HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013510.jpg
2.03 MB
Extraction Summary
9
People
4
Organizations
3
Locations
3
Events
3
Relationships
2
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Narrative statement / manuscript excerpt (house oversight exhibit)
File Size:
2.03 MB
Summary
This document appears to be a page from a memoir or narrative statement included in House Oversight records. It details the narrator's experiences at university (implied Stanford) involving Professor Frederick Spiegelberg, spiritual exploration, and sexual mysticism (karessa) influenced by figures like Aldous Huxley and Alan Watts. It also describes the dramatic transformation of an acquaintance named Leonard from a fraternity party boy to an ascetic meditator.
People (9)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Leonard | Subject of narrative |
Underwent personal transformation, climbed a tower to meditate
|
| Frederick Spiegelberg | Professor of Asian Studies |
Taught seminar on Indian Religions and Sri Arubindo
|
| Dennis | Brother of Leonard |
Described as hard drinking and poker playing
|
| Mary | Girlfriend of narrator |
Participated in seminar and meditation practices with narrator
|
| Swami Sivananda | Indian Saint |
Administered a Rorschach Test by Spiegelberg
|
| Aldous Huxley | Author/Speaker |
Visited the seminar, spoke about spiritual power
|
| Alan Watts | Speaker |
Brought to seminar by Spiegelberg
|
| Ken Wilbur | Philosopher/Pandit |
Referenced for his views on dharma and nirvana
|
| Narrator | Author (First Person) |
Describes experiences at university, age 18 at the time
|
Organizations (4)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Stanford Student Health Service |
Sent a psychiatrist to investigate Leonard
|
|
| Phi Gamma Delta |
Fraternity Leonard belonged to
|
|
| Jung Institute of San Francisco |
Provided lecturers for the seminar
|
|
| House Oversight Committee |
Source of the document (implied by footer)
|
Timeline (3 events)
During the academic year (historical)
Professor Spiegelberg's seminar on Indian Religions
University Campus (likely Stanford)
Locations (3)
| Location | Context |
|---|---|
|
Implied location of the tower and university services
|
|
|
Location where Leonard meditated for months
|
|
|
Location of Jung Institute
|
Key Quotes (2)
"I was more than curious about how it was that this hard drinking, and like his brother Dennis, all night poker playing, Phi Gamma Delta party boy, had suddenly become a transcendent ascetic."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013510.jpg
Quote #1
"We found that withholding an orgasm in order to achieve nirvanic extinction of all desires and passions was difficult."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013510.jpg
Quote #2
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (2,466 characters)
Leonard, Integral Transformative Practice. I watched him go through a dramatic
personal transformation after participating in Professor of Asian Studies, Frederick
Spiegelberg’s seminar (with meditation lab) about Sri Arubindo’s interpretation of
the Hindu Bible, the Bhagavad-Gita. Shortly after the semester, he climbed into an
abandoned tower on campus to continue his meditation. He remained there for
several months, refusing to come down even after the Stanford Student Health
Service sent a medical school psychiatrist to investigate. I was more than curious
about how it was that this hard drinking, and like his brother Dennis, all night poker
playing, Phi Gamma Delta party boy, had suddenly become a transcendent ascetic.
personal transformation after participating in Professor of Asian Studies, Frederick
Spiegelberg’s seminar (with meditation lab) about Sri Arubindo’s interpretation of
the Hindu Bible, the Bhagavad-Gita. Shortly after the semester, he climbed into an
abandoned tower on campus to continue his meditation. He remained there for
several months, refusing to come down even after the Stanford Student Health
Service sent a medical school psychiatrist to investigate. I was more than curious
about how it was that this hard drinking, and like his brother Dennis, all night poker
playing, Phi Gamma Delta party boy, had suddenly become a transcendent ascetic.
My girl friend Mary and I signed up for Spiegelberg’s seminar in Indian
Religions. We were made breathless by his accounts of administering a Rorschach
Test to the Indian Saint, Swami Sivananda. He recounted discussions about God
with the artists Paul Klee and Max Ernst and the philosophers Rudolph Otto, Paul
Tillich, Martin Heidegger and Martin Buber. As homework, Mary and I practiced
breathing awareness mediation twice a day. During the year, Spiegelberg
sponsored a visit by the aging but still very lively Aldous Huxley to our seminar. He
also brought us Alan Watts and several lecturers from the Jung Institute of San
Francisco. Shortly after hearing Huxley talk about the spiritual power of a particular
exercise of will and loving thoughts, Mary and I began the daily practice of karessa,
some call it coitus reservatus. I was eighteen and she was nineteen. We found that
withholding an orgasm in order to achieve nirvanic extinction of all desires and
passions was difficult. We spent hours in karessa meditation, trying to experience
the detachment described in the Bhagavad Gita. This biblical explication of karma
yoga told how it was that the warrior, Ardjuna, instructed by God Krishna in the form
of his charioteer, was able to detach sufficiently to do his assigned job of killing
without emotional involvement. Ken Wilbur, a modern, self proclaimed pandit, an
academically oriented articulator and intellectual justifier of the dharma, the spiritual
work of Hindu and Buddhist practice, contrasts the nirvana (literally “end”)
composed of emptiness in time and space, dharma Kaya in which “…no objects are
arising…” with the lesson of the Bhagavad-Gita. Its message involved realizing
Religions. We were made breathless by his accounts of administering a Rorschach
Test to the Indian Saint, Swami Sivananda. He recounted discussions about God
with the artists Paul Klee and Max Ernst and the philosophers Rudolph Otto, Paul
Tillich, Martin Heidegger and Martin Buber. As homework, Mary and I practiced
breathing awareness mediation twice a day. During the year, Spiegelberg
sponsored a visit by the aging but still very lively Aldous Huxley to our seminar. He
also brought us Alan Watts and several lecturers from the Jung Institute of San
Francisco. Shortly after hearing Huxley talk about the spiritual power of a particular
exercise of will and loving thoughts, Mary and I began the daily practice of karessa,
some call it coitus reservatus. I was eighteen and she was nineteen. We found that
withholding an orgasm in order to achieve nirvanic extinction of all desires and
passions was difficult. We spent hours in karessa meditation, trying to experience
the detachment described in the Bhagavad Gita. This biblical explication of karma
yoga told how it was that the warrior, Ardjuna, instructed by God Krishna in the form
of his charioteer, was able to detach sufficiently to do his assigned job of killing
without emotional involvement. Ken Wilbur, a modern, self proclaimed pandit, an
academically oriented articulator and intellectual justifier of the dharma, the spiritual
work of Hindu and Buddhist practice, contrasts the nirvana (literally “end”)
composed of emptiness in time and space, dharma Kaya in which “…no objects are
arising…” with the lesson of the Bhagavad-Gita. Its message involved realizing
10
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013510
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