WHY DON’T WE BELIEVE
Nobody asked me, but… August 30, 2009
Last week, I wrote a blog entitled “ Believe ”. In that blog, I set forth hundreds of sightings of UFOs, of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena that should have removed any doubt, or at least made any thinking person acknowledge the “ possibility ” that things we call paranormal really exist. But it didn’t!
I have twin daughters: both of whom are well-educated and thinking people and whose opinions I respect. One is a lawyer, the other is getting a PhD in nutrition. Both read my blog, and both said that (a) they still do not believe in UFOs and (b) they still do not accept almost any other paranormal phenomena as being genuine!
The first thing I asked myself is, “ Where did I fail? ” How is it that my approach to the paranormal (which, I believe, has always been well-researched, approached in a reasonable manner and intelligently thought-out) is blatantly denied by two members of my own family? And, if it is denied by them, how many others who read my blog, like my daughters, still live in denial?
After doing some extensive soul-searching, I realized that it was not just “ me ”. It is the media, the general tenor of most authors on the subject, human nature, and the frauds perpetrated by those who seek their fifteen minutes of fame at the expense of others.
If you go to the movies to see a show about vampires, the vampires are given such incredible super-powers as to make the concept of vampires laughable. They’re a little scary but they are unreal. The same can be said about books, TV and movies’ approach to ghosts. More than anything else, the movies’ depiction of UFOs has been absurd. The movies, books and TV fill the UFOs with tiny green men wanting to conquer the Earth, with super-powers and intelligence far beyond our own. It’s a little frightening, and creates a laughable reaction.
That’s how human nature starts to play its part: Just about everyone likes to be a “ little ” scared. From people who go on a roller-coaster ride, to sky-divers or those who go to visit a haunted house. That’s why people leave a scary movie or TV show, smiling. It’s nice to be a “ little ” scared and then go home to your warm, comfortable, “ safe ” bed and laugh about the scary show.
This is what people like and this is what the media and the authors give people when they present paranormal stories for our consumption.
Generally, people do not like to face the realities of life. People who are willing to acknowledge the unpleasant facts of life are in a clear minority. To many, the idea that there are other beings in this world is scary; so they deny the possibility. To some the idea that there may be civilizations that have advanced far beyond our present capabilities, is scary; so they deny the possibility. A far greater number believe that if the God they believe in is not omnipotent, that they have wasted their prayers; and to them, that’s scary. Remember, the books and movies always show any advanced civilizations as wanting to conquer the Earth, not merely to help the Earth to emerge from its constantly war-like state.
And so people laugh at you if you tell them you genuinely believe in UFOs, ghosts or other paranormal things. It’s not a “ funny ” laugh; it’s a “ scared ” laugh. Generally, people do not want to face the possibility, especially not the probability, that there are significant factors in this world waiting to be understood. The greatest offenders are people in the field of sciences where they claim to know everything but, in reality, know little or nothing.
Most people use the childish claims of the “ nuts ”, “ frauds ” and “ weirdos ” seeking their fifteen minutes of fame as an example of all paranormal happenings. Genuine, documented, events are thrown into the same boat as ridiculous claims and photo-shopped pictures. The public seems to assume that if there are 100,000 false reports…or made-up stories about UFOs, orbs, ghosts, etc., then that means that all of the more than 5,000,000 documented reports, photos, videos, etc. on file must also be frauds, right? That means that the heads of State of other countries, the Ministers of Defense, the Admirals and General of the Armies and Navies of many nations are all frauds seeking their fifteen minutes of fame....right?
But don’t let the 98% of the reports which have been verified, researched and documented dissuade you from believing that all paranormal reports are nonsense…and to be laughed at. Just accept what our great field of science says is scientifically provable. Of course, science tells us that they are 99.9% accurate. If you really want something to laugh at, look at what science told us was true just a hundred years ago and compare it to what science says about the same things today. A hundred years from now, science will, undoubtedly, have a new set of 99.9% accurate theories.
What a sad state we live in!
We need to stop being scared and look at all unexplained things with a thirst to discover what they are, where they are from, what causes them, what their affect will be on our lives (if any), etc. We need to be able to sit down with all peoples and really look closely at these things…discuss them intelligently and not just “ laugh them off “.
“ If ”, for example, UFOs are really manned by people planning to conquer the Earth…don’t you think we should study them and be prepared?
“ If ”, for example, there are really “ ghosts ” out there or a life after death, don’t you think we should be able to discuss it intelligently and learn what’s in store for all of us?
“ If ”, for example, faith healers have been able to cure diseases and ailments that medical science has not been able to do, don’t you think we should be able to study it intelligently and maybe learn some things our perfect science of medicine doesn’t know?
I could easily go on and on. The important thing for everyone to learn is that the one thing we should not do is “ laugh it off ” because it seems far-fetched. It might not be so far-fetched if thinking people would sit down and discuss these things intelligently without being sneered at by those in denial.
Paranormal happenings are not to be laughed at. Most are better documented than the TV News. There’s really very little to be frightened about. Things that scare us are often shown to be harmless when brought into the light of understanding. If there are some things that are still scary, I assure you they will be less scary when brought into open, intelligent, discussion.
As I said, nobody asked me.
Write me at stebrel@aol.com
Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Please take this quiz
TAKE A QUIZ:
I’d like to know how many of my readers really believe in things like ghosts, UFOs and psychic things. Take a couple of minutes and check-off the following and send it to me at stebrel@aol.com. You don’t have to give your name. Only your opinion:
1. I believe that we are “alone in this world. Yes______ No______
2. I believe that there are other forms of intelligent life in outer space. Yes______ No______
3. I believe that UFOs are manned by alien beings. Yes______ No______
4. I believe that all UFO reports are made-up. Yes______ No______
5. I have seen UFO photos that appear genuine. Yes______ No______
6. I believe all UFO photos are the result of photo workshops. Yes______ No______
7. I have seen (or know someone who’s seen) a UFO. Yes_____ No______
8. I have read the British and/or Russian declassified UFO reports. Yes_____ No______
9. I go to church (synagogue, mosque, etc.) regularly. Yes_____ No______
10. I believe in ghosts. Yes_____ No______
11. I have had an experience with a ghost. Yes_____ No______
12. I have had a “near-death” experience Yes_____ No______
13. I have experienced mind/body separation. Yes_____ No______
14. I have had one or more déjà vu experiences. Yes______ No______
15. I know someone who is genuinely psychic. Yes______ No______
16. I believe there is a God as written in the Bible. Yes______ No______
17. I believe that when I die, I will live again. Yes______ No______
18. I believe there is a Biblical Heaven and/or Hell. Yes______ No______
19. I believe that ghost-chasers are all a lot of nonsense. Yes______ No______
20. I believe that good (and bad) karma really exists. Yes______ No______
Send me your answers and I publish the results in about a week. Thanks. Stephen Ellis
I’d like to know how many of my readers really believe in things like ghosts, UFOs and psychic things. Take a couple of minutes and check-off the following and send it to me at stebrel@aol.com. You don’t have to give your name. Only your opinion:
1. I believe that we are “alone in this world. Yes______ No______
2. I believe that there are other forms of intelligent life in outer space. Yes______ No______
3. I believe that UFOs are manned by alien beings. Yes______ No______
4. I believe that all UFO reports are made-up. Yes______ No______
5. I have seen UFO photos that appear genuine. Yes______ No______
6. I believe all UFO photos are the result of photo workshops. Yes______ No______
7. I have seen (or know someone who’s seen) a UFO. Yes_____ No______
8. I have read the British and/or Russian declassified UFO reports. Yes_____ No______
9. I go to church (synagogue, mosque, etc.) regularly. Yes_____ No______
10. I believe in ghosts. Yes_____ No______
11. I have had an experience with a ghost. Yes_____ No______
12. I have had a “near-death” experience Yes_____ No______
13. I have experienced mind/body separation. Yes_____ No______
14. I have had one or more déjà vu experiences. Yes______ No______
15. I know someone who is genuinely psychic. Yes______ No______
16. I believe there is a God as written in the Bible. Yes______ No______
17. I believe that when I die, I will live again. Yes______ No______
18. I believe there is a Biblical Heaven and/or Hell. Yes______ No______
19. I believe that ghost-chasers are all a lot of nonsense. Yes______ No______
20. I believe that good (and bad) karma really exists. Yes______ No______
Send me your answers and I publish the results in about a week. Thanks. Stephen Ellis
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Believe!!!
BELIEVE!
Nobody asked me, but… August 23, 2009
It never fails to amaze me how many people who are, otherwise, intelligent people, continue to deny the existence of UFOs, of ghosts, of virtually anything that touches the paranormal. For the most part, these are not unintelligent people or people without an education. They are doctors, lawyers, engineers…even some rocket scientists. Yet, they live in complete denial of things that that have not only shown us overwhelming evidence of their existence, but in many cases have been accompanied by logical, virtually irrefutable evidence.
To such people there is never enough proof or photographic evidence. It’s as if a ghost came and visited them in their bedroom and they spent the following ten years searching the room for some sort of holographic projector. I have often used the phrase: If you do not believe something, no amount of proof will convince you…if you do believe something, no proof is necessary.
Let’s take a minute and look at some of the proof such people deny: This week I’ll talk about the “proof” of UFOs. Next week, the proof of “ghosts”…and who knows what we’ll discuss after that:
*********************************************************************************************************
UFOs: There have been more than five million UFO sightings throughout the world. There have been more than a hundred thousand photographs taken of UFOs (approximately half of which have been examined by experts for photo-shop alterations and found to be original photos that have not been retouched).
If you look at some of the photos of UFOs, they have different shapes, different lighting, etc. Photos of UFOs, generally, are not “copy-cat” or “me-too” pictures sent by people seeking to fool others. Many of these photos have been taken by military personnel, college professors, airline pilots, etc. Certainly fifteen minutes of fame is not being sought by Heads of State of several countries or by their Prime Ministers, Ministers of Finance or Ministers of Defense who claim to have seen UFOs (and some have taken photos).
Here in the USA, there have been several books written by intelligent authors demonstrating that the UFOnick claims of a UFO having crashed near Rosewell, New Mexico, are false and misleading. These books claim to have interviewed people stationed at the nearby Walker Air Force Base who stated that it was simply a weather balloon that crashed. It’s interesting that none of the books alleging that “nothing happened” ever interviewed the military personnel who were sent to investigate the event. It’s interesting that none of the books mention that the metal fragments recovered at the alleged crash site were unknown to our metallurgists…or that an analysis of the recovered metal fragments has led to the creation of new alloys that are now being used by our military in their aircraft. The writers of these books simply say that it was a weather balloon that crashed. No one seems to even want to ask how a weather balloon could have exploded upon impact. It was the explosion upon impact that led the military to investigate what the explosion was. Nor has any author of those “denial” books ever asked why the Chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff flew out the Walker Air Force Base the following day.
Is our government or military trying to conceal something from us? It won’t be the first (or last) time our government has tried to cover-up something they felt would “panic” our citizens. Remember that the bulk of our laws and government are based on the church-goers who descended from the Puritans who landed at Plymouth Rock. Our Government is based on the slogan “In God We Trust”. It would never do to announce that there are such things as alien life forms. It would severely impact the belief that God made us unique in the world…and might cause massive uprisings and wars around the world. Lots of religious fanatics would gladly kill others to prove it isn’t so.
Recently, several previously classified reports from Russia and Great Britain regarding UFOs were declassified and released to the public. Although I’m certain the “Top-Secret” reports have not been (and will probably never be) declassified, it’s most interesting to look at what has been opened to the public:
Hundreds of Britons had 'close encounters' with UFOs, according to previously-classified documents released by Great Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
The sightings were made between 1981 and 1996 from observers including police officers, fighter pilots and school children. They range from lights in the sky to close contact with aliens with 'lemon-shaped heads', and include detailed analysis on some of the UK's most well-known cases.
The British Government 'X- Files', contains 14 files of sightings, letters and Parliamentary Questions - 4,000 pages in total.
The Russian reports were significantly more extensive and strongly suggested that the source of these UFOs was not outer space, but from the depths of our oceans. The declassified Russian reports are over 10,000 pages long. They have reports from their top Naval brass that UFO’s were spotted by Sonar under water and travelled under water at speed normally associated with jet aircraft. They slowed down and stayed close to the Russian ships, sometimes tracking them for hours before accelerating away at high speed. They were often visually seen by entire ship’s crews to burst out from the sea into the sky where they, sometimes, hovered, and sometimes sped off to God- knows-where.
You ought to tell some of your disbelieving friends to investigate these declassified files.
What are they and where are they from? At this moment I do not have those answers…but rest assured I am researching the reports and…maybe…I will have an answer soon.
In the meantime, if you’ve got any ideas, please let me know at stebrel@aol.com
Next week I’ll discuss “proof” of ghosts.
As I said…nobody asked me.
Nobody asked me, but… August 23, 2009
It never fails to amaze me how many people who are, otherwise, intelligent people, continue to deny the existence of UFOs, of ghosts, of virtually anything that touches the paranormal. For the most part, these are not unintelligent people or people without an education. They are doctors, lawyers, engineers…even some rocket scientists. Yet, they live in complete denial of things that that have not only shown us overwhelming evidence of their existence, but in many cases have been accompanied by logical, virtually irrefutable evidence.
To such people there is never enough proof or photographic evidence. It’s as if a ghost came and visited them in their bedroom and they spent the following ten years searching the room for some sort of holographic projector. I have often used the phrase: If you do not believe something, no amount of proof will convince you…if you do believe something, no proof is necessary.
Let’s take a minute and look at some of the proof such people deny: This week I’ll talk about the “proof” of UFOs. Next week, the proof of “ghosts”…and who knows what we’ll discuss after that:
*********************************************************************************************************
UFOs: There have been more than five million UFO sightings throughout the world. There have been more than a hundred thousand photographs taken of UFOs (approximately half of which have been examined by experts for photo-shop alterations and found to be original photos that have not been retouched).
If you look at some of the photos of UFOs, they have different shapes, different lighting, etc. Photos of UFOs, generally, are not “copy-cat” or “me-too” pictures sent by people seeking to fool others. Many of these photos have been taken by military personnel, college professors, airline pilots, etc. Certainly fifteen minutes of fame is not being sought by Heads of State of several countries or by their Prime Ministers, Ministers of Finance or Ministers of Defense who claim to have seen UFOs (and some have taken photos).
Here in the USA, there have been several books written by intelligent authors demonstrating that the UFOnick claims of a UFO having crashed near Rosewell, New Mexico, are false and misleading. These books claim to have interviewed people stationed at the nearby Walker Air Force Base who stated that it was simply a weather balloon that crashed. It’s interesting that none of the books alleging that “nothing happened” ever interviewed the military personnel who were sent to investigate the event. It’s interesting that none of the books mention that the metal fragments recovered at the alleged crash site were unknown to our metallurgists…or that an analysis of the recovered metal fragments has led to the creation of new alloys that are now being used by our military in their aircraft. The writers of these books simply say that it was a weather balloon that crashed. No one seems to even want to ask how a weather balloon could have exploded upon impact. It was the explosion upon impact that led the military to investigate what the explosion was. Nor has any author of those “denial” books ever asked why the Chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff flew out the Walker Air Force Base the following day.
Is our government or military trying to conceal something from us? It won’t be the first (or last) time our government has tried to cover-up something they felt would “panic” our citizens. Remember that the bulk of our laws and government are based on the church-goers who descended from the Puritans who landed at Plymouth Rock. Our Government is based on the slogan “In God We Trust”. It would never do to announce that there are such things as alien life forms. It would severely impact the belief that God made us unique in the world…and might cause massive uprisings and wars around the world. Lots of religious fanatics would gladly kill others to prove it isn’t so.
Recently, several previously classified reports from Russia and Great Britain regarding UFOs were declassified and released to the public. Although I’m certain the “Top-Secret” reports have not been (and will probably never be) declassified, it’s most interesting to look at what has been opened to the public:
Hundreds of Britons had 'close encounters' with UFOs, according to previously-classified documents released by Great Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
The sightings were made between 1981 and 1996 from observers including police officers, fighter pilots and school children. They range from lights in the sky to close contact with aliens with 'lemon-shaped heads', and include detailed analysis on some of the UK's most well-known cases.
The British Government 'X- Files', contains 14 files of sightings, letters and Parliamentary Questions - 4,000 pages in total.
The Russian reports were significantly more extensive and strongly suggested that the source of these UFOs was not outer space, but from the depths of our oceans. The declassified Russian reports are over 10,000 pages long. They have reports from their top Naval brass that UFO’s were spotted by Sonar under water and travelled under water at speed normally associated with jet aircraft. They slowed down and stayed close to the Russian ships, sometimes tracking them for hours before accelerating away at high speed. They were often visually seen by entire ship’s crews to burst out from the sea into the sky where they, sometimes, hovered, and sometimes sped off to God- knows-where.
You ought to tell some of your disbelieving friends to investigate these declassified files.
What are they and where are they from? At this moment I do not have those answers…but rest assured I am researching the reports and…maybe…I will have an answer soon.
In the meantime, if you’ve got any ideas, please let me know at stebrel@aol.com
Next week I’ll discuss “proof” of ghosts.
As I said…nobody asked me.
Monday, August 17, 2009
More Dreams
More from my mailbag: August 16, 2009
There is still some mail to answer: If you send a request, I will always respond to it. If I use your letter in one of my blogs, I will change your name so that your privacy is protected. For some reason, there seems to be an unusually high amount of people wanting the meaning of their dreams explained. I’ve said it quit often and I’ll say it again. If I don’t know much about you, my explanation of your dreams is only a “guess” based on the little I do know. There are other interpretations available. If you want a detailed explanation of your dreams, you will have to provide me with as much information about yourself as you feel you can. I don’t charge anything; I don’t try and gain information to steal your identity…and I don’t “bite”.
***************************************************************************************************
Dear Stephen:
“I dream I am on a big ship that is sinking. The lifeboat is full and as I slide into the water a giant octopus wraps its tentacles around me and starts massaging intimate parts of my body. I try to scream but I can’t because I’m under water. My husband shakes me awake and tells me that I am screaming. If you write about this in your blog, please do not use my real name or mention where I am from. Selma”
Dear Selma:
My first reaction to your dream is that it is a reflection from a previous life. I will make the assumption that your marriage is a good one and that you are not having marital problems and that the tentacles wrapping themselves about you are not your husband moving in his sleep.
It’s very possible that, in a previous life, you were on a ship that sunk. Dreams, most often, are a reflection of a previous life in which your death came unexpectedly or prematurely. I don’t know you, but if you have a fear of deep water when you are awake, this would go along with the dream. i.e. You have an unconscious fear of water because, in a previous life, it is associated with the untimely end of that life. If there are any sounds in your dream associated with the sinking boat, such as other voices in panic, ship whistles blowing, etc., this would only tend to confirm my interpretation. As we live out this life, the fears from a previous life tend to become buried. We still may have an unexplained fear of deep water, but it doesn’t stop us from going swimming in the ocean. But if we go out on a sailboat ride, we may feel inexplicably “uneasy”.
Your dream actually goes significantly further: In your dream you seem to feel that you might have escaped to the surface of the water if some giant fish had not held you under. The fact that the giant fish was messaging the intimate parts of your body is indicative that in your previous life, you may have been aboard a sinking ship with an illicit lover and when that ship went down, you felt a lot of guilt about the relationship and, perhaps, were expecting the wrath of your God to not allow you to escape.
The best way to rid yourself of this dream is to do something with your present husband like go on a cruise with him. The extreme safety you would probably feel on one of today’s luxury liners, would tend to overcome the deeply seated fear in your unconscious mind about the ocean. I know they can be expensive, but there are an awful lot of bargains out there right now.
I hope this helps.
Best, Stephen Ellis
*********************************************************************************
Dear Stephen:
“My father died when I was only nine. He worked in an automobile factory in Beijing. I have just graduated college here in Illinois and have been accepted to study medicine in Baltimore. I keep dreaming about my father telling me to quit school and become a farmer. Is there some explanation for this? Loni”
Dear Lori:
The dream you describe is quite unusual. If your father had been a farmer, it might be easier to interpret, but the fact is that he was enmeshed in the manufacture of automobiles, in China.
Still, the dream is so unusual that I believe it must contain a message for you:
If you stop to think about it, why would someone on an assembly line want his child to become a farmer? The answer is that your father, in spite of the fact that he may have spent his entire life in an automobile manufacturing plant, was probably extremely unhappy there and wanted his child to have the benefit of living where the air was clean and automobile manufacturing plants were nowhere in sight. You did not mention the age of your father when he died or the cause of his death, but I strongly suspect he was quite young (you were only nine years old) and that his early death was, somehow, related to his occupation.
Inasmuch as the seeking of higher education for women in China is only a somewhat recent innovation (for many years in China, women were only supposed to have babies). It was when the recent rules limiting a couple to have only one child, that women began to make a bigger impact on the white-collar work force. Even today, like you, many Chinese women come to America to seek a higher education.
If your father was alive, I’m certain he would be very proud of his daughter.
Best, Stephen Ellis
*********************************************************************************************************
Dear Stephen:
“I get this nightmare almost every night: I am swimming n the ocean and a shark is chasing me. When he bites me, all my teeth start to fall out. Does this have any special meaning? Eric”
Dear Eric:
Without knowing some details about you, it is almost impossible to try and explain an unusual dream like this, but here goes:
It seems to me that in your real life, you may be pretending to be somebody you’re not. Someone a lot tougher and with less moral turpitude than most people believe you to be. Your dream of being chased by a shark is almost always a business dream. You are in a position of some power where you work and someone is after your job…or after you to try and bring you down. Because you are in a position of power, you have teeth strong enough to bite the shark right back…but the fact is that you are not as tough as others believe you to be, and when the shark bites you, instead of biting back, your teeth all fall out and you are powerless to defend yourself…because despite the image you have created for yourself, deep inside, you are not the shark others believe you to be. And so, you face the fear of being exposed for what you really are.
The best suggestion I have to rid yourself of this dream is to, slowly but surely, allow the softer side of yourself to be revealed. Maybe you won’t be your company’s “hatchet-man” any more, but I think you’ll sleep better at night. Besides, the people you work for, seeing a more humane side of you, may decide to elevate your position in the company. Good luck.
Best, Stephen Ellis
***********************************************************************************************************
Please feel free to write me. I respond to all e-mails. You can e-mail me at stebrel@aol.com
There is still some mail to answer: If you send a request, I will always respond to it. If I use your letter in one of my blogs, I will change your name so that your privacy is protected. For some reason, there seems to be an unusually high amount of people wanting the meaning of their dreams explained. I’ve said it quit often and I’ll say it again. If I don’t know much about you, my explanation of your dreams is only a “guess” based on the little I do know. There are other interpretations available. If you want a detailed explanation of your dreams, you will have to provide me with as much information about yourself as you feel you can. I don’t charge anything; I don’t try and gain information to steal your identity…and I don’t “bite”.
***************************************************************************************************
Dear Stephen:
“I dream I am on a big ship that is sinking. The lifeboat is full and as I slide into the water a giant octopus wraps its tentacles around me and starts massaging intimate parts of my body. I try to scream but I can’t because I’m under water. My husband shakes me awake and tells me that I am screaming. If you write about this in your blog, please do not use my real name or mention where I am from. Selma”
Dear Selma:
My first reaction to your dream is that it is a reflection from a previous life. I will make the assumption that your marriage is a good one and that you are not having marital problems and that the tentacles wrapping themselves about you are not your husband moving in his sleep.
It’s very possible that, in a previous life, you were on a ship that sunk. Dreams, most often, are a reflection of a previous life in which your death came unexpectedly or prematurely. I don’t know you, but if you have a fear of deep water when you are awake, this would go along with the dream. i.e. You have an unconscious fear of water because, in a previous life, it is associated with the untimely end of that life. If there are any sounds in your dream associated with the sinking boat, such as other voices in panic, ship whistles blowing, etc., this would only tend to confirm my interpretation. As we live out this life, the fears from a previous life tend to become buried. We still may have an unexplained fear of deep water, but it doesn’t stop us from going swimming in the ocean. But if we go out on a sailboat ride, we may feel inexplicably “uneasy”.
Your dream actually goes significantly further: In your dream you seem to feel that you might have escaped to the surface of the water if some giant fish had not held you under. The fact that the giant fish was messaging the intimate parts of your body is indicative that in your previous life, you may have been aboard a sinking ship with an illicit lover and when that ship went down, you felt a lot of guilt about the relationship and, perhaps, were expecting the wrath of your God to not allow you to escape.
The best way to rid yourself of this dream is to do something with your present husband like go on a cruise with him. The extreme safety you would probably feel on one of today’s luxury liners, would tend to overcome the deeply seated fear in your unconscious mind about the ocean. I know they can be expensive, but there are an awful lot of bargains out there right now.
I hope this helps.
Best, Stephen Ellis
*********************************************************************************
Dear Stephen:
“My father died when I was only nine. He worked in an automobile factory in Beijing. I have just graduated college here in Illinois and have been accepted to study medicine in Baltimore. I keep dreaming about my father telling me to quit school and become a farmer. Is there some explanation for this? Loni”
Dear Lori:
The dream you describe is quite unusual. If your father had been a farmer, it might be easier to interpret, but the fact is that he was enmeshed in the manufacture of automobiles, in China.
Still, the dream is so unusual that I believe it must contain a message for you:
If you stop to think about it, why would someone on an assembly line want his child to become a farmer? The answer is that your father, in spite of the fact that he may have spent his entire life in an automobile manufacturing plant, was probably extremely unhappy there and wanted his child to have the benefit of living where the air was clean and automobile manufacturing plants were nowhere in sight. You did not mention the age of your father when he died or the cause of his death, but I strongly suspect he was quite young (you were only nine years old) and that his early death was, somehow, related to his occupation.
Inasmuch as the seeking of higher education for women in China is only a somewhat recent innovation (for many years in China, women were only supposed to have babies). It was when the recent rules limiting a couple to have only one child, that women began to make a bigger impact on the white-collar work force. Even today, like you, many Chinese women come to America to seek a higher education.
If your father was alive, I’m certain he would be very proud of his daughter.
Best, Stephen Ellis
*********************************************************************************************************
Dear Stephen:
“I get this nightmare almost every night: I am swimming n the ocean and a shark is chasing me. When he bites me, all my teeth start to fall out. Does this have any special meaning? Eric”
Dear Eric:
Without knowing some details about you, it is almost impossible to try and explain an unusual dream like this, but here goes:
It seems to me that in your real life, you may be pretending to be somebody you’re not. Someone a lot tougher and with less moral turpitude than most people believe you to be. Your dream of being chased by a shark is almost always a business dream. You are in a position of some power where you work and someone is after your job…or after you to try and bring you down. Because you are in a position of power, you have teeth strong enough to bite the shark right back…but the fact is that you are not as tough as others believe you to be, and when the shark bites you, instead of biting back, your teeth all fall out and you are powerless to defend yourself…because despite the image you have created for yourself, deep inside, you are not the shark others believe you to be. And so, you face the fear of being exposed for what you really are.
The best suggestion I have to rid yourself of this dream is to, slowly but surely, allow the softer side of yourself to be revealed. Maybe you won’t be your company’s “hatchet-man” any more, but I think you’ll sleep better at night. Besides, the people you work for, seeing a more humane side of you, may decide to elevate your position in the company. Good luck.
Best, Stephen Ellis
***********************************************************************************************************
Please feel free to write me. I respond to all e-mails. You can e-mail me at stebrel@aol.com
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Interpreting Dreams
From my mailbag: August 9, 2009
I receive numerous requests to interpret dreams, and I try to answer each and every one of them. It’s important to remember that I really know very little about the person except what they write about their dreams. I can do so much more if I know something about the writer, the age, gender, occupation, family status, etc. Since almost all of the letters I receive ask me about the meaning of their dreams without any other information, whatever I write should not be taken as the only possible meaning. I do try and visualize the dreams as written to me and find a meaning for them. In all cases, I have changed the name of the writer to protect his/her privacy:
************************************************************************************************
“Dear Stephen: I have a nightmare about once a month. I am in a convertible car driving on a clear day. For some reason I am on a mountain road near Memphis and my steering wheel freezes. I go over the side of the road and am killed. When I wake up, I am covered with sweat. Can you help me get rid of this dream? Alex”
Dear Alex: You say that in your dreams you are killed. This is extremely rare. When we face death in our dreams we normally get a sharp sinking feeling that wakes us up. A car going over a cliff is not an uncommon way to die in a dream, and normally it represents a feeling of extreme insecurity. You are going someplace but you are afraid you’ll never get there. I will assume you either live near Memphis or did live near there when you were younger. The waking-up in a cold sweat is symptomatic of great anxiety: You are trying to get someplace (possibly an economic goal since you’re driving a convertible; a symbol of wealth and success) but you are afraid you will not be able to get there or you fear what may be at the end of the road. Dying seems less confrontational than continuing on the road until it ends. To get rid of this dream you will have to recognize what the goal is at the end of the road. When you do this, not only will goal seem easier to reach, but you may find you’re almost there. There are many things in life that you can’t control…including what may be at the end of the road you are travelling. If you take the time to analyze and think about it when you are awake, I believe the dream will no longer be a problem. Best of luck.
Stephen Ellis
*************************************************************************************************
“Dear Stephen: I am ten weeks pregnant. I woke up this morning with a startle. In my dream my fiancé was leaving me for one of my ex friends. In my dream, he didn't even care that I was going to keep our son if he was leaving. What does this mean? Megan”
Dear Megan: As much as our “modern” world has accepted single parenthood or having a child without a legal mate, there is still somewhat of a stigma attached to it. While this stigma now rarely attaches to the child (being the child of an unmarried parent now seems to be socially accepted), the stigma still attaches to the mother. Our society and customs are imbued with religiously inspired laws and traditions that an unmarried mother still has to overcome. There is not only the economic problem of providing support for the child, but in many areas of America, the mother is still thought of as a wanton woman who should be forced to wear a scarlet “A” on her chest. As much as we have come to accept living-together as a normal thing for engaged couples, there is always the unconscious or hidden fear that the marriage will never happen; that the child will not have a legal father, etc. This is what your dream is expressing: that hidden fear. Granted that more than 50% of all marriages end in divorce, there is still a certain safety and comfort zone when a couple makes it legal. The fear of the possibility that the child’s father may walk-away and leave you and your child stranded is very real. Even if your fiancé has assured you of his intention to marry you, I would have a heart-to-heart with him. What you do with your life is for you to decide. But now, another person has been added to the equation and responsibilities will increase significantly. If you have that heart-to-heart with your fiancé, I believe your nightmare will disappear.
Stephen Ellis
************************************************************************************************
“Dear Stephen: I have read your blogs about dreams and wondered if you can help. I keep dreaming about my dead aunt. I never met her when she was alive but I’ve seen pictures of her. In my dreams she keeps telling me to be careful of a gold halo. I have this dream almost every night. Vilu.”
Dear Vilu: As you should know by now, I am a firm believer in “past lives” and “ghosts”. Despite the lack of “scientific proof”, I feel strongly that the evidence is overwhelming that ghosts exist and that we have all lived before and will live again. Your Aunt may be in that special place where people go waiting to be born again, and she can see things in your aura that you may not be aware of. Clearly, although you never met her, I’d bet that she appears to you in your dreams in far greater detail than any photo you have ever seen of her. Her voice would be totally recognizable to you if you were to hear her speaking. She feels deeply about you as the child of her brother or sister. I strongly suspect that she can see some very significant financial rewards for you in the future, but is trying to warn you about someone interfering with you career. I believe the gold halo represents the financial strength she expects you to attain, and her warning tells you to be careful of someone who may want to take that halo for themselves. While dreams are, usually, not “precognitive” (foreseeing the future in great detail), they can be extremely “intuitive” (foreseeing the future, in general). Your Aunt seems to want to communicate with you. Perhaps a hypno-therapist can help put you into a state where you can actually communicate with her. It has been known to work.
Stephen Ellis
Write me about your dreams. Your privacy will be respected. If I publish your letter in my blog, your identity will not be revealed. Write me at stebrel@aol.com
I receive numerous requests to interpret dreams, and I try to answer each and every one of them. It’s important to remember that I really know very little about the person except what they write about their dreams. I can do so much more if I know something about the writer, the age, gender, occupation, family status, etc. Since almost all of the letters I receive ask me about the meaning of their dreams without any other information, whatever I write should not be taken as the only possible meaning. I do try and visualize the dreams as written to me and find a meaning for them. In all cases, I have changed the name of the writer to protect his/her privacy:
************************************************************************************************
“Dear Stephen: I have a nightmare about once a month. I am in a convertible car driving on a clear day. For some reason I am on a mountain road near Memphis and my steering wheel freezes. I go over the side of the road and am killed. When I wake up, I am covered with sweat. Can you help me get rid of this dream? Alex”
Dear Alex: You say that in your dreams you are killed. This is extremely rare. When we face death in our dreams we normally get a sharp sinking feeling that wakes us up. A car going over a cliff is not an uncommon way to die in a dream, and normally it represents a feeling of extreme insecurity. You are going someplace but you are afraid you’ll never get there. I will assume you either live near Memphis or did live near there when you were younger. The waking-up in a cold sweat is symptomatic of great anxiety: You are trying to get someplace (possibly an economic goal since you’re driving a convertible; a symbol of wealth and success) but you are afraid you will not be able to get there or you fear what may be at the end of the road. Dying seems less confrontational than continuing on the road until it ends. To get rid of this dream you will have to recognize what the goal is at the end of the road. When you do this, not only will goal seem easier to reach, but you may find you’re almost there. There are many things in life that you can’t control…including what may be at the end of the road you are travelling. If you take the time to analyze and think about it when you are awake, I believe the dream will no longer be a problem. Best of luck.
Stephen Ellis
*************************************************************************************************
“Dear Stephen: I am ten weeks pregnant. I woke up this morning with a startle. In my dream my fiancé was leaving me for one of my ex friends. In my dream, he didn't even care that I was going to keep our son if he was leaving. What does this mean? Megan”
Dear Megan: As much as our “modern” world has accepted single parenthood or having a child without a legal mate, there is still somewhat of a stigma attached to it. While this stigma now rarely attaches to the child (being the child of an unmarried parent now seems to be socially accepted), the stigma still attaches to the mother. Our society and customs are imbued with religiously inspired laws and traditions that an unmarried mother still has to overcome. There is not only the economic problem of providing support for the child, but in many areas of America, the mother is still thought of as a wanton woman who should be forced to wear a scarlet “A” on her chest. As much as we have come to accept living-together as a normal thing for engaged couples, there is always the unconscious or hidden fear that the marriage will never happen; that the child will not have a legal father, etc. This is what your dream is expressing: that hidden fear. Granted that more than 50% of all marriages end in divorce, there is still a certain safety and comfort zone when a couple makes it legal. The fear of the possibility that the child’s father may walk-away and leave you and your child stranded is very real. Even if your fiancé has assured you of his intention to marry you, I would have a heart-to-heart with him. What you do with your life is for you to decide. But now, another person has been added to the equation and responsibilities will increase significantly. If you have that heart-to-heart with your fiancé, I believe your nightmare will disappear.
Stephen Ellis
************************************************************************************************
“Dear Stephen: I have read your blogs about dreams and wondered if you can help. I keep dreaming about my dead aunt. I never met her when she was alive but I’ve seen pictures of her. In my dreams she keeps telling me to be careful of a gold halo. I have this dream almost every night. Vilu.”
Dear Vilu: As you should know by now, I am a firm believer in “past lives” and “ghosts”. Despite the lack of “scientific proof”, I feel strongly that the evidence is overwhelming that ghosts exist and that we have all lived before and will live again. Your Aunt may be in that special place where people go waiting to be born again, and she can see things in your aura that you may not be aware of. Clearly, although you never met her, I’d bet that she appears to you in your dreams in far greater detail than any photo you have ever seen of her. Her voice would be totally recognizable to you if you were to hear her speaking. She feels deeply about you as the child of her brother or sister. I strongly suspect that she can see some very significant financial rewards for you in the future, but is trying to warn you about someone interfering with you career. I believe the gold halo represents the financial strength she expects you to attain, and her warning tells you to be careful of someone who may want to take that halo for themselves. While dreams are, usually, not “precognitive” (foreseeing the future in great detail), they can be extremely “intuitive” (foreseeing the future, in general). Your Aunt seems to want to communicate with you. Perhaps a hypno-therapist can help put you into a state where you can actually communicate with her. It has been known to work.
Stephen Ellis
Write me about your dreams. Your privacy will be respected. If I publish your letter in my blog, your identity will not be revealed. Write me at stebrel@aol.com
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Other Possible Explanations of UFOs
EXPLAINING LIFE’S MYSTERIES August 2, 2009
By Stephen Ellis
Nobody asked me, but…
I’ve been genuinely fascinated with the recently declassified Russian Naval documents concerning UFOs. It has brought about a lot of concern and opened my mind to different thinking. First of all, the Russian military is an absolutely “no-nonsense” organization. When high ranking Russian military officials are suspected of “coloring” reports or trying to make “political gains” from their reports…such individuals tend to quietly disappear.
That’s why their reports need to be respected and given serious consideration. The Russian Navy’s declassified reports (if you read them carefully) are suggesting that the UFO’s we see in our skies are not from another planet or another solar system…but may be from right here on Earth. From beneath our oceans!
My nature is to examine all possibilities…and I believe you should do the same: Without accepting or denying the Russian Navy’s reports, let’s take a moment to examine them versus what most “UFOniks” appear to believe:
Question: Is it more probable that members of some advanced civilization have traversed the incredible vastness of space to locate our planet and visit it…or is it more probable that these objects are actually Earth-bound objects? Bear in mind that approximately seventy percent (70%) of the Earth’s surface has not been explored. Particularly the surface of the Earth beneath our oceans.
Question: Is it more likely that Interplanetary visitors would visit this planet and not attempt communication, or that creatures (or whatever life forms) living at great depths have no means of communicating where atmospheric pressures are as light as on the land surface of the Earth or in our planet’s atmosphere?
Where and why did the story of the lost continent of Atlantis originate? What about Lemuria or Kandam? Were there actually significant land masses and civilizations that submerged and disappeared?
Where and why did the stories of an ancient super-advanced, super high-tech, civilization here on Earth originate? Has anyone ever understood how the Pyramids of Giza not only calculated the value of “Pi” but accurately measured the distance between the Earth and the Moon and the Sun? Or showed the rings of Saturn in some hieroglyphics? Or calculated that there were eight planets in our Solar System long before there were telescopes? What about the unexplained underwater city just off of Bimini Island (a part of the mysterious Bermuda Triangle) or what appears to be an airstrip at Machu Picchu in Peru?
Although credit for the concept of Atlantis goes back to Plato’s writings, I feel reasonably confident that these legends are, minimally, 99% false and are little more than fodder for some science-fiction writers…although I must admit that the extremely high levels of nuclear radiation and ash found in the buried Indian city of Harappa (buried approximately 50,000 years ago) do make me scratch my head in wonder. I’m not suggesting anything other than that there are an awful lot of unanswered questions concerning what life was like here on Earth before history began to be recorded. Advanced, high-tech civilizations are a possibility although there is no credible history to support such thinking.
Let’s make-up a little scenario: Let’s suppose that there is some sort of intelligent life existing in the depths of our oceans. Unlike us, however, they are not humanoid in shape or form, but are more like orbs of energy capable of living beneath the sea and able to visit our atmosphere for limited periods of time. If they were orbs of intelligent energy it would be expected that they could change their shape and may not be able to communicate with humanoid life forms. The appearance of UFOs, based on available photographs, does seem to change…even in flight. This scenario may even suggest an explanation of some of the extremely high number of UFO and orb appearances in Australia recently. One thing appears certain: UFOs tend to prefer areas near deep water.
Of course this is a scenario and has no basis in fact. It might tend to explain some of the massive bursts of energy that seem to emanate from specific parts of our oceans such as the Bermuda Triangle where hundreds of ships and planes have said their instrumentation goes “haywire” at various times. What makes the thought intriguing is that I feel it is so much more likely that UFOs are from somewhere within the Earth rather than from outer space.
Travel at the speed of light is (to the best of our scientific knowledge) a physical impossibility because, at the speed of light, you become “one” with everything… everywhere. But, it might be possible to travel at “half” the speed of light if we ever possess the technology to travel at such unimaginable speeds. But, at half the speed of light, simple arithmetic doesn’t compute: An object that is ten light years away would probably take a thousand Earth years to traverse travelling at half the speed of light; not the simple arithmetic “five” years.
It’s obvious that there are some things out there called UFOs. It’s just that I can’t see some form of life travelling a thousand years to get here and then not even stopping to say “hello”.
As I said…nobody asked me. If you’d like to ask me something or make a comment, write me at Stebrel@aol.com
By Stephen Ellis
Nobody asked me, but…
I’ve been genuinely fascinated with the recently declassified Russian Naval documents concerning UFOs. It has brought about a lot of concern and opened my mind to different thinking. First of all, the Russian military is an absolutely “no-nonsense” organization. When high ranking Russian military officials are suspected of “coloring” reports or trying to make “political gains” from their reports…such individuals tend to quietly disappear.
That’s why their reports need to be respected and given serious consideration. The Russian Navy’s declassified reports (if you read them carefully) are suggesting that the UFO’s we see in our skies are not from another planet or another solar system…but may be from right here on Earth. From beneath our oceans!
My nature is to examine all possibilities…and I believe you should do the same: Without accepting or denying the Russian Navy’s reports, let’s take a moment to examine them versus what most “UFOniks” appear to believe:
Question: Is it more probable that members of some advanced civilization have traversed the incredible vastness of space to locate our planet and visit it…or is it more probable that these objects are actually Earth-bound objects? Bear in mind that approximately seventy percent (70%) of the Earth’s surface has not been explored. Particularly the surface of the Earth beneath our oceans.
Question: Is it more likely that Interplanetary visitors would visit this planet and not attempt communication, or that creatures (or whatever life forms) living at great depths have no means of communicating where atmospheric pressures are as light as on the land surface of the Earth or in our planet’s atmosphere?
Where and why did the story of the lost continent of Atlantis originate? What about Lemuria or Kandam? Were there actually significant land masses and civilizations that submerged and disappeared?
Where and why did the stories of an ancient super-advanced, super high-tech, civilization here on Earth originate? Has anyone ever understood how the Pyramids of Giza not only calculated the value of “Pi” but accurately measured the distance between the Earth and the Moon and the Sun? Or showed the rings of Saturn in some hieroglyphics? Or calculated that there were eight planets in our Solar System long before there were telescopes? What about the unexplained underwater city just off of Bimini Island (a part of the mysterious Bermuda Triangle) or what appears to be an airstrip at Machu Picchu in Peru?
Although credit for the concept of Atlantis goes back to Plato’s writings, I feel reasonably confident that these legends are, minimally, 99% false and are little more than fodder for some science-fiction writers…although I must admit that the extremely high levels of nuclear radiation and ash found in the buried Indian city of Harappa (buried approximately 50,000 years ago) do make me scratch my head in wonder. I’m not suggesting anything other than that there are an awful lot of unanswered questions concerning what life was like here on Earth before history began to be recorded. Advanced, high-tech civilizations are a possibility although there is no credible history to support such thinking.
Let’s make-up a little scenario: Let’s suppose that there is some sort of intelligent life existing in the depths of our oceans. Unlike us, however, they are not humanoid in shape or form, but are more like orbs of energy capable of living beneath the sea and able to visit our atmosphere for limited periods of time. If they were orbs of intelligent energy it would be expected that they could change their shape and may not be able to communicate with humanoid life forms. The appearance of UFOs, based on available photographs, does seem to change…even in flight. This scenario may even suggest an explanation of some of the extremely high number of UFO and orb appearances in Australia recently. One thing appears certain: UFOs tend to prefer areas near deep water.
Of course this is a scenario and has no basis in fact. It might tend to explain some of the massive bursts of energy that seem to emanate from specific parts of our oceans such as the Bermuda Triangle where hundreds of ships and planes have said their instrumentation goes “haywire” at various times. What makes the thought intriguing is that I feel it is so much more likely that UFOs are from somewhere within the Earth rather than from outer space.
Travel at the speed of light is (to the best of our scientific knowledge) a physical impossibility because, at the speed of light, you become “one” with everything… everywhere. But, it might be possible to travel at “half” the speed of light if we ever possess the technology to travel at such unimaginable speeds. But, at half the speed of light, simple arithmetic doesn’t compute: An object that is ten light years away would probably take a thousand Earth years to traverse travelling at half the speed of light; not the simple arithmetic “five” years.
It’s obvious that there are some things out there called UFOs. It’s just that I can’t see some form of life travelling a thousand years to get here and then not even stopping to say “hello”.
As I said…nobody asked me. If you’d like to ask me something or make a comment, write me at Stebrel@aol.com
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