May 1 – May 17, 2013
Dearest One,
In Installment #72, we talked a little bit about the ‘wrongful death’ lawsuit that at that time (March 22 through March 29, 2013) was impending. Well, the hearing of that lawsuit is no longer impending; it’s here. The jury has been selected and the trial has begun.
Yes, I remember. We decided that we would use the same tactics for this trial as we had used in the trial of Conrad Murray.
Yes, and in Installment #73, I mentioned that a bunch of friends had joined me in my visualization practice and that we had adopted white feathers as a visual symbol of our solidarity with your mother and children – a sort of visual aid to our meditations and non-denominational spiritual practices. Similar to the trial of Conrad Murray, this visualization has grown into a global grass roots movement with your children from around the globe joining in to shield and protect your family, to sweep away the self-interest and greed from the courthouse building, to infuse this civil trial with the blinding light of truth and to restore your good name and reputation from whatever tarnish is flung during … or surrounding … the court sessions.
In order to visualize the restoration of your good name, we are imagining your name in place of the Hollywood sign in huge, golden letters sitting atop the hillside in Los Angeles. Like ants, we are swarming all over the beautiful letters, polishing their sheen with light-infused, white, soft rags until they almost glow from within … restoring their luster, removing the tarnish and dirt and renewing their sparkling purity.
I love that! Oooo, that tickles! [Michael chuckles.]
Several of our social network site groups, including Major Love Prayer, Call for Love, Dancing the Divine and Michael’s Circle of Love to name just a few … have joined in a daily spiritual practice at exactly the same hour of the day worldwide (11:00 AM Pacific Time on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 9:00 AM Pacific Time on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) aimed at refocusing our intention from reacting to whatever ugliness is alleged with anger or resentment … to creating a more positive and productive outcome. With faith and an infusion of love and light, we know we will overcome any negative testimonies aimed at diminishing your legacy and minimize the consequences that may be the results of such testimonies, while, at the same time, easing our discomfort and feelings of resentment.
You guys are so AWESOME! Thank you for your loyalty. Thank you for your love and support. Thank you for continuing to hear me and for putting my messages to work in your world. No artist ever had fans like you and I love you all from the bottom of my heart.
You know, this trial is not just about money; it goes much, much further than that. What is this trial really about? Is it just about money … or is it an attempt to discover the truth? Is it about fixing ‘blame’ … or is it about deciding where corporate ‘responsibility’ ends and human ‘responsibility’ begins? When seen from a larger perspective, it’s not about me, at all, even though every newspaper in the world will be calling it the Michael Jackson Wrongful Death trial. I’m just a ‘bit player’ … ‘an extra’ … a ‘walk-on.’ What’s really at stake here?
When seen through a broader lens, this trial goes to the very heart and soul of humanity … the very foundation of our society. It goes to our FOCUS … as individuals and as a collective on this planet. What is our current cultural ‘agreement,’ the one to which we are all subject?
What do you mean?
Well, here, let me give you a ‘for instance.’ Once during an interview with Barbara Walters, she asked me, “Is it a journalist’s job to be kind?” I was stunned speechless at the question. I was always taught … and believe from the bottom of my heart … it’s EVERYONE’S JOB TO BE KIND … from President’s of Fortune 500 corporations to street people and everyone in between. Do you agree with that statement?
Absolutely!
Is that ideal being lived every day in big cities and small towns across this country? Is it that concept with which our nations are governed … our religions are practiced … our children are educated? Is that our society’s normal?
Um, no, Beloved. While those are the precepts still being taught from every pulpit in the country, I’m afraid that outside of the church and Sunday school setting they don’t hold a whole lot of weight. It seems that the ideals and values that we all grew up with have been superseded by expediency.
Exactly! It used to be that certain questions … and behaviors … were not discussed openly in public out of respect for something called ‘common decency’ and the right to an individual’s privacy. In this sense, the word ‘common’ was meant to convey that this was a universally-agreed-upon value and its definition, while not written in law, was still a binding contract (similar to the meaning of the same word when used in the term ‘common law marriage’.) This was the ‘cultural agreement’ by which our society was run and there was no ambiguity about the meaning of the phrase ‘common decency’ because everyone from the President of the local bank to the janitor at the school agreed to its meaning. Is that standard still applied in our advanced society?
No, Michael … a cursory review of your life as well as recent news stories would tend to indicate otherwise.
Right!
You and I must make a pact.
We must bring salvation back.
Where there is love
I’ll Be There
This is what I was doing here on earth. This was my mission – to remind everyone that we are all one … that what hurts one hurts all … that we are one big family of love.
It’s everyone’s job to be kind.
It’s everyone’s job to be concerned about the poor.
It’s everyone’s job to nurture our children.
It’s everyone’s job to be protective of the planet.
It’s everyone’s job to lift up the downtrodden.
It’s everyone’s job to encourage us all to make our dreams come true.
It’s everyone’s job to heal the world.
We are all in this together.
The culture in which we currently live is a culture based on “me, me, me” … on greed, selfishness, narcissism, racism, acquisition, power, and in this culture ‘the end justifies the means.’
“If it advances my career, there are no holds barred. If it makes millions of dollars, sells millions of papers, makes millions of headlines … why should it matter if it destroys a person’s life? That’s not my job. It’s not my responsibility. Human life is not my concern. I’m in business to make money. That’s all that matters. Let someone else be goody-goody-two-shoes. I’m gonna get mine while I can!”
Even truth is an expendable commodity in favor of sensationalism and is bought and sold on the auction block with multiple-zero-paychecks. The tabloid industry admitted this 1994. You watched it back then; you heard their admission; you have it on videotape. Would you put that quote here?
Of course, Mon Ange, I’d be happy to:
“It doesn’t matter if it’s true as long as we can PAY someone enough to SAY it’s true.”
[Frontline Special, PBS, February, 1994, Tabloid Truth: The Michael Jackson Scandal]
Mon Ange? Woohooo! I love it! You’re going cosmo on me! [Michael laughs.]
That’s the one. Thanks. In our current culture, success is measured by the level of our acquisition instead of the truth and pleasure and joy we bring to our work or the good we do in the process.
This is true not only of the publishing industry but of all industry … the entertainment industry, government, education and, even, religion. Just as all the events in my life, this trial, whatever other results arise, will show the lengths to which a corporate entity will go to acquire money, position and power. It will offer each and every person who is paying attention an opportunity to align themselves (or agree) with the concepts upon which this society is currently founded at the expense of truth, justice, kindness, human rights, decency or the welfare of the planet upon which we all depend for our survival … or to choose a kinder, more humane, more respectful of human dignity, more responsible, more productive, more balanced … and, in the long run, more profitable way to live our lives.
The outcome of this trial is really immaterial. Whichever side wins … and whichever side loses … what’s important is the answer to the question, “how do you want to align your focus and intention?”
What kind of world do you want to live in? Do you want to continue to live in a world where a lie results in fifteen minutes of fame, a booking on a national television program and a few dollars? Is it okay to invade a person’s privacy as long as you get the story first? Is it acceptable to chase a car to get a few pictures even if it results in the deaths of the car’s occupants? Is it all right to stand outside a mangled vehicle and snap pictures of a dying woman rather than trying to help her? Can we continue to consume natural resources without reaping the consequences of our shortsightedness? Should we invade another sovereign country to prevent them from striking against us first, even if we have … and can find … no proof that they ever intended to strike us first?
Where is the line drawn between acceptable and unacceptable that we can all agree to?
These are the kinds of questions that will be raised during this trial. Our responses to them will determine the way our world will go for the next several years. This is not just about me and the O2 concerts. It’s much bigger than that. The stakes are much, much higher and far longer-lasting.
This country was founded on the principles that all are created equal … that all have inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness … that all have the right to privacy … that all are presumed to be innocent unless and until they are convicted of a crime by a jury of their peers. These are ideals that are instilled in our children in schools across this nation, but the examples they see from the adults around them differ greatly from the principles they are being taught. Children are not stupid and it’s important to realize that they learn much more from our example than by any words we speak.
Am I my brother’s keeper? My answer is “yes” … and I tried, always, to live my life by those values and ideals as much as I was humanly able. I learned that from my mother, the same mother who has filed this lawsuit.
AEG’s answer is “No, we’re not responsible for anyone’s health. We promote concerts. This is business. The aim of all business is profit. There’s nothing wrong with that. We’ve done our job. If he died, it’s not our fault. It’s his fault.” And they will do everything they can to prove that … lie, cheat, bribe, threaten … because the “end justifies the means.” As long as they walk away with their assets intact, they don’t care about anything else. Is that the world you want to live in? Does the end justify the means?
Those are the questions that will be asked … not out loud by the judge or lawyers … the jurors will not be asked to rule on the question … much more quietly and with more subtlety … in hearts and minds and souls that have been awakened. More importantly, what’s your answer? Think about it.
Free 5/16/03
I won’t have to think too long, Beloved. I know which I would choose … and have chosen.
Yes, I didn’t think it would take you long. When I saw the schedule of the dates of the O2 concerts, my heart just sank because I knew in that moment how much of a commodity I had become. I knew I was not a person of any consequence to them; nor was I an artist with any value beyond their own greed. I knew that I was a ‘performing machine’ that they felt they could wind up and turn loose.
I knew that if I lived through these shows, it would be a miracle. They had scheduled a show every other day (for the most part). Only one day between shows to rest. Thankfully, I wouldn’t be traveling between time zones, but with my history of insomnia when touring, my inability to achieve an acceptable level of relaxation after a performance due to the adrenalin coursing through my veins, my inability to eat and its resultant customary weight loss, the level of exertion I put into a live performance, I would have been in a hospital within a week … two at the most! A schedule of performances like that was homicide … and I knew it the moment I saw the schedule. It was very clear that they didn’t care if I lived through the schedule; they would still rake in HUGE profits. Of course, that added to my already serious stress level and fear.
I would never have agreed to it to begin with, if I had been consulted. Unlike my previous tours in which I was involved in every stage of preparations, including but not limited to setting the schedule of performance, I allowed my adviser to ‘seal the deal.’ My representative who did agree to this killer schedule (literally) was, like most of my advisers through the years, lining his own pockets and by the time I was informed, the schedule was set and tickets sold and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t have followed this crazy schedule when I was twenty or thirty or forty, let alone when I was fifty after a decade away from the stage. Whoever set up the schedule did so with absolutely no thought for the performers’ health and well-being, not just mine but the dancers’ and band members.’ “It’s business. Their health is not my problem. They’re adults; he’s a big boy. They can take care of themselves. Our job is to put on live concerts. That’s what we do.”
This is an example of what I mean. Do you agree with them? Whether their statement is right or wrong is immaterial. The real question is what is your position? Do you agree that they need not concern themselves with treating their artists fairly and equitably, like human beings with frailties and physical limitations? Do you agree that they need not allow adequate recuperation time between shows? Or do you disagree? Is it, indeed, more profitable to treat their artists like machines or cattle, without even a modicum of common human respect and dignity and with absolutely no concern for their welfare? What is a human life worth in the 21st century?
Or is it, realistically, more profitable, in the long run, to make accommodations for the human frailties of their talent and to allow for their physical limitations? If you agree with their position, what’s the difference between this and slavery? Sure, the paycheck is better, but is that enough to compensate my children for the loss of their father or my mother for the loss of her son?
And, another thing to consider … as if these questions aren’t enough for anyone to chew on for a while … what about the insurance? If AEG is found liable in this trial, their non-performance insurance brokers will have a very strong case to throw out their claim for reimbursement. So, AEG would not only lose whatever compensation the court demands but its insurance in the amount of multi-millions of dollars would not pay out. We’re talking about a considerable chunk of change, here!
This trial will bring all of these issues and polar opposite viewpoints into very concrete, public view very clearly for those who are paying attention. You will be given the opportunity to align your focus and agree or disagree with the ‘societal agreement’ by which this case will be resolved and which will prevail in your society for the next several years.
One of the sideshows of this trial, Michael, will probably shock you and I am hesitant to burden you with knowledge of the events of this past week.
[Michael laughs.] I’m pretty unshockable, at this point. That would have been a good title for a song, wouldn’t it? ‘Unshockable!’ Aaaooowww! I assume you’re referring to Wade.
You know?
Of course, I know … and, surely, this doesn’t surprise you.
Yes, it surprised me and a lot of your children.
Don’t let it distract you and your friends from your visualizations. Infusing love and light and truth into all the circumstances surrounding the AEG trial, including this distraction, is the most important point for your focus for all the reasons we’ve been talking about.
Let me broaden your perspective a little. Let’s look at events in a hypothetical scenario. I’m going to paint a picture for you. Let’s say, just for argument’s sake, that I managed, somehow, against all odds to live through the O2 concerts and that they were out-of-this-world phenomenal in every imaginable way. Let’s say that I spread my messages of love, ecological responsibility, unity and light far and wide across this planet and at the end of the ‘This Is It’ campaign, ALL of the controversy that had gone before was forgotten and Michael Jackson was back on top of the world in every country, on every continent … an even more global phenomenon than he already was, if that’s possible. Let’s say I got to realize my dream of creating and directing films that restated in vivid Technicolor, 3D and Dolby surround sound, those same messages in movie theaters in every small town and large city the world over.
Do you imagine for one moment that the darkness which has opposed human evolution on this planet for centuries untold would have sat still for that? Do you think that it would not have thrown up barriers to stop me achieving that kind of global influence and using it to broadcast those kinds of universal messages? I’m not talking about a personal ‘devil’ or ‘satan.’ We don’t need a personal ‘devil.’ We live in a world of duality … where everything has an opposing force … right/wrong … good/evil … light/darkness … hot/cold … wet/dry … evolution/devolution … force/power. This tension between opposites is intended to provide balance, but it has become unbalanced. So, naturally, in our hypothetical situation, obstacles would have to arise to balance the messages conveyed.
Or, here’s a different hypothetical situation. Let’s imagine for a moment that the O2 shows are about a week away when suddenly the production is brought to a screeching halt by the death of its star. Following the shock and dismay experienced by people all over the world, that artist’s messages are spread in a variety of new releases including films, albums, memorials … statues are erected in far-flung parts of the world … and his children commemorate the day of his passing as well as his birth with pilgrimages and floral displays. His previous releases … albums and films … are re-released in new packaging and enjoy an upsurge in sales and accessibility through technology that had never before been anticipated. His books, which had been marginalized through years of neglect and sensational opportunism, are reprinted, repackaged and re-released. In all of these releases, his message is at the forefront … loud and clear … and the message is consistent across all media … protect the children … take care of the planet … the blood inside of me is inside of you … heal the world … we are the world … love … unity … ecological responsibility … light …“I am my brother’s keeper.” The controversies that surrounded his life have settled down; they’re not forgotten, exactly, but they’re not ‘breaking news’ anymore.
It’s discovered that the man who contributed to his demise was irresponsible and he is serving jail time. An interesting by-product of his trial is an increase in sympathy for the unfortunate artist, but there are still lots of lingering questions to be resolved regarding his death. A new trial is scheduled to attempt to resolve some of those lingering questions and millions of dollars … or more … are at stake. Sympathy for the unfortunate artist is at an all-time high, which would almost guarantee that his messages will fall on fertile ground.
What would you expect to happen? Remember that world of duality that we live in before you answer … the one in which everything has its opposing force. Wouldn’t you expect that the opposing forces of darkness, division, fear, irresponsibility, rampant consumerism, would have to raise barriers against the sympathy with which the artist is being viewed? It stands to reason. The opposing force has to raise eyebrows; it has to shock and dismay; it has to distract from the messages and sympathy and trial being played out. The barrier has to have ‘breaking news’ potential to balance the sympathy with which the artist is being viewed in order to cast sufficient doubt on the message he has always trumpeted from the rafters.
Doesn’t another betrayal, especially by a good friend, hurt you?
No. I’m beyond pain’s reach.
Immortality’s my game
From Bliss I came
In Bliss I am sustained
To Bliss I return
If you don’t know it now
It’s a shame
Are you listening?
What I do feel is compassion for anyone who ‘turns his back on the love and just can’t get it again.’ I’ve done that, which we discussed in the last couple of dialogs. You’ve done that, which we talked about at length in early dialogs. The reasons don’t matter. The fact is it’s a turning away from the light of love … and it’s difficult, once you’ve closed that door, to find the way back through.
While you are visualizing, perhaps you could spare a thought to returning him to the light of love. But don’t let the ‘opening act’ distract you from the ‘concert’ playing out in the courtroom. It’s the main event.
Well, all I know is that news like your children received last week would have immobilized me for weeks, if I didn’t have a way to plug myself back into that light of love. So, once again, I have to thank you, Beloved, for getting me through what could have turned out to be a very difficult time. I’m not saying I’m out of the woods, or even that the worst is over, but I am so grateful to you for helping me to discover a way to deal with external events internally that is not destructive or immobilizing … that does not contribute more negativity to an already wholly negative situation … that does not increase my fear for you or my own sickness over anger and resentment. In being drawn by you, and drawing you in return, I find that all the distractions of the outer world are minimized and my recovery from the shock of events proceeds much more quickly and painlessly. I am so very grateful.
God bless you! And I love you more. This one is really good!
Jan – May 17, 2013
[Note regarding drawing: This drawing is my version of an absolutely stunning drawing by Mimi O’Garren. Mimi is a beautiful friend and contributed her version of the drawing to my book Conversations: Volume I. I had always loved it and since discovering my new absorption in drawing and painting, had attempted to duplicate her drawing myself. The drawing posted in Installment #75 is my most recent attempt. My thanks to my beautiful friend, Mimi, for her generosity in contributing it to Conversations and for allowing me to post it here.]
Withachildsheart's Blog 