Secondly, we dont have any kind of communal living. According to one brochure, which invites me to experience the miracle of spiritual growth and to climb the stairway to spiritual freedom, Eckankar membership is said to be renewable on a yearly basis. Rebazar Tarzs, yeah, that Rebazar Tarzs. I ask, How do you account for Eckankars success? Eckankar uses two things that everybody has to have. Paul was an avid reader. Due to eckankar's policy that one not ever request initiations, many suffer in silence, sensing justifiably that something isn't quite right, yet fear to even ask about the possibility of an error. Why do you make a point of fingering Eckankar?, I do think Christianity has fucked up more people in its history than Eckankar ever has. A few months later Gross and Twitchells widow married, sending more ripples of confusion throughout the fold. Nobody wins, so we just let it sit there. We were suddenly in a marketplace with lots of bright burgundy-colored carpets. Theyve made an open-eyed decision. Theres contradictions and scandals in every religion, Christianity included. Recently I have had a spiritual crisis where I stopped believing in the concept of the Abrahamic God. They fade out clean and quietly. If I had a really good arm, I could have thrown a baseball up the hill, without gravity, and maybe hit his house., Did you know this before you moved there?, We drive over and park a few blocks from the beach, in front of a posh, two-story wooden house with a cobblestone drive, surrounded by Torrey pines. And I saw into the vast soft interior of the universe which was slowly and gently turning itself inside out. Eckankar then threatened Gruss with a $2.5 million lawsuit for publishing Peebless paper, for making a photocopy of it. With only a post office box and an answering service to connect me to him, Lane seems as slippery as Houdini. This is not the type of individual who was looking for riches he didnt dress well, he didnt have a lot of possessions or anything. Eckankar got wind of the new edition, and their lawyers began corresponding with Garland. There was music and noise and clamor, and I turned to look at my friend. In the meantime, Lane graduated from Northridge, visited India, and enrolled at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where in 1979 he met Brian Walsh. I'm a former member of this cult, in America. In her Golden-Tongued Wisdom, Rosanne continues to sing, A cold hard rain comes pouring down. Gail Atkinson, who has long since broken with Eckankar, is said to live in wealthy seclusion in Palm Springs. James Peebles, an Eckist and fellow classmate of Lanes, also wrote a paper on Eckankar. I dont know what that is.. In 1942, after a stint in the Navy, Twitchell moved to New York, where he continued his journalism career, attended many churches, and read extensively on spiritual subjects. In 1978, after five years of study, he was initiated into Radhasoami in India by the late Maharaj Charan Singh. I had heard about this ability to get out of the body, where one can have an internal spiritual experience. Its a bitchin house.. Within two years Klemp fired Gross, accusing him of negativity, spiritual decay, and embezzlement. Because that was my condition if I could just study in the closet, then I would join. Every thriller these days has a false ending and then a real ending, to the point that when I watch a pre-Carrie film, I am disappointed at how easily chaos is defeated. I only accept that thing which I can verify or that thing which I consider to be somewhat genuine. Rebazar Tarzs, she says reverently. Lane does arrive, at one oclock Thursday afternoon, on time to the minute. Man, it was a nasty conversation. Though Eckankar does not try to coerce disillusioned members to remain on the path, Eckists are warned that when they drop out, their spiritual growth stops, and they are at the mercy of the Kal, the negative force of the universe. I imagine we have a wide spectrum. Grosss movements are frail and slow as he removes his dark-blue jacket to reveal a short-sleeved white shirt and tan pants held up with wide red suspenders. I asked what happened to my friend, my childhood master. Eckankar and I finally reached a point where decades of lies, of half truths, of disappointments, finally came to a head. When Paul Twitchell suddenly died in September 1971, he left no word as to who his successor should be. I looked like a little kid. Classic. His critique was instrumental in my dropping out of Eckankar in the early 80s. When I get home, my hosts greet me with a Manhattan. Then his whole manner changed he leaned forward in his chair, his voice emphatically rose and fell. Hes listed in Ripley's Believe It or Not as having sold an article every day. The program Lane and I attend at the Best Western Hanalei is called The Universal Basics of Life Through Music. It costs $35 at the door. Nowhere in any of the Eckankar press materials is Gross mentioned. Eckankar believes that God exists in two parts, the Light and Sound, known as ECK. Theres always been a complete reliance on the individuals own inner guides and not some pre-established protocol that everybody has to operate under. 2023 San Diego Reader. Harold Klemp. The reason I turned my back on Eckankar for good was discovering the plagiarism in their bible, which other Eckists told me was divinely inspired. After Id talked to him for a couple of hours, Jerry said, Dave, why dont you start your own religion? I never thought he was gay until everybody said, 'Heilo-o, looks like he likes you a little too much, Dave. One of his major disciples, Victor Toso, later revealed that he had kind of a quasicrush on me., Did John-Roger ever make any moves on you?, I was flattered that here was a spiritual master who was spending hours with me instead of dissing me or suing me. My family is full of attorneys. Disillusioned Eckists left the movement in droves. Everybody has a right to pursue whatever interest they have. Eckankar has members in over 120 countries around the world, and its teachings have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. Everybody Ive ever talked to who knows Gail says shes a very sharp person. May the Force be with you.). Hired at the height of the Covid pandemic, Parkway softball coach Eva Burley has left her position to return to Texas to care for her father, who has been diagnosed with ALS. I had the following experience, I was taken back to the crucifixion. Recently I have had a spiritual crisis where I stopped believing in the concept of the Abrahamic God. They were dressed up in suits. Moreover, a free left arm could be used to deflect spear strikes in combat. And they looked at me like, Whats this geek doing? We sat down, and they were really uptight, because they knew the impact of my research. Id really start believing Id had a spiritual experience, Id wake up feeling like, Wow! Eckankar works because it doesnt make you have experiences that are impossible to have., What about soul travel, visiting higher planes of existence? Lane swallows his pizza. But, while his friend Arthur Conan Doyle and other enthusiasts were impressed with the supernatural sideshows of mediums, Houdini, with his vast knowledge of magic techniques, could duplicate the effects. What about Lanes plagiarism charges? I ask. He probably thought my recipe file was written in code and had secret information, or something like that. Its had to be recognized as such in this country to operate as a nonprofit organization. Understand, hes got names coming out of the woodwork., So who do you think Rebazar Tarzs really is?. This is helf to be the sustaining force of all life and the equivalent of the Holy Spirit. Lanes still a member of Kadhasoami, but hes been reluctant to talk about it, beyond mentioning that his guru Charan Singhs death in 1990 has thrown him into a state of crisis. Soul, being a spark of God, is on a journey to find its way home to God, or the Sugmad. The walls are covered with Andrea Zuills dramatically lit oil paintings of monstrous chalky-fleshed zombies. For one, they're saddled with . And just explain that Twitchell covered up his life. The upshot of it was, they didnt do anything.. How would you address that issue?, Richards takes a long, reticent pause before he answers. Around his neck hangs a similar pendant. I need it. Nobody knew hed been married before. The vivid orange-pink horizon stretches on endlessly beneath a nearly full moon. Grosss fastidious avoidance of the copyrighted term Eckankar is noticeably awkward and circuitous. The sound current was very loud. Friday afternoon I visit 22-year veteran of Eckankar Kevin McMahon in his Cardiff home. Understand that if you read the sacred works of all the religions, such as the Bhagavad-Gita, the Bible, or the Koran, youre going to see references almost exactly alike. He tells me a phenomenal story about an American writer and a European writer who, unbeknownst to one another, wrote identical books and sent them to the same publisher. I was confident that soon James would see the light and become a disciple of Eckankar. McMahon seems suspicious of me, so I tell him that my current husband is an Irish Catholic from Long Island and that Im still very much in contact with my former husband, whos a higher initiate of Eckankar like himself. His only interest was getting the message out about the light and sound of God., McMahon doesnt blame anyone for being skeptical. He invited me to his house in Mandeville Canyon, a beautiful house, a mansion. by. With some trepidation, I return to San Diego, exhausted from two months immersion in religion. He was kind of dark complexioned. Murdochs obsession with water suddenly makes sense. Lane shakes his head. Lane shakes his head. Two different analysts verified they were all written by John-Roger Hinkins. Late one afternoon, I visit transpersonal psychologist Charles Richards at his office in Del Mar. In 1979 he called me from Northridge, where he was living at his girlfriends aunts house. He extends his hand and smiles broadly. People always say, Leave us alone; Eckankar works. I do leave those people alone. Among those two explanations, Occams Razor points to the simpler one, I overslept. In Texas, she says, a disembodied being began visiting her. As we wander aimlessly back and forth between the second and third levels of the garage, I smile at my surfer companions inability to negotiate this concrete urban maze. JN Sykes was a member of the Eckankar cult ('the cult') from February 1980 to June 1993. An example: I claim the reason I missed our appointment last night was because Elvis was on Venus and sucked me up into a space capsule. This is where Ive got to be careful. ET. It got to the point that it became a mythology in which Twitchell couldnt remember all the names.
Isabella Quella Net Worth,
Sunderland Council Housing Benefit Phone Number,
Articles W