c/o Lonnie Less,
27 West 71 St.,
New York, N.Y.
October 2, 1970
David H. Stern,
7836 Fareholm Drive,
Los Angeles, Calif. 90046
Beloved One of God:
One has before one letters and invitations to attend certain conferences and present circumstances make it possible to visit Rye, New York, next week. But one is going to the meetings with a great degree of uncertainty as to the meaning of words and terms. For example, one has not the slightest idea of what is meant here by “spiritual leader.” Jesus Christ has said. “Let him who would be the leader among you be the servant of all the rest.” One is not yet ready to dispense with such a teaching.
Neither does one know what is meant by “New Age Teacher.” One is an accredited teacher in certain schools whose traditions and history can be traced and whose relation with the past, and perhaps also with “eternity” is not bound by and is not going to be bound by anything recent or new excepting the methodologies, certainly not the teachings.
And one objects very, very much to equalize the spiritual with the ‘scientific, business, political and other religious leaders,” to quote from the paper sent one. From the standpoint of the writer that is spiritual which transcends time and space and deals with the infinite and transfinite. Attempts may be made—and one has no objection to others making them—to equate the finite with the transfinite and infinite but one has not the time to be involved in such efforts. One has seen such efforts made in the past and always with the same termination: disputes, antagonisms and chaos. One does not believe we can rise above chaos by bringing in the leaders of samsara and if any such efforts are made one must withdraw.
The write is connected with at least two very large movements participating in history and culture, and deeply so, and not bound by a few individuals. Nor is one going to present techniques to strangers “away from the demands of disciples.” That is exactly what the traditional spiritual teachers do not do and this person will not do.
The writer is one of the few persons who was given a spiritual initiation by Paul Brunton who has explained, “The Way of Heart,” “The Way of Breath” and “The Way of the Eye” (glance.) These are being used and they cannot be called “New Age” techniques for they have been practiced for centuries. Furthermore one is a “master” in Sufism, the very existence of which has been made subjective in this land whereas if one got out of his subjective consciousness and looked at humanity he world find there are more disciples of Sufism than of all other esoteric and mystical schools combined. The fact the we (superior, of course) Americans do not know this is not unfortunate. Indeed one of the things we need to do is to get out of our subjectivisms and examine the humanity, living and past.
The separating of religious and spiritual leaders is questionable. On has met many of the real religious leader of the real world and has been able to get along quite comfortably with them. Indeed we are cooperating to try to bring peace in the Holy Land.
One is unwilling to go contrary to Jesus Christ who came “to fulfill and not to destroy.” One sees perfection in and behind the various religions of the world though not in the institutions which have come to control those religions. Nor does one care, for one agrees thoroughly with a phrase found in “The thousand and one Night,” “There is no Power nor Might save in Allah.”
Besides this, one has already spoken in many churches and synagogues, mosques and temples, ashrams and other sacred places; and of course, shrines of several religions where he has been most welcome. To equate such experiences with the enthusiasm of people of the day may or may not be in order.
The Sufis, the Zen organizations, the Yogins all based their work on complete realization of fulfillment which takes man beyond the supportiveness of individual outlooks.
One definitely questions the use of the term “enlightenment.” The Cayce Foundation uses this word but there is not the slightest evidence that it has anything like the meaning of real Zen Masters when they use the same English word—there is certainly at least one real Zen Master in New York City; there may be many.
I have never had the slightest difficulty and I cannot emphasize this too heavily in meeting masters of different traditions. I have embraced and been embraced by men (and sometimes women) whose religious backgrounds are totally different. I can give their names. I am even meeting some prior to the 14th. And I am speaking at Columbia University soon bringing out hard facts which it will be well for the “humble” to cognize.
Finally I shall insist on the recognition of Fatehpur Sikri in India where the Sufi Emperor Akbar called together the many spiritual and religious leaders of the day in a conference or more than one conference which is a matter of history but which is effaced from the “only in America” classes in the studies of Oriental religions, history and spirituality. I see other movements, such as the efforts of various “Avatars,” the Aurobindo cult which, claiming universality, omit and even forbid references to history and spiritual attainment where and when the hard facts of human existence go contrary to their programs. I hope this will not be.
The writer agrees with St. Paul: “In God we live and move and have our being.” His programs—which seem to be succeeding, will no doubt be presented at the Rye meeting.
But no joining of any “World Council” until it is evidenced it is a world council. One has seen too much of that. The “world” movements have come and gone over and over again because they have failed to recognize all of humanity, all of history, or the attainment of “exotic” peoples.
An while the present wars continue one feels it is more important to work for the termination of human hatreds, prejudices, ignorance and dualisms than anything else. If others wish to work in that direction, well and good. The Bodhisattvic oath under which I have been for many, many years says:
“However innumerable sentient beings are I vow to save them all.” It is time that we Americans stop trying to save the rest of the world and become slightly curious. When we become just a little curious and listen just a little to other peoples, then the whole world will be saved. For God is good, and in His Wisdom He choose to create multitudes who do not have our outlooks, attitudes or goals.
Love and blessings,
Samuel L. Lewis
c/o Lonnie Less
27 W. 71 St.
New York, N.Y.
October 28, 1970
David H. Stern
7836 Fareholm Drive
Los Angeles, California 90046
Beloved One of God:
The other day a very stern letter was written to you and, of course, you presumed it was in anger. And even from a certain point of view, it was in anger, but only from a certain point of view. You invite an older man to join in activities and immediately there is applied to him a nickname, not his spiritual title. He is not demanding to be called by a title, but once the sense of familiarity is introduced, he is not a taken seriously. He is not taken seriously by a number of personalities who do not seem to have any standards of measurement. They may have standards of measurement, but what these are one does not know.
To me to be spiritual means to be rising over time and space, or to put it in popular terms, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Yes, I do recognize the new age, but I do not recognize new standards. I call it the new age because the young people take standards seriously while their predecessors in time play games with them. I am not the least bit interested in any and all organizations that agree on the abrogation of the Sermon on the Mount. They may be right; they should make it clear.
This year I went to a conference of the world’s religions and the sessions were marked by a series of apologies from the “good people” who do not answer letters but expect recognition. They expect recognition from others but reserve for themselves the right not to recognize. To me this is hypocrisy at a very low level. It is even worse because the non-recognizers who want to be recognized claim to be leaders in efforts to promote peace and brotherhood. They place themselves on high levels and prate about brother-hood, and they do not succeed.
While in New York I have plans to visit the vestiges of the Roerich Museum. This was once a very large organization with grandiose plans for world peace and equally a program not to recognize little people at all. They had a great fracas on who were little and who were not little, so they smashed themselves because no one, no matter how pompous he is, can abrogate the moral laws of the universe. I for one do not claim infallibility of anybody, but I call him a fool who repeats the same kind of mistakes.
You have sent me some very loving letters with beautiful appeals, but my age, experiences and wisdom are ignored. This is your right. But ignoring them, how can you expect me to join in your efforts? Either I am a man of wisdom or I am not. But I will not repeat the same mistakes over and over again. That would be utter folly.
On the next level my own disciples and associates have been most successful in their efforts to bring Arabs and Israelis together. This to me means a sign of divine grace and approval. But I cannot demand that others accept this as divine grace and approval with one exception: those who proclaim that their own efforts are blessed with divine grace and approval. If you have the divine grace and approval, then you should be willing to accept universally all who have divine grace and approval and not just selected people.
In my private or public life I have five grand programs. Two of them at least have, after many years of striving, been accepted publicly and are gaining momentum in followers, recognition, and even finance. These benefits can hardly be shared with others who call officially recognized spiritual teacher by a nickname. Besides, on what basis is a man a spiritual teacher? Who made him so? I am not going into this further now. I am simply withdrawing from any additional activities while those of my person and of my disciples and associates are succeeding. Confusions of words do not lead to the enlightenment of mankind or the betterment of earthy conditions.
Love and Blessings,
Samuel L. Lewis / Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti