Remembering Ed Carter on his birthday

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

April 3, 2014, is the 99th birthday of my old friend Ed Carter — J. Edwin Carter — author of Living is Forever and then an investor in Hampton Roads. Ed was a long-time friend of Bob Monroe, and whetted my interest in doing a Gateway even more than it was already. In 1995, Ed paid for me to do the Lifeline program with him because, he said, he thought we’d both get a lot out of it if we did it together. Typically generous of him. And, indeed, we did both get a lot out of it.

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Here is a picture of a rather younger Frank DeMarco  with his friends Ed Carter and Richard Spees, taken by our dear friend Joyce Johnson-Jones during Lifeline, July 1995.

Ed moved on in December, 1996. Rich and I have remained friends for going on 20 years now.

Plus 19 years

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

This is the day, in 1995, that Bob Monroe transitioned back out of the physical, age nearly 80

I was in New York City that day, having gone up particularly to meet Colin Wilson, my long-time favorite author, which turned out to be a delight. The next morning I bought the New York Times, sure there would be an obit for Bob, but there wasn’t. (I realized later that they probably hadn’t even known about it so quickly.) 

No obit, for Bob Monroe! I thought of Emerson’s words at Thoreau’s funeral, to the effect that the country didn’t yet know how great a son it had lost. I thought, in a hundred years, there won’t be an educated person on the face of the planet who won’t have heard his name. But in 1995 it was still too early.

Colin and Joy and friend, 1995

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

My friend Sandra Martin, at the time a New York literary agent, knowing of my admiration for Colin Wilson, invited me to meet him and his wife Joy at a party. So I took the train up to New York (spending the time re-reading the Mind Parasites) and indeed we met and hit it off immediately. Oddly, it was March 17, 1995, St. Patrick’s Day, and the first words I heard as our hostess opened the door was that Bob Monroe had died that morning.

Very strange, given that one reason I wanted to meet Colin was to recommend that he do a Gateway Voyage. Here, Colin and Joy Wilson and unnamed friend, looking awfully young.

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Conversations June 14, 2010

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

Monday, June 14, 2010

5:45 AM. All right, Papa, now what? Do you have a “next item on the agenda” to provide you with topics?

[TGU] Seth worked that way, but Seth in working with his friend Jane Roberts was working with a blanked slate. She had deliberately vacated the premises so that he could enter without having to contend with the ripples and eddies of a functioning conscious mind as he dictated his books. That’s not our situation here. Here, your interaction is a part of the process, which adds complications that have both helpful and non-helpful effects.

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Reasonable Magic and Magical Reason (6)

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

 

Part VI: Coda

Bob Monroe, bless his heart, thought we could. But we must decide. The clock is ticking; time is short. 

We may soon be forced to confront the prospect of humans no longer being the dominant species on this planet. Whether this would be a good or a bad development is, perhaps, debatable. What is not arguable, I think, is that all the old Answerist philosophies are passé. Neither scientism nor religionism will help us one iota with the challenges we must face. We need fresh perspectives, new ideas, and novel approaches. And, above all, open minds and hearts.

The future is open, but closing fast. The question is, do we have the nerve to trust our reason and the verve to practice our magic? As Bob might have said, “Well, you do the best you can.” Let’s make it so.

 

Continue reading Reasonable Magic and Magical Reason (6)

Bob Monroe’s Journey

Posted on by Frank DeMarco

The book that became Muddy Tracks started out as Living In Monroe’s New World, but my editor thought that it hurt the book to split the focus between my own experiences and Monroe’s. I still don’t know if I was right to listen, but I did.

It occurred to me this morning that this might be the place and time to publish (as it were) one of the chapters that didn’t make it into the final version of Muddy Tracks. I called this chapter “Monroe’s Journey.” I began by asking my friends for assistance, as usual.

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