Gail Twitchell
Etznab
Don't know that I have read anything from Gail Twitchell
since joining Eckankar in 1987. Not anything written after
that date.
Thanks for sharing, Doug / Gail.
"I was very elated to read your book The Whole Truth.
I thought, finally, someone got the whole thing right...
The point now is, Doug, you are the one who has taken
Paul's work and put it in the proper perspective. Thank
you so much!"
-Gail Twitchell
[See: Comments section]
http://spiritualdialogues.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Etznab
Etznab
Here is the "complete version" [minus graphics icon] that appears
to be dated July 14, 2007
"GAIL TWITCHELL said:
(complete version) I was very elated to read your book The Whole
Truth. I thought, finally, someone got the whole thing right. Eckankar
was Paul's way of life and the way he lived. I loved Paul very much. I
believed in him. I embraced everything he did. It was my life too. To
my knowledge I have never said anything against Paul or Eckankar. I'm
not sure where people come up with this nonsense. The point now is,
Doug, you are the one who has taken Paul's work and put it in the
proper perspective. Thank you so much!"
http://spiritualdialogues.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=28#jc_writeComment
Etznab
Etznab
>
> Etznab- Hide quoted text -
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At first I was rather skeptical about this quote from Gail.
Didn't know what quite to make of it. After reading much of
the book though [T.W.T.], it appears to make much more
sense to me. It says a whole lot more, IMO.
Nice to hear something from Gail. Probably the first time
since I joined Eckankar. Perhaps something for the history
books :)
Etznab
Sean
Excerpted from the ECK World News July 1973
EWN: Would you fill us in on your religious background?
Gail:
During high school I taught in a Methodist Sunday School, but also each
Sunday evening I would visit a different church and by the time I had met
Paul I had gone through most of the conventional religions including
Buddhism, Catholicism and even Spiritualism. I knew there was something I
was searching for, but I didn't know what it was until I found ECKANKAR, so
I was having some out-of-body experiences when I was in junior high school.
I can remember not wanting to get up and go to school in the morning because
these experiences I was having were so fantastic that I wouldn't want to go
to a dull old classroom. After I met Paul I found those experiences to be
very meaningful. Then they had a real meaning to me. But it took: me that
long in between to go through the complete search before I could realize
what those experiences meant to me.
EWN:
What was your first impression of Paul Twitchell?
Gail: When I first saw Paul (I saw him every day when he'd come into the
Library), he stood out from all the other people. There was something about
him when he walked into the library-you KNEW he was there. He didn't say
anything but he just stood out from everyone else. I remember watching him
for months before I would ever say anything to him. Finally I decided that
he was such an intriguing person that I would say, "Good evening, Mr.
Twitchell." I was very impressed because after watching all the people
coming into the library you could see how they were all the same, and here
was one man that so stood out from all the others. I remember even when we
were dating . .. for the first six months we shook hands every night and
shaking his hand was really an electric shock. I didn't think it was funny,
at all! You could just feel his presence automatically. I even knew when he
was coming up the escalator. When I was working at the checkout desk, the
escalator was right behind me and I could always turn around and say, "Good
evening, Mr. Twitchell" before he ever saw me because I had known that he
was coming.
EWN: What was your courtship like?
Gail:
Unconventional. When I first started dating Paul, if he had time and I
wasn't working, he'd pick me up. But if he was working sometimes I'd take
the bus to his house and walk in the door. He would be typing and working at
home. In fact I rarely saw him when he wasn't. His place was a little house
on stilts up on the water and it was always rather cool, so I would turn on
the wall heater and he'd hand me a manuscript and I'd sit there all day with
my feet propped up on the wall heater reading manuscripts; these were some
of the books before they were ever printed. When it was time to go if he was
busy, I would just leave him a note and take the bus back home. Sometimes
when he wasn't busy we'd go see a foreign film and sometimes we would go to
the Laundromat and while we were doing the laundry we would discuss all
these great ideas.
EWN:
Would you give us the history behind Letters to Gail?
Gail:
During this time, after I met Paul, he could obviously see that I needed
some instruction. Even though I'd been going to college for some time, the
educational system was not really giving me what was necessary to develop me
as a person. So he asked if he could write these letters to me. Well, it
sounded harmless enough to me so I said, "Fine." He would write these two
page letters two or three times a week and he would MAIL them to me, even
though he was seeing me almost every day. He would never mention
them-nothing-until Friday night. Then we would go to Chinatown and have a
cup of tea and that was my time when I could ask any questions that I could
or wanted to. But at first I could hardly understand some of the material
enough to ask questions. I had one week to read them, you see, over and over
and over again and he would never give me more than I could handle at one
time.
I think it's important to understand that when I grew up, I was VERY
sensitive. If anything hurt me at all I would retreat into this shell,
because once I was in this shell nothing could hurt me. I would emerge very
very slowly. Paul was furnishing me with a code of life, so that life
couldn't hurt me, so that I would be in control and he would use and help me
use all these techniques to withdraw from the shell, until finally I emerged
a complete person. It's been very thrilling for me to see Letters to Gail in
print and to be able to share with others this knowledge which I consider
more important than my complete college education. I'm also looking forward
to sharing more of these letters in future volumes.
EWN:
Did you have an early idea of Paul Twitchell's vision or direction?
Gail:
There was never any time that I didn't have an idea because it was so much a
part of him. He was never away from it. It was his complete life-his mission
in life, and he carried it out regardless of anything or anyone. He let very
few people into his life, but once he invited you in, there was no way you
could avoid knowing that he and his vision were the same thing. It was
impossible to separate them.
EWN:
When you met Paul did you have an idea that this was the man you would
someday marry?
Gail:
I don't think I thought of marriage. I just thoroughly enjoyed every day and
every experience for what it was. I did know that I was special, because the
only thing that he had that was really important to him was his time-and he
shared it with me.
EWN:
Was your getting married as different as the rest of your experiences?
Gail: Of course! Paul had moved to California. He'd been gone about two
weeks. Apparently he came to get me, though he never actually said so. It
was Christmas vacation and I was at my parents' home. He drove up and he
stayed overnight at my parents' place. I remember my mom saying, "Are you
going to go back with Paul?" And I said, "I don't know." She said, "Well
he's leaving in an hour," and I said, "I know he is, but when he gets ready
to leave-I'll know."
EWN:
Had he asked you to go back with him?
Gail:
I think he had assumed that I would go back. He hadn't said anything ... and
nothing to my parents at all. So my parents kind of picked up his thoughts.
He'd been driving all the way up from San Francisco with those thoughts.
Everybody just knew what he had in his mind but he was very quiet about it.
When he got ready to leave he went down the steps, clear to his car and then
said, "Uh, are you coming with me?" I said, "Okay."
EWN:
Then you were married in San Francisco?
Gail:
Yes. And after we married we lived in this studio apartment which
was the only place we could afford that had an ocean view. It was
so small Paul had his typewriter at the end of the bed so he could
sit and type all night. You couldn't call it the average honeymoon.
EWN:
Did you learn to sleep with the typewriter going?
Gail:
Finally. I finally got so tired I had to.
EWN:
After your marriage you interrupted your education to work full
time so that Paul Twitchell could write full time and begin to
bring Eckankar out into the world. How did you feel about that?
Gail:
I didn't mind. Because I knew what Paul's life was like and
I knew in order for him to bring ECK out into the world that I
has a responsibility, whether it was working full time for Paul
to do his writing-or whatever--that was part of being Paul's wife.
He said that when he got that out then he would make sure that I
could go back to school and continue my education and that was
enough.
EWN:
What was the best part of your marriage to Paul Twitchell?
Gail:
The great part of being married to Paul was the fact that each
of us were individuals and always accepted each other as
individuals. I think the best part was that Paul was a human
being and he was fun and he was happy. People tend to set him
up as a god, but he was a teacher and he was a husband, and
that's the role he played in my life.
EWN:
What was the most difficult part for you?
Gail:
The most difficult part for me was how to do more with 24 hours
and the fact that he did SO MUCH and no matter how much I did
in 24 hours I could never, in any way, compare with him.
EWN:
Was his translation a shock to you?
Gail:
No. It wasn't a shock at all; it had been coming for some time and I hope
that the amazing, intriguing information surrounding this comes to light
because the details are absolutely fascinating. I think it's a complete
study in itself. I knew when he went to Cincinnati that he wouldn't be
coming back and I think that if it would have been a shock it wouldn't have
been true ECK.
EWN:
How do you regard the translation?
Gail:
Well, it's just the natural part of ECK. The most natural part of ECK. It's
what we're living for-it's what we're being trained for.
EWN:
Has the period been difficult for you since his translation?
Gail:
No, in fact it's been the easiest part of my life, really. Because NOW is
the time for me to put into practice what Paul taught me .. . and so the
transition period has really been very rewarding and terribly exciting for
me.
<snip>
Gail:
When Darwin came into the position he now holds I didn't know him
as an individual at all. Even though he had gone to London with Paul
and gone to many of the seminars I really wasn't on a personal basis
with him and so at first I was apprehensive and wondering if I could be
flexible enough to work with Darwin as much as I could with Paul.
<SNIP>
EWN:
In other words there is no way that anyone could describe you as
an oppressed female?
Gail:
No. Not according to me anyway because I had all the freedom I
wanted and I think sometimes people can have too much freedom
if they don't know how to handle it. Paul solved all my needs and
we had a terrific marriage. I always felt as an individual and I
think people should remain individuals, but I think they still need
to relate to other people.
EWN:
Would you say that you are a proponent of the open marriage contract
wherein one grows into his own areas while at the same time maintains
a great respect for the other?
Gail:
Well not open marriage in the same sense that-if you don't want to be
faithful to your husband you don't have to. I don't go that far in
the open marriage part. I believe that people can remain individuals
and still have a closed marriage and still not feel oppressed.
For me-I can, because I only need one other person to be happy.
My happiness comes from sharing life with one other person COMPLETELY.
Other than that I can stand on my own completely. I don't need the
open marriage type freedom to come and go as I please. I need
freedom within a marriage.
"Etznab" <etz...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1188868193....@o80g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
Rich
sense of what Paul and Gail's experience really was. It's the inside scoop.
Patti Simpson was the Editor at the time so I imagine she was the one who
did the interview.
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Rich~~~~(__________/~~~~Sailing the CyberSea~~~~~
"Sean" <huc...@blah.com> wrote in message
news:46dcd711$0$7152$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...