http://www.examiner.com/x-15832-Cleveland-NonFiction-Books-Examiner~y2009m9d5-Eat-pray-loveand-be-honest
Find out who you are, and then, be that person. That is something that the majority of us are told when we are in childhood and/or early adulthood. What they do not tell you is that sometimes, who you find and currently are is not really who you are supposed to be. Elizabeth Gilbert discovered this painful yet enlightening fact when she realized that she no longer wanted to be married and how she was currently living was completely wrong for her.
In her memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, Ms. Gilbert realistically and compassionately describes her spiritual journey post-divorce while living in the cultures of Italy, India, and Indonesia. We travel with her as she makes new friends and tastes heavenly, delicious food in Italy, finds lasting, spiritual enlightenment from studying at an Ashram in India, and comes full circle and discovers lasting friendship and companionship in Indonesia. It is truly a ride of a lifetime for not only Ms. Gilbert but for anyone who decides to pick up this book and journey with her. Ms. Gilbert shares the intimate details of her journey and also the insights that she gathered not only from her own deep thoughts but also from the advice and counsel that she received from the friends and comrades with whom she shared many of these experiences. To quote a friend of mine: "This book is deep, man." That is a good thing.
Eat, Pray, Love reminds us that even if we believe we have found ourselves and who we are supposed to be, if things just do not feel right; they are probably not right. We need to have the courage and the guts to turn and face this knowledge and our feelings head on in order to find out what is truly right for us. Unfortunately, it is normally not easy to do this in one way or another. However, it is far better to admit the truth instead of continuing to live a lie. Ms. Gilbert had the courage to find the truth and then admit what she wanted and also did not want in her life. We need to find a way to do the same.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Spiritual Enlightnment Through Fire Walking the Coals
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/lifetravel/stories/DN-firewalking_0906gd.ART.State.Edition1.238cc6d.html
By JASON SHEELER / The Dallas Morning News
jsheeler@dallasnews.com
Ann Curry, Ann Curry, Ann Curry, Ann Curry. With a 10-foot path of 1,200 F coals bridging spiritual enlightenment and me, all I can think of is the Today show newsreader. Nine hours after arriving at Flower Mound's Firewalking Institute of Research and Education, the moment has arrived. I've forgotten the chant, maybe something about adoring fire, and am told that if I fear my feet melting off, they will. Focus remains on Ann. After a day with chanting, dancing, board breaking and over-sharing, I am thinking walking on fire is tired over matter. "LET IT BE EASY!" a poster insists at check-in. The daylong seminar takes place at the rambling, natural stone home – a compound, really – of Charles Horton, master instructor and general manager of the institute. Described in the 54-page notebook as a 40-year-old "self-made multimillionaire" with more than 50 "retail financial outlets" across the U.S., Horton is way revered by today's participants.
Gathered in a living room with saddles affixed to barstools are soft-spoken housewives from Vancouver, granola grad students from New England, saucer-eyed senior citizens, all wondering when we're going to meet Charles. There are several official-T-shirt-clad, Up With People-types who don't mind direct questions. "Can I hug you?" a 40-something blonde asks me. Uh, sure, I say, offering a handshake-and-one-arm, Bill Clinton hug. She's not having it, pouncing for a boundary-invading squeeze, leaving me violated. "OK, it's time!" she announces. "Hurry!"
Video
Participants walk on burning coals at the Firewalking Institute headquarters in Flower Mound.
09/04/09
More life/travel video
View larger
E-mail Clip
More Video
Life/Travel Videos
Butterflies released at Texas Discovery Gardens in Fair Park
Players attend the 2009 Flowserve Dallas Cowboys Luncheon
Dallas chefs take part in Caesar salad competition
Off the 20 of us go, filing past the house's garage holding a silver 7-series BMW and stepping on stones across a stream to a converted barn, which emanates thumping gay-bar music. We're split into small groups, and I'm assigned to Team Prashant.
"OK, guys, first of all, you've got to move fast today," the long-lashed Indian-American tells us as introduction. "This isn't B.S." He pauses, looking each of us in the eyes.
"You can get hurt," Prashant says soberly. He hands us waivers.
After agreeing to not bring a lawsuit even if negligence can be demonstrated, the Hugger tells us Horton is waiting for us inside the barn. But he just doesn't believe we're excited enough.
Uh-oh.
"OK, guys, huddle up," Prashant tells my group, which includes a bearded college student from Boston and a pretty actress-type with tattoos who plans on getting into motivational speaking. "Down with the good girl, up with the best girl," she inexplicably tells us several times, as if she's test-driving e-mail signatures. Also in our group is a Peter Boyle-ish retiree who shares that fire-walking is on his bucket list.
"Here's the deal," Prashant says in a stage whisper over thumping I recognize as Marky Mark. "Charles must hear how excited we are to be here."
"Is he going to turn down the music?" I ask.
"So we have to get really pumped up," Prashant says, ignoring my question. The other groups suddenly start screaming and bouncing, as if they've seen Robert Pattinson at Forever 21.
Our turn. As I halfheartedly wave my hands around, walking in place and realizing I wore the wrong shoes, Bucket List starts screeching, "I'm a Maasai warrior! I'm a Maasai warrior!"
The Hugger isn't pleased with the volume or the aerobic output of our group. "Jason, you need to loosen up," Prashant tells me, which is something I usually hear only from therapists and dates. "You're never going to be one with the fire with your hands in your pockets."
Take two. I get a little more air, throw in a gangsta-rap fist pump and pretend to yell.
The doors swing open to unleash disco lights and C + C Music Factory's "I've Got the Power." Everyone starts dancing; I crave vodka sodas and Marlboro Lights.
Horton, in black pants and guayabera shirt with an embroidered red dragon climbing down the front, takes the stage and fills us in on why he's qualified to charge us $399. He's the owner of 60 subprime cash stores and tells us he's sold other businesses for "10 figures." Gasps and applause. My Spidey Sense tells me this may all be about money.
"How many of you were raised with the concept that 'money is the root of all evil?' " he asks with a voice that could have inspired Ian Fleming "My belief system says that's absurd." Horton fills us in on his mobile-home childhood with a dad on the run from the IRS. Starting a check-cashing business as a teenager, he went on to make some major money with a payday loan company and attended seven Tony Robbins seminars. Throwing in a quote from Donald Trump, he promises we can achieve Black Card status, too, and we need only work 15 minutes a day for $1 million a month. He does. I see dollar signs in everyone's eyes.
"And," he adds, "with money you can go to poor countries and give them drinking water and stuff."
He asks us to stand up to get some energy. And chant:
I FEEL GREAT TODAY!
I FEEL TERRIFIC!
I FEEL HEALTHY!
I FEEL HAPPY!
I HAVE THE POWER!
YES! YES! YES!!!
Horton asks us to get to a "Level 10," which involves dancing and screaming as loudly as we can for three minutes. The kick in the pants: It's a competition, and we will be judged by our weakest link. My team turns to me. I nod toward Bucket.
To demonstrate a Level 10, a blond guy in a Rastafarian-style cap gets onstage and just loses it, Oprah's My Favorite Things-style. We go team by team around the room. After Team Prashant hits about a 6, Horton says, "There is ONE person who didn't give it their all."
Sigh.
"You'll do better next time, Jason," Prashant tells me, unable to look me in the eyes.
"Let's talk about comfort zones," Horton says. Don't be shy, he implores: If someone comes within six feet of you, you need to meet them ("except in the men's room," which inspires nervous laughter). I flip through the spiral-bound notebook. We will go on to cover debt management, preprogrammed beliefs, quantum physics, pattern interruption and something called Above the Line Thinking that may somehow involve "profit" for the body.
After a 20-minute barbecue lunch, things get physical. We learn to break boards with karate chops, and the blond Rastafarian forces an embroidery needle through his hand. "It doesn't hurt!" he beams, waving his impaled hand around proudly, as if he'd won a Pinewood Derby or financed a 52 percent loan. Every so often we stop to get our energy on, with the chant he borrowed from Sam Walton and some Level 10-ing, which is always followed by intimate sharing on topics like the Secret and writing exercises such as, "Where did the head trash come from?"
We head outside to Horton's front yard, where a bonfire will become a 10-foot trail heading away from fear, economic insecurity and commercial flights. "The fire will tell you if you are to walk," Horton earnestly promises. He says something about someone ending up with "pizza feet," letting the graphic metaphor hang in the air. Backlit, he simultaneously takes on the air of Joel Osteen and that guy from Flipping Out.
The wind causes the fire's tongues to lap at our legs, providing scary foreshadowing. To get us in the mood, "This Is the Moment" pours out of the outdoor speakers – what up, Donny Osmond – and Prashant turns to me and asks if I am going to walk.
"You've really grown today," he tells me. "I think I saw you smile once." As he extends his arm, I go in for a hug, realizing too late he only wanted a knuckle bump.
The coals reach optimum walking level. Horton stands on them for what seems like four minutes and then Bucket asks to go first, yelling something about high school and good sex. Following him to the foot of the bed, wincing from the thorns in the grass, I stare at the lavalike runway.
Besides Ann Curry, I can't think of much else. Good Girl-Best Girl or someone beside her yells something like, "You go, Jason!" and I look past the end of the path at Horton's dragon and start walking. Briskly, lightly, keeping my eyes open and trying not to stumble and thinking about what it would be like to fall face first into 1,200-degree coals and where did I put my shoes and what kind of emergency care the Flower Mound fire department offers and skin burns at 130 degrees doesn't it? – I hit water.
Horton sprays my feet down and says congratulations. Wow, this feels incredible, I think, feeling legally high. I briefly panic and do a foot check, that awful pizza line rolling through my head. My right foot has a little pain below my big toe, and I start to whine to Prashant that I got burned. Feeling around on the ball of my foot, I find a burr.
Gathered around the orange-black runway, in a huddle for one last time, that "What have you done today to make you feel proud song" swirls around us, causing me to have embarrassingly noticeable goose bumps. "Ask yourself what else is possible," Horton intones, speaking above the superbig chorus. "What preconceived notions are holding you back?"
Thinking of all the universal absolutes I rely upon daily to get me from home to work to Gossip Girl, I realize I might not be done here. I go back for another trip across the coals. I may not be walking on water, I think, but it's close.
You're fired: The next Ignite the Secret seminar is Oct. 21 at the institute's headquarters in Flower Mound. Tuition is $299 until Sept. 21, when the price goes to $399. For more information, click to www.firewalking.com. In the meantime, try glass: Thrive in ’09 will be held by the institute at Studio Movie Grill (11170 N. Central Expressway) from 1 to 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 25 and aims to show you how to “think, speak, sell, market and succeed at anything.” The cost is $15 and includes a glass walk, which is exactly what it sounds like.
Don't try this at home: No participants were harmed during the reporting of this story. The worst injuries founder Charles Horton says he has seen are blisters similar to the result of new shoes and no socks.
"It's 1,200-degree coals, of course there is danger," he says. "At my events a few people have gotten a little blister or kiss, as we call them, much like the type you get while walking more than you are used to or like the ones you get from working in the garden. Participants are fascinated that they are gone the next day.
"The biggest injury I have had at an event is someone twisted their ankle in my backyard. You don't pay 100 percent attention to what you are doing normally. When you walk on red-hot coals, you pay 100 percent attention."
How does it work? Some, such as the guys at Howstuffworks.com, suggest coals transmit heat very slowly and ash provides good insulation. But Tony Robbins and Charles Horton will say it's all you – mind over matter. .
By JASON SHEELER / The Dallas Morning News
jsheeler@dallasnews.com
Ann Curry, Ann Curry, Ann Curry, Ann Curry. With a 10-foot path of 1,200 F coals bridging spiritual enlightenment and me, all I can think of is the Today show newsreader. Nine hours after arriving at Flower Mound's Firewalking Institute of Research and Education, the moment has arrived. I've forgotten the chant, maybe something about adoring fire, and am told that if I fear my feet melting off, they will. Focus remains on Ann. After a day with chanting, dancing, board breaking and over-sharing, I am thinking walking on fire is tired over matter. "LET IT BE EASY!" a poster insists at check-in. The daylong seminar takes place at the rambling, natural stone home – a compound, really – of Charles Horton, master instructor and general manager of the institute. Described in the 54-page notebook as a 40-year-old "self-made multimillionaire" with more than 50 "retail financial outlets" across the U.S., Horton is way revered by today's participants.
Gathered in a living room with saddles affixed to barstools are soft-spoken housewives from Vancouver, granola grad students from New England, saucer-eyed senior citizens, all wondering when we're going to meet Charles. There are several official-T-shirt-clad, Up With People-types who don't mind direct questions. "Can I hug you?" a 40-something blonde asks me. Uh, sure, I say, offering a handshake-and-one-arm, Bill Clinton hug. She's not having it, pouncing for a boundary-invading squeeze, leaving me violated. "OK, it's time!" she announces. "Hurry!"
Video
Participants walk on burning coals at the Firewalking Institute headquarters in Flower Mound.
09/04/09
More life/travel video
View larger
E-mail Clip
More Video
Life/Travel Videos
Butterflies released at Texas Discovery Gardens in Fair Park
Players attend the 2009 Flowserve Dallas Cowboys Luncheon
Dallas chefs take part in Caesar salad competition
Off the 20 of us go, filing past the house's garage holding a silver 7-series BMW and stepping on stones across a stream to a converted barn, which emanates thumping gay-bar music. We're split into small groups, and I'm assigned to Team Prashant.
"OK, guys, first of all, you've got to move fast today," the long-lashed Indian-American tells us as introduction. "This isn't B.S." He pauses, looking each of us in the eyes.
"You can get hurt," Prashant says soberly. He hands us waivers.
After agreeing to not bring a lawsuit even if negligence can be demonstrated, the Hugger tells us Horton is waiting for us inside the barn. But he just doesn't believe we're excited enough.
Uh-oh.
"OK, guys, huddle up," Prashant tells my group, which includes a bearded college student from Boston and a pretty actress-type with tattoos who plans on getting into motivational speaking. "Down with the good girl, up with the best girl," she inexplicably tells us several times, as if she's test-driving e-mail signatures. Also in our group is a Peter Boyle-ish retiree who shares that fire-walking is on his bucket list.
"Here's the deal," Prashant says in a stage whisper over thumping I recognize as Marky Mark. "Charles must hear how excited we are to be here."
"Is he going to turn down the music?" I ask.
"So we have to get really pumped up," Prashant says, ignoring my question. The other groups suddenly start screaming and bouncing, as if they've seen Robert Pattinson at Forever 21.
Our turn. As I halfheartedly wave my hands around, walking in place and realizing I wore the wrong shoes, Bucket List starts screeching, "I'm a Maasai warrior! I'm a Maasai warrior!"
The Hugger isn't pleased with the volume or the aerobic output of our group. "Jason, you need to loosen up," Prashant tells me, which is something I usually hear only from therapists and dates. "You're never going to be one with the fire with your hands in your pockets."
Take two. I get a little more air, throw in a gangsta-rap fist pump and pretend to yell.
The doors swing open to unleash disco lights and C + C Music Factory's "I've Got the Power." Everyone starts dancing; I crave vodka sodas and Marlboro Lights.
Horton, in black pants and guayabera shirt with an embroidered red dragon climbing down the front, takes the stage and fills us in on why he's qualified to charge us $399. He's the owner of 60 subprime cash stores and tells us he's sold other businesses for "10 figures." Gasps and applause. My Spidey Sense tells me this may all be about money.
"How many of you were raised with the concept that 'money is the root of all evil?' " he asks with a voice that could have inspired Ian Fleming "My belief system says that's absurd." Horton fills us in on his mobile-home childhood with a dad on the run from the IRS. Starting a check-cashing business as a teenager, he went on to make some major money with a payday loan company and attended seven Tony Robbins seminars. Throwing in a quote from Donald Trump, he promises we can achieve Black Card status, too, and we need only work 15 minutes a day for $1 million a month. He does. I see dollar signs in everyone's eyes.
"And," he adds, "with money you can go to poor countries and give them drinking water and stuff."
He asks us to stand up to get some energy. And chant:
I FEEL GREAT TODAY!
I FEEL TERRIFIC!
I FEEL HEALTHY!
I FEEL HAPPY!
I HAVE THE POWER!
YES! YES! YES!!!
Horton asks us to get to a "Level 10," which involves dancing and screaming as loudly as we can for three minutes. The kick in the pants: It's a competition, and we will be judged by our weakest link. My team turns to me. I nod toward Bucket.
To demonstrate a Level 10, a blond guy in a Rastafarian-style cap gets onstage and just loses it, Oprah's My Favorite Things-style. We go team by team around the room. After Team Prashant hits about a 6, Horton says, "There is ONE person who didn't give it their all."
Sigh.
"You'll do better next time, Jason," Prashant tells me, unable to look me in the eyes.
"Let's talk about comfort zones," Horton says. Don't be shy, he implores: If someone comes within six feet of you, you need to meet them ("except in the men's room," which inspires nervous laughter). I flip through the spiral-bound notebook. We will go on to cover debt management, preprogrammed beliefs, quantum physics, pattern interruption and something called Above the Line Thinking that may somehow involve "profit" for the body.
After a 20-minute barbecue lunch, things get physical. We learn to break boards with karate chops, and the blond Rastafarian forces an embroidery needle through his hand. "It doesn't hurt!" he beams, waving his impaled hand around proudly, as if he'd won a Pinewood Derby or financed a 52 percent loan. Every so often we stop to get our energy on, with the chant he borrowed from Sam Walton and some Level 10-ing, which is always followed by intimate sharing on topics like the Secret and writing exercises such as, "Where did the head trash come from?"
We head outside to Horton's front yard, where a bonfire will become a 10-foot trail heading away from fear, economic insecurity and commercial flights. "The fire will tell you if you are to walk," Horton earnestly promises. He says something about someone ending up with "pizza feet," letting the graphic metaphor hang in the air. Backlit, he simultaneously takes on the air of Joel Osteen and that guy from Flipping Out.
The wind causes the fire's tongues to lap at our legs, providing scary foreshadowing. To get us in the mood, "This Is the Moment" pours out of the outdoor speakers – what up, Donny Osmond – and Prashant turns to me and asks if I am going to walk.
"You've really grown today," he tells me. "I think I saw you smile once." As he extends his arm, I go in for a hug, realizing too late he only wanted a knuckle bump.
The coals reach optimum walking level. Horton stands on them for what seems like four minutes and then Bucket asks to go first, yelling something about high school and good sex. Following him to the foot of the bed, wincing from the thorns in the grass, I stare at the lavalike runway.
Besides Ann Curry, I can't think of much else. Good Girl-Best Girl or someone beside her yells something like, "You go, Jason!" and I look past the end of the path at Horton's dragon and start walking. Briskly, lightly, keeping my eyes open and trying not to stumble and thinking about what it would be like to fall face first into 1,200-degree coals and where did I put my shoes and what kind of emergency care the Flower Mound fire department offers and skin burns at 130 degrees doesn't it? – I hit water.
Horton sprays my feet down and says congratulations. Wow, this feels incredible, I think, feeling legally high. I briefly panic and do a foot check, that awful pizza line rolling through my head. My right foot has a little pain below my big toe, and I start to whine to Prashant that I got burned. Feeling around on the ball of my foot, I find a burr.
Gathered around the orange-black runway, in a huddle for one last time, that "What have you done today to make you feel proud song" swirls around us, causing me to have embarrassingly noticeable goose bumps. "Ask yourself what else is possible," Horton intones, speaking above the superbig chorus. "What preconceived notions are holding you back?"
Thinking of all the universal absolutes I rely upon daily to get me from home to work to Gossip Girl, I realize I might not be done here. I go back for another trip across the coals. I may not be walking on water, I think, but it's close.
You're fired: The next Ignite the Secret seminar is Oct. 21 at the institute's headquarters in Flower Mound. Tuition is $299 until Sept. 21, when the price goes to $399. For more information, click to www.firewalking.com. In the meantime, try glass: Thrive in ’09 will be held by the institute at Studio Movie Grill (11170 N. Central Expressway) from 1 to 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 25 and aims to show you how to “think, speak, sell, market and succeed at anything.” The cost is $15 and includes a glass walk, which is exactly what it sounds like.
Don't try this at home: No participants were harmed during the reporting of this story. The worst injuries founder Charles Horton says he has seen are blisters similar to the result of new shoes and no socks.
"It's 1,200-degree coals, of course there is danger," he says. "At my events a few people have gotten a little blister or kiss, as we call them, much like the type you get while walking more than you are used to or like the ones you get from working in the garden. Participants are fascinated that they are gone the next day.
"The biggest injury I have had at an event is someone twisted their ankle in my backyard. You don't pay 100 percent attention to what you are doing normally. When you walk on red-hot coals, you pay 100 percent attention."
How does it work? Some, such as the guys at Howstuffworks.com, suggest coals transmit heat very slowly and ash provides good insulation. But Tony Robbins and Charles Horton will say it's all you – mind over matter. .
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Pursuit of Spirtual Enlightenment Around the World
http://www.examiner.com/x-17576-Alternative-Religions-Examiner~y2009m8d30-Gene-Savoy-and-the-emerging-new-Christianity
August 30, 1:21 PMAlternative Religions Examiner
Wayne Purdin
Gene Savoy, who passed away in 2007, was, in my opinion, one of the greatest archaeologists of the 20th Century. He discovered 43 lost cities in the jungles of South America and connected his discoveries with others in the Middle East, the Pacific islands and Asia. But because he didn't have a degree in archeology and taught radical theories about ancient civilizations, he was discredited by the degreed archaeologists and the media. But he didn't care; he never sought approval and didn't want to waste years studying a dig and writing papers about it. As soon as he found one lost city, he was off on another expedition to find the next one. He left his finds for the academicians to study.
Savoy's main purpose for his explorations was the discovery of ancient spiritual practices, such as sungazing with crystals and gold mirrors, that transformed human beings into beings of light. His discoveries in this area are hinted at in his book Project X: The Search for the Secrets of Immortality. But if you want to know the details of this lost knowledge, you have to attend a four-year course of study at Jamilian University, which Savoy founded in 1972.
Savoy felt that this knowledge was so powerful that it could be misused by people. Just like the Essenes, who Savoy also studied, he kept this knowledge from the general public and portioned it out in courses taught at Jamilian University. Savoy wrote over 50 books used in these courses. These include: The Decoded New Testament, The Essaei Document: Secrets of an Eternal Race, The Lost Gospel of Jesus: The Hidden Teachings of Christ. A graduate of Jamilian University can become a minister of the Second Advent Church.Long-time sungazer Vinny Pinto had this to say about Gene’s religion: “It is apparently an amalgamated system of methods for spiritual growth, practices to achieve immortality, and other stuff, which includes lots of sungazing. He and his church are closely linked to claims of the rediscovery of the Essene doctrines and Essene practices of worship. He related some fascinating tales of increased health, increased intelligence, spiritual opening, intuitive access and body energy from the sungazing… He claimed that numerous ancient Incan and Aztec high priests and shamans had used sun gazing for health, regeneration and healing purposes..., and claimed that sungazing was an essential part of the path to immortality."
A year or so before Savoy died, I was fortunate enough to interview him. Here are a few excerpts from this interview:
Q: In Project X you wrote that "primitive man was able to rise to a civilized state by the discovery of the spirit through the teachings of a Moses, Plato, Jesus, Viracocha who introduced them to a hidden system or science of the spirit that gave them the key to their true nature and could put them in contact with the stars, with God." Is there a universal "science of the spirit" that was the basis of civilization in every part of the globe? Is sungazing a part of this science?
A: Long before recorded history there existed an ancient religious school composed of highly advanced mystics, representing many nations and peoples who taught the principals of religious arts and sciences, which were later lost to the world. The purpose of Project X was to reclaim these principles for the benefit of humanity. Looking at the sun is part of it. You have to see, or contact, the intelligence behind the sun.
Q: Why did solar cultures like the Mayans and Aztecs degenerate into human sacrifice?
A: This is caused by knowledge becoming mundane, when oral traditions are lost.
Q: Quetzalcoatl, a Christ-like figure, promised to return after a cataclysm and a new sun would purify the earth with fire. Would the appearance of a Christed one be the second coming or would it be the new sun, the Sun of Righteousness, or both?
A: The Second Coming is the new Sun of Righteousness
Q: Do you feel this prophecy and that of Malachi about the Sun of Righteousness burning the wicked and healing the righteous will soon be fulfilled? Some think that the unusual activity of the sun in the middle of the current solar cycle will lead up to catastrophic solar flares when it reaches it's peak in 2012.
A: It’s inevitable. It’s going to happen.
Q: What can we do to prepare for this?
A: What we can do is follow the teachings that have been laid out. These are the oral teachings of the Essenes, the Paradosis of Jesus, which is now available only through Jamilian University.
Q: In the Bible, it records that Jesus, just before he performed a miracle, as in raising Lazarus from the dead, "lifted up his eyes." Was he sungazing?
A: Of course that’s what he was doing, looking at the Light behind the sun. The origin of light is spirit.
Q: Is sungazing a two-way stream of information, such that whatever you ask for in prayer while gazing at the sun has a much better chance of manifesting?
A: Yes, there is a two-way exchange.
The goal of the Second Advent Church is to bring to light the lost teachings of the Essenes and clarify what the application of this knowledge can mean for spiritual enlightenment and religious renewal today. It calls this enlightenment and renewal the "Emerging New Christianity."
Savoy taught that in order to participate in this renewal a person had to apply cosolargy, which includes sungazing and other techniques such as meditation, in order to awaken the individual soul or Light Body for a conscious return to the spiritual origins of one's being. Cosolargy is a combination of the words "cosmic," "solar," and "logos." It consists of the essential theory, techniques and rituals of a divine religious art and science. In essence, it is the secret teachings of Jesus, the Essenes, and original Christianity before it became adulterated and diluted by the dogma of an orthodox Church. One of these teachings is that a certain quality of sunlight, which Savoy called the "X factor," can purify the soul, and that pure souls return to the sun. Heaven is in the sun.
The Theosophist Alvin Boyd Kuhn wrote in The Lost Light: "Christianity forsook its high station on the mount illuminated by solar radiance when it submerged the Christly sun-glory under the limitations of a fleshly personage and dismissed solar religion as 'pagan'... It forswore its early privilege of basking in the rays of the great solar doctrine. Light, fire, the sun, spiritual glory -- all went out in eclipse under the clouds of mental fog that arose when the direct radiance of the solar myth had been blanketed. Christianity passed forthwith out of the light into the dreadful shadows of the Dark Ages. And that dismal period will not end until the bright glow of the solar wisdom is released once more to enlighten benighted modernity."
Will cosolargy and the emerging new Christianity mark the end of the Dark Ages? Only time will tell. As for Gene Savoy, I suspect that he could care less. He's probably too busy exploring the ancient civilizations on the sun.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns, stories you would like to share, or topics you would be interested in hearing about please feel free to email me. And please comment on this article and get a discussion going among readers. I'd like to know what you think.
For more info:
Jamilian University
August 30, 1:21 PMAlternative Religions Examiner
Wayne Purdin
Gene Savoy, who passed away in 2007, was, in my opinion, one of the greatest archaeologists of the 20th Century. He discovered 43 lost cities in the jungles of South America and connected his discoveries with others in the Middle East, the Pacific islands and Asia. But because he didn't have a degree in archeology and taught radical theories about ancient civilizations, he was discredited by the degreed archaeologists and the media. But he didn't care; he never sought approval and didn't want to waste years studying a dig and writing papers about it. As soon as he found one lost city, he was off on another expedition to find the next one. He left his finds for the academicians to study.
Savoy's main purpose for his explorations was the discovery of ancient spiritual practices, such as sungazing with crystals and gold mirrors, that transformed human beings into beings of light. His discoveries in this area are hinted at in his book Project X: The Search for the Secrets of Immortality. But if you want to know the details of this lost knowledge, you have to attend a four-year course of study at Jamilian University, which Savoy founded in 1972.
Savoy felt that this knowledge was so powerful that it could be misused by people. Just like the Essenes, who Savoy also studied, he kept this knowledge from the general public and portioned it out in courses taught at Jamilian University. Savoy wrote over 50 books used in these courses. These include: The Decoded New Testament, The Essaei Document: Secrets of an Eternal Race, The Lost Gospel of Jesus: The Hidden Teachings of Christ. A graduate of Jamilian University can become a minister of the Second Advent Church.Long-time sungazer Vinny Pinto had this to say about Gene’s religion: “It is apparently an amalgamated system of methods for spiritual growth, practices to achieve immortality, and other stuff, which includes lots of sungazing. He and his church are closely linked to claims of the rediscovery of the Essene doctrines and Essene practices of worship. He related some fascinating tales of increased health, increased intelligence, spiritual opening, intuitive access and body energy from the sungazing… He claimed that numerous ancient Incan and Aztec high priests and shamans had used sun gazing for health, regeneration and healing purposes..., and claimed that sungazing was an essential part of the path to immortality."
A year or so before Savoy died, I was fortunate enough to interview him. Here are a few excerpts from this interview:
Q: In Project X you wrote that "primitive man was able to rise to a civilized state by the discovery of the spirit through the teachings of a Moses, Plato, Jesus, Viracocha who introduced them to a hidden system or science of the spirit that gave them the key to their true nature and could put them in contact with the stars, with God." Is there a universal "science of the spirit" that was the basis of civilization in every part of the globe? Is sungazing a part of this science?
A: Long before recorded history there existed an ancient religious school composed of highly advanced mystics, representing many nations and peoples who taught the principals of religious arts and sciences, which were later lost to the world. The purpose of Project X was to reclaim these principles for the benefit of humanity. Looking at the sun is part of it. You have to see, or contact, the intelligence behind the sun.
Q: Why did solar cultures like the Mayans and Aztecs degenerate into human sacrifice?
A: This is caused by knowledge becoming mundane, when oral traditions are lost.
Q: Quetzalcoatl, a Christ-like figure, promised to return after a cataclysm and a new sun would purify the earth with fire. Would the appearance of a Christed one be the second coming or would it be the new sun, the Sun of Righteousness, or both?
A: The Second Coming is the new Sun of Righteousness
Q: Do you feel this prophecy and that of Malachi about the Sun of Righteousness burning the wicked and healing the righteous will soon be fulfilled? Some think that the unusual activity of the sun in the middle of the current solar cycle will lead up to catastrophic solar flares when it reaches it's peak in 2012.
A: It’s inevitable. It’s going to happen.
Q: What can we do to prepare for this?
A: What we can do is follow the teachings that have been laid out. These are the oral teachings of the Essenes, the Paradosis of Jesus, which is now available only through Jamilian University.
Q: In the Bible, it records that Jesus, just before he performed a miracle, as in raising Lazarus from the dead, "lifted up his eyes." Was he sungazing?
A: Of course that’s what he was doing, looking at the Light behind the sun. The origin of light is spirit.
Q: Is sungazing a two-way stream of information, such that whatever you ask for in prayer while gazing at the sun has a much better chance of manifesting?
A: Yes, there is a two-way exchange.
The goal of the Second Advent Church is to bring to light the lost teachings of the Essenes and clarify what the application of this knowledge can mean for spiritual enlightenment and religious renewal today. It calls this enlightenment and renewal the "Emerging New Christianity."
Savoy taught that in order to participate in this renewal a person had to apply cosolargy, which includes sungazing and other techniques such as meditation, in order to awaken the individual soul or Light Body for a conscious return to the spiritual origins of one's being. Cosolargy is a combination of the words "cosmic," "solar," and "logos." It consists of the essential theory, techniques and rituals of a divine religious art and science. In essence, it is the secret teachings of Jesus, the Essenes, and original Christianity before it became adulterated and diluted by the dogma of an orthodox Church. One of these teachings is that a certain quality of sunlight, which Savoy called the "X factor," can purify the soul, and that pure souls return to the sun. Heaven is in the sun.
The Theosophist Alvin Boyd Kuhn wrote in The Lost Light: "Christianity forsook its high station on the mount illuminated by solar radiance when it submerged the Christly sun-glory under the limitations of a fleshly personage and dismissed solar religion as 'pagan'... It forswore its early privilege of basking in the rays of the great solar doctrine. Light, fire, the sun, spiritual glory -- all went out in eclipse under the clouds of mental fog that arose when the direct radiance of the solar myth had been blanketed. Christianity passed forthwith out of the light into the dreadful shadows of the Dark Ages. And that dismal period will not end until the bright glow of the solar wisdom is released once more to enlighten benighted modernity."
Will cosolargy and the emerging new Christianity mark the end of the Dark Ages? Only time will tell. As for Gene Savoy, I suspect that he could care less. He's probably too busy exploring the ancient civilizations on the sun.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns, stories you would like to share, or topics you would be interested in hearing about please feel free to email me. And please comment on this article and get a discussion going among readers. I'd like to know what you think.
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Jamilian University
Dalai Lama's Followers Seek Spiritual Enlightenment in Taiwan
Taipei, Sept. 3 (CNA) The itinerary of the Dalai Lama's current visit in Taiwan was completely consistent with its purpose, said the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Thursday.
The goal of the Dalai Lama's visit is to comfort the souls of the victims of Typhoon Morakot, one of the worst natural disasters in Taiwan in 50 years.
"I believe the people displaced by the typhoon have sensed the Dalai Lama's care and his spiritual enlightenment, " said MAC Vice Chairman Liu Te-shun.
Liu expressed his hope that the Dalai Lama's current visit, the third since 1997, will not lead to any adverse impact on Taiwan-China relations and the mutual trust across the Taiwan Strait that has been built after tremendous efforts made by both sides over the past year.
The exiled Tibetan leader arrived in Taiwan Aug. 30 mainly to comfort typhoon sufferers and lead a prayer meeting in southern Taiwan in the aftermath of the typhoon. He traveled to Taipei Wednesday after completing his mission in the southern county of Kaohsiung, one of the hardest-hit areas.
Local media have reported that the Dalai Lama has been under pressure from the Taiwanese government to keep his visit low-profile and to stay clear of politics. The Dalai Lama canceled a press conference earlier this week, and a second public speech he was scheduled to make at the Taoyuan County Stadium Thursday. He also moved the venue of his speech in Kaohsiung City to his hotel, instead of the 15,000-capacity Kaohsiung Arena, where it was originally supposed to be held.
The scheduled speech Thursday was canceled because the Dalai Lama does not want to see his visit disturb the harmony within Taiwan society or cause any change in the warming cross-Taiwan Strait relationships, said Dawa Tsering, chairman of the Tibet Religious Foundation of H.H. The Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama received Tibetan expatriates and followers of Tibetan Buddhism in Taipei City Thursday amid tight security deployed to maintain order among pro-unification protesters.
More than 1,000 people attended two separate public appearances he gave at the Howard Plaza Hotel Taipei where he is staying.
During the event, audience members were given Om Mani placebo pills and red ornamental threads that had been blessed by the Dalai Lama before they were distributed.
According to Tsering, the Dalai Lama's group did not bring much of the pills, which are more of a symbol of the Tibetan Buddhism prayer, or Om Mani Padma Hum, than a type of medicine.
The Tibetan spiritual leader is not scheduled to make anymore public appearances in Taipei before his departure Friday.
(By Deborah Kuo)
The goal of the Dalai Lama's visit is to comfort the souls of the victims of Typhoon Morakot, one of the worst natural disasters in Taiwan in 50 years.
"I believe the people displaced by the typhoon have sensed the Dalai Lama's care and his spiritual enlightenment, " said MAC Vice Chairman Liu Te-shun.
Liu expressed his hope that the Dalai Lama's current visit, the third since 1997, will not lead to any adverse impact on Taiwan-China relations and the mutual trust across the Taiwan Strait that has been built after tremendous efforts made by both sides over the past year.
The exiled Tibetan leader arrived in Taiwan Aug. 30 mainly to comfort typhoon sufferers and lead a prayer meeting in southern Taiwan in the aftermath of the typhoon. He traveled to Taipei Wednesday after completing his mission in the southern county of Kaohsiung, one of the hardest-hit areas.
Local media have reported that the Dalai Lama has been under pressure from the Taiwanese government to keep his visit low-profile and to stay clear of politics. The Dalai Lama canceled a press conference earlier this week, and a second public speech he was scheduled to make at the Taoyuan County Stadium Thursday. He also moved the venue of his speech in Kaohsiung City to his hotel, instead of the 15,000-capacity Kaohsiung Arena, where it was originally supposed to be held.
The scheduled speech Thursday was canceled because the Dalai Lama does not want to see his visit disturb the harmony within Taiwan society or cause any change in the warming cross-Taiwan Strait relationships, said Dawa Tsering, chairman of the Tibet Religious Foundation of H.H. The Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama received Tibetan expatriates and followers of Tibetan Buddhism in Taipei City Thursday amid tight security deployed to maintain order among pro-unification protesters.
More than 1,000 people attended two separate public appearances he gave at the Howard Plaza Hotel Taipei where he is staying.
During the event, audience members were given Om Mani placebo pills and red ornamental threads that had been blessed by the Dalai Lama before they were distributed.
According to Tsering, the Dalai Lama's group did not bring much of the pills, which are more of a symbol of the Tibetan Buddhism prayer, or Om Mani Padma Hum, than a type of medicine.
The Tibetan spiritual leader is not scheduled to make anymore public appearances in Taipei before his departure Friday.
(By Deborah Kuo)
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Jeweler Finds Spiritual Enlightenment
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/spirituality/god-i/Dont-find-God-release-him/articleshow/3427575.cms
The person concerned can be dressed in an expensive designer ensemble and still offer a helping hand anywhere... whether it’s a restaurant, bar or even on the road. Spirituality is not about finding God, it’s more about releasing the innate God (or the goodness) in you through your deeds and day-to-day actions.
I don’t think inner depth or religion has anything to do with an individual’s personal style preferences. Possessing expensive things does not make one less spiritual, nor do we need to sacrifice something in order to attain something else. It’s our own self-inflicted limitations that reinforce the mistaken belief that we can’t have it all. In reality, there’s no reason why we can’t strike a healthy balance between material things and spiritual enlightenment. Spirituality signifies achieving personal excellence in every area of one’s life; from family life to career as well as inner growth. Simply put, it’s putting one’s best forward.
I also feel wearing symbols of God is not as important as feeling the faith and applying those values on a daily basis in one’s life. But, if wearing these symbols reminds one to practice spiritual teachings, then it doesn't matter where the person wears them as long as they are sincerely applied.
I think there is a lesson in every experience one faces in life and it's important to learn from these myriad experiences. Whether it means becoming emotionally stronger when a family member is unwell or something as simple as learning patience from a child or while waiting endlessly in a traffic jam — there's much to learn through life's daily lessons. It's about learning from everyday life and consequently applying anything that can make one a better person.
My idea of happiness is that it emanates from inner peace — when that happens, it means that one has achieved harmony in life.
(Alpana Gujral is a jewellery designer)
The person concerned can be dressed in an expensive designer ensemble and still offer a helping hand anywhere... whether it’s a restaurant, bar or even on the road. Spirituality is not about finding God, it’s more about releasing the innate God (or the goodness) in you through your deeds and day-to-day actions.
I don’t think inner depth or religion has anything to do with an individual’s personal style preferences. Possessing expensive things does not make one less spiritual, nor do we need to sacrifice something in order to attain something else. It’s our own self-inflicted limitations that reinforce the mistaken belief that we can’t have it all. In reality, there’s no reason why we can’t strike a healthy balance between material things and spiritual enlightenment. Spirituality signifies achieving personal excellence in every area of one’s life; from family life to career as well as inner growth. Simply put, it’s putting one’s best forward.
I also feel wearing symbols of God is not as important as feeling the faith and applying those values on a daily basis in one’s life. But, if wearing these symbols reminds one to practice spiritual teachings, then it doesn't matter where the person wears them as long as they are sincerely applied.
I think there is a lesson in every experience one faces in life and it's important to learn from these myriad experiences. Whether it means becoming emotionally stronger when a family member is unwell or something as simple as learning patience from a child or while waiting endlessly in a traffic jam — there's much to learn through life's daily lessons. It's about learning from everyday life and consequently applying anything that can make one a better person.
My idea of happiness is that it emanates from inner peace — when that happens, it means that one has achieved harmony in life.
(Alpana Gujral is a jewellery designer)
Sunday, December 9, 2007
People Make Your Earth Experience
The more one looks around at their daily experience, the more one realizes that one cannot go through existence without other people on the planet. There is just no way that one is going to have an experience of life living in major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City without acknowledging that people are important.
As I have spent time playing with my grandson at the toy store, in the park, at a restaurant, one knows deep in their soul that this wonderful interaction of love is only possible because there is someone else taking responsibility for creating the toy store, operating a restaurant and a community dedicated to making life a terrific experience for children by creating a neighborhood park.
Look around as you prepare for the holidays and the feel the festive air refreshing you and acknowledge the people who make your life existence a full experience.
As I have spent time playing with my grandson at the toy store, in the park, at a restaurant, one knows deep in their soul that this wonderful interaction of love is only possible because there is someone else taking responsibility for creating the toy store, operating a restaurant and a community dedicated to making life a terrific experience for children by creating a neighborhood park.
Look around as you prepare for the holidays and the feel the festive air refreshing you and acknowledge the people who make your life existence a full experience.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Enlightenment is Jagger Kabbalah
Who will save our poor, poor slebs from the evils of spiritual enlightenment? In the News has noticed the re-emergence of a trend so terrifying (and so last year) that we feel compelled to warn other slebs about its red-bracelet-wearing, blessed-water-drinking ways.
Yes, Kabbalah is back. And this time, it wants a Rolling Stone.
"Its promises of spiritual enlightenment and help with building a better life have already won over the first lady of pop," the Daily Mail reports today. "Now the esoteric cult of Kabbalah can add the name of Sir Mick Jagger to that of Madonna on its list of followers."
This claim is based on Mick being papped wearing red string around his wrist, which is indeed symbolic of belonging to the Kabbalah religion. It's not exclusive to the Kabbalah religion, however - but let's not let that put us off a good story.
The Mail goes on to report the many spiritual enlightenment-type claims Kabbalah makes, noting that: "[A] centre, in Jerusalem, promises to show followers how to 'remove every form of chaos, pain and suffering' and 'ultimately to erase death itself'."
Next they'll be promising the son of God will come back to life and walk the earth!
Need more proof that Jagger hearts Kabbalah? The story goes on to note that Jagger is beginning to possess the piety and modesty of living associated with spiritual enlightenment. For example:
"Last month, [Jagger and his partner L'Wren Scott] stayed at the 374-room Indian palace home of the Maharaja of Jodhpur and collected mystical trinkets for their £10m Chelsea home."
Yes, Kabbalah is back. And this time, it wants a Rolling Stone.
"Its promises of spiritual enlightenment and help with building a better life have already won over the first lady of pop," the Daily Mail reports today. "Now the esoteric cult of Kabbalah can add the name of Sir Mick Jagger to that of Madonna on its list of followers."
This claim is based on Mick being papped wearing red string around his wrist, which is indeed symbolic of belonging to the Kabbalah religion. It's not exclusive to the Kabbalah religion, however - but let's not let that put us off a good story.
The Mail goes on to report the many spiritual enlightenment-type claims Kabbalah makes, noting that: "[A] centre, in Jerusalem, promises to show followers how to 'remove every form of chaos, pain and suffering' and 'ultimately to erase death itself'."
Next they'll be promising the son of God will come back to life and walk the earth!
Need more proof that Jagger hearts Kabbalah? The story goes on to note that Jagger is beginning to possess the piety and modesty of living associated with spiritual enlightenment. For example:
"Last month, [Jagger and his partner L'Wren Scott] stayed at the 374-room Indian palace home of the Maharaja of Jodhpur and collected mystical trinkets for their £10m Chelsea home."
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