HIGHER THAN TRUTH
[S1E6] MURPHY RANCH — ORGANIZATION
DID NAZI OCCULTISTS BUILD A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR DOOMSDAY MANSION IN LOS ANGELES DURING WWII?
Note: Higher Than Truth is an ongoing series taking deep dives into strange mysteries, conspiracies, and forgotten history. Please refer to the table of contents for all articles in their chronological order.
“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
— Matthew 18:20
After Norman’s admittance to the Theosophical Society’s Olcott Lodge, life went on as normal for the Stevens family. Even as the Theosophical Society prepared the way for the Second Coming, there are no real outward signs that Norman’s membership affected his behavior, or his marriage, or his work or social life. With Maitreya on the way, what did Norman and Winona do?
In 1924, Norman first listed his occupation as “mining engineer,” an area of employment he would maintain intermittently throughout his time in Los Angeles. Legal documents from 1945 plainly state, “Mr. and Mrs. Stevens were wealthy people, Mr. Stevens being a mining engineer by profession, with mining interests in Mexico and Canada.” Newspapers at the time identify other mining ventures across California, Nevada, and Arizona.
But Norman didn’t limit himself to mining. In February of 1929, permits were issued to the Master Wire Lath Company to manufacture building materials, with the intention of utilizing a newly patented technique of laying wire under stucco to clad buildings. Among the company’s officers were Norman Stevens and a handful of respected men in Los Angeles: Frank M. Wright, President of the El Monte Chamber of Commerce; Charles F. Reiche, President of the Southern California Methodist Conference, attorney, and candidate for judge of the Superior court; T.H. Unland, respected doctor; and Robert Burhans, Jr. who, along with being a wealthy banker, one-time director of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and treasurer of the Tideland Oil Company, was also a close friend within Winona’s social circle from her Stanford days.
Winona, too, stayed busy. In 1923, she helped found Delta Phi Upsilon, “to honor outstanding college students and to create a group through which they might experience companionship and be further inspired to work with young children in preschool through the elementary grades.”
Additionally, Winona remained actively involved with the Pi Beta Phis, her sorority at Stanford. During this time she held multiple Pi Phi socials at her Pasadena home—both for “actives” and the Pasadena Alumnae association—as well as organizing or attending events for the Pi Phis at the Beverly Hills Women’s Club or Huntington Hotel. Included in this sorority social sphere were young members like Dorothy Haldeman, daughter of Harry Haldeman, president of the Pacific Pipe and Supply Company; and Roberta von Kleinsmid, niece of UCLA President, Rufus von Kleinsmid. Prominent names also appear in the alumnae groups, such as Buffy Chandler, wife of Norman Chandler, whose family owned the Los Angeles Times (they met at Stanford a few years after Winona graduated); and Alice Kellogg, wife of William Scripps Kellogg, then publisher of the Pasadena Evening Post (like Winona, William was a graduate of both Pasadena High School and Stanford University).
Winona’s mother, Theophilia, also had a social life. Recognized by the Pasadena Post as among “some of Pasadena’s most prominent citizens”, in the early part of the decade she headed the Women’s Civic League as well as a film censorship committee, but as the years went on she devoted more time to vacationing in Paris or at Harmony Haven, the family home at Hermosa Beach.
All of this is to say that during this period in the late 1920’s, Norman and Winona— and even Theophilia—were working and socializing with the high society of Los Angeles, investing both time and considerable sums of money to the civil and business functions of the city.
Norman’s activity within the Theosophical Society in the early years must be largely inferred—he played no public or important role that I can find. We might assume, like many people who first join a group, that he eagerly attended the meetings and read the publications, so some insight into his frame of mind might be gleaned by examining the broader actions of the group:
Sanford Bell lectured as always. Only days after Norman signed on, Sanford spoke at length on “When a Man Dies Shall He Live Again?” When Sanford went on vacation, guest lecturers such as John Lacy, “internationally-known psychologist, scientist, and clairvoyant” came to take his place. In August, Norman might have driven down to 12 S Raymond Avenue for a vegetable dinner and the 8pm discussions on “Who Are the Masters of the Wisdom?” and “The Work of Angels and Devils,” or he might have chosen the 4pm gathering the following weekend, headed again by Bell, under the auspices of Krishnamurti’s “Order of the Star in the East.”
Bell had traveled the previous year to meet Krishnamurti at the Ojai Star Camp, one of two locations The Order of the Star in the East dedicated for the purposes of the coming World Teacher—the other, called the Ommen Star Camp, was located in the Netherlands. Whether accurate or a bit of aggrandizement on Bell’s part, he claimed they had formed a “personal friendship” after Krishnamurti entertained him in the young messiah’s private home, Arya Vihara, which also included a guest house, caretaker’s lodge, and garage. This friendship gave him, Bell said, special insights into Krishnamurti “and the claims made for him that he was to become a great world teacher.”
Along with the weekly lectures and dinners available to him in Los Angeles, Norman undoubtedly subscribed to the theosophical publications of the day and—with annual compendiums of just one monthly journal, The Theosophist, clocking in at nearly 2000 pages—he would have had no shortage of reading to choose from. He might have read:
What Theosophists Are Saying by A. de la Pena Gil (December 1926), in which the most basic objectives of the Theosophical Society were debated between Adrian A. Madril and Fernando Valera, members of the Argentine and Spanish sections respectively:
F.V.: We came to the society not to proclaim the so-called basic Truths of Religion but after the aspiration of forming the nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, creed, caste, or colour and after the longing for Divine Wisdom, which should only be the result of individual study or intuition…These objects are intangible, co-eternal, and immutable…which the T.S. has no right to alter or modify…
A.A.M.: According to its unfoldment and incidents in its life…the T.S. may undertake or encourage any movement of universal service aiming at the evolutionary progress of mankind…In 1909, our president Dr. Besant, speaking in London about the spiritual impulse which proceeds any new civilisation says,
“[…Theosophy’s] first work in preparation for the coming civilisation is to try to Bring about a Brotherhood of Religions; not destroying any, not trying to make any less potent than they were before, but endeavouring to transform them from rivals to brothers so that each religion recognize its kinship with other religions and they may become one mighty family instead of warring and separate creeds…Brotherhood of Religions will be the World Religion.”
(Fernando Valera would resign.)
Or, The World Religion by Alice Warren Hamaker (January 1927):
The spectacle of people solemnly giving away all their worldly goods and climbing some hill to see the end of the world come to pass before their eyes, is pathetic, though it looks comical. How would it be if we could tell them that the end of the world took place in 1910, according to prophecy by Armageddon, which was scheduled to take place after, not before, the end of the world, during which time the angelic hosts of the Lord fought with the hosts of evil in the unseen world, and that now we are entering into the reign of Christ?
We could tell them all that and it would be true, only we have not found the mathematical basis for the calculations that would satisfy the ordinary man...It is a question of how to measure solar progression in relation to the outermost constellations. The Solar System revolves round Sirius, and comes into conjunction with various constellations, or houses, just as the planets come into conjunction with zodiacal constellations or houses.
How are we to measure this solar progression, and to divide the heavens for such enormously long periods? Once this solar astrology was known, and we may know it again, and perhaps popularise our knowledge just as we have popularised mundane astrology. Then we may be able to persuade the ordinary man that the end of the world is over, and he has seen it so far as he is able to see it, considering how much is invisible to him. He did not see the Archangel Gabriel because he is not clairvoyant to the sight of archangels; he did not hear the trumpet sound because he is not clairaudient to the angelic music; and he did not view the battle between the hosts of the Lord and the hosts of evil because he does not see these hosts at any time.
As far as we have been able to measure these “world periods,” they seem to be about 33,000 years long and we have some idea of the last two periods, and what happened, or rather how the influences from the depths of space, that entered into the whole solar system, affected our humanity. There are many other cycles and periods that we know of, especially the division into Yugas and astrological periods, but these are periodical changes within the solar system, and we are dealing now with periodical changes within the entire solar system brought in from beyond the boundary of the solar system. The planetary changes affect men’s lives, but these extra-solar changes affect that mysterious influence in men’s lives—religion.
Or, Out of Egypt—A Prophecy by Isabel B. Holbrook (April 1927):
In making the review, for the pages of The Messenger, of “The Great Pyramid; Its Divine Message,” by Davidson and Aldersmith, we came upon much new matter—and so pertinent to the day that this article is the result.
…The external geometrical system of the Pyramid is the general framework for the internal geometrical system of its passages and chambers. In them, ideas are dealt with, and symbolically expressed, without dependence upon any language, but expressed entirely in terms of natural science. The whole passage system is found to contain a basic line of reference which forms an absolute scale of astronomical chronology. Dates that are given by this scale are confirmed by references to astronomical values, and these values agree with those obtained by modern methods and formulae.
…Put in simple language, one Pyramid inch stands for one solar year of time, and thus linear measurements are convertible into chronological datings. By the use of this correspondence, there has been made a studied synchronization of the ancient records of Egypt, Babylon, and Israel with Pyramid passages. For example, the date obtained for the turning-point from the descending to the ascending passage in the Pyramid is the very date given by Egyptian, Hebrew, and Babylonian records for the Exodus of Israel. Altogether the time compassed by the Pyramid chronology as so far worked out is a period of over six thousand years (three zodiacal signs), covering from 4699 b.c. to 2045 a.d.
…But it had been seen by Egyptologists that the scale measurement of one Pyramid inch to the solar year, as formerly applied, led nowhere as it were, in their calculations of time, in those passages beyond the Great Step. Some there were who sensed that in a way the rate of evolution, to use a theosophical way of speaking, had been quickened, that someway there had been an acceleration and they sought for a new scale. Then came the Great World War. Lo! and behold! it was now found that, using one Pyramid inch not for one solar year, but for a twelfth of it, that is, for a month of 30 days, the date for the beginning of the first low passage was August 4, 5, 1914, the first day of Britain’s entry into the Great European War, and its termination was November 10, 11, 1918, the actual Armistice. Well may we in wonder marvel! (And a comparison of index dates along that grave-like stone tunnel with events of the War almost forces one to accept the dogma and theory of predestination!)
This Time of Chaos, or Time of Tribulation, would, in full, taking in both low passages, extend from August 4, 5, 1914, to September 15, 16, 1936. But, into this natural period of Chaos there is inserted an Antechamber whose whole symbolism marks it as an intervention, a “Truce in Chaos,” and this Armistice lasts from November 10, 11, 1918, to May 29, 1928.
So here we find ourselves at the present time. We are within the period defined by the Antechamber and its datings. The position and purpose of it are geometrically defined and indicated by the year-circle, on which it is constructed, which, in all ancient Egyptian prophecies as well as in the Pyramid prophecies, refers always to the Messiah. The Antechamber intervention therefore denotes the shortening of the Days of Tribulation due to Divine intervention, the lightening of the world’s load due to the help of a Messiah, before the period of final tribulation when the restraint is to be removed.
There was, it seemed, no shortage of evidence—mathematical and scientific, writ in the stars of heaven and the monuments of men—to indicate that a cataclysmic change for humanity was at hand. That the esteemed anthropologist, Aleš Hrdlička, predicted the evolutionary development of a new “sixth sub-race” of human geniuses to be evolving in California at that time—discussed in [S1E5] Maitreya—must only have further confirmed for theosophists like Norman that something truly remarkable was taking place not just imminently within his lifetime, but in his backyard.
On March 10, 1929, Krishnamurti arrived in Los Angeles for a four month stay at Ojai. Upon arrival, he was swarmed by reporters, who over the years seemed perpetually skeptical and charmed by the young man. Reported the Des Moines Register in 1926:
On several occasions, he said, his body has become the physical vehicle of the great teacher, and that teacher has spoken through his lips. As his career goes on, the great teacher may, he believes, take possession of his body for longer periods as the instrument by which he will make tangible to humanity his message for a new age of civilization.
But except on these occasions, the Brahman insisted, he is a humble figure of the theosophical faith, which teaches that in truth lies the highest religion, and which finds its tenets in the Hindu philosophy, the theory of reincarnation, the science of psychology and the bible itself.
“I don’t want to he thought eccentric,” he said. “I don’t want to be hounded. Thus I wear your American dress” —flashing a smile and a gesture at his trim gray suit, his tan brogans and a soft white shirt —“instead of the colorful gown and the sandals I wear at home—much cooler and more comfortable, I think, than your tight fitting clothes.”
700 people gathered at the Star Camp in Ojai that year to hear Krishnamurti’s talks under the trees at Oak Grove. “The group included followers from Cuba, New Zealand, Canada, Java, Sweden, Mexico, Guatemala, Holland, India, and many other countries of the world besides those from the various States of the Union.” Mixed among the attendees were musicians, authors, poets, and artists as well as:
…Bankers, lawyers, army captains, druggists, engineers, and two bishops with their wives, all of them holding important places in their communities, who are washing dishes and peeling potatoes to feed the large gathering three times a day at the camp.
During his summer at Ojai, Krishnamurti’s message was a simple one, which he reiterated for reporters and followers alike, again and again and again:
“You must worship life, not the gods created by life. Life is free, untrammeled. You must give up your toys, no matter by what glorified name you call them…One man who is sincere, who understands, is worth a multitude of those who cry vainly but do not understand. He shall live from everlasting to everlasting.”
“How can you be happy without sorrow? How can you have sympathy without tears in your life? You must have all things, and sorrow is as noble as joy. Only dressing it in black is sorrow made dreadful. You want to attain without a struggle—a spiritual drugstore is what most people are looking for—antidotes for fears; that is why you look for external help to uphold you. You are afraid to face whatever weakness is yours; afraid to face yourself and conquer.”
“Truth is permanent, everlasting. It has no beginning and no end; it is changeless and immobile. You will find it only in the kingdom of happiness. If you would understand, if you would see that vision you must obey the voice within each one of you. You must obey that voice absolutely and completely, but you must take care that that voice is the real voice that has become purified and ennobled through great experiences, great sorrows, great pains, and great pleasures.”
His message for his followers at Ojai was simply to find happiness within themselves, that it could not be found anywhere else. Did Norman attend? Did Winona? Were they among the throngs of people “holding important places in their communities” who shared in the workload that summer in 1929? I can’t answer that, but I know that Norman was paying attention.
In early June, Krishnamurti and his close entourage packed up and left California, heading this time to the Ommen Star Camp in the Netherlands, where he arrived by August. In comparison to the camp at Ojai, Ommen was a tremendous affair, attended by not hundreds but thousands of ardent followers who held on to the World Teacher’s every word. And so on August 3, 1929, Krishnamurti ascended the stage at Ommen and addressed an audience of 3000:
We are going to discuss this morning the dissolution of the Order of the Star. Many will be delighted and others will be rather sad. It is a question neither for rejoicing nor sadness, because it is inevitable, as I am going to explain. You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick something from the street, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, “What did that man pick up?” “He picked up a piece of truth,” said the devil. “That is very bad business for you then,” said his friend. “Oh, not at all,” the devil replied, “I am going to let him organize it.”
I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. If you first understand that, then you will see how impossible it is to organize a belief. A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others. This is what everyone throughout the world is attempting to do. Truth is narrowed down and made a plaything for those who are weak, for those who are only momentarily discontented. Truth cannot be brought down, rather the individual must make the effort to ascend to it….
For eighteen years you have organized, you have looked for someone who would give a new delight to your hearts and minds, who would transform your whole life, who would give you a new understanding; for someone who would raise you to a new plane of life, who would give you a new encouragement, who would set you free–and now look what is happening! Consider, reason with yourselves, and discover in what way that belief has made you different–not with the superficial difference of the wearing of a badge, which is trivial, absurd. In what manner has such a belief swept away all the unessential things of life? That is the only way to judge: in what way are you freer, greater, more dangerous to every Society which is based on the false and the unessential? In what way have the members of this organization of the Star become different?…
You have been preparing for eighteen years, and look how many difficulties there are in the way of your understanding, how many complications, how many trivial things. Your prejudices, your fears, your authorities, your churches new and old–all these, I maintain, are a barrier to understanding. I cannot make myself clearer than this. I do not want you to agree with me, I do not want you to follow me, I want you to understand what I am saying.
This understanding is necessary because your belief has not transformed you but only complicated you, and because you are not willing to face things as they are. You want to have your own gods–new gods instead of the old, new religions instead of the old, new forms instead of the old–all equally valueless, all barriers, all limitations, all crutches. Instead of old spiritual distinctions you have new spiritual distinctions, instead of old worships you have new worships. You are all depending for your spirituality on someone else, for your happiness on someone else, for your enlightenment on someone else; and although you have been preparing for me for eighteen years, when I say all these things are unnecessary, when I say that you must put them all away and look within yourselves for the enlightenment, for the glory, for the purification, and for the incorruptibility of the self, not one of you is willing to do it. There may be a few, but very, very few. So why have an organization?…
Again, you have the idea that only certain people hold the key to the Kingdom of Happiness. No one holds it. No one has the authority to hold that key. That key is your own self, and in the development and the purification and in the incorruptibility of that self alone is the Kingdom of Eternity.
So you will see how absurd is the whole structure that you have built, looking for external help, depending on others for your comfort, for your happiness, for your strength. These can only be found within yourselves.
And with that, Krishnamurti renounced his role as The Christ, and stepped away. Among the shocked theosophists in the audience that day were Annie Besant and Charles Webster Leadbeater, who reportedly said in disbelief, “The Coming has gone wrong.”
Though some members of the Theosophical Society supported Krishnamurti’s renunciation, his decision left the official body in heartbroken disarray. “For eighteen years you have organized, you have looked for someone who would give a new delight to your hearts and minds, who would transform your whole life, who would give you a new understanding…” and now that person—The World Teacher, The Maitreya, The Christ—was gone.
That same month, on page 173 in the “Letters” section of The Theosophical Messenger, there was a small submission titled “Organization” by one Norman Stevens. The tone of the letter, as I read it, is sad but hopeful:
For, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
…When two or three are gathered together, and a common aim is discovered, an organization is born, and rightly so, be it church or state or society, and in that joining there immediately follows a useful partition of action. In this division of action, if there is the true independence of inspiration, which is the necessity for individual growth, each will fall into his proper place, do his proper work, and gain that experience which is his next step toward the goal. And if that true independence is maintained, and the individual is not stifled or bound by the useful forms which have appeared, and the time comes when the common purpose of the group is no longer the purpose of the individual, that individual will turn without pain, without regret, toward the eternal life which ever beckons, and step boldly forth, and for a time his path may be lone, but yet it is inevitable that soon from the darkness a hand will reach and then another, and once more the unity of life appears, and organization is born.
Norman Stevens remained with the Theosophical Society for another year and a half, but on January 22, 1931 he decided that the purpose of the group no longer served his own and he, too, offered his official resignation. Only two months later, Winona obtained a signed order from her mother “instructing the Title Insurance and Trust Company to dissolve the $3,000,000 trust fund she had created for her daughter, so that she might have use of the principal.” Though Norman’s path would for a time be lone, it would be paved with the help—adjusted for inflation—of $58,454,802.63.
Who will join Norman along the way? Find out next, on:
