TMOASM Chapter Three
Joe
THE TRANSFORMATION
Laying the Foundation
After Paul Twitchell severed his association with Kirpal Singh,
he began to formulate the basis for his own movement. From late 1963
to October 1965, Twitchell laid the groundwork for Eckankar, his own
spiritual counterpart to Ruhani Satsang, Scientology, and several
other religious and occult groups. He wrote a number of articles on
his new movement for magazines such as Orion, Search, and Psychic
Observer.
"Paul Twitchell, Man of Parts,"an interview by Jack Jarvis of the
Seattle Post Intelligencer, appears to be the first article written
about Twitchell and his new group, Eckankar. The interview was
conducted on July 9, 1963. Twitchell's later article, "The Square
Peg," was written in response to Jarvis' interview. Twitchell claimed
to have been besieged with telephone calls and mail asking, "what in
heaven's name is a Cliff-Hanger?" In the "Square Peg," Twitchell
responded:
"The Cliff-Hanger is a one-man cult. I am the original
Cliff-Hanger and its sole disciple. This zany character is called the
vanguard of a new religion, entitled "Eckankar," a Hindu word meaning
union with God. This unorthodox philosophy received a wide welcome
among the European intellectuals and college circles following the
publishing of my works in European Magazines. The Cliff-Hanger seeks
solace in meditation and bi-location experiences common in the lives
of the Old Christian Savants."
"Eckankar, The Bilocation Philosophy," published by Orion Magazine of
Lakemont, Georgia, in January 1964, seems to be Paul Twitchell's first
public article entirely devoted to his new movement. In the
"Bilocation Philosophy," Twitchell writes:
"Eckankar, the philosophy of out of body experience, is that
understanding which I have gained from bi-location excursions similar
to those in the lives of saints of all faiths. Eckankar is the study
of bi-location experience."
[Paul Twitchell, "Eckankar: The Bilocation Philosophy," Orion Magazine
(January 1964).]
In the same article, Twitchell explains the difference between
Eckankar and the orthodox Eastern philosophies:
"The orthodox Eastern Philosophies teach that man must become one with
God, but I cannot hold to this concept. The individual self of man
becomes a coworker of God, not a part of the unity of Him, in the
sense of being one with the divine source, anyways, for we are
dwelling in the body of God..." [Ibid.]
Although Eckankar, according to Twitchell, was not "officially"
founded until October 22, 1965, it did, nevertheless, have several
years of preparation behind it. The Psychic Observer based in Southern
Pines, North Carolina, published several of Twitchell's articles prior
to 1965. "The Cliff-Hanger," printed in July of 1964, expounds
Twitchell's definition of the "enigmatic one" and of the
Cliff-Hanger's philosophy--Eckankar:
"Eckankar, which I formed out of my own experience, is the term used
for the philosophy I have developed for the Cliff Hanger. It is based
on Shabd-Yoga, a way out form of yoga. The word is the Hindu locution
for the cosmic sound current which is known in our vernacular as the
cosmic river of God."
In a later article, The God Eaters, dated November 1964, for Psychic
Observer, Twitchell elaborates on the impetus behind Eckankar:
"Eckankar is the philosophy of phardar pax Latehue walae, or what you
know as the Cliff Hangers. This grew out of my visits to Agam Des, the
land of the God Eaters. The basic axiom of this philosophy is: Power
is the only force generated by Occult knowledge."
It was thus by a series of articles on the philosophy of Eckankar and
on the eccentric personality of the "Cliff Hanger" that Twitchell laid
down the public groundwork for Eckankar. Brad Steiger, in his
biography of Twitchell, In My Soul I Am Free, asked Paul when he
really began to settle down and start to formulate how to spread the
message of Eckankar. Answered Twitchell,
"probably when my sister Kay Dee died in 1959."
In response to Steiger's question on when he changed from being a
"Cliff-Hanger" to a spiritual adept, Twitchell replied:
"The switchover from the Cliff Hanger to Eck began taking place after
I met my present wife, Gail. She insisted that I do something with my
knowledge and abilities."
[Brad Steiger, In My Soul I Am Free (San Diego: Illuminated Way Press,
1974), page 64.]
After securing lecture time from Edna Rice at the California
Parapsychology Foundation in San Diego, Twitchell began a six-month
tenure teaching the art of bilocation. Although the auditorium where
Twitchell gave his lecture series was almost always filled to
capacity, it was not his speaking engagements that captured the bulk
of his followers. Rather, it was his correspondence courses on
Eckankar which attracted most of his devotees (or "chelas" as he
called them) to him and his new philosophy.
Jim Peebles in his paper, Eckankar: The Ancient Science of Soul
Travel (Term paper; California State University, Northridge, 1977),
writes: "Eckankar, though it is non-profit, is also quite expensive.
The texts, which a devout Eckist is expected to purchase, range in
price from $2.00 to $10.00, the average price being around $7.00
(remember there are over twenty texts). . . An Eckist is also required
to take at least one set of discourses each year. By purchasing these
on a time payment plan he will pay $85.00 for each set (there are
seven adult sets now)." Peebles' paper was written in 1977; the prices
have since increased considerably.
In the July/August 1965 issue of Orion Magazine, Twitchell
advertised The Illuminated Way to God.It was one of his first such
advertisements. It reads as follows:
Bilocation is the Illuminated Path of the Supreme Consciousness.
It is the secret way that all masters use to reach the ultimate of all
universes. One must learn the separation of spirit from body by his
own volition. It increases awareness, helps solve problems and gives a
spiritual insight into one's own akashic records and the hidden
worlds. New techniques. For information, write: Paul Twitchell, P. O.
Box 13052, San Diego, California 92113.
Later, Twitchell took out full page advertisements in Orion Magazine
with his photograph and the headline caption, ECKANKAR, The Secret
Science of Soul Travel. Similar advertisements were also taken out in
other occult magazines, including the New Cosmic Star.
According to Twitchell, Eckankar was not "officially" founded until
October 22, 1965. On that illustrious night, Twitchell claims to have
received the "Rod of Power" (passing of the successorship) from
Rebazar Tarzs, a Tibetan monk supposedly over five-hundred years old.
The Tibetan, according to Twitchell's account, had appeared to him
since the early 1950's in his atma sarup (soul/light body). Concerning
Rebazar Tarzs and the founding of Eckankar, Twitchell writes:
"We were married in 1964 in San Francisco, and shortly afterwards
Rebazar Tarzs began to appear and give me intensive instructions. He
had been appearing regularly in the latter fifties, but he said that
those sessions had only been designed to prepare me for the exhaustive
drills which now faced me. I was told to move south, to choose San
Diego for our home. My first out-of-town lecture was at Long Beach,
where three gentle ladies, two widows and a spinster came. I decided
that I could lecture as well to three as to three hundred. Word began
to get around about Eck, so I agreed to write the monthly discourses
and to offer instructions by mail. I went from three chelas to
thousands in less than three years."
[Brad Steiger, op. cit., pages 64-65.]
The Growth of Eckankar
"There is too much dishonesty among those who try to get tax
shelters because they claim to be religious groups. God didn't
establish nontaxable foundations, so why should I try to get under
such claims? If Eck cannot take care of itself, then it can be of
little value to anyone else."
[--Paul Twitchell, 1967]
[Ibid., page 70.]
After his first out-of-town lecture and the inception of his mail
correspondence courses, Twitchell began to attract a large following.
It was with the great influx of seekers and the money that came with
them which prompted Twitchell to incorporate Eckankar as a business
organization under license in the State of Nevada. Twitchell had
previously moved his original center of operation from San Diego,
California, to Las Vegas, Nevada, in order to avoid heavy taxation. In
response to Steiger's question concerning the business status of
Eckankar, Twitchell replied:
"I do not run Eckankar as a non-profit organization. Most people in
this line of work do indeed use the Religious non-profit organization
provision as an escape clause on their taxes. Eckankar is licensed in
the state of Nevada as a business organization. I do this because I
feel that it is only proper and fitting that I make my own way instead
of trying to get under a tax shelter. It is hard, of course, but I
manage to do it."
[Ibid., page 69.]
Twitchell's hard line against tax exempt religious organizations,
however, did not last long. Later, under mounting pressure from
Eckankar board members, he had Eckankar's original status changed to
that of a "non-profit" religious organization. The Eckankar Board
Members included Dr. Bluth and Dr. Wiggelsworth.
Outside of the mail correspondence courses (and the assorted Eckankar
advertisements), Twitchell penned a number of books on Eckankar, and
even authored a featured column in the New Cosmic Star. Twitchell's
first three books, The Tiger's Fang, The Flute of God, and An
Introduction to Eckankar , appeared to have all sold well. However, it
was not until Steiger's chapter on Twitchell in the Enigma of
Reincarnation (1967) that Twitchell's name caught hold of the general
reading public. Steiger claims to have had tremendous response from
his readers to the two chapters he included on Paul Twitchell. Shortly
thereafter, Steiger wrote Paul's official biography, In My Soul I Am
Free, for Lancer Books, Inc.
Later, Twitchell had contractual problems with Lancer Books, Inc.
Evidently, he was given royalty on only 25,000 books, when in
actuality Lancer Books had sold over 100,000 of Twitchell's books.
Lancer Books soon went bankrupt and out of business.
Paul Twitchell and Eckankar had become a marketable item. The
biography, In My Soul I Am Free and Twitchell's own work, Eckankar:
The Key to Secret Worlds, became bestsellers for Lancer Books.
Twitchell and his new group had, indeed, caught the attention of the
public. Even Look Magazine wrote a brief article on the "World's
leading authority on Eckankar--The Ancient Science of Soul Travel."
According to Brad Steiger (personal telephone conversation with
the author, op. cit.), Paul Twitchell used quotations from Look out of
context. Look was belittling Twitchell and his "Eck" group, and
sarcastically termed the group's founder, "The World's leading
authority on Soul Travel."
Jim Peebles in his paper Eckankar: The Ancient Science of Soul
Travel remarks on the rapid growth of Eckankar in America:
Since the early days of Eckankar, which began with Paul
personally typing the discourses each month, the movement has grown
rapidly; and so did Paul's need to express the teachings in writing.
Between the publication of the Tiger's Fang in 1965, and Paul's death
in 1971, he managed to author an additional twenty texts, seven
complete sets of discourses (not to mention the discourses which he
wrote for children), a monthly letter called a "wisdom note" to his
chelas, a very active series of lectures each year, and numerous
articles which appeared in various publications by Eckankar.
[Jim Peebles, op. cit., page 11.]
The rapid growth of Eckankar had come from three areas: 1) Paul
Twitchell's mail correspondence courses, which he advertised
extensively in occult and religious outlets; 2) Twitchell's
indefinable charisma; and 3) the times in which Eckankar developed.
The single greatest factor to Eckankar's astounding growth, outside of
its spiritual message and Twitchell's personality, was the time in
which Eckankar blossomed. The late 1960's were a time of considerable
discontent in American society. Eckankar was born in the very midst of
a growing disenchantment within secular society for "orthodox"
religions. The rebellious youth were turning toward the East;
mysticism, yoga, and Zen were the "in" thing. Eckankar, however, was
different. It was unique in that it took from the East teachings
regarding karma, shabd yoga, and reincarnation while essentially
remaining a Western-based movement. To many Eckankar offered the only
real solution to life's problems. The 1960's were finally a time for
new avenues of thought. Eckankar offered one such new exploration--an
exploration into higher consciousness.
Rich
This chapter covers the few short years just before Paul
officially introduced ECKANKAR as a spiritual teaching. David begins
by referring to an interview by Jack Jarvis, on July 9, 1963, called
"Paul Twitchell, Man of Parts," which appears to be the first time
that Paul mentions the name ECKANKAR. Shortly after, Paul wrote a
response to Jarvis' article, called, "The Square Peg," which I quoted
from earlier in Chapter One.
These days, then, were Paul's Cliff-Hanger days, when he also
began introducing the name and concept of ECKANKAR.
David writes:
The Psychic Observer based in Southern Pines, North Carolina,
published several of Twitchell's articles prior to 1965. "The
Cliff-Hanger," printed in July of 1964, expounds Twitchell's
definition of the "enigmatic one" and of the Cliff-Hanger's
philosophy--Eckankar:
Eckankar, which I formed out of my own experience, is the term
used for the philosophy I have developed for the Cliff Hanger. It is
based on Shabd-Yoga, a way out form of yoga. The word is the Hindu
locution for the cosmic sound current which is known in our vernacular
as the cosmic river of God.
David reports that in January 1964, Orion Magazine published what
seems to be Paul's first public article entirely devoted to ECKANKAR.
In this article, called, "Eckankar, The Bilocation Philosophy," Paul
wrote:
Eckankar, the philosophy of out of body experience, is that
understanding which I have gained from bi-location excursions similar
to those in the lives of saints of all faiths...
Man needs to learn to leave his body at will and dwell in his
spirit body, on other planes. He must someday leave this fleshy
temple, so he should learn that by going in and out of his body that
he can give it up to death without suffering...
The orthodox eastern philosophies teach that man must become one
with God, but I cannot hold to this concept. The individual self of
man becomes a coworker of God, not a part of the unity of Him, in the
sense of being one with the divine source anyway, for we are dwelling
in the body of God, but we have the freedom of movement and of choice
inside this framework of the Almighty...
David writes:
It was thus by a series of articles on the philosophy of Eckankar
and on the eccentric personality of the "Cliff Hanger" that Twitchell
laid down the public groundwork for Eckankar. Brad Steiger, in his
biography of Twitchell, In My Soul I Am Free, asked Paul when he
really began to settle down and start to formulate how to spread the
message of Eckankar. Answered Twitchell, "probably when my sister Kay
Dee died in 1959." In response to Steiger's question on when he
changed from being a "Cliff-Hanger" to a spiritual adept, Twitchell
replied:
The switchover from the Cliff Hanger to Eck began taking place
after I met my present wife, Gail. She insisted that I do something
with my knowledge and abilities.
Paul began gaining quite a bit of attention from his articles.
The concepts of Bilocation, his Cliff-Hanger philosophy and hints
about ECKANKAR apparently struck a strong chord with many people. Edna
Rice, at the California Parapsychology Foundation, in San Diego,
offered Paul some lecture time, and Paul then began a six-month series
of workshops on the art of bilocation.
David writes:
Although the auditorium where Twitchell gave his lecture series
was almost always filled to capacity, it was not his speaking
engagements that captured the bulk of his followers. Rather, it was
his correspondence courses on Eckankar which attracted most of his
devotees (or "chelas" as he called them) to him and his new
philosophy.
David also quotes from a few of Paul's early advertisements,
which I found interesting, such as this one of Paul's, which he ran in
the July/August 1965 issue of Orion Magazine:
Bilocation is the Illuminated Path of the Supreme Consciousness.
It is the secret way that all masters use to reach the ultimate of all
universes. One must learn the separation of spirit from body by his
own volition. It increases awareness, helps solve problems and gives
a spiritual insight into one's own akashic records and the hidden
worlds. New techniques. For information, write: Paul Twitchell, P.O.
Box 13052, San Diego, California 92113.
David adds:
Later, Twitchell took out full page advertisements in Orion
Magazine with his photograph and the headline caption, "ECKANKAR, The
Secret Science of Soul Travel." Similar advertisements were also
taken out in other occult magazines, including the New Cosmic Star.
Most of this information was generally known in the early days of
ECKANKAR, so there isn't anything too surprising here, although it is
interesting to see some of Paul's early quotes and activities that led
up to when be began teaching ECKANKAR openly. Through this same
period, of course, Paul was also writing his well-known series of
letters to his future wife, Gail (they were married in 1964.)
Well over 100 letters were later published, that cover the full
range of subjects concerning the spiritual life. Paul discussed
everything from basic spiritual principles, Mysticism and Magic,
Metaphysics, Comparative Religions, Self-Analysis, Creativity and use
of Imagination, as well as many of the basic doubts, dilemmas and
questions that confront the spiritual seeker.
Gail wrote about these letters in the Foreword to the first
published volume:
"Paul knew I was striving for an education. He also knew that the
knowledge I needed was not to be found in an ordinary book...Paul
taught me that in order to talk with others we must have an open mind
and be knowledgeable in many areas."
Thus, we run into October 1965 when Paul officially founded
ECKANKAR. David quotes Paul from Brad Steiger's 1967 book on Paul and
ECKANKAR, In My Soul I Am Free:
My first out-of-town lecture was at Long Beach, where three
gentle ladies, two widows and a spinster came. I decided that I could
lecture as well to three as to three hundred. Word began to get
around about Eck, so I agreed to write the monthly discourses and to
offer instructions by mail. I went from three chelas to thousands in
less than three years.
There is only one quote in this chapter from David's book that I
think needs correcting. It is a quote from a term paper by Jim
Peebles, a fellow classmate of David's, written in 1977:
Eckankar, though it is non-profit, is also quite expensive. The
texts, which a devout Eckist is expected to purchase, range in price
from $2.00 to $10.00, the average price being around $7.00 (remember
there are over twenty texts). . . An Eckist is also required to
take at least one set of discourses each year. By purchasing these on
a time payment plan he will pay $85.00 for each set (there are seven
adult sets now).
David then adds:
Peebles' paper was written in 1977; the prices have since
increased considerably.
The problem here is Jim's quote says that ECKists were expected
to purchase all twenty ECKANKAR texts, which simply isn't true. Most
ECKists are eager to buy many of them, but they have always been free
to do so or not. Besides, many of the books have been available
through public libraries, as well as lending libraries in many ECK
Centers, where they can often be borrowed for free. The only real
suggestion here is that newcomers read a few of the books to
understand what the spiritual teachings of ECK are all about, before
becoming a member of ECKANKAR.
Also, David's comment about the prices increasing considerably
seems strange, since in the last 23 years, while the prices of most
things have increased more than ten times, the discourses have only
doubled. I don't think many would call $130.00 per year for monthly
discourses "quite expensive", but even still, this amount is only a
suggested donation, and discourses are often sent out for a much
smaller amount, or even free, to those who cannot afford the suggested
donation.
Aside from this one area of correction, David touches on only one
contentious subject in this chapter, and this is only mentioned in
passing. He quotes Paul's comments on non-profit organizations from
Brad Steiger's book:
There is too much dishonesty among those who try to get tax
shelters because they claim to be religious groups. God didn't
establish nontaxable foundations, so why should I try to get under
such claims? If Eck cannot take care of itself, then it can be of
little value to anyone else.
I do not run Eckankar as a non-profit organization. Most people
in this line of work do indeed use the Religious non-profit
organization provision as an escape clause on their taxes. Eckankar
is licensed in the state of Nevada as a business organization. I do
this because I feel that it is only proper and fitting that I make my
own way instead of trying to get under a tax shelter. It is hard, of
course, but I manage to do it.
David then commented as follows:
Twitchell's hard line against tax exempt religious organizations,
however, did not last long. Later, under mounting pressure from
Eckankar board members, he had Eckankar's original status changed to
that of a "non-profit" religious organization.
I believe David is wrong about the pressure from board members,
since the Board didn't exist until ECKANKAR became non-profit.
However, Paul spoke about this subject a few times in later years, and
about his reluctant change to a non-profit organization, which took
place July 1, 1970. But, rather than leaving this item open, as David
did, following is what Paul said in a talk he gave, about a year
later, at the 1971 Youth Training Seminar in Las Vegas:
Back in 1965 and up through '67 into '68, we were working as just
individuals. We were taking in a fair amount of income but we were
paying a large tax. When Brad Steiger's book came out, we grew 8 or 9
times over our regular income. I could see we were going to have
problems with taxes, so we set ourselves up as a corporation, but then
I started running into all sorts of headaches. I mean we were taxed by
anybody and everybody. We were taxed by the state, the government
taxed us, we were taxed by the city and there was another board in the
state that put another tax on us.
Then we had to pay withholding tax and FICA, the federal tax that
goes with Medicare, and all of these sort of things. All of a sudden I
was being a businessman and not a spiritual leader. Half of the day
was spent trying to straighten things out with the tax accountants,
because I never had the books right. So I hired a secretary and that
didn't work out. Then I went into half a dozen different other areas,
and all of sudden we had four lawyers and two tax accountants working
with us, and I said this is too much. This is too clumsy.
Then we decided, through the insistence of some people, to go
into the non-tax or religious non-profit organization. So we set up
ECKANKAR, Ancient Science of Soul Travel. And we did this purposely
because there were some people who . . . didn't want to donate
anything unless they had a tax shelter. So we tried to accommodate
them.
In a letter to me, dated September 13, 1987, Harold Klemp offered
another view on why Paul changed to the non-profit status:
"The reason Paul abandoned the profit company for bringing out the
ECK teachings is that it offered no umbrella of protection for the
initiates of local Satsangs to hold classes. Each time they met, a
city official could have insisted upon a business license. It took
Paul awhile to realize it, but Constitutional protection had long ago
been provided for groups of religious teachings, and that was to be a
church."
In fact, a few officials did show up at ECKANKAR events a few
times before Paul changed ECKANKAR to a non-profit status, usually at
the instigation of someone trying to stop ECKANKAR from giving a
public talk.
This is obviously one of the areas where Paul had to change his
original plans as ECKANKAR began to grow. If anyone ever thought that
the whole teaching was all laid out right from the beginning, it
should be clear that Paul was continually making changes, adjustments
and adding new developments as the movement expanded.
This raises a very interesting point that Paul talked about in a
lecture he gave in Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 23, 1970. The title of
the talk was "Personality and the Message of ECK."
PAUL TWITCHELL:
I look back five or six years ago, since the time I started
bringing out the teachings of ECK, and I see a change in myself. I see
a change in the people who come to study the ECK works. I see a change
in many things; in communities, groups and people I meet, and then
later meet again. I feel that the personality has grown smaller as the
message has grown greater. And I'm always feeling that I personally
don't count; I'm just the instrument being used to get the message
out.
I say used, and I feel well used at times. The personality pretty
well gets battered, bruised and beaten when it tries to get in the way
of the message coming out. It gets to the point where the personality
feels like it has no place, and this is true. The personality has no
place in the works and the message of ECK. Of course, to some extent
it has to be there, because after all I'm living in a human body too.
And living in a human body, I must have what we call the personality
and all the faculties of a human self.
Because of this, I feel there are times when the personality does
get in the way, just as I know many times it gets in the way with you,
too. So, I hope we can forgive each other when the ego or personality
arises, because I know that isn't the real you, and you know that
isn't the real me.
In all of this work, we must never forget the human side of life.
This is where we are living. We cannot expect to move outside of this
physical state of consciousness until we become quite aware of ourself
as a person, or as the human. We have to recognize this first, and
then we can begin recognizing the finer faculties, the subtleties and
finer instincts of life. We can go beyond the human self into the
psychic, and then into the Soul self, and beyond this into the God
self...
You will find those who have reached great enlightenment all the
way across the board from the poorest and the most ignorant, to the
greatest in intellect. Take St. Thomas Aquinas, who had one of the
greatest minds in all Christendom. He himself had good enlightenment,
and yet on the other end of the scale we find those who have been poor
and ignorant, such as St. Anthony of the Desert, who had no education.
Here is a man who left a record, not in books, but a record of his
life that showed he had great enlightenment.
We have writers, like Swedenborg, who was one of the great
intellectuals. He wrote in great enlightenment. And yet there is St.
Catherine of Sienna, who had no education, yet she was one of the
greatest of the Christian world.
So, you begin to wonder how people got this. Each one of these
people went beyond the mental world. Omar Khayyam was not an educated
man, yet he wrote his Rubaiyat, and what finer piece of poetry can we
find in all literature? And yet there was Rumi, another Sufi poet, who
was a highly educated man. He held four professorships all at the same
time in four different universities, and spent thirty years writing
his great poem, "The Song of the Reed." He was one of the Saints with
the greatest of enlightenment. We can go all through history and find
this.
Now, I was talking about personality a minute ago - well, look at
Jalal-uddin Rumi, who, as I said, was one of the greatest of
enlightened men. A man who could do out-of-the-body travel, and had
numerous accounts of his experiences recorded, yet his personality was
always standing in his way. He was a man known as a carouser who
frequented taverns. He was a man who took about five thousand pieces
of gold when the King of Tiraz [sp?] asked him to be the official
poet. He agreed and accepted the money. So, they started out on board
a ship, but they had to put back into port when a small storm came up.
Rumi didn't like water, so he walked off the ship and said he wouldn't
go. Yet when they asked for their money back, he said, "No!" He wasn't
giving the money back. He had made the attempt, so he should keep the
money.
It makes a funny contradiction when personality gets in the way
with all of this, and yet, on the other hand you have this part of the
man that is the greatest part. We always look at the little self. This
is a mistake the majority of people seeking a path today are making.
We have all this recrimination about little things, all the guilt.
This is where our attention is put, so we miss this part of us which
is the greater part.
We have It, It's here, and all we have to do is transfer the
attention from the physical to It. This is the simplicity of it - but
doing it is another thing. And this is basically the whole of ECK;
trying to teach someone to transfer their attention from the outer -
off the physical human side - to the spiritual side, the greater side.
Until the individual does this, he is always thinking about the little
things that get in his way; all the little problems, all the wrongs he
did, and his attention is on the wrong thing.
The problem here is accepting self-responsibility. This is the
greatest point being taught in ECK. Each of us must accept where we
are today, here and now. The minute we start doing this, we start
expanding...All it is is recognition, and the minute we recognize it,
the moment we begin to see this as ourselves, we begin to take control
of the switchboard and expand from this position where we are, to that
position we call the other self, Soul...
This is a very important point that Paul is making. In the
beginning, when Paul first started, it was largely his personality and
enigmatic philosophy that captured people's attention. But as the
message grew and the teachings grew, Paul's personality became less
and less important, until, as he says, the personality now really has
no place in ECK.
This is where an exposé, such as David's, which focuses on the
personality of a spiritual leader creates a distorted picture. While
attempting to cut through what some might call the mythology, to
discuss only the outer events and recorded facts of the making of a
spiritual movement, in effect such a study cuts open the breast of a
living thing to find its spark of life. But in the end it only sees
the outer form, and misses the amazing paradox that exists in all
spiritual teachings.
Jallal-uddin Rumi, the Sufi poet that Paul spoke of, put it this
way:
"I am like a smiling garden surrounded by a wall of filth and
thorns. Those passing by do not see the garden; they see only the wall
and ridicule it. Why then would the garden be angry with them? The
critics only hold themselves back, because to reach the garden they
must first cross the wall. So by finding fault with the wall, they
send themselves far away from the garden and work to their own
destruction."
The world's idea of truth seems more like a cartoon story made
simple for the masses, presented by so-called authorities for those
who don't want to search and decide for themselves what is true or
false. It is also a problem of our times, where the focus on personal
and human failings has reached an all time high in all matters for all
the world's leaders, whoever they might be. No hero seems to be safe
from the derision of the masses and the media. The public seems to
take great joy in publicly humiliating its leaders by holding them up
to standards that are inhuman and preposterous.
But leaders, especially spiritual leaders, do not fit the molds
that the masses hold. They are fascinating people that cannot easily
be understood. They might appear at times like any man or woman, but
they also find themselves involved in events that influence the lives
of others. It is easy to reduce their motives to simple human desires,
and surely those human desires are there, but this cannot explain what
it means to be moved by an inner vision, or to follow a path that can
lead far away from the average lives of others.
All leaders, including spiritual leaders, take their places due
to strong forces occurring in the inner and outer worlds, from
powerful changes that leave most people confused and disoriented. But
they, for some reason, understand these forces and see the direction
ahead. They capture some essence that most people miss, and they come
to represent and portray the qualities that help to align us with the
great worldly shifts in consciousness.
Their personal lives cannot explain the influence they have upon
us, and their human motives will not help us understand the vision
that moved them. What is important is to see how they have carried
upon their shoulders the powerful pressures and forces that have
brought changes to all of us. Thus they occupy a place in our personal
lives because of their roles as leaders. And they become our icons,
and symbols in our individual inner worlds.
The personal lives of our leaders are private doors that we have
no way of entering. We can study and learn a great deal from these men
and women, but these insights will never replace what we gain from
trying to glimpse their vision or understand their state of
consciousness.
No doubt, there isn't a spiritual teacher who has ever lived that
hasn't been the focus of criticism and ridicule. Their lives become
mythic, and whether they intentionally created such myths, or they
were created after their death, it doesn't matter much, because their
mythic quality is a part of the spiritual place they occupy in our
lives. Indeed they were but men and women, and not gods, but they have
come to take up places within our hearts, and in our inner worlds, and
in our private lives. How is it that simple men and women could
accomplish this? This is the same question that Paul was asking, and
what he was trying to explain.
The fact is that these leaders merely act as representatives of
the forces and teachings that they bring into this world. These
leaders are not the sources, but only the carriers of the message. God
is the source of all, and the end goal of all spiritual teachings. And
yet, as the Sufis say, God gives credit to His messengers.
I think these are a few thoughts we should remember when trying
to peer into the personal lives of spiritual leaders.