CONFESSIONS of a God Seeker
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CONFESSIONS of a God Seeker A JOURNEY TO HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS Ford Johnson Published by “ONE” Publishing, Inc. 8720 Georgia Avenue Suite 206 Silver Spring, MD 20910 www.onepublishinginc.com Copyright © 2003 by “ONE” Publishing, Inc. “ONE” Publishing is a registered trademark of “ONE” Publishing, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copy- right Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Publisher. 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Typeset by Adam Sharif of “ONE” Publishing, Inc., Silver Spring, MD Principal editor: Brian Downing, Ph.D. Design concept: Ford Johnson Original art: Michael Omoighe Graphic art adaption and design: April Gratrix Printed and bound in the USA by Edward Brothers, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 “ONE” Publishing, Inc. strives to use the most environmentally sensitive paper stocks available. Our publications are printed on acid-free recycled stock, whenever possible, and our paper always meets or exceeds minimum GPO and EPA requirements. “ONE” Publishing also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may be available in electronic books or in audio formats. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Johnson, Ford, 1942- Confessions of a God-Seeker: a journey to higher consciousness / Ford Johnson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-9728835-8-4 (alk. paper) 1. Spiritual life. 2. Eckankar (Organization)--Controversial literature. I. Title. BP605.E3 J645 2003 299'.93--dc21 2003006774 This book is dedicated to the Truth Seeker and ALL THAT IS This page intentionally left blank. Contents Contents v Acknowledgements xiii Introduction xv PART ONE — THE JOURNEY BEGINS 1 Chapter 1 — The God Seeker 3 Who is a God Seeker? 3 Steps Along the Way 4 A Higher Consciousness Primer 6 Know Thyself 7 The Classroom of Life: How Souls Evolve 8 Sin versus Learning 9 Birth, Death and Reincarnation 10 The Law of Cause and Effect (Karma) 12 Chapter 2 — The Path of the Light and Sound of God 15 When the Seeker is Ready.... 15 The Inner Worlds of God 16 Altering A Spiritual Paradigm 18 A Spiritual Traveler is Born 19 A Life of Service 23 Journey of the God-seeker 25 Chapter 3 — How the Journey Started 27 First Contact 27 Arrival in London: The English Tour 33 Chapter 4 — The Spiritual Journal of Graham Forsyth 35 Preparing Graham’s Journal for the Master 35 vi CONFESSIONS OF A GOD SEEKER In the Many Hands of God 39 Reflections on the Journal 58 Inner Experiences Geared to the Individual’s Needs 59 On Achieving God-Realization 60 Why did Graham Join Eckankar? 61 Implications of Contact with the Nine Silent Ones 62 PART TWO — THE DISCOVERY 65 Chapter 5 — The Master Replies 67 Harold Klemp’s Response to Me 67 A Closer Look at the Letter 69 Further Communications with the Mahanta 73 The Master’s Response to Graham 77 The Importance of Inner Experiences in Eckankar 80 The Conundrum 83 Chapter 6 — Eckankar: Revealed by Truth 85 Why I Looked Deeper into Eckankar 85 Standards of Religious and Spiritual Scrutiny 88 The Four Zoas of Eckankar 90 The Standard of Truth 90 Paul Twitchell and the Real History of Eckankar 91 Paul Twitchell After the Break: The Idea is Born 93 The Creation Begins 93 The Historical Rewrite Continues 94 Chapter 7 — Twitchellian Techniques of Spiritual Creativity: The Ten Devices 96 Device One: Factual and Historical Inaccuracies 96 When Was Paul Born? 96 Where Was Paul Born? 101 The Real Paul Twitchell Revealed 106 The Mysterious Paul Twitchell 110 Device Two: A Failure of Attribution 111 The King James Version Lives! 117 The Toothless Tiger 117 The Source of Eckankar Writings on the HU 119 “In My Father’s House There Are Many Mansions” 121 Contents vii In Defense of Plagiarism: the Apologists Speak 124 The Master Compiler Theory 124 The Astral Library Theory 125 From Sow’s Ear to Silk Purse 126 Device Three: Substitution and Association 127 Device Four: Name Reversal, Letter Transposition, and Adoption — The Creation of the Vairagi Masters 135 Device Five: Absorption of a Teaching — The Source of Structure, Terminology, and Practices in Eckankar 140 Device Six: Truth by Detail 142 Device Seven: The Techniques of Fear and Deception 145 Device Eight: Verbal Slight of Hand 153 Device Nine: The Many Faces of Eckankar 159 Issue 1- How should the Chela view the Mahanta, the Living Eck Master? 159 Issue 2- Does the Eck student have the freedom to leave should he or she choose? 160 Device Ten: The Land of Contradictions 163 Paths to God 165 Need For the Mahanta, the Living Eck Master 167 Responsibility of the Individual for Spiritual Growth 167 Dependence on the Master 169 Chapter 8 — The Origins of Eckankar Doctrine 175 The Mahanta, the Living Eck Master 175 The Blue Light 183 The Dream Master 184 Eckankar Initiations 186 Reincarnation 190 The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad 194 The Spiritual Exercises of Eck and the HU 196 Origins of the HU 196 The True History of the HU 197 The Validity of Spiritual Exercises 199 The Principles and Precepts of Eckankar 200 PART THREE — THE FINAL UNVEILING 201 Chapter 9 — The Psychology of Paul Twitchell 203 viii CONFESSIONS OF A GOD SEEKER The Nature of Dogma 203 The Nature of Mythomania 205 Does the Shoe Fit? 207 Defenders of the Faith 217 Chapter 10 — Eckankar Following the Twitchell Years 220 The Death of Paul Twitchell 221 The Darwin Gross Years (1971-1981) 223 Harold Klemp Becomes the Living Eck Master 227 Harold Klemp and God-Realization 228 Darwin Retakes Control 231 The Break 232 Darwin Gross vs. Eckankar 235 The Harold Klemp Era 241 The Future of Eckankar and Its Membership 243 Collaboration of Eckankar Leaders 246 The Responsibility of a Spiritual Leader 246 “Beware of Moloch”65 and Other Warnings 247 Defending the Faith 248 The Death of an Ideal 249 Denial 249 Anger 250 Bargaining 251 Depression 251 Acceptance 252 Hope 252 Voices from the Past 252 Chapter 11 — Sant Mat, Radhasoami, and the Myth of the Master 257 History of Sant Mat 258 Sant Mat and the Tradition of Masters 259 Succession Within Radhasoami Satsang Beas 260 The Beas Line of Radhasoami Masters 262 Experiences with the Light and Sound of God 267 The Life and Legacy of Baba Faqir Chand 268 The Power of Belief 276 Chapter 12 — Holy Books and the Sixteen Crucified Saviors 278 Old Testament Controversies 279 Contents ix New Testament Controversies 280 The Early Role of the Church in the Formulation of the Gospels and Christianity 283 Pseudepigraphy, Pious Fraud, and the Greatest Story Ever Told 285 Creation of the Gospels: The Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John 292 Non-Gospel Sources for Jesus 294 Contemporary Support for the Gospels 296 The Story Behind the Epistles of Paul 300 The Jesus Story — The One and Only Savior? 302 Where the Story of Jesus Originated 305 The Basis of Contemporary Belief 307 A Final Word 309 PART FOUR — JOURNEY TO HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS 311 Chapter 13 — The Spiritual and Scientific Foundations of Higher Consciousness 313 The Nature of the Journey 313 The Journey to God-Realization and the Heart of Truth 314 The Law of Unity 316 The Illusion of Life 317 Illusion: A Scientific Perspective 319 Expanding or Changing Paradigms 322 How We Create Our Reality/Illusion 327 The Dream of Creation 328 The Levels of Reality/Illusion Creation 330 The Law of Soul and God-soul 335 The Nature of ALL THAT IS 338 The Law of Love 339 The Spiritual Hierarchy 344 The Law of Duality: The Nature of Good and Evil 346 The Law of Polarity 348 The Law of Spirit 349 Works for the Good of the Whole 351 Responsiveness of Spirit 352 The Nature of Prayer 354 x CONFESSIONS OF A GOD SEEKER The Power of the Individual’s Belief 354 Associated Visualization or Feeling 355 Duration of Focus 355 The Action Component 355 The Reciprocal Nature of Spirit 356 Spirit and You: Getting the Roles Straight 356 Impartiality of Spirit 358 Spirit and Beauty 359 Intelligence (Creativity) 360 Spirit is Order 362 The Illusion of the Straight Line (The Law of Cycles) 364 The Source of Our Doubt and How to Trust Spirit 365 Chapter 14 — The Spiritual Practice of Higher Consciousness 368 Towards a New Spiritual Paradigm 368 Soul Unbounded 373 The Spiritual Practice of Higher Consciousness 375 Soul-Actualization 375 God-Realization 377 The Higher Consciousness Contemplations of Life 378 Using the Affirmations and Contemplations 383 Establishing Inner Communication — How I met Me 385 The Physical and the Inner Bodies 387 The Physical Body 388 The Etheric Body 388 Emotional Body 389 The Mental Body 389 The Soul and the Causal Body 390 Meditation and Contemplation 391 The Mantra 393 The Nature