Volume 7, Issue 10, page 15

centration in another category
of mental effort entirely, attributing to it the various
worthwhile results which other
writers assign to meditative
practice. Among such other
writers we f i n d Patanj al i,
Blavatsky, Ernest Wood. Their
works have enjoyed a wide circulation and I mention them in
order to avoid contradicting
Miss Julaine, but rather to
indicate that if her choice of
terminology is the correct one,
these and many other thoughtful writers have been roundly
contradicted by her. Ernest
Wood, for example, the author
of 'Concentration', 'Mind and
Memory Training', a n d many
other titles in the field, defines meditation as nothing
more than sustained concentration. Of course in successful
meditation there is a broadening, an expansion of the field
of thought in terms of greater
understanding of both subject
and object of the meditative
process. Perhaps Miss Julaine
has this in mind when she describes what sounds, unfortunately, like absent-mindedness,
and calls it meditation.
"My quarrel is with the
practice of introducing divergent terminologies without
clear-cut reasons being given.
If Miss Julaine and countless
others would simply explain in
detail why their own pet terminologies are preferable to those
which are already universally
established, then the poor
reader would have the opportunity of intelligent choice
between the two. As it is, confusion is further compounded
in a valuable field of enquiry
where confusion already reigns
unchecked. Another December
example is P a e 1 o Graeco's
bland dictum to the effect that
the seven planes of consciousness in descending order are
'SPIRIT, spirit, soul, mental,
etheric, astral, and physical'.
Well and good. I will not ask
'According to whom?' because
individual 'authorities' count
for nothing where mere terminologies are concerned. Evidently this system is according to Paolo Graeco, who may
well be just as valid an authority as the hundreds of
writers who differ with him.
The point again is this: Only
the cause of confusion is
served in setting forth divergent terminologies, particularly when this is done in an
outright dogmatic fashion, unsupported by explanation of
any sort. Mr. Graeca's understanding of the term 'astral'
may be identical with my understanding of the term 'etheric' which usually appears in
the sequence of planes where
MARCH, 1961
he puts 'astral % But if our
common purpose as writer and
reader is the furtherance of
worthwhile communication, I
can only observe that the opposite is accomplished in the
case cited, regardless of how
similar our understandings of
the matter may be. Of course I
realize, dear Editor, that the
day is yet far off when even
sincere 'seekers' will be fundamentally interested in mental accuracy, clear understanding in preference to emotional stimulation and t h e
satisfaction of what I call
esoteric curiosity. Today the
writer who sacrifices phenomenalism and exalted emotionalism for the sake of simple
clarity is too often dismissed
as a dry pedant. (As a dry pedant I should know!) But our
day will come. (Specifically,
June 30, 14,888.) I can see
ears pricking up at this last
bit of parenthetical asininity
-- 'Do you suppose he really
knows something is going to
happen on that date, etc.'...
"I really can't close without observing that I truly admire Morris Katzen for sticking to his strange guns and
you for continuing to provide
a podium where even excreta
has its airing, if you will
pardon the miserable expression. I am entertained with the
idea of another probabilityworld, shall we say, where Mr.
Katzen's:doctrines might gain
widespread acceptance, perhaps
form the base of a new religion. After alI, in a world
where superficial entertainment
is exalted and deep thinking
is ignored, it would not be too
surprising to find a religion
wherein constipation is the
highest virtue and diarrhea a
deadly sin. Ah, well, on we go
upward. But so slowly." -- Paul
Perella, Prescott, Ariz.
444
"Am still preparing for the
world's worst economic disaster. It will be tough but out
of it we may, if we are wise,
and quick, make the changes we
so terribly need.
"But stick around. There is
a way if there is a
hiram Cromwell, El Monte, Cal.
44
"Your Spiritualist friend
is wrong about Spiritualism
being the answer. Jesus said
God is no respecter of persons.
I add nor of religions. I know
several atheists in the H.W.
(Heaven World) who are more
respected than many of "the
cloth": Col. Ingersoll; Joseph
McCabe (13 yrs. Jesuit priest
excommunicated); Father Brown,
excommunicated; Chapman Cohen,
British atheist; Albert EinThe RBERREE
stein, Charles Steinmetz, and
Thomas Edison, agnostics. The
above named are among the many
with whom we have fine communication. They are respected
for the wonderful use they
have made of their God-given
minds. A person cannot sin
against God. He can only sin
against man. We sin against
those whom we hurt. Man cannot
hurt God.
"Many spiritualists remain
half-informed because they fear
to challenge the verity of information given to them by
their H.W. contacts. I repeat,
a chronic liar here on earth,
when he reaches the H.W., is a
heavenly liar -- until he reforms.
"Those who assail Volney
Mathison should in 'reality
thank him for the light coming
thru 'The Mighty Temple Doors'.
People could save themselves
time, money, and disappointments if they would dare to
challenge accepted teachings.
By 'challenge', I mean scrutinize the teacher or school -- can
they substantiate their claims?
"Poor Infinite 20, he does
not have the courage to come
into the open in defense of
what he believes. I shall
rather talk to those who are
not ashamed to use their names
as Russell F. Jones. But I must
say to Russell F. that he
should not accept as fact the
recordings of AMORC. Their
opinion of themselves is not
true...Let us see what legitimate books have to say: FunkWagnall's Dictionary, Columbia
Encyclopedia, and Lewis Spence
'Encyclopedia of Occultism'. I
shall not go into their detailed recording. Look this up
for yourself, but the abovementioned books agree that the
first mention of Rosicrucian
was in 1614 and this is alluded to as mythical. AMORC is a
phony appraiser of spiritual
values.
"I am no longer interested
in sharing my continued findings thru experimentation and
search, but it is not easy to
keep quiet.
"Margery Mansfield's husband
calls Free Thinkers 'Lost
Souls'. A soul lost to religion has a better chance to find
God. A soul who abandons faith
has a better chance to find
knowledge.
"The church and not Russia
invented brainwashing. We immerse our children in religious
tenets when they are incapable
of evaluating. Thereafter they
are so conditioned that original thinking is almost entirely
absent. Those who remain bound
by the fetters of their childhood appraise. those who free
15