| Roy Masters | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Reuben Obermeister |
| Born | 2 April 1928 London, England |
| Show | Advice Line with Roy Masters |
| Website | http://www.fhu.com |
Roy Masters (born 2 April 1928) is a conservative talk-radio show host, author, and founder of the Foundation of Human Understanding. Born Reuben Obermeister in London, England, Masters is now an American citizen and host of "Advice Line with Roy Masters", a radio program he started in 1960, which was then America's first conservative talk-radio show. Masters is a Christian who exhorts meditation for overcoming stress, pain, and fear. His commentary deals with Christianity, psychology, and philosophy, and the Foundation of Human Understanding teaches a particular way of performing meditation instructed by Masters.
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At his birth in London, Masters' name was Reuben Obermeister.[1] He legally changed it to "Roy Masters" in 1954.[2]
Masters originally planned to go to medical school, but after his father's death of a heart attack when Masters was 12, the family could only afford to send his elder brother to college. Masters was sent to Brighton, England to apprentice as a diamond cutter in his uncle's factory. At 18, he served a term in the Royal Sussex Regiment of the British Army.
In 1948, at 20, he traveled to South Africa to pursue the diamond profession, but returned to England. During his time in South Africa, he became more "interested in the power of suggestion and the way the mind influences bodily functions." He briefly studied methods of African witch doctors outside Johannesburg.
In 1949, he relocated to the United States where he worked as a diamond cutter, lecturer, and gem expert.
At age 24, in 1952, he met and married his wife, Ann. They moved from Birmingham, Alabama, and settled in Houston, Texas.
Seeing demonstrations by stage hypnotists meant to entertain, he wondered if hypnosis could be put to better uses as a way to fulfill his interest in the healing professions. Morey Bernstein's book in 1956 about Bridey Murphy increased popular interest in hypnotism. Masters developed his own approach to hypnosis and meditation, and many people came to Roy’s home in Houston to have him explain hypnotic regression and to demonstrate hypnosis.
Masters sold his diamond-cutting business and became a full-time professional hypnotist, founding the Institute of Hypnosis. His approach was to explain his principles and teach his meditation technique in 15 minutes. In the early 1960s, Masters was arrested on charges of practicing medicine without a license.[2] He was convicted, then released early, after 18 days in jail, for good behavior. He practiced for two more years, perfecting his technique of “un-hypnotizing” people, and recorded the LP record, “How your mind can keep you well.”
Masters, his wife Ann, and their four children moved to Los Angeles, California “so the kids could go to school.”[3]
In 1961 he founded the Foundation of Human Understanding (FHU).[2] In 1983, he moved his family and the Foundation from Los Angeles to Tall Timber Ranch in Selma, Oregon, near Grants Pass, Oregon.[4]
Masters holds regular church meetings in Grants Pass, along with other meetings that vary from a Bible studies group, to men's and women's discussion groups.[5] He has traveled to give talks in the past, but recently commented on the radio program that he anticipates very little travel in his future, due to reduced energy level at his age.
In 1956 Morey Bernstein wrote a bestselling book, The Search for Bridey Murphy. It was an account of Bernstein's hypnotic regression of a housewife, Virginia Tighe, who said she was a 19th century Irishwoman, Bridey Murphy, in a prior life.
Masters came to the conclusion that most people did not need to be put into a hypnotic trance in which they were open to suggestions. Instead, they needed to be freed of a widespread, unrecognized hypnotic trance that they had already inadvertently fallen into, as a result of emotionally-driven "bad behavior" and "bad information" from themselves and others. Once freed of this trance, he believed, individuals' innate capacity for conscience, intuition, and logic could guide them to better choices and to accepting wise counsel.
Masters developed a meditation technique using relaxation and visualization, which he said undermined an existing trance, quieted disturbing thoughts and feelings, and allowed a person to reconnect with their inner spiritual wisdom. The current version of his meditation presentation is called "Be Still and Know".[6] The name is taken from Psalm 46:10, which begins "Be still and know that I am God..."
Masters routinely advises callers to his radio advice program that if they have not yet followed the meditation exercise, they should download and use it as a basis for understanding his counsel.
Masters says that over 100,000 people have participated in mediation classes given by FHU.[2]
Masters sees Christian salvation as a process of God's work reclaiming the corrupted hearts, minds, and consciences of individuals who repent of their weakness. His teaching emphasizes individual conscience and adherence to life principles, mainly from a psychological or philosophical perspective.
Although not trained - or even knowledgeable, as a physicist - Masters has developed a theory of physics concerning gravity, electricity, and alternative energy technology. The paper is available to the public at no cost .[7]
On March 9, 2007, Masters made a 12-minute presentation, "Electricity from Gravity," to the American Physical Society in Denver, at an open forum for the public to propose new ideas that contradict current conventions in physics.[8][9] [10]
Masters is not formally trained in the physical sciences.
The Foundation, established in 1961, was originally based in a storefront location in Los Angeles that provided lecture space for talks by Masters. After successfully winning a legal challenge, the Foundation now holds tax-exempt church status.
The Foundation was ultimately intended to be a Judeo-Christian think tank, providing books, audio tapes, CDs, and other information useful to those seeking Christ. Although self described as a "think tank," the Foundation almost entirely presents only the work of Masters.
The audio recording of the meditation exercise, along with companion books about Masters' key concepts, and recordings of recent or noteworthy radio and church programs, are available for free download from the Foundation's web site. Further written and audiovisual materials are available for download in exchange for a donation to the Foundation. The Foundation also makes its materials available for free to prisoners.
The Foundation buys the radio airtime for "Advice Line," the radio show hosted by Masters.
Masters hosts his own radio show Advice Line, five nights a week, broadcast to about 250 radio stations. During the program, Masters discusses what he calls "proper living" and gives advice that is sometimes interpreted as misogynist[11]. He teaches that all the faults in the world originate through women. But he also teaches that men are ultimately at fault because rather than healing the faults by loving women properly they use women to serve their egos.
TRN Enterprises syndicates Advice Line as well as primarily conservative personalities such as Michael Savage, Tammy Bruce, Laura Ingraham, Jerry Doyle, Rusty Humphries, and most recently Erich "Mancow" Muller. Mark Masters, Roy Masters' son, is CEO of Talk Radio Network.[12] Contrary to some reports, Masters does not own TRN, but does buy radio time through their network.
Masters has appeared on CNN's Crossfire and on Larry King Live, and was interviewed on a 1998 program on the Discovery Channel dealing with the belief in the Apocalypse and its relation to the militia movement. A short segment of an interview with Masters was used in a PBS television documentary entitled Death In America, in which Masters discusses social, cultural and religious attitudes relating to how Americans dealt and currently deal with illness and death throughout American history.[13] He is a frequent guest on The Mancow Show.
In a 1992 open letter, he said he was a former Jew who founded a ministry that some unfairly viewed as New Age because of "often mean-spirited media coverage."[4]
Some of Masters' enthusiasts relocated to southern Oregon in the 1980s, after Masters and the Foundation moved there. Masters had encouraged listeners of his radio show to relocate out of large cities to escape what he said was the inevitable collapse of a sick society.[1]