“I don’t want to drop anywhere,” Ben quickly replied, still a bit nervous. “How long will the turbulence last?”
Just then, the captain’s voice came over the intercom. “Nothing to worry about, ladies and gentlemen. We usually pick up some wind currents and a bit of choppiness when we cross the Rockies. I’ll keep the Fasten Seat Belt sign illuminated for a while longer till it clears up. Shouldn’t be more than another fifteen minutes or so.”
“Well that’s a relief,” Ben sighed, “only fifteen more minutes of ‘shake, rattle, and roll!’ It’s making me sick to read with all this bumpiness. Think I’ll take a break. Maybe a nap is in order here.”
“What you need is a Red John,” Ryan smiled. “If it weren’t for all these new anti-terrorist rules about liquids, I’d have some in my backpack!”
“What on earth is a ‘Red John’?” Ben asked. “Sounds like some kind of illicit drug to me!”
“Do I look like a druggie to you?” Ryan laughed. “It’s a health drink, man. I whip some up in my Vitamix every few days, and it keeps me in tip-top shape—a lean, mean, studyin’ machine, at least these days!”
Ryan had Ben’s curiosity now. “So where’d you get that name?” he asked. “And what’s in it? Knowing you, I’m sure it’s probably organic fruits and vegetables, right?”
“Of course. There’s a ton of stuff that I put in it, but the red color is primarily from a beet, some strawberries, raspberries, radicchio, and some purple cabbage. I call it Red John because in about an hour after you’ve had a big glass, that’s exactly where you’ll be—on the john!”
“Hmmm…that sounds really great,” Ben teased. “A little inconvenient if you’re traveling, though. I haven’t seen you making any beelines for the back of the plane yet, so I assume you didn’t have any today,” he grinned.
“Well, I do try to ease off a bit on special occasions,” Ryan smiled. “It is really good for you, though, and gives you lots of energy. Maybe I’ll make you one in Charleston!”
“Pick a day when we’re hangin’ around the house, then, please,” Julian interjected. “I’m not as familiar with all the bathrooms in downtown Charleston as I used to be! Hey, how’s that book comin’, Ben? Looks like you’ve been pretty mesmerized over there, since you’re nap at least!”
“Yeah, you were right. It is fascinating, and all the more so because it’s written by an MD, not a philosopher or one of those ‘new age gurus.’ You know, he’s right—almost all of us tend to think of ourselves as separate people with our own unique personality centered inside our individual body and brain. We think our mind is confined somewhere in our skull behind our eyes. Isn’t that right? Don’t you?”
“Well, I guess I did till I read his book and several others. Being a medical student, you probably haven’t read Michael Grosso, the philosopher, but I’ve got a quote of his right here in my journal. Listen to this,” Julian said as he rifled through his journal to find the quote.
Materialists think that consciousness is either identical with, or a byproduct of, the brain. The consequences are clear. Diminish or destroy brain function and you diminish or destroy consciousness. Verdict on immortality: death of the brain implies death of consciousness; the curtain goes down forever.4
“What Dossey believes, as do I, is that the brain, rather than producing the mind, interacts with it. A second quote I wrote down from Grosso’s book “Soulmaking” is an analogy from electronics.”
A crude analogy with radio and radio waves: the radio does not produce the radio waves; it detects, transmits and filters them. If your radio breaks down, it doesn’t follow that the sounds you’re listening to cease to exist. They just cease to be detectable. An analogy is possible between this and the mind-brain relationship.5
“Yeah, I think Dossey referred to Michael Grosso in his book too. It’s very cool that a doctor is as open-minded as he seems to be. He’s really serious about it too. I dog-eared page 33, which had this statement on it. Listen to this.”
I believe non-locality is one of the most important discoveries humans have ever made. This concept distinguishes the science of the twentieth century from all the science that came before.6
“That’s powerful stuff, Jules! And you were right on, buddy—it does blow me away! This Era III medicine of his adds a whole new dimension to my future role as a physician. It doesn’t replace the mechanistic model of Era I or the psychosomatic model of Era II, but expands their scope. I liked his conclusion that a physician using nonlocal mind AND logic will be more effective than one who uses either alone. You know, when we recognize consciousness as primary, unconfined to the physical body, infinite, and beyond space and time, that opens whole new avenues of healing and of our very concept of death itself. It’s like everything is for us and nothing is against us! There are vast resources available to us that science has never even been aware of before, and beyond that, there really isn’t any death, other than the finiteness of the physical body. I think it’s going to be a really incredible time to be practicing medicine, don’t you, Jules?”
“I think it’s an incredible time to be alive, period!” Julian replied without hesitation. “You know, Dossey’s Golden Rule of Era III Medicine, ‘Do good unto others because they ARE you,’7 could really transform the planet. I think these sorts of ideas are heralding an upcoming quantum leap forward for our entire civilization. Like I told Ry a couple of months ago at the library, I think the vibrational level of the whole planet is about to increase, bringing us to new levels of awareness and healing. I’m really glad you picked up that book, Ben!”
“Yeah, me too. Just a quirk of fate, really. There was this girl, Mariah something-or-other, daughter of some hot-shot scientist at PSU, I think, that gave a lecture on quantum physics in our biochemistry class the other day. She recommended it, and I went over to the PSU bookstore and picked up a copy. Would never have even heard of it otherwise.”
“Was that girl’s last name Quitan, by any chance?” Julian asked, looking a bit surprised.
“You know, I think it might have been…father’s name started with an M too—Mazen Quitan, yeah, that’s it! Why?”
“Dude, where have you been? Don’t you remember all that stuff in the paper about skinheads burning their home and attempting to rape the girl? An anti-Muslim sort of thing. Lawyers had fun with that one—and THEN, after her lawyer won the case and the creeps were going to jail where they belong, she dropped the charges before the judge sentenced them. I can’t believe you don’t remember all that!”
“Oh, it’s not that unusual,” Ben replied. “I have no TV and almost never read the paper. A whole lot of things happen that I never know anything about. Too busy with med school to be dragged down with all that crap.”
“Well, that young lady turned you on to a book that may well change your entire career. And how weird is this? I’m reading “The Quantum Universe,” written by none other than the father, Mazen Quitan!”
“Wow, that is weird,” Ben agreed. “So what happened to the thugs she liberated?”