Gary Olsen's "Master Path" - anybody familiar? (techniques, Jesus, organization)

[rememberingyou]

"Wondering about the truth", because I have been maligned and lied about by both Gary and Joy Olsen, excuse me if I am a little paranoid here. If you are reading this and other forums, and you are a MP student, what is it you are looking for? Do you work for MP? Usually the really “sincere” ones aren’t snooping around looking for stuff about MP unless they already have a foot half way out the door or are MP sleuths. Do you have a foot out the door?

You want “exact” evidence, but I cannot help but wonder this:
Isn’t the fact that Gary Olsen has no loving, kind regard for the chelas who leave MP, evidence that something is truly wrong with this “saint?” In fact isn’t it common knowledge that Gary Olsen has accused several students who did leave the path of “being on a messianic trip?” And weren’t those accusations made rather publically? Please explain to me where the loving kindness is in that. Isn’t the conventional MP wisdom in these questions: “you are not yet high enough, or evolved enough to understand?”

So what evidence do you and your group really want? Looks to me like you need evidence as to whether or not Gary Olsen is kind and loving human being, let alone a self-proclaimed “Master.” And who do you want to follow? Someone whom you trust to have an open and sacred heart or someone who can be really mean? And why are you following anyONE, anyway?

What are your real motives here? You will notice that there is a lot of what you call “emotionality” here on this forum. Let me correct you, please. There is a lot of pain and betrayal on this and other forums, people working through those things, because once you leave MP, you can forget about any friends that you had there. And you can forget about Gary Olsen wishing you well. Students who leave MP are on their own and there is a sorting process: how did I get involved; why didn’t I see it sooner; why have I judged everyone else around me for being an un-evolved peon; is Gary real? And do you think that Gary Olsen wishes anyone well who leaves him--especially if you have been on the path for awhile? His ego is too big for that--thus the attacks and maligning of former students. Thus, the instilled fear that if you leave the MP bad things will happen to you.

Is Gary real? Now there is an interesting question. Who do you think Gary is? Do you think he is a kind, God-man who never harbors ill will in his heart for another? Do you think he has transcended his ego and is in love with God and in love with his flock? Where is the evidence of that!? And what do you think Gary Olsen would say to you if he knew you were snooping around on forums like this and asking questions about evidence? Do you think he would say, “we all have doubts, dear.” OR do you think you would be “spiritually re-directed” in a way that shamed you both personally and publically? Surely you must have seen some of that “spiritual re-direction over the years.

Remember the meetings where Gary Olsen said not to read anything but MP until after your 5th initiation? Well, whether you are beyond that point or not, I would start reading and then maybe you and your friends have a chance of being liberated into a real life, where you start thinking for yourself, start trusting yourself again and start realizing that spirituality is not nearly as complicated as Gary Olsen makes it.

Gary Olsen is an authoritarian power in a hierarchy that has no system of checks and balances. He is the final word on your consciousness. You have to give up self-trust, self-regard and all those thousands of “gut feelings” that have tried to warn you over the years. Is that what you want for the rest of your life? You know what you look like when you give up those things? A Zombie.


You may think this is about whether or not Gary smokes pot or mis-uses funds...but it goes much deeper than that. I wish you and your friends the courage to see the “evidence” that is already in front of you and trust your own wisdom (MP will tell you that you have no wisdom, and probably some BS about not having wisdom until your 17th initiation...). You are at a turning point. Rather than trying to un-earth "evidence" from someone else, why not look to the "evidence" that got you to start questioning. Good luck on this part of your journey. I wish you a peaceful heart and true liberation.

[BeenThereDoneThat09]

Dear WATT

If you are not an MP troll and are sincerely 'wondering about the truth', here are some thoughts that may be helpful.

One of the most insidious manipulations that Olsen fosters is to tell his chelas that "God is not in His Creation." This not only makes Olsen the sole Ultimate Authority over your own consciousness but literally sucks most of the color, joy and enthusiasm out of life. If you buy that premise then only by continually trying to please Olsen can you ever hope to attain your spiritual freedom. This makes everyone around him walk on eggshells. If, however, you believe that God literally vibrates in every atom everywhere and lives in all beings as Itself, then Olsen's attempt at keeping everyone intimidated is seen for the pathetic power play that it is. Your choice.

Another insidious thing is that after a while chelas literally programs themselves by continually listening to audio seminars and reading discourses, books, and initiate's manuals and picturing Olsen's face in its "Radiant Form."

If you have been a longterm chela, here are some questions I asked myself before I left. After all my "seva" and generosity do I feel good about myself? Do I rejoice in the presence of my loved ones? Do I enjoy the beauty of this world? Do I love my life and want to contribute to this world or do I just want to escape the PINDA? Do I really feel loved by Olsen or just used?

If you continually have that gnawing sensation that no spiritual effort you make will ever be good enough for Olsen, it may be that instead of having a truly loving spiritual older brother guiding you, you are trying to please a pathological narcissist.

[BeenThereDoneThat09]

"The guru/student relationship on Master Path is one of tyranny"

January 12, 2005
[SIZE=4]By a former student of the Master Path [/SIZE]


Master Path is most definitely a cult [sic]. A cult is a place where you give up thinking for yourself or questioning the authority that asks you not to think.
Gary will tell you at your very first meeting that he is "just a humble guy, serving God." Experience should tell you that anyone who has to announce how humble they are, probably isn't!
Gary asks you to "check out the path to see for yourself." Checking it out is fine, but don't ask any questions. Questioning Gary Olsen elicits an angry and sometimes verbally abusive response. This can happen very publicly in a Master Path seminar. It seems like a real guru wouldn't shame a student in front of others for having questions. On Master Path though, we call a verbally abusive response from the Master or his staff "spiritual redirection."
Most people who are attracted to cults are sincere, good people who are seeking answers in their lives. There is nothing wrong with this. It's just that most of life really is a sacred mystery and people like Gary Olsen prey upon people who are hoping that life is less about uncertainty and unpredictability and more about a concrete answer, tied up in a pretty little bow. What Olsen promises in this neat little answer is a connection with the "sound current, the great current of God."
If you are reading this right now, you may want to consider that your ability to know God through prayer, meditation or contemplation is alive and well in your own heart and you don't need Gary Olsen or any other Guru to "hook you up" to anything to have that relationship in your heart.
Gary Olsen will want to tell you where you are at in consciousness.
Interestingly no one will be as high as Gary Olsen, which means that the Master Path theology works for Gary, but probably not for you.
The way that the guru gets bigger is by making you smaller.
The guru/student relationship on Master Path is one of tyranny.
In this case it's a tyranny over how and what you think and how and what you feel, because Gary believes that he knows what's best in that regard and so he will tell you that your mind and your emotions are the enemy.
You will be taught how to hate or disdain your mind and emotions. They are after all just your "lower bodies."
But please remember that spirituality cannot sustain itself by any form of disdain or hatred of the self.
It is the guru's job to dominate the student. Abuse, whether it is financial, emotional, physical or intellectual is part of the power structure. The best way out of any group like this, is to see that you don't need it in the first place.
Gary Olsen told me that if I left the Master Path, the world would turn against me.
I can assure you that the world not turned against me and that Gary has no power in this regard.
And besides what an egotistical thing to say to someone that has questions.
If Gary's ego weren't so big he probably would have just wished me well.
Gary Olsen is just a man. He cannot deliver anything.
He cannot take your karma or turn the world against you.
He cannot make you feel love in your heart.
He can neither take you home to God, nor prevent you from finding a path to God within yourself. He is just a man, an ordinary, arrogant man who has deluded himself and others into believing that he has some kind of power that he does not.

[BeenThereDoneThat09]

"Cult" moves headquarters to Temecula, California

CultNews.com/November 7, 2003
[SIZE=4][/SIZE]


The so-called "Master Path" recently moved its headquarters from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Temecula, California, a small city 50 miles from San Diego.
The group has been called a "cult" and its "master" is "Sri" Gary Olsen.
Olsen and his group are originally from Fargo, North Dakota, but after much negative media attention there they moved to California for the first time.
The group was based in a suburb of Los Angeles in the early 1990s.
"The Master Path is presenting the most evolved teaching on the planet," Olsen once told the press. "It's an esoteric study of the divine...I am...a representative of the divine," he claimed.
But the growth of the Master Path in New Mexico apparently prompted Olsen to later set up his headquarters in Albuquerque, where he held numerous seminars and conferences.
However, it seems that Olsen never really gave up on the "Sunshine State" and once again has moved his base of operations back to California.
Many of his disciples called "chelas" have followed their master and moved to Temecula to be near "Sri Gary."
The Master Path is actually little more than a rip-off of another Neo-Eastern "cult" called Eckankar.
Much of Olsen's writings were plagiarized from the earlier works of Eckankar founder Paul Twitchell.
Members of the Master Path meditate on Olsen's image and seemingly become infatuated with him and dependent upon the group.
Olsen warns in his writings, "Leaving the Master Path is the worst thing any chela could do & without the Master's protection, he runs into all sorts of troubles which would not have happened had he remained with the Master Path." One Fargo news report carried the headline "The Master Path is a cult that destroys individual self-identity."

[BeenThereDoneThat09]

"A Pseudo Guru"

April 2001
[SIZE=4]By a concerned observer [/SIZE]


My friend has been with the Master Path for several years and has taken three initiations graduating to various degrees within the group. My friend seems to buy a lot of tapes and literature from the organization.
My first "red flag" about the Master Path was when my friend said, I could not view group video tapes because I had not gone through an initiation. Members of the group apparently take an oath about this and/or are directed by Gary Olsen not to share such information. But I feel that such teachings should not be subject to secrecy.
I have attended a Master Path meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I went with an open mind, and had not heard anything derogatory about the group beforehand. But I quickly realized that Gary Olsen's organization is a cult by his own definition: "If you know Gargi [the inner master] you know me; if you know me you know Gargi."
I have studied many religions, and with Master Path, I found the message different but the tactics the same:
1. "Master Path is the only true path".
2. Lambasting of all other religions.
3. Attempt to shame people into paying the $25.00 for a monthly membership fee (with no mention of any free membership to those that really can't afford it).
Additionally, I found it quite interesting how Gary Olsen isolated himself from the 600 in attendance:
1. First appeared on stage, but later at other meetings only when people were meditating.
2. Never mingled with his followers at the hotel. Instead, he entered and left through a well guarded side entrance.
3. Gave followers his blessings from a "Darsha" line (reception line of sorts), while surrounded by male guards.
After passing through the Darsha line with my friend, we stopped approximately fifteen feet beyond where Gary Olsen was sitting--behind a strategically placed curtain. You could only see him once you were behind the curtain. We wanted to watch someone receive his blessings regarding their first meeting. But Gary's guards would not allow us to watch, even from a distance. What could possibly be happening that we weren't supposed to see?
Personally meeting Gary Olsen., I found him to be charismatic, while exuding warmth and compassion. And thus I can see why some people without a skeptical nature such as mine, could follow such a pseudo guru.
I read the articles on your Web site, but they are now eleven years old. The article titled "Parents Show Love, Courage," states, "If Master Path is legitimate, it should survive criticism and deprogrammers. But if it's the fraud some say it is, it will wither in the sometimes harsh light of public scrutiny." Master Path is still flourishing, but maybe it's time hasn't yet passed. Note: The Master Path has not generated much media interest since its demise in North Dakota. Gary Olsen "wither[ed] away in Fargo because he could not survive either "criticism" or "deprogrammers." He then packed up and started over somewhere else. Mr. Olsen seems to be "flourishing" now largely within an environment of ignorance (i.e. people don't know his history). He has been exposed as a "fraud" ( e.g. Gary Olsen essentially plagiarized his teachings/material from the writings of Paul Twitchell the founder of Eckankar--another group, which has been called a "cult").
Copyright © 2001 Rick Ross.

[BeenThereDoneThat09]

The MasterPath is a cult that destroys self-identity



The Forum / Fargo-Moorhead/July 22, 1990
By Rev. Amy Tolpingrud

I was with great sadness that I read the article about Dottie Haugh, "Mother defends new path son has taken" (July 14).
When Mrs. Haugh described her son's pre-cult personality she mentioned that he drank and was not interested in school. Now she says he has direction, which implies that he was without direction before.
The way that he was acting before gives me some clues that he was in emotional pain. He may be anesthetized now, but not healed. He may have switched dependencies and maybe he's using the MasterPath in a vain attempt to fill up an empty space in his life.
Rather than enable her son to continue on this self-destructive path, it may be wise of Mrs. Haugh and any other parents in the same situation to seek help. Exit counseling (commonly known as deprogramming) works in a similar way as alcohol and drug intervention and treatment. It serves to help bring back the person that God created - the one in whose image all our children are made.
The MasterPath, like all other cults, is destructive of personality and self-identity. Gary Olsen, the MasterPath leader, states in his writing "Truth and the Seeker #6": "The chela (student) must realize that the Master is taking care of him. He must surrender himself again and again…"
In my study of the MasterPath's material I find again and again that Olsen doesn't want children to be who they are. He wants to remake them in his image, since he is "The Master." They are not encouraged to question "The Master" for his judgments are far beyond "human standards."
Under the guise of "spiritual exercises," the MasterPath uses classic hypnotic induction techniques. The people on "the Path" find themselves believing Olsen without realizing what has happened to them. And in the process of creating these new personalities, phobias are implanted.
Again Olsen states: "Leaving the MasterPathis the worst thing any chela could do … without the Master's protection, he runs into all sorts of troubles which would not have happened had he remained with the MasterPath." Critical thinking is suspended and the chela is left with pure subjectivity.
Mrs. Haugh need not worry that her son is "weird." He is not. However, he has been taken advantage of, something that happens to most of us along the way.
If, like Mrs. Haugh, we truly want children "to love God and to spread their wings and fly," then we must give them roots both spiritually and emotionally so that they can truly grow in faith, so that they can ask questions and seek the truth without having their minds raped along the way.
I hope parents and family members with persons in any controversial group will gather as much information as possible about these groups, so that they can make informed decisions concerning the welfare of their loved ones.
(Tolpingrud is a minister at the University Lutheran Center, Fargo.)

[BeenThereDoneThat09]

Expert says MasterPath fits definition of a cult




By Paul G. White

Rick Ross, the professional cult deprogrammer brought to Fargo by three local families, says the activities and methods used by the MasterPath fit the definition of a cult.
"This group has quelled the mind and anesthetized the brain," he said.
"They have caused the individuals to think only in subjective terms."
He said his deprogramming method is an objective process of bringing the individuals back in touch with reality.
"I come in with the facts about the group. They have been deceptive in their initial contact with these people, their lack of financial disclosure and their ability to review these facts."
He said cult groups control thought by denigrating the minds and encouraging them to alienate their families.
"The group has an agenda, and that agenda is to program their mind," Ross said of the group and its spiritual leader, Gary Olsen of Detroit Lakes, Minn.
In working with the families in Fargo, Ross said he tries to "look at the family and who the family is."
He also brings along books about different cult groups and videotapes of people reduced to a trance-like state by repeated chanting and rituals.
He attempts to illustrate the addictive and dehumanizing nature of many cults across the United States. "It's comparable to drug and alcohol intervention," he said.
Also crucial for a successful deprogramming, Ross said, is an attempt to bring in an ex-member of a cult group to talk with his clients.
While in Fargo, Ross brought in Janet Ackerman of San Diego, Calif., who had been involved in ECKANKAR, a cult from which Olsen had obtained many of his doctrines and teachings, Ross said.
Ackerman had been involved in ECKANKAR for about 10 years before withdrawing from the group. She can offer the perspective of one who has experienced a cult's destructive influences.
Ackerman said it is common for cult leaders to deny that they are a cult because prospects would be prone to shy away.
"They don't say, 'Oh, this is a cult, I think I'll join,'" she said.
Ackerman, 35, said she was drawn into the ECKANKAR group when she was 17. She learned about the group from a co-worker. When she began "asking too many question," he gave her a book about ECKANKAR, which "seemed to have answers for seemingly bizarre experiences" in her life.
"I thought he had some special power," she said. She later married the man and had two children, but they separated when he became involved in Scientology.
After she had children, Ackerman said she became more responsible and concerned about the environment in which she was raising her children.
"Something about the group had made me resent myself," she said.
"I know now what it feels like: It was a trick," she said. "That cult robbed me of 10 years of my life."
Ross, 37, is considered one of the top deprogrammers in the nation and has been featured on several nationally syndicated talk shows including Donahue, Oprah Winfrey, Geraldo and the CBS news program 48 Hours.
Ross' work with cult group victims began in 1981 when a radical group infiltrated a nursing home in Phoenix where his grandmother was a patient, he said.
In 1986, he opened a private practice and traveled across the nation deprogramming cult members. He said he charges $45 an hour or $450 per day per individual plus expenses.
He added that his fees are based upon the family's ability to pay and he has offered his services without charge.
Ross said there are at least two organizations that offer assistance with identifying cults. They are the Cult Awareness Network (312) 267-7777 or the American Family Foundation at (617) 893-0930.

• [Note: WARNING! The Cult Awareness Network (CAN) was recently bankrupted and bought up by Scientology. We strongly recommend you do not contact them for assistance.]

To see more documents/articles regarding this group/organization/subject click here.

[BeenThereDoneThat09]

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I'm a former Chela of the Masterpath and.. I'm left with a lot of fears and
questions. Part of me wishes that all I was told wasn't real, that gary is a
fraud.. so I can breath again.. and still have hope.

In the time I was on the MasterPath I was as devoted as I could possibally be, I
was sure I had found the truth and was very happy to finally have hope. I desire
truth and spirituality more than I can describe..I gave everything in me to the
MasterPath and Gary Olsen.....my trust, my heart and my commitment was given the
best I could give it.. but then something went very wrong. Fear began to consume
me from statments I've heard gary make. Overwhelmed me to a point that all I
could do was feel this fear..

Gary teaches that most, if not all he says is only a 1/2 truth, as everything
has it's opposite, including the truth's he says he speaks. The Chela's job is
to blend all relative statments into an abstract truth.

Gary will occasionaly ilucidate and explain how, what sounds like a
condriction, is actually two opposite components of pure truth.. in a way that
allows the Chela to make full sense of those opposite statments sometimes.. yet
I many times wonder why not just explain the middle road itself? For example..
Gary will say "god will never leave you".. later he will say "god is very
sensitive and if you offend him, he will just leave you, sometimes for days"..
When I think about that. I think, Ok so what he means is god will be with me
always 'in essence'? but perhaps take his attention off me? for sometimes
days?.. then I kind of wonder... why not just say that. Rather than a strong
statement of "God WILL leave you"?

Well, I worked my best to understand what so many opposite or contradictory
statments have in common and the reality in them, if blended. Only to end up
extreemly confused and terrified. Gary has said "If you leave the Path, you
don't have my blessings", he's said "if you want to leave the Path, fine,
suffer" he's said "Those who aren't on the Path are just out of luck"...He says
"I'll never push a Chela into initiation"..I was kicked from the masterPath for
not accepting the 2nd iniation after 2 years, bcz I didn't feel ready..I needed
longer before raising the energys, that gary says rise upon iniation, with so
much fear inside me...I did not feel prepared.

Gary says that "MasterPath does not want your money".. MasterPath kept all my
prepaid money for dues and seminar fees(that were never used) after I was
kicked...I dont believe thay give refunds..These lead me to many questions and
massive fears that never leave me.

Now I'm feeling like I'm "out of luck", doomed to "suffer", "without
blesings"..and that "noone cares about" me. Gary once said "Noone cares about
you, except for him(The Master)", he even went on for awhile impressing that
feeling into his Chela's. Leaveing me convinced that noone cares about me... but
all these are relative statments right? I must blend the extreems somehow to
understand what's meant right?

Gary once said "if you somehow think or feel derogatory of the master, you're
cutting your neck" I once thought about that..and thought to myself 'ok, I must
not ever think this', then BAM!..just the thought of what I shouldnt think
produced the very thought I shouldn't think..resulting in me feeling like it's
impossible to make it, bcz this seems to happen automatically when I think of
what I shouldnt think. The thought appeared bcz I simply thought of the subject,
to not think, or I'm doomed.. it's a no win .. now it's too late.. I've cut my
neck ..

I'm now off the Path.. lost.. confused, in extreem pain, fear and anxiety.
Feeling like life is nothing but a crule trap. If gary's real, them I'm doomed,
uncared for, out of luck and I'm more or less an "animal" or the "walking dead"
as he calls those who dont have the consciousness similar to his. He "cant
afford to care for anyone other than his Chelas" so I don't ever expect to hear
from him again.

He's so convincing that I don't know if I'll ever know if he's real or not.. if
he is.. then I'm probably getting very bad karma for posting this..and if he's
not.. then maybe someone out there can help me understand and pick up some of
the pieces of my life that have been shattered.

I don't think I'll ever be well again, my life is completely crippled by the
fear and anxiety...maybe it's just me, and I'm too unevolved to understand ...
and there's nothing wrong with the Masterpath at all. Gary states "MasterPath is
one of most perfect, cleanest paths one can find, with a Perfect master". With
that degree of perefction I figure my limited consciousness is what leads me to
completely misundersood what was told, and what was meant by those quotes
above...if I did misunderstand.. If an old Chela could help me understand these
..'abstract truths'?.. I would be very grateful, incase MasterPath is real and
I'm in great error, speaking of what Gary has said, to bring me to this point in
life.

..bcz in truth, this is probably all my fault, that I was rejected as such and I
diserve this suffering for my mistakes.

I would ask the Masterpath to help but the only way to reach them is via
physical letter.. no phone #.. no email.. and I'm not even sure if I dare to
hear their reply, so I'm more-so looking for a current or past Chela or someone
with experience with the masterPath to help me understand...and possibally cope
with all thats crippled me via my understanding.

[BeenThereDoneThat09]

sriscary
Guest
Posts: n/a


I came across this forum by ac
I came across this forum by accident and saw that there was some discussion about Gary Olsen..I have first hand experience with what Gary Olsen can do to somebody and how much he DOES NOT CARE about what happens to his followers or "chelas"....I have a roommate who has followed him for 10 yrs and each year she has gotten more confused and more disoriented about the reality in her own life...She claims to never have any money,but her dues go out to Gary and we know that one cannot move ahead with their relationship with God unless Gary tells them it's time...She has even said to me that she plans on following him even after death...She has that "glazed over" look in her eyes when she speaks about him and I have had friends that have gone to his seminars in New Mexico and they watched him "initiate" his chelas by slapping them on the forehead and that tells them they have moved up on the spiritual ladder,cuz Gary touched them...I have even heard him say "Jesus can't help you he's dead and a dead master cannot guide you" Yet he claims he has the ability to reach billions of chelas on the "inner"..If you read any of his writings..(its hard to find it, cuz he rips everyone else off) Its disjointed and he constantly contradicting himself and I agree with the other fellow who wrote on this forum..HOW and WHO appointed him a Master of anything..We know about the life of Jesus that we do Gary Olsen..There is nothing to validate his position other than him telling everybody he's the "tru master"..I have tried and he's has nothing to back it up..I mean normally when someone decides he is going to start a religous movement it's because of a "Great" spiritual experience that he shares with the masses...He has gone so far in telling his "chelas" that he only came into the physical form in 1986..Where was he before then??I have confronted her about this path and what has it done for her and she claims it's really helped her,but she can never go to himwith her problems and emotional outbursts because she trully believes "bad things" will happen to her if she leaves..The man is a con artist and he masked it with all his constant repetitious behavior of trying to convince people how humble he is..But you can't talk to him and when your at his meetings..He keeps himself surrounded by bodygaurds..I am currently removing this person from my life,because of the Master Path..I have watched her become more and more out of control and her bed is covered with all of his books..trying to find the answers and coming up with nothing..My theory is if you have such little faith in the Lord and what is plans are for you and you need someone like Gary to hold your hand and to tell you when God is going to move you forward than you do not have to take responsibilty for your own actions,because you can justify all of it by saying it's just my "karma" and continue to just be stupid..I could go on about what I have witnessed becasue of Gary and I have read enough of "his" pamphlets and it al boils down to self-serving and his tremendous ego..I mean WHO can put himself in the place of Jesus?? and think it's okay?? If you see the othere pictures he has..It's him in the front and all of the other past masters}}} before him and Jesus is standing behind him..WHO put him in that position and WHY didn't the rest of us get the memo??

[rememberingyou]

[For periods of time I am able to stay away from these forums. Each time I engage, I revisit the pain and grief of having been in MP and having left. There is that sense of “how did I ever get involved,” mixed in with a feeling a gratitude for now being in life more fully and vibrantly than ever before. It’s just that when you have climbed out of a black hole, it’s hard to turn away from someone that you think might be trying to climb out too.

For me, I think that I needed to learn that I didn’t need a Guru to hook me up to anything; that God is in everyone and is everywhere in the Universe. Yet, it took what I now refer to as the “lost decade” for me to learn that. Too, I am grateful for the discipline I learned there. I still do a morning practice which sets the tone for my day, it’s just that it’s different and it doesn’t involve envisioning anyone’s face!

While Gary seemed at one time to have so many “concrete” answers to the mysteries of the universe, my real longing was not so much for meaning and purpose as it was for a vital and vibrant experience of being alive. So trying to eschew any emotion, escaping the Pinda really just took me away from life, sucked the joy out of it, as Been There Done That has said. Now, I have fewer answers, but probably a greater awe and reverence for the mystery that I call God.

I am deeply touched by Wondering About the Truth, because while my decision to leave MP was clear and immediately severing, I was not exempt from the very human experience of grieving what I had left behind. I was as sincere and devoted a chela as I could be and never believed that I would find myself in the position of doubting, questioning and actually leaving what had been the centerpiece of my Spiritual life for so many years. That was a very tough thing to face in myself.

Like you I wanted facts and evidence that would validate my departure and clearly that evidence is out there, orbiting the MP, waiting to crash in on that house of cards; but in the end I left because I somehow found a way to trust myself again. I don’t know about you, but over many years I saw a lot of things that grated against my sense of “right and true,” and those things just got stuffed into the “f**k It” closet. “Right and True” would have to wait. It was only after leaving, when I could breathe again that I saw how much was in that closet and began the process of unraveling and reclaiming the life I had given away.

Some people will always take the inconsistencies of Gary Olsen as a sign that they are not yet evolved enough to truly see. Then there will be a few, whose “f**k It” closets become so stuffed that they can no longer ignore the inconsistencies and begin to question if there might be deliberate lies involved.

Wondering About the Truth you state that you don’t care if your Master smokes a moderate amount of pot. Why? Why does someone who calls himself a God-Man need to smoke pot? Isn’t he high on his own? Smoking pot seems like one of those rights of passage that you leave behind with Keggers and other things from college. I know that there are adults in this world that smoke a little pot, but is this really a tolerable behavior from a guy who claims to be a saint? Who claims to be so high? (no pun intended) My guess is that if confronted, Gary Olsen will deny this with a vengeance. The problem is, none of us will ever have an opportunity to “confront.” No one confronts the Master. There are no systems of checks and balances. He alone is the final word. That in itself is distasteful to me, and has given me a resolve to never give up my self-trust to someone else, ever again.

]There is life after MP and I have learned to hold the sorrow of that experience next to the celebration of life and love in my heart…somehow it has taught me about the fullness and compassion of living, and I’m still learning. Please know Wondering About the Truth that I feel for you and the position you find yourself in. I wish you courage and peace to do what is right and true for you. And I wish you nothing but the very, very best in whatever decision you land upon. Be well.