A Worthy Messenger

I have referred to the work of Walter Russell (1871-1963) quite a few times recently in various conference presentations, and I usually find that the only people who have heard of him are those who have attended a previous presentation! I also reviewed the short biography by Glenn Clark (The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe) and Russell's own The Secret of Light in a previous issue. I would still recommend those unfamiliar with his work to begin with the Clark biography which is only some 60 pages – the pdf can be sourced on the Internet. The New York Herald Tribune called Russell the modern Leonardo for the variety of his accomplishments, which are described in this readable biography by Charles Hardy, who knew Russell as a young man.

Starting as a musician, Russell became one of the foremost portrait painters of children, including those of President Theodore Roosevelt, as well as a prolific illustrator. At the age of 56, he moved on to sculpture, which he had never done before, and his first subject was none other than Thomas Edison. He is perhaps most famous for his Mark Twain Memorial and the Four Freedoms, which include President Franklin Roosevelt's freedom from fear: 'there is nothing to fear but fear itself.' In the meantime, he was also an architect, town planner and the originator of the cooperative housing concept. Then he was a leading horse breeder and champion figure skater, even into his 60s. He famously said that genius is self-bestowed, and mediocrity self-inflicted. His life is an extraordinary demonstration of human capacity and possibilities when connected to the Source. This means working with God, rather than God working for us.

The central incident of Russell's life was a three-week mystical illumination in 1921 where he became aligned with the Light and Love of the Universal Mind and was able to download some extraordinary insights into the nature of the universe, which he first expressed in the mystical Divine Iliad and more scientifically and philosophically in The Universal One. Here he is able to articulate some of the basic dynamic principles of the universe, including the complementary principles of unfolding and refolding, radiation and gravitation, birth and death, all in what he called a rhythmic balanced interchange. I am still in the middle of this masterwork, which he subsequently updated in other publications, but which was the source of his doctorate conferred by the New York Academy of Sciences in the 1941. It should be noted that Russell left school at 10, and never received any formal scientific education. Nevertheless, he was able to conduct high-level debates with scientists on these topics.

In the 1890s, he became involved with Andrew Carnegie and others in the Twilight Club and the Poet's Code of Ethics, which sets out a number of basic ethical principles as the foundation of what we would now call a global ethic. In its original form, the Twilight Club was instrumental in bringing into existence movements such as the Boy Scouts, Rotary Clubs, and Better Business Bureaus, which was a joint venture with Thomas J Watson Sr of IBM. Russell gave many motivational talks at IBM, which were very well received. He also continued the work of the Twilight club through the Society of Arts and Sciences. Carnegie also sponsored the Authors Club, which brought together many leading literary individuals and was an important element in Carnegie's own education.

The Message of the Divine Iliad gives the mystical essence of Russell's vision as a scribe for the Universal Mind. It is written in verses and with old-fashioned use of thee and thy and directly inspired from the I Am presence. There are nine sections, including a salutation to the day and invocation for the night as well as chapters on desire, rest, love, beauty and healing. Desires are seen as patterned seeds that repeat themselves and give rise to corresponding situations and conditions. The divine is the centring presence within all manifestation and thinks or creates within us. The key shift is the realisation that 'the Self of man is Me' (p. 67). The Divine is the universal I, and humans are 'One in Me when they know Me in them.' Knowledge and power are not only in the Light, but also in Love as well as in Beauty. This is a form of knowing beyond sensing and the separation of bodily awareness. We cannot think beyond our knowing, and the ultimate knowing is cosmic knowing in which all is unified. We are therefore encouraged to know that we are wholly Mind and that our minds and the divine one Mind.

It is interesting to reflect that Walter Russell (1871-1963) and Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) were almost exact contemporaries with very different viewpoints. Walter would have considered Bertrand as sense bound in his knowing, while Bertrand would have regarded Walter as going beyond the bounds of reason. However, they both lived in the same world while operating at very different levels but sharing a concern for the welfare of the world as a whole, as their common preoccupation with nuclear weapons in the 1950s shows.