DOCSLIB.ORG

Relational Spirituality, Part 2 the Belief in Others As a Hindrance To

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Relational Spirituality, Part 2 the Belief in Others As a Hindrance To International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Volume 29 | Issue 1 Article 8 1-1-2010 Relational Spirituality, Part 2 The Belief in Others as a Hindrance to Enlightenment: Narcissism and the Denigration of Relationship within Transpersonal Psychology and the New Age Gregg Lahood Northern Rivers Gestalt Institute Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies Part of the Philosophy Commons, Psychology Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Lahood, G. (2010). Relational Spirituality, Part 2 The Belief in Others as a Hindrance to Enlightenment: Narcissism and the Denigration of Relationship within Transpersonal Psychology and the New Age. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29 (1). http://dx.doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2010.29.1.58 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Special Topic Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Newsletters at Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Relational Spirituality, Part 2 The Belief in Others as a Hindrance to Enlightenment: Narcissism and the Denigration of Relationship within Transpersonal Psychology and the New Age Gregg Lahood Northern Rivers Gestalt Institute Lismore, NSW, Australia The aim of this paper is to tease out from the New Age religion and religious transpersonal psychology a more relational spirituality. Humanistic and transpersonal psychologies were important forces in the emergence of the social phenomenon of the New Age. New Age transpersonalism leans toward a restrictive non-relational spirituality because of its historical affirmation of individualism and transcendence. Relational spirituality, which is central to the emerging participatory paradigm, swims against strong and popular currents in New Age transpersonal thinking which tend to see spirituality as an individual, personal, inner pursuit, often into Eastern/Oriental nondualism. Whatever the merits of impersonal Advaita Vedanta or Buddhism—and there are of course merits—these are categorically not relational spiritualities. Keywords: cosmological hybridity, New Age religion, transpersonal psychology, spiritual narcissism, relational spirituality In India we find perhaps the most radical of all versions of world rejection, culminating in the great image of the Buddha, and the world is a burning house and man‘s urgent need is a way to escape it. —Robert Bellah, 1972, p. 264 While the transpersonal movement has been informed and inspired by peak experiences of virtually all religious traditions, it not surprisingly has drawn most comfortably from Buddhist theory and practice. —Robert McDermott, 1993, p. 208 orizontal or relational spirituality can be seen as most central of the psycho-technologies employed in the an intervention in overly vertical, non-relational humanistic era, along with the encounter group, gestalt trends in New Age-transpersonalism’s thinking therapy strongly embraced one of Buber’s central ideas— Hand practices. This paper continues the points made in the contrast of what he called I-it relating and I-thou “Relational Spirituality, Part 1: Paradise Unbound: relating. In the words of Brant Cortright (1997): Cosmic Hybridity, and Spiritual Narcissism in the ‘One I-it relating is normal, secular relating in which the Truth’ of New Age-Transpersonalism” (Lahood, 2010, other is a seen as an object, a thing to be used, a in this issue), demonstrating how a relational approach means to an end. I-thou relating, on the other hand, can surmount many of the difficulties that inure to brought a person into a sacred relationship in which New Age-transpersonalism. Ironically, Martin Buber’s the other is viewed as an end in itself (p. 106).1 relational ethos was also present in both the humanist and transpersonal movements in the form of Gestalt It was this appreciation of the authentic, the inter- therapy which had assimilated Buber’s ideas to its canon subjective and the call for equality that could potentially (although Buber argued that true mutuality could not push Buber’s I-thou intention to “its highest culmination be achieved in the therapeutic relationship). Perhaps the in a transpersonal perspective which truly embraces the 58 International Journal of TranspersonalInternational Studies Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(1), 2010, pp.Lahood 58-78 sacredness of relationship” (p. 106). Here, potentially, to be a central foundation of transpersonalism and its the transpersonal is in the interpersonal (Naranjo, 1978). New Age shadow.3 However, there is a serious question as to whether this Here is an example of Buddhism’s historically central tenet of Buber’s was ever really fully embraced non-relational ethos: The psychoanalytic anthropologist by the transpersonal movement. Wilber (1999), for Melford Spiro (1987), who studied Buddhism on the example, ranks Buber’s spirituality beneath his Oriental ground in Burma, viewed Burmese Theravadan Buddhist non-dualism. For Buber the true estate of authentic religion as a culturally constituted psychological defense spiritual realization was not based in an individual’s inner mechanism. In a discussion about Buddhist “goers forth,” experience but in this realm of the Between, a realm to the men who leave home to join the fraternity of monks, which he gave ontological status (Ferrer, 2002, p. 119). he recounted a famous Buddhist teaching story about an It seems to me that Buber’s relational ethos was earlier incarnation of the Buddha who leaves his children lost in the stampede for higher consciousness. The blending with dubious caregivers as he sets out on his quest for of the American Transcendentalist trinity (Christianity, enlightenment: Buddhism, and Advaita; Lahood, 2010—this issue) in Beginning with the Buddha himself, “leaving home” the psychedelic imagination, coupled with humanistic has meant abandoning not only parents, but also— psychology, brought transpersonal psychology into since some “goers forth” have been married when being—which in turn gave rise to a Wilberian paradise embarking upon their quest for enlightenment— to which the movement was bound for at least 20 years wives and children as well [the classic locus of this (Lahood, 2008, 2010). Indeed, a close look at the early story] is the Vessentara Jakata, the most famous transpersonal movement’s commitments shows that they Buddhist myth in Theravada Buddhist societies were not particularly relational, but tended instead to (The Jakata 1957: vol. 6). The Prince Vessantara, overtly devalue relationship. abandoned his beloved wife and children in order The Marriage of Maslow and Zen to seek Enlightenment. To attain his quest he gave he affirmation of self was a central aspect of his children as servants to a cruel Brahmin, and humanistic psychology, central to the self realization T his wife to yet another. When his children, beaten or self actualization espoused by Carl Rogers, Fritz Perls, and oppressed by the Brahmin, managed to escape and Abraham Maslow. It called for a kind of autonomy and find their way back to Vessentara, he was filled and independence that suggested not needing other with “dire grief”—his heart palpitated, his mouth people—a sort of, you go your way I’ll go mine, approach panted, blood fell from his eyes—until he arrived at that is attested to by the so-called gestalt prayer: the insight that “All this pain comes from affection I do my thing and you do your thing. and no other cause; I must quiet this affection, and I am not in this world to live up to your be calm.” Having achieved that insight, he was able expectations, to abandon his children. (p. 279) And you are not in this world to live up to Thus when faced with the parental responsibility that mine. comes with procreative relationship the hallowed Buddha- You are you, and I am I, and if by chance we to-be had no raft of emotional skills or interpersonal find each other, it’s beautiful. competencies to draw on, and could only redouble If not, it can’t be helped (Fritz Perls, 1969). his efforts in the practice of tanha (severing of bonds). It has been claimed that this kind of robust Having achieved his own serenity, he turned his back on Nietzschean philosophy found an expression in Mary his abused children, children whom he put in harm’s way Daley’s elitist feminist theology that urged self- in the first place, diligently leaving to them to work out sufficiency and a willingness to abandon obligations their own salvation. and commitments to others without feelings of guilt or Spiro explained that the primary responsibility emotional ambivalence (Morris, 1994, p. 181).2 These for the Buddhist is his attempt to attain nirvana, rugged humanistic ideals would be coupled with the relationships with parents, beloveds, wives, and children extreme individualism of Buddhism—compassionate, notwithstanding. Reflecting on the cosmological design maybe, but not very relational; this attitude still appears of the Buddha, anthropologist Morton Klass (1995) Relational Spirituality, Part 2 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 59 wrote, “Nothing really exists in the universe but desire experiences was joined at the hip with Eastern spiritual and the manifestation of desire, since all of these offer concepts—a marriage of Maslow and Zen. nothing but continued
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Conversations with God: Bk
    CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD: BK. 3: AN UNCOMMON DIALOGUE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Neale Donald Walsch | 416 pages | 01 Jan 2000 | Hodder & Stoughton General Division | 9780340765456 | English | London, United Kingdom Conversations with God: Bk. 3: An Uncommon Dialogue PDF Book Speak respectfully, that no one be dishonored. People could say that. You did not come to this planet to produce something with your body. None of this is by coincidence. They know that Jesus was not perturbed by the crucifixion, but expected it. We are perfect just as we are. Return to Book Page. This in-sight is what you seek, yet you cannot have it while you are so deeply concerned with your outer reality. But matter will form out of pure energy. What is created by you is the degree to which these events touch your life. But you do not know Who You Are, and you think you are a great deal less. Do not accept the unacceptable. To have done so would have been to violate a sacred Law of the Universe:. Because of this book, I've opened my heart and my mind. For it is the nature of people to love, then destroy, then love again that which they value most. And still, both existed simultaneously. The topics in this book were more interesting than book one. That is the business of life. Packaging should be the same as what is found in a retail store, unless the item is handmade or was packaged by the manufacturer in non-retail packaging, such as an unprinted box or plastic bag.
    [Show full text]
  • Conversations with God, Book 4: Awaken the Species
    CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD book 4 • Awaken the Species • NEALE DONALD WALSCH 2 Also by Neale Donald Walsch Conversations with God, Book 1 Conversations with God, Book 1 Guidebook Conversations with God, Book 2 Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 2 Conversations with God, Book 3 Questions and Answers from Conversations with God Bringers of the Light ReCreating Your Self Conversations with God Re-MIND-er Cards Moments of Grace The Wedding Vows from Conversations with God Neale Donald Walsch on Abundance and Right Livelihood Neale Donald Walsch on Holistic Living Neale Donald Walsch on Relationships Conversations with God for Teens Friendship with God Communion with God Tomorrow’s God: Our Greatest Spiritual Challenge The Little Soul and the Sun The Little Soul and the Earth The Complete Conversations with God Home with God: In a Life that Never Ends Happier Than God When Everything Changes, Change Everything The New Revelations: A Conversation with God What God Wants: A Compelling Answer to Humanity’s Biggest Question What God Said: The 25 Core Messages of Conversations with God That Will Change Your Life and the World The Storm Before the Calm The Only Thing That Matters God’s Message to the World: You’ve Got Me All Wrong 3 Conversations with God for Parents Where God and Medicine Meet 4 Copyright © 2017 by Neale Donald Walsch All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without prior written permission from the author or their representatives.
    [Show full text]
  • Viaje Sin Distancia
    1 Viaje sin Distancia Es ésta la tan largamente esperada obra que relata cómo vio la luz UN CURSO DE MILAGROS, ese valiosísimo material de autoestudio catalogado como la «Biblia del Tercer Milenio» y que alcanza ya su trigésimosegunda edición, con más de un millón de ejemplares vendidos hasta la fecha. En Viaje sin distancia Robert Skutch, cofundador y director de la FOUNDATION FOR INNER PEACE, fundación editora del Curso, nos conduce por un viaje fascinante de más de setenta años de duración en el que nos desvela el escenario donde se produjeron los acontecimientos y los desafíos a los que se vieron enfrentados sus principales protagonistas: Helen Schucman, una respetada psicóloga que se autodeclaraba atea y que, a través de un largo proceso de inspiración (siete años), escuchó una Voz que le iba dictando su contenido; y William N. Thetford, director del departamento de Psicología en el que ella trabajaba y su principal colaborador y apoyo en tan inusitado caso de revelación. Es éste un libro que será ávidamente leído no solo por personas ya familiarizadas con el Curso, sino por todas aquellas a quienes fascine conocer historias extraordinarias acaecidas realmente y que estén interesadas en su propio desarrollo personal y espiritual. Neo Person VIAJE SIN DISTANCIA La historia detrás de UN CURSO DE MILAGROS: sus protagonistas, cómo ocurrió la revelación y el desarrollo de todo ,el proceso Robert Skutch El viaje hacia Dios es meramente redespertar a la conciencia de lo que siempre has sido, del lugar donde siempre estás. Es un viaje sin distancia hacia un destino que nunca ha cambiado.
    [Show full text]
  • Meditation – Neuroscienti C Approaches and Philosophical Implications
    Studies in Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality Stefan Schmidt Harald Walach Editors Meditation – Neuroscienti c Approaches and Philosophical Implications Meditation – Neuroscientifi c Approaches and Philosophical Implications Studies in Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality Volume 2 Series Editors Harald Walach, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany Stefan Schmidt, University Medical Center, Freiburg and European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany Editorial Board Jonathan Schooler, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA Mario Beauregard, University of Montreal, Canada Robert Forman, The Forge Institute, USA B. Alan Wallace, Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, CA, USA For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/10195 Stefan Schmidt • Harald Walach Editors Meditation – Neuroscientifi c Approaches and Philosophical Implications Editors Stefan Schmidt Harald Walach Department of Psychosomatic Medicine Institute for Transcultural Health Science and Psychotherapy European Universtiy Viadrina, Frankfurt University Medical Center Freiburg Frankfurt , Germany Freiburg, Germany ISSN 2211-8918 ISSN 2211-8926 (electronic) ISBN 978-3-319-01633-7 ISBN 978-3-319-01634-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-01634-4 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954596 © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is
    [Show full text]
  • The Horrors and Absurdities of Religion Pdf Free Download
    THE HORRORS AND ABSURDITIES OF RELIGION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Arthur Schopenhauer | 128 pages | 01 Nov 2009 | Penguin Books Ltd | 9780141191591 | English | London, United Kingdom The Horrors and Absurdities of Religion PDF Book Tao Te Ching Lao Tzu. Ain't I A Woman? A Tale of a Tub - Jonathan Swift Mar 27, Anders rated it liked it. Some good thoughts from a man who learned from the ancients and was an early student of Buddhism and Indian religions but thought for himself. Conversations With God. Although some of the aphorisms presented later seem out-of-place or disjointed, and one or two come across more as attempts to coin a phrase than legitimate philosophical arguments, they are broadly viable in themselves and serve as interesting insights into the minutiae of Schopenhauer's philosophy. Karen Armstrong. We use cookies to serve you certain types of ads , including ads relevant to your interests on Book Depository and to work with approved third parties in the process of delivering ad content, including ads relevant to your interests, to measure the effectiveness of their ads, and to perform services on behalf of Book Depository. Other books in this series. But to have Philatethes, the champion of reason, call for the end of religious freedom, is hypocrisy at his finest. Often it just discussed the philosophy of enlightenment, instead of the absurdity and horrors of religions. Once come into general credit, they continue to defy truth for centuries. Original Title. Oct 11, Julian Worker rated it really liked it. Nevertheless, there is in this work the attitude of The Enlightenment that rational individuals cannot possibly believe in God.
    [Show full text]
  • Gestalt Therapy Verbatim Kindle
    GESTALT THERAPY VERBATIM PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Frederick S. Perls,Joe Wysong | 320 pages | 01 Dec 1992 | Gestalt Journal Press,U.S. | 9780939266166 | English | Highland, United States Gestalt Therapy Verbatim PDF Book Thus Perls made assimilation, as opposed to introjection, a focal theme in his work, and the prime means by which growth occurs in therapy. Lists with This Book. Raluca Petcu rated it it was amazing Oct 03, This is a classic book on Gestalt Therapy. You have to go full into it- swing wit it. Erving and Miriam Polster started a training center in La Jolla , California, which also became very well known, as did their book, Gestalt Therapy Integrated , in the s. Retrieved Psychotherapy list. In contrast to the psychoanalytic stance, in which the "patient" introjects the presumably more healthy interpretations of the analyst, in Gestalt therapy the client must "taste" his or her own experience and either accept or reject it—but not introject or "swallow whole. From the perspective of this theory of self, neurosis can be seen as fixed predictability—a fixed Gestalt—and the process of therapy can be seen as facilitating the client to become unpredictable : more responsive to what is in the client's present environment, rather than responding in a stuck way to past introjects or other learning. The Satori … The moment he realizes that everything was just a nightmare he created and a mere fantasy —a set catastrophic expectations that causes tremendous anxiety In Gestalt Therapy, Anxiety, it is defined as the gap between the now and the then. Will get back to you on my perspective these days about what ol' Fritz had to say.
    [Show full text]
  • Conversations with God
    Conversations with God • an uncommon dialogue • book 1 Neale Donald Walsch 1992 -1994 www.universe-people.com 1 ALSO BY NEALE DONALD WALSCH Conversations with God, Book 2 Conversations with God, Book 1 Guidebook Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 1 Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 2 Conversations with God an uncommon dialogue book 1 Neale Donald Walsch 1995 by Neale Donald Walsch 2 Acknowledgments First, last, and always, I want to acknowledge the Source of everything that is in this book, everything that is life—and of life itself. Second, I want to thank my spiritual teachers, who include the saints and sages of all religions. Third, it is clear to me that all of us could produce a list of people who have touched our lives in ways so meaningful and so profoundly as to defy categorization or description; people who have shared with us their wisdom, told us their truth, suffered us our faults and our foibles in their infinite patience, and who have seen us through all of it; seeing the best in us there was to see. People who, in their acceptance of us, as well as their refusal to accept the parts of us they knew we really didn’t choose, caused us to grow; to get bigger somehow. The people, in addition to my parents, who have been there for me in that way include Samantha Gorski, Tara-Jenelle Walsch, Wayne Davis, Bryan Walsch, Martha Wright, the late Ben Wills, Jr., Roland Chambers, Dan Higgs, C. Berry Carter II, Ellen Moyer, Anne Blackwell, Dawn Dancing Free, Ed Keller, Lyman W.
    [Show full text]
  • Spirit and Other Writings (By Author from More Prolific Authors)
    Home | Library | E‐Zines | Books | Glossary | Links | FAQ Spirit and Other Writings (by author from more prolific authors) | Johanne Agerskov | Akhenaton | Frank Alper | Rosemary Altea (Gray Eagle) | Elwood Babbitt | Alice Bailey (Djwhal Khul) | Marti Barham | Elsa Barker | Bartholomew (via Mary Moore) | Graham Bernard | Silver Birch | Frances Bird | Anthony Borgia | Sylvia Browne | June Burke | Eileen Caddy | Dolores Cannon | Ken Carey | Mary Carreiro | Hilda Charlton | Edgar Cayce | Barbara Hand Clow | Grace and Ivan Cooke (White Eagle) | Denise Cooney | A Course in Miracles (via Helen Schucman and others) | Benjamin Creme (Maitreya) | Geraldine Cummins | Dolfyn | Emmanuel (via Pat Rodegast, et. al.) | Virginia Essene | Paul Ferrini | Arthur Findlay | Jean K. Foster | Louis Gittner | Brian Grattan | Helen Greaves | David Hess | Hilarion (via Maurice Cooke) | Barbara Marx Hubbard | I Am | Allan Kardec (Leon Rivail) | Ronald G. Kaufmann | L Kelway­Bamber | Eric Klein | Kryon (via Lee Carroll) | Dale Landry | Lazaris (via Jack Pursel ) | David K Johnson and Robert Leichtman | Janet McClure (Vywamus) | Dorothy. MacLean | A. Gates McKibbin | George McMullen | James Merrill | Michael Teachings | Mother Mary (via Annie Kirkwood and others) | MSI | Karl Nowotny | George Vale Owen | James E Padgett | Pearl | Eva Pierrakos | Elizabeth Clare and Mark Prophet | Ramala | Andrew Ramer | Ramtha (via J.Z. Knight) | Dorothy Roeder | Mona Rolfe | Sanaya Roman | Helena Roerich | Kevin Ryerson and Shirley Maclaine | Saint Germain (via Guy Ballard, et.
    [Show full text]
  • Integrating Buddhist Practices and Principles Into Mental Health Settings
    Integrating Buddhist Practices and Principles into Mental Health Settings: A Mixed Method Investigation Venerable Edo Shonin, PgCert, MSc Psychology Division, Nottingham Trent University, Nottinghamshire, UK, NG1 4BU A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Nottingham Trent University for the degree of Doctorate of Psychology December 2015 1 © Edo Shonin, 2015 This work is the intellectual property of the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the owner of the Intellectual Property Rights. Recommended citation: Shonin, E. (2015). Integrating Buddhist Practices and Principles into Mental Health Settings: A Mixed Methods Investigation [PhD Thesis]. Nottingham: Nottingham Trent University. Keywords: Mindfulness, Meditation, Meditation Awareness Training, Buddhist-Derived Interventions, Mindfulness-based Interventions, Second-Generation Mindfulness-based Interventions, Emptiness, Buddhism, Loving-Kindness Meditation, Compassion Mediation, Psychopathology, Stress, Anxiety, Problem Gambling, Pathological Gambling, Schizophrenia, Psychosis, Reoffending, Work Addiction, Work-related Stress Aspects of this doctoral project were supported by: Awake to Wisdom Centre for Meditation and Mindfulness Research Bodhayati School of Buddhism 2 Table of Contents Declarations 6 List of Publications 8 List of Tables and Figures 16 General Abstract 17 Chapter 1: General Introduction 19 SECTION A. CONTRIBUTION TO THEORY Chapter 2: The Emerging Role of Buddhism in Clinical Psychology: 27 Toward Effective Integration Chapter 3: Buddhist-derived Loving-kindness and Compassion Meditation 64 for the Treatment of Psychopathology: A Systematic Review Chapter 4: Mindfulness and Wellbeing: Towards a Unified Operational Approach 110 SECTION B.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography of Occult and Fantastic Beliefs Vol.4: S - Z
    Bruno Antonio Buike, editor / undercover-collective „Paul Smith“, alias University of Melbourne, Australia Bibliography of Occult and Fantastic Beliefs vol.4: S - Z © Neuss / Germany: Bruno Buike 2017 Buike Music and Science [email protected] BBWV E30 Bruno Antonio Buike, editor / undercover-collective „Paul Smith“, alias University of Melbourne, Australia Bibliography of Occult and Fantastic Beliefs - vol.4: S - Z Neuss: Bruno Buike 2017 CONTENT Vol. 1 A-D 273 p. Vol. 2 E-K 271 p. Vol. 3 L-R 263 p. Vol. 4 S-Z 239 p. Appr. 21.000 title entries - total 1046 p. ---xxx--- 1. Dies ist ein wissenschaftliches Projekt ohne kommerzielle Interessen. 2. Wer finanzielle Forderungen gegen dieses Projekt erhebt, dessen Beitrag und Name werden in der nächsten Auflage gelöscht. 3. Das Projekt wurde gefördert von der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Sozialamt Neuss. 4. Rechtschreibfehler zu unterlassen, konnte ich meinem Computer trotz jahrelanger Versuche nicht beibringen. Im Gegenteil: Das Biest fügt immer wieder neue Fehler ein, wo vorher keine waren! 1. This is a scientific project without commercial interests, that is not in bookstores, but free in Internet. 2. Financial and legal claims against this project, will result in the contribution and the name of contributor in the next edition canceled. 3. This project has been sponsored by the Federal Republic of Germany, Department for Social Benefits, city of Neuss. 4. Correct spelling and orthography is subject of a constant fight between me and my computer – AND THE SOFTWARE in use – and normally the other side is the winning party! Editor`s note – Vorwort des Herausgebers preface 1 ENGLISH SHORT PREFACE „Paul Smith“ is a FAKE-IDENTY behind which very probably is a COLLCETIVE of writers and researchers, using a more RATIONAL and SOBER approach towards the complex of Rennes-le-Chateau and to related complex of „Priory of Sion“ (Prieure de Sion of Pierre Plantard, Geradrd de Sede, Phlippe de Cherisey, Jean-Luc Chaumeil and others).
    [Show full text]
  • William Newton Thetford, Ph.D. – Life Story
    William Newton Thetford, Ph.D. – Life Story William Newton Thetford, Ph.D. 1923 –1988 Published by: Foundation for Inner Peace William Newton Thetford, Ph.D. Life Story Based on interviews in 1982 with his friend, psychologist and author, Frances Vaughan, Ph.D. PART I I was raised as a Christian Scientist. But after my sister, who was two years older than I, died when I was seven, religion lost all credibility for my parents. Right after that, I got rheumatic fever and nearly died, too. One day I overheard a conversation my moth- er and my doctor had on an extension telephone, which was near my bedroom. She didn’t know I could hear the exchange. Essentially, the doctor said I had a fifty-fifty chance of surviving, and that if I did I would probably be an invalid. I was still seven and very sick, and confined to bed. After this, I made a decision that I was not going to be an invalid and that I was not going to die. It’s very hard to Bill and his mother, 1923 describe or explain what I was doing, but I chose not to pay any attention to what the doctor said. At some level I seemed to be aware that it was up to me. In retrospect, I could say that I made a specific choice to live. After that, I was out of school for three years and stayed home, while my mother tutored me. My joints were lightly twist- ed by the rheumatic fever and I had a postural problem.
    [Show full text]
  • A Course in Miracles Profile
    A Course In Miracles By Rick Branch Founders: Helen Schucman and William Thetford Founding Date: 1965 Official Publication: While there are no official publications, The Holy Encounter is one of the major publications promoting the philosophy of A Course In Miracles. Organization Structure: There are hundreds of small study groups scattered across the country, each organized on an informal basis, for the express purpose of studying the Course. Unique Terms: While the Course has no truly unique terms, it defines common Christian terms in a unique way. Be aware of this fact when speaking to or listening to those who are followers of the Course. HISTORY In October 1965, Helen Schucman, an associate professor of medical psychology at Columbia University in New York, began receiving channeled messages from a speaker who would later identify himself as Jesus Christ.1 For the next ten years the voice is said to have dictated “in an inaudible voice” the three volume, 1,188 page, 500,000 word book known as A Course In Miracles.2 One of Schucman’s colleagues was Dr. William Thetford, a clinical psychologist at Columbia University. While he never heard the voice, he was instrumental in the publication of the Course. Raised in the Christian Science church, Thetford believed the Course was a representation of the “original teachings of Jesus.”3 In 1972, Schucman and Thetford met Dr. Kenneth Wapnick of the Foundation for Inner Peace. The Copyright for the Course was turned over to Wapnick and his organization in 1975. This action is followed in September of the same year with the publication of the first edition of A Course In Miracles.4 Schucman died in February 1981 and Thetford in 1988.
    [Show full text]