Jennifer and I are still catching our breath from our whirlwind trip to Mill Valley and Northern California.

It was a hectic yet intense few days – but worth the long drive up and back because the interviews we got for PGS were spectacular, each one of them.

We have to come back to the US some time next year to do more shooting – including all the dramatic recreations, and more interviews. Before we can do that though we’ll need a substantial influx of funds to cover that section of the shoot.

I’m confident that will happen soon.

Yesterday I got an email from the Office of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Bhutan.

The letter was to inform me officially that I have received Royal Consent to visit the country as a Guest of the State, and conduct a private interview with His Royal Highness.

That’s very cool.
I was very excited.

Today Jennifer and I had the good fortune to catch up with Michael and Kathryn Schlesinger, who are active participants on this blog. They drove up from Newport Beach to have lunch with us.

I chose the venue – one of my favourite restaurants in Los Angeles – a Cuban restaurant called Versailles, on Venice Blvd. Even though it’s situated in a fairly dodgy part of town, the food is great, it’s reasonably priced, and it’s authentic.

We talked for a couple of hours – the topics ranging from Camino stories and observations to explanations about Vedic vs Western Astrology, to what really happened in Dallas ( 🙂 ), to Michael’s current work and Kathryn’s recent time in Bali.

The conversations were easy and fluid and we laughed a lot.

Michael looks like Steve Martin, except he’s as tall as a pro basketball player – Kathryn just shone. In fact they both shone. That’s the thing about Camino folk – they light up a room.

Through the lunch I kept getting calls from a financier about the progress of a pending deal.

I’ll know more late Monday.

I mentioned to Michael and Kathryn how this blog has spawned so many wonderful friendships with people from all around the world – people who we really can consider as being good friends.

Michael pointed out that it’s a unique community that inhabits this blog – and I have to agree. You guys are amazing, and I’m constantly bowled over by your wisdom, your compassion, and your candid expressions of thoughts and emotions.

There is a genuine feeling of respect here, I believe.

We also discussed something that I’ve given a lot of thought about – and which I’ll write about in a separate post: Michael said he was astonished at how I had “exploded” the division between my personal life and professional life.

Oh yes. That’s been a major decision.
But I’ll talk about that separately another time.

This evening Jennifer and I were invited to a party in the hills at the back of Hollywood. It was a working party, organised by a smart young film financier named Devin Rose. He’s very excited about PGS, and wanted to introduce me to some potential investors.

He’s working hard on the film’s behalf.

His sister is a huge fan of a movie I directed some time ago – TWO IF BY SEA – starring Sandra Bullock. I was able to give her some discreet gossip from behind the scenes.

As an aside, someone mentioned to me tonight that perhaps I shouldn’t mention the commercial aspects of the Astrologer’s prediction so much. That it was contrary to the “spiritual” nature of this blog.

Firstly I’m not sure if this blog does have a spiritual tone. And secondly, let’s say that what the astrologer, or astrologers (including Joni Patry from Dallas) say comes true. I want to make it publicly known that these predictions were made.

It’s no good revealing it after the fact. A prediction revealed after the event is worthless. If what the Astrologers say actually comes true, then I want it documented that this is what they predicted. That then would give huge potency to the efficacy of Vedic Astrology.

Tomorrow is Saturday here, and Jennifer and I will largely take the day off. We’ve not had a day off since I can’t remember when. These past several weeks have been non stop, and very intense. It’s been exhausting. But so enriching.

Making this film feeds me emotionally and spiritually every moment of every day. I’m so fortunate to be in the position of collecting insights from some of the greatest spiritual minds in the world.

And it ain’t over yet. Not by a long shot…

Wow –

Someone has just gone and bought 40 of my books in one order –

Probably for Christmas?
Whoever it was – thank you!

I’m now at 97 five star reviews on Amazon.

The Way, My Way

Here is Jennifer’s view on how things unfolded in Dallas –

The truth to be told is one of wonder.

The wonder that we 3 were bold enough to go to Dallas – myself, Bill and our friend Rachit, whose companionship and unique humanitarianism was itself a great gift.

That we were bold enough to stay in the Cheap Motel!

That we were bold enough to allow the “Cosmic Rays” to teach us new lessons.

These lessons have enriched Bill and myself beyond any financial rewards. We learnt to be thankful each day for all that was given to us.

And we were given so much!

On the 4th day we met the amazing Vedic Astrologer Joni and her husband Daniel, and we were swept up into their arms as if they’d always been our friends.

That in itself was so extraordinary that there was no doubting that the decision to come to Dallas had been the right one.

To learn to surrender to the Divine Order of things was a great wonder.

“Divine order” was never far from Joni’s lips and “surrender” was never far from Daniel’s.

To see Bill expand his sense of self beyond his physical boundaries.

To see him be bold enough to allow himself to believe that another person could be an angel.

Was she an angel?

He asked me the question and I found that extraordinary – that he would ask! Normally he would have dismissed the lady as being unstable. But Bill was genuinely enquiring as to whether I thought she was an angel. 

He thought she was. 

My suggesting to him that he say his mantra to put himself back to sleep – Herman Melville’s quote: The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails whereon my soul is grooved to run – and then his shock at seeing 2 light trails – like two energetic rail tracks – on the ceiling above his head.

I had to remind him he wasn’t in a horror movie but rather a crazy Cosmic Ray love story where he was allowing something grander than himself to be his guide.

Each day was a new revelation. 

All 15 days brought us opportunities to grow and expand ourselves.

Who would have thought that Dallas would lead us to so many intensely spiritual people who were ready to enlarge our world view, to accept us and care for us with such generosity of spirit, and to leave us rich beyond dreams.

I would go back to Dallas in a heartbeat. There’s no denying that there’s something very special there for Bill and me.

That someone can change in 15 days is remarkable. There’s no doubt the Texas Cosmic Rays Experiment activated within Bill a discovery / a realisation that he is not just a physical body but a much grander being connected to powers beyond our understanding.

This is the face of the young lady who, along with her associates, is moving heaven and earth to finance PGS.

It will happen, because The Most Beneficial Galactic Cosmic Rays say it will happen.

I’ll keep this brief because today was a huge day, and I’m beat.

The day started with an interview with Dr. Dean Radin, Chief Scientist with the Noetic Sciences Institute, in Petaluma. The interview lasted about an hour – and he was terrific. He’s one of the leading researchers in the US into the study of consciousness. He was articulate, knowledgeable, and witty.

It was a broad-ranging interview and incredibly well argued. He’s the first person I’ve interviewed that’s given a scientific view on intuition.

He talked about Mozart, and genius. He said scientists don’t have a clue where artistic genius comes from. He acknowledged that historically, some of the great scientific breakthroughs have come out of inexplicable dreams or other intuitive insights.

Then we drove to San Rafael to interview Christine, the woman I met yesterday. She works as an Intuitive Healer, but I was more interested in her views on intuition generally. She spoke from the point of view of someone who makes their living out of using their intuition.

She was fabulous.

Lastly was Dr. Francesca McCartney, founder and head of the Academy of Intuition Medicine. She’s been teaching students how to use intuition for over thirty years, so she was able to express her views in a very powerful and persuasive manner.

Wonderfully for me, she concurred absolutely not only with my notion that intuition is a personal guidance system, but she also teaches three of my five stages for becoming more intuitive. She teaches her students to ask, trust and follow.

I advocate:

STOP
ASK
LISTEN
TRUST
FOLLOW

Each of those stages will be discussed in full in the film.

Dr. McCartney at the end of the interview suggested I come and teach at the Academy! That was the ultimate compliment for me…

Someone today asked me how much of the film have I shot so far. It’s a hard question, because i’ve now shot about 35 interviews I think – and very few of them are less than 45 minutes long. Most are longer.

And I’m not finished collecting interviews yet by a long shot. I also have a lot of shooting of visual material to do too. As well there’s all the animation and CGI work to be done in post production.This is going to be a massive post job.

How much have i got so far? I’d say maybe 30%. A good 30%. Out of about 40 hrs of shot material, I might have about 30 minutes. That’s a shooting ratio of about 80:1.

All I can say is: Lucky this is video!

Yesterday was non stop.

We drove 320mls (515kms) from a truck stop near Bakersfild, north of LA, straight to a meeting with two Medical Intuitives in Mill Valley,

Mill Valley is a beautiful town / village across the Bay from San Francisco. It has a very famous film festival, and I was once a guest of that festival for about a week. One of my films was in Official Competition.

I didn't realise at the time that Mill Valley is a major centre for the teaching and practice of Medical Intuition. Aspiring medical Intuitives come from all over the U.S. to study at the Academy of Intuition Medicine –

http://www.intuitionmedicine.com/academy/

There's also a University offering degree courses and PhDs.

http://www.energymedicineuniversity.org/

What is intuitive medicine? That's why I drove 320mls for that meeting. The meeting was with two women – one was a graduate of the Academy, and now a practicing medical intuitive. Her name was Lisa.

The other lady was older. Tall, greying hair, with eyes that were both compassionate, wise, all knowing, and all seeing. She radiated. You meet these people occasionally, and it's hard to classify them, to put a name to them, other than to understand that they're plugged in to a power socket that's beyond the reach of most people.

In times past she would have been burned at the stake.

Her name was Christine, and she too worked as a medical intuitive.

I wanted to know from these two women how medical intuition works. It's a complex practice, but in simple terms what they told me is this:

A medical intuitive first “grounds” herself and the client. Grounding is an essential part of medical intuition. It involves literally anchoring your etheric body into the earth.

The medical intuitive then begins a process of establishing an intuitive link or connection with the client, so that they can effectively read the database of that client. This enables the intuitive to determine what's wrong with the client. Sometimes they discover medical issues that the client wasn't even aware of.

Medical intuition is used both in the diagnosis and treatment of health issues. Treatment involves the medical intuitive harnessing and focusing various energies into the subtle body of the client.

After the meeting Jennifer and I checked into our hotel, and then we went to a class at the Academy. The Academy was founded in 1984 by Dr. Francesca McCartney, and she has pulled together an impressive list of consultants that includes research scientists, surgeons, academics, and practising physicians.

She'd invited us to the last class of the semester.

The class was held in a large room up a flight of stairs in a small building opposite a supermarket. There was maybe 25 students in the class, and quite a few teachers.

Dr. McCartney had invited kennifer and myself to this class, to show us how it all works.

The first part of the class involved each student recounting how their practice had developed over the semester. The second part involved “lab work,” in which the students practiced their techniques on each other.

One of the teachers did a session with me. Poor thing. It sent something like this:

She – Close your eyes and imagine you're sending down roots to the centre of the earth. Now, describe to me how you feel…

Me – I don't want to be earthbound. I want to fly.

She – (taken aback) Oh. Why do you want to fly?

Me – So I can see everything.

She – But you can see everything and still be grounded.

Me – Yes, but when I fly I'm closer to the Galactic Cosmic Rays.

She – (blinking fast now) Oh. But imagine you're a tree. You can still take in the Galactic Cosmic Rays as a tree.

Me – They're most beneficial closer to the sun.

She – But trees get sunlight.

Me – (impressed with her unwavering doggedness to get me grounded, and thinking I better stop being a smart arse) Yes, I guess as a tree I could photosynthesise the Galactic Cosmic Rays.

She (relieved, suddenly beaming) – Yes, you could photosynthesise!

Me – But I would need to be a big tree, like an old Oak. Or a giant Redwood. I don't want to be a piddling little tree.

She – Oh yes, I see you as a giant oak tree!

Me – I still want to fly. I do my best work when I'm flying.

She – (blinking fast again) Oh…

The class was fascinating. And there's no doubt that Dr. McCartney is a leader in the U.S. in energetic teaching and healing. I'm doing an interview with her later today, and with Christine too, the tall elderly lady. Both will provide very interesting insights.

But the first interview today is with Dr. Dean Radin from the Noetic Sciences Institute. I'm very much looking forward to that.

Then after those three interviews we begin the drive back down to LA again this evening. I have meetings back to back tomorrow when we arrive.

Crazy busy, but good.

We were sitting in the Dallas Fort Worth airport terminal having a bite to eat, killing time before the flight.

We'd got to the airport two hours early.

I always like to be early for flights. I don't like rushing at the last minute. Or standing in a long slow moving line at security wondering if I'm going to miss my flight. That's way too stressful for me.

So we had plenty of time.

Also, I like to get to the gate early. Our flight left from Gate 34 Terminal D, and so Jennifer and I found a little Vietnamese eatery just near Gate 34, and had a leisurely lunch and a good long chat.

We'd been so busy lately we really hadn't had much time to talk.

The flight left at 2:35pm, and boarding was at 2:05pm. At around 1:50pm I thought we should wander over to the gate – so off we headed.

On the ticket it said Gate A34.

We walked over to Gate 34 but I couldn't find Gate A34. I walked up and down the long concourse, getting more and more frantic. There was D34, but not A34.

Finally in desperation I stopped an airport worker riding past in a cart. I asked her: Can you tell me where Gate A34 is?

Oh man, she said. You gotta go up to the Skylink and catch a train to Gate A34. What time your flight?

2:35, I said.

Man, you better hurry.

I looked at my watch. It was nearly 2:05pm. The flight would be already boarding.

We walked back down the long concourse, not running but walking fast. As fast as we could. At the end of the terminal building was the longest escalator I've ever seen in my life. It was the escalators up to the Skylink. It must have gone up five stories.

We got on the escalator and it seemed to take an interminable time to get us up to the floor where there was a Skylink station.

Skylink at Dallas Fort Worth is a train that takes you from terminal to terminal.

Even though Qantas / American Airlines flights depart from Terminal D, for some reason our flight to LA was departing from Terminal A, on the other side of the huge airport complex.

It was 2:12pm when we got on the train.

I felt an overpowering sense of dread when I looked up at the station map on the wall of the train – we had five stops before we got to the stop for A34.

Each time the train stopped at a station, and people got on and people got off, and the doors opened and the doors closed, I became more and more convinced that we would miss our flight.

It was now 2:20pm.

I didn't know how far we would have to walk to the gate from the Skylink station. It could be a 15 minute walk.

I thought back to all the time we wasted sitting having lunch. I beat myself up for not being better prepared. It's not like I'm not an experienced traveler. Crikey. I should have known better. I shouldn't have assumed.

Always I come unstuck when I assume.

We were going to miss the flight. I was now sure of it. Or at least I was sure there was a very strong chance we'd miss the flight. And if we missed the flight then it would throw the whole forward schedule out in California.

I had interviews lined up north of San Francisco, which was a 7hr drive from LAX. I would have to reschedule the interviews. But these were busy people, and they might not be able to reschedule. I might miss out on the interviews altogether.

And what about the luggage? They'd have to offload the luggage. Supposing the luggage got lost? I had the main Hard Drive with all our video rushes on that drive. Yes I had backups with me, but that main hard drive had the rushes that were all synced up, and logged and coded etc.

And what about the additional expense? I would have to buy new tickets, and with the extra accommodation etc, this could cost many hundreds of dollars.

I stood in that Skylink train and I allowed my fears, my guilt and my recriminations to run riot.

And then something strange happened.

I thought to myself: If I truly believed that the Cosmic Rays were most beneficial for me in Dallas, and that the Cosmos had my back, then why worry?

Everything will work out as it should.

Everything will work to divine order.

There might be a reason why I have to miss the flight. There might be a reason I have to stay back in Dallas one more day. Why think that missing the flight will be a disaster? It might end up being the best thing that's ever happened to me.

I thought: I have to trust, and surrender to what's unfolding. Because what's happening is happening for my higher good.

Immediately I felt calm.

Immediately my fear disappeared.

We got to our stop at 2:27pm.

It seemed to take forever for the train to finally stop and the doors to open. I rushed to the escalators. Again, they were so so long. I picked up my bags and bounded down the metal stairs two at a time.

I got to the bottom and looked for a sign to direct me to gate 34. I saw a sign which said – GATES A19-A34.

My heart sank.

That meant that Gate A34 would be right at the end of the terminal. Maybe a ten minute walk, minimum.

It was now 2:29pm.

I rushed off, with Jennifer trailing behind. I figured that if the gate was still open I could get them to wait for her.

But as I headed off I realised that gate A34 was right in front of me. It was just around the corner from the Skylink escalators.

Not only that but as I approached the gate I realised they hadn't even boarded. The gate was full of waiting passengers.

Boarding had been delayed because of a technical malfunction with the aircraft.

I'm out of the cosmic rays.

Sorry, I mean The Most Beneficial Galactic Cosmic Rays.

I miss them.

They did me good in Dallas.

Tonight I'm staying in an Econo-Lodge, for $49.95 for the night, including full breakfast and free wifi.

A long way from The Adolphus, in Dallas.

The Econo-Lodge is somewhere along the 5 (interstate highway) part way between LA and San Francisco.

We flew from Dallas this afternoon, the flight was three hours late departing, because of a mechanical problem. On arrival I hopped into a rental and drove north.

I'm heading up to interview Dr, Dean Radin, Chief Scientist with the Noetic Sciences Institute. One of the world's leading researchers into the science of consciousness. He's the guy that wrote the book Supernormal.

As well, I'll be interviewing Dr. Francesca McCartney, founder and head of the University of Intuitive Medicine, in Mill Valley.

Both have spent decades studying the underlying scientific principles relating to intuition. The interviews should be fascinating.

I do miss Dallas.

I genuinely loved the place. I can't understand how anyone could bag it. It's a fascinating city, and I found the people to be incredibly warm and friendly.

Jennifer and I will remember with great fondness the time spent with Joni Patry and her husband Daniel. And personally, I learned a huge amount from Joni – about astrology, intuition, and the divine connection with consciousness.

Jennifer says I have gone through a fundamental change since I arrived in Dallas sixteen days ago. She said that it was as transformative as my walking the Camino. She will write a separate post about it.

I certainly experienced some very weird things during my time there. And I learned a lot. And we shot some terrific film. I should say video. Still can't get film out of my vernacular.

Am I disappointed I didn't receive a bucketload of cash at the end of fifteen days?

No. I never expected that.

Am I disappointed I didn't get my film financed?

It's not over yet, let me tell you. Things are happening, as a direct result of my going to Dallas. Jennifer and I might well be living there soon – you never know. I'm not averse to the idea…

Dallas had a bright shiny energy, even when it was cold and overcast. There's something about the place just shines. The Most Beneficial Galactic Cosmic Rays have buffed everything up.

They buffed me up.

Amd now I'm out of their influence, I feel bereft. The world seems a bigger harsher place. Not my room though. My room at The Econo-Lodge is tiny.

Even smaller than the room at the Shady Oaks. And that was half the price.

Rachit Sai Barak has been our camera assistant / camera operator during our time in Dallas. He leaves today to return to New Delhi.

Here is his perspective of his time with us on this shoot –

An ordinary story with extraordinary potential

I had finished putting all the gear back in and was about to leave for my room, when Bill asked me if this was the most bizarre film production I have been part of. I couldn’t agree more.

He often asks me if I am enjoying myself, if I am learning stuff. Another aspiring filmmaker would have thought of several technical things. But, for me it’s been mostly personal. Every day that I have spent here in Dallas with Bill and Jennifer has made me more eager to understand my roots and myself. I personally believe that something within me has physically expanded and grown, and it’s not my tummy.

If he isn’t in front of the camera, Bill doesn’t need people to operate camera or sound. For most of the interviews I would help him set up everything and then join Jennifer in a corner, where we would just sit and listen. Listen for an hour minimum. The conversation might start with same questions, but often the responses are so unique that interview moves into a whole new direction. And sometimes in the process of answering Bill’s questions they answer mine.

During one of the interviews with the pastor at the Krishna Temple in Dallas, Bill took an agnostic approach. He was asking him questions that people like me would have like to ask. With every answer that the pastor was giving, In my mind I had a following question and Bill was asking exactly the same question. These were the questions that I wanted to ask someone for years but couldn’t.

As someone who comes from the east, I don’t know much about the religion I have been told I belong to. As Jennifer pointed out some of these people here in Dallas believe more in Hinduism than I do. Joni and her family introduced me to Yoginanda, and I have probably seen his photograph across India, but I didn’t know who he was. A lot of them asked me if I have a guru, if I believe in Astrology, in god, to all of which I promptly said NO. Like me, millions of Indians have been brought up in an environment where we are TOLD that we are Hindu.

The result is that as children we ask a lot of questions and we often receive answers that are not very convincing. Lot of people in my country our religious because they fear evil, failure and death. Until this trip I didn’t understand the meaning of religion. I wouldn’t give away what I understood because I want you to watch the film and follow Bill’s blog.  Also because you’ll understand it when you want to. After all, not everything can be explained in words.

Bill in one of his posts mentioned that he is on this journey for himself and he truly is. This is his journey, an ordinary one. Of someone who is trying to figure what was that voice that saved his life. But, in return he is creating a possibility that has the potential to empower people. I believe in Intuition, even more because throughout this trip I have seen him following and trusting his intuition. His story might be ordinary, but it resonates with so many of us. I wish people could join him on his crazy experiment and experience for themselves. Because I don’t think anyone understands how inspiring it has been. Some of the things that have happened cannot be classified as accidents or coincidences. They were meant to happen.

Lot of us would look for physical evidence. We want to find logic in things. We have so many questions, but what we probably don’t realize is if we don’t want to believe in something, we won’t.

After one of our big meetings, we were sitting in a coffee shop and Bill asked us what we were thinking. I had nothing particular to say. But, in that moment I realized that our brain will never shut up, we have endless list of questions, one better than the other. And these questions are stopping us from taking responsibility of our own happiness. Doesn’t matter if we believe in astrology or intuition or god or religion or reincarnation. But, are we happy? Not just as individuals but also as a collective society. And if not, it’s time we stop questioning and start listening. I am not advocating blind faith, but I am talking about surrendering. We need to take a pause and breathe. Just breathe.

This has been the most extraordinary experience for me. I think Bill did very well. Making friends and business contacts at the level he did isn’t easy. But in Dallas it was effortless, one thing led to the other and we kept moving forward. 

 I don’t know about Bill, but I am taking something that is priceless. This is Bill’s journey, but through his journey some of us are starting our own journey. It is an ordinary story that has extraordinary potential.