An appreciation of 'Outlier' Don Elkins

[kycahi]

Hi, kyachi!

I just registered to say that I knew Don and agree with the observations shared here. He was equally superior and humble and never assumed that what someone else knew was to be challenged or dismissed.

Thanks for joining the conversation, and for offering your unique perspective. I have also witnessed some negative fallout from channeling, as I discuss here in 1984.04.15 First Hatonn Contact After Ra. I would be interested in knowing what kind of angle your experiences may bear on the ideas offered there.

He would sometimes say things that revealed discouragement, and Carla might just say, "Don, ixnay." That was enough. He stayed quiet after that or left the room.

I wonder if it was this sort of resistance to negativity on Carla's part that may have acted as a catalyst toward Don's seemingly downward spiral. Some very great wisdom for us to discern there, and I thank Don for his contribution to my spiritual growth and understanding, as well as Carla.

Hi, TN. I read that thread but didn't contribute to it just because I didn't have anything that would contribute to it except more words.

Back in my college days, I often attended weekly meditation meetings at friends, Hal and Jo. Hal was the one who first introduced Don to that particular kind of channeling. They had lived in Michigan until the car company where Hal worked opened a plant in Louisville. Anyway, at about one in eight or ten of those weekly meetings Don would show up. He sometimes channeled but often just sat in (as I did).

One week, Hal turned down the lights and we settled in to meditate and nobody gave a greeting from any entity. After long enough, Don said something like, "I don't take this very seriously, but I'm going to let it through." He then voiced an entity that called itself Lobsang Rampa. Several times, the entity said, "I assure the instrument that I really am Lobsang Rampa." The session lasted maybe five minutes, and nothing of much importance came through, near as I recall. After that, we waited for another entity, usually Hatonn in those days, and then Hal turned up the lights.

We discussed the Rampa message and, the ones who had read Rampa and who had been to lots of these sessions concluded that Don channeled some bogus source. Don thought so too. He had Rampa on his mind because recently he had read one of his books. They are fun reading, by the way.

I told this story to say that Carla and Don were always aware that sometimes the sessions were not of much value. An important reason for this was simply that the source never spoke over the head of any attendee, and often we had newbies there. My friend Bill, who had a co-op job where Hal worked and learned about the meetings from him, jokingly made up this session: "Greetings my friends, in the name of the One Infinite Creator, I am Hatonn. [pause] Two...four...six...eight, you must learn to meditate. [pause] We leave you now until next time. Adonai vasu baragus."

The sessions that anyone channeled, including Carla and Jim, were variable. Jim dutifully transcribed each one without comment, but they certainly knew that some were better than others.

While Carla truly and proudly identifies herself as Christian, I always have felt that she holds great value in and respect for the Ra and Hatonn and other information. Certainly she did not filter the Ra material because she wasn't even present and only learned what came through later. She also knows that there is "Christian" and there is "Christian." She loves the gospels and the quotes from JC, but knows that all other is subject to human distortion.

Don had depressive disorder long before the Ra contact. Sometimes it was bad and other times it wasn't visible. He had a terrific sense of humor and usually was good company. After moving to California, I would call them up on a Saturday to chat. Usually Carla answered and we exchanged anecdotes for awhile, but sometimes Don answered. I would say my name and he usually said that Carla would be back in awhile. Then I would say okay, what's been happening with you? Half the time, he would be curt so I would thank him and end the call, and the other half he might get excited to tell about meeting with Charlie Hixson or talk about some new close encounter he investigated.

The last time he answered, he said Carla would be back in awhile and I asked about him. He just said Carla would be back in awhile. I asked a second time what he's been up to and he repeated that Carla would be back in awhile. He absolutely said nothing about himself, and didn't show any personality at all. I felt a strong pull of empathy but couldn't think of anything to say except "Well, okay then, good-bye Don." I still wonder if I had called during the standoff when he was the only person in the house while Carla and Jim were outside with the police trying to talk him out of doing what he did.

I learned about his taking his life days after it happened. My parents knew his and Carla's names and sent a clipping from the newspaper. My next communication was a letter to Carla. Her letter back was more detail of what went on that fateful day.

So in conclusion, I dunno whether the STS entity is fully to blame. It may have caught Don when he already was in a deep dark mood. It took Carla years to recover, at least to the point she is now.