|
No one really knows the sheer extent of Twitchell's literary theft, although it's known to be extensive. He was a blatant plagiarist and the stolen words often ended up in the mouths of his fictional Eck masters. Just recently, 30 years after his death, even more plagiarisms are turning up. Shown here are some paragraphs (a small sampling) lifted from the works of Walter Russell and placed into his own book The Tiger's Fang. What should cause us to pause a bit is that Twitchell and Eckankar claimed (and still do) that The Tiger's Fang was a true account of his inner journey to the Godhead. But it's certainly reasonable to question any and all Twitchell claims. If he did have such a journey, why the need to steal other authors' accounts of their personal journeys? Could it be, perhaps, that Twitchell never had the grandoise journeys he wanted his followers to believe?
In the second chapter of The Tiger's Fang, Twitchell was found to have
lifted over 50 paragraphs from the works of Walter Russell. A close look at the third chapter of The Tiger's Fang reveals still more plagiarism of Russell's THE SECRET OF LIGHT, copyright 1947.
|
|
|
THE SECRET OF LIGHT by Walter Russell: "God is consciousness. Consciousness is static." p. 22 |
THE TIGER'S FANG, 2nd edition:
"Know this: God is consciousness and consciousness is static, or stillness, whatever you desire to call it." p.40 |
|
THE SECRET OF LIGHT by Walter Russell: "Consciousness is the spiritual awareness of Being, of all-knowing, all- power and all-presence." "Thinking is the motionless principle in light which creates the illusion of motion." "The Self of man belongs to the static, invisible, conscious, unconditioned universe of KNOWING." p.22 |
THE TIGER'S FANG, 2nd edition:
"Consciousness is the spiritual awareness of being, of all-knowing, all- power, and all-presence. Thinking is the motionless principle in Light and Sound which creates the illusion of motion; therefore all lower mind and thought is dropped on this plane. We know and understand." p. 40 |
|
THE SECRET OF LIGHT Walter Russell: "The Self of man belongs to the static, invisible, conscious, unconditioned universe of KNOWING. We express knowing in the dynamic, visible, electrically conditioned universe of perception." p.22 |
THE TIGER'S FANG, 2nd edition:
"The Soul of man belongs to the static, invisible, conscious, unconditioned world of knowing. You express knowing in the dynamic, visible, electrically conditioned universe of perception." p. 40 |
THE SECRET OF LIGHT Walter Russell: "Sensation is the electrical awareness of motion simulating the spiritual QUALITIES of the One Idea by creating imaged QUANTITIES of separate forms which seem to have substance." p. 22 |
THE TIGER'S FANG, 2nd edition:
"Perception is the electrical awareness of motion simulating the spiritual qualities of God, who creates imaged qualities of separate forms which seem to have material substance." p. 40 |
|
Lest we think the Universe has no sense of humor, it appears the master literary pirate tipped his hand. In an absolutely wonderful twist of irony, in his quote below Twitchell ends up describing himself. Caveat emptor! --Twitchell on the "fakers" who unethically steal the words and experiences of others:-- "All philosophers, preachers, and sages who have the odor of philosophy, religion, and knowledge are not any of these. They are pretenders, those who pretend to have undergone the profound experiences of God; the faker drawing on experiences of real mystics, and the thieving of turns of speech and materials in the hope of conveying a conviction of genuineness." |
|