Source Text
SEPTEMBER 28, 1971. A FULL PAGE AD BEARING THE ZEN HEADLINE “THE MOSQUITO THAT BITES THE IRON BULL” APPEARED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES. IT WAS A CALL TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM IMMINENT DESTRUCTION BY THE CREATION OF A METASOCIETY IN 10 YEARS TIME WHICH WOULD AWAKEN HUMAN BEINGS TO NEW LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND UNITY THROUGH THE TEACHINGS OF OSCAR ICHAZO, THE SELF-PROCLAIMED “ROOT OF A NEW TRADITION.” THE AD CAUGHT THE CREST OF THE “HUMAN POTENTIAL MOVEMENT,” LATER KNOWN AS THE “NEW AGE,” AND SOON ICHAZO’S TRAININGS WERE GIVEN WORLDWIDE, MANY THOUSANDS TAKING THE TRAININGS. BUT ICHAZO’S PROJECTED METASOCIETY NEVER MATERIALIZED, AND THE TEACHING TODAY IS ONLY A SHADOW OF ITS FORMER SELF.
“When you are in your Astral body,” he now reflects, “both fear and ecstasy can be multiplied to infinite proportions because there are no limits within pure consciousness.”
Ichazo gives an apocryphal story of the group’s initiation. For three days, he was required to sit in a lotus position on a post. When the group returned, his body was so rigid he had to be lifted off the post. The experience caused Ichazo’s personality structure to break down completely. Transformed, he was now allowed to join the group as a full member. That’s one version.
Lilly found four Americans at Arica already immersed in training. With Ichazo’s permission, they informed Lilly about the training. The program was rigorous, beginning at 8 a.m. and finishing at near midnight; it included special physical exercises as well as chants and mantras. Lilly, though still holding doubts, decided to return for the full 10-month training. Naranjo, convinced as to the depth of Ichazo’s knowledge, as well as his ability to directly transmit energy, also decided to return for the 10-month training.
The training began with “physical exercises called the ‘Gym’ for two hours a day, five to six days a week … auditions for an hour, chanting for another hour and various meditations … for an hour or two and finally in the evening group exercises.” On Sunday there was a rigorous set of exercises called the “pampas” in the desert; these took two to three hours to complete and involved walking in special ways, carrying rocks and praying.
Using Gurdjieff’s Ray of Creation and vibrational numbers as a model, Ichazo developed a scale of what he termed “Satoris” for ascending and descending states of consciousness.
Both drugs, at low doses, were at times used in conjunction with exercises that were given after the trainings. (Later, sometime after the Arica Institute was established, all drugs were banned.)
For this, Ichazo developed seven basic enneagrams to be used to help analyze and classify both the individual student and the general psychological condition of all people.
By April 1971, 44 of the 54 people who had begun the 10-month training completed it.
girlfriend. She did attend the New York training and reported: The type of training I experienced during the three months was a combination of Gurdjieffian, yoga, high school gym and some tantric yoga … we sat in front of the school symbol for 20 minutes a day, with a strobe light impressing the symbol … focusing approximately 14 hours a day, six days a week for three months, on the training.
AI Summary
The Worlds of Oscar Ichazo by Dick Myers presents key insights from the Zen tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.