean, and which I'd heard so many times on the phone, I heard her say, "Yes, baby, I am!" (For clarification, it didn't "sound" like she was standing next to me talking, but more with the quality as if I were "remembering" her voice in my mind.)

Ever since, and continuing till today, I've had the definite sense that Lani has been with me, as a sort of "guardian angel". There are limitations to the kind of "conversations" we can have, and at some times I feel her presence more strongly than others, but I know she's here. Or there. Wherever. I know that this may "really" be "all in my head" -- but I know that I'm happy, and I'm not crazy, so what is "real" in an "objective" sense--if there is such a thing!--doesn't matter to me as much as what is "real" for me. And I know that, although I have continued to feel waves of grief pass through me (with decreasing intensity and duration as time goes by), the overwhelming feeling I have from Lani, and my memories of her, is one of joy. I believe that she is truly happy, I believe that we loved one another, that we still do, and that we always will. (Even if I do find someone else to love...there's no interference or discomfort there.)

So that's the story...except for one more wondrous touch. Once in a while, I've had a "message" from Lani that comes to me not in my mind, but in the "real" world. Here are some of the more interesting ones.

During the week between the last message Lani sent me and the message that she'd died, I sent her a couple of emails, trying to envision what had happened to her (she got cold feet, she was in a women's shelter...) One said, "If you're somewhere you can't talk on the phone, just call my pager and leave the message '713', and I'll know you're ok." That was a special number for both of us, for different reasons, and we'd talked about it. Of course, she never sent the message. When I did visit my daughter in Colorado the next weekend, as we were checking out of the hotel a woman came up to the desk asking for a second room key for her husband. "What's your room number?" asked the clerk. "713," the woman said.

Soon after Lani died, I discovered a radio station that played oldies (see? this is a musical thread!) For the next five days, I noticed the song that was playing when I first turned on the station that day. Those five songs, one each day, were: "My Special Angel", "Devil or Angel", "Both Sides Now" ("Rows and flows of angel hair…"), a different version of "My Special Angel", and "Angel of the Morning." (No, it's just a regular oldies station, not an "angel music" station!!)

And one more: In the spring, back when there was a more-or-less regular Mudcat song circle on PalTalk, I logged into the room and was greeted by the host, a Mudcat friend. We exchanged some friendly banter, about my macadamia nut orchard and her joking promise to come to Hawaii to visit. "You'll just have to come to Hawaii to try those nuts," I said. "Oh, I know. I'd love to come. I'm not sure when I'll get there, though." But this is how it looked on my screen:

Mark: You'll just have to come to Hawaii to try those nuts.
Catter: Oh, I know.
Catter: I'd love to come.
Catter: Hi, baby!
Catter: I'm not sure when I'll get there, though.

My friend told me later she had definitely not typed that greeting....which was the way Lani always greeted me, on the phone or online.

Well, this has gone on way too long. I hope it's been of interest to some, and perhaps it can be of help to a few. Here's wishing all my friends at Mudcat a wonderful New Year of joy, peace...and love.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: GUEST,Bardford
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 01:55 AM

Hey Mark,

Beautiful story. Thanks for sharing it. Some things just transcend the quantifiable, and your relationship with Lani is one of those things. Necessary, timely, life-enriching, re-affirming; all that.

A wondrous tale indeed.

Thanks, Bardford

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: alison
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 02:34 AM

thanks for sharing Mark....... and I'm glad to know that you still "know" that Lani is around......

and I'm happy to back up your story... I was that 'catter in the song circle.....

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 04:39 AM

I believe you, Mark. I've got someone like that with me all the time, too. Most of my contact with this person was on-line and over the phone as well. He's always on my left side, and when I'm aware of him telling me things, it's like he's talking into my left ear, although I don't 'hear' the words as much as I sense them.

The main difference is that, as far a I know, my person is still living even though I have almost no 3D communication with him now (don't ask me why because, although the part of him that I'm aware of has explained a lot of it to me, I still have a way to go before I fully understand it, I think).

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: CarolC
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 05:02 AM

Here's something else that's interesting... sometimes (usually several times a day), I'll have a feeling that doesn't make any sense in the context of whatever's going on in my world at that moment, and at the same time, the though of him pops into my mind. When that happens, I've learned to ask my companion on my left what's going on with this person at that moment. And he tells me. I think the out of context feeling is a signal that he wants to tell me something.

And I've learned from the tiny bit of on-line communication I've had with this person lately in his physical form, that his experiences were matching my out of context feelings.

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 11:33 AM

Mark, a parishioner of ours lost a teen son in a car accident. She continued much contact with him for a long time... I think it helped that her spirituality, based in a Greek Orthodox upbringing, allowed for and honors the mystical in everyday life. But we noticed, over time, that she was increasing her personal dependence on this contact, in ways that were limiting her corporeal contacts with people coming into her life. Her son had not reached the age of rebellion and separation and independence when he died, see? So she kinda got stuck in a place she'd never have been stuck, with him, if he had continued physical life in her household. And she had some work to do to let him go, in a different way, that was very hard for her. So I would be curious to know how this goes for you, over time... and about what Lani (or God) says to you about it. I'd be glad to hear from you about it, at Mudcat or via e-mail, anytime, if you want to talk about it.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 11:45 AM

Mark, that is beautiful and sad and joyfull. I know what it took to stick yer neck out and post it and I am really gratefull to you for that. Thanks so much.

luvyakat

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Don Firth
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 12:02 PM

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

--William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene 5.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 12:45 PM

I believe every word of it, Mark. Thanks for having the courage to share it.

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Ebbie
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 02:03 PM

I posted this last night- and evidently hit 'Clear' because it isn't here today:

Thanks for sharing this, Mark. It's a remarkable tale- all the more remarkable told by a doctor. (I'm only sorry that you lost Lani in your physical life)

It's only recently that I fully realized that 'they' are here with us. And I suspect that the reason they are not as overwhelmed as we tend to be when we 'see' each other is that they're already aware that they are not far away at all, that they've been seeing us all along.

Somehow this reminds me of a book I'm reading, My Grandfather's Blessings by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D. It's a wonderful book.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Ebbie
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 10:10 PM

refresh,please

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: kj...
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 10:28 PM

...what a wonderful...loving story.....thank you....it couldn't have been easy to share it.... ...though not having experienced anything quite as profound as you have Mark....there have been moments...dreams...when a voice known and unknown tells me something important to know about.... .....we are all so much closer to each other....wherever we are than we dare to be aware sometimes....

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: GUEST,khandu
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 10:40 PM

Eternity does not begin after we die. Eternity is taking place now!

Thank you, Mark. I have no doubts about your story.

khandu

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Robin2
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 10:50 PM

thanks Mark, for sharing your story here. It is truely touching.

Robin

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 11:52 PM

Mark, I have doubts about everything, except friendship. Whtaever happened or didn't happen or is true or isn't, whatever can be proven or not proven, seen or not seen, the only thing I always trust is the truth of a friend. I think and I hope we are friends after all this time in this strange cyber way.....so I know you are talking from the heart and the beauty of your story comes from your belief and in having the guts to tell it......and I believe what you say for there is indeed much we do not know and possibly much we cannot know. On several occasions I've had something along the lines you describe with my parents and no matter what I'm told it may be, it is a reality for me.

Bless you Doc for sharing it with us. You are, as I have often suspected, a very special man.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: ddw
Date: 26 Dec 01 - 11:54 PM

Beautiful story, Mark. I have no doubt it's true — a couple of people in my family as "sensitives" and have told me numerous stories about those kinds of communications.

Peace,

david

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Amos
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 01:16 AM

There are plenty of people who can advise you on being a physical person with some spiritual insight; but the ones who remember experiences like this, begin to see life from the perspective of a spiritual being having some physical experience.

I would venture to say this adventure has opened up dimesnions that are perhaps too easily closed off, especially in physical science. I hope they always stay open for you, Mark. Sounds like a well earned adventure!

A

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 02:02 AM

Thanks, all. I realize that the title of the thread was a little misleading, because whether or not people believe my story is not a big issue for me. But it's OK, and I appreciate the support!

Susan, you raise a very good point. In my case, one of the first messages my friend "relayed" to me from Lani was, "You will find someone else to love." At first I wondered how that would be possible, but as soon as I sat in a concert in Denver holding my daughter's hand and also feeling Lani next to me, I realized how easy it was to hold love for both of them in my heart, and how it would (will!) be possible for me to love someone else without losing or diminishing the love I feel for Lani. I'm sure it's possible to get "stuck" as your friend did, but it's clear to me that what Lani wants is for me to continue on my own path of growth and discovery--which is what, to my way of thinking, an ideal lover should always want.

Ebbie, I haven't yet read My Grandfather's Blessings, but I did read Rachel Naomi Remen's Kitchen Table Wisdom, which was a beautiful book.

Speaking of books, if anyone is interested in a more comprehensive discussion of this phenomenon, you might try James Van Praagh's Talking to Heaven: A Medium's Message of Life After Death. (CAUTION: this is a "discussion", but not a debate--there's no question where van Praagh stands!) I'll be the first to admit that he is sometimes a little hard to take, but when I read the book I was struck with how well it fit with my own experience. You can draw your own conclusions! I should also mention that until this experience, I was a complete skeptic when it came to mediums and messages from the "other side." I still have no patience for the obvious charlatans, and can't speak about many of the "popular" mediums (and van Praagh certainly is one of those), but for me, what he says has the ring of truth to it.

I did receive a personal message from someone who was definitely helped by my story. That alone makes me very glad I decided to tell it.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: CarolC
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 02:25 AM

I know I was helped by this thread. It felt good for me to get that out. Hope my posts didn't bend your thread too much away from your original point.

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 02:34 AM

Carol, I'm glad it helped you. I was fascinated by your story...and I think I understand it, at least as much as my experience and belief will allow me to understand. The only "point" to this thread is what people bring to it, from their thoughts, ideas, and experience. So no apology is needed!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 04:42 AM

We usually knock around the same 'pedant' threads, Mark, but this is a far better place to praise your writing skills. A story can be enormously enhanced in the telling, as you have done here.

To admit to a short little span of attention, as Paul Simon has it, is embarrassing, but I usually shy away from reading more than a screenfull. Not when you are the author, sir.

Skipjack

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Helen
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 06:46 AM

I have always been sensitive to this other "reality" and find it difficult to talk about it to the majority of people I know, because if you haven't experienced it it is extremely hard to relate to it. I can understand your skepticism, and I also have no time for charlatans, because I know what the "real" experience is like.

Thanks very much for sharing it with us.

There is a lot more that I could say, and it has taken me a couple of days already to say this, because I wanted to acknowledge your experiences and your courage in sharing them, but my first response was one of elation that you now know a little about the complexities of life from this perspective.

The best thing that I think I can tell you is to hold onto your skepticism - a healthy skepticism, that is - and evaluate every experience, and then value the ones which stand up to your scrutiny.

Helen

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: paddymac
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 07:59 AM

Some stories are meant to be enjoyed for their intrinsic merit, irrespective of their "quantifiable truth", and Mark's story is a real winner from this perspective. It has yet deeper meaning for those who have allowed themselves to accept the experiences of alternative realities. Carlos Casteneda introduced the notion of "ordinary and non-ordinary realties" to many people, and those who "study" shamanic "things" have given it even wider currency. Though experiences in non-ordinary realities as yet still defy conventional scientific "explanation", that does not equate to a denial of their existence. I personally view them as very real in the emotional realm, and as a delightful element of a complete human existence.

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Maxine
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 12:41 PM

Mark, thank you so much for telling your story. We lost a wonderful friend in August in a car crash and it has been a very hard few months - we haven't even began to come to terms with it 5 months on and this Christmas has been very hard. I have been looking on Amazon books myself, looking for a book that perhaps I could buy for our friends widow and his three young children. I have actually had the book you mentioned "Talking to Heaven" in my shopping basket, but at the last minute decided against it in case I was doing the wrong thing. Now that you have said how much it seemed to help you, I'm definately going to get it. I'll let you know how we all get on with it. I wish you a very happy 2002.

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 27 Dec 01 - 03:29 PM

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Mark. I believe the realm of spirit is just as real as this one we (temporarily) inhabit.

If you find yourself in Denver again, lets be sure and get together for some music.

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: AliUK
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 02:08 PM

Since I moved put to Brazil, I've found myself coming across things that, in the UK, I would have never thought possible. Your story Mark is moving and touched me deeply. Thank you for your courage, and I envy your luck that Lani is still with you. Would that but all our loved ones were as "vocal"as she.

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 03:00 PM

Another book I would highly recommend is "From My World to Yours" written in 1977 by Jasper Swain, a man who lost his teenage son in a car wreck in South Africa. His son came through and told him to write the book. It can be of great comfort to anyone who has lost someone, esp. in an abrupt and seemingly violent way. what really helped Mr. Swain was the fact that his son said he and his friends, who were also killed, were taken out of their bodies just before the point of impact, so that they did not feel all of the horrible pain, etc. It is a good book. I just did a search at www.bookfinder.com and found several copies available at www.half.com.

Mark, I haven't said too much about my own experiences because I've gotten too much flack from naysayers in the past. I am really glad you've brought this up. Thanks, again.

kattunedinbutnotdroppedout:-)

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Amos
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 03:41 PM

Besides, kat, it would just make meat jealous!!

A

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: GUEST,emily b
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 03:50 PM

Mark, Thanks for sharing these experiences. The power of Love, wherever it comes from and in whatever form, is amazing. There is a whole world or maybe worlds, out there or over there or up there, that because we can't disect and explain we tend to ignore or belittle. Opening up to love is probably a good way to get closer to these other worlds. I have heard too many stories from very believable sources to doubt this.

I wish you and all the others a very Joyous New Year of love and very positive experiences.

Emily B

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: SharonA
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 03:53 PM

Hmmmmmm..... I dunno about this, since it's never happened to me, but I'm willing to allow for the possibility.

Note to self: If I ever find a love such as Mark and Lani found, I must remember to invent an absolutely unique pet name for my paramour, so that if I find myself communicating with him in the same way Lani does with Mark, my guy will have no doubt that the message is from me (of course, if he hears someone in his head call him "baby", he'll know in an instant that it's NOT me – I just don't like that pet name and I'd never use it!)!

Strange and beautiful story, Mark. Thanks for sharing it.

Sharon the skeptical

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 04:05 PM

Beautifully put, Emily and so nice to see you here!

Amos? Sorry? "Meat"...do you mean the two-legged variety?:-)

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 06:00 PM

kat, it's interesting you should mention that point in Jasper Swain's book, about his son having been taken out of his body just before the crash. Because that was precisely one of the initial messages I received from Lani, through my friend. She said that she had not felt any pain, because she left her body just before the impact.

It's heartening to see such a positive response to my story. It helps me to know that my impulse to share it here was a good one.

I wanted to share another little part of the story. One of the things I loved about Lani was her playful sense of humor. The day after I "found" Lani again, I asked her about the time I had seen the hawk, and felt my terrible grief subside for a moment into great peace: "The hawk...was that you?" "Yes, it was," she answered. At that moment I happened to look up, and saw a meteor streaking from the center of Orion's belt. "Was that you, too?" I asked in amazement. "I'm not telling!" she replied...and we both laughed.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 06:55 PM

Amos, as I went back over this thread, your (first!) message jumped out at me: "There are plenty of people who can advise you on being a physical person with some spiritual insight; but the ones who remember experiences like this, begin to see life from the perspective of a spiritual being having some physical experience." I think you are exactly right, and I'm learning more and more about that all the time. Thanks for stating it so clearly.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Amos
Date: 28 Dec 01 - 08:14 PM

Mark,

Thanks! Made my evening. It is an interesting transition, for sure!

A.

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 12:23 AM

I don't mean to belabor this, but I realized that I hadn't publicly expressed my gratitude to the friend who gave me the first message from Lani. I don't know if I'd ever have heard it on my own, and my life is far richer because I did. So, to my wonderful friend Gloria...thank you!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 01:30 AM

Mark,

I don't have any experience with chat rooms, but I'm on several scholarly discussion lists. Over time there are friendships that form and more and more conversations with individuals take place off-list. A couple of these people are my very close friends now, though we've never "met," and I worry if I don't hear from them for long stretches. The fact that you and Lani connected so powerfully through words and thoughts without the benefit of the corporeal contact strikes me as an interesting but not unusual element of your relationship. The unique part is the verbal/emotional conduit that was finely crafted by you two that is still resonating.

I lost both parents within six months of each other, and I hear from both on occasion. As much as some would atribute this to "stress" or "wishful thinking," I believe its real. Mom is more verbal, Dad is more an emotion. (He's playful, and sometimes moves things). If I awaken from a dream, or hear a voice out of the blue, I can easily tell them apart. I don't practice a religion, I don't believe in a particular god. This isn't driven through a religious belief or dogma. I was lucky enough to understand what I was hearing and feeling (mom has stroked the hair off of my forehead, just as she did when I was a child). And you are wise to have paid attention to what you were hearing, and to appreciate Lani's presence. Good luck to you as you sort things out.

Maggie

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Amos
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 01:37 AM

Nicely said, Maggie. Hear, hear.

A.

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: CarolC
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:21 AM

My person appears to no longer be with me. I don't have any sense of his energy or presence at all now. I guess it was just a temporary thing for me.

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 02:40 AM

Maggie, I never knew your mom, but I can just imagine your dad moving things! I have this image of some self-important singer at the Seattle Song Circle suddenly feeling himself "goosed"! (No, I don't have anyone in particular in mind, but there's bound to be one, at least once in a while.) Thanks for telling that story.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 03:11 AM

Mark,

I don't want to distract too much from your story. But after Dad died, I cleared out his house to sell it, and and I carefully took all of his books (still have them). I was standing in the middle of his living room feeling as low as you know one feels at the loss of a loved one. I looked around the room for some sign that he'd even been there, and saw the corner of a book poking off of the top bookshelf, over near the door to the beach. It was the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, one of the first he probably ever checked out on the subject (a librarian with a library book never returned!). I opened it randomly, and the first page it opened to was The Golden Vanity, the song I requested at the hoot held after he died. I thought about it the next day, and wishful thinking, walked over to the same wall and whimsically groped around the bookshelf--only to come up with a slim volume called The Sex Life of Slugs. I rest my case!

If you think about it, each of the forms of communication we use is lodged in a different part of our brains. (You could probably name them all). Speech is one place, singing is another, writing is yet another, some cognitive, other more motor skills, often blended access to nodes in the brain. Is it any wonder that musically and verbally inclined people have the extra wiring it takes to pick up such wavelengths?

Maggie

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Amos
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 05:38 AM

Don't think the wiring is where it happens, myself. We're seeing instances of the abilities of being to communicate, and more. Some of us are still tangled up with body operation. The evidence above and across all the other similar anecdotes I have heard over the years indicates that letting go of a body can be a liberating experience with a resurgence of goodwill and high spirits and power connected with, much like anyone feels when a problem of long duration suddenly dissipates. Varies with the individual of course.

But the bottom line of them all is that communication may entrain the brain if one is being used, but it doesn't depend on one at all except when channeling communication through a meat system. The mechanics are second-tier after effects.

I girl I love, when asked if she believed in telepathic communication, replied that she was pretty sure that ALL communication was telepathic, a remark I have never forgotten. That one point of view was one of the reasons I married her!

A

Subject: RE: Wondrous tale...believe if you will
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 01 - 11:37 AM

Amos,

Interesting! Many years ago my cousin and her family came to spend a few days with me, and one evening I played a board game with she and the girls, aged four and 7. It was a game in which the youngest was going to need a lot of hints because she couldn't possibly know the answers. But we'd hit it off, and I remember, when her turn came, sitting and "thinking" the answer her direction. Not in so many words, but feeling like I was just opening a channel and she could see the answer. And the astonishing thing was she was so young as to not question the answers that she didn't understand and was getting them right. It seemed to me then that as we grow we somehow learn to block that kind of communication. After the first correct one, she knew to recognize the source of information and asnwer the questions (and who knows, it could have equally come from a parent also thinking good thoughts her way).

There are lots of ways to arrive at understanding how this works, with or without religious teachings. I prefer without. Like you, Amos, a close friend of mine (who, alas, married someone else) manages to communicate emotions without benefit of "meat" or technology. We live a couple of states apart and don't see each other often. But when we do meet or talk, it seems to recharge the connection and I go through several weeks of apparently filtering out the "noise" of his emotions. I've confirmed some of this with him, but left it at that.

Mark's story is special, though. There's a powerful connection unlike these weaker links I've described. I don't think his is any more valid than other instances because he is a physician, but because he is lucid enough in his description to let the rest of us see what he sees. And from our examples here, this seems to be something reserved for those whom we love, when there is a powerful incentive to the connection.

(I'm working on a second masters, in enivironmental ethics right now; one learns to question science AND religion when approaching how we live on this planet and the stories we tell. It's the ability to tell the story that is powerful in either domain).

Maggie