One of the first critical studies ever done on the hidden history of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar. It was first completed as a term paper when David Lane was only 20 years old as an undergraduate student at CSUN. Later it evolved into a very controversial book which caused a worldwide stir in the Eckankar organization. Contains extensive documentation on how Paul Twitchell created a fictional mythology about himself while denying his association with certain spiritual teachers. Also contains extensive correlations of Twitchell's extensive plagiarism. This E-book is a replica of the 1983 edition.
--This text refers to the
Kindle Edition
edition.
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David Christopher Lane is a Professor of Philosophy at Mount San Antonio College and a Lecturer in Religious Studies at California State University, Long Beach. Professor Lane received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego, where he was a recipient of a Regents Fellowship. Additionally, he earned an M.A. in the History and Phenomenology of Religion from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. Dr. Lane is the author of several books including The Radhasoami Tradition and Exposing Cults (New York: Garland Publishers, 1992 and 1994 respectively). He is the founder of the Neural Surfer website. Professor Lane won the World Bodysurfing Championships in 1999 and the International Bodysurfing Championships in 2011, 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2004. Dr. Lane is married to Dr. Andrea Diem-Lane, who is also a Professor of Philosophy at Mount San Antonio College and the author of several books including the Gnostic Mystery, Darwin's DNA, and Spooky Physics. They have two boys, Kelly-Joseph and Shaun-Michael. Currently David Christopher Lane is engaged in a writing a series of books on evolutionary philosophy. He is also working on his magnus opus, In Search of the Perfect Coke, which is a philosophical novel set in India and Europe.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
54 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
David Lane finally tells the truth,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar (Paperback)
This book contains some enigmatic information about Eckankar and Paul Twitchell, the founder of this modern day religion.
Being that he is a Professor at a small California college, this book is generally considered to be a credible scholarly work. In actuality it is his term paper written twenty years ago, as a twenty year old student. On 12/28/2000 in postings to the alt.religion.eckankar newsgroup David Lane has finally admitted the truth about this paper. Writing about his "own biases" he said: "I agree that there are some slants and some interpretations of mine that cannot be so universally duplicated and those can become arguable points of contention." "First, THE MAKING was written NOT as a sociological treatise but as a 'critical expose'." "Second, I wrote the paper when I was an undergraduate in religious studies." "Third, I am NOT a member of ANY sociological association." "Fourth, I NEVER claimed that the MAKING was a sociological treatise." "I wrote the paper AS AN EXPOSE!" By intention this book may be shocking to those that do not see that the conclusions he draws and assumptions he makes are just the beginning of his twenty year campaign to defame all religious teachings. From Catholicism to small innocuous teachings like Eckankar, Professor Lane believes that all religious experience has no reality beyond the neural synaptic firings within the brain. So this is not a serious work of research but a paper intended to provoke negative opinion about Eckankar. At that it was a compelling success. *Update to the original review: A new book, The whole Truth by Doug Marman (google it) is now available. It debunks point by point most everything contained in Lane's expose'. Beyond that it shows how belief based in personal study and direct experience can be relied upon, while exposes, if we are not careful, can lead us farther from the truth they claim to expose. More importantly it provide a fresh look and new information about Paul Twitchell's point of view.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Un-Making of Eckankar,
This review is from: The Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar (Paperback)
Ah yes. This book has been a painful thorn in Eckankar's side since it first came out in the early 1980's. Though interpretations vary among critics and Eckankar's faithful about what the book ultimately reveals, the basic facts David Lane's book uncovers about Twitchell and Eckankar have yet to be disproved or explained away by anyone. And what are those facts? Simply that Eckankar's founder Paul Twitchell was a plagiarist and a tale-teller, and that Eckankar is a religion that was created by Twitchell, rather than a teaching that was revealed to Twitchell by mysterious "eck masters of the vairagi order."
The reader may read Lane's book for the details of Twitchell's deceptions about his past, his former gurus, his claims of receiving dictation from eck masters and his claims of extremely high spiritual unfoldment (a free online edition of The Making of a Spiritual Movement can be found with a web search for "unauthorized eckankar"). All of Lane's points about Twitchell and Eckankar are backed-up with thorough documentation. I understand that people will come to different conclusions about Twitchell and the Eckankar religion from carefully reading Lane's book, particularly if they're believers in Eckankar (by far the most likely folks to read the book, though I think it's a fascinating book for anyone interested in religion or sociology). However, from what I've seen, very few Eckankar believers can read Lane's book and not come away feeling disturbed by what it reveals about Twitchell and Eckankar. And I think that reveals something positive about such readers, as they do well to feel disturbed when they discover their spiritual leaders freely lying to them, even if the lying is supposedly done for a greater spiritual good.
17 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing polemics mar the value of this book.,
By Robert Ellwood ellwood@mizar.usc.edu (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar (Paperback)
I have of course read David Christopher Lane's book on Eckankar, but find it disappointing because although it may be true as far as it goes it seems so polemical, so lacking in a kind of religious empathy or sense of balance and complexity, as though he were just out to find only the negative aspects of Twitchell or the movement.
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