Foreword
The following article is my experience from the World Tribune. This 28-year-old piece of sectarian tripe was written with all the intensity that a good YMD could muster, but it also leaves out some delicious detail. At the end of the article is my commentary. Out of necessity, this is going to be long, so please bear with me.
THE POWER OF THE LAW IS NOW WITH HIM
World Tribune, November 27, 1978
My great-grandfather was a water witch. Sounds like the title of a class B horror movie. Actually, it is a fact that exists in my family roots. Despite the connotations a water witch may conjure up, it was an honorable position in the farmlands of America. Formerly termed “Diviner” or “Dowser,” my great-grandfather would use a forked willow rod to locate precious water sources and determine their depth. Then his four strong sons would dig the well. No one in my family was born with the power until three generations later. That’s when I came on the scene.
Looking back over the five years since my conversion to true Buddhism, the time between childhood and joining seems like a bizarre story told by young people around a campfire late at night, trying to scare the daylights out of each other. Despite growing up in a very ordinary, middle class environment, I would often startle those people I was close to with unusual questions that gave indications to later directions in life.
When I was twelve, I was nearly expelled from catechism for demanding to know if Jesus was born on other planets. Or, at an even earlier age, pressing my mother for the reason why other people didn’t believe in reincarnation.
The only major development until I was 17, was winning 17 out of 18 races at Arlington Park Race Track. After that, I wouldn’t go anymore because I felt badly about doing it.
At 17, I was introduced to tarot cards and a strange thing happened. For peculiar reasons, unknown to me at the time, I was oddly familiar with them and knew all 78 cards significance and divinatory meanings. People from all over the neighboring communities began to know that I could read the future accurately. In the meantime, I began to expand my knowledge of the occult by delving feet first into astrology – sidereal and natal.
Of that wasn’t enough, I tried to find a philosophy to guide my life and chose magick. Not the rabbit-out-of-the-hat type, or not to be confused with witchcraft, but a very obscure form I thought to be true. This was Egyptian Temple Magick, taught by Aleister Crowley. As my powers and capacities increased, my life and environment diminished in geometric proportion. Long-time friends began to ignore me as if I had the plague. My appearance was not normal; by combining yoga and drugs, I became the epitome of the word “freak.” My mind began to become so warped that I felt it demeaning to do any work, and thought that my strangeness was really special and desirable.
Then someone introduced me to Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism. Although I was reluctant to attend the meetings because of the arrogance that was a by-product of my occult ways, I decided to attend. Despite an added reluctance to give up tarot card reading and other psychic practices, I reached a turning point very abruptly. It was a most frightening experience. Briefly, after practicing Buddhism for less than a year, I was in my hometown park telling friends about Buddhism, when my old reputation came up in conversation.
One friend said, “Charlie, read my palm!” I said, “No.” I wanted to talk about chanting, but with some prodding, I took my friend’s palm and saw his life-line in hundreds of fragments. As I gazed at it, a violent feeling exploded in my mind, and vividly invoked the aura of death. I just looked at him and said, “I’m not in the mood,” and walked away. Seven days later, he choked to death in his sleep.
After this tragedy, my mind became filled with determination to totally discard all of the occult practices which I had used. The color and notoriety that accompanied methods of fortune telling showed pale in the light of true Buddhism. It became acutely apparent that no matter how much a seer can see or foretell, there is no merciful or effective manner in which to impart events of such terminal consequence. Even on the lighter side, it dawned on me that even to relate positive attributes or tendencies of an individual was a fruitless waste of breath. People already know their strong points, their pasts, and those events occurring within their lives, without a diviner tickling their ears withy platitudes.
It occurred to me that it is actually harmful to the individual to know what may lie ahead. It can lead to complacency in believing that something will occur in a specific tine frame, and no action may be taken in the present. If by chance something is foretold of a negative impending event, there is nothing short of s major transformation of one’s immutable karma that can change this in its fulfillment. There is no provision or method in occultism and the related parapsychological practices that can alter immutable karma. My grief was twofold, one being my belief that fortune telling could actually help one’s life at the core, and the other, the frustrating feeling of being helpless in helping that friend in averting calamity. With this sad memory engraved upon my memory, I vowed to seek no other alternate way to the truth. I vowed never to put myself into that position again.
In my encounters with people seeking to find out about their future, I was amazed by the fact that they are actually missing aspects of their own life. I discovered that people are tremendously curious. Sadly, from y experience in these matters, there remains an unchangeable truth, and that is, no matter what your fate is, even if you know it, there isn’t any way to change it. By knowing your destiny, you cannot change it through any other method but practicing true Buddhism correctly. So in essence, it actually does no good to pursue these things. From my experience, I have observed that people look upon psychic phenomena as the highest life-condition. In viewing life myself, through the Buddhist concept of the nine consciousnesses, I have come to realize that these phenomena and practices all have their own validities. All, however, fall on the low end of the spectrum of ultimate truth. After studying the theory of the nine consciousnesses, I was able to classify the realms of my past roots.
The first five of the nine levels of consciousness are taste, smell, sound and sight. The sixth is the mind, the seventh, the unconscious, the eighth karma storage, and the ninth and highest, the world of Buddhahood. In the light of the world of Buddhahood, the perfect comprehension of phenomena and the three realms of past, present, and future, one is able to comprehend the essence of things as they are. All the practices and philosophies that I had adhered to in my pursuits at enlightenment fell into the seventh level only. Therefore, I decided that they are totally inferior to the dream that I have for my life, which is the attainment of Buddhahood. Ever since these realizations, I have been able to put the world back into perspective, based on the supreme life-philosophy of Nichiren Daishonin. I am able to come to terms with my roots and having been born with these abilities; their significance is no longer of any practical value. My life is no longer geared to telling the future, but dwells within the present moment, with working to help others change their karma. It is no longer necessary to see a person’s future and remain helpless in changing it. Now it is important to show people how to change their own karma and forget what’s in the cards.
By Chuck Atkins
Great Lakes Headquarters
Commentary
What a pretentious twit I was. Alas, as a YMD, I was in full tunnel-vision mode, grabbing all the peripheral dogma I could, in my run for the goal, without losing sight of May 3rd 2001. Little did I imagine, that in 2003, I would awaken from my sectarian dream to realize that my tribe really didn’t care if I wandered away, now that I questioned the core doctrines and was long-past my youthful prime.
In retrospect, my determination to abandon my connection with occult practices was not as firm as this article claims. In 1987, I experienced two profound awakenings and had a near-death experience. In 1988, I pondered how best to use those experiences to benefit people. I was told point blank by more than a few women’s division leaders to never speak about my “experiences of enlightenment” because I came across as zojoman (sic) or someone deluded into thinking that they had experienced such a state of mind or being. Although our local group always enjoyed my experience of overcoming cancer, I was kept on a short leash by my seniors in faith.
It was in 1988 that I decided to open a divination service that specialized in tarot reading. I just wanted to help people, but my seniors insisted that to do this was akin to slander. I did it anyway. The pressure to be respected in the organization and to do what came so naturally to me, cast this wayward wanderer into the tribal abyss. Then 1990 came with PI’s proclamation that new leadership was needed and we should spend time with our families and re-group. Everything in the tribe began to change. I received calls from my WD seniors that PI’s speech was mistranslated and we should disregard it until clarification came. It came, and what was translated was what most of us wanted to hear. I really loved PI for freeing us from temproary bondage! I knew a new day was dawning, but it was a mighty hazy sunrise. However, in retrospect, 1990 turned out to be the end of SGI-USA as I once knew it. In my opinion, it has never recovered to be what it was in my youth division days. It seemed like we went from organizational self-loathing to a fullscale attack on the Nichiren Shoshu priests. How's that for metaphysical slight-of-hand?
I continued to do readings and help people until pressure rebuilt again and in 1994, I ended my services. Being a skeptic, I would tell people upfront that I had no belief in the tarot or divination; I merely read the cards or used my heightened senses to “divine” events and make no claim as to their legitimacy. Strangely enough, this approach was very welcome by my clients. For several years, prior to 1994, various neo-pagan diviners including one renouned Wiccian high priestess would come to me for their own readings as my knowledge and skill level were of the highest order. For example, as one old pagan put it to me, (and I paraphrase here), "if we were to rate tarot readers like college graduates, an experienced reader might be considered as someone with a four year degree. My skill was on the level of Ph.D. with completed fellowship, tenure, and years of practical experience." But in my own mind, the entire skill was an exercise in futility. First of all, I rightfully believed that tarot had been reduced to some base method of fortune telling for profit instead of its higher purpose of psychoanalysis in search for the philosopher's stone of conversation and knowledge of one's holy guardian angel; second, by asserting my right to use divination, I was scorned by my tribe, and blurred the lines between Buddhism and the occult. Third, I was never certain that Buddha would have approved divination and I was perpetually conflicted by my proclivity to use the tarot and Nichiren's admonition that the occult was inferior to even tha Agama sutras. Torn, inclined, and gifted, I vascilated between being true to myself and being true to the dharma. I kept pondering the occult prowess of Mokuren and the Indian sages where such powers were not scorned but praised. What a psychological, compound cluster-fuck. I was no hobbiest here - I was some sort of savant. Imagine if you will, a gifted athlete being told that playing their sport was a crime or sin. Interestingly enough, I did, once again. run into that catch 22 conundrum of being able to see things without being able to help others change course. Mixing Buddhism with the occult was a hot potato for me and instead of finding a way to meld the two, I just let the spud go thud. I still keep a Book of Thoth deck of Crowley tarot around just in case. Perhaps I'm incorrigable.
Some people have asked me about my involvement with magick and psychedelics prior to embracing the dharma. My point-of-view on this subject is that everyone is “drawn” different, and the artist that drew me, fashioned me as an occultist who had a natural affinity for Buddhism. Order rituals, construction of magickal implements, memorization of essential attributes and god-forms were as natural as a musically gifted child learning to play a new instrument. I find that there is nothing special about magick, divination, or neo-paganism – it just seems different because we are conditioned to embrace a certain politic, capitalism, and our family religion. I was just drawn different.
As for psychedelics, I never kept track of how many times I used them, but it was certainly more than a hundred times. Such substances are a tool. In the 60s and 70s, people used them for recreation, often with disastrous results. I have not one single regret about using them, as the time and reason were appropriate. Such substances no longer are of any use or interest to me as chanting enables me to achieve satori without any of the dangers rightfully associated with psychoactive substances.
I close with praise for my teachers in Buddhism that helped me in the transition from wayward youth to realized man. I only wish that the dream of May 3rd 2001 would not have been such a let down. We’re now further from the goal of kosen-rufu then when we used to sing, “We’ve got just twenty years to go,” more than three decades ago. What went wrong? Why? It will take more than a diviner and a couple blogs to figure that one out, but we’ll give it a try.
Synchronicity. Pondering the life and work of recently departed, Dr. Robert Anton Wilson, an overwhelming surge of familiarity pulses inside me. He was my favorite uncle – the one who explained the carnal truth about sex when my elders spoke only of biological processes. He was the Johnny Appleseed of the Tree of Knowledge orchard where yahoos of any ilk could taste the fruit of the gods. A contemporary of Timothy Leary, Israel Regardie, and Allan Watts, he was the prodigious progeny of Aleister Crowley, G.I. Gurdijeff, and the Illuminati Adepts. Although I had admired him for decades, our paths never crossed until shortly before his death.
Here is a link to a site that has some essays by Dr. Wilson:
http://tinyurl.com/wb6u5
In my book, Riding the Wheel to Wellness, I pay tribute to Dr. Wilson in the introduction on page xiv:
“To use a term coined by Robert Anton Wilson in a different context, there is a cosmic trigger inside all of us that when pulled, profoundly affects our biological systems. With the sound of our voice, visualization, sincerity, and our desire to overcome illness, the Nam-myoho-renge-kyo mantra can signal the immune system to work at a higher level.”
A Buddhist colleague of mine so happened to be a friend of Dr. Wilson and was a frequent visitor to his home. A few months before Dr. Wilson’s death he was thoughtful enough to share the above paragraph with him, as reading had become extremely difficult for the good doctor. Let me share with you the letter my esteemed colleague sent me.
“I spent the day yesterday at Bob's house. I was able to read to him the part of the book where you mention him and the cosmic trigger. I read from a paragraph or so before as it seemed to encapsulate the main idea of the book. He really lit up and let out a great, “Yes!" in response. There were other things going on and other people there and things moved on so I let it go at that. He definitely seemed receptive and I think at some time I would like to follow up on that. I'm sure you realize that between who he is and my relationship to him I'm not completely comfortable telling him what to do about anything. Although his speech was pretty good on Saturday it's not conducive to philosophical conversation. Still I thought you would be glad to know that he was tickled by the acknowledgement and in agreement with your basic premise. He was actually happier to hear it than I have seen him in years.”
I was elated. Synchronicity indeed. Prior to making the acquaintance of my esteemed colleague, I had made some efforts to contact Dr. Wilson in 2004 in an attempt to get an endorsement for Riding the Wheel to Wellness. For whatever reason, my efforts were unsuccessful. Even as I made that effort to contact Dr. Wilson, there was a negative voice in my mind telling me that he would regard my work as bullshit. Although I was turned down or overtly ignored for endorsements by a number of high profile authors and authorities, their rejection meant little to me. But a snub from Dr. Wilson would have been the equivalent to good swift kick in the balls.
After he died, I began re-reading his books like the Cosmic Trigger I, II & III as well as the Illuminatus Trilogy, et al. What struck me was how many parallels there were between us. Dr. Wilson was ever quick to notice parallels between himself and his heroes like Crowley and Gurdijeff, so I feel no shame doing the same thing, although I certainly don't feel that myself or any writer of his genre that's alive is in his class. Some of the interesting things that struck me begin with his name “Wilson.” Wilson was my great grandfather’s middle name and a branch of our family tree. Although he began using psychedelics about 7 years before me, our approach to them was virtually identical. We began to research Crowley the same year and we both corresponded with Dr. Israel Regardie during the same time (Dr. Regardie was Aleister Crowley’s secretary in the 1920s). I might add that when Robert Anton Wilson wrote Israel Regardie, Dr. Wilson was already a very famous author who was subsequently asked to write the forward to the paperback edition of Dr. Regardie’s book on Crowley, The Eye in the Triangle.
On the contrary, when I first wrote to Dr. Regardie about how to better practice magick, I was twenty years old, uneducated, fresh out of the Army, and all screwed up emotionally and psychologically. Further, I was up to my ears in psychedelics, combining them with Kundalini yoga while seriously practicing magick unsupervised. Soon I will reprint here at Phantom City a "World Tribune" article on my experience with the occult published in 1978. This will confirm many of your suspicions of what a weirdo I am/was. Old Robin Beck knows, as we practiced Buddhism as YMD in Chicago together. Also, I might add that there's a great deal of synchronicity between Robin and I as well.
On with the story...Dr. Regardie’s patience with me and his instruction spared me untold problems. As a side note, I confessed to Dr. Regardie that I was in fact the reincarnation of Allan Bennett and was being powerfully drawn to Buddhism over the practice of ceremonial magick. It was Dr. Israel Regardie that encouraged me to receive the Gohonzon in 1973, and the rest is history. I received the Gohonzon at age 23. Anyone familiar with Dr. Wilson's cosmology will know the significance.
The more of Dr. Wilson’s work I read and learn of through his growing legend, the more mystified I am by the subtle and sometimes overt parallels between us. Perhaps I will document them some day. In the mean time, I am so grateful to my colleague for reading those passages of my book to him and sharing the daimoku. His reaction was just icing on the acid.
Dear readers, if you haven’t read any of Dr. Wilson’s writings, please discover him. No, he’s not the PI kind of writer that can sometimes bore the living crap out of you. Dr. Wilson was a cosmic, comic psychedelic savant who never wrote a lame sentence in his life. In other words, he's a holy hoot! I would regard Dr. Wilson as one of the most important minds of our times and certainly one of the most interesting writers and philosophers of the 20th century. As I've been chanting daimoku for his repose, I've had the unmistakable sensation that he's been right there listening...perhaps, or maybe it's just my 23rd flashback. Good night Bob, give Tim my best.