A very long article on Roger, the Hulnicks (who run USM) and the MSIA cult. I posted some highlights. BTW, the cult pronounces their movement "messiah."
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http://www.freedomofmind.com/Info/Lane.phpLoyalty to Your Soul – A Critical Analysis Book Review
By H. Ronald Hulnick, Ph.D. and Mary R. Hulnick, Ph.D.
A Critical Analysis
Book Review
By David Christopher Lane, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy, Mt. San Antonio College
and Lecturer in Religious Studies, CSULB
Ron Hulnick refers to USM (University of Santa Monica) within MSIA circles (Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness) as “the Traveler’s School.” —Life 102:What to Do When Your Guru Sues You by ex-devotee Peter McWilliams
The authors of Loyalty to Your Soul: The Heart of Spiritual Psychology, H. Ronald Hulnick and Mary R. Hulnick have been associated with John-Roger Hinkins for over three decades. Part of their dedication in the frontispiece of the book is to J.R., wherein they write “and to John-Roger, who turned my Self around and helped me find direction and inspiration in my life”—Ron and “and to John-Roger whose exampleship [sic] has informed my life”—Mary.
Since both authors readily admit their allegiance to John-Roger Hinkins and his teachings, much of their “spiritual psychology” is inspired directly by J.R. This is without a doubt the most troubling thing about the book....
In the 1990s the name was switched from Koh-E-Nor to the University of Santa Monica. While the school has been granted “Institutional Approval”
it still lacks full educational accreditation according to outside sources....
The thesis of their entire book is nicely summarized by them in the paragraph that follows, “It contains many of the principles and some of the practices currently offered in the two year Master’s degree Program in Spiritual Psychology at the University of Santa Monica, where I serve as Chief Academic Officer and Ron is President.”
Essentially, the Hulnicks and by extension USM (or, should that order be reversed?), want to bring “spirituality” (or soul) back into psychology....
It is one of the great ironies of the book that the Hulnicks’ speak repeatedly about transcending ego based actions when their own spiritual teacher has demonstrated nothing of the sort. They write about “not judging” as if making such judgments were a hindrance to a truly liberated life. For instance, the Hulnicks’ write, “You never did anything wrong but that you judged it as wrong.”
...When the Hulnicks’ spiritual guru was exposed in an extensive two part feature in the Los Angeles Times, what was J.R.’s response? Instead of owning up to his many transgressions he deployed a bizarre subterfuge where he claimed to a live audience that “Roger” (the person responsible, but not admitting anything) had died and that only his pure self remained and that “the past was past.” In addition, shortly before the Los Angeles Times story broke on August 14, 1988, John-Roger passed the keys of the Mystical Traveler over to John Morton, allegedly a one-time lover of J.R.’s and a close member of his personal staff. As Peter McWilliams recalls:
“Passing the keys to John Morton only a month before gave John-Roger one of his favorite defenses: evasive semantics. By passing the ‘keys’ to John Morton, John-Roger could answer, ‘No,’ to straightforward but perhaps embarrassing questions such as, ‘Are you the Mystical Traveler?’ . . . . It seemed as though John-Roger was denying he was ever the Traveler. It also allowed John-Roger to brush aside any questions of MSIA’s past shady dealings with the comment, ‘John Morton is in charge of MSIA; talk to him.’”
Indeed, John-Roger has had a long habit of avoiding taking responsibility for his actions. I remember confronting J.R. back in 1983 on the telephone over a laundry list of ethical transgressions. Not only did he deny that he ever did anything wrong, but
he proceeded to terrorize those disciples of his that had defected.
It makes one wonder how the Hulnicks can with a straight face write an entire book about spiritual integrity when the very founder of their University has systematically avoided being held accountable for any of his actions, including such
criminal activities as robbing a researcher’s home and making death threats against defectors, as extensively detailed in the mid-1980s publication, The Criminal Activities of John-Roger Hinkins.....Furthermore, do the Hulnicks really believe that John-Roger, the founder and moral guide to USM, knows everything at all times? Because that is precisely what John-Roger has printed about himself. The
1979 edition of the MSIA Handbook for Ministers of Light states that “John-Roger Can See All. Remember, however, you might frighten a person in the beginning if you tell him John-Roger has the ability to know everything we’re thinking and doing at all times. Though the person may not believe this at first, once he does start realizing it might true, he’s apt to feel frightened.”
...
the University of Santa Monica is more an extension of John-Roger’s ministry than anything else. As Peter McWilliams explains:
“All of John-Roger’s organizations have one of two functions: getting devotees for John-Roger or getting money from the devotees. USM does both. Based on the theory that if you hang around McDonald’s long enough sooner or later you’re going to have to have some fast food, if you hang around USM long enough, sooner or later you’re going to join MSIA. Every staff person and most volunteers at USM are MSIA ministers and initiates. Ron Hulnick refers to USM within MSIA circles as ‘the Traveler’s School.’”The unsuspecting student, not well versed in John-Roger’s own peculiar blend of New Age thinking (mixing varying parts of Eckankar, Sant Mat, Theosophy, Christianity, EST, Lifespring, and whatever else captures J.R.’s interest at the moment), may enroll at the University of Santa Monica thinking that it is a purely secular school that is trying to incorporate tried and tested spiritual principles into its curriculum. But that is not the case at all, since
the University of Santa Monica is, in truth, a fulcrum for John-Roger’s idiosyncratic philosophy and, as such, serves as a potential vehicle for drawing new recruits into his own religious cult, MSIA.
In other words, if the University of Santa Monica (with the Hulnicks as Co-Directors of the Institution) was truthful in its advertising (and lived up to the intentions of its founder) and in its ultimate aims, then it might more appropriately bill itself as John-Roger U.
Do incoming students at USM know that the founder of the school advertises himself as “the one who can see and know all”? Do incoming students at USM know that John-Roger founded the school to promote his own self-styled theology? Do incoming students know that the creator of their university terrorized disciples in his entourage? That he allegedly
engaged in numerous criminal activities, including robbery and death threats?...
John-Roger literally terrorized the lives of those who had shown the utmost loyalty to him. According to varying sources, he sued them. He robbed their homes. He threatened to kill them. One can only wonder aloud why anyone would want to attend a school founded by a man who
once told his student, Peter McWilliams, who was dying from AIDS, that he would save him from death if he agreed to put John-Roger’s name alongside his on future books. If one really wants to follow the moral injunctions of Hulnicks’ book and be loyal to one’s soul, it might be wise to read closely Peter McWilliams’ book, LIFE 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You, which though no longer in print is still available in used editions from Amazon and other booksellers worldwide.
Peter McWilliams unmasks the charade that is J.R. and in the process clearly explains why the University of Santa Monica should be better known as the University of Spiritual Manipulation....Peter McWilliams on the University of Santa Monica
“In 1981, Koh-E-Nor University (John-Roger, founder and chancellor; Drs. Ron and Mary Hulnick, president and dean) was established. Koh-ENor means “mountain of light” or “mountain of wisdom” or “when you pile it this high and this deep, you get a mountain.” The instant they were established,
they started handing out honorary Ph.D.s. John-Roger got the first. He got an honorary doctorate in, I forget, but you can be sure that it was in anything he wanted. Russell Bishop got one. All the guys on staff got one. When John Morton got one, some people got suspicious about the university’s academic standards: when accepting his honorary Ph.D. in (I think) nuclear physics, all John Morton could do was admire the woodgrain. (“They did a really good job finishing this. Not too shiny.”)
Suddenly, everybody at Insight had a Ph.D. The typesetters for the Insight brochures ran out of the letters P, h, and D. Facilitators actually started calling each/other “doctor”-and they weren’t kidding! Not surprisingly, Russell was the worst. If you didn’t call him “Dr. Bishop,” he didn’t answer. As far as Dr. Bishop was concerned, from now on “Russell” was what leaves did in the wind. Koh-E-Nor University opened its doors promising B.A.s, M.A.s, and Ph.D.s to one and all. “By the time you’re done with the courses, we’ll have full accreditation, and accreditation will be retroactive,” it promised. But some things never change: as of August 1994, thirteen years later, J-R’s University still isn’t accredited, and Ron and Mary still don’t like me.”
In 1988, all the John-Roger organizations began a process John-Roger called “genetic cleansing.” It was yet another prophylactic measure to protect “his babies” from the forthcoming Los Angeles Times article. All the organizations were told to change their names. This way, if the L.A. Times reported that one of the organizations had done something wrong, it wouldn’t exist anymore. Only MSIA and Insight survived the purge: they had name-recognition and therefore there was money in them there names. Every other organization changed. The
John-Roger Foundation and Integrity Institute became the Institute for Individual and World Peace; PRANA Theological Seminary became Peace Theological Seminary; Atman Travel became Esprit Travel; ACE became Educare; and Koh-E-Nor University became the University of Santa Monica.It was
purely a random coincidence that one of the more respected community colleges in the state of California is called Santa Monica College. Could some people possibly think that Santa Monica College grew up and became a university? No. Nobody could make that kind of mistake. And if they did, they would get a far better education at the University of Santa Monica than they would at Santa Monica College. In connection with this name change, the Baraka Center for Holistic Health and Research became the University of Santa Monica Center for Health. The University of Santa Monica has classes one weekend a month. A school year is nine weekends over a nine-month period. There is no hope that they will ever get full accreditation. Still, the promises continue. Even the use of the word university to describe an institution that
offers only two or three classes per semester is beyond me.
....
In 1994, USM made a splashy announcement when they were finally accredited by the Pacific Association of Schools and Colleges (PASC). Other institutes of higher learning accredited by PASC include acupuncture schools, massage schools, herbal schools, and other New Age learning centers. Now, if the Pacific Association of Schools and Colleges can only get accredited by the U.S.
The organization that accredited USM, then, doesn’t even have an application on file to receive accreditation from the U.S. Department of Education...
I first became aware of Peter McWilliams when I saw him trying to prevent Craig Rivera (Geraldo’s younger brother) from filming John-Roger Hinkins at a book signing. The clip was repeatedly shown on
Geraldo Rivera’s early 1990s nightly news television show, Now It Can Be Told, which devoted an entire episode on J.R. infamously entitled “The Cadillac of Cults.” I also appeared on that show discussing how J.R. had ransacked my home and how J.R. had manipulated hundreds of his disciples with his false claims.....Peter explained that he had defected from MSIA and that he wanted to write a book exposing his former guru but in order to do so he needed my help. I explained that I was hesitant to put my neck out again, since
the last time I wrote about J.R. I got death threats and got my home robbed. In addition, I wanted to make absolutely certain that Peter was going to put
his name front and center on his critical analysis, since I had previously noted a tendency among certain MSIA defectors of running scared (out of fear of J.R.’s possible reprisals) when their names were going to be published as key sources.
...As Peter later explained, “
I put his name on books I wrote, including Life 101, DO IT!, and You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought…. I published and promoted the books myself and two of them appeared on the New York Times bestseller list.
I gave John-Roger every spare penny the books generated—more than 1,000,00… I did all of this not from love, but fear: I thought if I didn’t, I would die. I actually believed John-Roger’s lies that he was keeping me alive.”
....He finished his magnus opus on John-Roger, What To Do When Your Guru Sues You, in record time. It still remains one of the most insightful and funny portraits of a cult leader ever written....
THE J.R. CONTROVERSY A Critical Analysis of John-Roger Hinkins and M.S.I.A.
[Written in 198/1984 and published in Understanding Cults and Spiritual Movements]
What would you do if you learned one day that your spiritual teacher
sexually harassed his male disciples and covered up his sexual affairs; a plagiarist who lifted his teachings from other traditions without due reference; a spendthrift who lived extravagantly, though he took a vow of poverty; a questionable business man who engaged in risky and possibly illegal activities; and a religious charlatan who consistently told untruths about a variety of issues?
....A Brief History of M.S.I.A.
In 1968 John-Roger Hinkins, reportedly a former police dispatcher and ex-high school teacher raised in Mormonism, started his spiritual ministry in California. He was associated with Paul Twitchell and his group, having been a mail correspondent member and a second initiate.[2] There are also reports that he was connected with other metaphysical groups, learning firsthand about meditation, light-attunement, and aura balancing,[3] which he later incorporated into his own movement.
Although Hinkins’ name appears in Twitchell’s newsletter (dated in the late 1960?s) as a convener for Twitchell sponsored meetings in Southern California, John-Roger does not see his connection with Paul Twitchell as a master/disciple or teacher/student relationship. Be that as it may, the fact remains, however, that his group and his teachings are almost exactly the same as those taught by Paul Twitchell, not even excepting particular Twitchellian nuances.[4] Likewise, some M.S.I.A. initiates recall that in the early meetings J.R. would “call in” the spirit of brother Paul Twitchell, as a master conversant in soul travel. It should also be recognized that M.S.I.A.’s organizational structure is almost parallel to Twitchell’s group with regard to initiation, discourses, and cosmology.[5]
John-Roger is known to members of M.S.I.A. as the physical manifestation of the Mystical Traveler Consciousness, an all-powerful inner spirit that guides the progress of soul travelers. (This concept, by the way, is quite similar to the Satguru in the Radhasoami tradition and the Mahanta in Twitchell’s group.) According to Roger’s account, the mantleship of the MTC was passed on to him in or around 1963.[6] During this time, Roger claims to have met Sawan Singh, the late Radhasoami Satsang Beas master who died in 1948. “J.R.,” as Hinkins is affectionately called, holds that Sawan Singh was the previous receptor of the MTC and passed on the “keys” to the Kingdom to him on the inner spiritual planes. In the beginning, however, J.R. did not recognize the luminous being as Sawan Singh. At first,
he alleged to be in communication with Rebazar Tarzs, a 500 year old Tibetan monk, who, as it turns out, was a fictional character created by Paul Twitchell to hide his past associations.[7] Accordingly, it was only later when Roger saw a photograph of the Radhasoami guru that he placed the picture of Sawan Singh with the powerful entity he encountered in meditation.[8]
John-Roger’s group has grown considerably in the last ten years, and now has centers throughout the United States and in several countries across the globe. M.S.I.A. publishes its own newspaper, The Movement, and the writings of J.R., including such books as The Sound Current, A Consciousness of Wealth, and The Christ Within. Recently there took place the creation of the John-Roger Foundation, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization which supports J.R.’s numerous activities. This Foundation backs the following enterprises:
1. Public Communication: Educational programs; NOW productions; Book division; The Movement Newspaper; and Audio tape division.
2. Educational Institutions: Insight Transformational Seminars; Koh-E-Nor University; PRANA Theological Seminary and College of Philosophy.
3. Health Treatment Baraka Holistic Center for Therapy and Research.
4. Community and Public Service: Insight Service Training; Insight Service Projects; and Individual Service Projects.
5. Spiritual and Philosophical Service M.S.I.A.; Counseling; Publications
J.R. Sexually Manipulates His Disciples
Perhaps the most shocking thing to be
alleged about John-Roger by a number of M.S.I.A. members is that he sexually manipulates his disciples into having a homosexual affair, claiming that it is for their best spiritual interests. According to several reports, J.R. has apparently been using his spiritual title in order to have sexual relationships with numerous male disciples.1. M.S.I.A., under the direction of J.R., charges a yearly rate for membership. (Initiation generally can only be secured if you are a member first.) John-Roger, though he claims to have taken a vow of poverty, has used thousands of dollars of his group’s money for his own uses....
5. John-Roger, on occasion, claims psychic ability.
6. John-Roger, according to a number of disciples, has sexually manipulated several males into affairs....
Postscript (1993)
This article was originally written in 1983 after I was approached by several highly placed members of M.S.I.A. who felt betrayed by John-Roger Hinkins. Since I was somewhat friendly with J.R. (we had met on several occasions at his home about my research on Paul Twitchell, shabd yoga, and Radhasoami), I called him on the telephone to get his response to the three main allegations made against him (plagiarism, sexual manipulation, and charlatanism). J.R. did not take kindly to my questions and did not want me to do any further research on him. Indeed,
after that phone conversation in the Fall of 1983 I was subjected to a series of threats, including several made against my life and the lives of my friends/informants.The situation reached a peak the following year on
October 5, 1984, when my home was ransacked and a number of my research files were purloined. Documentary evidence (outlined in a special issue of UCSM entitled “The Criminal Activities of John-Roger Hinkins”) implicates John-Roger with the Del Mar robbery, as well as engineering a smear campaign replete with death threats against his critics. Subsequently major news organizations began to investigate J.R. A number of provocative articles were published which exposed John-Roger in a negative light, including an extensive two part critique in The Los Angeles Times.
It should be noted, however, that when The J.R. Controversy first appeared I had to go to press without using the names of my informants, each of whom declined to go public because they feared for their safety. Thus, even though my critique was the first of its kind ever done on J.R. and the Movement, I was more or less a sitting duck for his retaliatory efforts.
J.R. waged a systematic campaign against me by setting up a phony front organization entitled the “Coalition for Civil and Spiritual Rights.” In order to mail out his threatening letters, J.R. rented a mail box in West Los Angeles under three pseudonyms: Peter Davidson, Ph.D., Michael Hunt, and Kip Ferguson. J.R. made one devastating mistake, though, in creating his front: he personally paid and signed for the mail box, betraying in one stroke of the pen his claim that he was not aware of C.C.S.R.
After discovering J.R.’s plot (and after receiving some of the stolen materials back which contained John-Roger’s handwriting in the margins), I wrote another article which detailed his criminal activities. I also went on a couple of television programs, including the nationally syndicated Now It Can Be Told, and mentioned on air how J.R. was involved in a number of illegal dealings. Since all of my allegations were based upon extensive documentation, J.R. has never taken any legal action
