"Language is the only thing that separates us from the truth," said Bart Marshall Thursday night, quoting mystic Richard Rose. Marshall, a Vietnam veteran, has devoted his life since the war to "getting beyond illusion to the ultimate truth."
Marshall spoke to an audience of about 80 at a Self Knowledge Symposium-sponsored event about both his personal experiences and his research into the teachings of Rose and fellow mystic Jim Burns. Thursday's lecture was the third in a series entitled "Search for a Soul."
The sense of urgency Marshall gained from his many encounters with death during his year of voluntary military service in 1967 transformed him from being "young and dumb" to philosophical. Marshall said that in Vietnam he felt that he was "trapped in a chaotic world where I could be killed at any second." At one point, he said, "I had lost track of reality." And upon returning to the United States "everybody seemed like phantoms," Marshall added.
He told the audience that he wanted to return to southeast Asia until, "I met a woman who gave me LSD."
"For some people [LSD is] the right thing... [and] may be spiritually advantageous," he later added. However, he warned that the drug is only appropriate for those over 30 years of age.
Marshall created a video documentary on Rose, a "no-nonsense West Virginia farm boy" who now suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Based on the principles of Zen Buddhism that Rose taught him, Marshall explained how to reach enlightenment.
Marshall's main focus was the "10 points on what to do while waiting to wake up." He encouraged audience members to ask themselves "who am I?", to find their callings, to empty themselves, to live in the present moment and to cultivate "betweenness"-a state of "being able to desire something without caring whether you get it or not," he explained.
He also instructed them to obey their inner guidances, to be daring and imaginative, to see the needs of others though "you don't necessarily have to help them," to forgive everybody and to tell the truth.
Marshall read a section of a poem written by Rose in his Three Books of the Absolute. During the reading, many in the audience rested their arms in their laps, slightly lowered their heads and closed their eyes. Marshall also showed a section of his documentary on Rose. In the film, Rose advocated celibacy for enlightenment seekers, in order to then "take the energy you salvage and go after the books, the philosophy, the meditation." Rose told the seeker that "when you get control of yourself, you will feel powerful."
Burns, the subject of Marshall's current documentary project, "is an enlightened man who still suffers from mental illness" and is slightly autistic.
Trinity senior Andrew Baldwin said he was moved by the presentation. The speech "made me think about life, why I'm here, who I am, what my purpose is," he said. "It seems like fate that I came today."
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