To the relatively calm and impartial observer, it frequently appears that the world of man is in a constant state of crisis. Unlike the conquering hero who marches resolutely from victory to victory, humanity seems to wander aimlessly and almost blindly, from crisis to crisis. Repeated reference to “the perilous times in which we live,” can be found in virtually every political oration since the dawn of recorded history! Although the nature of the crises change with time, one or more of them have always been upon us, and dire predictions of impending doom inevitably result from the sudden realization of whatever crises are currently making themselves felt.

Somehow, our world civilization has managed to survive Military Crises, Political Crises, Economic and Social Crises, each of which seemed to threaten its doom.

The three most often discussed, and shuddered at, crises of today are the population explosion, world pollution and the energy crisis. All three of these are, of course, somewhat related to each other, but the most peculiar aspect of the situation is that they are so often considered to be unavoidable hazards which will destroy civilization unless some new means can be found to circumvent or to surmount them. The truth is that, in practically every case of world crisis, man himself makes the decisions

2 UNDERSTANDING

which result in the crisis, or he simply neglects to make the decisions necessary to avert it until the pressure of the crisis forces those decisions upon him. The population explosion, for example, is not as an earthquake or a tidal wave which man can do nothing to prevent, and so must simply try to survive. Since it requires the cooperation of at least two persons to bring each new child into the world, it should be obvious that the process can be discontinued whenever the necessity becomes sufficiently acute.

Both the pollution crisis and the energy crisis are the predictable and inevitable results of the over-competitive nature of our civilization and our economy. Manufacturers dump their wastes in lakes, rivers and oceans because, if they were to process the waste instead of dumping it, the final cost of their product would be two or three percent higher than that of their competitors who are dumping their waste. Consequently, the public would buy only the lower priced product, and the company which processed its waste would soon be in bankruptcy.

In considering the energy crisis we must remember that nature offers many forms of available, and almost unlimited energy. (Dutch windmills ground corn, and sailing ships plied the seven seas centuries before the advent of fossil fuels or electric power.) Our present problem stems from the fact that some forms of energy require a greater investment than others in order to make them salable and deliverable to the public. Because of price competition, we can use (at any one time) only those forms which are the least costly. When world production of fossil fuels eventually does begin to diminish (which, unfortunately, may be farther in the future than now estimated), we may then begin to direct our attention to the non-polluting sources such as Solar Energy, Geothermal Energy, Tidal Energy, etc., all of which can readily be adapted to man’s use, although perhaps at a slightly higher initial investment.

Before we become panic-stricken over the impending energy crisis, it might be well to remember several things. First, that our Sun delivers to this earth, every day, energy equal to more than twelve quadrillion kilowatt hours, or about four million kilowatt hours for each and every human being now living on this planet. Second, that the silicon crystal can convert solar energy directly into electrical energy, with no moving parts and nothing to wear out or deteriorate.- Third, that the element silicon is one of the cheapest and most plentiful elements on the surface c of the earth.

MARCH 1973 3

BUILD A THOUGHT BANK

Radiation is a fact of life. Nuclear radiation could destroy our Universe in seconds, we agree.

But there is a more powerful radiation, that of Thought: Thought exerted as Blessing, a real transfer of unlimited power.

So why don’t we, men and women of Good-Will, build a Blessing Bank, a world-wide Thought Bank of Good Will and Compassion?

Men of Good-Will are required to create Thought Forms, armed with homing devices to seek their own throughout the world. To be effective, these thoughts must be provided with a frame, a symbol, a matrix around which like thoughts may cluster.

A useful symbol is a circle. Begin with one small circle, enclosing thoughts of Peace, Happiness and Prosperity for your most immediate environment, which is composed of the furnishings of your own mind. Create next a larger circle enclosing the first, building into it strong thought for Peace, Happiness and Prosperity for your family, for the environment of your home.

Again, enclose these circles with a still larger one, postulating Peace, Happiness and Prosperity for your own town, your community. A still larger circle sends out thought forms of P-H-P for your state, your country. Continue with concentric circles enclosing Space Ship Earth in the magic of your thoughts of Impersonal Good Will. You continue building into Infinity with these concentric circles as you will them to go forth mightily.

For thoughts are things, they are vibratory things, they are always equipped with homing devices. They are vibrations carrying a shape, embodying a color.

If a man’s thoughts are directly connected with someone else, the resultant thought form moves toward that person and discharges itself in his aura, provided that there is in the recipient some compatible element to the arrowed thought, otherwise it is repelled. Thus a thought of love and desire to protect, directed strongly toward some beloved object, creates a form which goes to the person thought of and remains with him as a shielding and protecting agent. Thus we may create veritable guardian angels round those we love.

An evil thought, projected with malice, striking an aura of unsympathetic material, can only rebound from it and strike its projector, he, having in himself similar material to that of the thought form, is thrown into responsive vibration and suffers the destructive effects he had intended to cause another.

4 UNDERSTANDING

However, our thought form of concentric circles is in the class of Blessings ….. impersonal, armed with selfless compassion and good-will, a living creature of beautiful luminosity, homing toward a magnetic center of such thoughts, taking upon itself sympathic vibrations that strengthen and give longevity, as it travels to its attractive center.

These thoughts are in contrast to the average self-centered thought which clings to its creator, so that each man travels through Space en-closed within a prisoning cage of his own building, surrounded by a mass of the forces created by his habitual thought.

But our habitual thought of Prosperity, Happiness and Peace is not earthbound, it soars and picks up strength and joins its kind to remain as a Blessing of continued power.

The resources of this Thought Bank may be directed to key men and women of peace, makers of happiness and prosperity, fighters against hunger and disease and despair, men who deal in courage and calmness and kindness, for only impersonal Good Will is world-powerful.

Begin tonight, in a moment of calm. Think Peace, Happiness and Prosperity. Visualize concentric circles enclosing these thoughts of good-will and compassion for yourself, your family, your state, your country, our Solar System and the Universe Beyond. Build your circles of golden light, bonding in them a Blessing to Mankind, to Space Ship Earth, to the Universe, and SEND THEM FORTH IN THEIR MIGHT!

Iris B. Busken

THE ESSAY CONTEST

Winners have been selected from the entries received in the Under-standing Contest for “proposals” to be considered by a World Congress, “to determine the Areas of Mutual Agreement in the Social Sciences.”

First Prize- $50.00 – Bill Stevens, Eugene, Oregon

Second Prize 25.00 – Mrs. Dorothy Stevens, Los Angeles, Calif.

Third Prize- 10.00 – Mrs. Georgia Martin, Chula Vista, Calif.

Fourth Prize- 5.00 – Mrs. Juliana Lewis, El Paso, Texas

Fifth Prize- 5.00 – Mr. Carl Pernigotti, Klamath Falls, Oregon

Sixth Prize- 5.00 – Mr. Theodore G. Hullett, San Francisco, Calif.

Insufficient scripts were received to award the additional prizes offered. Prize Winning Essays will appear from time to time in the Understanding Magazine. Here is the first, by Bill Stevens:

1. If every human being needs certain resources in order to survive, it is better to share these resources than it is to destroy them.

MARCH 1973 5

2. Fulfilling the basic survival needs (for air, food and water, as an example) of one person is of a higher priority than providing luxuries for another person.

3. Skills (scientific, technical, mental, communications, diplomatic, interpersonal relations, manual, artistic and educational, etc.) are valuable human resources. It is better to promote than to oppose the learning, sharing and constructive use of such skills.

4. If information and knowledge are valuable human resources, it is best to promote their sharing and use whenever possible.

5. Words have power. It is better to use them to clarify communication and promote understanding than to confuse people and create misunderstanding.

6. Interpersonal and inter-group communication is essential to under-standing between people of our world. Therefore, communication de-serves a high priority position in the allocation of our material, technical and human resources.

7. Increasingly, individuals and groups affect people on other parts of our common planet by their actions and decisions. Therefore, mutual consideration and cooperation, prior to taking action, will promote mutual understanding, and are of increasing priority among Earth’s occupants.

8. People are most apt to respond with understanding when pain, insecurity and threats are not being inflicted upon them. Therefore, such actions should be minimized.

9. People have a human identity worthy of respect, which transcends their changeable ideas and beliefs. We can accept and respect them as human beings even when we disagree with their ideas and beliefs.

10. People need to feel useful and creative. It is better to promote than to oppose outlets for their creative and useful energies and skills.

11. People need affectionate human contact. It is better to allow for such contact, whenever possible, rather than to isolate individuals.

12. People need some times of quiet privacy. It is best to allow for such private times.

13. People need space in which to move and exercise their bodies. It is better to promote than to restrict such spaces.

♦ ♦ ♦

Truth needs no shouting.

Beauty no explanation.

Religion no sermons.

Ewart Johnson

6 UNDERSTANDING

YOUTH PAGE

“Through Children’s Eyes”

Sometimes kids are underestimated by older people. “Oh, they don’t know anything except race cars or dolls.” I even thought this about the primary grades below me. But we are wrong. (Way back when, I was a smart kid! Thank you! Thank you! No applause, please. Thank you!) But seriously, starting in the third grade I got interested in Understanding and so I gave reports on flying saucers during the third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades. Of course, I supplied enough information to let my fellow students know about it because they didn’t know that much about UFO’s. Then came sixth grade. (Not Bronson – sixth grade. No motor-cycles, sorry.) After I gave a report on UFO’s to my grade, I was asked to give it to the third graders. So I said, “Oh, well, might as well try it again.” So I gave the report. Wow! (With 18 exclamation marks!) They were really interested. In the four preceding years my classmates were sorta interested, but here these third graders (I repeat: third graders!) were interested. They asked questions like mad! Not kid stuff, like “Why don’t they have feet or wings or tails?” They asked intelligent and curious questions. Questions scientists are pondering. Like “What are they made of? Where do they really come from? Are they people like us?” Of course, we know answers to questions like these. But these third graders didn’t know. So I was really pleased. Instead of my “sermon” going over like a lead balloon, it went over filled with helium!

So with these reports, five different ones in four years, I grew in knowledge of UFO’s and I was known as the local info source for UFO’s among the kids at school. I credit my mom for 7596 of my knowledge of UFO’s. The other 2596 I found out myself.

The kids at school started to get interested in UFO’s and several of them developed different theories about them. I decided to ask my fellow students about UFO’s and find out about their theories. I came up with a lot of good answers. Of course, the first answer was from a future scientist (one of my friends). He said they were gases and clouds. Well, what do ya do except smile and write ‘er down! The second one was also scientific, but a different approach. He said from Russia or homemade models. By now, I felt like I was a victim of pollution, that is, scientific pollution. Then I got a breath of fresh air. My next answer was that they were from outer space, but, they weren’t in our image. So now I could breathe, but the punishment wasn’t over, yet. My next reply was that they were moon reflections. Oh, my gosh! Now I was coughing

MARCH 1973 7

again. But then, pure air …. one of my favorite teachers, God bless her, believed in UFO’s with the same ideas as we in Understanding. The next

student said they were reflections of natural objects. The smog came reeling in. But not for long, for the next student gave me a laugh. He said “Garbage can lids with propellers.” Oh my gosh! I can just see garbage can lids taking over the earth! My last six replies were very disappointing. Two said they were “figments of the imagination” and the rest were: “clouds”, “homemade models”, “experiments of government”, and “from Russia”. All of these theories are from my fellow students of the seventh, eighth and ninth grades.

Through these theories I must conclude that my generation is growing swiftly in knowledge because now these grade levels are interested in UFO’s and this visitation of UFO’s is attracting people, even kids. So I think that the above opinions of kids should change (I’m doing it, too) because our generation is coming through!

So to conclude, 73 words about an announcement: This has been an introduction for the “Youth Page” which will be a UFO group for young people of Understanding. You can write to us (My sister, Val, is in on this too) giving us your ideas and we will get on the ball! Send your letters to: Valorie and Pete Bohnert, P.O. Box 206, Merlin, Oregon 97532.

Pete Bohnert (13)

UFO’s INTERNATIONAL

Reports from Canada

(Cosmos-Express, Jonquierre, Quebec, Vol. 1. No. 6, September 1972)

Mr. R. H., a security guard in the city of Three Rivers, Quebec, Canada, reports the following: On Sunday night, July 16th, at about 10:45 P.M., my brother-in-law and I were getting ready to go to work. As we stepped down the front steps of our house, we noticed an object in the sky swinging to and fro, at about 1/4 mile from us. It must have been 1500 to 2000 feet above the hydro-tension lines, looking just like the full moon, of an orange color.

My brother-in-law ran back into the home to fetch our field binoculars and we watched the object for about another ten minutes, with our wives who had joined us.

While we were talking and wondering if it could have been a helicopter, the thing suddenly disappeared. We didn’t see it for about one minute

8 UNDERSTANDING

thereafter, when it reappeared, and this time it came much closer to us, looking like the full moon and a half. Finally, the thing just disappeared from sight, as if you had switched off a light switch …

Mr. R. H. also said the object had a perfect shape of a “flying saucer” and that the object did not change colours, and made no sound whatsoever.

(This report appeared in La Presse (a provincial newspaper) on July 26th.

Citizens residing in the Outaouais Valley have recently proclaimed observing unidentified objects “almost every evening” this past month. Many residents from nearby towns, situated south-west of Ottawa, Canada’s capitol, affirmed having seen the same objects early on the morning of July 25th. A housewife reported her observation of a red and green arrow-shaped object that remained in view for over half-an-hour. Another citizen affirmed having seen this same object, and the Provincial Police Bureau said they received over half-dozen phone calls from other eye-witnesses.

These affirmation follow a series of other observations taking place in the Campbell’s Bay region of this province, where citizens declared they witnessed the fourth “apparition” of a “very intense orange light” . . . On each occasion the object was seen one hour after midnight.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

Life on Other Worlds

(Journal-News, Hamilton, Ohio, 11-29-1972

BOSTON (AP) – Will contacting life on other worlds change man’s image of himself for the better? Or will it destroy his initiative by allowing him to depend on a superior intelligence, and possibly change his very image of God?

These and other questions were considered by experts in the sciences, social sciences, theology and communications who met last weekend to consider the effects upon man if extraterrestrial life is contacted.

The symposium, sponsored by the national space agency and Boston University Department of Astronomy, focused on the social and philosophical implications of contacting other beings in space.

The experts agreed it was almost certain that human beings are not alone in the galaxy and certainly not in the universe. But there were varying views on when, if ever, contact might be made and what its implications may be.

Prof. Carl E. Sagan, director of Cornell University’s Laboratory for

MARCH 1973 9

Planetary Studies, said technology has reached a stage where man could detect another civilization as advanced as himself, although the search may be prolonged.

Sagan said man is at a unique evolutionary period “in which the old secure sense of where we are in the universe has eroded.” He said contact with extraterrestrial life could help man re-establish his relation to other human beings and give mankind a new sense of where it fits into the universe.

Anthropologist Ashley Montagu said man has done a bad job of dealing with his fellow man and suggested that some housecleaning is needed on earth before we contact another civilization or it contacts us.

“Some other forms of life are probably more intelligent than we, which can explain why they haven’t contacted us,” Montagu said. “They may regard us as we would some forms of rabies or cholera.

“We should prepare for encountering beyond-earthers,” Montagu continued, “and not wait until contact is made to do something about it.”

. Dr. Krister Stendahl, dean of the Harvard Divinity School said discovery of life elsewhere would teach man that God’s domain is larger and would give him a better idea of his place in it.

Contacting other beings, Stendahl said, may help man to stop viewing God in his own image, with all its limitations.

Dr. George Wald, professor of biology at Harvard University and a winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine, said he is convinced there is life elsewhere in the galaxy, but doubts the possibility of man ever contacting it.

Wald said the speed of light limits physical space travel as well as the speed of radio communication. But even if contact is possible, Wald said he finds the thought of it “terrifying”.

♦ ♦ ♦

The solution to problems and tensions among world nations, and to the impending dangers of war is a spiritual one – a firm conviction that all religions and peoples should come together. This does not mean to give up one’s own religion or faith, but to live it and to practice the essence of religion instead of hanging in the superficial rites and rituals which are as different outwardly as the people on the face of this earth are in their clothing and ways of life. The chief hope I see is the hunger for spiritual awakening.

Satguru Kirpal Singh Ji

10 UNDERSTANDING

poets corner

MEANINGS

“What is the meaning of life?”

I asked an old, old man.

He said

“Last week I found in the cupboard a

ripe nut, rich, brown and polished.

My grandson had held it in his fists

for long hours, to make it shine.

To him, it was a beautiful thing to polish

and to keep shining and hidden

on a secret shelf.

My granddaughter broke it open

with her heel,

ate the white meat, justifying herself,

since meat, to her,

is the meaning of the nut.

My daughter, with the broom,

swept out the broken pieces of the shell,

reading into them the possible beginning

of a decline and fall of civilization

and the end of all order.

MARCH 1973 11

I sit here in the sun and do nothing,

but I have been watching for over an hour

a tiny golden spider

now tightening his miniature web

inside the capacious security

of half a nutshell.

Perhaps that answers your question?”

Jessie T. Ellison

♦ ♦ ♦

world report

Mysterious Light

Herald, Wayne, Neb., 8-24-72

The Pin yd Moseys, who live north of Randolph, reported to the State Patrol Office at Norfolk a mysterious bright light near their farm, early Sunday Morning, about 3:45 A.M.

They at first thought the light was a haystack on fire, but then they said, “It kept going out and coming back”.

An Oklahoma Sighting (News-Record, Miami, Okla., 9-19-72

A brilliant blue-white light of un-determined origin was sighted over the Devil’s Promenade, early today by Mr. and Mrs. George McWatters, who live on a farm near the Spring River Indian Baptist Church.

Mr. McWatters reported he awoke about 5:30 or 6 and was in the kitchen when he first saw the light. . . he watched the light for several minutes as it seemed to move slowly to the east, getting brighter all the time. He then woke up his wife to come look at the light.

“It moved out just so far, and then seemed to be hanging there, not too far above tree top level. It was the oddest color, bluish green and white, and too bright to look directly at it for very long.”

They watched the light until it vanished about 7 A.M. Mrs. McWatters said that before the light vanished, two more lights, not as bright, but of the same odd blue-white color, appeared. “We could see all three together, then the two smaller ones vanished.”

12 UNDERSTANDING

A check with the flight services office at the Joplin Airport showed that no weather balloons were launched from there today, and there were no reports either at the Joplin or Miami airports of aircraft flying in that area this morning.

The Galactic Community

(The Independent, Richmond, Calif., 10-14-72)

VIENNA (UPI) – An American scientist said today intelligent civilizations probably have existed in outer space for billions of years and suggested they are trying to make Earth a member of the galactic community.

“In all likelihood intelligent civilizations have existed in the galaxy for four or five billion years,” said Bernard M. Oliver of the Hewlett Packard Co., of Palo Alto, Calif.

Oliver made his remarks in a paper prepared for delivery at the closing session of the 23rd International Astronautical Congress.

“It appears from our calculations that present day technology is capable of mounting a very effective search for extraterrestrial signals,” Oliver said. “The question we must ask ourselves is: Is it worth about half the cost of the Apollo program ($11 billion) to attempt such a search”

Oliver said the biggest barrier to making such an expenditure was that man cannot guarantee success.

He said it was probable civilizations exist in outer space and added:

“It seems very probable that many of these civilizations have established interstellar contact.

“If so, then communication has been taking place between civilizations for eons and beacons may well exist to help young races, such as ourselves, to join this galactic community,” Oliver said.

About 1,500 persons attended the weeklong meeting in the downtown Hofburg Congress Center.

Delegates included Prof. Wernher von Braun, a key figure in the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Apollo project.

Space Heat Reflector

(Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore., 11-8-72)

MOSCOW (UPI) – A Soviet cosmonaut said here that man might one day send a giant cosmic reflector into orbit to raise the temperature of the earth’s colder regions.

Maj. Gen. Vladimir A. Shatalov, a veteran of three space flights and head of the Soviet cosmonaut training program, made the prediction in the army newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star).

MARCH 1973 13

The cosmonaut said the cosmic reflector, a kind of artificial sun, could be put into space in a near-earth orbit.

“Being above the planet’s surface, the structure, with an area of one square kilometer (.38 square miles), could reflect the sun’s rays and direct them onto the earth’s surface with a radius of more than 300 kilometers (186 miles),” Shatalov said.

He said when large settlements are created in near-earth orbits, it will be possible to use them to create in outer space large power systems to convert solar energy and transmit it back to earth to be turned into electrical energy.

UFO Believed Seen Near Cincinnati

(Prairie Grove (Ark.), Enterprise, 9-21-72)

Oscar Nichols, who lives one and a half miles south of Cincinnati on Hwy. 59, reported to the sheriff’s office Saturday night that he had seen what he believed to be an unidentified flying object.

“I know you’ll think I’m crazy, but this thing had red and white lights and fire shooting out the back,” he said. “It only took less than a minute to go from horizon to horizon.”

The object was estimated to be about 35,000 feet, flying north – north-east to south-southwest.

Authorities at Drake Field, contacted by Deputy Sheriff Don Starbird, said they had no flights going in that direction and knew of none.

‘Silver Dust’

(The Independent, Richmond, Calif., 7-12-72)

DES MOINES, Iowa (UPI) – A Des Moines expert on unidentified flying objects said Tuesday that the mysterious silver dust found in three Iowa soybean fields over the weekend was left by invaders from other planets.

William Atkinson, 34, a member of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) of Tucson, Ariz., discounted a report by Iowa State University that said the silver dust and craters were caused by lightning.

“These craters were definitely caused by spaceships from intelligent beings from an alien world,” said Atkinson, who is the only Des Moines member of the 6,000-member APRO group.

The silver dust was discovered in soybean fields near Story City, Gold-field and Laurens in the past three days.

“The thing that makes my hair stand up on my neck is that the craters are all the same width and depth, and they are spaced about 50 miles apart,” Atkinson said.

14 UNDERSTANDING

Electricity From Space

(Grit News Section, 10-15-72)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is looking into the possibility of using large satellites to convert the energy of the sun into what could be a boundless supply of electrical power.

The concept hinges on the use of large spacecraft in synchronous orbits more than 22,000 miles above the earth. At that distance the satellites would remain stationary over assigned areas.

Each satellite station would convert solar energy to electric power, then beam it to a receiving station on earth.

NASA wants to compare this concept with other methods of producing large amounts of power from solar energy.

The program will be managed by the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, a NASA facility.

To Speak Each Other’s Languages

(Youngstown Vindicator, 10-25-72)

WASHINGTON (UPI) – The U.S. director of the Soviet-American spaceflight scheduled for 1975 says the feared language problem may turn out to be an advantage for the unique international project.

American and Soviet space pilots will undergo intensive language training for two years before launch, and engineers on both sides already are studying each other’s technical vocabularies.

But Rocco A. Petrone, the American program director, said the language difference is not a barrier and “in many ways it’s an asset.”

“It forces people to be much clearer in their communications,” Petrone said in an interview.

“Because we’re dealing with a group of people whose culture, back-ground and engineering training are different, we try to be more than clear – and he in turn with you – so that you understand there are no semantics involved.”

The objective of the mission is to prove that American and Soviet spacecraft can rendezvous and dock in space for rescue purposes. The venture also is seen as a first step toward future cooperative space missions.

“The purpose of the program is to demonstrate that we can work together,” Petrone said.

♦ ♦ ♦

We rarely fear what we clearly understand.

MARCH 1973 15

Book reviews

The Seven Gates of Transcendental Consciousness

(This month, in lieu of the regular book review, we offer a review in another media – that of music.)

(Wilburn Burchette, 33-1/3 LP Stereo recording. $6.95. Other Dimensions, Inc., Box 15, Decorah, Iowa 52101.)

In an extraordinary recording, Wilburn Burchette presents his own creation of “The Seven Gates of Transcendental Consciousness”. He is an accomplished guitarist, inventor of his own instrument, the Impro Guitar. He also built and operates the special electronic equipment, so imaginatively used.

This unusual record is designed to take you on a spiritual journey through the Seven Gates of Transcendental Consciousness to the Ultimate. To assist the listener on this inspiring journey, a colorful booklet, with beautiful illustrations of each Gate, by Caren Caraway, is included. We suggest that the booklet be perused and meditated upon before listening to the recording.

To accompany each illustration is original poetry by Mr. Burchette, who evidently has attained “Cosmic consciousness”.

William Burchette, 32 years of age, has been searching, ever since he was a young boy, for “a clearer understanding of the universal vibrations that constitute sound, and then music. This search first led him to the historic records of the music known to exist in Ancient Egypt. He has probed the music of all ancient and modern cultures for the keys to this mysterious and powerful vibratory force that we call ‘music’.”

This seeking led Burchette to the guitar, rather than the guitar leading him to the metaphysical. “His musical genius is a bi-product of this search because Wilburn came to the guitar as a scientist comes to the microscope. The result is just as significant as a scientific breakthrough.”

In his explanatory “Preparation for an Experience into Transcendal

16 UNDERSTANDING

Consciousness” Mr. Burchette says, “From the dawn of time many great mystics, each in his own way….. have spoken to us of the seven levels of awakening. They have tried to describe to us….. seven degrees of consciousness, seven distinct levels of awareness; and they have told us that if we could but ascend these seven levels of transcendental consciousness, like so many mental steps ….. we would finally reach an ultimate consciousness of God which transcends all knowing, a knowing beyond knowing ….. a living reality which goes beyond all intellectual under-standing and beyond all common perception. First, and of greatest importance, offer the language of music ….. music of a kind that was understood and used in the great ancient mysteries. I offer a raising of the vibrations, for I utilize music as a flow of time, blending and inter-weaving with consciousness, a combining of transcendental harmonies and vibrations which have the power to convey direct and intense feeling, awareness beyond all words, time and space. If you will but listen with the ear of your heart and absorb these vibrations of time directly into your very being, I will give you an awareness of each transcendental gate. Second, for the visualization of the soul, we otter the brush of the painter. . . to help you find the correct feeling and key in the music. And third, to further assist you. . . we offer as an aid to conscious realization of the word of the poet. . .”

The music is intriguing, ethereal, mystical and exciting. We are impressed with this recording and urge our readers to take this journey, to follow this path that Mr. Burchette has created, and use the keys that he offers us to open the Seven Gates. Then, when you have reached and entered the SEVENTH GATE, Mr. Burchette suggests, and we agree, that you “turn, and go back down the path, for there are friends who need your guidance.”

Flo Bohnert

Merlin Unit #1

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Dr. Fry:

On December 13th, 1972 a group of us went for a beach outing at Port Charlotte, Florida. After enjoying a swim in the warm waters, we assembled for lunch at 11:30.

Janette was lying on her back, looking straight up. At about quarter to twelve she yelled, “Wilbur, there is a flying saucer up there. My magazine was quickly discarded and my eyes scanned the sky in search of the object. After inquiring “where”, Janette pointed almost overhead and a little south and west.

MARCH 1973 17

It was but a short distance then to the north side of the cloud it was approaching, on its vertical edge, at a moderate speed. There were scattered cumulus clouds and this one (cloud) seemed to be about two or three times the size of a box car, at about a mile high.

The object was about an inch wide and six or eight inches in length. Shortly before entering the cloud the object tilted, like a quick eye wink, sending a brilliant sun reflection flash from its burnished surface – like stainless steel or aluminum. There wasn’t much time to study or carefully observe it, but it seemed to be disc-shaped.

With best wishes,

Wilbur Henry Bishop

♦ ♦ ♦

The proper business of living is to enjoy life. To enjoy is to charge with joy – to put joy into, not to take it out from; to increase joy and not to reduce it.

Talbot Mundy

♦ ♦ ♦

Nobody can possibly “drop out” of society. They may find a more marginal place, but they’ll still depend on the outside world in some way.

Harmut Von Hentig in

“Mother Earth News

♦ ♦ ♦ “

Remember?

Has it ever occurred to you:
That other people may find it difficult to get on with you?
That you were young yourself once?
That others have a right to their own opinions?
That home is where you are to be at your best, not your worst?
That you can begin again?
That you might have tried harder?

H. L. Gee

18 UNDERSTANDING

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Men do not just die at Easter, nor is this the only time men muse about what happens when life’s candle flickers-then goes out. The very fact of living makes its own questions about death. If I had an appointed time for birth and another day yet unknown for dying, then I must ask, “Why? Why all the trouble? Where did I come from and where do I go? Is the valley of the shadow a dead-end street or an open door?”

Inevitably every man must die. One day the insurance man sells no more policies, the banker figures no more percentages, the preacher writes and delivers his last sermon.

On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus knew that there would be the cross. In talking about earthly death which would separate them, He gave the clearest and most comforting statement regarding eternal life He ever made during His ministry. “Let not your hearts be troubled; Believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”

But what of dying? Does it hurt? Is it unpleasant? Some people are not as afraid of being dead as they are of dying. Doctors and ministers, any who have had reason to observe those who have held consciousness and reason to the last will affirm that death is a beautiful experience.

I have looked down into the faces of unnumbered dead. The lifeless marble quality of their features for all the paint and powder and soft lights saying, “I am a body and I no longer function.” Time and time again, I have said “. . . returned to the dust from whence it came,” but in so doing, I have buried a body and not a life. I have buried a remnant and not a soul … the personality lives on.

At the transfiguration, Jesus talked with Elijah and Moses. They had been dead for centuries. Not long ago, I spoke with a woman who stepped into the valley of the shadow briefly. She said, “I talked with my father.”

Are these words of scripture, these incidents from life as we know and understand it, proofs that out there we live again, in perfect peace, in perfect harmony, in perfect recognition and with perfect love? Of course not. They are evidences. They are cracks in the veil.

What, perhaps, needs most the underline of emphasis is this: One day you will stand before the throne of God-perhaps around you will stand those you loved. Your soul will be clothed in a new body. Those things which seemed once so important now seem trivial and irrelevant. Now the words in 1 Corinthians 2:9 take on meaning, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that Love Him.”

NEIL WYRICK, JR.

MARCH 1973 19

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A Donation for the Cultural Center

It is with gratitude and appreciation that we acknowledge another annual donation, in the amount of One Hundred Dollars, from the Officers and Membership of Unit #37 of Buffalo, New York, to the International Cultural Center of Understanding. The donation will be used as payment on the piano, still not wholly ours.

Thank you, Unit #37.

Request from Australia

Michael Hervey, of Australia, has written us as follows:

“My publishers have commissioned me to write another volume dealing with UFO’s, and I should appreciate hearing from any of your readers who may have sighted anything of this nature, giving full details, including dates, and other witnesses, if any. If they have any newspaper clippings and UFO magazines they would be most welcome. The loan of authentic UFO photos would also assist me greatly in this respect.

Any information you may wish to contribute should be sent to: Michael Hervey, 5 Dick St., Henley N.S. W. 2111, Australia.

Busy Buffalo Unit

Mrs. Marie A. Hale, President of Unit #37, reports fully on the busy schedule of lectures, meetings and social events of the Buffalo group. In November the lecture was a “double feature” with both George Van Tassel and Dr. Joseph Russell speaking the same night. “Then, along came Dr. Daniel W. Fry, the same month.”

December featured the Annual Christmas Party, at which time Pres. Marie Hale was presented with a Life Membership by the Unit for her

20 UNDERSTANDING

years of dedicated service to Unit #37 and Understanding, Inc.

The 1973 programs already scheduled include Cloe Diroll (January), Jim Reed (February), Rev. E. E. Sideris (March) and Dr. Joseph Russell (April).

Canada Unit # 1

Our recently reactivated Vancouver, B. C. Unit (Canada # 1) reports that its monthly meetings are well received.

Recent programs included a taped recording of a lecture by Rex Dutta, based on his book – FLYING SAUCER VIEWPOINT; and a travelogue by Mr. and Mrs. Allan Clarke of their visit to Barbados, in the West Indies.

Set Your Sights

We have set our sights for the Fourth Annual Understanding Convention in Merlin for June 22, 23 and 24. Please set yours for this friendly, exciting and educational gathering. Details in our next issue.

Home Again

In mid-October, Dr. Daniel W. Fry, our Founder-President, set off on a cross-country lecture tour. He returned to Merlin on January 12th, after delivering 28 lectures and appearing on dozens of radio and TV programs. It is good to have him home again!

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Understanding Volume 18 Number 2

THE ENERGY CRISIS

BUILD A THOUGHT BANK

THE ESSAY CONTEST

YOUTH PAGE

UFO’s INTERNATIONAL

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

poets corner

world report

Book reviews

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

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poets corner