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According to Melvin Morse's Facebook feed, he was acquitted of the more serious waterboarding charges, but the press is misleading when it comes to reporting it. He suggests that people should refer to articles written by AP reporter Randall Chase for "a balanced factual series of articles".
http://bigstory.ap.org/author/randall-chase

Morse also maintains his innocence, and says "Children who have suffered severe abuse often accuse foster parents and step-parents as part of their healing process".

Whatever really happened here, every time I see this story I wanna toss my cookies.

The excerpt in the main post is from one of Randall Chase's articles.

It appears that Morse was convicted on one felony waterboarding charge, while the second waterboarding charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. The implication is that he was convicted on the misdemeanor waterboarding charge also, though the article doesn't explicitly say so.

It's a mess.

The only other interesting things I've noticed on Morse's Facebook page is that throughout the trial, he has been able to maintain a presence on the NDE speaker circuit, and he is not soliciting financial donations for his defense. He says that his lawyers are representing him pro bono because they "believe in him".
He has his supporters.

Whether it's blind support, or folks that know something the jury didn't, any way you look at it it's a still a tragedy.

Rabbitdawg, thanks for that link. Anyone interested in this story should read the articles in that link. There are several which provide much more detail of the testimonies of all of the main characters in this story. It seems that Dr. Morse is caught up in a downward spiral from which he will have a difficult time escaping. There is a lot of he said-she said "evidence" in these allegations. Anyone who has provided counseling or therapy to behaviorally-challenged pre-teenage girls will view her allegations as suspect. The use of the fad term 'waterboarding' is unfortunate in this case and of course the media loves to use it, but washing a child's hair in the tub or sink, if that was the case, is usually not considered waterboarding. I believe it was the girl who first used this term. Most likely the evidence or true facts will never be known except to Dr. Morse, his companion and the girls, including his 7-year-old biological daughter (who could not identify him in court).

On his Facebook page, Morse says, "My situation is challenging for everyone to understand. In fact I was acquitted of the most serious 'waterboarding' charges. The headlines 'waterboarding doc' convicted leave out I was convicted of non waterboarding charges."

However, the AP article (written by Randall Chase, whom Morse recommends) says that Morse was convicted on one felony waterboarding charge, and acquitted on a non-waterboarding charge (suffocation by hand).

There seems to be a disconnect here.

As a barometer of critical, logical thinking among the citizenry, I like to read comments related to news articles. The following are taken from one web site posting an article about Dr. Morse and his felony conviction.

"Sick, dirty rotten b*stard.
"He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, but a lesser sentence is likely." WTF? For abusing a defenseless child. That is a joke. "

"What tough guy, water boarding a 12 year old girl."

"Sadly, this arrest and conviction will dispel the books he wrote about childrens death experiences whether the observations he made were true or not. I wonder if any of the children he claimed to have interviewed will step forward as to his book was accurate for them, or not. It may all be fictional now."


"So why would you consider that to be sad? He sounds like a quack from the start."

Is it just me or do hateful comments like these, written about someone and something that these commenters really know little or nothing about cause grave concern about the intellectual development of the human race. What is wrong with these people! Don't they know that there is always more to a story than what they read in a sensationalized news report? Don't they have any life experience; never been in any relationships before? How quickly one commenter's thinking jumped from the issues at hand to trash all of his work investigating and reporting NDE 's in children, i.e., "It may all be fictional now."

How about, "Sounds like a quack from the start."

Geeze! People make me puke!


I taught school for a year and half. I had some kids I would have liked to waterboard in the hopes that they have a NDE and become Indigo children and become enlightened! Maybe if it worked it would have become a new way to deal with children that have behavior problems.

"As a barometer of critical, logical thinking among the citizenry, I like to read comments related to news articles."

I do that too sometimes.

"Is it just me or do hateful comments like these, written about someone and something that these commenters really know little or nothing about cause grave concern about the intellectual development of the human race."

Me2.

"What is wrong with these people! Don't they know that there is always more to a story than what they read in a sensationalized news report?"

They don't care. Self righteous hypocrisy, scapegoating and throwing rotten produce at the guy in stocks in the public square never go out of style. The media exists to facilitate the release of these unpleasant tendencies (that and to swing public opinion in favor of whatever blundering insanity the government has decided to perpetrate next).

All that said, Dr. Morse seems to have a pretty messed up personal life and I think the whole debacle does call his work into question at least a little.

So water boarding is illegal? When are they going to charge, arrest and bring to trial.......oh never mind.

: www.iapsop.com

the Sept.9. 1911 issue of "Light".
page 425

has an article:

Tennyson and Dr.Alfred Russel Wallace

Wallace conceives matter as being points of energy

(my apologies for posting OT)

Yes, Dr. Morse seems to have made some bad choices in his personal relationships. Having made some bad choices myself I would like to think that my personal life did not affect the quality of my professional life. I hope that is true for Dr. Morse. Apparently he was recognized at one time as an outstanding pediatrician in his community. Incompatibility in a relationship (and I'm being nice here) can make any man crazy. - AOD

"I taught school for a year and half. I had some kids I would have liked to waterboard in the hopes that they have a NDE and become Indigo children and become enlightened! Maybe if it worked it would have become a new way to deal with children that have behavior problems."

Art, I assume this is a joke? If so, I think it's really insensitive. You seem to be mocking the pain Morse's daughter may well have suffered at his hands.

I have several books on my shelf by Dr. Morse. The first one, "Closer to the Light," was one of the first three books I read during the magical period when I was opening up to a whole new way of seeing myself and my world. I don't claim to know the truth of what happened between Morse and his daughter, but the fact that I may never be able to enjoy that book again makes me sad.

Like you, I'm a teacher, and I know what it's like to feel anger towards my students. But I was also a child at one time like this girl, and I find it hard to make jokes about the very real chance that she may have been abused, in such an extreme manner, by her own step-father.

The other possibility is that you take even semi-seriously the notion of inducing an NDE in a child. I hope not! There are too many problems with that to even begin to discuss, the foremost being, who are you to prescribe for another human being?

Art, I know that you have a good heart. This comment surprises me.

I don't take anything in this life seriously. It's just a holographic illusion. Plus I am deeply suspicious of free will and lean heavily towards fate and predestination.

And for the record I only taught for a year and half. I was really bad at it and when I left teaching I promised the principal that I'd never teach again.

"So, for a moment, you see. Relax. Don't take yourself so seriously! All is well. We are forever one."
Excerpt from "Riding the Dragon," transcendental experiences of scientists,
http://issc-taste.org/arc/dbo.cgi?set=expom&id=00070&ss=1

"I don't take anything in this life seriously. It's just a holographic illusion. Plus I am deeply suspicious of free will and lean heavily towards fate and predestination."

I guess your attitude is an extreme example of what Michael would call a lack of commitment to "the game." Seems like a waste to me, overly dismissive of both the challenges and the rewards we find here. But to each his own!

Michael, I'm gonna avoid the "Gravity" comments until I watch the movie -- maybe this weekend. Thanks for pointing out that it's available on DVD. I usually wait until I can get these things "for free" on Netflix, but you make it sound so good (in your first few paragraphs) I think I'll make an exception for this one!

Art, to clarify: it sounds to me like you're taking a "vacation" right now. And that's cool. I think cycles of engagement vs disengagement come and go, and that each half of the cycle is as important as the other.

I disengage every morning when I meditate. And then it's back to the game.

And every 6 weeks I take what I call a semi-vacation, which has *some* of the characteristics of a week-long meditation. That helps a lot!

These are variations on what I think of as "the Sabbath concept." I think the practice of leaving behind the mundane every seven days stems from a powerful spiritual insight. It's not surprising it eventually got written up as a religious law.

Though whenever spiritual truths become codified they sure do begin to look silly.

"I guess your attitude is an extreme example of what Michael would call a lack of commitment to "the game." Seems like a waste to me, overly dismissive of both the challenges and the rewards we find here. But to each his own!" - Bruce
-----------------------------

I don't think life is a game; I believe this Earth life is a school and the soul's lessons are embedded in our everyday lives and it is holistically imprinted with what it needs to learn regardless of who we are, or where we live, or what we believe. The Creator of the Universe was so smart that He/She was able to create a Universe where we learn what we are supposed to learn even if we don't want to. It is irrelevant what you or I believe.

You can't escape duality and separation. They are inherent and inescapable properties of the physical Universe. You can't escape experiencing time and space. If you live in this life you will experience what it feels like to live in a 3 dimensional + 1 time Universe.

And the amazing thing is that we don't live for just ourselves. Because of the holographic nature of Heaven, those overwhelming feelings of oneness and connectedness, everything that every creature in this Universe experiences, all that information, knowledge, etc. is stored in some great "collective consciousness" or Akashic records and is accessible to us all after we cross over. I will know what it was like to be you and you will know what it was like to be me.

There are just some things that can only be learned by doing them - like driving a car. You can't learn to operate a car unless you get in it and drive it. The same is true for the body. If you are "soul stuff" the only way you can know and understand what it feels like to be in a body and control it, what time and space look and feel like, what it means and how it feels to be separate, is by spending some time in this universe and experiencing it.

And everything may be happening all at once.

Interesting discussion. I can't help wondering why, if we are already perfected entities in a higher dimension, we would choose to slum it, as it were, in a three dimensional earth realm. In short, why do we (the aggregate that comprises the whole) need, or even desire, this non-perfect existence? What is there to learn that will in anyway improve us if we are already perfect? If you get my drift.

Julie, one possible (totally speculative) answer to that question involves a tangled hierarchy - that is, a situation where the effect is the cause. Think of a snake swallowing its own tail. Or a Mobius strip.

If time as we know it is not an aspect of ultimate reality, then we might say that everything that is happening now (from our perspective) has already happened (from a higher perspective). In which case, the soul is perfect on one level because it has already gone through all these travails on this earthly level.

It's a confusing and counter-intuitive notion; I make more of an effort to explain it in my book "Chasing Omega."

Again, completely speculative and very possibly wrong. But interesting to think about.

Thanks, Michael, I'll source a copy of your book on Amazon. But doesn't all this no-time-and-everything-happening-at-once business make you feel as if were all stuck in some form of perpetual motion?

Julie can you learn to drive a car simply by reading a book about it or watching a video of someone else driving a car? The only way to drive a car is by actually getting in the car and spending some time driving it. Same with inhabiting a physical body and learning about how it works.

Same with riding a bicycle, or flying an airplane. Can you know what it's like to make love to another person if you've never experienced it? The only way to truly know what it's like to make love to someone is by doing it. Just reading about it or watching a video is nowhere near the same thing.

Or about what certain foods taste like? Is there any way to describe what a green olive tastes like to where you wouldn't need to actually put one in your mouth and eat it?

Or how about riding a wave at the beach? There is no way to recreate that without actually being in a physical body and jumping in the ocean and doing it?

We come here to learn the things that can't be learned in heaven. The physics of heaven as described by near death experiencers is very different from the physics of where we are now. They say that there is an overwhelming feeling of oneness and connectedness, time and space don't seem to exist or work there the way they do here, and whatever your thoughts are that is what you see and experience. A.J. Ayer, a famous atheist that had an NDE said, "you know it was strange my thoughts became people."

But if you were pure consciousness and had never experienced anything you'd be a clean slate. You wouldn't have anything from which to build your own reality. The soul's lessons are embedded in our everyday lives and it is holistically imprinted with what it needs to learn regardless of who we are or what we believe.

Good points all, Art. But why do we need to learn these things? For instance, I have a love of horses; I love working with them, riding them, and simply being with them. If I can no longer do those things when I pass over then I'm going to be pretty unhappy in paradise. It would be akin to finding the love of one's life only to have them whisked off to another planet. Or have I missed something?

Julie many physicists believe our universe may be a holographic projection. Now the interesting thing is that many near death experiencers describe what they experienced on the other side in terms that sound to some people (me included) like what one might expect if one were living in or on a piece of holographic film.

The physics of holographic film is very different than what we normally experience here. In a piece of holographic film it looks like just a meaningless swirl. But each piece of that film contains all the information of the whole. Everything is connected to everything, everything interpenetrates everything, and all the information is spread throughout the entire piece of film.

I could give you links to several NDEs where they say that they felt like the were everywhere in the universe at once or they felt an overwhelming feeling of oneness and connectedness. They also say that time and space didn't seem to exist (which is another quality of holographic film because all the information is contained by the whole), more colors than normal (entire light spectrum, more real or realer than real (in a holographic projection there is a certain inherent degree of fuzziness or blurriness which wouldn't exist in the original film because all the information is there), etc.

So, what I'm saying is that if this side is the holographic projection and the other side is the original film, that means that everything that is here must also be there! But the difference is that you couldn't exist as a separate unique individual or know what it means or how it feels to be separate if you hadn't spent some time here first.

The physics of the other side preclude learning because you would be overwhelmed by those feelings of oneness and connectedness (love) - but once you have learned those things whatever you focus your attention on, whatever you think of, it is all there and your consciousness can conjure up whatever you might wish to experience. Heaven is an ideoplastic universe. It is a place where thoughts are things and consciousness creates reality. Where matter is an epiphenomena of consciousness. You see and experience whatever part of the hologram you might wish to see. If you want to see horses you can experience any aspect of the equine you want, up to and including what it's like to be a horse!

excerpt from Randy Gehling's (age 10) NDE,
"

"That was really cool! I kind of felt as though my body exploded - in a nice way - and became a million different atoms - and each single atom could think its own thoughts and have its own feelings. All at once I seemed to feel like I was a boy, a girl, a dog, a cat, a fish. Then I felt like I was an old man, an old woman - and then a little tiny baby." http://www.near-death.com/experiences/animals04.html

That's a very clear and succinct explanation of your understanding of the universe, Art, and one that intuitively resonates with me. Indeed, one of my favourite books on the subject is Michael Talbot's 'The Holographic Universe'.

But if we may discuss things further (and if Michael doesn't mind) surely it must mean that all the ugliness, the cruelty, the inhumanity must exist on the other side too? Moreover, if existence is timeless and everything is happening at once, then why do NDEers report a sequential series of events while on the other side?

I'm not placing a burden of proof on you , or anyone else in this matter, Art, I'm just curious as to how it can possibly work; where it all came from; and if we simply are all just fragments of one entity - like the cells of a body - and, if so, why do we all fight each other so much?

That aside, so you really believe that I will meet up with my deceased pets and we will carry on just as we always did but in another dimension? And please don't say yes jut to humour me. ;)

But if we may discuss things further (and if Michael doesn't mind) surely it must mean that all the ugliness, the cruelty, the inhumanity must exist on the other side too?

I think that is so, because according to the evidence of mediumship, there are spirits of the dead of low level, representing the spirits of deceased consumed by their dark side. Are also hellish NDEs, although it is a minority and it is unclear as to correspond to the behavior of NDErs.

Moreover,if existence is timeless and everything is happening at once, then why do NDEers report a sequential series of events while on the other side?

If NDErs report a sequential series of events, it is because it is not possible to report their experiences differently, the use of language betrays partly their experiences. On the other hand, I do not think that NDEs are entirely timeless, but rather what happens in the biological realm may be perceived as simultaneous from the metabiological realm, but what happens in the metabiological realm is not perceived as simultaneously.

Julie, No the ugliness doesn't or can't exist because of those overwhelming feelings of oneness and connectedness which are inherent in the original holographic film. NDE'ers say they felt an overwhelming sense of love on the other side - which is what I believe oneness and connectedness feels like.

Remember in the life reviews where the person says that they could feel the emotion and thoughts of the other person? So much so that they literally felt like they were the other person. Also communication on the other side is telepathic - so lies are impossible. It impossible to hurt someone on the other side, heaven, because you would be hurting yourself.

You really need to read Mark Horton's NDE description.

http://www.mindspring.com/~scottr/nde/markh.html

Because time and space don't exist on the other side the way they do here that means we aren't limited to just one time or space; whatever you focus your attention on that is what you experience. You are pure consciousness so you are able to experience everything about the time and place.

The physics of heaven is very different than the physics of this side. It is the physics one might expect if one were living in or on a piece of holographic film. It will feel completely natural to you. Because of that sense of connectedness you will feel like you have all knowledge because you feel completely connected to the entire universe. Seriously read Mark Horton's NDE. It is the most holographic NDE I've ever read.

Thanks you chaps, but this is all very mind boggling! I understand exactly where you're coming from, Juan, it fits in well with traditional spiritualist teaching/belief.

And thanks, Art, I just read Mark Horton's NDE - although I had trouble following the final comments and couldn't decide whether his is now alive or dead . . . . . a bit like Schrodinger's cat? That aside, my ears pricked up (metaphorically) when I got to the the bit where he said he began giving freely of his emotions and possessions to others.

The truth is that I have always had a strong tendency to give away anything of mine that I feel would give more pleasure/use to someone else, and I've always cried at the suffering of others - both human and animal. It's the emotional suffering that gets to me more than the physical; I can feel it as if it were my own - only it's worse than my own because there's a dreadful feeling of helplessness that accompanies it.

But, as sensate human beings, isn't this how we're wired to feel. Isn't empathy part of our remit?

BTW, Michael, your book arrived from Amazon today. :)

Glad to hear it, Julie! But the ebook would have gotten there faster ... ;-)

I can't stand ebooks, Michael!! (Well, I will read them - but only if I absolutely have to.) ;)

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