I wrote to him, and he wrote a real nice letter back, saying that we should get together and talk. He wanted to know every dirty piece of laundry on Twitchell and Eckankar. McMahon, who was raised Catholic in New York City and on Long Island, has always been interested in spirituality. After she finishes, Gross says, She can belt one out, cant she? The phone wire had been disconnected. 0:53. I met David Lane in San Diego. Six members of Washington, D.C. Fire and EMS have been placed on administrative leave after a video showed multiple emergency personnel punch and kick a person in an apparent brawl while on . My research has helped because its made me more discriminating, more critical-minded. It gets tiresome., For ten years I was a member of Eckankar,one of the groups Lane has written about most extensively. I'd heard rumors about why he left but I wanted to see for myself. You can explain it in a lot of different ways. Blame Eddy for May Gray and June Gloom, Chamise and Buckwheat are blooming, All the Dylan Mulvaney San Diego connections. Again, I am reminded of Houdini, whose interest in spiritualism was awakened with his dearly loved mothers death. When I get home, my hosts greet me with a Manhattan. Probably a composite cover name for three people: Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, which was started 500 years ago; Sawan Singh, who was Kirpal Singhs guru; and Swami Premananda. The guys like an idiot, right? This is God's love and intelligence, and it is EVERYWHERE." Some people who have ringing in their ears say that its horrible. I dont remember it looking this way, he says pensively. And he didnt know anything about Eckankar., The guide was a bearded man in this maroon robe. Garland decided to withdraw it. Dont miss out. It was hard to leave Eckankar too. You know, just a natural progression. It wasnt just David Lanes personal opinion. Like so many children of the 1960's, my awakening began with marijuana and LSD. But even in his formality I instinctively trusted him. Rebazar Tarzs, she says reverently. In the Army he traveled to Thailand, where he met his wife. I had out-of-the-body experiences, I had contact with spirit, I saw the blue light, saw all the things they talk about in the books prior to coming to Eckankar. I think it was a resistance to being in the physical world and being fully embodied, and so I tried to exit a few times. There is, indeed, something ethereal about this frail woman. Shortly after . Lane is convinced John-Roger was involved. I never stopped, not even for a minute even though they, pardon my expression, treated me like shit. As I walk away he yells after me, Hang in there!. At this stage of the game I cant buy the crap that permeates religion, not just new religions, but religion in general. Bettina Yelman received her dreamstate while at an Eck seminar in Hawaii. Apparently Lane has equally conflicted feelings about me. I figure Lane knows plenty about this. I just went off on him. I urge, Come on, Dave, its starting. I practically have to pull him into the concert. People sit on park benches, push baby carriages along paths, jog beside the water. The bed was overturned, drawers were everywhere. After a year or so, he branched off and started his own group, MSIA, claiming that in 1963 he had a kidney stone operation and that after nine days of being in a coma he had been commissioned to be the Mystical Traveler Consciousness. At first Hinkins thought it was the legendary Rebazar Tarzs who came to him on the inner planes and passed on the keys to the Kingdom, but later, after seeing a photo of Radhasoami guru Sawan Singh, Hinkins decided that it was really Sawan Singh who had given him the mantle. His only interest was getting the message out about the light and sound of God., McMahon doesnt blame anyone for being skeptical. I wanted Bettina Yelmans calm, I wanted Charles Richardss benevolence, I wanted Kevin McMahons assurance. Thats really what it is for me. Around his neck hangs a similar pendant. No, I sigh, Im not afraid of those people.. The Kal is similar to Satan, representing everything that is materialistic and evil, a being of vileness, wrath, and vengeance. Lane tells me that former Living Eck Master Darwin Gross is appearing February 11 at the Best Western Hanalei Hotel. His clothes seem to be tossed onto his rather stocky body. Within two years Klemp fired Gross, accusing him of negativity, spiritual decay, and embezzlement. A job as a correspondent for Our Navy took him to Washington, D.C. in 1945. Religions in Minnesota Religions in Minnesota Acts of Intolerance Because of the frequency and duration and escalation of these incidents, coupled with religious slurs being painted over sacred signs, property, and our roadway, it's religious bigotry. I asked what happened to my friend, my childhood master. Incredibly, I was awake, but still in my inner world at the same time. 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. Acts of Intolerance Eckankar Religions in Minnesota Disillusioned Eckists left the movement in droves. Rosanne Cash sings, Some dreams die with dignity. Several hundred members of Eckankar live in the San Diego area, but not all of them participate in local events. I anticipate our talk with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. McMahon seems suspicious of me, so I tell him that my current husband is an Irish Catholic from Long Island and that Im still very much in contact with my former husband, whos a higher initiate of Eckankar like himself. Lane also appeared on Geraldo Riveras Now It Can Be Told. I taped them for five hours. The accusations leveled against Hinkins included embezzling money, plagiarizing from the teachings of Paul Twitchell and others, skirting zoning laws, illegally obtaining airfare discounts, setting up tape recorders throughout his house to obtain information that he would later use to appear psychic, and sexual misconduct. Theres certain things I left out of the book, and one of them is the night Twitchell died. Instead of asking people to be really skeptical of things, its asking them to believe almost anything. But, Dave, I counter, when you talk to Eckists they always tell you, Im a totally skeptical person. For years after I left Eckankar, I was plagued with wrenching spasms of primal fear, emptiness, collapse, and betrayal. Everybody has a right to pursue whatever interest they have. No, I was excited that somebody would pay attention to my research, Lane exclaims. Fie has a personal thing against Eckankar, he briskly replies. And just explain that Twitchell covered up his life. The upshot of it was, they didnt do anything.. Eckankar Pre Philosophy. The teachings of Eckankar are presented to the public through books, free brochures, advertised meetings and lectures, and, of course, word of mouth. But the stuff that Lane goes after has nothing to do, for me, with the validity of the teachings., When I was in Eckankar, one of the things that I really liked about it was its respect for other faiths and that there was no pressure to get anybody to join., Richards responds, Sri Harold Klemp has taken a special effort to make it clear that we accept the value and the need for all different paths and religions, because people operate at different states of consciousness. The only. Combine these two forces, the creativity of Paul Twitchell with the organizational skills of Gail Lane opens his hands in a gesture indicating anything could happen. 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. The other one is, I overslept. Eckankar took off like wildfire, growing from three students to thousands in less than three years. So I sent my term paper to Eckankar, and then they turned around two months later and said they were going to sue me if I published it. I was teaching at UC-San Diego at the time. My personality is I want to do, ( not sit ) in a Satsang and discuss. "We use more discriminating intelligence when we buy a used car than when we buy a religion, says philosophy professor and cult-buster David Christopher Lane. In Eckankar there is a technique called the Golden-Tongued Wisdom, in which you find spiritual guidance through an overheard conversation, a voice on the radio, or the lyrics of a popular song. After a few more tunes. We see that all the time.. After leaving the Self-Revelation Church, Twitchell dove into the Radhasoami movement. I lean and whisper to him, You are so opaque. I am surprised by my cruelty. . Love and Sex Eckankar Religions in Minnesota - Carleton College why i left eckankar - Kennedy Krieger Institute Sitting at our outside table, high above Camino Del Mar, surrounded by sky and ocean, I feel as if were gods feasting on petty human concerns. But they kept running it, and he never sued them., In August 1988, the Los Angeles Times published an extensive two-part critique of John-Rogers activities, based on Lanes research. Should I send this to the IRS? 'Should I send this to Eckankar? Little notes he was making to himself. Then his whole manner changed he leaned forward in his chair, his voice emphatically rose and fell. I think it would be wrong of me to say that Eckankar is unique. Then she asks him to think about Grosss music as he again holds out his arm. Hes touring the Southwest, as we speak. We figure, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, we might as well call it a duck.". Saturday afternoon, when we arrive at the hotel, Lane keeps disappearing into the bathroom. When Paul Twitchell suddenly died in September 1971, he left no word as to who his successor should be. And curtain after curtain of gauze was quietly removed, and I saw stars behind stars behind stars, as in the magical Odeons of my youth. Paul Twitchell. And the sex though Eckankar in no way encourages sexual contact among its members with that degree of trust and the sense of two souls meeting, the sex was great. Last April the current Living Eck Master, Harold Klemp, spoke at a three-day major seminar at the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina. Because that was my condition if I could just study in the closet, then I would join. Im worried about getting lost, he says, exasperated. 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. People typically define cults, first of all, as based around worshiping a personality. Then, Lane says excitedly, John-Roger committed the biggest mistake. So you get this juxtaposition, Lane really going off on John-Roger and McWilliams trying to protect J.R.s reputation. *, After such an exhausting chronicle, I feebly inquire, Are you still doing research on John-Roger?. When the Vietnamese fellow was in San Diego, he saw a poster for an Eckankar event that had a picture of Rebazar Tarzs on it, and he recognized him. For a year and a half or two years, says Lane, it was a shoestring operation. According to Lane, members of various cults have threatened lawsuits, written him letters with skeletons on them, broken into his apartment, made death threats, and generally harassed him. She was a Buddhist, and I became interested in Buddhism. I noticed in Baja a highway sign that said Rebasar. I said to myself, I bet this is where Twitchell got the name Rebazar Tarzs! I also have the evidence that David Christopher Lane is an informant for the F.B.l. The Rod of Power was passed on to Harold Klemp. 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. Ellen Burstyn, maybe.) But Lane had the jump on all of them when back in 1984 he wrote The J.R. Simply put, Twitchell cut his connection with Radhasoami for good marketing reasons. I cant understand why he would be doing this, because the Eckists have never gone out of their way to hurt him; but he claims that they did, I think, in one regard. If I were any of you. The Temple of Eck in Chanhassen [Minnesota] is open to people of all faiths to come, to attend the worship services, maybe just to enhance their own beliefs. Its even available for community events. I dont think Twitchell imagined that Eckankar would blossom the way it did. In 68 he was a convener, which means he held Eck satsangs [classes) in his home in Rosemead, California. There was music and noise and clamor, and I turned to look at my friend. Rebazar Tarzs, yeah, that Rebazar Tarzs. Lane imagines himself driving, Let me see, I turned left here, now right, then I drove straight for a bit. Using this gyroscopic homing pigeon technique, he leads me straight to his little white Nissan. Recently I have had a spiritual crisis where I stopped believing in the concept of the Abrahamic God. I want Eckankar in some weird universe to keep going, because its fun for me. 2023 San Diego Reader. In 1942, after a stint in the Navy, Twitchell moved to New York, where he continued his journalism career, attended many churches, and read extensively on spiritual subjects. The Eckankar Cult In Nigeria (Africa) - Religion - Nigeria - Nairaland Star Wars was no ordinary action flick, we concluded, but a profound spiritual saga. 2 Bud Light Executives on Leave After Promotion With Dylan Mulvaney We have a tendency to want to inflate our lives with spiritual meaning, and skepticism is not much fun. Opinion | Tucker Carlson's Great Replacement - New York Times Members receive a monthly discourse, which they have the option of studying alone or in classes. Rather, hes tried to make the teachings more accessible to the average person whos interested in religion or spirituality but may not be familiar with a lot of the terms that weve used in the past., What alternative terms have been developed?, Instead of talking about contemplations or the nurat or the surat technique for the light and sound, we just say we do spiritual exercises. Though Eckankar does not try to coerce disillusioned members to remain on the path, Eckists are warned that when they drop out, their spiritual growth stops, and they are at the mercy of the Kal, the negative force of the universe. Hes big, coughing, not in the best of health, and he doesnt have any money. Moreover, people within John-Rogers group have confirmed that on the day of the robbery he was in San Diego., Lane didnt sue Hinkins, but he did go public with his story. Hes having a good time. So I walk over to Gross myself and shake his hand. Why I Left Eckankar Susan Rice to leave White House domestic policy post 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. If I had a really good arm, I could have thrown a baseball up the hill, without gravity, and maybe hit his house., Did you know this before you moved there?, We drive over and park a few blocks from the beach, in front of a posh, two-story wooden house with a cobblestone drive, surrounded by Torrey pines.