Behind the Scenes
Welcome to the July 16, 2020 issue of The Shamcher Bulletin, weekly excerpts from the archives of Shamcher Bryn Beorse. If this was forwarded to you and you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do it here:
This issue features brief snippets from a Sufi talk in the late 1970s, clips from correspondence, and memories from an OTEC colleague.
I have no ambition of being “somebody” anymore. I enjoy being a hammock swinging with the punches, with the neighboring minds. The more ardent you keep at it, the better and greater are the minds you contact and swing with. You may even become impressed, and fascinated.
We Are at The Very Source
From a recorded talk, late 1970s …
I was asked today by a very powerful and intelligent member here, "Tonight you are going to speak on economics, aren't you?" Well, economics too. I am going to speak about the society in which we live, the flow of seen and unseen beings. I am a little unseen too. I have a body but that doesn't express much of what I think, even when I walk.
Inayat Khan said to me once, "Shamcher." I said, "Shamcher? What's that?" "It's your new name. I comes right from God this minute. Isn't it wonderful?" "Well," I said, "What does it mean?" That poor fellow, he had to use words again. So he said, "It means the sword of the message, the tongue of flame." I said,"That sounds a little more propagandish than I am able to think about." So he said, "Well, you will have millions against you and you will overcome them all." Now I like to think of that in relation to my energy interest and also economics interest.
… And we don't feel that the presidential campaigns as we know them in the US has any chance of bringing a worthy man into the position of president. In fact, I would eliminate the very title "President". That is too royal. We need only a coordinator. And a coordinator who leans on people who know what they are talking about. And there are such people. It is not because the whole United States is dumb that you now have a dumb energy policy. It is because the people who by hook or crook are able to get elected as a president, and their cabinets appointed by them are unworthy of the people and are not representing the people. I think that could be changed, I think they could be made to represent them.
… So we are operating on all levels, at least all the levels you can see, with no prediction and no other hope than that we are doing our best. And all of you people here, I know that there are people here who are much better suited to do these things, and do them.
Don't necessarily come to me and ask what you should do because you know. I met people who do know. We have Sufis, for instance, who are deeply acquainted with the publishing world, with the senate commissions, there are even people in the president's office who have shown him personally some of the letters we write. They have had no effect. But this is very important anyway, that such things come forward…
So we are there, we are at the very source. And many of you can either be at the source, or you have the ability to communicate with others, or you have the ability to do something.
I meet here men from the woods who know the secrets and the talks and the sentiments of the woods. I meet men from the kitchen. And one volunteer in the kitchen said to me, "You know I think I will continue to be a volunteer in the kitchen, I learn more there than out here."
I meet all these people more able than I am to carry this work through, so I know that whether you talk to me or not, that you will all do things now which are necessary, both in Canada and the United States.
From Letters to Sufis
A Sufi, as you know, is a seeker after truth, and wherever your seeking brings you, that is where you have to go. No one among Sufis is bound to any man, any rule, any organization.
I have had the privilege of spading the ground for Sufi groups in fifty cities around the world, unnoticed by the busy-bees, and even taking part in the expansion of Murshid Sam Lewis’ group in San Francisco from a Rihayat-Ruhayat to a blending of all Sufi groups in the face of resistance from so many worthy sources including, at one point, resistance from Sam himself; and here, Sitara (now ailing) and I have fought overwhelming odds - leaders who wandered into black magic, leaders who stopped short when I went on a mission for the United Nations, and finally we have two stable groups here, or three, Merlin’s, Atiya’s, who follows her line and is visited almost daily by Inayat Khan or versions of himself she can accept and enjoy, versions however who often tell her bluntly what she ought to hear. All of us have a version we can accept and, although I have been blessed by many, many of these versions, I humbly admit, that even I may have only a version. And now I greatly appreciate your coming here, for, in the first place, I may leave this area after my trip, and even if I don’t, I look forward to your coming and our occasional co-operation. Only beware that you do not destroy, in building up.
About Bryn Beorse: The Man
by Richard A. Meyer
Anecdotes by and about Bryn Beorse abound; an attempt at brevity is somehow a disservice to him…
I told Bryn years ago that I wanted to do a biography on him, but he declined, saying he was only an “uncute lad”. Yet I later learned that in 1943 he had planned, along with several German generals and the British MI5 and Mi6 (the equivalent of the American CIA) to kidnap Hitler and “place him in a nice British apple orchard where he could spend the rest of his life munching apples and complaining to newshawks.”
While Bryn encouraged everyone, he challenged many. Not out of antagonism, but to spur them on to do their best and to live up to the standards he had set for himself.
In recent years, Bryn worked with several foreign governments on an OTEC desalting process which he claimed “could operate on only a 9 degrees C total thermal difference and with only a fourth of the energy input of any other distillation desalting project. Bryn had several talks on OTEC with Prime Minister Nehru in India in 1959, and continued his correspondence with Indian energy advisors as recently as later 1979. Similarly with the National Research Centre of Cairo on utilizing the hot brines of the Red Sea through OTEC technology.
At a meeting of the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) in December, 1979, Bryn found out during a talk with Eric Midboe of Gibbs & Cox that he had taught Eric's father in Norway many many years before.
One especially-memorable passage from Bryn's correspondence ended as follows:
"… or 8 to 10 other alternative energy systems. Or all of them. But if we don't start an energy crash program now, today, so we can stop all oil imports in 15 years, we are going down toward complete destruction - all nations - however beautifully we chitchat about island OTECs for the next 25 years and so 'necessary' additional research in heat exchangers and biofouling."
Having just re-read Bryn’s correspondence – incredible in both its quantity and its quality – with dozens of people in high places, world-renowned thinkers, and the like, I had hoped to excerpt highlights. But it is impossible to do so effectively except in a book. Suffice it to say that when one reviews Bryn’s letters to DOE, Congressmen, the OTA, bank and university presidents and others, one is forced to acknowledge the tremendous influence he had over the years – right up to his death – in advancing OTEC to where it is today.
All behind the scenes, quietly, persistently, and always with good humor.
His life has been an inspiration to all who knew him.
Thank you, Bryn!
Bryn Beorse at his University of California laboratory displaying a model of a bottom-mounted, open-cycle OTEC plant designed to produce both fresh water and electricity.
(from Volume 4, Number 9, Sept. 1980, The Solar Ocean Energy Liaison)
The Shamcher Bulletin brings you snippets from Shamcher’s writings that might help frame and context our experience of the world we live in today. In every issue, the text is as originally written, with only a few editorial tweaks if necessary.
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The Shamcher Bulletin is edited by Carol Sill, whose newsletter, Personal Papers, is HERE.
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