Greetings to you, Sharlos

Look, I can fly! 

Charles H Hapgood is mostly known for his seemingly secular alternative theories about polar shifts and the Lost Civilization. His most well known book is “Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings”, which in my opinion has been convincingly debunked by critics. However, it seems there is more to Hapgood than meets the eye. He worked closely with trance medium Elwood Babbitt, a supporter of Edgar Cayce. Apparently, both Babbitt and Cayce believed that the world was on the brink of apocalyptic changes triggered by – you guessed it – polar shift. Both also believed in Atlantis, the ultimate Lost Civilization. I strongly suspect there is a connection between Hapgood's “secular” alternative speculations and his mediumistic-occult dabbling. That doesn't necessarily mean he's wrong, of course (although I happen to think that he is). However, it might explain why the man was so dogmatic about it!

“Talks with Christ and His Teachers” is a book published in 1981. It contains edited transcripts by séances with Elwood Babbitt, who claimed to channel the immortal souls of a long list of famous characters. Socrates, Lincoln, Wordsworth, Adlai Stevenson, Gandhi, Clarence Darrow, Edgar Cayce (!) and Senator Everett Dirksen are just a few. Most communications came from the Hindu god Vishnu. The channeled messages were written down by Hapgood, who also seems to have edited the material (perhaps heavily so). This book contains Hapgood's table talk with Christ, Peter, Luke, Joseph, Pontius Pilate and a number of Jesus-related persons not mentioned in the Bible.

I readily admit that I found “Talks with Christ and His Teachers” tedious in the extreme. It's the usual “New Age” heresy (pardon the expression), give or take a few things. Christ is a Force, God is impersonal and exist within us, the Bible is a gigantic forgery, and the Virgin Birth didn't happen. Curiously, the crucifixion and resurrection are real enough. Jesus was an ordinary human being who achieved mastership through a long series of reincarnations, he was taught by the Essenes, and he originally planned to marry a certain Anastasia. Babbitt (or perhaps Hapgood) lays special emphasis on the sexual aspect, claiming that Jesus had sexual desires, that sex isn't a sin, and so on. At one point, the channeled messages imply that Jesus masturbated as a teenager! He also took some time off to teleport to India, however.

Hapgood seems to take the Urantia Book seriously. Peter rather than Judas betrayed Jesus, and Pontius Pilate was a good guy who was instructed by the divine power through a vision to condemn Jesus. Hapgood believes that Jesus failed in his mission, despite the resurrection, since everyone misunderstood his message. For this reason, there will be no “Second Coming”. However, Hapgood is contradictory on this point, since Babbitt's trance messages have a strident apocalyptic tone. It certainly sounds as if the world crisis lacks a solution, and that Christ or the Christ Force will soon manifest on Earth, cleansing it in some unspecified but dramatic fashion. Many people will become more spiritual and presumably enter the Light.

I've never read Cayce, but I suppose much of the above is based on the messages of the “Sleeping Prophet”. There are also similarities with ACIM, presumably because of common sources of inspiration. New Thought? The apocalyptic longing for a New Age was apparently quite common during this period. But then, it's pretty common in every age!

And yes, I'm cherry-picking the best parts. Most of the talks with “Christ” are just as boring as channeled communications usually are. “Luke” is a real bore, too. Here's a sample: “The total compassion of life is the Godhead you seek within the world of worlds. Compassion is the sincere feeling expressed in total appreciation that you represent and are representing all of the creative force that is in and around you. It is compassion for the flower, for the fullness and breadth that is seen in every aspect of life, and as one melds to all degrees of vibration comes that peace and that knowing, for `God' is not an accepted word within Creative Force, for the first word ever uttered was *Truth*, and all was good, and good was God. And so God is cause, substance, meaning, and is before you as a flower that will unfold its petals as you vibrate in the full freedom of life”. Good grief, the Biblical Jesus was more fun than this! Remember when he turned water into wine at that marriage in Cana?

“Talks with Christ and His Teachers” is difficult to take seriously. For instance, both Christ, Luke and Joseph confuse the Virgin Birth and the Immaculate Conception – a common mistake among non-Catholics, suggesting (of course) that *Babbitt* wasn't well versed in Catholic theology. But perhaps the denizens of the spirit-world can't be bothered with it either? Hapgood is actually forced to concede in a footnote that the channeled messages *are* in error on this point! Nor does Christ seem to know the contents of the Bible, since he at one point confuses Genesis and Revelation. The Essenes, said to be based in Syria, speak Arabic rather than Aramean or Hebrew, perhaps because Babbitt (or Hapgood) assumed that Syria was predominantly Arab already during Jesus' time. It's also difficult to accept that *everyone* misunderstood Jesus' message, until some stray medium 2000 years later decided to reveal Da Truth. As already indicated, Hapgood may have revised the material before publication as his "understanding" grew. The book in its final form may be more Hapgood than Babbitt (and more Hapgood than Christ).

Hapgood himself comes across as extremely credulous, both when he converses with “Christ” and other famous persons through Babbitt, and when he describes his earlier exploits. Thus, he claims to have proven reincarnation by hypnotizing a girl who then remembered a previous life in 18th century Quebec. Curiously, she spoke perfect American English! Babbitt never managed to get more than one sentence in French out of her (“I don't understand you”). In another book, “Mystery in Acambaro”, Hapgood expresses belief in the so-called Acambaro figures, an obvious pseudo-archaeological hoax.

I'm sorry, but this guy doesn't inspire much confidence! Only two stars from the Ashtar Command.