Light and Sound: Narrative,Vision and Sound in Eckankar
The religion of Eckankar,can be seen as highly visual and developed through narrative, on account of its focus on the Eck Masters and their stories. Eckankar creates interest through combining visuality, narrative and sonic values, on account of the description of the various levels of being as represented by a particular sound. That is a powerful concept that resonates globally, particularly in religious cultures from Africa to Asia and Europe.
Light
Narrative and Dialogue
A significant part of the magic of Eckankar, for me, although I an not an Eckist, is Paul Twitchell's accounts of his relationship with the Tibetan Eck Master Rebazzar Tarzs in Stranger by the River, Dialogues with the Master, The Far Country, The Tiger's Fang, and others I might not know of. In Stranger by the River, in particular, the dialogue comes across as both companionable and fatherly, an ideal setting that would inspire many,if not most seekers after philosophical and spiritual knowledge. The Far Country, Dialogues with the Master and The Tiger's Fang take this dialogical exploration of spiritual and philosophical worlds into the exotic and splendid realms of what is described as the various levels of existence. This is made more striking is the presence of the Eck masters, described in terms of luminous splendour, in the teaching temples in the various worlds. The Far Country is set amidst the lofty splendour of the Himalayas, while the other two are travels to other worlds, which, interestingly, combine splendid palatial structures with more otherworldly forms, although the palaces are understood as temples of wisdom, where copies of the holy book that contains all the wisdom of the universe, the Shariyat Ki Sugmad are kept and where people are taught by Eck Masters, who are always available to help students. Twitchell also wrote a novel of himself on the path to Eck mastership set in the times of the Wild West,if I remember well.
The scope of Twitchell’s writings works create a comprehensive imaginative picture of himself as Eck master and of the spiritual tradition he described himself as continuing, as embodied by his tutelage at the hands of Rebazar Tarzs,the Eck master described as passing on to him the Rod of Eck Power.
The Eck Masters
A central achievement of the narrative and visual dimension of Eckankar is the concretisation of the concept of the Eck Masters. The Eck masters are, to me, the heart and soul of Eckankar.They are described as people who were once human like the average human being but have developed through relentless growth to become co-workers with the SUGMAD, the unfathomable source of existence, in the sense of being actuated by the ultimate purpose issuing from that transcendental perspective. The range of histories, physical appearance, race, nationality, religions, philosophies and historical periods represented by the figures of the Eck masters make them particularly attractive. These run from ancient Egypt, to Ethiopia, to China,and of course to the United States, Twitchell being a Caucasian American. They include historical figures like the Tibetan Milarepa and the Persian Shamus Tabriz,to non-historical figures like Fubbi Quantz.
Their diversity suggests the colourful thread out of which the tapestry of human history is woven. Using the historical figures,as described in Twitchell's Spiritual Notebook, among other sources, as a reading guide can give one a very good overview of large parts of human spiritual history. If I remember well,the Eckist is encouraged to visualise these masters,possibly just before sleeping,so as to encourage them to interact with one, dreams being described as a favoured method of these enlightened and ever present beings, who both work in the various wisdom temples and can be simultaneously anywhere at any time. The visual dimension of Eckankar literature can be described as imaginatively related with the Eckankar description of itself as a religion of light and sound, in which ultimate reality, the SUGMAD,is expressed in terms of these two phenomena. Each plane of existence is understood as expressing itself through a particular configuration of these properties. Hearing a particular kind of sound could indicate that one is experiencing attunement to that particular plane of existence, even if one remains aware of physical reality. One can describe the narrative dimension of Eckakanr as related to the light in terms of which the religion is characterized beceause light illuminates physical vision as narrative stimulates imaginative vision, enabling one to see the images and actions described in one's mind's eye.
Sound
The aspect of sound in Eckankar metaphysics may be related to the practical activity of the Eckist in chanting those sounds understood as bringing one into alignment with the presence of the Eck force, perceived as pervading the cosmos. The primary Eckankar chant known to me is the HU chant,which like the Hindu OM, is discerned as represents in terms of the sonic patterns of human language, the primal vibration that underlies the cosmos, enabling being and becoming. Another sound is MAHANTA, which is the name of the office of the Eck Master as the primary representative throughout the cosmos of the SUGMAD, in which capacity the MAHANTA, the Living Eck Master, the highest among Eck masters during his period of office, though in a human form, is active throughout all levels of existence and all worlds in the cosmos.
Reality and Imagination in Eckankar
To what degree is the rich visual and sonic universe of Eckankar a reflection of reality? What is reality? The question of what reality is made particularly challenging by the relationship of Eckankar to theories of consensual reality creation that has been developed in Western esotericism in relation to the magical work of religions, occult groups and other magicians, among others. Magic can be described as ways of affecting reality that are built on an understanding of the cosmos as pervaded by sentience.
Subjective Reality
Reality may be described in two major ways. It can refer to those aspects of being that will exist regardless of whether or not any sentient agent, specifically a human being, interacts with them.
Examples are natural forms such as outer space, the sky and the earth,and everything in them. One could name that aspect of reality objective reality.
Objective Reality
Reality can also be described in terms of the mental states of people. These mental states may emerge in response to objective reality, including other people, or even oneself. The core factor here is that it is mental not material. It may have effects on the material world of one's body or on the physical world, as one acts on the physical world under the inspiration of one's mental stimuli. These mental states could be described as subjective reality.
Intersubjective Reality
One could also describe some realities as intersubjective beceause they involve sharing a subjective world by different people. This emerges when people share relationships that build shared mental states. Romantic love, family relationships, moving up to include the fact of sharing the same planet as members of the same race distinguished by identical biological and mental structures means that humanity as a whole constitutes an intersubjective world, which may be broken down into smaller units which, in spite of their differences, might still be unified in terms of the planetary whole.
Consensual Reality Building in General Society and in Magic
The notion of consensual reality building refers to the fact that groups work together to build their shared understanding of reality. This effort involves the development of attitudes to objective reality as well as the mental space created by intersubjective reality. All these impact on the manner in which such reality building influences the development of objective reality through action in the physical world. An example of this is the doctrine of Manifest Destiny which was floated to project a concept of US leadership in the world,eventually demonstrated in in US imperialism and pursuit and acquisition of global power.
In religious and magical systems, consensual reality building goes further than this. It involves the notion that it is possible to create forms of reality through a such acts as ritual, prayer and visualization. This may emerge in the creation of artificial entities which may able to appear in dreams or even manifest physically. Eckankar as a Form of Magical Consensual Reality Building I suspect that Eckankar represents an example of consensual reality building rather than an order that has existed for millennia as Paul Twitchell claims in his books. I hold this view beceause of the predictable nature of his characterisation of the Eck Masters. The Eck Masters represent a patriarchal, masculinist group, representing the nationalities largely understood in the Western imagination of the twentieth century as central sources of spirituality, suggesting that the conception of these figures is a creation of Paul Twitchell,a US man of the twentieth century. That is why the Eck Masters are mostly from places like Egypt,Tibet and China, among other Asian nations as well as others renowned for spirituality and magic. A significant number of the Eck Masters are also historical figures. It would be rather convenient as Twitchell claimed. that the ancient religion of Eckankar has chosen to emerge into the public with him in the twentieth century, not in the time of those spiritual and philosophical giants whom he enlists as past Eck masters, and who would have made a much more credible impression that Twitchell could. The entre scenario looks more like a clever opportunity to manipulate people's gullibilities, a trait many religious groups demonstrate. Why are the Eck masters mostly men? Why is there only one Black Eck master?No Native American, Mexican, among other nations? In all the millenia of the history of humanity, only people from a few races and nations and only one woman have become Eck master? I get the impression that the group added the one Black Eck master and female master as membership grew, so as to accommodate a changing US social climate, which was becoming more socially inclusive s along with expanding membership growing into different pats of the world, including Africa.
I see the Eck masters as fundamentally fictional creations.
If Its Fiction,Can It be Real?
I think that even when religious personages and other forms are fictional, and even if self consciously acknowledged as such,t hey can be very helpful as a point of focus for the imagination, which can deliver insight in its own unique ways. I also hold that Twitchell was also able to develop a core of spiritual practices around the fictional imaginative framework he created. I would not know if HU is the primary vibration of the universe, but chanting does create results if done consistently, particularly using a very short combination of vowel and consonantal sounds like HU and the Hindu OM.
I have had a startling experience of looking at the sun at night inside my room, through the space between my eyes when chanting either HU or MAHANTA.I wont pretend to have a definitive explanation for the unexplained sound like running water I heard in an auditorium at an ECK conference, supposed to be the sound of a particular plane of reality. Could it have been from hidden speakers,or is that part of the Eck universe accurate? I seem to remember someone telling me of how at a chanting session at her home with Eck high initiates,the air was filed with chanting from no visible source. I would not have an explanation for that. I expect that Eck masters do appear in people's dreams, but I think that an image sufficiently anticipated could appear in one's dream. That might explain my dream of being taught at what could be described as an Eck wisdom temple.
All in all, though,I suspect that focusing on the Eck masters by so many people could bring them to life, create them. As the Yoruba say, without humans there would be no orisa, although that expression is quite complex in its implications in the Orisa tradition. Might not the various expectations of reality of Eckankar also be created by members through intensity of visualisation and yearning? A philosopher of magic l ike Dion Fortune would argue that such creation is the receptacle, the matrix, through which spiritual reality, which would otherwise be inaccessible to the limitations of the human mind is accessed. For Fortune, actual masters of wisdom could manifest themselves through the imaginative frameworks created by the fictional forms of the Eck masters, who, from that point on, become actual masters, living entities who transcend time and space.
Light and Sound: Narrative,Vision and Sound in Eckankar
The religion of Eckankar,can be seen as highly visual and developed through narrative, on account of its focus on the Eck Masters and their stories. Eckankar creates interest through combining visuality, narrative and sonic values, on account of the description of the various levels of being as represented by a particular sound. That is a powerful concept that resonates globally, particularly in religious cultures from Africa to Asia and Europe.
Light
Narrative and Dialogue
A significant part of the magic of Eckankar, for me, although I an not an Eckist, is Paul Twitchell's accounts of his relationship with the Tibetan Eck Master Rebazzar Tarzs in Stranger by the River, Dialogues with the Master, The Far Country, The Tiger's Fang, and others I might not know of. In Stranger by the River, in particular, the dialogue comes across as both companionable and fatherly, an ideal setting that would inspire many,if not most seekers after philosophical and spiritual knowledge.
The Far Country, Dialogues with the Master and The Tiger's Fang take this dialogical exploration of spiritual and philosophical worlds into the exotic and splendid realms of what is described as the various levels of existence. This is made more striking is the presence of the Eck masters, described in terms of luminous splendour, in the teaching temples in the various worlds. The Far Country is set amidst the lofty splendour of the Himalayas, while the other two are travels to other worlds, which, interestingly, combine splendid palatial structures with more otherworldly forms, although the palaces are understood as temples of wisdom, where copies of the holy book that contains all the wisdom of the universe, the Shariyat Ki Sugmad are kept and where people are taught by Eck Masters, who are always available to help students. Twitchell also wrote a novel of himself on the path to Eck mastership set in the times of the Wild West,if I remember well.
The scope of Twitchell’s writings works create a comprehensive imaginative picture of himself as Eck master and of the spiritual tradition he described himself as continuing, as embodied by his tutelage at the hands of Rebazar Tarzs,the Eck master described as passing on to him the Rod of Eck Power.
The Eck Masters
A central achievement of the narrative and visual dimension of Eckankar is the concretisation of the concept of the Eck Masters. The Eck masters are, to me, the heart and soul of Eckankar.They are described as people who were once human like the average human being but have developed through relentless growth to become co-workers with the SUGMAD, the unfathomable source of existence, in the sense of being actuated by the ultimate purpose issuing from that transcendental perspective.
The range of histories, physical appearance, race, nationality, religions, philosophies and historical periods represented by the figures of the Eck masters make them particularly attractive. These run from ancient Egypt, to Ethiopia, to China,and of course to the United States, Twitchell being a Caucasian American. They include historical figures like the Tibetan Milarepa and the Persian Shamus Tabriz,to non-historical figures like Fubbi Quantz. Their diversity suggests the colourful thread out of which the tapestry of human history is woven. Using the historical figures,as described in Twitchell's Spiritual Notebook, among other sources, as a reading guide can give one a very good overview of large parts of human spiritual history.
If I remember well,the Eckist is encouraged to visualise these masters,possibly just before sleeping,so as to encourage them to interact with one, dreams being described as a favoured method of these enlightened and ever present beings, who both work in the various wisdom temples and can be simultaneously anywhere at any time.
The visual dimension of Eckankar literature can be described as imaginatively related with the Eckankar description of itself as a religion of light and sound, in which ultimate reality, the SUGMAD,is expressed in terms of these two phenomena. Each plane of existence is understood as expressing itself through a particular configuration of these properties. Hearing a particular kind of sound could indicate that one is experiencing attunement to that particular plane of existence, even if one remains aware of physical reality.
One can describe the narrative dimension of Eckakanr as related to the light in terms of which the religion is characterized beceause light illuminates physical vision as narrative stimulates imaginative vision, enabling one to see the images and actions described in one's mind's eye.
Sound
The aspect of sound in Eckankar metaphysics may be related to the practical activity of the Eckist in chanting those sounds understood as bringing one into alignment with the presence of the Eck force, perceived as pervading the cosmos. The primary Eckankar chant known to me is the HU chant,which like the Hindu OM, is discerned as represents in terms of the sonic patterns of human language, the primal vibration that underlies the cosmos, enabling being and becoming. Another sound is MAHANTA, which is the name of the office of the Eck Master as the primary representative throughout the cosmos of the SUGMAD, in which capacity the MAHANTA, the Living Eck Master, the highest among Eck masters during his period of office, though in a human form, is active throughout all levels of existence and all worlds in the cosmos.
Reality and Imagination in Eckankar
To what degree is the rich visual and sonic universe of Eckankar a reflection of reality? What is reality? The question of what reality is made particularly challenging by the relationship of Eckankar to theories of consensual reality creation that has been developed in Western esotericism in relation to the magical work of religions, occult groups and other magicians, among others. Magic can be described as ways of affecting reality that are built on an understanding of the cosmos as pervaded by sentience.
Objective Reality
Reality may be described in two major ways. It can refer to those aspects of being that will exist regardless of whether or not any sentient agent, specifically a human being, interacts with them.Examples are natural forms such as outer space, the sky and the earth,and everything in them. One could name that aspect of reality objective reality.
Subjective Reality
Reality can also be described in terms of the mental states of people. These mental states may emerge in response to objective reality, including other people, or even oneself. The core factor here is that it is mental not material. It may have effects on the material world of one's body or on the physical world, as one acts on the physical world under the inspiration of one's mental stimuli. These mental states could be described as subjective reality.
Intersubjective Reality
One could also describe some realities as intersubjective beceause they involve sharing a subjective world by different people. This emerges when people share relationships that build shared mental states. Romantic love, family relationships, moving up to include the fact of sharing the same planet as members of the same race distinguished by identical biological and mental structures means that humanity as a whole constitutes an intersubjective world, which may be broken down into smaller units which, in spite of their differences, might still be unified in terms of the planetary whole.
Consensual Reality Building in General Society and in Magic
The notion of consensual reality building refers to the fact that groups work together to build their shared understanding of reality. This effort involves the development of attitudes to objective reality as well as the mental space created by intersubjective reality. All these impact on the manner in which such reality building influences the development of objective reality through action in the physical world. An example of this is the doctrine of Manifest Destiny which was floated to project a concept of US leadership in the world,eventually demonstrated in in US imperialism and pursuit and acquisition of global power.
In religious and magical systems, consensual reality building goes further than this. It involves the notion that it is possible to create forms of reality through a such acts as ritual, prayer and visualization. This may emerge in the creation of artificial entities which may able to appear in dreams or even manifest physically.
Eckankar as a Form of Magical Consensual Reality Building
I suspect that Eckankar represents an example of consensual reality building rather than an order that has existed for millennia as Paul Twitchell claims in his books. I hold this view beceause of the predictable nature of his characterisation of the Eck Masters. The Eck Masters represent a patriarchal, masculinist group, representing the nationalities largely understood in the Western imagination of the twentieth century as central sources of spirituality, suggesting that the conception of these figures is a creation of Paul Twitchell,a US man of the twentieth century. That is why the Eck Masters are mostly from places like Egypt,Tibet and China, among other Asian nations as well as others renowned for spirituality and magic. A significant number of the Eck Masters are also historical figures.
It would be rather convenient as Twitchell claimed. that the ancient religion of Eckankar has chosen to emerge into the public with him in the twentieth century, not in the time of those spiritual and philosophical giants whom he enlists as past Eck masters, and who would have made a much more credible impression that Twitchell could. The entre scenario looks more like a clever opportunity to manipulate people's gullibilities, a trait many religious groups demonstrate.
Why are the Eck masters mostly men? Why is there only one Black Eck master?No Native American, Mexican, among other nations? In all the millenia of the history of humanity, only people from a few races and nations and only one woman have become Eck master? I get the impression that the group added the one Black Eck master and female master as membership grew, so as to accommodate a changing US social climate, which was becoming more socially inclusive s along with expanding membership growing into different pats of the world, including Africa.
I see the Eck masters as fundamentally fictional creations.
If Its Fiction,Can It be Real?
I think that even when religious personages and other forms are fictional, and even if self consciously acknowledged as such,t hey can be very helpful as a point of focus for the imagination, which can deliver insight in its own unique ways. I also hold that Twitchell was also able to develop a core of spiritual practices around the fictional imaginative framework he created.
I would not know if HU is the primary vibration of the universe, but chanting does create results if done consistently, particularly using a very short combination of vowel and consonantal sounds like HU and the Hindu OM. I have had a startling experience of looking at the sun at night inside my room, through the space between my eyes when chanting either HU or MAHANTA.I wont pretend to have a definitive explanation for the unexplained sound like running water I heard in an auditorium at an ECK conference, supposed to be the sound of a particular plane of reality. Could it have been from hidden speakers,or is that part of the Eck universe accurate? I seem to remember someone telling me of how at a chanting session at her home with Eck high initiates,the air was filed with chanting from no visible source.
I would not have an explanation for that. I expect that Eck masters do appear in people's dreams, but I think that an image sufficiently anticipated could appear in one's dream. That might explain my dream of being taught at what could be described as an Eck wisdom temple.
All in all, though,I suspect that focusing on the Eck masters by so many people could bring them to life, create them. As the Yoruba say, without humans there would be no orisa, although that expression is quite complex in its implications in the Orisa tradition. Might not the various expectations of reality of Eckankar also be created by members through intensity of visualisation and yearning?
A philosopher of magic like Dion Fortune would argue that such creation is the receptacle, the matrix, through which spiritual reality, which would otherwise be inaccessible to the limitations of the human mind is accessed. For Fortune, actual masters of wisdom could manifest themselves through the imaginative frameworks created by the fictional forms of the Eck masters, who, from that point on, become actual masters, living entities who transcend time and space.
The religion of Eckankar,can be seen as highly visual and developed through narrative, on account of its focus on the Eck Masters and their stories. Eckankar creates interest through combining visuality, narrative and sonic values, on account of the description of the various levels of being as represented by a particular sound. That is a powerful concept that resonates globally, particularly in religious cultures from Africa to Asia and Europe.
Light
Narrative and Dialogue
A significant part of the magic of Eckankar, for me, although I an not an Eckist, is Paul Twitchell's accounts of his relationship with the Tibetan Eck Master Rebazzar Tarzs in Stranger by the River, Dialogues with the Master, The Far Country, The Tiger's Fang, and others I might not know of. In Stranger by the River, in particular, the dialogue comes across as both companionable and fatherly, an ideal setting that would inspire many,if not most seekers after philosophical and spiritual knowledge.
The Far Country, Dialogues with the Master and The Tiger's Fang take this dialogical exploration of spiritual and philosophical worlds into the exotic and splendid realms of what is described as the various levels of existence. This is made more striking is the presence of the Eck masters, described in terms of luminous splendour, in the teaching temples in the various worlds. The Far Country is set amidst the lofty splendour of the Himalayas, while the other two are travels to other worlds, which, interestingly, combine splendid palatial structures with more otherworldly forms, although the palaces are understood as temples of wisdom, where copies of the holy book that contains all the wisdom of the universe, the Shariyat Ki Sugmad are kept and where people are taught by Eck Masters, who are always available to help students. Twitchell also wrote a novel of himself on the path to Eck mastership set in the times of the Wild West,if I remember well.
The scope of Twitchell’s writings works create a comprehensive imaginative picture of himself as Eck master and of the spiritual tradition he described himself as continuing, as embodied by his tutelage at the hands of Rebazar Tarzs,the Eck master described as passing on to him the Rod of Eck Power.
The Eck Masters
A central achievement of the narrative and visual dimension of Eckankar is the concretisation of the concept of the Eck Masters. The Eck masters are, to me, the heart and soul of Eckankar.They are described as people who were once human like the average human being but have developed through relentless growth to become co-workers with the SUGMAD, the unfathomable source of existence, in the sense of being actuated by the ultimate purpose issuing from that transcendental perspective.
The range of histories, physical appearance, race, nationality, religions, philosophies and historical periods represented by the figures of the Eck masters make them particularly attractive. These run from ancient Egypt, to Ethiopia, to China,and of course to the United States, Twitchell being a Caucasian American. They include historical figures like the Tibetan Milarepa and the Persian Shamus Tabriz,to non-historical figures like Fubbi Quantz. Their diversity suggests the colourful thread out of which the tapestry of human history is woven. Using the historical figures,as described in Twitchell's Spiritual Notebook, among other sources, as a reading guide can give one a very good overview of large parts of human spiritual history.
If I remember well,the Eckist is encouraged to visualise these masters,possibly just before sleeping,so as to encourage them to interact with one, dreams being described as a favoured method of these enlightened and ever present beings, who both work in the various wisdom temples and can be simultaneously anywhere at any time.
The visual dimension of Eckankar literature can be described as imaginatively related with the Eckankar description of itself as a religion of light and sound, in which ultimate reality, the SUGMAD,is expressed in terms of these two phenomena. Each plane of existence is understood as expressing itself through a particular configuration of these properties. Hearing a particular kind of sound could indicate that one is experiencing attunement to that particular plane of existence, even if one remains aware of physical reality.
One can describe the narrative dimension of Eckakanr as related to the light in terms of which the religion is characterized beceause light illuminates physical vision as narrative stimulates imaginative vision, enabling one to see the images and actions described in one's mind's eye.
Sound
The aspect of sound in Eckankar metaphysics may be related to the practical activity of the Eckist in chanting those sounds understood as bringing one into alignment with the presence of the Eck force, perceived as pervading the cosmos. The primary Eckankar chant known to me is the HU chant,which like the Hindu OM, is discerned as represents in terms of the sonic patterns of human language, the primal vibration that underlies the cosmos, enabling being and becoming. Another sound is MAHANTA, which is the name of the office of the Eck Master as the primary representative throughout the cosmos of the SUGMAD, in which capacity the MAHANTA, the Living Eck Master, the highest among Eck masters during his period of office, though in a human form, is active throughout all levels of existence and all worlds in the cosmos.
Reality and Imagination in Eckankar
To what degree is the rich visual and sonic universe of Eckankar a reflection of reality? What is reality? The question of what reality is made particularly challenging by the relationship of Eckankar to theories of consensual reality creation that has been developed in Western esotericism in relation to the magical work of religions, occult groups and other magicians, among others. Magic can be described as ways of affecting reality that are built on an understanding of the cosmos as pervaded by sentience.
Objective Reality
Reality may be described in two major ways. It can refer to those aspects of being that will exist regardless of whether or not any sentient agent, specifically a human being, interacts with them.Examples are natural forms such as outer space, the sky and the earth,and everything in them. One could name that aspect of reality objective reality.
Subjective Reality
Reality can also be described in terms of the mental states of people. These mental states may emerge in response to objective reality, including other people, or even oneself. The core factor here is that it is mental not material. It may have effects on the material world of one's body or on the physical world, as one acts on the physical world under the inspiration of one's mental stimuli. These mental states could be described as subjective reality.
Intersubjective Reality
One could also describe some realities as intersubjective beceause they involve sharing a subjective world by different people. This emerges when people share relationships that build shared mental states. Romantic love, family relationships, moving up to include the fact of sharing the same planet as members of the same race distinguished by identical biological and mental structures means that humanity as a whole constitutes an intersubjective world, which may be broken down into smaller units which, in spite of their differences, might still be unified in terms of the planetary whole.
Consensual Reality Building in General Society and in Magic
The notion of consensual reality building refers to the fact that groups work together to build their shared understanding of reality. This effort involves the development of attitudes to objective reality as well as the mental space created by intersubjective reality. All these impact on the manner in which such reality building influences the development of objective reality through action in the physical world. An example of this is the doctrine of Manifest Destiny which was floated to project a concept of US leadership in the world,eventually demonstrated in in US imperialism and pursuit and acquisition of global power.
In religious and magical systems, consensual reality building goes further than this. It involves the notion that it is possible to create forms of reality through a such acts as ritual, prayer and visualization. This may emerge in the creation of artificial entities which may able to appear in dreams or even manifest physically.
Eckankar as a Form of Magical Consensual Reality Building
I suspect that Eckankar represents an example of consensual reality building rather than an order that has existed for millennia as Paul Twitchell claims in his books. I hold this view beceause of the predictable nature of his characterisation of the Eck Masters. The Eck Masters represent a patriarchal, masculinist group, representing the nationalities largely understood in the Western imagination of the twentieth century as central sources of spirituality, suggesting that the conception of these figures is a creation of Paul Twitchell,a US man of the twentieth century. That is why the Eck Masters are mostly from places like Egypt,Tibet and China, among other Asian nations as well as others renowned for spirituality and magic. A significant number of the Eck Masters are also historical figures.
It would be rather convenient as Twitchell claimed. that the ancient religion of Eckankar has chosen to emerge into the public with him in the twentieth century, not in the time of those spiritual and philosophical giants whom he enlists as past Eck masters, and who would have made a much more credible impression that Twitchell could. The entre scenario looks more like a clever opportunity to manipulate people's gullibilities, a trait many religious groups demonstrate.
Why are the Eck masters mostly men? Why is there only one Black Eck master?No Native American, Mexican, among other nations? In all the millenia of the history of humanity, only people from a few races and nations and only one woman have become Eck master? I get the impression that the group added the one Black Eck master and female master as membership grew, so as to accommodate a changing US social climate, which was becoming more socially inclusive s along with expanding membership growing into different pats of the world, including Africa.
I see the Eck masters as fundamentally fictional creations.
If Its Fiction,Can It be Real?
I think that even when religious personages and other forms are fictional, and even if self consciously acknowledged as such,t hey can be very helpful as a point of focus for the imagination, which can deliver insight in its own unique ways. I also hold that Twitchell was also able to develop a core of spiritual practices around the fictional imaginative framework he created.
I would not know if HU is the primary vibration of the universe, but chanting does create results if done consistently, particularly using a very short combination of vowel and consonantal sounds like HU and the Hindu OM. I have had a startling experience of looking at the sun at night inside my room, through the space between my eyes when chanting either HU or MAHANTA.I wont pretend to have a definitive explanation for the unexplained sound like running water I heard in an auditorium at an ECK conference, supposed to be the sound of a particular plane of reality. Could it have been from hidden speakers,or is that part of the Eck universe accurate? I seem to remember someone telling me of how at a chanting session at her home with Eck high initiates,the air was filed with chanting from no visible source.
I would not have an explanation for that. I expect that Eck masters do appear in people's dreams, but I think that an image sufficiently anticipated could appear in one's dream. That might explain my dream of being taught at what could be described as an Eck wisdom temple.
All in all, though,I suspect that focusing on the Eck masters by so many people could bring them to life, create them. As the Yoruba say, without humans there would be no orisa, although that expression is quite complex in its implications in the Orisa tradition. Might not the various expectations of reality of Eckankar also be created by members through intensity of visualisation and yearning?
A philosopher of magic like Dion Fortune would argue that such creation is the receptacle, the matrix, through which spiritual reality, which would otherwise be inaccessible to the limitations of the human mind is accessed. For Fortune, actual masters of wisdom could manifest themselves through the imaginative frameworks created by the fictional forms of the Eck masters, who, from that point on, become actual masters, living entities who transcend time and space.
