Enjoy part two of our interview with Mister Cool, himself.
Me: So you shared some of your thoughts during your transition. Can you describe your surroundings upon crossing? Wait, actually, when you were standing over your body, you may not have realized you had crossed over. Can you tell me your thoughts when you realized you were in the afterlife and also describe your surroundings?
James: I realized I had crossed over when I was clearly looking at my body and I wasn’t in it. I knew it wasn’t right; I wasn’t afraid of it; I wasn’t trying to get back into it, but as I tried to become more involved in the accident, the further and further away it became. I was being pulled or called to something else. I didn’t have bright lights; I didn’t have, uh, archangel music.
Jamie (giggling): He’s kind of laughing at himself!
James: It just came to a point where whatever I was thinking in my head was coming to me immediately.
Me: Yeah, thought creates reality immediately over there.
James: So, I knew that something greater had to be at play.
Me: Was it your destiny to die when and how you did? If so, why?
James: It had to have been.
Jamie: He’s kind of rubbing his thumb on the inside of his fingers.
James: I don’t exactly know what I contributed except that I became the poster boy for what the youth needed at that time—to not always follow the rules and to not listen so we could evolve as a culture, as a community. I have to believe that maybe this was what I was there to create—this jumpstart or coming out of—
Me: The cage of rules?
James: Yes, the Leave It to Beaver family.
Me: Yes, and I bet that Quaker upbringing provided you with the contrast or duality you needed to plant the seed of rebellion in you.
James: It’s crazy.
Me: Can you describe your afterlife? What does it look like and what do you do there?
(Pause)
Jamie (to James): Did you really just say that?
Erik: Yes, he really said that, Jamie!
Jamie: Random! Okay, he likes to associate with other people who have similar abilities to his, and he is identifying Lady Gaga as one of them.
Me: That makes perfect sense. Now, what do you have to do with Lady Gaga? Are you a muse of some sort for her and others?
James: I give them guidance. I don’t claim to be anything great as a musician but I’m more of an independent, free-thinker, free lover. I’m not so much attracted to the hippie style version.
Jamie (after James corrects her): Era, thank you. Not version, but era. I don’t know why it’s so hard to keep his words, because he just kind of mumbles, then talks clearly, then takes a left turn, then a right turn!
Me: It must be hard! I don’t know how you do it when they’re just speaking straight and measured.
Jamie (laughing): He’s really interesting to talk to, but I find that I have to use more of my own words this time.
Me: It’s okay. As long as we get the gist! So you’re a muse, basically?
James: Yes.
Me: Do you live in a house, float around in the ethers or what?
James: I live in a house.
Me: Tell me more about your afterlife.
James: I’m energetically at peace; I have a good time. I love protecting national forests and preserving nature, animals, wild mustangs. That’s something I’m so attracted to, the old cowboy culture, even though I never was one. I think maybe that’s why I have such a fond memory of my childhood, because we had a lot of involvement with nature itself.
Me: Oh, good! Can you tell me what insights you gained once you crossed over into the afterlife?
James (chuckling): Humans make a lot of rules!
Me: Mm hmm!
James: If we all knew that, and if we knew that it was manmade—
Me: It’s just so arbitrary sometimes.
James: Yes, but if we knew that, we’d be able to cut ourselves a little slack and feel a little bit more free.
Me: Well, Lady Gaga certainly does that, so you’ve taught her well!
Jamie (giggling): He puts both hands on the table and says, “Thank you.” He’s not that tall.
Me: Now, what were you here to learn and teach?
James: What I was here to learn is personal to me, not so much on a greater scale. It was authority versus religion. I know you’re about to ask me if I achieved it, and I feel like I failed on both attempts. But in my failure, now that I’m here, I’ve learned so much more, because I wasn’t grounded or chastised for not being who I should have been.
Me: What do you mean by authority versus religion? I think of them in the same way. I mean, religion is often such an authoritative force.
James: I’ve always wanted to believe that religion was this belief in this beauty that was created inside of us. You know, we hold it inside of our hearts.
Jamie: Oh, what he’s describing sounds more like faith or belief like intuition.
Me: Spirituality.
Jamie: Yeah, spirituality.
Me: Oh, not organized religion. I got it.
James: Yes, that’s it. Authority versus spirituality. You know we really didn’t have that word back then.
Me: Oh, yeah, that’s true!
Jamie: Yeah! I forgot about that!
Me: And you were here to teach us to let go of the rules? To loosen up a little bit, right?
James: It’s surprising that, um, yes.
Jamie: See! He loops back, comes back like, “Yes, what you said, yes.”
Jamie and I laugh.
James: But it’s surprising that you think every life has something to teach for the greater cause.
Me: Well, it can be personal, too. You can teach one person something. It doesn’t have to be for all of humanity, but so often, those in the limelight DO have something to teach all mankind or a large section of humanity.
Jamie: Erik is taller than James Dean.
Me (giggling): You and your fascination with heights, Jamie! I guess that comes from you being so shrimpy!
Jamie laughs.
Jamie; How tall is Erik.
Me: Around 5’ 8”. Not very tall.
Jamie: Cuz I’m 5’4”. Does Erik’s hair give him height? (She giggles)
Me: I god, it sure does, especially when it was long and unruly, which was about 99% of the time.
Jamie (laughing): He doesn’t look that short to me!
Me (chuckling): Well, are you counting his feet? They don’t have feet, right?
(Jamie had indicated some time ago that she rarely sees a spirit’s feet.)
Me: I’m just kidding.
Jamie: That’s true, I normally don’t see feet, but sometimes they’re there. But Mr. Dean is not a big guy.
Me: Okay. SO, do you have any regrets, Mr. Dean?
James: Just irrational ones.
Jamie: He’s talking about being closer to his mom.
(Long pause)
Me: Okay, anything else?
Jamie: No, that’s the only thing he mentioned.
Me: That’s fine. So, what past life most affected your last one.
Jamie (laughing): Erik said, “What, the orangutan?”
Me: Oh, no!
Jamie: Who was that that messed with us?
Me: Oh, yeah. Freddie Mercury!
Jamie: Freddie Mercury, Oh my god; that was so funny.
James: (laughing): No, it wasn’t animal. I was a father of three, two girls, one boy. Married.
Jamie: He looks Asian. I’m asking him where in Asia. Mu, mem; it starts with an ‘M.”
Me: Malaysia, maybe?
Jamie: No, Malaysia doesn’t—oh, this is so bad. Don’t put this down anywhere. Do they have slanted eyes? Do Malaysians have that?
Me: I’m sure they do. They’re Asian.
Jamie: I don’t know these things, but Malaysian sounds right and it’s about the right length of sound.
James: In my business, I dealt with special stones, crystals—
Me: Like precious gems?
Jamie: He’s showing me how he polished them, so it’s gotta be in terms of jewelry making—definitely for special occasions.
Me: Oh!
James: We weren’t a culture that had a lot of it or really felt the need to have it.
Me: Are you talking about opals? I don’t know what they have there, but—
(Pause)
Me: Well, let me ask you this: Was it meant to be a material possession or were they for some spiritual reason?
James: Yes. It could be used in that way as well.
Me: Okay.
James: But it was definitely for a personal possession. And I remember being so attracted, so in love with what I did. I had such a big passion for it that I became an expert in the field. No schooling, nothing like that. The skill was handed down to me. I remember spending a large part of my life, once we had a son, deciding how we were going to convince him how to like the things I liked so he could eventually take over everything.
Me: Mm.
James: So, I pushed and I forced. My only focus in life was to make sure he would do the same thing I did. But, there was this one moment that changed me. My son came up to speak to me—
Jamie: It looks like back room. It doesn’t look big at all. Almost the size of a closet.
James: He came to me, tears in his eyes, and he asked if he could speak honestly to me.
Jamie: Wait, I have to let this bug out.
James: And when he cried to me, I fell apart on the inside. I said nothing to him. I thanked him for having the courage. I spent the next weeks upon weeks grieving that everything that I wanted wasn’t going to come true.
Me: Oh, yeah.
James: I didn’t know how to handle my own son! Do I force him? Do I not? And it took me—
Jamie: He kind of smiles and nods his head.
James: —three or four months before I responded to him. Can you imagine three to four months of silence?
Me: Oh my gosh!
James: I was so careful. I did not want to break him. I knew that was most important, but I was so devastated. I came back to him and I told him that he may do as he wishes; what I finally figured out was that I wanted my son to love something as much as I did.
Me: A very powerful realization.
James: And it didn’t have to be the same thing.
Jamie (with a tremble in her voice): He’s really emotional about it, too. It’s choking me up a little bit.
Me: Aw.
Jamie: He’s not crying or anything, but he keeps pausing.
James: It was profound for me, because I never saw how much a parent influences a child until then.
Me: So that all has to do with loosening up the preset rules and regulations, especially those born out of cultural tradition?
James: Yes.
Me: What was your proudest accomplishment?
James: Being successful.
Me: Okay. And has that changed not that you have a different point of perspective in the afterlife?
James: I guess not so much. That’s a goal of anyone on earth. I was very young when I found my success, so it was quite amazing.
Me: Yes, it was! Now, how would you define success?
James: For me on earth, I defined it in terms of money, finances as well as independence.
Me: Okay. Do you have any messages for anyone or for humanity as a whole?
James (smiling): Now I did NOT expect that question!
Me (chuckling): It’s a bonus question! You get two extra points.
Jamie (giggling): That makes him laugh! He kind of slaps his hands down.
James (looking at Erik): Okay, is the timer on?
Jamie (laughing): Erik’s doing the, uh, Jeopardy thing!
Jamie mimics the Jeopardy music played while the contestant is writing down his or her answer
Jamie: They’re both finding a lot of humor in it!
James: I would want people to know that—
(Long pause)
Jamie (to James): Okay. (Pause) No, let’s just talk it out.
Jamie (to me): He goes, “Does it have to be in a sentence?”
James: What I would want people to know is this: Even through being rigid and strong, you cannot weather the weather. The wind will break you. The storms will snap you in half.
Me: So true. You gotta roll with the punches, as they say.
James: And much will be lost, lots of emotional angst and confusion will result. But being soft and limp won’t help you grow to the sky, towards heaven. There has to be a careful balance between strength and fluidity in order to create a life worth living.
Me: Wow! Pretty amazing and profound, Mr. Dean.
Jamie: I want that on a t-shirt!
Me: I know! Me too! So, Erik, any questions for him? You know he likes fast cars, so…
Erik (laughing): Don’t you think it’s a little inappropriate to talk about sports cars with him?
Me: Sorry, Mr. Manners. But you liked fast cars, too!
(Pause)
Jamie (laughing): They are discussing between themselves the B-bugatti.
Me: Bugatti? Yeah, okay.
Jamie: That’s a vehicle, right?
Me: Yep.
Jamie: I heard Lamborghini—I know that one—a 1991 Lamborghini versus some ’88 version of a Ferrari. They’re talking, um, tech.
Me: Oh, god. Okay.
Jamie: Like cc’s or something?
Me: Erik liked anything with a fast engine!
Jamie: What’s a cc?
Me: Cubic centimeter of engine volume, maybe the cylinders, I don’t know. You can ask him!
Jamie: They’re still kind of laughing and talking about it. Now they’re shaking hands.
Erik: It’s really cool to talk to you. Thanks for coming by.
James: My pleasure! Thanks for—
Jamie: Ah! “Thanks for setting up my date for me. ”So they must have talked prior to the session, and that’s why he got up and said, “Dean!”
Me: Oh, okay. That makes sense! All right, well thank you Mr. Dean. It is a pleasure to meet you.
James: Yes ma’am. Take care. Thanks for listening to me today.
Me: You’re most welcome.
Jamie (giggling): Ah, he’s gone.
Me: That was very cool!
Jamie: Yeah, I would love to have that on a shirt! I can’t remember it right now; it’s totally out of my head, but I want it!
I found this last interview with James Dean shockingly ironic and sad.
