Eckankar is not affiliated with any other religious group. Well, the upshot of it is, we were friendly for five years, and then in 1983 four of his closest disciples defected. But even in his formality I instinctively trusted him. In Eckankar, since everyone is Soul, everyone is worthy. In Understanding Cults, Lane published The Criminal Activities of John-Roger Hinkins, a laborious account of Hinkinss alleged break-in and smear campaign. We have a tendency to want to inflate our lives with spiritual meaning, and skepticism is not much fun. But this is not oppressive at all. To me, if people want to get into those kinds of discussions, fine, and Ill kick it around with them for a while, too, if they want to talk on that level. Gross enters and takes his position behind the gold-toned vibes. Eckankar took off like wildfire, growing from three students to thousands in less than three years. Eckankar lost. I think theres some sophomoric techniques, that its naive in terms of its psychology. 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. Eckankar believes that God exists in two parts, the Light and Sound, known as ECK. Tucker Carlson's Great Replacement. Yelman is stunning tall and extremely thin, clad in a pale-beige pantsuit, her natural blond hair pulled back into a bun, the bangs teased like feathers across her forehead. He claimed to have been born on a boat on the Mississippi a few minutes after a great earthquake shook the mid-South and formed a lake in its wake. And I dont mean fun in a mean way, I mean, I find Paul to be incredibly imaginative and very interesting to investigate.. But he was describing my experiences. If we were to rely on books as the source of our knowledge and our truth, wed be really hurting, because wed be all going in different directions. I dont want to tweak his day. The former members of Eckankar make a mistake in here thinking procedure. So Harold said, Hey, why should we make this difficult for people? In October 1981, Eckists were again floored when Gross announced his resignation as the Living Eck Master, but not without first signing a contract that gave him a salary of $65,000 for life, full medical and dental coverage, use of a company car, and entertainment expenses. Eckankar does not help people find God. Not long afterward I joined Eckankar, unaware of the dissension. Seriously, what could one say about anybody that left a long held teaching based solely on words in one book? Lanes no longer an easy man to find. Dont miss out. In many cases, even when they do ask, they face a stony silence from the org, or are told they are being "tested" spiritually, Lane drives me back to Hillcrest. When they find out youre talking to me, I guarantee that their lawyers will write. If I were any of you. Instead, Twitchell wrote about Kirpal Singh and Swami Premananda. I asked what happened to my friend, my childhood master. Indeed, as Lane, Melton, and others have pointed out, most of Paul Twitchell's writings are derived from two Radhasoami publications, With a Great . Second, everybody has to dream at night, or most people dream at night, and Eckists dream about Fubbi Quantz or Rebazar Tarzs or Paul Twitchell. You know, just a natural progression. (My husband, who had never heard of Atkinson before, sees her as a kind of 60s super-vixen, like Pussy Galore. Answer. For one, they're saddled with . We talk about the Hu as a prayer song or a love song to God, instead of saying its a chant or mantra. Signed, The Master. Another former Eckist named Gary Olsen started the MasterPath. The only. Lane pauses and thinks for a bit. As we shake hands I notice hes wearing a gold ring with an embossed EK logo. I used to be in Eckankar, I tell him. I could almost picture the legendary Rod of Power in Darwins hand. Here's something you might be interested in. About four weeks later Lanes guru in India, Charan Singh, received a letter, supposedly from another follower in San Diego, criticizing Lane and quoting from his wifes stolen diaries. 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. Because that was my condition if I could just study in the closet, then I would join. Harold Klemp. That night in the dreamstate I had a meeting with a master. Lane and Walsh had put a circle with a slash through it over Eckankars logo, which is EK formed into a circle. All that junk you told him made me sick. As Eckankar filled my life, I felt like I was entering Shangri-la; a new glistening world of love, of possibility opened before me. Im an extremely intuitive person, she says, so I feel things long before I understand them in my head. It may be a game for Lane, but believers are playing for high emotional and intellectual stakes. In fact, we find more in common with people of other religious or spiritual beliefs than we have with people who dont have any religious or spiritual beliefs, simply because they have a commitment to spirit on some level., Im curious about how Eckankar has changed since I left it in the early 80s., Well, Richards says slowly and thoughtfully in a charming Southern accent, I think the present Living Eck Master has not changed the essence of the teachings, which is basically about self-realization and god-realization in the most direct way the individual can achieve that. Toni Atkins wife Jennifer LeSar to bid on Todd Gloria's downtown project. They say, the message works for me, the contemplation works for me. So I asked, 'Who is this enlightened being? It was Jerry Mulvin! Paul Twitchells the past; weve evolved out of that. And he didnt know anything about Eckankar., The guide was a bearded man in this maroon robe. Lane leans across the cafe table, excitedly tapping his straw. I said, Yeah, Geraldo, this guy robbed my house, he did this he did this he did that all on national TV. I left Eckankar because I was able to prove the concepts of Soul Travel to myself. That same week, Hinkins wrote to Lane assuring him that he wanted to be friends again and that he had nothing to do with the robbery. He resigned in June 1993 following a direct threat to kill from another member, Ebenezer Egunjobi, and a series of violent and disorientating mind control attacks emanating from the leader, Harold Klemp. I dont think so. The Making of a Spiritual Movement is, in fact, so well documented that at times it reads like a 200-page footnote. I said to myself, I bet this is where Twitchell got the name Rebazar Tarzs! Hed read the book and wanted me to visit him. So, Im not scared of attorneys. When he finishes the song, he takes off his shoes to be closer to the keys. The atmosphere in the room is homey and protective. I need it. The Mahanta is respected but not worshiped . After a few more tunes. He went nuts. McMahon looks as Irish as his name, with a large, soft face and a sad mouth that bends pleasantly when he smiles. After giving lectures and teaching Eckankar classes for ten years, I already knew them well. In the early 70s, when I joined, I was dysfunctionally shy, a borderline agoraphobic, afraid to talk to salesladies in department stores. Spirit can express itself as sound or as bright or even colored lights. Lane, like his counterpart Houdini, seems shackled. It affects those who have an unrealistic goal in ECK; those who want to Soul Travel or reach Self-and God-realization with practically no effort. I figure Lane knows plenty about this. I have nice feelings toward Eckankar. Lane discovered information that led him to believe that Twitchell copied whole chapters from Radhasoami texts, lied about biographical details.. Then his widow, Gail Atkinson, had a vision in the night in which Twitchell named Gross. Friday afternoon I visit 22-year veteran of Eckankar Kevin McMahon in his Cardiff home. Pine Avenue, right next to where I was living when I was doing my books in the 80s. I called him my friend, she continues. He seems gently ecstatic, but so tired. To top it off, their white helmets bore an insignia that was remarkably similar to Eckankars circular EK logo. Off my granddaughter sprints down the driveway, giving herself a head start, the front gate our finish line. No part of this site may be reproduced without our written permission. Two years later I got a letter from a guy in Canada saying hed discovered a genuine guru. Again, I am reminded of Houdini, whose interest in spiritualism was awakened with his dearly loved mothers death. Lanes research indicates, however, that Twitchell was born between 1908 and 1912, in Paducah, Kentucky. 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. Hinkins also wrote to Charan Singh asking him to use his influence to get lane to stop doing research on him. Secondly, we dont have any kind of communal living. Hes got his music. While a few people I met were off-the-wall, Eckists in general make wonderfiil friends, kind, caring, nonjudgmental. Experts say there are two main reasons many members of Gen X, roughly defined as people born roughly between 1965 and 1980, aren't ready to leave the workforce. Lanes green eyes turn serious. But Im amazed that after all the dirt hes dug up on religions, he could be seriously involved in any spiritual path. Members are deluded into believing they make spiritual progress, while they are merely psychologically entrapped. Its membership today is primarily in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. In 1978, after five years of study, he was initiated into Radhasoami in India by the late Maharaj Charan Singh. On Saturday, I lunch with Lane at a restaurant in Del Mar. I talked to Twitchells first wife. He didnt bring up David Lane, but he requested that I not dwell on Darwin Gross. I had heard about this ability to get out of the body, where one can have an internal spiritual experience. 0:53. I just went off on him. Now, Jagat is actually the first name of a Radhasoami guru named Jagat Singh. Hes now in Scottsdale, Arizona. Eckankar set up a meeting with Lane at its international headquarters in Menlo Park. Radhasoami is a yogic teaching that, according to Lane, is designed to enable the soul or consciousness to ascend beyond the physical body to higher spiritual regions by means of an internal sound or life current. Central to the teachings of Radhasoami, continues Lane, is the necessity of a living human master competent in initiating disciples into the practice and technique of listening to the inner sound, contemplating the inner light, and leaving the human body at will. The Indian guru Kirpal Singh figures prominently in Twitchells early writing. Although i had forgotten my. I went to sleep, and in my sleep I seemed to hear a sound of singing.. Late one afternoon, I visit transpersonal psychologist Charles Richards at his office in Del Mar. Actually in the moment it was okay, I hardly noticed it. Eckankar teaches that it is possible to experience the Light and Sound through the proper use of spiritual exercises. On tape Twitchell is asked about Rebazar Tarzs. He took to unmasking frauds, but always with the hopes of finding a true medium. Remembering him in his better days, thin and attractive, I am shocked by the corpulent, aging man standing before me, coughing. You can explain it in a lot of different ways. I saw myself very clearly as the roman centurion responsible for maintaining order and preventing any trouble. I would ask a question and get an answer, and I would jot it down. It was like an outpost of spirituality. I looked like a little kid. Hes unimpressed on both counts. Eckankar's stance on sexual relations, although overtly heteronormative, speaks to the religion's appreciation of the sex act as an important and meaningful experience in human life. Be very careful with Eckankar. Theres always been a complete reliance on the individuals own inner guides and not some pre-established protocol that everybody has to operate under. Sitting in this pathetic room with its riotously floral turquoise-and-purple carpet, it feels as if nobodys dreams will ever come true. You can get in a debate over whether one paragraph in one of Paul Twitchells writings looks like a paragraph in somebody elses writings, but that has nothing to do with your spiritual experiences and the confirmation you get personally through the teachings and your work with the inner master. I was 21. But Eckankars attorneys mailed the package back to me. Nobody knew hed been married before. When Driggs gets to the line away above the chimney tops, thats where youll find me, I focus on Grosss bulbous belly and red suspenders. and is being financed by them to do his dirty research. I was confident that soon James would see the light and become a disciple of Eckankar. or call 1-888-L0VE-GOD (recorded message) 952-380-2200 (Eckankar Spiritual Center) You may write us at: ECKANKAR PO Box . I have a nightmare in which Lane and I go to the wedding reception of a couple we do not know, and Lane abandons me. Now I "work" on the internet trying to help others to get out, or not join to begin with. In a way it was like an abandonment. All rights reserved. Then, Lane says excitedly, John-Roger committed the biggest mistake. Plagiarism charges fall on deaf ears with Eckists because weve had experiences outside of book learning. Moreover, a free left arm could be used to deflect spear strikes in combat. 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. So I do. Was I a fool to want Eckankar? Im also aware that in at least two previous lifetimes I was killed because of my beliefs, specifically in reference to Eckankar, and so I think some of that karma was still sitting heavily on my chest, so to speak., Im impressed with Yelmans absolute assurance. Lane and his friends playfully call one another by the names " of Eck Masters. Its going to be interesting to see how this information gets back to me. If theyre going to sue you about a 120-page term paper when youre 20 years old, you know somethings up. He looks like Santa, I think, like a fallen Santa. Eckists left and right were smiling at the guy, stopping for long chats, and tossing money into his cup. I think of Rumi, the great Persian poet, who said, with all these false coins abounding, theres got to be something genuine in the midst of it.. McMahon, who was raised Catholic in New York City and on Long Island, has always been interested in spirituality. Do people get mad at Ralph Nader for saying that a Pinto blows up? I was one of the those stooges for decades until I came down with a pathological. When I called to sign up, they told me that I never had to go to a class if I didnt want to. Sure! But when we go to the Hillcrest Village parking garage to retrieve Lanes car he cant find it. Scientology is worse but that is a difference in degree and magnitude. For years he came to me every single day and would teach me, but I never visually saw him except for once.. Another man named Sri Michael Turner, in Tucson, claims to be the 974th Living Master of the Midnight Sun. When word got around that I was doing this article, I got an odd phone call from Don Ginn, the California Regional Eck Spiritual Aid. Lane shakes his head. I still have those notes. Her enormous eyes seem to sparkle. In 68 he was a convener, which means he held Eck satsangs [classes) in his home in Rosemead, California. Lane shakes his head. Grosss uplifting music is claimed to have miraculous healing powers. ET. Dont you feel like the Great White Hunter attacking the endangered rhinoceros? Lane responds with animation. I was very naive. My only regrets were that I sold all my rock albums to pay for my membership. The Far Country, Lane claims to have found more than 400 plagiarized paragraphs. Naturally the threat made me want to do more research. The phone wire had been disconnected. The guys like an idiot, right? If you've checked out the lives of the Eck Masters and found problems, do the same thing to all these "occult experts" because a lot of them had their stories . For the past 20 years, Lanes books and articles accusing several new religious movements of plagiarisms, lies, inconsistencies, and scandals have raised a fury among true believers. I would just close my eyes and he would be there, and I would be there with him too. When I ask him what Eckankars position is on Lanes research, Richards, whos been in Eckankar for 20 years, says he doesnt know. Cult Survivors: Victims of the Eckankar cult (The Library of Truth): Sykes, Joe: 9781659942743: Amazon.com: Books Books Religion & Spirituality Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts Try Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery Buy new: $6.99 Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns It never existed. He wanted to make my research more available. Outsiders would think they had stumbled into a convention of traveling salesmen. Eckankar teaches that the soul is eternal, it exists because God loves it, and it is journeying to self-realization and God realization. Once we get to Del Mar, Lane pulls to the side of the road and examines a copy of Twitchells death certificate to get the exact address. People always say, Leave us alone; Eckankar works. I do leave those people alone. Im a mystical agnostic materialist. The religion seems to be centered around spiritual experiences, particularly experiencing the "Light and Sound of God." James Peebles, an Eckist and fellow classmate of Lanes, also wrote a paper on Eckankar. I gave up drugs, and my grades went down. They sent letters about me claiming I was the negative force, that I was predicted from the beginning of mankind., In just one of Paul Twitchells books. Eight years later he broke with Kirpal Singh and thereafter denied any involvement with him. Imagine it youve got a lot of new clientele out there ready to buy your stuff. Eckists have said that detractors (critics of Eckankar) are people who quit Eckankar because it didn't work for them, or because they failed at the path, and thus can't be taken seriously. In 1978 Richards moved from North Carolina to San Diego to pursue his graduate training in psychology. This is not seen as coldness or indifference but as a precursor to unconditional love. So he puts up a thousand bucks and out comes this funky. The spiritual exercises are a form of prayer. I didnt know why it happened. With only a post office box and an answering service to connect me to him, Lane seems as slippery as Houdini. He read thousands and thousands of books, and he was a spiritually hungry man. A volunteer raises one arm straight out to the side, and Dawn easily pushes it down. Everything is mauve and cream: the water cooler, the paper cups, the walls, carpet, chairs, and even the stereo. The problem is that nobody uses Occams Razor when it comes to spirituality. I was never able to penetrate Richardss reassuring politeness until I turned the conversation from Eckankar to Freud, Adler, and lung. When I get home, my hosts greet me with a Manhattan. Twitchell married his second wife, Gail Atkinson, in San Francisco in 1964. Theres certain things I left out of the book, and one of them is the night Twitchell died. We figure, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, we might as well call it a duck.". In my copy of The Making of a Spiritual Movement, he signs himself the Kal force, Dave. The Kal force, remember, is the power of negativity. This guys pretty smart, because he knows that if he pays attention to me, thats a good way of buying me off, so he can spin-doctor my research. Eckankar threatened a lawsuit for the inappropriate use of their trademark symbol on the books cover. But its my vivid imagination, the projections of my own mind, my own day-to-day experiences. aptos middle school pe teacher, the pardoner's tale imagery, william roberts obituary,
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