‘El Morya’ has a myspace Profile

It seems believers will go to almost any length to keep their fantasies intact. Now ‘El Morya’ has a myspace profile, complete with a boatload of Nicholas Roerich paintings. (Roerich was an artist and set designer who along with his wife was the founder of the Agni Yoga society, and also claimed to have seen a UFO in 1926). Morya’s profile currently boasts 230 people willing to count him among their imaginary friends. ‘El Morya’ is 99 years old, single (!) an Aquarius, and declined to answer about his sexual preference. The ’single’ part must be a reference to the early ’90s ‘dictation’ that his ‘twin flame,’ who had reportedly been a prostitute on the streets of New York City (not kidding, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I wanted to!) must not have made it. She must not have repented and ‘turned to the light’ during her alotted 10 years. So ‘Morya’ has apparently gotten a spiritual divorce, and is cruising for new twin flames. Such drama!

From the looks of it, there are more than enough willing female sycophants on myspace to tickle Morya’s fancy for quite some time. This might appear at first glance to be harmless fun. But there’s an element of wacko fraud and delusion that permeates the whole enterprise.

‘Morya‘ is a creation and puppet of a long line of human charlatans, starting with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, a 19th-century spiritualist and medium who first claimed his existence. Along with Henry Steele Olcott and others, Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. Dabbling in Buddhism and other forms of Eastern mysticism, the organization eventually dissolved into infighting with the leaders accusing one another of taking fraudulent dictations from the ‘master.’ But of course! When everyone is doing the same thing (getting imaginary messages from an imaginary person), it’s only the force of persuasion and personality that keeps the followers from defecting. Power and money follow the messengership, so there will always be new pretenders vying to be the center of attention.

Rather than seeing this bickering as evidence of the spurious nature of the messages, believers followed new spokesmen who sprang up to carry the torch, in an unbroken chain which was extended throughout the 20th century and included Guy and Edna Ballard, Geraldine Innocenti, my parents, the founders of the Summit Lighthouse, and many others. My father claimed to have had a vision of Morya–twice–and began to take his dictations in 1958. But even he had to fight off challengers. His own assistant, Francis Ekey, used to edit and change his messages. Before he was able to cement his control over the newly formed Summit Lighthouse, he had to defeat Ekey and convince his donors that HE was the rightful heir to the title of messenger. Plus ca change…The more things change, the more they stay the same. Today, at least a half-dozen new fraudsters claim messengership for the fictional character of ‘El Morya.’

Now on to the loser who set up ‘Morya’s’ myspace profile. In a way, he or she is also claiming to speak for ‘Morya.’ If you’re going to set up a shrine site, at least have the decency to call it what it is. For example, check out the Captain Kirk action figure site. (Funny song by William Shatner there). At least that person does it with a sense of humor. El Morya’s no more real than Captain Kirk, yet his friends and the perpetrator of the profile are deadly earnest about it. The site music is “Pomp and Circumstance,” which is supposed to represent ‘El Morya’s’ noble nature in some twisted way. The whole thing has an air of groveling reverence about it that is downright creepy. They might as well be worshiping Gandalf. I half expect to find out someday that someone is claiming Gandalf as an ascended master. Hey, the production design in the Lord of the Rings series is leagues ahead of Roerich’s simple impressionism anyway! But the legend of El Morya is no less of a yarn than Tolkien’s series, and his ‘master’ status is no less absurd.

Morya’s friends are every bit as serious about him as Muslims are about Allah, Christians about Jesus, or Scientologists about Xenu (I guess Xenu is the bad guy, but ‘god’ and the ‘devil’ are two sides of the same coin). Part of me is shocked that people actually still fall for this late 19th century spiritualist carnival scam. It’s as if they’re listening to a ventriloquist’s dummy with no ventriloquist in sight! And the dummy has convinced everyone there’s actually a ventriloquist and he can hold forth on matters of great significance on which they end up basing their lives. Only the most lost, desperate, and insecure would find themselves so far adrift from reality. My parents were instrumental in maintaining and legitimizing this collective delusion and taking advantage of these vulnerable disciples. To the extent that I participated as a minister and church representative, I feel responsible as well.

Here’s sending out a lifeboat to all you Morya worshipers. I feel your pain, I’ve been where you are, and I’m here to help. It’s never too late to wake up and join the community of reason.