But within a minute or two, I have to pick it up again, to read the next chapter. From the very first Robert Langdon book, it’s been the same for me. It’s the breathless pace of the writing, and the explanations/expositions of the text. I have to stop to take a mental breath. Real page-turners, always.
In short, this is a novel about consciousness residing outside of the human body, and definitely not within the human brain. And, because the backdrop is an idea that the CIA is trying to weaponize the experiments on epileptic subjects in order to defeat America’s enemies, it takes on a sinister tone. Think of this as Stargate 2.0.
I hope you get a chance to read this book before they turn it into a new Netflix show.
I thought we were going to watch “Run Away” on Netflix, but my wife had a different idea, based on a family recommendation: this show. So far we watched the first season of 10 episodes. There are two seasons left to view.
This story goes back to some unconventional experiments with orphans. Talk about psychological abuse! Emily Byrne, an FBI agent who had been missing for six years, suddenly is found. She then has to uncover the conspiracy that keeps trying to pin a series of murders on her. It doesn’t help that her husband, Nick, who is also an FBI agent, has remarried in the meantime, and their son, Flynn, has a new mother. Conflicts of interest, for sure.
As the story unfolds, too many coincidences strain one’s credulity. The final episode should have been the end to the whole fiasco, but a final image reminds Emily that she may be fully responsible for what has happened. Hence, the next two seasons, I suspect.
Any clearer? I didn’t think so. Too many twists and turns for my liking. Watch at your own risk.
“Mad World” by Tears For Fears (September 20, 1982)
I love the synchronicity of being given two books for Christmas and having one reference the topic of the other.
The closest Katherine had ever come to projecting was the occasional “lucid dream” – a bizarre experience wherein she “woke up” inside her dream, realized she was dreaming, and was able to do whatever she wanted within her dream. The ultimate virtual playground. An accessible bridge between consciousness and fantasy, lucid dreaming offered a unique window into the manipulation of one’s own subjective reality. Not surprisingly, lucid dreaming had become a multimillion-dollar industry of “lucidity” – dream instruction manuals, sleep goggles, and even galantamine drug cocktails designed to help dreamers “Go Lucid!”
The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown 2025 Doubleday New York (page 409)
My wife insisted. I’m not sure what the appeal is, because it’s a world that we hardly are aware of: book publishing. Culturally, it speaks to the rarified air of New York society, in much the same way that “Emily in Paris” does for the French capital.
It’s probably quite revealing that the title of the final episode was called “Older”. If you don’t feel older by the the 84th episode, you haven’t been watching every minute. Older, but not necessarily more mature.
To me, Hilary Duff was the true star of the show, from the very first scene. Was that intentional?
I had a sense of deja vu watching this film, last night. I’m sure it’s a common enough circums6tance: two boys on a frozen lake; one brother falls through the ice and the other is helpless to save him. It happened to J.M. Barrie and he became a “lost boy”. In this film, Michael, who doesn’t like to celebrate Christmas for the same reason, has never allowed himself to pass on the ‘good’ memories to his son, David (named for his dead brother)
I’m not sure what I intended to do with the teleplay, but after reading Mark’s original treatment, I felt moved to adapt the story into a TV play in five acts. My ‘purpose’ was to explain what had happened in the Garden of Eden, the “Fall” and the beginning of humanity as we now know it.
(Please note that I have stylized the infernal character names to match two individuals from my screenplay “Raelity”. The interviewer is the author, Mark.)
SAM: You’ve got to remember that the whole thing was an experiment from the very beginning, and, like all good experimenters, when GOD found the facts didn’t fit the theory, HE fudged it. You see the first man, Adam, had the brain of a flea. Eve, on the other hand, was a pretty together lady. They didn’t get along.
MARK: What went wrong?
SAM: Adam was afraid of Eve, and kept throwing rocks at her. Finally Eve decided that Adam was a dolt, so she planned to hitch-hike west. GOD was not amused. HE’d created the two of them as a matching set and wasn’t willing to have HIS Master Plan thwarted just because HIS first human was mentally defective.
MARK: What did he do?
SAM: HE told them that they had to stay together because they were married. Adam agreed as usual, but Eve had reservations. So she plotted how to break free of the ties that bind.
MARK: Is that when she ate the Apple?
SAM: It was a Fig, not an Apple! Anyway, you’re making me get ahead of my story.
MARK: Sorry.
SAM: This was where I came into the story, because I thought, if I could talk Eve into partaking of the forbidden fruit, she’d realize that she could sue Adam for divorce on the grounds of nonconsummation and the whole experiment would have to be annulled.
MARK: Obviously it didn’t turn out that way.
SAM: Adam helped himself to the forbidden fruit, too, and contrary to popular opinion, the first thing they discovered was not their nakedness. By the time GOD had come back from lunch, though, they had put some clothes on.
MARK: That must have given them away.
SAM: It did. When HE asked Adam what they’d done, Adam selflessly declared, “She made me do it, honest.” This prompted GOD to condemn women to suffer during childbirth, which immediately caused Eve to regret their first discovery.
MARK: So, according to you, what Eve did wasn’t so much an act against GOD as an attempt to escape Eden.
SAM: Yes. Her transgression was the best thing that ever happened to the human race.
MARK: And we should be thankful Eve listened to you?
SAM: Not really…I also suggested birth control.
At this moment, Hazy enters the office door to escort Mark back to the elevator. As Mark leaves the office, he looks back at Sam, who silently mouths the words, “I’ll be seeing you.” Mark looks like he hopes not, as we
CUT TO:
INT. HALLWAY AT ELEVATOR DOORS – NIGHT (for the last time, no windows)
Mark is scratching his head. Hazy is waiting for the inevitable question.
MARK: Hazy. Tell me, please. What really happened at the Garden of Eden?
HAZY: Good Question, Mark, because what happened at the Garden was the real cause of the Fall.
MARK: How do you mean?
HAZY: My boss fell in love with Eve!
MARK: What?!!
HAZY: He fell in love with her. He could see that she was not getting the kind of attention she deserved from Adam, so he began to spend time with her. It wasn’t long before they became involved.
MARK: But I thought angels don’t have sex.
HAZY: That was the Fall. In order ro be with her physically, my boss had to give up his high position.
MARK: So when I said that he was no angel, I was edging onto a touchy subject with him.
HAZY: Yes. What hurt him most was that she took everything he taught her and turned around and showed Adam. He felt betrayed.
MARK: Now it all makes sense: no wonder he has it in for all human beings!
HAZY: That’s right. Since he could no longer trust their motives, he set out to prove to GOD how rotten they all were.
MARK: Thanks, Hazy, you’ve given me more than I can ever thank you for.
HAZY: (laughing) Don’t worry, Mark, you’ll get our bill in the morning.
Mark steps into the elevator, waves to Hazy as the doors close and we
CUT TO:
INT. CHEAP ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT – DAWN
Mark is startled to find himself seated in front of the computer in his own room. As he wearily peers at the monitor, he realizes that there is a message flashing repeatedly. The message is: “I/O ERROR”. Mark begins to laugh hysterically. When he regains his self-composure, he reaches for the power button.
MARK: There isn’t a hope in Hell that I’m going to do that again!
Mark pushes the button off and, with the screen winking off, we
Before I wrote the poem “In-Beginning”, I calculated the value of each letter in Hebrew and Greek to see if they corresponded. I was pleasantly surprised. Of course they’re connected. How could they not be?
The secret code also demonstrated their connection with “Trinity”: the Almighty 3-in-1. The symmetry of 903 adding up to 12 wasn’t lost on me, either.
This all goes to show that the Universe is a mathematical equation.
I’m referencing David Icke’s book here because 22 years ago he tried to get people to wake up from their slumbering. Otherwise, they will be destined to repeat their life lessons over and over again, ad nauseum. I suspect, for me, personally, I’d already come to that conclusion 22 years before his book was published.
The goal, this life, was to become fully conscious. Having reached enlightenment, I, along with a great many others, then started to doubt the achievement and felt we needed to pass further tests. That’s the time loop.
Wenceslas’ death gave me that hint. So I compared his death chart with my birth chart.
There are too many ‘exact’ conjunctions to ignore. Even the flip/flop of North and South Nodes suggest to me that I had in fact been Wenceslas in a past life. (And, yet, all these years I thought he was only a benevolent royal from the middle ages.) Let me doubt, no longer.
There’s a bit of synchronicity at work here. Every Boxing Day (Feast of Saint Stephen), we are reminded of how righteous this Duke of Bohemia was with the song, referenced above. He died young, at the hands of his brother who wanted the “kingdom” for himself. While reading the first few chapters of “The Secret of Secrets”, I came across a significant landmark called “Charles Bridge”. (Honestly, I really don’t know much about Prague, so anything is news to me.) I believe the same landmark figures in Wenceslas’ story. That alone was enough to make me research the history of his life and death.
The timing of this event is set for noon, local time. Not everything can be taken at face value, except, perhaps, the Yod (Finger of God) pointing at Saturn, formed by inconjuncts to the Sun and Neptune. This shows the dynamic of the fratricide. (There is one other inconjunct linking Mercury and Uranus, which may suggest his becoming a legend in his own lifetime.)
The last time I left our unit was on Boxing Day. Since then, our car has been covered with snow, then ice and then snow again. The chunks of icy snow were at least two inches thick. It snow fun anymore.
cdsmiller17 