Monday 25 February 2008

Posting from "Toto"

Posting from TOTO using Doppelganger facility.

Hi Anthony
Two weeks ago I had never heard of you but ever since hearing you at Ellesmere Port Library I have become more and more certain that what you say is so true and is making me see everything in a new way and its like a door has been opened to me.

Of course I could also be losing my mind and I admit I do have doubts but the more I look into it and especially the events in my own life it seems to make sense about living a parallel life ,deju vu, reincarnation etc.

I should explain that in November I had a breakdown and have been off work since after being diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I am 52 and for the past 30 years or more I have suffered bouts of depression but with the help of antidepressants I recovered and coped. This time however I was at an all time low and after a couple of months on Prozac I was not recovering and getting worse with thinking about death a lot. The only interest I had was reading which distracted my thoughts. I would go to the library every week and stock up with a fresh supply of novels to get me through. It was on one of these library visits that I noticed a card about "Is there life after death" - Anthony Peake will discuss his ideas at EP library Fri 8th Feb. Well that happened to be the next day so I decided to go and see.

I was so amazed by what you said and wasnt expecting to hear anything like that. It made a big impression on me but the next day I kept saying to myself "was I really there listening to all that crazy stuff" it just doesn't seem possible and the doubts kept creeping in. Yet I couldnt get away from the daemon idea as over the last few weeks I had been feeling as if I wasn't in control and couldnt care less about anything but a part of me was in control and sending me to places to get help.

On 11 Feb I had my first appointment with a Therapist at Chester. It was difficult and I left the clinic very emotional but it was a sunny spring day so decided to go for a walk to clear my head. I ended up by the canal,near a little bridge with several barges moored up. Suddenly it brought to mind a scene that a medium had described to me on 26 Jan which made no sense to me then. She said there was also a little yorky dog with me and the song "somewhere over the rainbow". I walked over to the bridge and looked down at the water rushing out of the lock with the sun shining on it and couldnt believe my eyes when I saw a mini rainbow in the water.

The next morning I had the Wizard of Oz running through my head and kept singing the songs from the film. The more I thought about it , the more it seemed to relate to me : the scarecrow (brain not working), tin man ( heart pounding), lion ( bad nerves), Dorothy (lost! ). Decided to call my daemon Harry and let him show me the way.

Dont know why but then decided to look the author up on the internet and discovered that Frank Baum was a member of the Theosophical Society. Never heard of that so looked that up and found out that there is a branch in Chester and its amazing to know that over a 100 years ago people believed in consciousness is universal and there is a higher self.

I am still going through a difficult time but Im begining to think Harry is making me follow the yellow brick road and to just have faith. Even the other day I decided to watch a DVD which was free with the paper a couple of weeks ago. It starred Meryl Streep but I didnt take any notice of what it was about I just put it in the machine. Turned out it was about a boy with epilepsy and guess what the song was playing in the middle - "Somewhere over the rainbow" !

So for now this exploration into your theory and the T Soc is keeping me occupied and hopefully my brain will be restored to full working order in time.

Thanks for opening the door for me.

15 comments:

SM Kovalinsky said...

Toto; Thank you for your interesting post. I can say with confidence that your being "led" as you were to Tony's lecture would to my thinking be a sign of clarity and strength. I envy you your geographical capacity to see him lecture! I found my way to his theory and book and person from the opposite direction: I was grieivng my husband, and trying with all my might to go after religion and afterlife theories. But having studied and taught philosophy and logic I had too much confidence in these, and could not make myself go "soft". I happened to find an essay of Peake's on the internet, and I felt I had at last found the genuine article, and was on solid footing after all. The more I read him, the higher I had to rank him in the order of theorists. Toto, you sound like a most thoughtful and reasonable person of high intelligence, and I think you will find yourself the more stronger and healthier for having encountered Mr. Peake. Very best wishes to you; SM

SM Kovalinsky said...

TOTO: I recieved your nice e-mail, and replied this evening. Hope you continue to come back and post. Best wishes- SM

Karl Le Marcs said...

TOTO,
Welcome and thank you for writing such a personal and beautifully crafted post.
I myself walked through Tony's "door" many moons ago.
Looks like we're not in Kansas anymore.....
*smile*
I'm especially interested in your comments regarding anxiety and depression (a regurring theme in my own research around the edges of Tony's theories - I myself have lived with depressional episodes for many years) the mind's "third- eye" is often squeegied clean via functionally atypical minds.
*whispers* (It is the "normal" people who are blinkered - we see the truth behind the veil.)
I'm also glad you're in touch with Susan Marie as she is a delightful lady and a joy to know.
Welcome again, I hope we can look forward to reading your comments on some of the other fabulous ideas that this blog creates.
ADarkPhilosopher
Karl L Le Marcs

SM Kovalinsky said...

KARL; Thank you. You are a delight to know as well, you lovely and darkish philosopher.

Karl Le Marcs said...

*blush*
I was talking about you to Tony yesterday - all good I assure you.
I suggested we film one of his lectures and broadcast it LIVE as a webcast so that yourself and other ITLADians overseas who are not able to enjoy the Peakeian experience can contribute in real time to the talk via emailed questions etc. I'm sure you'd be interested in that.
*smile*

SM Kovalinsky said...

That sounds like a wonderful idea. And it is so surreal for me, somehow, to imagine you and Tony in an English pub, and my own name being brought up. That is a good idea, and I hope it will be put into action. Thank you ---yours ever, SM

Karl Le Marcs said...

Yeah he agreed so we may see what we can arrange soon enough. And believe me Susan Marie, Tony and I can discuss many a surreal topic during ale-infused conversations. But yes, it is nice, and perhaps Daemonic, that sitting in a bar in Liverpool two men (whose own meeting and introduction to each other has been highly synchrondipitous) should talk of a dear lady many miles away in a different time zone, a different country but in a universe with an entaglement to ours.
Makes you think.
*smile*

SM Kovalinsky said...

It certainly does set one to thinking, and pondering such strange and beauteous entanglement. Only wish I could be sitting there, ale-infused. . .

Karl Le Marcs said...

In a parallel universe you are.
*smile*

Jesamyn said...

I wanna be there too... champagne-infused!!!! *smile also*
Jesamyn

Karl Le Marcs said...

Jesamyn, how did I know you'd be a Champers Girl eh?
*drapes cloth over forearm and produces oversized bottle of Dom Pérignon*
Ahem!
*adopts overtly suggestive French accent*
Would madam care to join me?
*raises eyebrow in the now expectedly lascivious manner*

Now let's stop all this flirtatious madness and get back to Toto's moving post.

*smile*

Jesamyn said...

Aaah but you cannot stop as I have the right of reply!!!!!
*bats eyelashes in the manner expected and sweetly demurs*
I wish most sincerely to have a most*animated* discussion, I would say in the IDEAL world with yourself, Susan Marie,Hurly Burly and presiding at the head of the table LADIES AND GENTLEMEN MR. ANTHONY PEAKE!!!!! Do not be surprised if this parallel occurs sometime soon!!!!! (or should that be *recurs*........ Here's Cheers
Jesamyn

Karl Le Marcs said...

*swoons at sweet demurity*

Anonymous said...

Toto:

Did you know that Frank Baum was an avowed and proud atheist? Yep, he's one of the heroes of the tiny American atheist community.

Put that in your New Age pipe and smoke it. Better yet, put some cannabis in a REAL pipe and smoke THAT.

Anthony Peake said...

Hi Anonymous,

Thanks for your posting.

You may be interested to know that many of the members of this blog, including myself, are atheists and agnostics, and many others are theists. What we are trying to do is find common ground and are using ITLAD and CTF as a basis for this mutual understanding.

Indeed if you actually read ITLAD will will struggle to find any form of theism within its pages. In fact I specifically wrote ITLAD to present a potential theory of immortality that precluded a non-physical 'afterlife', a 'soul' or any of the wilder areas of new-ageism.

This is not to say that I preclude theism and teleology from my theory, but that is metaphysics and I am, believe it or not, trying to apply science, to this thorny (and clearly emotive) issue. I take the approach that ITLAD, in its pure form does not need a 'God' or 'gods' to work - just neurotransmitters such as glutamate.

As such I am in agreement with Laplace when in response to a question from Napoleon about the role of God in his theory, he said:

"Je n’ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse” ("I do not need that hypothesis")

And so it is with ITLAD.

However many contributors to this blog have had experiences that they know are real, however strange they may seem to you. To ignore such subjective experiences is simply not scientific. Do you not agree?

Cheers

Tony