My cousin asked me to research Walter Russell and consider his message. He was kind enough to loan me Volumes 1 and 2 of Russell’s Divine Iliad. Below is my letter to my cousin. Enjoy!
Dear XXX,
Thank you very much for allowing me to review Russell’s work! I know that his writings and art work have inspired you greatly. I appreciate your interests in searching out spiritual matters and hope that you will consider my thoughts as well as I share them with you. After diving into Walter’s books, I immediately realized that his teachings are not unique. For right away I could see that he is apart of the large and growing New Age movement. Perhaps I should define New Age as I understand it.
“A loose organization of people, many of them ‘yuppies’, who believe the world has entered the Aquarian Age when peace on earth and one-world government will rule. They see themselves as advanced in consciousness, rejecting Judeo-Christian values and the Bible in favor of Oriental philosophies and religion. Among them may be found environmentalists, nuclear freeze proponents, Marxist-socialist utopians, mind-control advocates, ESP cultists, spiritists, witchcraft practitioners, and others using magical rites.” (The New Age Cult pp.130-131 Walter Martin)
While I borrowed Martin’s concise definition of the movement, it does represent my understanding as well. It should also be noted that in my experience when talking to New Ager’s no two have been alike! However, I place Russel under the umbrella of the New Age teachings because he claims; Advanced Conciousness (see Vol. 1 p.159). He also rejects the Judeo-Christian values when he embraces Pantheism instead of the Old and New Testaments teaching of Monotheism (see Vol. 1 pp.28,29,91,109) Finally, he teaches in juxtaposition with oriental philosophies and religion when he lectures us on Reincarnation (see Vol.2 pp.104-128) It should also be noted that his understanding of Salvation is one that requires the man (us) to save one’s “self”. (see Vol.1 p.64) Also, Russel quotes the Bible throughout his works but only to re-interpret selected passages to further his worldview. (SeeVol.1 pp.50,64,105,106) I will now try to share with you my concerns pertaining to each of these points.
It would seem natural that I begin with the idea of “advanced consciousness”. Instead, I feel that it would be better to leave that for now with the hopes that it would become obvious that if Russell is wrong and Eastern religion is wrong, then we can conclude that neither his “genius” nor the “New Age Religion” is worth noting as advanced nor worth our devotion. With this in mind I will examine his understanding of God, specifically Pantheism. Pantheism should be defined at this point. It means all ‘pan’ is god ‘theism’. Plainly, God is all in all. The world, universe is God and god is the world and universe. Since you have acknowledged to me that you believe in Jesus and respect the Bible, I thought it would be appropriate to point out that neither Jesus teachings, nor the rest of the Bible teach Pantheism. Instead, Pantheism stands in opposition to the Bible’s teaching of Absolute Monotheism. Monotheism is taught from the first book of Genesis to the last book, Revelation. No where in between do we find any concept of God being anything other than Monotheistic. What is Monotheism? It is the belief that there is absolutely One God and He is creator of all. Some New Ager’s may claim that they too believe in one God but I must say that their understanding of how God is one is very different than that of historic Monotheism. For instance, this one God has been considered by Judaism and Christianity as the creator, separate and distinct from His creation. However, Pantheism will say that there is one mind and one consciousness, thus God and all creation is nothing more than God himself! Consider the following verses;
“Hear , O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!” (Deuteronomy 6;4)
“You are my witnesses, says the LORD, And my servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me.” (Isaiah 43;10)
“Thus says the LORD of hosts; “I am the First and I am the Last: Besides Me there is no God.” (Isaiah 44;6)
I only quote these verses because of your respect for the Bible and because Russell himself frequently cites scripture. Aside from the Biblical text there remains Philosophical and Logical contradictions that lead me to reject Pantheism. In Vol. 1 pp. 28,29 we find the question asked, “Who Am I”? and we are told by Russell,
“There is but one process of thinking for there is but one mind….” Nor are there two separate substances, nor two separate things, nor two separate beings in My universe….”
To understand what the Iliad means here we must go to chapter 3 entitled “The Meaning Of Universal Oneness”. Immediately we read,
“Everything that is, is of every other thing that is. All things in My universe are indissolubly united as one.”
Next we are told,
“Likewise it is true that there are not two individual human bodies or two human souls in the vast entirety of this universe.”
Doesn’t this force me to ask, “Am I really Drew?” Is XXX really XXX? Are we really alive? Russell realizes the dilemma and in chapter 5 entitled “Are We Really Alive” he answers us. Look at p. 109 where he says,
“The self of man is God in man. God is the one universal Being. The one Being alone lives. The one Being alone is eternal and immortal.”
Further he states,
“It is this supposition that the person is the body, and that the body lives and dies, that causes man to think that bodies are realities when, in fact, all reality is in the Spirit which centers man-that core of identity by which each individual knows himself as “I”.
So are we too understand the realities of our individuality, death, and all that we perceive as good or bad, as just an illusion? The Pantheist is forced to say yes. If this is true XXX, then how can we possibly recognize reality from fantasy? One philosopher puts it like this,
“If, when I was asleep I was a man dreaming I was a butterfly, how do I know when I am awake I am not a butterfly dreaming I am a man?”
Can you see the problem here? If we can not recognize fantasy from reality then we are truly in trouble! The entire concept is illogical. For instance, Pantheism tells us that our minds are only apart of the grand illusion. If this is true, then it goes to reason that we can not use our minds at all to even attempt to explain the illusion since the mind is only fantasy! There remains no basis for explaining the illusion! Yet I suspect that you respond to pain, such as hitting your finger with a hammer, and if you were to step in front of a car coming towards you, you would then respond appropriately realizing that this 2 ton object is real and not an illusion. But something remains in the Pantheistic view that is very contradictory, and that is the problem of good and evil. Norman Geisler, teacher of philosophy states,
“If God is all, and all is God as pantheism maintains, then evil is an illusion and ultimately there are no rights and wrongs.”
This means that God would be the benevolent person who helps others in giving of finances and time. He would also be the rapist, the murderer, and child molester. Yet I know that you don’t believe this XXX. You are a kind man, generous, and you are appalled at the evil in this world, but if you accept Russell’s worldview, then you have no reason to be offended at the shortcomings of humanity.
Next, I would like to examine Russell’s teachings concerning Reincarnation which is primarily found in Vol. 2 pp.104-128. Time and space limits me listing all of his thoughts on the subject but quickly consider that in his opening paragraph he asks a series of question; What happens after we die? Where do we go? Where do our bodies go? Where do our Souls go?….then on page 105 he says,
…….”if we know what the senses of a body are, we should then know why we cannot remember who we were in other lives. But our sense do remember essential things for millions of years back-which they have recorded as instinct-so let us look into the invisible universe of knowing to supplement what the senses o our visible universe tell us…..”
Again, the Bible teaching of the Resurrection refutes the idea of Reincarnation. For instance, we will all be resurrected, some to eternal life in the presence of God and others to final judgment. We will be resurrected once, far different than the thousands of lifetimes and millions of years of reincarnation. (See John 5;28-29; 1 Corinthians 15; Revelation 20:4-15). We are born once, die one time, and we will be judged one time. (see Hebrews 9;27) So what is the purpose of Reincarnation? We are told that it is to remove the possibility of damnation. This is done by passing from one body to the next from one life to another until perfection is reached. If we are different from God and we are His creation, then there is good news for you and me. That is, that God makes reincarnation unnecessary in that we can have His forgiveness right now. Unlike, Russell’s teaching that man will save himself, the Bible says that we are incapable of saving ourselves. God offers us salvation as a free gift. ( see John 4;10, Romans 3;24; 5;15-17 and Ephesians 2;8) And the good news is that Jesus has paid the price for our sins and we do not have to pay it ourselves through endless reincarnation!
Aside from the Biblical data that refutes reincarnation, there remains the lack of proof that reincarnation is true. Some have sited Bridey Murphy as proof that it is real. In his book “Death And The Afterlife” Robert Morey states on pp.181,182,
“An amateur hypnotist put Ruth Simmons, a housewife, into a trance. While under hypnosis, Mrs. Simmons said that she had lived in Ireland in the 19th century in a previous life and that her name at that time was Bridey Murphy. She told stories of old Ireland and even spoke in an Irish brogue. She described in great detail the home she lived in and the church she attended. Since Mrs. Simmons had never been to Ireland or spoken in an Irish dialect, the hypnotist wrote a bestseller which claimed that Mrs. Simmons’ regression to a past life, through hypnotic recall, “proved” the theory of reincarnation. ………… Subsequent research has uncovered the fraudulent character of the Bridey Murphy story. She claimed to have been born in 1798 in County Cork, Ireland. The parish records have been searched and there is no evidence that Bridey Murphy was ever born in County Cork. She also claimed that she and her parents attended St. Theresa’s Church. But that church was not even built until 1911, and she lived in a wooden house called The Meadows, but the houses in that part of Ireland are built of stone or brick, and no record exists of a wooden house called The Meadows. “
In fact more evidence has surfaced against in validity concerning this story.
In conclusion, there is no good reason to believe Pantheism nor Reincarnation. The only reason we have to believe it is because Russell says it is true. I choose to believe the words of God and accept His forgiveness by faith in Christ alone. I hope that my tone here has not been offensive, yet it has been necessary to be critical. My motivation is my love for you as a friend and family member. As Tom Lawrence explained to me on his death bed that he was sorry for not spending more time with me and that he had done many bad things he assured me that he was forgiven and he was going to heaven. He asked me to become a person that he would be proud of and avoid the mistakes he had made. Those words have been with me all of my life, “be a person that I would be proud of”. I have found, that to be that person, I must be a person that only God can make me be. An imperfect, yet forgiven human based on my faith in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Will you join me in serving Him with all of your being? Questions? Email me at drewstine@gtcom.net Thanks for hearing my opinion.
Sincerely,
Drew
