Diverse Aspects of My Life in 1995

My Unexpected Path of Spiritual Discovery (Article 22)

In 1995 with an unseen Intelligence/guide/angelic Force manifesting in my life, determining what was wanted of me became a predicament that proved quite disconcerting at times.  My written journal of the period around the first two months of autumn reminds me of my mental state during this period.  It wasn't that I had a 'break with reality' — it was that reality had a break with me.

My unseen guide's continuous involvement with me became something that was obviously permanent in a way that was easily accepted yet there would later be a few rough patches along the way, mostly due to my materialistic and worldly concerns.  "God revealed Himself to me," I excitedly told others while knowing that it would require considerable time to begin to adequately explain what had happened.  My lack of financial prudence during this period was due to thinking that there would be opportunities for me after publishing my case study book that was then in progress.  Some of my thoughts and expectations would prove to be unrealistic.  Although writers of fiction can edit out what isn't liked to change the story to how they prefer, I reported in my case study book Testament (1997) what happened through transcripts of interviews and spontaneous audio journal recordings to show how the spiritual Omnipresence interacted with me each step of the way.

Some of the noticeable angel synchronicity that I considered was in Pop culture songs and movies.  There was news of an upcoming comedy movie "Michael" with John Travolta starring as the Archangel visiting contemporary America.  My friend James invited me to a screening of the epilogue episode of the 15½-hr. "Berlin Alexanderplatz" (1980) directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.  The German movies in totality had probably been the most accomplished cinematic expression I'd ever seen although years ago I'd missed the last portion of the final episode featuring a bizarre dream sequence.  Having decided to record the film to watch at a more convenient time, there were technical difficulties when the epilogue episode was televised in Los Angeles on the PBS station.  This caused a delay resulting with my video tape recorder turning off prior to the conclusion.  This was the only occasion in my life when any technicality like that had happened so I was very curious to see what I'd missed.  I'd completely forgotten about the angels that were prominent characters in the episode.

  

"Berlin Alexanderplatz" angels Terah (Margit Carstensen) and Sarug (Helmut Griem)
 

As documented in the case study book, one of the people I spontaneously interviewed was a friend from Malaysia, Ted, whose brother had succumbed with AIDS only to return to Ted in a vivid dream to tell him that he now was an angel.  Today in 2020 while here at my computer (on a Wednesday afternoon) reflecting on these autobiographical articles and my path in life, I'm conscious of the Omnipresence of God yet remember what it was like not having any such awareness prior to the initiation. 

I'm aware that reading Testament about the period in 1995 when I was first trying to get some idea of what Michael had in mind for me to perhaps prove His/Their existence, people will be unprepared to consider some of my predicaments.  For example, equating myself and my friend Marie as New Age incarnations of Jesus and Mary.  Another major development soon resulted from the knowledge that Michael could work through my subconscious mind.  I reflected back about my actions over the years and one occurrence that seemed compelling was my purchase of a beautiful antique wood and metal camelback steamer trunk.  I’d been looking for something more decorous than a dull filing cabinet to store my expanding collection of movie press kits I'd written.  I bought the trunk after noticing it on display outside a West Los Angeles antique store while driving.  I kept it in my living room and among the press kits contained in it were those for such films as “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “Congo” and the re-release of “The Ten Commandments.”  

  

  

When it occurred to me that perhaps Michael could prove Himself to others by having me buy something memorable and exotic, the steamer trunk and the synchronicity in my finding it led me to consider a startling possibility.  Ebay wasn’t around back then unlike today when one can routinely find dozens of similar dome-top steamer trunks available.  For me, my beautiful antique trunk was my 'Ark of the Covenant' and seemed a perfect fit with my personal conception of how the ark would appear.  After eventually realizing the impracticality of this, Marie told me: “Well, I think it’s meant to be a symbol.”  I was left to accept  that this was another symbol along my path in addition to the burning bushes, Paramount mountain logo, etc.  The actual Ark probably had been destroyed centuries ago.  
 
Upon contemplating my bizarre situation where I was usually trying to figure out what conceivable plan Michael had for me, there were occasional nuances that showed that the Powers that Be realized the limitations and sometimes downright pathetic nature of my sad predicament as it seemed any awareness of the conditions in my life had an ostracizing effect on my relationships with friends and acquaintances.

  

this logo on a shirt left for me under strange circumstances represents one of the 'nuances'

 

Having decided that finding lost antiquities and art treasures in local L.A. antique stores could be among the ways how Michael could prove His existence, I would go on to make some amazing finds on my shopping mission.  It was my impression that Michael was helping me to make compelling purchases as evidence for materialistically-oriented people.  Sometimes I would have second thoughts and doubts about my decisions and choices.  It has never been easy being my Mark Russell Bell persona.

Within a few years, my shopping phase was over and my steamer trunk remained my metaphorical ‘Ark of the Covenant.’  During the period, I received a gift spontaneously purchased by my brother — a small book entitled Love, Love, Love (1996) with authorship attributed to Andy Warhol although actually it was a compilation of his illustrations and aphorisms.   On page 14 of the book there was a drawing of an antique dome-topped chest.  The quotations presented on the following two pages included: “You should have contact with your closest friends through the most intimate and exclusive of all media — the telephone.”  This prophecy later became fulfilled after the publication of my book and my radio interview appearances in addition to my being a regular caller to the national radio show "Coast to Coast AM".

  

  

Some of my interesting acquisitions included a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence that I found for $45 at a small streetfront shop identified only with a Betty Boop caricature, which I considered some kind of portent (as explained in a previous article).  I excitedly set out to learn more about the history of the famous document.  I interviewed Karie, chief curator of Independence National Historical Park who informed me about the printing process with no one single document in existence considered to be the original as that corrected copy is believed to have been lost or destroyed during the printing process.
  
The version that I now owned was dismissed by appraisers as a common facsimile without even a close look yet all the other copies I saw appeared quite different from mine.

  

   

At another Los Angeles antique store I purchased for $30 a Gilbert Stuart Washington portrait with noticeable actual brush strokes rising from the surface in the background. Here is the photo as seen in Testament —

   

Whatever the significance of my copy of the Declaration of Independence is, it's a beautiful piece.  I decided that I would make available my artifacts to a museum interested in displaying 'The Mysterious Collection.' 

 

An example of some pieces from my collection as seen among the Testament photos.

 

My spoken journals of 1995 showed the array of experiences that I was attempting to place in perspective.  During a telephone conversation with my father, I almost forgot about the purpose of my call—finding out his mother’s maiden name—until Paul began talking about an individual known as ‘Gangie Boyer’ who turned out to be his maternal grandmother as he began encouraging me to start researching his maternal family tree.  None in my family knew about The House of Russell, an old book that I'd been guided to find.  

To discover where my father Paul was residing, I'd referred to old letters I'd saved to learn where Uncle Bob was residing in order to call him and see if he knew where Paul was now living.  When I called the number, I reached my Aunt Jeanne and mentioned that I wanted to research my ancestry.  One of my motivations was to see if there was any Bell lineage among my ancestors.  “How did you know that?” Uncle Bob replied.  Later, I would discover that the ancestors he meant were women with the first name ‘Belle,’ apparently including my paternal grandfather’s older sister. 

 
When I asked about Paul, Bob told me: “Your crazy father lives in another world but he has a heart of gold.”  My uncle commented about Paul as if he may have had some kind of mental imbalance, even observing that he’d shown paranoia about Hell’s Angels bikers pursuing him.  Uncle Bob, who had some eccentricities of his own, spoke in such an alternately convivial and then critical manner about my father that it didn’t sound as if Bob was speaking objectively.  Due to their bitter divorce, my mother was even more vehement about her ex-husband.  She said Paul was a "human who has made himself into a demon out of only caring about himself." 

When I eventually spoke to my father for the first time in ten years, I didn’t learn much more than he was now receiving Veterans Administration benefits while living in a retirement home in Orange County.  He seemed the same as ever, eager to give advice without any willingness to give a moment’s consideration to the sentiments being expressed by someone else.

I soon received a letter from Uncle Bob, who wrote, “I have enclosed a booklet written about your grandfather Paul Ray Russell and how he helped bring his church from a financial disaster to one of the wealthiest in the country.  He is still living and is one year older than the year having been born in 1899.  He has had strokes but is still able to watch the boards and maneuver his stock market holdings.”  The booklet is entitled A History of the Park Avenue Methodist Church Trust Fund (1986).

I eventually visited my father several times at his retirement home.  It made me especially proud that Paul was so eager to be helpful to other residents at the facility.  When he was voted ‘Mr. Valentine’ one February, the modest trophy conveyed a significance far beyond its small stature as he was in a much better frame of mind than many times during my younger years that I remembered.  On one afternoon, Paul expressed his appreciation and confided that he was very glad he wouldn’t have to wonder about me anymore.

My desire to understand the meaning of some of the bewildering circumstances led me to contact the Renaissance Health Center in West Hollywood.  An inquiry resulted in a seventeen-page booklet arriving in the mail entitled “How hypnotherapy can help you” by David Botsford, Dip. THP (N-SHAP), MCRAH.  The booklet explained that “the experience of the trance state varies from person to person . . . The client remains in command of his or her thoughts and actions at all times, and can come out of a trance state at will whenever he or she wants to do so.”  Furthermore: “The unconscious mind always protects the client against any suggestion that is negative or harmful to the client, or which goes against his or her moral values.”  The booklet also assured that a hypnotherapist cannot impose false memories on a client.

My first ninety-minute session with David commenced on the morning of Thursday, November 30, prior to the broadcast that evening of “Ghosts, Mediums, Psychics: Put To The Test” featuring the family I'd interviewed in relation to a 'talking poltergeist' chronology of paranormal events.  David was a few years younger than I and he spoke in a soothing manner with a mellow British fluctuation.  When I commented about entering the New Age, he offered a historical perspective: “As we do that, more and more ways of experiencing things become valid.  You see, as you recall, industrial technology became dominant in the world, all sorts of religious experiences, symbolism, magic — various people have set them apart from life and we became a mass of humanity presuming in school, going to work for a large corporation — and all this exposed us to the mass media, politics and government; more and more conditions influencing us to experience reality only in a way we’re told to experience it so most people conform to that.  And to be seen to come outside of that, we’re labeled as deranged, strange, eccentric, mad, totally nuts . . . and therefore now as you quite correctly pointed out we’re beginning to accept the validity of these experiences more and more and the unconscious part of the mind is always helping you detect it.  It’s guiding you to something better which is going to make life happier — more fulfilling.  We can trust the unconscious to bring you all these experiences.”

We certainly can, I thought to myself.  I wasn't surprised when I didn't go into a deep trance state or have revealed any memories of past lives.  The prospect of reliving a past life as 'Bel-Marduk' was intimidating, to say the least.  Now as I reflected in a relaxed manner to the hypnotist's questions, I found myself not thinking about unknown people who lived in past epochs but the two individuals I'd extensively researched for nonfiction writing projects: Catherine Cadiere and Julia Pastrana.  After the conclusion of my first session, David already seemed like a close friend.

That evening I’d arranged to watch “Ghosts, Mediums, Psychics: Put To The Test” with my brother.  The segment featuring the family comprised the first half of the special and focused on the poltergeist-like attributes of the Centrahoma family’s experiences.  The most conclusive footage showed a dining room chair moving with no visible source of propulsion.  The segment included the scene mentioned to me by Twyla in Oklahoma about a rock striking the car in front of her seconds after batteries suddenly went dead; however, the significance of these circumstances didn’t seem to be appreciated by the documentary filmmakers.

Another intriguing occurrence discussed in the special was thermal imaging photography of what looked like the shape of an unusually proportioned head in a window.  The family’s photograph of transparent beings in a window was also featured in the special yet was severely cropped to concentrate on the most clearly defined face.  For me, another compelling moment was at the end of the segment when host Dana Fleming asked Michael to prove he was there and a coyote immediately began to howl in the distance.  As I'd noticed in my life, Michael liked to respond in surprising ways.  (article)  The special also included two other segments.

My efforts to arrange for the Mark Kostabi painting “Official Greeting” to become the cover of my planned book were able to proceed after a phone conversation with the artist in New York City.  In addition to purchasing “Official Greeting,” I received two books showing many of Kostabi’s paintings from the 1980s and ‘90s: Lost and Found (1994) and Kostabi One Hundred+ (1992).  The latter book included my new painting as it originally appeared in 1992.  Considering all the expenditures, the reader should have no doubt about my complete dedication to the project.

 

montage of Kostabi artwork; 

below are some photos circa 1995 of the face behind the postmodernist faceless figures. 

   

It was fortunate I was turning my conversations into interviews and keeping an audio journal because there were many important details that otherwise I might’ve forgotten. There had been a few memorable occurrences during Southern California HIV/AIDS Hotline training classes that I discussed with the Hotline coordinator Faith, including one evening when a box on the floor near her seemingly was tapped by Michael as a small sound was emitted from it while in plain sight of the class.  I saw Faith glance at the box and when I asked her about it later, she explained it by stating that she’d accidentally kicked it with her foot; however, her feet had always been in plain view so I knew she hadn’t.

One interesting fact that I learned upon conversing with other listeners is that there had been a previous Hotline volunteer known for his research into the paranormal.  This was parapsychology author D. Scott Rogo, whose books I knew about, including The Poltergeist Experience (1979) and Phone Calls From The Dead (1979) written with Raymond Bayless.  I was startled to learn that Rogo was murdered in 1990 and the case remains unsolved.  (article)  While at John F. Kennedy University, Rogo had written a paper entitled "AIDS and the Human Immune System."

When I interviewed my friend Larry via telephone, I asked him about some unusual things that had happened in his own life, including a momentary out-of-the-body experience that occurred while he was watching a play in high school.  During our conversation, Larry discussed his spiritual beliefs: “Well, I fundamentally believe that everything affects something else and in a way, kind of like the ‘Star Wars’ thing, there really is a force — an energy that people feed off of it and then in turn contribute to, negative and positive.”

Among the various associates and acquaintances whom I interviewed for my case study, one interview took place in a car on the way to a dinner engagement at the Los Feliz area’s Chinese restaurant Chi Dynasty.  I went there in the company of two people from Russia, Inna and Oleg, the latter being a producer involved with the St. Petersburg Festival of American Films.  In the car, I interviewed Oleg and discovered he’d directed a film, “Mister Designer,” with an ambiguous storyline involving a mannequin.  He described one of the possible interpretations for the events in the film as involving the central characters with somebody else who forced them “to accept this game and play this game.  Some third force.  I mean a superforce.”

I was interested in learning about conditions in Russia.  I remembered once watching a PBS “Frontline” documentary about Russia and feeling very sad upon being confronted with how difficult life had become for people during the time of social upheaval that followed the economic reforms brought about under Mikhail Gorbachev’s leadership of the Soviet Union.  There was an elderly woman who could only afford to purchase a loaf of bread during a market visit and the question in my mind concerned whether there was anything that I could do to help.  The problems throughout the world seemed so immense that there was no apparent way to help so many people whose needs were so great.  I realized that most people were probably like me in feeling concern for others throughout the world without caring about political ideologies or country borders drawn on maps.

Another topic of conversation that evening concerned reincarnation.  I sometimes would ask friends and acquaintances to say whom someone was the reincarnation of — “whatever pops into your mind.”  In this manner, James said that Inna was the reincarnation of Marie Antionette and then that he, himself, was the reincarnation of Quasimodo, whom Inna made clear was an association with the Victor Hugo novel.  Inna also suggested that my twin brother Mike was the reincarnation of Valmont while James mentioned that he thought Mike might have been “a Zulu warrior king.”

A couple months later, a surprising incident happened when I was interviewing Patty in James’s bedroom during a birthday celebration.  Inna suddenly opened the door and interrupted my interview with Patty, who’d contributed bread to the birthday dinner.  Inna had apparently sought her out to compliment her on it: “Patty, your bread is sensational.  My God.”

Patty replied, “It's from scratch.  Did you — which one did you get?  Did you get the Parmesan garlic?”

“Yeah.  Parmesan.”

“Yeah because the rosemary olive's really good too,” Patty said.  Noticing that I was interviewing Patty, Inna then left the room.  It wouldn’t be until transcribing the interview that I would recognize the significance of Inna’s comment.  Marie Antoinette, whom James had said was Inna’s previous incarnation, may be closely associated with the famous quip, “Let them eat cake,” yet there’s no evidence that the famous queen ever truly uttered those words.  What people in the present know about famous individuals of past ages inspires pastiche beings — amalgamations of impressions of others.

Something perhaps shared in common by many attendees to James’s birthday party was, despite talent and diligence, their film careers had never brought them the success that seemed possible as evidenced by a small coterie of others.  Inna was highly knowledgeable in many areas of filmmaking yet could never seem to find the necessary opportunities to establish herself as a successful producer.

Superconsciousness unrestricted by place or time knows how Inna is the reincarnation of Marie Antoinette; for the rest of us, the clues are something to be pondered.  There are several possible perspectives for understanding such a mysterious concept as reincarnation: first, that an individual might be a physical and spiritual reincarnation of someone from a previous time period; or, secondly, that someone might share energetic, symbolic or metaphorical attributes of a famous person who achieved some manner of renown in the past.  It might also be possible for both of these conditions to be relevant for an individual.  Apparently, the interpretation of any circumstances would best be taken on a case by case basis.  Something else to consider is that on one level of being, everyone is the reincarnation of everyone else and our shared Universal Mind is our truest Higher Self.

At a Christmas party thrown by my attorney, one of the anecdotes I recorded was shared by an entertainment industry lawyer named Paul who described having a telephone conversation with a close friend where out of nowhere they both said at the same time the same word—“concerto”— that had absolutely nothing to do with what they were discussing.

I decided that my psychotherapy sessions with Judith had gone on long enough so I decided to begin hypnotherapy sessions with David on a less frequent basis.  My objective was to use these occasions to help me organize my thoughts in my attempts to document my experiences.  In one of these sessions, David confided that he used to think he was the reincarnation of Richard the Third after realizing that there was a resemblance between himself and fifteenth century portraits.  I found that there were some contemporary accounts of reincarnation.  The late Ian Stevenson, M.D. was one prominent researcher in the field.  Stevenson is the author of the groundbreaking Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation (1966) and other books presenting cases of past life memories without hypnosis.  Books on the subject of reincarnation include: Across Time and Death: A Mother’s Search for Her Past Life Children (1994) by Jenny Cockell, Thomas Andrews, Voyage Into History: Titanic Secrets Revealed Thru the Eyes of Her Builder (2000) by William Barnes,  Someone Else’s Yesterday: The Confederate General and Connecticut Yankee, a Past Life Revealed (2003) by Jeffrey J. Keene, New Clothes for Old Souls: Worldwide Evidence for Reincarnation (2006) by Guy Lyon Playfair, Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot (2009) by Bruce and Andrea Leininger with Ken Gross, and The Big Book of Reincarnation: Examining the Evidence that We Have All Lived Before (2012) by Roy Stemman.  
 

Another astonishing antique store discovery was a round silver pendant presenting a profile view of someone who looked just like me.  The likeness presented a profile view of a face very similar to what I remember seeing in the mirror every day throughout my younger years.

  

I soon learned that there was a period when Italy created replicas of Egyptian artifacts so the pendant seemed one of these.  When I showed it to ‘Mo,’ an acquaintance at the PRS who’d recently visited Egypt, she recognized the figure shown in the pendant as Osiris.  I’ve never seen any other object that reminded me of the way I looked in my younger years as did the ‘round silver pendant.’  I would have some memorable experiences at the PRS and purchased some unique antique gifts that were apparently a few leftover items from an auction of the later Manly Palmer Hall's mementos.

My continuing interviews resulted with other people expressing reincarnation anecdotes.  One of these experiences occurred as I continued to make purchases at diverse area antique shops.  Upon buying a very old statue of a goddess at a store named Postobello in the vicinity of Universal City, a designer mentioned that a psychic once told her she was the reincarnation of Cleopatra.   Interpreting such an occurrence while keeping in mind Spirit’s penchant for allusion and metaphor, a contemporary reincarnation of Cleopatra might be anyone who had achieved some form of royal status in a previous life.

One curious matter for me concerned Doug, my personal trainer at Bally’s.  He had “DAM” tattooed on his arm and when I asked him about it he said the letters were his initials.  This seemed amazing because he showed a resemblance to depictions I’d seen of Nostradamus.  Something similar happened at APLA.  Soon after I noticed that my friend William resembled Shakespeare, he became a writer for organization publications.  As time went on, I would also recognize that some friends and acquaintances closely resembled famous people, contemporary or otherwise.

I occasionally found myself in some bizarre situations; for example, soon after purchasing the statue at Postobello that I guessed to depict the goddess Ishtar, I found myself sitting beside a woman at the Philosophical Research Society one Sunday that greatly resembled the statue’s countenance.  Her name was Devona and she was a minister.

Sometimes when I asked interview subjects to state the first name that came into their mind with the question, “If you are the reincarnation of a famous person of history, who would you be?,” I discovered that the response would usually offer some recognizable metaphorical parallel to the individual’s current life.

As I’m usually very quiet and introverted, in order to communicate the developments in my spiritual evolution my technique was to vocalize every passing thought for the tape recorder.  The first time that I attempted to omit a part of my experience from my audio journal was when I saw an ad for a porno comic featuring a character that I thought resembled me.  I thought this occurrence could be something too prurient for my case study so when my brother brought up the topic after I’d mentioned it to him, I rewound the tape and left the tape turned recorder off as I addressed the subject.  The following morning, I picked up the microcassette that I’d ‘edited’ and was mortified to see that the tape had been sliced apart.  I accepted that my unseen Collaborator was showing me that editing was out of the question.  I embraced the lesson to be totally honest in my life and work.  This made everything so simple and natural that the lesson was a liberating one.  I recommend it wholeheartedly for everyone.

As with this incident, Michael often conveyed meaning to me without the use of words (with some exceptions) — unless one considers the preponderance of EVP/spirit messages heard on the tapes.  This is also around the time when each day the succinct bumper stickers and personalized license plates words and symbols began showing undeniable synchronicity to whatever was happening during the current moment in my life.

After I decided to move to a rent-controlled apartment in Andy’s Santa Monica high-rise, I found it unexpectedly difficult to sell my Echo Park condo.  Although the lovely two-story condo had cost less than $100,000 and I’d installed new flooring and made other renovations, there were no purchase offers.  The situation might’ve been influenced by a foreclosure in the small northern building of the complex where units didn’t offer any lake view.

I was very upset and angry about this situation.  Things would eventually work out in an acceptable way involving completely unanticipated circumstances.  After thinking everything over, my realization was that I was still placing too much value on material wealth.

A manifestly paranormal demonstration occurred one afternoon when I was in the kitchen of the unsold condo and unwisely decided to verbally take out some of my frustrations on my usually patient Angel, perhaps with the expectation that there wouldn’t be any response.  Suddenly one of the long florescent tube lamps in an overhead fixture came out of its holder and struck the floor — remarkably without breaking.  I eventually understood that it was necessary to live a life of simplicity and patience.

  

*

Looking back today at my perceptions about what my life would possibly be like as a metaphysical author after my experiences in 1995, something that I didn’t expect was some people’s lack of interest in my unexpected path of spiritual discovery.  They knew nothing about many of the ironies involved, such as the secret in the Bible or the parallels between Jesus and Bel.  The following passages are some excerpts from these articles.
  

There is a mention of 'Bel' in Tony Bushby's The Secret in the Bible (2003).  Bushby is an Australia-born researcher/author dedicated to elucidating mysteries of Christianity.  The sixth chapter of The Secret in the Bible includes the following.
  

Some biblical analysts suggested that Solomon's Temple was in reality a stepped ziggurat like that of Bel (Baal) at Babylon or perhaps a three-staged pyramid similar to those uncovered at Ur, the biblical home of Abraham.  Curiously enough, in the foundation of the pyramid of Bel, there was an empty lidless sepulcher similar to that found in the Great Pyramid at Giza.  Supporters of Bel believed that it was the actual resting place of their god who promised that one day he would return to earth as Savior of mankind, but, like the Great Pyramid, no corpse or treasure was ever found.

 
What follows is the translation of the tablet giving the programme of the Passion Drama enacted in memory of the sacrifice of the saviour-god Bel, the Christ of Babylonia, just as the Christian Passion Drama is enacted in our time at Oberammergau in Bavaria. A similar drama was produced in ancient Egypt, the saviour god there being Osiris. Here follows the Babylonian passion drama, and the corresponding incidents in the Christian drama:—

  

 Babylonian Drama.          Christian Drama.

 
Bel is taken prisoner.            Jesus is taken prisoner.
 
Bel is tried in the Hall of      Jesus is tried in the Hall
Justice.                                     of Pilate.
 
Bel is smitten.                         Jesus is scourged.
 
Bel is led away to the             Jesus is led away to
Mount.                                      Golgotha.
 
With Bel are taken two         With Jesus two malefac-
malefactors, one of                tors are led away; an-
whom is released.                  other, Barabbas, is
                                                   released.
 
After Bel has gone to the      At the death of Jesus the
Mount the city breaks           veil of the Temple is
out into tumult.                      rent: from the graves
                                                   come forth the dead,
                                                   and enter the city.
 
Bel's clothes are carried       Jesus's robe is divided
away.                                        among the soldiers.
 
Bel goes down into the         Jesus goes down from
Mount and disappears         the grave into the
from life.                                 realm of the dead.
 
A weeping woman seeks     Mary Magdelene comes
him at the gate of                 weeping to the tomb
burial.                                     to seek Jesus.
 
Bel is brought back to         Jesus rises from the
life.                                          grave alive.

  

This winter of 2020, as I continue recuperating from my health crisis of two and a half years ago, there may perhaps be a parallel noticeable between my present circumstances with the biblical book of Job.  Doctors have attributed my condition to an unknown virus.  It would be self-defeating for myself or anyone to be angry or place blame at God for what is unknowable—bad luck or misfortune—and overlook the understanding that all the blessings of life and healing are aspects of our eternal existence made possible by our Creator.
 
The cases of transcendental communication profiled in articles at this blog describe an earthly progression for each soul or 'unit' of consciousness that is related to spiritual evolution and our actions in life (or 'karma').  The impression usually fostered is that as each human being makes the transition to the ascended state of existence, one will find themselves in a new realm of existence where each will be with other individuals and loved ones who are at a similar stage of mental and spiritual development.
  
It would seem that during ancient times, the acquired knowledge from past generations was handed down through many generations in an imprecise way.  Emperor Constantine ordered that all the presbyterial manuscripts be burned although some have survived to the present day.  The perspective known to a metaphysically knowing person is that throughout recent decades, a vast array of momentous metaphysical data constituting ongoing documented dispensations of Spirit remains unknown by most people while occasionally news reflecting fearful superstitions are promulgated in the mainstream media.  This myopic orientation to spiritual conditions is among the reasons that last October, the Pew Research Center reported: "In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace". 
 
One transcendental communicator has said about death:
 

You are born into this world for the same purpose, to gain an identity, have an Earth experience, then leave it.  The one thing you cannot escape from is the passing.  It is not a death.  There is no death.  There is only a new beginning.

 
Four years ago, a friend at work gifted me with the information most dear to her as encapsulated in a small book.  It is the thought that counts as not everyone I know devotes themselves to consistently reading this blog.  The book is a 2014 publication that presents questions and answers about the biblical Jesus.  The following paragraph in the book is the answer to the question "Why does it matter who Jesus is?" 
 

For the same reason it matters what we think about God.  And your view of God automatically has more far-reaching ramifications than anything else in your belief system.  What you think of God will automatically color how you think about everything else — especially how your prioritize values; how you determine right and wrong; and what you think of your own place in the universe.  That in turn will surely determine how you act.

   
The truth simplified is that peace of mind is obtainable through the understanding that each individual consciousness is linked to everything in creation through spiritual Oneness.  This perhaps is the key for one beginning the transition to a New Age and a new consciousness, identifying oneself as linked to God, all people and not otherwise oriented with paperwork principalities of corporations, nations and some of the programmed social consciousness representative of past epochs.