Mel Hopkins

I forgot I added AALBC to my warnerbros mediapass list of platforms. When I went to update my profile today, I went to add it, AALBC.com popped up. It's either an already recognized site or I made it one. Warnerbros.mediapass offers videos, photos, news releases on all their upcoming movies - they also host media junket Q & A... I keep active on the site to see if there are any black movies or black actresses I'd like to feature and promote. All this to say, we writers/journalists can also post enterprising stories on our own site and submit to aalbc for possible publication too!

Look at 4 visitors coming here from TheLeadStory.org! One of my favorite links to AALBC from The LeadStory is the AALBC book event widget! Every author with a website should at the very least use the AALBC calendar of literary events widget. It is the one widget that promotes other authors, literary events and keeps one abreast of national literary events throughout the year. I just noticed an upcoming event in Jamaica.

"see" is an interesting way to describe energy - I did "see" too but what "saw" wasn't with my eyes. It was more like "seeing" motion in which all were represented. Yes as @Delano mentioned sort of like the sea of tranquilty that spoke as one. Speaking of which, another thing I brought back with me was the ability to use my sense of "feel"... so I wonder if those claims are more that they are able to "feel" their deceased relatives - Like @Cynique mentioned "Words fail us in this dimension. Agreed. It seems magick and spirituality are connected though. My mom said she saw herself hovering over her body. It was during a time she was grieving for my father. Also it wasn't her first time experiencing a projection . When she was younger she saw a man sitting on the wall in her room She said her own projection scared her and I think she willed herself to never allow it happen again. I have a feeling we can literally do all these things but choose against it. In a way, it makes sense how grieving loved ones can follow the one who preceded them in death. The "Give up the ghost" idiom must have started with this type of transition.

I don't think you are. It feels like you are helping us remember to enrich our own property. For example, would I cut my neighbors grass' and allow my lawn to be overrun? Why would allow my property value to decrease and risk a fine? I wouldn't. I'd take care of my property which in turn helps the neighborhood! There are so many abandoned black-owned website's that we've turned the "black web" into a ghetto. Everyone ran to the suburbs of Twitter, Medium and Facebook. But I digress. Mostly, I've been pressing articles that I like to two of my 3 websites and adding my own commentary. I sometimes share articles and info through twitter. I'm on google plus, twitter and I have 5 followers/likes on my facebook "page" (pages can only communicate with pages). I share my blog posts through those platforms and I post directly on my AALBC profile status because I don't have an aalbc social sharing button. When I wrote the commentary/review for "Severed" I linked to @VL Towler's website and her book on Amazon (I'm finally an amazon associates) ... I share aalbc.com discussions on my websites (melhopkins.com/theleadstory.org) and through twitter. AALBC brings traffic to my site as does other websites. In fact, I really like to see that I get traffic from other independent websites. It encourages me to leave my comments on their websites with my website address. As long as the website and its blog remains active I continue to get referrals. The cool thing is I actually took my melhopkins.com website down for a bit. When I put it up on wordpress.com I noticed I was still getting traffic from those websites! As for as searches, yes, SEO is still the best. TheLeadStory.org which is hosted through wordpress.org still gets the most traffic from google and would you believe the second highest is traffic from baidu (the search engine based in Beijing, Peoples Republic of China) ? Maybe you can tell me why? The LeadStory.org is focused on black media consumption and anything related to black community activism through the arts. Also can you answer why is my traffic higher on wordpress.org hosted website than wordpress.com hosted website? Thank you for reading. You touched on a topic that really excites and interest me.

If I believed there was such a thing as unknowable - ^ THIS would go in that category! I agree because when I was out of my body... I "traveled" with my consciousness. I was "me" traveling to a "place"... I conversed with THE ALL in the space I call the "Aether" ... but that place was not a location.

Thank you for the reminder!!!

@Cynique Poetry! I can absolutely relate to this scenario! It's beautiful and definitely explains some of the activities in my dreams!

@Troy, As a former high-flying flight attendant for 8 years, I learned one thing about death in this dimension - you can be dead as a door nail for hours or until your flight lands and pulls into the gate but as far as the state is concerned you are "alive". Next time you hear of someone being unresponsive but on the way to the hospital ... that means they've left earth as we know it but no one in authority has pronounced them dead. Death here in America is a legal term - but when you give up the ghost that's an esoteric ... Yes, my soul departed my body... when they joined together again I was lying on the street in the arms of an angel who happened to be a nurse... How wild is that? She actually cradled my body and when I returned I heard her say "Come back to me, baby. Come back" The next thing I remember was being in the hospital having an ear reattached, my face sewn up and a doctor talking to my mother and stepfather. It was all surreal but not is surreal is being among the dearly departed... Another reason I know I "eft" is because when I returned I was able to occupy several dimensions and the ability remains. (I say dimensions for a lack of a better definition because really there's no here or there...there's only here and now. I believe so too!

I do as well! I bookmarked the senators's website to follow up. And yes, I think pursuing direct advertising is the best and allow google and amazon to supplement!

Now this is wonderful news! I was reading something today, not sure what but "magical key" was in the text... so, thank you!

That's just it! We are NOT locked into this particular timeline. We choose to be. And yes but it wasn't near... I was a goner but returned. I guess my body was viable enough to inhabit it once again. My experience in eternity was nothing like you described especially "time" because there isn't any. Yes we all remain who we are but there is a oneness so there's no need to individuate in eternity. Or maybe it's not possible while you're in eternity because you are ONE... Some people say my earthly perception of what eternity would be like influenced my experience but it did not. I grew up in the church - fire-brimstone church and when I returned to the ONE it was nothing like preachers talk about - NOTHING... Prior to my death. I was heavily in to magic spells and casting - when I returned, I didn't anymore. I became extremely interested in life , and experiencing it while searching for that feeling - that wholeness, completeness or agreement that I felt when I was in eternity... The weird thing though when I was there, I said I had to go back because I had something to do - and as quickly as I said I had to go back... I was back here.

I explore etymology in the essay I wrote about "unknowable"... Medieval magicians practicing sorcery were versed in Latin and used it in their spells. We must be mindful of our words.

Beautiful!!!!

@Troy Somehow, I get the feeling you're with me on unknowable tip - unknown is different from unknowable - But once again, this discussion board inspired another blog post...Maybe I will start up a blog here too just so I can provide commentary to our discussions! Here's the The Unknowable got you under a spell

been there, done that... got the scars to prove it...

contemplation allows us to "know" a thing. It's the nature of that thing that is not yet known or as you put it, tested, proven or observed... But lack of these things but especially observation doesn't make a concept or element unknowable. For example, before the quark was a concept - it was an unknown. Then it became a known because of what existed along with the particle - but still no one knew the nature of the particles. Now physicist have figured out its nature but guess what? No one has ever observed it! So how do you know that you aren't observing the very thing you are contemplating. It's like existing in 4th dimension, until you can see it, you can't. What is unknowable may be your perception of the thing. Therefore, the concept of "unknowable" is a mental construct... So my question as always "who does it benefit to create a construct for "unknowable" elements? " I know right? These effing people with their politricks I have another one article that blew me away... It's a subculture , I had no clue existed but is a society unto itself.

ARGGGH... the imagery!!! LOL! This is an awesome cautionary tale that there are no shortcuts...Thank you for sharing!

Ask ... as with every mystery, my approach is to ask questions, seek answers and knock on the door that may contain them. Consciousness is an interesting subject but not one I choose to investigate at this time. If it were though,that would be my approach.

Isn't the challenge to be around those who don't share your philosophy and allow them to observe you in action. I've always found that no amount of words will change the life of someone who has no concept of how life could be beyond her/his stoop (or front porch)

@Delano Full disclosure: As Troy mentioned, IRL means "in real life". The "giggler" part means I giggle a lot. I see pictures and images when I read words. So when I read comments or hear what others say - a movie plays in my head. When You said Cynique was a Magus I saw her walking around in full garb of purple and gold turban and robes, they were heavy because she appears to be petite. Troy going up against google was actually me seeing him spar with the google logogram "Google" and it had eyes. When you mentioned taking 1 percent, I saw you in the McDonald's hamburgler costume .... and you'd appear out of nowhere to get your cut. So that's the rest of the story - I giggle a lot because I don't see words or "letters", I see images and motion pictures.

I'm in the camp that once we contemplate a concept, it is no longer unknowable. It is the beginning of the journey to understand its nature. Consciousness is not unknowable because we know of it. We've even named it. Now to understand it, takesus to another stage of investigation.

I'm a giggler IRL and every time I read a comment like this one- I crack up!

I wrote in the other thread about spiritual enlightenment. Maybe that's a misnomer because it's more like spiritual re-enlightening. Spirituality, for me is simply remembering the ancient energy that animates all things, also resides in me. If I had to describe it, it would be like one eternal flame that lights all the candles on a birthday cake... I honor that flame in all living things. As far as the spirit is concerned since I'm fascinated with the etymology of words, I believe spirit is exactly how its defined: spiritus which means breath. From the Latin word "inspirare” from which we get the word inspire means "to breathe life or blow into"... I like to believe that the spirit is that ancient energy that's not created or destroyed it just changes form and it is that breath which animates our bodies with what many call the soul. When our bodies are worn out or destroyed, the energy that is “us” continues on. The spirit is that thing that's omniscient and has a small voice but speaks with temerity and speaks first in all matters of our daily life.

LOL... stop playing... they don't teach that stuff in college! As I'm reading Troy's stuff - I wish he'd go on tour! This is straight lecture-circuit content in the age of Intellectual Property!

unknowable or not able to prove?