fbpx
Wikipedia

J. Z. Knight

January 02, 2023

Judy Zebra "J. Z." Knight (born Judith Darlene Hampton; March 16, 1946) is an American spiritual teacher and author known for her purported channelling of a spiritual entity named Ramtha. Critics consider her to be a cult leader.[1]

J. Z. Knight
Born
Judith Darlene Hampton

(1946-03-16) March 16, 1946 (age 76)
Roswell, New Mexico, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States
Occupation(s)New Age channeler, author, speaker
Years active1977–present
Known forRamtha's School of Enlightenment
Children2
Websitewww.jzknight.com

Knight has appeared on US TV shows, such as Larry King,[2] MSNBC[3] and The Merv Griffin Show, as well as in media such as Psychology Today.[4] Her teachings have attracted figures from the entertainment and political world such as Linda Evans and Shirley MacLaine.[5] Knight claims to bridge ancient wisdom and the power of consciousness together with the latest discoveries in science.[6] Some of the ideas are similar to those of Shirley MacLaine,[7] which were criticized for being "kindergarten metaphysics" by mathematician and skeptic Martin Gardner.[8] Shirley Maclaine claimed in her book[9] that she was the brother of Ramtha in their Atlantean past lives. Ramtha's teachings have been criticized by scientists and skeptics. The Southern Poverty Law Center has criticized Knight for "homophobic, anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic racist rants".[10]

Knight lives in a 12,800-square-foot (1,190 m2) French chateau-style home in Yelm, Washington, teaches courses and runs Ramtha's School of Enlightenment.[11]

Knight has been married three times and is the mother of two children from her first marriage,[12] which ended in divorce.[13][14]

Career

Knight grew up in poverty. After graduating from high school, she dropped out of business school.[citation needed] She later worked in the cable television industry, and due to her work moved to Tacoma, Washington, where, according to her autobiography, a psychic told her the "Enlightened One" would appear to her in the future.[13] She says that Ramtha first appeared to her in her kitchen in 1977.[13][15]

Knight appeared on The Merv Griffin Show in 1985 and wrote the autobiographical A State of Mind in 1987. Time called her "probably the most celebrated of all current channelers".[16] She is currently the president of JZK, Inc and Ramtha's School of Enlightenment, located near the town of Yelm, Washington. Knight owns several U.S. trademark registrations featuring the "Ramtha" name.[17] She appeared in the 2004 film What the Bleep Do We Know!?, produced by members of the Ramtha School.[18][19]

Ramtha

"Ramtha" redirects here. For the city in Jordan, see Ramtha, Jordan.

"Ramtha" (the name is claimed to be derived from Ram and to mean "the God" in Ramtha's language) is a reputed entity whom Knight says she channels. According to Knight, Ramtha was a Lemurian warrior who fought the Atlanteans over 35,000 years ago.[20] Knight claims Ramtha speaks of leading an army over 2.5 million strong (more than twice the estimated world population at about 30,000 BC) for 63 years, and conquering three-fourths of the known world (which was allegedly going through cataclysmic geological changes). According to Knight, Ramtha led the army for 10 years until he was betrayed and almost killed.[21]

Knight maintains Ramtha spent the next seven years in isolation recovering and observing nature, the seasons, his army making homes and families, and many other things. She says he later mastered many skills, including foresight and out-of-body experiences, until he led his army to the Indus River while in his late fifties (after having led his army for 63 years). According to Knight, Ramtha taught his soldiers everything he knew for 120 days, then he bade them farewell, rose into the air, and in a bright flash of light he ascended before them. Knight says that he made a promise to his army he would come back to teach them everything he had learned. JZ Knight says that in 1977 Ramtha appeared before her and told her he had come to help her over the ditch. JZ Knight claims to have become his first student of what she calls the great work.[20]

Teachings

Further information: Ramtha's School of Enlightenment § Teachings

Ramtha is the central figure (the "master teacher") of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment, started by Knight in 1987 near the town Yelm, Washington. Classes (or "dialogues") had been held around the world for the previous 10 years. There are currently over 6,000 students of Knight's teachings.[12]

The four cornerstones of Knight's philosophy are:[22]

  • The statement 'You are god'
  • The directive to make known the unknown
  • The concept that consciousness and energy create the nature of reality
  • The challenge to conquer yourself

Knight's teachings appear to be a mixture of Jungian philosophy, Western occult traditions and contemporary positive-thinking attitudes (such as New Age beliefs)[23] and have yet to stand against elementary skepticism or scrutiny.[24] Predictions made by Knight in the name of the disembodied entity have either failed to come true (e.g. predicting a holocaust would take place in 1985, or the US would be involved in a major war in 1985) or the predicted scenarios are too wide to evaluate and/or have too large an error margin to be considered, which is usually the case with channelers.[23]

When Knight says she is channeling Ramtha she speaks mostly in English in what sounds like an accent from the British Raj.[24][25]

In her teachings "Ramtha" has made several controversial statements such as Christianity is a "backward" religion, that Jesus' parables can be explained by means of photon waves and probability,[26] that "murder isn't really wrong or evil" (if one believes in reincarnation),[27] or (during the court case JZ Knight v Jeff Knight) Jeff Knight stated Ramtha had declared HIV is Nature's way of 'getting rid of' homosexuality.[26] The Southern Poverty Law Center observed "Ramtha" has made anti-semitic comments such as ""Fuck God's chosen people! I think they have earned enough cash to have paid their way out of the goddamned gas chambers by now".[10]

Controversy and criticism

Further information: Ramtha's School of Enlightenment § Controversy and criticism, and Mediumship § Criticism

Skeptics point to Ramtha's story as proof that he does not exist. Ramtha claims to come from the continent of Lemuria and to have conquered Atlantis. The existence of the two locations is considered of legendary nature, and neither has been found. Furthermore, the claim that Ramtha led an army of 2.5 million contradicts estimates of the world population at 33,000 BC, and her claims of clairvoyant, telepathic, telekinetic and other ESP abilities, for which there is no scientific support, have been heavily criticized by skeptics and scientific communities.[28][29][30][31]

Magician and skeptic James Randi said that Ramtha's believers have "no way of evaluating [her teachings]",[32] while Carl Sagan in his book The Demon-Haunted World says that "the simplest hypothesis is that Ms. Knight makes 'Ramtha' speak all by herself, and that she has no contact with disembodied entities from the Pleistocene Ice Age." He goes on to write a list of questions that Ramtha's answers to would help us determine whether he is actually a disembodied entity from the paleolithic times (such as "What were the indigenous languages, and social structure?", "What was their writing like?" or "How do we know that he lived 35,000 years ago?"), and ends by saying that "[i]nstead, all we are offered are banal homilies."[24]

Knight's former husband, Jeff Knight, in an interview in 1992 with Joe Szimhart, said that Ramtha's teachings are a "farce" and that they are "just a money making business for [JZ Knight]". He also said that students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment are "involved in a very dangerous, very evil corrupt thing".[33]

Attacks and criticism against Ramtha's teachings and Ramtha's School of Enlightenment have also been made by former students of the school. David McCarthy, a Yelm resident and former student of the school between 1989 and 1996, has accused the school of being a cult. He further claims that he was intimidated during his studies there, and he felt like mind control was being exerted by Knight and the school. He said "At one point I was running around scared I was going to get eaten by the lizard people."[34] McCarthy became disappointed, not only with his own experience of Ramtha's teachings but also as he had cut ties from his family to become a student as they lived in a different country.[35] This led McCarthy to form a group called "Life After Ramtha's School of Enlightenment", which questions the authenticity of Ramtha and encourages people to come out and express their experiences after their realization that the RSE is a cult. The school has also been characterized as a cult by skeptic Michael Shermer in his book Why People Believe Weird Things.[25]

Glenn Cunningham, a former bodyguard of Knight's, in an interview with David McCarthy details the inner workings of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment and criticizes various activities (such as trademarking ideas and phrases that had been coined by other authors many years before – for example, the idea of "Blue Body", or mixing quantum physics with new age ideas, which can be found in Vera Stanley Alder's From the Mundane to the Magnificent, first published in 1979) of Knight's and aspects of Ramtha which he simply saw as Knight acting. Among the things he mentions is the fact that Ramtha mispronounces the same words that Knight mispronounces, and that Ramtha quotes the same books that Knight has read.[36]

Furthermore, Ramtha's teachings as they are portrayed in the movie What the Bleep Do We Know!?, not only in the general gist of the film (which was directed and funded by students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment) but also in instances where Ramtha is interviewed on screen, have been heavily criticized by the scientific community,[37][38][39][40] and skeptics,[41] such as James Randi.[42]

Court cases

Knight has been involved in several court disputes, some personal and others business-related. She brought a suit against a woman from Berlin named Julie Ravell for disturbing Knight's psychic state and leaving her "hanging in spiritual limbo" during the five years Ravell claimed she was also channeling Ramtha. The case was brought to the supreme court in Vienna and lasted over five years, at the end of which Austria's supreme court awarded copyright to Knight as the sole channeler of Ramtha, and Ravell was made to pay $800 in psychic damages to Knight.[43] Another case involving copyright and trademark ownership was JZK, Inc vs. Glandon, in which Joseph Glandon was accused of distributing copyrighted teachings of Ramtha.[citation needed]

In Knight vs. Knight (1992–1995), Jeff Knight alleges that he lost years of his life by postponing modern medical treatment for his HIV infection, due to advice from his wife that Ramtha could heal him. The court decided against him; he died before he could appeal the court's decision.[44]

Knight, through JZK Inc., accused WhiteWind Weaver, a Thurston County, Washington citizen, of stealing her ideas and using her and Ramtha's teachings in her workshops. A trial began on March 10, 2008, in Thurston County Superior Court and at the end of it Knight was awarded about $10,000 after the court's decision against WhiteWind Weaver.[45]

Knight also refused to attend court as a witness in a case involving a 15-year-old who claimed rape against two students of Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. The 15-year-old girl had written a letter to Knight which mentioned that Wayne Allen Geis, her dancing and acting teacher, had engaged in sexual intercourse with her from 1995 to 1997. The illicit activities had also involved Ruth Beverly Martin. They had apparently told the girl that sexual intercourse would help her to relax and improve her acting ability. Knight invited the girl to a retreat at the school in November 1999. In the retreat, Ramtha questioned the girl, her father, Geis and Martin. This inquiry took place on stage in front of an audience of over 800 people for about an hour. Geis and Martin confessed to having molested the girl, and the school contacted authorities. Charged with 10 counts of first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, Geis and Martin pleaded not guilty and the case went to trial.[46][additional citation(s) needed] Prosecutors were reluctant to have Knight appear in court due to the "circus atmosphere" that would have been created. Knight herself claimed that she had been in a trance and did not remember anything of what was said in the retreat inquiry.[47]

See also

References

  1. ^ Sommer, Will (2019-05-21). "QAnon Teams Up With Alleged Cult Leader". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2022-04-25.
  2. ^ King, Larry (August 2, 2008). "Larry King Live – Change you Mind, Change your life (transcript)". CNN. CNN. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  3. ^ . MSNBC. MSNBC. August 25, 2010. Archived from the original on August 27, 2010. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  4. ^ Hohlbaum, Christine Louise. "Digital Addiction Revisited". The Power of Slow. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  5. ^ Stephen Rae (August 1991). "Yes, they're still at it! (celebrity cult followers)". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
  6. ^ Knight, JZ. (PDF). RSE. pp. 2–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-06.
  7. ^ MacLaine, Shirley (1983). Out on a Limb. New York: Bantam Books. p. 214.
  8. ^ Gardner, Martin (1988). New Age: Notes of a Fringe-Watcher. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-87975-432-7.
  9. ^ MacLaine, Shirley (1985). Dancing in the Light. New York: Bantam Books. p. 119.
  10. ^ a b "Ramtha Riled". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  11. ^ "Questions and Answers about Ramtha, JZ Knight". The Olympian. July 16, 2006. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
  12. ^ a b Pemberton, Lisa (July 16, 2006). "Behind the gates at Ramtha's School". The Olympian. Retrieved November 20, 2009.[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ a b c Knight, J.Z. (1987). A State of Mind: My Story. New York: Warner Books.
  14. ^ "The Mother Nature – August 08 Mom of the month". The Mother Nature. August 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2009.
  15. ^ "JZ Knight testifies against ex-student". Seattle PI. Olympia. 2008-09-10. Retrieved 2013-02-18.
  16. ^ Friedrich, Otto (December 1987). "New Age Harmonies". Time. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  17. ^ "Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)". Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS). Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  18. ^ Harriette Yahr, Let's get metaphysical 2010-06-20 at the Wayback Machine. In Salon, 2004-09-09, page found 2010-07-03.
  19. ^ Chris Lydgate, "What the #$*! is Ramtha" 2010-04-26 at the Wayback Machine Willamette Week, December 22, 2004. Page found 2010-10-15.
  20. ^ a b JZK Publishing; Revised & enlarged edition (2005), ISBN 978-1-57873-045-2
  21. ^ Knight, J.Z. (1999). Ramtha: The White Book. Yelm, Washington: JZK Publishing. p. 28.
  22. ^ Knight, J.Z. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 6, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  23. ^ a b Wynn, Charles M.; Wiggins, Arthur W.; Harris, Sidney (2001). Quantum leaps in the wrong direction: where real science ends – and pseudoscience begins. Berlin: Joseph Henry Press. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-0-309-07309-7.
  24. ^ a b c Sagan, Carl (1997). The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark. Ballantine Books. p. 480. ISBN 978-0-394-53512-8.
  25. ^ a b Shermer, Michael (2002). Why People Believe Weird Things. New York: Henry Holt and Company. p. 295.
  26. ^ a b Gorenfeld, John (2004-09-16). ""Bleep" of faith". Salon. Retrieved 2006-11-29.
  27. ^ Chandler, Russell (1993). Understanding the New Age. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-310-38561-5. J.Z. Knight, channel for Cro-Magnon entity Ramtha, says murder isn't really wrong or evil. "If you believe in the continuation of life [reincarnation] it's a different story," she said on ABC's "20/20."
  28. ^ For telepathy, see for example, Randi, James. Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions. Prometheus Books (1982) ISBN 0-87975-198-3 or
    Charpak, Georges and Henri Broch. Translated by Bart K. Holland. Debunked!: ESP, Telekinesis, and Other Pseudoscience. The Johns Hopkins University Press (2004), ISBN 0-8018-7867-5
  29. ^ "It would be foolish to accept [psychokinesis] (...) without solid scientific data": Sagan, Carl (1995). The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a candle in the dark. Headline. pp. 208–212. ISBN 978-0-7472-7745-3..
  30. ^ Feynman, Richard P. (1999). The Meaning of It All. Penguin. pp. 68–71. ISBN 978-0-14-027635-0.
  31. ^ Randi, James. An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural
  32. ^ Randi, James (29 April 2005). "Ramtha Raves". Retrieved 19 November 2009.
  33. ^ Knight, Jeff & Szimhart, Joe (1992). The Jeff Knight interview 1992. JZ Knight. Ramtha. Cults. YouTube.
  34. ^ Brenner, Keri (January 27, 2008). "Disillusioned former students target Ramtha". Retrieved November 19, 2009.[permanent dead link]
  35. ^ McCarthy, McCarthy, David (2006). LARSE Gathering.
  36. ^ Cunningham, Glenn & McCarthy, David (2001). Glenn Cunningham Interview.
  37. ^ Kuttner, Fred; Rosenblum, Bruce (November 2006). "Teaching physics mysteries versus pseudoscience". Physics Today. 59 (11): 14. Bibcode:2006PhT....59k..14K. doi:10.1063/1.2435631.
  38. ^ "The minds boggle". The Guardian Unlimited
  39. ^ What the Bleep are they On About?! Australian Broadcasting Corporation
  40. ^ Wilson, Elizabeth (2005-01-13). "What the Bleep Do We Know?!". American Chemical Society. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  41. ^ Review by Eric Scerri of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
  42. ^ 2004 Pigasus awards James Randi Educational Foundation
  43. ^ Connolly, Kate (June 9, 1997). "Medium wins channeling right".
  44. ^ Szimhart, Joe (July 1998). "Essay on Gordon Melton's Study on Ramtha". Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  45. ^ Rollins, Michael (September 16, 2008). "Ramtha 1, Whitewind Weaver 0". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  46. ^ Wilson, Kimberly A.C., ( October 4, 2010) "'Ramtha' may take stand in rape case". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  47. ^ Associated Press, (October 10, 2010) "'Ramtha's channeler' can't testify". Retrieved October 15, 2010.

External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Ramtha.
  • Official website
  • Ramtha's School Of Enlightenment official website

January 02, 2023
knight, judy, zebra, knight, born, judith, darlene, hampton, march, 1946, american, spiritual, teacher, author, known, purported, channelling, spiritual, entity, named, ramtha, critics, consider, cult, leader, bornjudith, darlene, hampton, 1946, march, 1946, r. Judy Zebra J Z Knight born Judith Darlene Hampton March 16 1946 is an American spiritual teacher and author known for her purported channelling of a spiritual entity named Ramtha Critics consider her to be a cult leader 1 J Z KnightBornJudith Darlene Hampton 1946 03 16 March 16 1946 age 76 Roswell New Mexico U S NationalityAmericanCitizenshipUnited StatesOccupation s New Age channeler author speakerYears active1977 presentKnown forRamtha s School of EnlightenmentChildren2Websitewww wbr jzknight wbr comKnight has appeared on US TV shows such as Larry King 2 MSNBC 3 and The Merv Griffin Show as well as in media such as Psychology Today 4 Her teachings have attracted figures from the entertainment and political world such as Linda Evans and Shirley MacLaine 5 Knight claims to bridge ancient wisdom and the power of consciousness together with the latest discoveries in science 6 Some of the ideas are similar to those of Shirley MacLaine 7 which were criticized for being kindergarten metaphysics by mathematician and skeptic Martin Gardner 8 Shirley Maclaine claimed in her book 9 that she was the brother of Ramtha in their Atlantean past lives Ramtha s teachings have been criticized by scientists and skeptics The Southern Poverty Law Center has criticized Knight for homophobic anti Catholic anti Semitic racist rants 10 Knight lives in a 12 800 square foot 1 190 m2 French chateau style home in Yelm Washington teaches courses and runs Ramtha s School of Enlightenment 11 Knight has been married three times and is the mother of two children from her first marriage 12 which ended in divorce 13 14 Contents 1 Career 2 Ramtha 2 1 Teachings 3 Controversy and criticism 3 1 Court cases 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksCareer EditKnight grew up in poverty After graduating from high school she dropped out of business school citation needed She later worked in the cable television industry and due to her work moved to Tacoma Washington where according to her autobiography a psychic told her the Enlightened One would appear to her in the future 13 She says that Ramtha first appeared to her in her kitchen in 1977 13 15 Knight appeared on The Merv Griffin Show in 1985 and wrote the autobiographical A State of Mind in 1987 Time called her probably the most celebrated of all current channelers 16 She is currently the president of JZK Inc and Ramtha s School of Enlightenment located near the town of Yelm Washington Knight owns several U S trademark registrations featuring the Ramtha name 17 She appeared in the 2004 film What the Bleep Do We Know produced by members of the Ramtha School 18 19 Ramtha Edit Ramtha redirects here For the city in Jordan see Ramtha Jordan Ramtha the name is claimed to be derived from Ram and to mean the God in Ramtha s language is a reputed entity whom Knight says she channels According to Knight Ramtha was a Lemurian warrior who fought the Atlanteans over 35 000 years ago 20 Knight claims Ramtha speaks of leading an army over 2 5 million strong more than twice the estimated world population at about 30 000 BC for 63 years and conquering three fourths of the known world which was allegedly going through cataclysmic geological changes According to Knight Ramtha led the army for 10 years until he was betrayed and almost killed 21 Knight maintains Ramtha spent the next seven years in isolation recovering and observing nature the seasons his army making homes and families and many other things She says he later mastered many skills including foresight and out of body experiences until he led his army to the Indus River while in his late fifties after having led his army for 63 years According to Knight Ramtha taught his soldiers everything he knew for 120 days then he bade them farewell rose into the air and in a bright flash of light he ascended before them Knight says that he made a promise to his army he would come back to teach them everything he had learned JZ Knight says that in 1977 Ramtha appeared before her and told her he had come to help her over the ditch JZ Knight claims to have become his first student of what she calls the great work 20 Teachings Edit Further information Ramtha s School of Enlightenment Teachings Ramtha is the central figure the master teacher of Ramtha s School of Enlightenment started by Knight in 1987 near the town Yelm Washington Classes or dialogues had been held around the world for the previous 10 years There are currently over 6 000 students of Knight s teachings 12 The four cornerstones of Knight s philosophy are 22 The statement You are god The directive to make known the unknown The concept that consciousness and energy create the nature of reality The challenge to conquer yourselfKnight s teachings appear to be a mixture of Jungian philosophy Western occult traditions and contemporary positive thinking attitudes such as New Age beliefs 23 and have yet to stand against elementary skepticism or scrutiny 24 Predictions made by Knight in the name of the disembodied entity have either failed to come true e g predicting a holocaust would take place in 1985 or the US would be involved in a major war in 1985 or the predicted scenarios are too wide to evaluate and or have too large an error margin to be considered which is usually the case with channelers 23 When Knight says she is channeling Ramtha she speaks mostly in English in what sounds like an accent from the British Raj 24 25 In her teachings Ramtha has made several controversial statements such as Christianity is a backward religion that Jesus parables can be explained by means of photon waves and probability 26 that murder isn t really wrong or evil if one believes in reincarnation 27 or during the court case JZ Knight v Jeff Knight Jeff Knight stated Ramtha had declared HIV is Nature s way of getting rid of homosexuality 26 The Southern Poverty Law Center observed Ramtha has made anti semitic comments such as Fuck God s chosen people I think they have earned enough cash to have paid their way out of the goddamned gas chambers by now 10 Controversy and criticism EditFurther information Ramtha s School of Enlightenment Controversy and criticism and Mediumship Criticism Skeptics point to Ramtha s story as proof that he does not exist Ramtha claims to come from the continent of Lemuria and to have conquered Atlantis The existence of the two locations is considered of legendary nature and neither has been found Furthermore the claim that Ramtha led an army of 2 5 million contradicts estimates of the world population at 33 000 BC and her claims of clairvoyant telepathic telekinetic and other ESP abilities for which there is no scientific support have been heavily criticized by skeptics and scientific communities 28 29 30 31 Magician and skeptic James Randi said that Ramtha s believers have no way of evaluating her teachings 32 while Carl Sagan in his book The Demon Haunted World says that the simplest hypothesis is that Ms Knight makes Ramtha speak all by herself and that she has no contact with disembodied entities from the Pleistocene Ice Age He goes on to write a list of questions that Ramtha s answers to would help us determine whether he is actually a disembodied entity from the paleolithic times such as What were the indigenous languages and social structure What was their writing like or How do we know that he lived 35 000 years ago and ends by saying that i nstead all we are offered are banal homilies 24 Knight s former husband Jeff Knight in an interview in 1992 with Joe Szimhart said that Ramtha s teachings are a farce and that they are just a money making business for JZ Knight He also said that students of Ramtha s School of Enlightenment are involved in a very dangerous very evil corrupt thing 33 Attacks and criticism against Ramtha s teachings and Ramtha s School of Enlightenment have also been made by former students of the school David McCarthy a Yelm resident and former student of the school between 1989 and 1996 has accused the school of being a cult He further claims that he was intimidated during his studies there and he felt like mind control was being exerted by Knight and the school He said At one point I was running around scared I was going to get eaten by the lizard people 34 McCarthy became disappointed not only with his own experience of Ramtha s teachings but also as he had cut ties from his family to become a student as they lived in a different country 35 This led McCarthy to form a group called Life After Ramtha s School of Enlightenment which questions the authenticity of Ramtha and encourages people to come out and express their experiences after their realization that the RSE is a cult The school has also been characterized as a cult by skeptic Michael Shermer in his book Why People Believe Weird Things 25 Glenn Cunningham a former bodyguard of Knight s in an interview with David McCarthy details the inner workings of Ramtha s School of Enlightenment and criticizes various activities such as trademarking ideas and phrases that had been coined by other authors many years before for example the idea of Blue Body or mixing quantum physics with new age ideas which can be found in Vera Stanley Alder s From the Mundane to the Magnificent first published in 1979 of Knight s and aspects of Ramtha which he simply saw as Knight acting Among the things he mentions is the fact that Ramtha mispronounces the same words that Knight mispronounces and that Ramtha quotes the same books that Knight has read 36 Furthermore Ramtha s teachings as they are portrayed in the movie What the Bleep Do We Know not only in the general gist of the film which was directed and funded by students of Ramtha s School of Enlightenment but also in instances where Ramtha is interviewed on screen have been heavily criticized by the scientific community 37 38 39 40 and skeptics 41 such as James Randi 42 Court cases Edit Knight has been involved in several court disputes some personal and others business related She brought a suit against a woman from Berlin named Julie Ravell for disturbing Knight s psychic state and leaving her hanging in spiritual limbo during the five years Ravell claimed she was also channeling Ramtha The case was brought to the supreme court in Vienna and lasted over five years at the end of which Austria s supreme court awarded copyright to Knight as the sole channeler of Ramtha and Ravell was made to pay 800 in psychic damages to Knight 43 Another case involving copyright and trademark ownership was JZK Inc vs Glandon in which Joseph Glandon was accused of distributing copyrighted teachings of Ramtha citation needed In Knight vs Knight 1992 1995 Jeff Knight alleges that he lost years of his life by postponing modern medical treatment for his HIV infection due to advice from his wife that Ramtha could heal him The court decided against him he died before he could appeal the court s decision 44 Knight through JZK Inc accused WhiteWind Weaver a Thurston County Washington citizen of stealing her ideas and using her and Ramtha s teachings in her workshops A trial began on March 10 2008 in Thurston County Superior Court and at the end of it Knight was awarded about 10 000 after the court s decision against WhiteWind Weaver 45 Knight also refused to attend court as a witness in a case involving a 15 year old who claimed rape against two students of Ramtha s School of Enlightenment The 15 year old girl had written a letter to Knight which mentioned that Wayne Allen Geis her dancing and acting teacher had engaged in sexual intercourse with her from 1995 to 1997 The illicit activities had also involved Ruth Beverly Martin They had apparently told the girl that sexual intercourse would help her to relax and improve her acting ability Knight invited the girl to a retreat at the school in November 1999 In the retreat Ramtha questioned the girl her father Geis and Martin This inquiry took place on stage in front of an audience of over 800 people for about an hour Geis and Martin confessed to having molested the girl and the school contacted authorities Charged with 10 counts of first degree sexual misconduct with a minor Geis and Martin pleaded not guilty and the case went to trial 46 additional citation s needed Prosecutors were reluctant to have Knight appear in court due to the circus atmosphere that would have been created Knight herself claimed that she had been in a trance and did not remember anything of what was said in the retreat inquiry 47 See also EditChanneling Extrasensory perception New Age Spirituality Pseudoscience Skepticism The Power of Belief What The Bleep Do We KnowReferences Edit Sommer Will 2019 05 21 QAnon Teams Up With Alleged Cult Leader The Daily Beast Retrieved 2022 04 25 King Larry August 2 2008 Larry King Live Change you Mind Change your life transcript CNN CNN Retrieved 2009 11 22 What Lies Beyond The Bleep transcript MSNBC MSNBC August 25 2010 Archived from the original on August 27 2010 Retrieved 2009 11 22 Hohlbaum Christine Louise Digital Addiction Revisited The Power of Slow Retrieved 25 August 2011 Stephen Rae August 1991 Yes they re still at it celebrity cult followers Cosmopolitan Retrieved 2011 01 21 Knight JZ Ramtha s School of Enlightenment An Introduction PDF RSE pp 2 3 Archived from the original PDF on 2009 02 06 MacLaine Shirley 1983 Out on a Limb New York Bantam Books p 214 Gardner Martin 1988 New Age Notes of a Fringe Watcher Buffalo NY Prometheus Books p 36 ISBN 978 0 87975 432 7 MacLaine Shirley 1985 Dancing in the Light New York Bantam Books p 119 a b Ramtha Riled Southern Poverty Law Center Questions and Answers about Ramtha JZ Knight The Olympian July 16 2006 Archived from the original on February 4 2013 Retrieved November 19 2009 a b Pemberton Lisa July 16 2006 Behind the gates at Ramtha s School The Olympian Retrieved November 20 2009 permanent dead link a b c Knight J Z 1987 A State of Mind My Story New York Warner Books The Mother Nature August 08 Mom of the month The Mother Nature August 2008 Retrieved November 22 2009 JZ Knight testifies against ex student Seattle PI Olympia 2008 09 10 Retrieved 2013 02 18 Friedrich Otto December 1987 New Age Harmonies Time Archived from the original on June 30 2012 Retrieved 2008 09 16 Trademark Electronic Search System TESS Trademark Electronic Search System TESS Retrieved 13 August 2018 Harriette Yahr Let s get metaphysical Archived 2010 06 20 at the Wayback Machine In Salon 2004 09 09 page found 2010 07 03 Chris Lydgate What the is Ramtha Archived 2010 04 26 at the Wayback Machine Willamette Week December 22 2004 Page found 2010 10 15 a b JZK Publishing Revised amp enlarged edition 2005 ISBN 978 1 57873 045 2 Knight J Z 1999 Ramtha The White Book Yelm Washington JZK Publishing p 28 Knight J Z Ramtha s School of Enlightenment an Introduction PDF PDF Archived from the original PDF on February 6 2009 Retrieved November 20 2009 a b Wynn Charles M Wiggins Arthur W Harris Sidney 2001 Quantum leaps in the wrong direction where real science ends and pseudoscience begins Berlin Joseph Henry Press pp 85 86 ISBN 978 0 309 07309 7 a b c Sagan Carl 1997 The Demon Haunted World Science As a Candle in the Dark Ballantine Books p 480 ISBN 978 0 394 53512 8 a b Shermer Michael 2002 Why People Believe Weird Things New York Henry Holt and Company p 295 a b Gorenfeld John 2004 09 16 Bleep of faith Salon Retrieved 2006 11 29 Chandler Russell 1993 Understanding the New Age Grand Rapids MI Zondervan Publishing House p 265 ISBN 978 0 310 38561 5 J Z Knight channel for Cro Magnon entity Ramtha says murder isn t really wrong or evil If you believe in the continuation of life reincarnation it s a different story she said on ABC s 20 20 For telepathy see for example Randi James Flim Flam Psychics ESP Unicorns and Other Delusions Prometheus Books 1982 ISBN 0 87975 198 3 orCharpak Georges and Henri Broch Translated by Bart K Holland Debunked ESP Telekinesis and Other Pseudoscience The Johns Hopkins University Press 2004 ISBN 0 8018 7867 5 It would be foolish to accept psychokinesis without solid scientific data Sagan Carl 1995 The Demon Haunted World Science as a candle in the dark Headline pp 208 212 ISBN 978 0 7472 7745 3 Feynman Richard P 1999 The Meaning of It All Penguin pp 68 71 ISBN 978 0 14 027635 0 Randi James An Encyclopedia of Claims Frauds and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural Randi James 29 April 2005 Ramtha Raves Retrieved 19 November 2009 Knight Jeff amp Szimhart Joe 1992 The Jeff Knight interview 1992 JZ Knight Ramtha Cults YouTube Brenner Keri January 27 2008 Disillusioned former students target Ramtha Retrieved November 19 2009 permanent dead link McCarthy McCarthy David 2006 LARSE Gathering Cunningham Glenn amp McCarthy David 2001 Glenn Cunningham Interview Kuttner Fred Rosenblum Bruce November 2006 Teaching physics mysteries versus pseudoscience Physics Today 59 11 14 Bibcode 2006PhT 59k 14K doi 10 1063 1 2435631 The minds boggle The Guardian Unlimited What the Bleep are they On About Australian Broadcasting Corporation Wilson Elizabeth 2005 01 13 What the Bleep Do We Know American Chemical Society Retrieved 2007 12 19 Review by Eric Scerri of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry 2004 Pigasus awards James Randi Educational Foundation Connolly Kate June 9 1997 Medium wins channeling right Szimhart Joe July 1998 Essay on Gordon Melton s Study on Ramtha Retrieved November 20 2009 Rollins Michael September 16 2008 Ramtha 1 Whitewind Weaver 0 The Oregonian Retrieved November 20 2009 Wilson Kimberly A C October 4 2010 Ramtha may take stand in rape case Seattle Post Intelligencer Retrieved October 15 2010 Associated Press October 10 2010 Ramtha s channeler can t testify Retrieved October 15 2010 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Ramtha Official website Ramtha s School Of Enlightenment official website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title J Z Knight amp oldid 1129408277, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.