Mind is Ageless

Welcome to the latest issue of The Shamcher Bulletin, bringing you snippets from Shamcher’s writings that might help frame and context our experience of the world we live in today. Special greetings to new subscribers!

INSIDE:

• Continuing from last issue, a bit more from the intro to Distribute or Destroy, introducing the open atmosphere of the California dunes.

• Was Shamcher a member of the Ziraat in Suresnes?

• Shamcher’s telling of the classic Sufi teaching story: That is Why

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Glory Roads and a bit of Dune History

Luther Whiteman and Samuel L. Lewis quoted Shamcher’s book, Distribute or Destroy, in their own overview book, Glory Roads: The Psychological State of California, published by Thomas Y. Crowell Company in1936. Written during the Great Depression, it was prefaced as “an attempt to record only some of the better known crusades of the depression years, and to picture only some of the more important of recent messiahs.” In the book they reported on the new economic groups based on the ideas sweeping through the consciousness of Californians.

The study by Samuel Lewis and Luther Whiteman

From Shamcher’s Distribute or Destroy they included the example of the ruined coal mining village, Schwanenkirchen in Bavaria, and the adoption of Wäras system that brought it back into activity - a system much like giro-credit.

They may have read this book as part of the background to their endeavour. It is more likely that they added the example as an afterthought, after Distribute or Destroy had been released in English in the US. Later, they met the Norwegian Björset in person when he came to California in the late 1930s.

Beorse and Samuel L. Lewis found they shared another connection: both had been pupils of the great mystic, Inayat Khan. They had studied with him in the mid-1920s, Lewis in San Francisco, and Beorse attending the Sufi Summer Schools in Suresnes, just outside of Paris. Retaining their close relationship in the decades to follow, they continued discussing and implementing socioeconomic theories and ideals for the betterment of humanity.

It was Whiteman who first told Beorse about the dunes in Oceano, California, and the naturally curious Beorse was drawn to discover more. The Dunites had not been given a very positive assessment in their book, yet Whiteman and Lewis had both spent time in that open community. Frequently visited by California intelligensia, the community in the dunes was fostered by Gavin Arthur (grandson of Chester Arthur, former US President) and the Irish Folklorist, Ella Young. Gavin became known as one of the fathers of the New Age.

Beorse’s book, Fairy Tales are True, dedicates a long section to this bohemian shangri-la, which was home to eccentric characters ranging from hobos to yogis, writers and artists. In Gavin’s magazine, The Dune Forum, each issue featured an article on some aspect or approach to new economics, along with poetry and other ideas of the times that were looking toward a New Age. The covers were photos taken in the dunes by Edward Weston. At Gavin’s cabin in the dunes differing viewpoints on arts, culture and economic directives were hotly argued, and The Dune Forum reflects the atmosphere of the Dunites’ passionate discussions.

Tap an image to read Gavin Arthur’s Dune Forum magazines

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Esoteric Secret Society

Photo by Zoltan Tasi, on Unsplash

The Ziraat was a secret for many decades before it became more openly known. In the early days of Summer Schools in Suresnes, Shamcher was a member, as seen here in this list of participants. Those of you who are involved in the work of Ziraat today may be interested to see the name Bjorset here - shared with permission from Nekbakht Foundation. The grades EF and F represent Experienced Farmer and Farmer.

That is Why

In Planet Earth Demands, Shamcher takes liberties with the classic Sufi tale, “That is Why”, giving the sage in the story the name of the great Saadi, and ending with a new tag to the old story.

For mind is ageless.
And mind is not toothless, and is anything but uniform.
Saadi, a sage who lived in the Middle East some time ago, once placed himself in the middle of a busy road, which was a good place from which to advertise one’s wares or wisdom at that time, even though it would not be so convenient on Interstate 5 today. He was surrounded by the usual crowd of admiring pupils. Galloping horse-hoofs drummed in their ears and soon a formation of riders appeared. They shouted, peremptorily, “Out of the way, old man, the KING is coming!” As Saadi and his flock moved hurriedly off the road, the sage said, “That’s why.”

When the riders had passed, the sage went back and sat down in the same spot with his pupils around. Now distinguished courtiers came riding, slowly, stopped their horses and said to the sage, “We think you better move aside, for the king is coming this way.” The sage and his flock moved again, less hurriedly than the first time. When the courtiers had passed they moved back to the same spot in the road. The sage said, “That’s why.”

Now a radiant person came riding along, at a dignified pace and when he saw the sage and his pupils he made a big detour around them, bowed as he passed and saluted the sage courteously. This was the King himself. “That is why,” said the sage.

“What did you mean by ‘that’s why’?” asked a pupil.

“I wanted to point out to you the differences of minds and the subsequent differences of behavior and action,” explained the sage. “The fore-riders talked or shouted and acted the best way they knew. They acted as their minds directed. That’s why. The suave and polished courtiers with a gentler type of mind acted as was natural to them. The king who knew a brother soul when he met one, acted like a king. That’s why. Never judge people from or by your own standards. They act as they must. Never judge at all.”

“That namby-pamby!” thought some onlookers, “When he starts serenading, we’ll have some fun with him.”

Then, as they had rightly presumed, the sage began singing his poems, particularly one about how he saw GOD in every creature, “And whoever comes along, I shall know that it is you!” he hummed and an irreverent bystander interrupted, “But suppose it was an ass?”

“Then,” said the sage, bowing serenely to the heckler, “I would know it was YOU.”

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• The Shamcher Bulletin is edited by Carol Sill, whose newsletter, “Personal Papers”, is HERE.

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