MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE PEOPLE - NO 1

I've met some remarkable people on my quest, some with strange powers and supernatural intelligence. Today I went to a boot fair in Matfield Green and found some CDs by Michel Thomas, which reminded me of our time together, talking, talking, talking.

It's his proud boast that he can teach people to be fluent in one of several languages in 8 hours.

He tells his pupils not to stress, not to try, not to do homework, but let him take all the strain, all the responsbility. This is one of the methods he uses to help people achieve access to superhuman intelligence.

In my book I show how the Oxford magus Roger Bacon was doing something similar.

Michel's CDs are now a huge international industry. I used to have him dinner with him when he came to London, planning how to make his philosophy better known , and he told me something shortly before he died that you won't find in any of the literature about him, even the excellent and pretty comprehensive biography by Christopher Robbins.

He said he was accustomed to seeing disembodied beings gathering at the foot of his bed. Perhaps a bit disconcerting at first, they were ultimately benevolent.

Michel was not, in so far as i know, an initiate of any secret society, but his supernatural intelligence and communications with Intelligencers lead me to specualte that he was a great initiate in a former incarnation.

Comments

[Ben]

Hello Jonathan, I'd just like to make a comment + a question or two if that's alright. I'm loving what you do here and have purchased your book which I'll get stuck into once this uni term is over. If I may go off topic; though Michel sounds like a fascinating figure who I'll be sure to look into.

I've become very interested in these sorts of topics lately and am dismayed when I see in the alternative circles that anything occult/esoteric in nature is portrayed as somehow evil or "Satanic", probably because alot of these people are plagued by a Christian belief system.

I myself was a raised a Catholic, but the rituals always felt like a strange pretend game. These days I greatly enjoy being dragged at Christmas/Easter to Brompton Oratory because of the occult designs and symbols I think are absolutely put into the architecture there; which I have seen in books and on the internet. So your thoughts on the matter of secret societies, especially in relation to London resonate well with me and are quite refreshing.

I turned on ITV London news the other day and was amazed to see this information being disseminated to the masses in what i now know was your 'Mystic London' segment; which can be seen here: http://www.itvlocal.com/london/news/?player=LON_News_26&void=113774 for all those interested.

But I really came on here to ask you what happened to the second part of what I believe was meant to be a short series. The confused (and quite humorous in their ignorance) presenters stated that Part 2 would be shown the following day, but it was a no-show, apparently pulled for whatever reason.

The paranoid conspiracist in me inclines me to believe that it was not allowed to air by the very same people you talk about in the video. So I was wondering if you had anymore information on why it didn't air when they said it would (perhaps they gave you some explanation) and if the remainder of 'Mystic London' can be seen anywhere? Were you not angry that you're important segment was apparently replaced by some random actress I'd never heard of and that (imo) god-awful Keane band? I was anyway.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to reading your beautifully presented book and the rest of this blog which I just came across.

P.s. Do you think you are getting alot more mainstream press coverage than other authors who write about secret societies (Guardian review, tv spots) because you portray them in a far more positive manner compared to many others in this field who boil it down to a simple "us" (average joe) vs "them" (the elite) ideology.

Again, thank you; and no worries if there's no way you can respond to this lengthy comment (apologiez for said length). Regards, Ben S.

[jonathan black]

Hi Ben

Thanks for this - and for bringing in the ITV link to the site. I think the 2nd part was bumped because Stockwell Tube trial ended that day. I was told it was definitely going to be this week - let's see..

I'm interested to hear you recognize the occult symbols in Church. I don't think the Church should be frightened of esoteric thnking. It's always been a part of Church tradition - often 'hidden in plain view'. There are several illustrations of occult symbols such as the Third Eye in ecclesiastical in The Secret History.

Getting publicity has been a huge headache. Loads of things cancelled at the last minute. I've just heard that has happened to serial in the Mail. I'm afraid most people think it's mad..

[greg]

Jonathan- Congratulations on the new book! I would very much like to speak with you about the book and your experiences in writing it for an interview published on my web site. I'm sure we'd have an interesting conversation. Please let me know if you're interested. Thanks.

[Ben]

http://www.itvlocal.com/london/news/?player=LON_News_26&void=115297
Here's Part 2 of 'Mystic London', thought I might as well post it; but the sound inexplicably cuts out with just under a minute left which is quite annoying and probably done on purpose. I fast forward'd through the 5/11 London Tonight on the website and saw no trace of it so I'm not even sure they aired it, maybe later in the week.

Maybe you could somehow reclaim it from ITV and put it on YouTube or something, love to know what was said in the last minute and see it as one video so it can easily be linked to certain sites (great publicity, I linked it to one site i particularly like http://www.redicecreations.com if that's alright mentioning other websites here; and they have expressed an interest in interviewing you for their weekly internet radio show, I don't know if they've got in touch with you but your work looks to be right up their alley.)

To be honest, the Richard Dawkins (isn't he clever) aspiring masses sleep walking into Huxley's Brave New World (thanks alot Dick. soz for that couldn't resist) view anything outside of the manufactured paradigm: consisting of shadowy "terrorists", drugged up pop stars etc. as mad. The topic of Secret Societies is way out of the manufactured paradigm so they have no interest in learning or in the case of the media, printing/reporting about them or their blatant influence on history. I think you are doing well getting all the publicity you have been getting, considering that. But luckily the internet is our saviour, this information can now be readily available to everyone, the alternative media is the only media I take seriously these days anyway.

This is fast becoming a nonsensical rant though, just thought I'd drop off the Part 2 link to the site. Thanks alot for your response btw, means alot.

[Leon Jenner]

Hi Mark

I published this audiobook just over a year ago. I thought you might find it interesting. Don't worry, I'm not an aspiring author trying to use you to make a big break, (I was at the time of writing it) but if anyone will understand it it will be you. I hope you take the time to listen to it. It does require a break half way or a lot of stamina. It can be downloaded for free at www.thebookbricks.com.

All the best

Leon

[jonathan black]

of course, it sounds intriguing - can you tell me the gist?

[Leon Jenner]

Its hard to explain, but its about a modern day incarnation of a druid who is sharing some of his secrets and knowledge. Its not as bad as my bland description (I hope), but it does need to be listened to to be understood. I also wrote to you at work, sorry for the harrasment! If you have the time, it would be good to know what you think.

[Damian Thompson]

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/ukcorrespondents/holysmoke/dec07/worstbookreview.htm

Dear "Jonathan"

Something I've wanted to ask you for ages: do you believe all the shit you write and commission?

Damian Thompson

[jonathan black]

Dear Damian

I'm not the monster you suppose. Meet me for a drink.

Best wishes, Mark/Jonathan

[Damian Thompson]

"Monster" isn't the word I'd use. As for meeting you for a drink, what could I say, except that you are a disgrace to publishing?

[jonathan black]

Damian! I wonder if your literary agents would agree with you, or the illustrious colleagues of yours at the Telegraphs I have worked with over the years?

I appreciate you may want to stir up controversy as a way of promoting your own book, due out in January all good book shops, but this level of personal abuse is..an exciting new development!

It would be very gracious of you to agree to meet for a drink and a heart to heart. If you still want to call me a disgrace having got to to know me, that's fine, but I believe that in situations like these, unless we try very hard to understand the other's position, the result is only wormwood and gall.

[Damian Thompson]

I'm looking at the list of "recommended authors" on your website. They include some of the most feeble-minded fantastists I have ever encountered. You yourself have been involved in the publication of ridiculous works of pseudohistory whose claims do not stand up to a moment's examination. Uriel's Machine is one of them. I believe that, in publishing that book and many others as non-fiction, Century was quite simply misleading the public; I wrote a big article claiming as much when the book was published. As for the personal abuse, well, you have waited until now to produce your own, utterly worthless, "history" book. By all means meet me if you want to hear me express myself rather more frankly.

[Leon Jenner]

Dear Damian and Mark

There is only one way to sort this out. Please see the following link for guidance:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel#Rules

[Paul Priest]

Dude I worry about all this:
For a start you know as well as I that Michel Thomas had a hell of a life - anyone who went through what he did might have vivid manifestations of his psyche - why introduce 'old souls' and incarnations into the equation ?
But then I start researching your writing and what do I find ?
It's missing isn't it - something's deeply wrong or in crisis or you're recovering from a vulnerable traumatic period ? You're hiding in all this conspiracy/inner ring/gnosticism where any conflicting or invalidating material evidence is left at the door - you've enveloped yourself in this milieu as some form of security blanket - leaving people like Damian to dismiss everything you put in print - and why shouldn't he ?
Your work is more than occasionally specious, regularly fallacious and therefore intellectually dishonest, factually imprecise verging upon the point where it becomes obfuscatorily mendacious ; you create spurious untenable connections, anachronistic presumptions, you consort with writers [and utilise their publications as source material] who are not only proven disreputable reprobates who have abandoned any academic authenticity, but when their theories are disproved they resort to deceit and manipulation and verbal assault to maintain their 'houses built on sand'.

I am not refuting your potential 'evidence' regarding your theories - you have already done this with the way you've produced this book. Your speculation, conjecture, lack of even the simplest research to corroborate even exigences and ultimately your provisional reliance upon gossip, rumour and antagonistic superstitious detraction - axiomatically disproves anything potentially valid you could say!

It's sad : and it would be understandable were you some mere charlatan making a fast buck ; but you appear to be contaminated with a modicum of belief in these historicist, fantastical, duplicitous realm of new age bogeydom - I sometimes feel that the whole bunch of you are either in the pay of the freemasons or they possess polaroids of you in compromising positions and are blackmailing you to write this over-the-top rubbish about them as an incredulous subterfuge !
[which nobody outside the catholic-hating US bible belt , the san francisco gay crystal channellers or the budleigh salterton women's rebirthing group or the poor impressionable teenage loner terrified of their own shadow - would ever give any credence to]
Meanwhile the masons get up to their real nefarious machinations and laugh all their way to the bank!!!

[jonathan black]

Excellent news, Damien. I look forward to meeting you.

Century is the most successful commercial hardback imprint of recent years. We publish some professors you may well approve of, but i also like to publish some people who wouldn't normally be given a chance. I disagree with the implications in your phrase 'mislead the public'. I'm glad we don't have an elitist culture in this country - like the French do. That's why we have a rich, vibrant culture and their TV and pop music, for example, is boring.

Robert Lomas, co-author of Uriel's Machine, is a well-loved, well-respected university teacher, and one of the kindest and cleverest men I know. Uriel's Machine bursts with new ideas, speculations and discoveries. To reverse engineer megalthic monuments and to confirm by practical experiment the theories of eminent academics like Thom is an astonishing achievement by any standards.

I'll be in touch through your editor.

PS I've just found a photo of you on the net. You look very cross but in a sweet, bushbaby sort of way.

[jonathan black]

Good rant, Paul. Written with a passion, I can tell.

Consider your use of language, though. Mendacious? Disreputable reprobates? Who is resorting to verbal assault here?

My methodology is clearly set out in my book. I've taken lore from many different sources - including Freemasonry and the Rosicrucian-Athroposophical streams - and woven them together into one narrative. I think it's the first time that's been done.

Katherine Rushden at the The Bookseller compared it to the Arabian Nights. Gyles Brandreth wrote that 'the spirit of Lewis Carroll is alive on every page of this gloriously topsy turvy history'.

What these traditions are concerned with - what i believe they have in common - is a concern with describing the way that the supernatural works in the world, the patterns it makes - what i call, following Rilke, the Deeper Laws. At the end of the book the reader is invited to test these patterns - which wouldn't be there if science explained everything there is - against his or her personal experience.

If you do this, and can't see the patterns, I've failed, but you will at least have used the gift of empathy to see how a lot of other people experience the world. One of the things I discovered while researching the book is that people have very different forms of consciousness.

Sometimes people have a horror of other forms and then things can go awry.

My book, then, is also a plea for tolerance, for not rushing to impose dogma or other interpretations on the some of the most subtle and important areas of human experience, often, as i say in the book, areas where huge amounts of interpretation are being mapped onto minute bits of evidence.

Militant scientifc materialists take an opposing view, as do some, dogmatic Catholics. Not all Catholics, though. Some very dear Catholic friends helped me in the writing of the book.

PS Perhaps i didn't make it clear about Michel. That these were disembodied centres of intelligence is what he himself believed.

[jonathan black]

Hi Leon

Thanks for making me laugh. You stuff has arrived. I'm in the middle of working on another script - but very much look forward to reading in the New Year.

Best wishes, Mark

[Damian Thompson]

Damien, eh? Your usual scrupulous accuracy.

[Leon Jenner]

Hi Mark

Thanks for giving me some consideration. I hope you take the time to listen to it and stick with it. It would be good if at least one person listened to it and at least sort of understood it. It was the product of a high I had from attending an Arvon course. I just had to unload the contents of my head and write something before the real world ebbed away at it again. You may find it makes you cringe like someone scratching their nails on a blackboard, but it did seem a good idea at the time.

Donovan was on the Arvon course also. I took this (at the time) to be a good omen.

Just a quick note for Damian, you may have thought you read the worst book ever, so why not listen to worst at www.thebookbricks.com, If you make it to the end, I'll pay for both yours and Mark's drinks. I'll get my people to contact yours and see if they can fit you both into my high octane celebrity lifestyle. Any later on and I will have to make space between my Nobel Prize and Knighthood preparations. (They seemed to have overlooked me this year).

All the best

Leon

[jonathan black]

Damien, I AM sorry. That's a Pooter-esque indignity that shouldn't happen to a man of your stature.

[brucethief37]

Readers of Mr Booth aka Black, who find his material of usefulness, are surely constrained to thank him? For he will be getting a lot of flak & a smile to him instead is apposite?

Readers of The Secret History might do well to examine the bibliography (pp409 et seq) & they might note what is NOT included (or partially obfuscated) & so become curious as to what appears to have been overlooked. Brucethief37 +++

[Damian Thompson]

I know - I love it when works of pseudohistory solemnly append bibliographies!

[Bruce Main-Smith]

Damian! Would you regard Ibn el-Arabi, a Sufi, as being in the pseudo corpus? Yet his important Bezel(s) of Wisdom (ISBN 0-8091-2331-2) is deliberately obfuscated, some say almost unreadable today because it was then "published" under an oppressive regime. Many try to bring a key to unlock it unaware that (so to say) the key is already in the lock & needs to be removed....

Debunking is not my way as eventually I found it to be counter-productive. Do you always find it necessary to "cap" the comments of others? Brucethief37 +++

[Fábio Silva de Souza]

You can have a translation in Portuguese?
I'm brazilian and want buy this book, but I speak english very poor.

[Jonathan Black/Mark Booth]

Yes, both Portugese and Brazilian rights have been sold, and I'm sure books will be available shortly