Paul Twitchell (born John Paul Twitchell) (October 22, 1908(?) - September 17, 1971) was an American spiritual writer, author and founder of the group known as Eckankar. He is accepted by the members of that group as the Mahanta, or Living ECK Master of his time. He directed the development of the group through to the time of his death. His spiritual name is believed by Eckists (students of Eckankar) to be Peddar Zaskq.
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Much of Twitchell's life is shrouded in controversy and uncertainty. His birth date has been disputed; no certificate was originally filed for his birth, two family bibles report conflicting years and days of birth (1908 and 1910, Oct 22 and Oct 23), a belated birth certificate filed by his father in 1941 claims a birth year of 1912, and Paul Twitchell himself refused to talk about his age or when he was born. His death certificate, filed by his wife, Gail, states he was born in 1922. Therefore, his birth date was inaccurately reported from the day he was born to the day he died. Author Doug Marman, on the other hand, has sided with 1909, based on census information first discovered by Dean McMakin.[1] The 1910 Census indicates that Twitchell was six months old in April 1910.[2] He was probably born in Paducah, Kentucky, although this, too, is uncertain. Paul Twitchell reported that he was born just after a major earthquake, which seemed like a wild claim to his critics. However, Volker Doormann was the first to discover that a 4.6 magnitude quake hit about 30 miles away from Paducah, centered on the Mississippi River, shortly after midnight on Oct 22, 1909.[3]
In his later life, Twitchell attended Murray State College and Western Kentucky State Teachers College in the 1930s but never graduated from either.[4] He married for the first time in 1942.[5] He served in the United States Navy during World War II, and became a correspondent for Our Navy after the war. He later went on to become a freelance journalist.[6]
He also investigated a number of spiritual movements. In 1950, he joined Swami Premananda's Self-Realization Church of Absolute Monism, an offshoot of Paramahamsa Yogananda's Self-Realization Fellowship. He lived on the grounds of the church, and edited the church's periodical, The Mystic Cross. He was asked to leave the church in 1955, the same year that he broke up with his first wife.
Later that same year, he was initiated by Kirpal Singh into surat shabd yoga. He also became involved in the Church of Scientology, becoming a member of the Church's staff and one of the first Scientologists to achieve the status of clear.[6][7]
In Seattle, he met Gail Atkinson. Twitchell later introduced the woman to Kirpal Singh and later married her. They moved to San Francisco in 1964, where Twitchell began writing about his new teaching, Eckankar. In late 1964, he gave a series of workshops on "bilocation" which he would later call Soul Travel. These workshops at the California Parapsychology Foundation in San Diego, proved to be popular and showed that people could gain person spiritual experience using his techniques.[8]
Some people believe it was actually Gail's idea that Twitchell adapt some of his spiritual education into a new religion, Eckankar.[9] However, Twitchell wrote three of his leading books on Eckankar years before meeting Gail.[10] What seems most accurate is what Paul says in his biography, In My Soul I Am Free, that Gail's encouragement was a spark for him to do something more with his writings. Critics state that at first Twitchell allegedly claimed his teachings were new, but he eventually referred to them as an ancient science that predated all other major religious belief systems.[11] However, this interpretation is based on comments Paul made before he officially started Eckankar, when he was promoting what he called his Cliff-Hanger philosophy, which was an outsider's view on modern society. Those were indeed his own views and ideas. However, once he launched Eckankar in Oct. 1965, he always referred to it as being an ancient teaching.[12] Indeed, in his book Eckankar: The Key to Secret Worlds, Twitchell lays out wide ranging examples of the teaching down through history, while also explaining his own personal experiences with his teacher, ECK master, Rebazar Tarzs. After the religion was founded, Twitchell wrote and published a series of books, personal study discourses, while actively giving talks around the world, writing thousands of letters to students, and continuing to write articles for magazines. He wrote a series of articles shortly after starting Eckankar that some critics have raised concerns about. In a series that Paul lightheartedly referred to as "The Man Who Talks To God", he pokes fun at gurus, including himself. He says that he wrote the series in exchange for getting a booklet printed on Eckankar, during a time when he couldn't afford it himself.[13] In that column he gave out spiritual advice, claiming to communicate with God about the problems of those who wrote to him. He included prophecy, predicting that the Vietnam War would end in 1968 and that Lyndon Johnson would be elected US President for a second time. Many of his answers were concluded with the words "I HAVE SPOKEN!"[14]
Twitchell died of a heart attack on September 17, 1971, shortly after meeting with long-time students of Eckankar at a dinner in Cincinnati.[15] His death, like his life, was not free of controversy. Some critics cite the comments of Louis Bluth, who was once a prominent leader in Eckankar. After leaving Eckankar, Bluth said that he believed his death was necessary; since Twitchell had defied the ECK masters of the past. However, he only made these comments after the leadership was not passed to him, as he hoped, but to Darwin Gross. In fact, Bluth's first comments about Twitchell's death was that he saw Twitchell carried out of his body by a "celestial cloud of light."[16] Additionally, a few others who hoped to become Twitchell's successor, but who were passed up, came to question Twitchell's honesty after his death, since he had predicted that he would continue to lead the faith for another decade and a half. This issue was perpetuated more by David Lane and other outsiders, however, as it never gained any serious concerns amongst ECKists. The reason for this is that Paul's comment about the next Mahanta who would come in 15 years was not about his next successor, who would be an ECK Master only, and not a Mahanta. Paul was simply pointing out different levels of mastership, because, as he explained, there were a number of people who were claiming to become his next successor and what they said simply wasn't true.[17] His death did create some concerns because Twitchell did not name his successor. His widow Gail eventually selected Darwin Gross. According to Gail, Gross was indeed Paul Twitchell's choice, as he had visited her in a dream to give his endorsement.[18] Critics make light of Gail's dream and suggest that Gail made this choice herself. However, Gail made it clear that she would not pick who the successor would be. She refused. She trusted that Paul would make the choice clear. She then had a dream, where Paul showed her that Darwin Gross was to be the next ECK Master, and that Gail would receive two confirmations from others to verify this fact, which in fact took place from Millie Moore and Patti Simpson, foremost leaders in Eckankar, who also had inner experiences showing Darwin Gross as the successor.[19]
Twitchell wrote dozens of books and discourse study programs under Eckankar, gave public lectures around the world, and also wrote thousands of letters.[20] Some critics claim the mail Twitchell sent to Kirpal Singh was published as the book The Tiger's Fang.[21] This misunderstanding started with comments that Kirpal Singh made publicly. It now seems likely that Singh may not have even read the book before making his comment, since he appears to have confused it with another book, Dialogues With The Master, that was composed on Twitchell's early experiences. Singh would go on to claim that he had dictated The Tiger's Fang to Twitchell on the inner planes, and then criticized it because it was made up of dream experiences rather than real spiritual experiences. All of these comments, however, were misunderstandings based on his confusion with another book, since none of his comments fit with what The Tiger's Fang actually was about.[22] Later, critics would claim that Kirpal Singh told Twitchell about his criticisms of The Tiger's Fang, and that he rejected it, and this was what led to Paul breaking away from Kirpal Singh. However, this is also a series of misunderstandings. Even David Lane has retracted his belief in these Tiger's Fang Incident claims, since his own notes show that Twitchell and Singh had a friendly relationship long after 1963, when the Tiger's Fang Incident was supposed to occur.[23] Twitchell told biographer, Brad Steiger, that he expected The Tiger's Fang to be controversial, having announced that it "would shake the foundation of the teachings of orthodox religions, philosophies, and metaphysical concepts." Twitchell even claimed to have been informed that the Pope saw the book and "was greatly disturbed by it, perhaps to the point of condemning it."[24]
Comparisons of Twitchell's Eckankar writings reveal that Twitchell possibly plagiarized the works of several authors.[25] David C. Lane is a liberal arts Professor and researcher who, along with others, uncovered evidence that Twitchell plagiarized much of his work from the writings of Julian Johnson, Kirpal Singh, Lama Govinda, Walter Russell, L. Ron Hubbard, H. P. Blavatsky, and others. A member of Eckankar's clergy named Douglas Marman presents information that challenges the critiques of David C. Lane and Ford Johnson by presenting examples such as the Paducah, Kentucky Library among others for historical reference related to Twitchell's career and personal information.[26] Lane's thesis and his debates with Eckists and Eckankar officials are available online [27] as well as Doug Marman's critiques of David C. Lane's findings.