Posted on 30 March 2020, 9:30

Below was to be read only on April 1st

The year was 1969.  I was living and working in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, managing an office for an international insurance company. I was invited to join a friend to participate in a weekly run by the world-famous Hash House Harriers, a group of mostly British and Australian businessmen who gathered for a four- or five-mile run through the nearby jungle, after which they enjoyed a beer bust.  A mile or so into the run, I told my friend that the pace was much too slow, so slow that I didn’t feel I was getting any cardiovascular benefit from it and therefore had to pick up the pace. He warned me that the others would brand me a show-off if I did so, but I felt it was a waste of time to proceed at such a slow jog. I lengthened my stride and passed plodder after plodder, hearing a few mumbles about the “bloody, insane Yank” before I found myself leading the pack and drawing away from them. My sudden independence was short-lived, however, as I soon found myself ankle-deep in a pool of quicksand.  When I tried to lift my right leg and extract myself, I realized I was in trouble. I was sinking.

Thirty seconds or so later, as the others caught up with me, one by one they circled around the mud pool, none of them saying anything or offering any assistance. I could see smirks on each of their faces.  By the time the last harrier, my friend, passed me, not saying a word, I was up to my knees in the thick mud and began to realize that I was in serious trouble. It was six years before Dr. Raymond Moody coined the term “near-death experience” for what I was about to experience.  As I continued to be swallowed by the mud hole, I was suddenly above my helpless body, looking down at it, and then found myself talking with someone who identified himself as one of my spirit guides.  He gave the name Milo and chastised me for my impudence, commenting that I was very selfish in my motives.  I had an instantaneous life review, seeing many other selfish acts of which I had been guilty, including a time when I was using my father’s car with a handicap placard and took a parking spot reserved for handicapped drivers. I also saw a time that I hid the ice cream in the back of the freezer so that no one else in the family would see it and finish it off before I could. 

It was then that Milo asked me if I wanted to continue living and warned me that there were rough times ahead. “How rough?” I asked.  “I’m going to take you 50 years into the future and show you what life will be like then,” he said. “I’ll begin with what it will be like if you choose to die now.”

I then found myself looking down at a table in a coffee shop.  There were two people sitting at the table and my focus was on the young male with purple hair tied back in a pony tail and with green streaks on the sides.  He was adorned with many tattoos and jewelry, including earrings and nose and lip rings. “What am I looking at?” I asked Milo.  “That’s you in the year 2020 if you choose not to return now,” Milo responded.  “You’ll be reborn in the year 1995 and you are seeing your 25-year-old self.”  I shook my head in shock and dismay.

“Is that a goat on the floor next to me?” I asked.  “Yes, that’s your emotional support pet,  Milo explained.  “Having him next to you helps you deal with life’s everyday stresses.  You look at Charlie, your goat, and unload your troubles on him.  He’s a good listener and never argues with you.  He accompanies you everywhere, even on the plane when you fly home to ask your parents for more money.”  My mouth was agape. 

The person sitting next to me appeared to be a young woman, although she had more of a male haircut than I did. She was also covered in tattoos and adorned in facial jewelry.  She had a peacock next to her, apparently her emotional support animal. She wore jeans that were all torn up, both knees with large holes in them.  “Is she destitute?” I asked Milo.  “Oh, no, that’ll be the style in 2020,” Milo said with a laugh. “It means that the person is a carefree, happy-go-lucky person, not tied down to the materialistic society of her parents.”

I asked Milo to elaborate.  “Look,” he said, “you grew up with the idea that you had to apply effort to achieve something and that you had to deal with a certain amount of adversity along the way.  At the same time, you were taught that there is a larger life for which the material life is but a preparation.  However, you won’t view that in the same way in the life you are now looking at.  The person you are in 2020 has been nurtured in a philosophy of materialism, more than that, hedonism, and with an entitlement mentality.  And, he has been sheltered from adversity.  Your president in 2020 will call your kind a ‘snowflake’.”

“How did that happen?” I asked Milo. “It’s very complicated, but in a nutshell it has do with science and technology progressing much faster than people could adapt to the changes; it’s humans looking for new powers when they haven’t adjusted to those they already have,” he responded. He went on to explain that it all started with the impeachment of religion by Darwinism and the growth of critical rationalism.  It stalled somewhat during the first half of the last century because of the two world wars, people not wanting to believe that loved ones killed during the wars were totally extinct, but then it gained steam again during the 1960s, as television came into its own and offered an easy escape from reality.

The primary culprit, Milo said, is academia, since it rejected all things spiritual as “unscientific,” thereby misleading fertile minds – minds which were at the same time being indoctrinated by the advertising and entertainment industries into thinking that life is all about pleasure seeking.  “You know the Seven Deadly Sins from your Catholic upbringing – greed, lust, sloth, wrath, envy, gluttony, and pride,” he said.  “Those negative characteristics will be turned into positive attributes by Madison Avenue and Hollywood by 2020.  Instant gratification and having fun will replace long-term fulfillment and happiness as motivators. People will become slaves to the five senses and there will be a significant moral void. You can see it now in 1969, but it will be ten-fold of what you see now in half a century.”

Milo added that by 2020 nihilism will be the philosophy of many, including an increasing number of young people. “Your heroes will be movie actors – people pretending to be real people – and athletes – people pretending to be real warriors,” he said. “The unreal will become the real for most people and that will result in a flight into self-delusion. You’ll live in a fantasy world.  Salvation will be a secular matter and dependent on government entitlement programs. You, like so many others, will live from payday to payday.  ‘Seize the day’ is your philosophy.  The American dream is no more.”

Young people will have so much in the way of material goods and toys in 2020, Milo further explained, that they’ll become bored and lonely and rebel against materialism. “They’ll become angry, arrogant, apathetic, anxious, apprehensive, alienated, and aimless, and they’ll begin to consider a more socialistic government,” he said. To overcome the loneliness, he continued, they’ll join groups to promote causes they don’t really care about; their primary objective is to socialize with other humans, no matter the cause.  “They’ll be out marching in the streets, carrying signs and protesting things they know nothing about or really care about. They’re looking for some kind of meaning in their lives even though it makes no sense to them.  Some of them trick themselves into thinking their cause makes sense. Most of them are in deep despair, even though they don’t realize it.”

I noticed that my friend and I, as well as all those around us, were occupied with some small object we were holding.  Milo referred to them as portable phones, but he said he hadn’t quite figured out what they were doing with them. He believed it to be some sort of finger flexibility exercise as he could make no sense of them otherwise. 

I asked Milo if I’ll have a job in 2020.  “You had one as a ripper,” he replied. “You were on the production line that makes those jeans your friend is wearing, and it was your job to rip them up as much as possible.  However, you came to realize that you could make more from government programs, so you spend a lot of time in the coffee shop.  You do make a few extra dollars every month from being a sperm donor.”

“Didn’t I get an education?” I reacted. “Yes, you got a Ph.D. and did your dissertation on the advantages of moral nihilism,” Milo answered.  “You had hoped to teach that subject at the local university, but like so many of your generation you trained for jobs that no longer exist or for which there is a surplus of educated people.  Yours was the latter. Technology moved too fast for the academic world, diminishing the appeal of the liberal arts and the humanities.  Most people in 2020 should be going to trade school, not college, if they are to find meaningful employment.  Incidentally, your friend there, who has a master’s degree in music, is on the production line after you.  She’s a shredder.  After you rip, she shreds, and the end result is what they consider a perfect piece of clothing. Such will be the world of 2020.”

Milo said that a big “cleansing” was going to begin in 2020 and things would gradually change.  “But it’s going to be rough going for some years,” he warned.
 
I told Milo that I preferred not to die and face that future, but I wondered what was ahead if I managed to free myself from the mud.  “You’ll face a lot of adversity,” he said, “but you’ll take it in stride and learn from it.  You’ll find love and meaning in life, a meaning that will totally escape you in your life as a snowflake.”  Milo then disappeared and I was back in my lower self.  My friend had returned and extended a frond from a palm tree to me, and I was able to pull myself out of the quicksand (see photo).  I feel certain I made the right decision in returning to my body in 1969.  Better to have only days, weeks, or months left in this lifetime while believing in a larger life than another 50 or 60 years in my snowflake life as a deluded moral nihilist. 

Note:  This blog was prepared to be posted April 1, but it could go up a day or two early.  I did manage to free myself from the mud before it was above my ankles.  Happy April Fools’ Day.

Michael Tymn is the author of The Afterlife Revealed: What Happens After We Die, Resurrecting Leonora Piper: How Science Discovered the Afterlife, and Dead Men Talking: Afterlife Communication from World War I.

Dear R. A. Hanks,

Thank you for your comment in support of what Michael Tymn writes for us all.

I agree with you entirely.

Eric Franklin

Mike,

One of the things Milo failed to mention was that in the year 2020, there would be an overwhelming tendency by a large segment of society to be offended over the most innocuous statements or beliefs. And that one single offended person could stimulate the undoing of an abundance of established traditions and creative output that multitudes of people find enjoyable.

It makes one wonder what it is that generates these feelings of offense? Is it a desire for attention or the seeking of numerous expressions of sympathy and consolation? One can only speculate.

Perhaps I need to more finely tune my sensitivities, but until that time comes, I found your fictional essay to be both funny and refreshing.

Dear Amos,

You make a good point. Thank you.

You could have said also that what some would take to be gullibility is a necessary and useful tool of science. Some would dismiss willingness to investigate entrenched prejudices as gullibility, rather than accept it as humble enquiry.

Whenever we test a hypothesis in the current Popperian manner that we all now recognise as valid (though not always possible to apply in practice, as Alfred Ayer showed), we are being provisionally gullible until sufficiently confident to be know-alls. The accepted-as-correct and the derogatory descriptions of the same facts are not totally mutually exclusive. They merge into each other in the area of consciousness we call doubt. For a long time many scientists were very sceptical about many matters now accepted as indisputable, and perhaps there is now too much scientific prejudice parading around as haughty scepticism. PSICOPS, (or whatever they are called) for example, with their scepticism amounting to cynicism about spiritual matters.

And to David I say: Yahshua himself used parable, did he not? Michael Tymn’s April Fool piece is a parable, is it not? It makes serious points does it not? Why be so stubborn in advocating your own view? Expand your mind. I don’t refuse to enjoy Shostakovich’s Festival Overture (I think it’s called) or Bernstein’s Candide Overture because they aren’t Bruckner’s 5th Symphony. I enjoy ALL, each for its own genuineness and quality.

Eric Franklin

No one wants to acknowledge that they are an “April Fool”. It is difficult to accept the evidence that one is a gullible person.  When one is confronted with that fact, the first inclination is to strike back at whomever or whatever pointed out our gullibility to us. This is all well and good and an opportunity for learning something about one’s self.  With age comes acceptance of an innumerable array of presentations of ideas.  Farce is a perfectly acceptable way to convey serious thoughts and ideas in a humorous way.  Not every idea needs to be presented as drama. -AOD

David,

Any sceptical newcomer to Michael Tymn’s blogs will find the other blogs and assess THEM.

After all, Michael DID EXPLAIN THAT THIS ONE WAS AN APRIL FOOL’S DAY (serious) JOKE.

Eric Franklin

Apparently, April fool goes back to Chaucer in the 1300s. Michael has only been blogging here for eight years and each year on April 1 he has written a spoof blog. This is the first complaint during that time. While it is absolutely anyone’s right to protest, it might be a stretch to call it a Gerald Ratner moment. That would require a lot more disgruntled people. In any case, Living in Hawaii, I doubt Michael knows who Gerald is.
Best wishes.

Eric,

I’m sure that not only do they have fun but that they also get quite exasperated and tear their hair out (metaphorically, probably) at trying to find ways of convincing humanity of their existence.

Those people conversant with spiritland probably found the blog whimsical as an in-house joke. But those are the converted.

To the sceptic (the majority) who happens upon, or is directed to, the blog it may well appear to be another example of hyperbole by the la-la believers the minority). We probably forget how long it took us, and how much chaff we had to discard, to attain our present surety.

Surely we principally direct our efforts to the ill with truths rather than to the well with in-jokes and try to avoid the Gerald Ratner oops! moments.

David,

You must understand that even the spirit world has its humour. Just look at the account Sir William Barrett gives in his widow’s book ‘Personality Survives Death’, (Longmans 1937) of the spirits having fun with him using a material-world toy trumpet, by preventing Sir William taking hold of it.

If this seems to you enigmatic or in some way silly, why not buy the recent reprint of that original book, for which Michael Tymn has written an article, ‘Remembering Sir William Barrett’ and in which a 1918 article by Sir William himself is also included, dealing with the ‘Deeper Issues of Psychical Research’ ? The book is published by White Crow Books, and is available very quickly on Amazon.

Eric Franklin

in response to Brian Anthony Kraemer 8 April;

You may care to look at my earlier comments (signed off as ‘David’), in a similar vein to yours, on April 1 and then on April 3.

As you will see from those comments in response to mine, our objections are in the minority which I find most surprising. Much damage has been done to credibility and trust in the name of ‘just fun’, let alone mischief making, that I am relieved that at least one other is similarly affected. (I hope that I’m not misreading your stance!)

I got as far as a reference to cell phones and started suspecting this might be fiction. I searched for the author’s name and found the reference to April 1st at the end of the piece. Maybe I’m old and cranky, but not that happy about being taken. At the same time, too old to be too upset either.

Thanks, Nate, but I can’t relate much of what you wrote to what I wrote.  My post is not about material wealth, nor does it really place the blame for the condition on younger people.  I blame it on academia and the entertainment and advertising industries. It’s about lifestyle and worldview, not material wealth.

Hi Michael.

I’m happy that you felt it amusing to write an April Fool’s piece.

But I’m just going to say that I think you constantly misspelled ‘billionaire’ as ‘Millennial’ throughout this piece.

Did you know that the Millennial generation are actually much *less* wealthy than their parents? Because since the Reagan era, wages have stayed flat (raising them is called ‘inflation’ and seen as bad), while housing, healthcare and education costs have soared (those costs are called ‘investments’ and newspapers cheer when they rise).

And then Baby Boomers - who still control the US Congress and Presidency well into their 80s, and are the ones who passed all these harmful economic laws which funnelled weath upward - turn around and blame *their children*, who they impoverished,for the economic disaster *they* created.

The caricature of foolish, rich, lazy Millennials is perhaps not actually a very funny April Fools joke when you look at it like this, is it?

You might not have known all this, if you don’t actually know any Millennials, but you *could* have known it. It’s not hard to use Google and find out.

https://www.newamerica.org/weekly/millennial-money-myth/

https://qz.com/720456/the-myth-of-millennial-entitlement-was-created-to-hide-their-parents-mistakes/

Best regards, Nate

No David,
Those of us who have spent many years reading and researching various accounts of near death experiences and the multitude of other evidence of survival of consciousness after death of a physical form and have some interest in the current state of affairs of the younger generations—-and—-haven’t lost our sense of humor at an advanced age, find Michael’s ‘April Fools’ joke—-funny!  Old age brings a residue of unwelcome personal burdens and cares of the world and one has a tendency to get mired in the quicksand of physical life.  Any little bit of humor to relieve that stress is greatly appreciated.

I think that those of us who have years of study of possible survival are able to sort the grain from the chaff, so to speak.  I know that I do it all the time.
I still chuckle when I read, “You do make a few extra dollars every month from being a sperm donor.” I thank you Michael for helping me start my day in a happy mood. - AOD

Dear David,

The ‘dig’ is surely at the whole UNwhole world mankind has made, and mostly lives in by active choice, under the evil spell of love of money, not nature, greedy materialism, not spiritual awareness. Michael Tymn clearly describes this stupid and perverse world in the piece, does he not?

Michael Tymn, and many other ‘intellects’ as you call us, are entitled to have an opinion we have considered and reconsidered for decades, and do not any longer need to consider again. Michael Tymn is an author of many very erudite and morally responsible works. I am myself the author of one part of a long, serious book on science, philosophy, spirituality, subtle-energy traditions, etc, published in the USA ten years ago.

Perhaps you could yourself reconsider the value of humour, not too much of it, of course, but a bit now and then. Even Yahshua seems to have had a sense of humour perceptible in some of the gospel-writers’ anecdotes about him. And humour is not unknown in the utterances of spirit communicators themselves. The ability to allow humour into our minds is probably a sign of open and honest high intellect and inner psychological security, (sometimes very hard-won against bad parental influence), the mental rebuttal of humour a sign of insecurity in the core person, perhaps even of insecure assessment of one’s own intellect . . ? . . . ?

Eric Franklin

I’m now not sure whether I’m addressing Simon Jenkins or Michael Tymn but nevertheless:

Interesting that your friend, Dale, recognised your blog as a ‘dig’. I wonder at whom he thinks that the dig is aimed? It can only be aimed at either the person who is relating the near-death or out-of-body experience or the person who concocts such a story in order to discredit the former’s effort to enlighten people about the reality of spirit life and their attempts to get us to recognize their existence.

No matter how clever it is, nor how humorous it appears to some intellects, I invite all not to satirise others’ attempts to transmit truth which, I’m sure we’ve all experienced, is mightily frustrating.

I can see that none others take my stance. I invite you to reconsider.

Thanks for publishing my comments.

Thank you to all those who have commented so far.  They are much appreciated.  I did have reservations about posting this for the very reasons mentioned by David, but I concluded that the vast majority of readers would not view as he did and so went ahead with it. 

According to my friend Dale, I wasn’t at much risk in the quicksand.  Here is what he wrote to me in an email: “Cute story but you know of course that in real life it’s almost impossible to die in quicksand unless the tide comes in or a dangerous animal decides to make a meal of us. Mostly it’s BS for old adventure movies. Fun April Fool’s dig anyway.”

Dear Mr Michael Tymn,
Humour can be a good communicating method especially when someone tries to introduce odd ideas. It has been pointed out that reincarnation is not talked about in NDE cases even in cultures where it is culturally accepted. The NDE of anaesthetist Rajiv Parti (author of Dying to Wake up) is the only exception where he remembered two previous lives, one as a cruel Indian prince and another as an opium farmer. But during his NDE, he was not given the option of reincarnation like Mike! Reincarnation is not a desirable form of survival. First chance is the best chance. One wonders whether NDE may be a way of preventing reincarnation.
It is interesting to note that Mormons secretively believe in reincarnation. The initial Christians are thought to have believed in some form of reincarnation. The early Kerala (India) Christians known as the Indian Christians of St Thomas believed in a modified concept of reincarnation. To embrace the concept of the Divine incarnation of Christ was much easier for the Namboothiries (Brahmins) who had already a model of higher reincarnation (indirect Avatar) and full incarnation (Full Avatar). Eastern Christianity is very much centred around the Divine incarnation whereas the Western Christianity is centred around crucifixion and redemption. Christianity grew up in the fertile sands of Hinduism. Many Christians and Hindus believe that John the Baptist was the reincarnation of prophet Elijah- an indirect avatar to prepare the path of the full avatar. Rudolph Steiner (Steiner R. The manifestation of Karma. London: Rudolf Steiner Publishing Company,1947) and Swami Paramahamsa (Paramahamsa. S. Autobiography of a Yogi. Bombay: Self-realization Fellowship,1946) have presented firm arguments quoting Biblical passages for such a belief.
Spirit guide Milo’s words are particularly interesting. “It’s very complicated, but in a nutshell it has do with science and technology progressing much faster than people could adapt to the changes; it’s humans looking for new powers when they haven’t adjusted to those they already have,” he responded. He went on to explain that it all started with the impeachment of religion by Darwinism and the growth of critical rationalism…” According to Dr Thomas Cowman, the present epidemic is the outcome of such uncontrolled progress in technology. It is nature’s adaptation to the pollution of the internal environment- https://youtu.be/jh1T4c3wP8I

Regards, Dr James Paul Pandarakalam

Nicely done Mike.

Dear Michael Tymn,

I think that anyone who objects to humour is a tad immature. Surely we who correspond with you on spiritual matters are intelligent enough to realise the value of humour, and not to be offended when we meet it even in relation to serious subjects? Humour is part of the cosmos, and therefore honourable, and should simply be explained when there is risk of misunderstanding - as it was. You have not damaged your reputation. Your deep knowledge, and your sincerity are obvious from many other factors, such as your persistence in studying the matter for so long. If you had no sincerity or other good qualities you would have gone on to other interests long ago.

Keep writing, keep airing the subject. Forces at work in the world at present, not least the virus, will synergise with your discussion of the facts of the spiritual quest, and produce a better world.

Eric Franklin

Excellent writing/drama to make a point! Very good creation of tension using the mud-sucking device! Skilled writing to make dramatic points. I like(d) it! Good use of exaggeration also! Yes! Richard

Ratners was a very successful chain of jewellery stores with the ‘pile-it-high-sell-it-cheap’ philosophy. In 1991 the chairman, Gerald Ratner, described one of his products as ‘total crap’.

He subsequently said that his comment was ‘a joke’ and ‘taken-out-of-context’. Too late; he had destroyed his business.

Your Malaysian anecdote above was interesting, with the authority that you have established over many years of blogging. 

There are many like reports of near-death and out-of-body experiences that describe similar insights from spirits with prophesy of future events that help to authenticate the existence of the world of spirit and that you are emulating here.

But its hyperbole, and then ‘it’s-a-joke’, have completely destroyed any reputation and calls into question any link that you may purport to have with any spirit and, at the very least, shows that any such link is very overshadowed by your own intellect.

I have to admit that you had me fooled at first! In my own defense, though, I ‘got it’ after a few paragraphs. But it shows one thing for sure: sometimes fiction can be truer than fact.

Very clever and creative, Mike. Well done!

Before the April 1st bit at the end. I was going to write that I prefer the teachings of Silver Birch.

Very interesting, Michael. Many thanks. I shall read the piece again as soon as I have done the day’s virus-avoiding tasks to keep us here embodied-alive. (I want to stay embodied for a while because there is so much to get done before flying off.)

Of course, the current Roman-god-style embodiment of the United States’ zeitgeist, for all his ignorance, blustering dogma and arrogance is in reality a snowflake before the fire, whatever the nature of those he so labels.

Thank you for a mature and valid opposing view, intriguingly delineated. Perhaps the post-covid world will indeed be somewhat blessed, probably on account of having been severely reprimanded by Nature.

Have a very good day (whether April 1 or any other day)

Eric Franklin

PS I have made an editorial suggestion to Jon Beecher about your current re-publication of ‘Personality survives Death’.

The right day to have me fooled - thanks Mike

Dear Michael, you tyke! I have a youngest of the same name he and I have some fascinating conversations. This is the sort of thing he would do. However, all humour aside, this is an apt description of what is happening, although the ripped jeans and animals is more like the sixties and early Glastonbury. Interesting, I have been re-reading The Celestine Prophecy, and will go on to read the follow up books. Going into the toys that people play with, I refuse to have a mobile phone. I will not involve myself in Facebook either. I much prefer face to face on a physical level. People are so fascinating and inspiring even if they are most difficult at times. Thanks for the smile on my face, in spite of the virus. God Bless, Margaret.

Love that peacock as therapy pet! This was fun read.

Very funny. You had me. Lol

Hi Mike,

It was an interesting read, but I had a hunch you were up to something, clarified by the endnote.

Don’t recall if I ever mentioned that 19th century Mormons including Joseph Smith secretly taught reincarnation. They referred to it as “multiple mortal probations” (MMP).

I came across several Mormons in the early 2000s who belived it.

https://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/2019/probations.html

Ray

That was great!

A few readers have emailed me and asked about the photo.  It was taken at a mud bath at the Dead Sea in 1994. 

Hi Mike,

Happy April Fool’s Day to you too.
Bet you had fun writing that.

Dave

Good one Mike! You had me going there for a few paragraphs. I think everyone of our generation will thoroughly relate. Glad you stuck around for these exciting times. BW

That was fun.

“greed, lust, sloth, wrath, envy, gluttony, and pride”

Probably few people today could even name one or two of the seven deadly sins even though so many people blatantly commit them—-all of them.  If one were to use adjectives to describe the current state of affairs of the American culture, those seven words would serve nicely. - AOD

I was going to write a naughty word or two.

Brilliant !