STEVE ALLEN PART THREE
WHO THE HECK IS GERALD HEARD????
In Part Two, we learned that Gerald Heard is responsible for encouraging Steve Allen to try LSD.
*texokie, ever mindful of practicing good ecological manners in her digs, puts the empty plastic sammich bag into her back pack, sharpens her shovel, takes a sip of water, and attacks the spray painted marker with said shovel*
The Wiki article shows Heard as being highly connected to a number of the “Thinkers” of his day who in previous digs prompted by our Q hunts, have been shown to be elitist, if not outright elites themselves. He was also in the circle of people, some of whom were involved in the development of computers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Heard
So we begin.
“Henry FitzGerald Heard[1] (6 October 1889 – 14 August 1971), commonly called Gerald Heard, was a British-born American historian, science writer, public lecturer, educator, and philosopher. He wrote many articles and over 35 books.
Heard was a guide and mentor to numerous well-known Americans, including Henry Luce and Clare Boothe Luce, and Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, in the 1950s and 1960s. His work was a forerunner of, and influence on, the consciousness development movement that has spread in the Western world since the 1960s.
The son of an Anglo-Irish clergyman, Heard was born in London. Heard studied history and theology at the University of Cambridge, graduating with honours in history. After working in other roles, he lectured from 1926 to 1929 for Oxford University’s extramural studies programme. Heard took a strong interest in developments in the sciences. In 1929, he edited The Realist, a short-lived monthly journal of scientific humanism (its sponsors included H.G. Wells, Arnold Bennett, Julian Huxley, and Aldous Huxley). In 1927 Heard began lecturing for South Place Ethical Society. During this period he was Science Commentator for the BBC for five years.
As a young man, he worked for the Agricultural Cooperative Movement in Ireland. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he acted as the personal secretary of Sir Horace Plunkett, founder of the cooperative movement, who spent his last years at Weybridge, Surrey. Naomi Mitchison, who admired Plunkett and was a friend of Heard, wrote of that time: “H.P., as we all called him, was getting past his prime and often ill but struggling to go on with the work to which he was devoted. Gerald [Heard] who was shepherding him about fairly continually, apologized once for leaving a dinner party abruptly when H.P. was suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion”.
Horace Plunkett owned real estate in the U.S. states of Nebraska and Wyoming, and left some properties to Heard in his will…”
Snip
“…From 1932 to 1942 Heard was a council member of the Society for Psychical Research.
In 1931 Heard had initiated an informal research group to look into developing group-mindedness or group communications, which became known as The Engineers Study Group because several of its members were engineers who afterwards were involved in the early development of computers. Naomi Mitchison, who was a friend of Heard, also participated actively in this group.
After 1936 Heard broke with Mitchison over her outspoken support for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and her attempt, together with other members of the group, to run arms to Republican Spain….”
Snip
Heard at this time became a pacifist, and argued for the transformation of behavior through meditation and “disciplined nonviolence.”
“In 1937 he emigrated to the United States to give some lectures at Duke University. Heard was accompanied by Aldous Huxley, Huxley’s wife Maria, and their son Matthew Huxley. In the US, Heard’s main activities were writing, lecturing, and the occasional radio or TV appearance. He had formed an identity as an informed individual who recognised no intrinsic conflict among history, science, literature, and theology. Though he lectured at Duke, Heard turned down the offer of a post there, and traveled west to settle in California….”
So what does he do, and who does he do it with? His circle was comprised of literati, which included Christopher Isherwood. These discovered Swami Prabhavananda and Vedanta. Heard received initiation from Vedanta.
Heard believed in the concept of “intentional evolution,” which a person may pursue. He practiced meditation and yoga and was interested in parapsychology. He joined the Society for Psychical Research.
“…. In 1942 he founded Trabuco College as a facility where comparative religion studies and practices could be pursued…. Living as a freelance scholar, Heard had enjoyed security in America by way of what he’d inherited from Horace Plunkett as well as his own family. He used some of his inherited resources toward this most ambitious of projects. The idealistic experiment required land, and Heard bought 300 acres in Trabuco Canyon, in the Santa Ana Mountains.
Heard was the guiding light and a helpful resident sage, but by nature he was neither an organizer nor a manager. Felix Greene had filled these roles, but when Greene left the community and got married, the practical side of life of Trabuco College soon began to decay. Heard deeded the land and facilities to the Vedanta Society of Southern California, who still maintain the facility as a Ramakrishna monastery and retreat.
LSD
In 1954 Heard tried mescaline and, in the mid 1950s tried LSD. He felt that, used properly, these had strong potential to “enlarge Man’s mind” by allowing a person to see beyond his ego.
IN AUGUST 1956, ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS FOUNDER BILL WILSON FIRST TOOK LSD—UNDER HEARD’S GUIDANCE AND WITH THE OFFICIATING PRESENCE OF SIDNEY COHEN, A PSYCHIATRIST THEN WITH THE CALIFORNIA VETERANS ADMINISTRATION HOSPITAL. ACCORDING TO WILSON, THE SESSION ALLOWED HIM TO RE-EXPERIENCE A SPONTANEOUS SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE HE HAD HAD YEARS BEFORE, WHICH HAD ENABLED HIM TO OVERCOME HIS OWN ALCOHOLISM. IN THE LATE 1950S, HEARD ALSO WORKED WITH PSYCHIATRIST COHEN TO INTRODUCE OTHERS TO LSD, INCLUDING JOHN HUSTON AND STEVE ALLEN. WITH EXPERIENCE, HEARD ARRIVED AT A JUDICIOUS VIEW OF THE VALUE OF PSYCHEDELICS, SINCE AT THEIR BEST THE INSIGHTS AND ECSTASIES THEY FACILITATE ARE TEMPORARY STATES. RELIGION WRITER DON LATTIN WROTE THAT HEARD’S VIEW WAS “LSD MIGHT PROVIDE AN EXPERIENCE OF THE GREAT MYSTERIES, BUT IT OFFERED NO INSTANT ANSWERS.”
Heard was also responsible for introducing the then unknown Huston Smith to Huxley. Smith became one of the pre-eminent religious studies scholars in the United States. His book The World’s Religions is a classic in the field, has sold over two million copies and is considered a particularly useful introduction to comparative religion. THE MEETING WITH HUXLEY LED EVENTUALLY TO SMITH’S CONNECTION TO TIMOTHY LEARY.
Snip
The Wiki article discusses and gives a good summary of the concepts in the 1963 book of Heard’s called “The Five Ages of Man.” The reader is referred to that article, if it is of interest.
What about Heard’s personal life?
He had a life long partnership with a man named Christopher William Graham Wood, born in 1900 in Lambeth, Surrey. He has an impeccable BLOODLINE, being descended from the Plantagenets. In the Q universe, we know that this has very potential significance.
His parents died early, and he inherited a sizable estate. He attended Cambridge, but was not a good student, and in fact was involved in at least one notable scrape.
“…. Wood met Gerald Heard in the mid-1920s and started a relationship that would last till Heard’s death. According to William H. Forthman, “Gerald was very attached to Chris. They were a real couple.…”
“…Before coming to California, Gerald had become celibate. Chris had a series of boyfriends. Some of these young men were not very reputable, but Gerald still had this great affection for Christopher. It was like having a relative you love but are always trying to reform”. Heard described Wood in a 1926 letter to Naomi Mitchison: “[he] has nothing to do save play—piano, etc….”
An acquaintance reported that Wood reportedly looked after Heard’s material needs, and his inheritance allowed Heard a better lifestyle than he could have achieved on his own. Another acquaintance stated that the relationship between the two was Platonic after 1934 when Heard began his practice of meditation.
“…On April 7, 1937, Wood and Heard moved to the United States travelling in the same ocean liner as Aldous Huxley, his wife Maria Nys and their son Matthew. Wood rented an house at Laurel Canyon and Heard lived in a cottage behind it, 8766 Arlene Terrace.
Toward the end of his life, Heard was given a bit of financial assistance by Henry Luce and Clare Booth Luce. Heard died on 14 August 1971 at his home in Santa Monica, California, of the effects of several earlier strokes he had, beginning in 1966.
Christopher Wood died in 1976.
*texokie sits up sharply. Something clangs her memory bell*
WAIT - WHAT?? Laurel Canyon??? OMG…. Plantagenets, Power Elite, …Steve Allen…. And of course, Hollywood…
*texokie sits on the floor of the tunnel, and takes off her back pack. She check the batteries on her flashlight - A OK - plus there are some spares. She fishes out her cell phone and gets enough signal to reach the Qanteen. Mother of Dragons answers*
Hi Mother of Dragons! This dragonlette has found some more stuff here in this tunnel and I’m checking in to let you know I’m diving deeper! ….. yes I have another sammich and some water. Yes, I have an extra sweater. Yes, I did roll out some rope so you can find me if necessary. Yes, I’m warm. I did bring my jacket……Mom.. It’s AUGUST!…thanks - I’ll be careful!
*texokie squares her shoulders and gets ready to find out what is around the next corner. Laurel Canyon???*
End Part Three
TEX - great digging! I can’t wait for Part 4. Laurel Canyon is where a lot of “celebrities” lived. I believe I remember the Beach Boys and Charles Manson were among those mentioned. I remember extensive research being done here on these Q threads last spring. Weren’t you the one who did it? I hope you gave a lot of filing cabinets under the piano in order to retrieve your previous research. 😊
