Dr Naomi Wolf-ex Democrat apologizes

wodasi

Jedi Master
posted on substack - march 9 2023 -


Naomi Wolf Dear Conservatives I Apologize MARCH 9 2023

Dear Conservatives, I Apologize
My "Team" was Taken in By Full-Spectrum Propaganda

Dr Naomi Wolf
- MARCH 9 2023 ..
There is no way to avoid this moment. The formal letter of apology. From me. To Conservatives and to those who “put America first” everywhere.

It’s tempting to sweep this confrontation with my own gullibility under the rug — to “move on” without ever acknowledging that I was duped, and that as a result I made mistakes in judgement, and that these mistakes, multiplied by the tens of thousands and millions on the part of people just like me, hurt millions of other people like you all, in existential ways.

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But that erasure of personal and public history would be wrong.

I owe you a full-throated apology.

I believed a farrago of lies. And, as a result of these lies, and my credulity — and the credulity of people similarly situated to me - many conservatives’ reputations are being tarnished, on false bases.

The proximate cause of this letter of apology is the airing, two nights ago, of excepts from tens of thousands of hours of security camera footage from the United States Capitol taken on Jan 6, 2021. The footage was released by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson [Kevin McCarthy says he has no regrets about releasing Jan. 6 footage to Tucker Carlson].

While “fact-checkers” state that it is “misinformation” to claim that Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi was in charge of Capitol Police on that day [Fact check: Nancy Pelosi wasn't ‘in charge’ of Capitol Police on Jan. 6], the fact is that the USCP is under the oversight of Congress, according to — the United States Capitol Police: [Oversight].

This would be the same Congress that convened the January 6 Committee subsequently, and that used millions of dollars in taxpayer money to turn that horrible day, and that tragic event, into a message point that would be used to tar a former President as a would-be terrorist, and to smear all Republicans, by association, as “insurrectionists,” or as insurrectionists’ sympathizers and fellow-travelers.

There is no way to unsee Officer Brian Sicknick, claimed by some Democrats in leadership and by most of the legacy media to have been killed by rioters at the Capitol that day, alive in at least one section of the newly released video. The USCP medical examiner states that this Officer died of “natural causes,” but also that he died “in the line of duty.” Whatever the truth of this confusing conclusion, and with all respect for and condolences to Officer Sicknick’s family, the circumstances of his death do matter to the public, as without his death having been caused by the events of Jan 6, the breach of the capitol, serious though it was, cannot be described as a “deadly insurrection.” [Medical Examiner Finds USCP Officer Brian Sicknick Died of Natural Causes] Sadly, though the contrary was what was reported, Officer Sicknick died two days after Jan 6, from suffering two strokes. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick Died of Natural Causes After Suffering Two Strokes Day After Jan. 6: D.C. Medical Examiner

There is no way for anyone thoughtful, even if he or she is a lifelong Democrat, not to notice that Sen Chuck Schumer did not say to the world that the footage that Mr Carlson aired was not real. Rather, he warned that it was “shameful” for Fox to allow us to see it. The Guardian characterized Mr Carlson’s and Fox News’ sin, weirdly, as “Over-Use” of Jan 6 footage. Isn’t the press supposed to want full transparency for all public interest events? [Chuck Schumer attacks ‘shameful’ Fox News over use of January 6 footage – as it happened] How can you “over-use” real footage of events of national relevance?

Sen Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate minority leader, did not say the video on Fox News was fake or doctored. He said, rather, that it was “a mistake” to depart from the views of the events held by the chief of the Capitol Police. This is a statement from McConnell about orthodoxy — not a statement about a specific truth or untruth. [Senator McConnell Calls Tucker Carlson's Depiction of January 6 Attack a "Mistake"]

I don’t agree with Mr Carlson’s interpretation of the videos as depicting “mostly peaceful chaos.”[Tucker Carlson shows the first of his Jan. 6 footage, calls it ‘mostly peaceful chaos’] I do think it is a mistake to downplay how serious it is when a legislative institution suffers a security breach of any kind, however that came to be.

But you don’t have to agree with Mr Carlson’s interpretation of the videos, to believe, as I do, that he engaged in valuable journalism simply by airing the footage that was leaked to him.

And remember, by law that footage belongs to us — it is a public record, and all public records literally belong to the American people. “In a democracy, records belong to the people,” explains the National Archives. [About the National Archives of the United States]

You don’t have to agree with Carlson’s interpretation of the videos, to notice the latest hypocrisy by the Left. My acquaintance and personal hero Daniel Ellsberg was rightly lionized by the Left for having illegally leaked the Pentagon Papers. The New York Times was rightly applauded for having run this leaked material in 1971. [Daniel Ellsberg].

I do not see how Mr Carlson’s airing of video material of national significance that the current government would prefer to keep hidden, or Fox News’ support for its disclosure to the public, is any different from that famous case of disclosure of inside information of public importance.

You don’t have to agree with Mr Carlson’s interpretation of the videos, to conclude that the Democrats in leadership, for their own part, have cherry-picked, hyped, spun, and in some ways appear to have lied about, aspects of January 6, turning a tragedy for the nation into a politicized talking point aimed at discrediting half of our electorate.

From the start, there have been things about the dominant, Democrats’ and legacy media’s, narrative of Jan 6, that seemed off, or contradictory, to me. (That does not mean I agree with the interpretation of these events in general on the right. Bear with me).

There is no way to un-hear the interview that Mr Carlson did with former Capitol police office Tarik Johnson, who said that he received no guidance when he called his superiors, terrified, as the Capitol was breached, to ask for direction. [Tucker Carlson talks exclusively with key Capitol Police officer ignored by Jan. 6 panel amid footage release]

That situation is anomalous.

There is always a security chain of command in the Capitol, at the Rayburn Building, at the White House of course, and so on, which is part of a rock-solid “security plan.” [https://www.dhs.gov/news/2014/09/30...use-committee-oversight-and-government-reform].

There are usually, indeed, multiple snipers standing on the steps of the Capitol, facing outward. I made note of this when I was researching and writing The End of America. There is never improvisation, or any confusion in security practices or in what is expected of “the security plan”, involving “principals” such as Members of Congress, or staff at the White House. I know this as a former political consultant and former White House spouse.

The reason for a tightly scripted chain of command and an absolutely ironclad security plan in these buildings, is so that security crises such as the events of Jan 6 can never happen.

The fact that so much confusion in security practice took place on Jan 6, is hard to understand.

There is no way to not see that among the violent and terrifying scenes of that day, as revealed by Mr Carlson, there were also scenes of officers with the United States Capitol Police accompanying one protester who would become iconic, the “Q-Anon Shaman”, Jacob Chansley - and escorting him peaceably through the hallways of our nation’s legislative center. [Former lawyer for 'QAnon Shaman' says Jan. 6 footage wasn't shown to client, calls prison sentence a 'tragedy'].

I was oddly unsurprised to see the “Q-Anon Shaman” being ushered through the hallways by Capitol Police; he was ready for the cameras in full makeup, horned fur hat, his tattooed chest bare (on a freezing day), and adorned in other highly cinematic regalia. I don’t know what Mr Chansley thought he was doing there that day, but so many subsequent legacy media images of the event put him so dramatically front and center — and the barbaric nature of his appearance was so illustrative of exactly the message that Democrats in leadership wished to send about the event — that I am not surprised to see that his path to the center of events was not blocked but was apparently facilitated by Capitol Police.

A point I have made over and over since 9/11 is that many events in history are both real and hyped. Many actors in historic events have their agendas, but are also at times used by other people with their own agendas, in ways of which the former are unaware. Terrorists and terrorism in the Bush era are one example. This issue was both real and hyped.

“Patriots” or “insurgents” (depending on who you are) entering the Capitol can be part of a real event that is also exploited or manipulated by others. We don’t know yet if this is the case in relation to the events of Jan 6, or to what extent it may be the case. That is where a real investigation must come in.

But as someone who has studied history, and the theatrics of history, for decades, I was not at all surprised to see, on Mr Carlson’s security camera footage, the person was became the most memorable ‘face’ of the ‘insurrection’ (or the riot, or the Capitol breach) — escorted to the beating heart of the action, where his image could be memorialized by a battery of cameras forever.


There are other aspects of the Jan 6 breach that seemed anomalous to me from the start. I study the relationship in history of buildings such as The White House and the Capitol, to the US public; I follow the way in which the public is either welcomed into or barred from these structures.

The White House itself and the Capitol steps have often been open to US citizens. They are public buildings.

Indeed, inaugurations have been open public events in which the US citizenry simply entered the building for the celebration; this tradition lasted from President Jefferson’s inauguration in 1801, to 1885.

Things got very chaotic indeed in 1829. “On March 4, 1829, Andrew Jackson upholds an inaugural tradition begun by Thomas Jefferson and hosts an open house at the White House.

After Jackson’s swearing-in ceremony and address to Congress, the new president returned to the White House to meet and greet a flock of politicians, celebrities and citizens. Very shortly, the crowd swelled to more than 20,000, turning the usually dignified White House into a boisterous mob scene. Some guests stood on furniture in muddy shoes while others rummaged through rooms looking for the president–breaking dishes, crystal and grinding food into the carpet along the way. […]

The White House open-house tradition continued until several assassination attempts heightened security concerns. The trend ended in 1885 when Grover Cleveland opted instead to host a parade, which he viewed in safety from a grandstand set up in front of the White House.” [https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jackson-holds-open-house-at-the-white-house].

And inaugurations were not the only occasions in which US citizens approached their public buildings in Washington.

The Bonus Army, which massed in the summer of 1932, during the Depression, to claim the financial “bonus” promised to veterans who had served in World War I, is an example of citizens assembling peaceably at the Capitol. (When I was an undergraduate, we were taught that the Bonus Army sat on the steps of the Capitol and lobbied the legislators who were entering and leaving the building. I remember from my history textbook, images of crowds seated on the Capitol steps in 1932.


“[M]ore than 25,000 veterans and their families traveled to Washington, DC, to petition Congress and President Herbert Hoover to award them their bonus immediately. Fortunately for the marchers, Pelham Glassford, the local police chief and a veteran of the war himself, made accommodations for this influx, including the creation of an enormous camp in the Anacostia Flats […]. Glassford understood that Americans had an inherent right to assemble in Washington and petition the government for the “redress of grievances” without fear of punishment or reprisals. […]

On June 15, the House of Representatives passed the new bonus bill by a vote of 211 to 176. Two days later, some 8,000 veterans massed in front of the Capitol as the Senate prepared to vote, while another 10,000 assembled before the raised Anacostia drawbridge. The police were anticipating trouble because of the large crowds. The Senate debate continued until after dark. […]

When it appeared that the bonus would not be paid, many of the marchers refused to leave, and President Hoover ordered the Army to evict them. Using tear gas, tanks, and a troop of saber-wielding cavalry commanded by Major George S. Patton, U.S. Army chief of staff General Douglas MacArthur drove the marchers out of Washington and burned their main camp on the Anacostia Flats.”[The Bonus Army - Bill of Rights Institute]


I mention the massing of the Bonus Army on the Capitol steps in 1932, to note that the dominant narrative around Jan 6 today, often implies that it is an act of violence or of “insurrection” simply to march en masse peacefully to the Capitol.

But we should be wary of allowing history to be rewritten so as to criminalize peaceful, Constitutionally-protected assembly at “The People’s House.”

Massing peacefully at the Capitol and other public buildings, is part of our rights and inheritance as citizens, and this use of our First Amendment right to assemble has a long history. Indeed, the public has traditionally has the right peacefully to enter the Capitol — to obtain passes to events, galley seats and to witness the proceedings in other ways.

The Capitol is not a sealed space exclusively for legislators, but it is one that is supposed to welcome the public in an orderly way. [Collections Search | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives]. We should not be encouraged to forget this.

The violence of Jan 6 and its subsequent service as a talking point by the Democrats’ leadership, risks its use also to justify the closing off of our public buildings from US citizens altogether.

This would be convenient for tyrants of any party.

Leaving aside the release of the additional Jan 6 footage and how it may or may not change our view of US history —- I must say that I am sorry for believing the dominant legacy-media “narrative” pretty completely from the time it was rolled out, without asking questions.

Those who violently entered the Capitol violently or who engaged in violence inside of it, must of course be held accountable. (As must violent protesters of every political stripe anywhere.)

But in addition, anyone in leadership who misrepresented to the public the events of the day so as to distort the complexity of its actual history — must also be held accountable.

Jan 6 has become, as the DNC intended it to become, after the fact, a “third rail”; a shorthand used to dismiss or criminalize an entire population and political point of view.

Peaceful Republicans and conservatives as a whole have been demonized by the story told by Democrats in leadership of what happened that day.

So a half of the country has been tarred by association, and is now in many quarters presumed to be chaotic berserkers, anti-democratic rabble, and violent upstarts, whose sole goal is the murder of our democracy.

Republicans, conservatives, I am sorry.

I also believed wholesale so much else that has since turned out not to be as I was told it was by NPR, MSNBC and The New York Times.

I believed that stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop were Russian propaganda. Dozens of former intel officials said so. Johns Hopkins said so. [Hunter Biden story is Russian disinformation, dozens of former intel officials say.].

“Trump specifically cited a “laptop” that contained emails allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden”, said CNN Fact-Check, with plenty of double quote marks. [CNN's Facts First searchable database - CNN]

I believed this all — til it was debunked.

I believed that President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia — until that assertion was dropped. [Mueller finds no collusion with Russia, leaves obstruction question open]

I believed that Pres Trump was a Russian asset, because the legacy media I read, said so [‘The perfect target’: Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years – ex-KGB spy].

I believed in the entire Steele dossier, until I didn’t, because it all fell apart. [Trump-Russia Steele dossier source acquitted of lying to FBI].

Was there in fact an “infamous pee tape”? So many other bad things were being said about the man — why not? [Christopher Steele said the infamous Trump pee tape 'probably exists' but Russia hasn't needed to release it yet]

I believed that Pres Trump instigated the riot at the Capitol — because I did not know that his admonition to his supporters to assemble “peacefully and patriotically” had been deleted from all of the news coverage that I read. [Trump Team Hoping ‘Peacefully and Patriotically’ Will Be Shield]

Because of lies such as these in legacy media — lies which I and millions of others believed — half of our nation’s electorate was smeared and delegitimized, and I myself was misled.

It damages our nation when legacy media put words in the mouths of Presidents and former Presidents, and call them traitors or criminals without evidence.

It damages our country when we cannot tell truth from lies. This is exactly what tyrants seek — an electorate that cannot know what is truth and what is falsehood.

Through lies, half of the electorate was denied a fair run for its preferred candidate.

I don’t like violence. I do believe our nation’s capitol must be treated as a sacred space.

I don’t like President Trump (Do I not? Who knows? I have been lied to about him so much for so long, I can‘t tell whether my instinctive aversion is simply the habituated residue of years of being on the receiving end of lies).

But I like the liars who are our current gatekeepers even less.

The gatekeepers who lie to the public about the most consequential events of our time — and who thus damage our nation, distort our history, and deprive half of our citizenry of their right to speak, champion and choose, without being tarred as would-be violent traitors - deserve our disgust.

I am sorry the nation was damaged by so much untruth issued by those with whom I identified at the time.

I am sorry my former “tribe” is angry at a journalist for engaging in —- journalism.

I am sorry I believed so much nonsense.

Though it is no doubt too little, too late —

Conservatives, Republicans, MAGA:

I am so sorry.

Outspoken
 
I dont know why it took her so long to figure this out. Better late to the party then not making it at all I guess. I've watched several interviews with Naomi over the last months and I've been quite impressed with her intelligence and passion. She has been working Intently with a crew to make the Pfizer documents available to the public and has published a kindle book and soon a hard copy on Amazon. Its been selling very well.

I watched an impressive speech she gave at her alma mater, Harvard, about how they needed to stop the vax requirements for their students and how this caused infertility in young people. It was intense! Harvard actually dropped the requirement after that. A lot of the students parents rallied after that and brought pressure on the school.

Didn't know of her long standing cluelessness. Oh well, we've all been dumb asses at times so I'll accept the apology and move on with what she has to offer going forward. it's hard for a lot of people to admit they've been wrong so good for her.
 
I dont know why it took her so long to figure this out. Better late to the party then not making it at all I guess. I've watched several interviews with Naomi over the last months and I've been quite impressed with her intelligence and passion. She has been working Intently with a crew to make the Pfizer documents available to the public and has published a kindle book and soon a hard copy on Amazon. Its been selling very well.

I watched an impressive speech she gave at her alma mater, Harvard, about how they needed to stop the vax requirements for their students and how this caused infertility in young people. It was intense! Harvard actually dropped the requirement after that. A lot of the students parents rallied after that and brought pressure on the school.

Didn't know of her long standing cluelessness. Oh well, we've all been dumb asses at times so I'll accept the apology and move on with what she has to offer going forward. it's hard for a lot of people to admit they've been wrong so good for her.
you underestimate how strong/deep/long lasting the programming is .
( her peer group - her schooling - msm news -religion - end less - the Alien/Lizzie topic will really be a topic
tuff to break ...) all done by design ...not to mention DNA manipulation...
 
you underestimate how strong/deep/long lasting the programming is .
( her peer group - her schooling - msm news -religion - end less - the Alien/Lizzie topic will really be a topic
tuff to break ...) all done by design ...not to mention DNA manipulation...
Yes, I underestimate the depths of the program probably. She likely had way more then I ever did. She also seems to have a certain naive quality about her, an innocence of the soul in a way that may have helped to make her more easily programmed.
 
Well, consider me skeptical here.

Apologies cost nothing and this looks awfully close to rats leaving a sinking ship.

It goes for any politician, not just her. If they are sincere because of their better-selves calling or whatever other reason, cool, good for them. But my dear fellows, show us something more than words. Show us more than "battles on government grounds" aka charades meant to feed the public masses while achieving nothing to improve situation. Concrete action/s should follow otherwise it is just another confirmation. A lot of things can still be fixed, if willing to.

One more thing. To me the above statement looks like carefully prepared and agreed upon to minimize the damage and gain as much of sympathy as it can. Paying attention to the content reveals a lot of decisions/stands based on beliefs. That is called wishful thinking.
Those in positions of power should know the difference.
 
Well, consider me skeptical here.

Apologies cost nothing and this looks awfully close to rats leaving a sinking ship.

It goes for any politician, not just her. If they are sincere because of their better-selves calling or whatever other reason, cool, good for them. But my dear fellows, show us something more than words. Show us more than "battles on government grounds" aka charades meant to feed the public masses while achieving nothing to improve situation. Concrete action/s should follow otherwise it is just another confirmation. A lot of things can still be fixed, if willing to.

One more thing. To me the above statement looks like carefully prepared and agreed upon to minimize the damage and gain as much of sympathy as it can. Paying attention to the content reveals a lot of decisions/stands based on beliefs. That is called wishful thinking.
Those in positions of power should know the difference.
She’s got a long list of substack articles talking about her research into the vaccine and it’s injuries and considering she was definitely aligned with the Left, her articles offered real information to people who are largely being misled….

Her thinking changed as she gathered more information so it’s difficult for me to see what she’s doing as not genuine.
 
We are not in disagreement. as a person, she may as well be a charming lady. Question is, can damages done from her position be undone with an apology?
 
I left this comment on her substack

Sorry Dr. Wolf, I am still confused why you believed all those things. Before explaining why, I'd like to share that years ago I found your written material, specifically The End of America, and thought you were (and are) a rare voice in journalism who was willing to call out the US gov't for its misdeeds. But your behavior towards the Trump government and trust in mainstream media showed me that you weren't actually all that great at seeing the world clearly, you were seemingly acting on tribalist motivations since you were railing against a conservative Bush admin (rightly so). Your behavior during the Trump admin seemed to confirm that, although that time you were looking with blinders on and were unwilling to take them off because of your liberal bent.

I hope that on top of this mea culpa, you take some time to think about how poorly you saw the world and how it led to buying into a narrative that was completely at odds with reality. It was very frustrating to see someone brought down by believing, essentially, the same people who you were railing against many years ago. I wondered what had happened to the Dr. Wolf I first discovered. I hope you can end the foolish left/right fence-taking and please, for the love of God, stop trusting mainstream sources of information especially when they are discussing Trump. How you did not see it as propaganda from the beginning, I do not know, as you most likely would have if he was a liberal president and Fox News was going after him.

But hopefully this will open your eyes and help you remember your past when you did see things more clearer, even if it was because it confirmed your liberal bias.
 
Dr. Naomi Wolf, who has been very sick in the hospital, continues to evolve. In her previous post (which I put on the Afterlife thread Descriptions of the "afterlife" ), she talked about a dream of her dead father. In this current post (Energies, Cont.) , she shares some of her "weirdness" which she now says she will no longer hide:


I promised God, as you recall, in the hospital where I lay nearly dying, that, if I was allowed to live, I would write the things which I most feared to write.

So here we are: starting.

I sought my entire career to secure a reputation as a serious, academically-trained intellectual in the post-Enlightenment tradition. I did largely achieve that.

However, that came with a cost.

For this tradition — especially now, since World War Two — is a thoroughly mechanistic one. If you are a “serious person”, in the discourse of the West, today, you cannot possibly believe in anything that cannot be objectively measured — and measured, to take that one step further, with the physical instruments that currently exist. If you believe in anything beyond the purely mechanistic, materialist Newtonian universe, you are a rube, a fantasist, credulous, ignorant, deceived.

So — like many people — I have taken care to censor rigidly the fact that all my life, I have also had experiences that were dramatic, and that made deep impressions upon me — but that went beyond what the physical universe could contain or explain.

I am, having come so close to death, as a friend put it, “playing with House money.” Meaning that I have a second chance at life, and I have nothing left to lose.

So I am putting a match to my reputation once again, by sharing my conviction, and attesting to my lived experience, that the world is awash with ‘energies’, both good and evil, and that these affect humans - and probably animals, and the planet itself — in profound and important ways.

Ever since I was first conscious, I was aware that I perceived some things differently than did many of those around me. In kindergarten, I realized (without, of course, having the word for this) that I had synesthesia — the condition in which one sense spills over into another; people with this form of perception hear colors, or taste sound, or in other ways activate different senses at the same time [What is synesthesia?]. In my case, I so vividly saw numbers as colors — “1” as yellow, “2” as green, “3” as red, “4” as brown, “5” (my least favorite number) as black, “6” as light blue, and so on — that I was astonished to discover that this way of seeing the colors of numbers, was not experienced by everyone in my class. That was the first time I felt ashamed and embarrassed when I realized that my perception made me different from the peers with whom I wished so much to fit in.

Somehow I managed to suppress this “odd” way of seeing numbers - a suppression which also, sadly, later made it quite difficult for me to enjoy numbers (or, as a result, to do math).

Though I managed to censor my synesthesia, my awareness as a child that perception was fluid, and that currents of all kinds were continually flowing around us all — and that the physical world was illuminated and glowing and magical, but also that it contained dark and scary forces — could not be suppressed.

Luckily I was born into a family of eccentrics, and of people who believed in and respected the creative fire. My father knew the literature of the mystical poets and of the Transcendentalists very well. He knew that the way I saw the world was not that unusual, and that plenty of reasonable people — from Walt Whitman to Henry David Thoreau to Emily Dickinson — has similar sensibilities. My dad knew his William Blake, so he was fine with his weirdo daughter’s tendency to see “a World in a Grain of Sand/ And a Heaven in a Wild Flower.” [Auguries of Innocence by William Blake | Poetry Foundation]. My mother, when I was a child was a folklorist. Nothing I shared, as a child, was too weird for my folks.

The world of intellectuals has not always been as divorced as it is today from mystical perception. In the 19th century, for example, intellectuals pursued mysticism: indeed, there was a word for it: the perception of, or the artistic capture of, “the Sublime.” Instead of mocking those who were aware of the larger currents animating the physical world, many 19th century aesthetes, and certainly our own Transcendentalists, actively pursued awareness of the Sublime; they read poems and looked at paintings to hone their sensibilities in that direction. It was understood then that anyone could perceive the Sublime, and that doing so, ennobled the observer.

Here is Walt Whitman in the 1855 Leaves of Grass:

“What do you think has become of the young and old men?
And what do you think has become of the women and children?
They are alive and well somewhere;
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it, And ceased the moment life appeared.
All goes onward and outward . . . . and nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.
I pass death with the dying, and birth with the new-washed babe . . . . and am not contained between my hat and boots […]
I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and fathomless as myself; They do not know how immortal, but I know.” [Leaves of Grass. ( Leaves of Grass (1855)) - The Walt Whitman Archive]
But by the time I was coming of age, though, those days were gone. I was growing up in a jet age, a Jetsons age. The Transcendentalist poets were passe.

My family accepted me, but the larger world would be a problem.

If you could not measure it, it did not exist.

*****

When I was nine, I invited a little friend to see the “magical place” that I knew was hidden like a gem, in a corner of a sedate garden. It was a garden that dated to the beginning of the twentieth century; there were stone garden walls rising up to the magical place, and they were covered with moss; there was a little concrete bench set into the wall, at an angle outward into the street, crafted in that 1910 style. Parts of the ancient garden were overgrown — an elegant, elderly lady lived in the lovely old house and rarely emerged, but when she did, she was as beautiful as her forgotten garden.

This little grotto was — just magical.

If you stood on the bench and looked into the corner of the garden, which was raised up, you could see nasturtiums made of tongues like fire — with apricot and russet, lemon-yellow and radiant orange, petals; all of them were streaked with deep red at the hearts, and all bore tiny cups of honey.

You could see pale-blue bluebells too, bending their necks like dancers. The nasturtiums and the bluebells were like two companies of ballerinas, clothed in different costumes. There were shafts of sunlight somehow within that circle of nasturtiums and bluebells. And all of this treasure was contained somehow within another circle, one made up of dark green — of wet, tangled, protective grasses, that overshadowed and enclosed the secret place.

The magical place looked like a ballroom for fairy dances.

The glow of its magic was palpable to me.

My little friend asked her mom if she could go see it; and her mom — who as I recall was something really glamorous and cool and slightly intimidating, like a flight attendant — was excited, in spite of herself as an adult, to see this magical place of which I spoke.

So the mom drove her daughter over. And they got out of the car. And I showed the grotto to them.

And there was silence.

And more silence.

Neither of them had any idea what I was talking about.

After a beat, I could feel that my friend was confused, and that she was a bit sorry for me. There was nothing to see!

The mom turned away with a brisk motion. “Come on, let’s get home.” She was terse and annoyed. There was nothing there.

And to my amazement, I looked at the magical place and — there was indeed nothing there!

The magic had fled at the denial of perception.

What had happened? It was nothing now, it was utterly banal, it was just a tangle of grasses, a dim mess of foliage.

I was — again — horribly humiliated and embarrassed. No one saw what I saw! I was such a weirdo.

I was never invited over to play with that child again, and she never came over again to my house.

So yet again, I tried to put away my troublesome perception.

*****

I mention all of this because many experiences in my life as an adult, followed this theme — that the world is animated with energies, for good and evil, and embroidered all over with magic; and I sustained these experience but did not discuss them. I also learned that lots of people suppress similar experiences along these lines.

Once in a while I would tell a story about a metaphysical experience — one that really had happened to me — and then everyone else — lawyers, editors, journalists, scientists — would rush to share their own stories of the metaphysical. So I learned that lots of us are not talking about important experiences, from which we could all surely learn important lessons.

And when I ask these folks why they don’t talk more publicly about their experiences, I get the same responses that I recognize in my own inhibitions: no one wants to be seen as hallucinating, or not credible, or unbalanced. Two thirds of people, according to Yougov.com, say that they have had a paranormal experience. [Two-thirds of Americans say they've had a paranormal encounter | YouGov] About half of Americans, according to Pew Research, say that they have had a mystical or metaphysical experience. [Mystical Experiences]

That is a lot of Americans who are, understandably, keeping quiet in public.

*****

I think we are awash with energies, good and evil, beyond those for which postwar science has names.

Some of these energy fields are beautiful and miraculous. Perhaps they are even healing.

When I went to visit the grave of the “Lubavitcher Rebbe” — Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, one of the most revered holy men of the 20th century — I was directed to the “Ohel”, or “tent”, a gathering-place in Queens, built adjacent to the Rebbe’s gravesite. This is a destination where people from all walks of life gather to pray at this saintly person’s final resting place. [https://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/244372/jewish/The-Rebbe-A-Brief-Biography.htm]

“The Rebbe keenly understood that our every action is part of a bigger picture,” explains Chabad.org. “Every good deed we do brings humanity closer to the ultimate goal, the era of cosmic perfection and universal awareness of G‑d, known in Judaism as the time of Moshiach. The Rebbe spoke tirelessly about this time, demonstrating how the world is heading closer and closer to this special era and how every person can actualize it by increasing in acts of goodness and kindness.”[https://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/244372/jewish/The-Rebbe-A-Brief-Biography.htm]

I was early to my appointment. So I walked for many blocks around my destination. And the further away from the gravesite I wandered - - block after block, into the peaceful Queens suburbs — the fainter grew the aura or force-field of holiness.

But as the time of my appointment drew closer, and I walked toward the Ohel — the closer I drew to the sacred location —- the more intensely one could feel the magnetism of great holiness. It was like a giant ziggurat of sacred energies, ascending to a peak over the quiet cemetery in Queens; and gently sloping off into all directions, like a mountain of emotional gold.

At the gravesite itself, the vibration of sanctity was so palpable one felt as if one were in the presence of an aspect of the Divine.

So many places are vortices of sacred energy.

When I visited the Scottish island of Iona, I was an ill-informed, day-tripping tourist. I had done no research on the island; and this visit was before cellphones or the internet. To my amazement, the moment my feet touched Iona’s earth, I wandered the island in a state of joy and exaltation; in a daze of glory. Was that what Heaven felt like?

I did not realize — until I boarded the tourist bus again, and the bus driver explained — that Iona was a sacred island. It always had been, back to pre-Christian times, and right up to the present. The sacred presence on the island had been described and testified to, over and over for centuries. It was believed in the traditions related to the place, that Christ had visited Iona — and would reappear again on that sacred island. [Iona: sacred Isle | Sacred Connections]

Some people react like that, explained the bus driver — most people; most wander around in a state of exaltation and joy.

And some people simply cannot take it, he said; — the energies burn them; and they need to get off the island as quickly as possible.

****

Some of the energies out there, are simply alarming.

The leadership institute I cofounded long ago in the Hudson Valley was housed in a fine old building on three hundred acres of land. I recall that the real estate broker would not get out of the car when she first showed the building to me.

She sent me in alone.

Once we bought it, we realized it was truly haunted.

Kitchen cabinet doors would swing open of their own accord. There was a spot in the library which was always icy cold. Lights would flicker off and on, and doors would bang shut in empty rooms. Retreatants would have troubled dreams.

It got so bad that we expected the presence in the house — everyone agreed that it was a masculine one — to act up at certain times during retreats. When we lit the Shabbat candles, the candles would flicker. Or one candle would be snuffed out.

At one point, two serious witnesses— neither prone to exaggeration — described a Shabbat candlestick dematerializing. It simply disappeared.

By now, we had learned that the long-ago owner of the home had been murdered (in the Library), by his tenant, who lived in a smaller home on the property.

The house subsequently had had so much supernatural activity, that, in the 1940s, there had been an actual old-school exorcism. This exorcism had been matter-of-factly reported in the local newspaper.

I was at a loss. The paranormal activity was taking a toll on everyone. I described this disturbing situation to my then-therapist, a spiritually-oriented gentleman. He suggested that the being in the house seemed to be trying to get our attention when we lit the Shabbat candles.

He suggested that we say the Kaddish next time we lit the candles — the Jewish prayer for the dead.

We did. We said Kaddish.

And the house filled with peace.

The unsettled presence seemed right away to have moved on — and nothing ever bothered anyone in that house again.

******

Other energy fields, I have no doubt, are just pure evil.

When I visited Guantanamo, in the first six months of President Obama’s administration. I could feel the presence of what one might call Satan; or of some other magisterial, high-level administrator of evil.

I felt that presence. Not in the service men and women assigned to that post, not in the housing for reporters; not in the cynical mockup of the courtroom on the site; not in the prison yard — where I could see the men penned up for years without charge or trial, and I could hear their roar of distress and outrage.

Rather, I could feel the presence of Satan — or some other adjudicator of evil on earth — standing right behind the “doctors” and the “nurse” and the “psychiatrist”, in the pristine “medical facility,” where “difficult” prisoners were housed. That facility was part of the creepy tour that the US government had arranged for reporters who were covering the prison.

These “healers” in the medical bay, were showing me rather proudly how they forced tubes down the throats of the recalcitrant prisoners who went on hunger strikes. They showed me — as if this selection were a treat — the range of flavors of liquid nutrition — chocolate, strawberry, vanilla — that they pumped into the unwilling bodies of striking prisoners.

A prisoner who had been on hunger strike, and who was being force-fed, died of starvation while I was at the facility.

I could almost smell the evil of the forcefield that surrounded those “doctors” and “nurses” at that scene. There was something huge, and awful, and terrifying, and intelligent, and dark — just behind them; inhabiting them; all around them.

*****

I could go on and on.

But what I wish to do in this essay, is simply to open a door to this discussion.

I think we are in a time of extraordinary change — the nature of reality itself is changing, as you know I believe — and that if we are to survive this time and indeed if we are to evolve safely to wherever we are supposed to arrive next, we need to talk honestly about good and evil energies; about healing and killing energies; and about sacred and profane energies.

This discussion is not even as metaphysical as it sounds. Brian, my husband, who very early in his military career worked in “SIGINT”, or “Signals Intelligence”, points out that everything has a vibrational signature or frequency— and that mapping those signals is how many technologies work, that scan a field to gather intel through the intercept of those signals.

So many technologies use various energy fields that we scarcely notice how weird they would have seemed ing an era before their mechanisms were understood. Is it so weird to grapple with energies?

Sonograms send sound energies into our bodies to give our doctors intelligence. Ultrasounds also use sound waves: “When used in an ultrasound scanner, the transducer sends out a beam of sound waves into the body. The sound waves are reflected back to the transducer by boundaries between tissues in the path of the beam (e.g. the boundary between fluid and soft tissue or tissue and bone).” [Ultrasound).] X-Rays send electron radiation into our bodies: “X-rays are created by radiation coming from electrons. When they've been excited, atoms emit packages of energy called photons. These make up every kind of light. X-rays are particularly energetic photons that are emitted by electrons outside the nucleus.” [7 things you may not know about X-rays | Argonne National Laboratory.]

Given all this, is it surprising that we “vibe” with some people and that our energy fields “clash” with others? Is it surprising that people who are happily married, have heart rates that align when they sit side by side? Is it surprising that the stories about relatives who know at a distance of thousands of miles, that something bad has happened to their loved ones, are as commonplace as stories of finding bargains at a mall?

We live in a mysterious world. Mechanics do not explain the totality of it.

We are held together human to human, by energies of love that are as strong as death. Our lives are held in the palm of the Divine, like leaves on the surface of water.

Who knows all that is around us and that animates us?

Our ancestors dealt with these mysteries by inviting and seeking and invoking blessings, and by assiduously avoiding curses.

Every culture except out own has amulets, phylacteries, prayer shawls, talismans, Yad Fatimas, invocations, prayers for protection.

Every culture except our own seeks the blessing of positive energies, and respects the miraculous nature of positive powers.

Every culture except out own fears and dreads curses and maledictions; is wary of the workings and powers of negative energies; and seeks Divine protection from them.

Is it time for us, too, urgently perhaps, to relearn some ancient wisdom?

Is our denial of powerful energies — especially in a time of great pressure and great change — a form of cultural suicide?

Are we super-enlightened?

Or just really incredibly dumb?
 
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