Advertisement
"On board the Queen Mary
Jan. 22, 1935.
" In March, 1905, we were in Los Angeles on a lecture tour. The morning after the lecture, we were met at the Van Nuys Hotel by some Eastern friends who, addressing the Chief,* said: 'We have a message for you. There is a strange woman in the Hills who wishes to see you.' Accordingly, we look the tram to the end of the track, then set out on foot to climb what, I think, are now called the Beverly Hills. On the green slope higher up was a small white cottage; in front of this, a woman dressed like a farmer's wife. She waved her apron as we approached.
" She was introduced to us as a Mahatma from India, although born in Iowa. She had left her home as a small child, had spent many years studying under the Great Masters, and was now back on a mission to America. She was a strange-looking person. We could not tell whether she was thirty or a hundred and thirty years old. Her skin was like yellow parchment, and covered with thousands of faint lines not deep enough to be wrinkles. Her eyes had the faraway veiled look of a mystic. Her talk was commonplace as she served coffee and cakes. We wondered why she had sent the summons.
" Finally, after an hour, we rose to leave.
" Then, suddenly, she turned on the Chief with a total change of look and demeanour. Her eyes blazed as she said, in tones of authority: 'Don't you know who you are?'
" We were all shocked into silence as she continued: 'You are a Red Indian Chief, reincarnated to give the message of the Redman to the White face, so much in need of it. Why don't you get busy? Why don't you set about your job?'
" The Chief was moved like one conscience-stricken. He talked not at all on the road back, and the incident was not mentioned for long after. But I know that the strange woman had focussed his thoughts on the mission he had been vaguely working on for some years. He never during his long life ceased to concentrate on what she had termed 'his job'.
" Therefore, after years of research, we have deemed it our duty and our privilege to compile the results of our labours into a concrete message.
* * * * *
" When the manuscript was complete we were visited by a Jewish rabbi, a profound scholar, who, after a careful reading, said: 'But this is straight Judaism!' We were glad of his endorsement. Some weeks later, two Presbyterian ministers from the Eastern States declared that 'it was exactly what the modern Presbyterian Church taught'.
" A Greek Catholic Archbishop assured us that it was 'pure Catholicism, divested of certain rites and ceremonies'.
" A Quaker said it was just what his Church preached; and a Unitarian minister declared it 'the purest Emersonian Unitarianism'. Finally, a Mason said it was nothing but the teachings of his Order.
" So it would seem that it must be real religion since it is universal, basic and fundamental. As a corollary, then, it must be acceptable to a world seeking a way out of dogma into truth."
"* Ernest Thompson Seton was known the world over as 'The Chief' a title bestowed originally when he headed the Boy Scouts of America."
www.religionen.at/irgospelredman.htm
Jan. 22, 1935.
" In March, 1905, we were in Los Angeles on a lecture tour. The morning after the lecture, we were met at the Van Nuys Hotel by some Eastern friends who, addressing the Chief,* said: 'We have a message for you. There is a strange woman in the Hills who wishes to see you.' Accordingly, we look the tram to the end of the track, then set out on foot to climb what, I think, are now called the Beverly Hills. On the green slope higher up was a small white cottage; in front of this, a woman dressed like a farmer's wife. She waved her apron as we approached.
" She was introduced to us as a Mahatma from India, although born in Iowa. She had left her home as a small child, had spent many years studying under the Great Masters, and was now back on a mission to America. She was a strange-looking person. We could not tell whether she was thirty or a hundred and thirty years old. Her skin was like yellow parchment, and covered with thousands of faint lines not deep enough to be wrinkles. Her eyes had the faraway veiled look of a mystic. Her talk was commonplace as she served coffee and cakes. We wondered why she had sent the summons.
" Finally, after an hour, we rose to leave.
" Then, suddenly, she turned on the Chief with a total change of look and demeanour. Her eyes blazed as she said, in tones of authority: 'Don't you know who you are?'
" We were all shocked into silence as she continued: 'You are a Red Indian Chief, reincarnated to give the message of the Redman to the White face, so much in need of it. Why don't you get busy? Why don't you set about your job?'
" The Chief was moved like one conscience-stricken. He talked not at all on the road back, and the incident was not mentioned for long after. But I know that the strange woman had focussed his thoughts on the mission he had been vaguely working on for some years. He never during his long life ceased to concentrate on what she had termed 'his job'.
" Therefore, after years of research, we have deemed it our duty and our privilege to compile the results of our labours into a concrete message.
* * * * *
" When the manuscript was complete we were visited by a Jewish rabbi, a profound scholar, who, after a careful reading, said: 'But this is straight Judaism!' We were glad of his endorsement. Some weeks later, two Presbyterian ministers from the Eastern States declared that 'it was exactly what the modern Presbyterian Church taught'.
" A Greek Catholic Archbishop assured us that it was 'pure Catholicism, divested of certain rites and ceremonies'.
" A Quaker said it was just what his Church preached; and a Unitarian minister declared it 'the purest Emersonian Unitarianism'. Finally, a Mason said it was nothing but the teachings of his Order.
" So it would seem that it must be real religion since it is universal, basic and fundamental. As a corollary, then, it must be acceptable to a world seeking a way out of dogma into truth."
"* Ernest Thompson Seton was known the world over as 'The Chief' a title bestowed originally when he headed the Boy Scouts of America."
www.religionen.at/irgospelredman.htm
posted by:
|
Advertisement
Advertisement
