another view

To go to the beginning of this blog and an introduction to the Lifewave cult click here.

When I was in Lifewave there was one way of looking at the Inner Light and Sound. It was regarded as an energy that was divine in origin. This is consistent with the Divine Light Mission, which John Yarr used to be part of. It is also consistent with the Radha Soami and Sant Mat traditions in India, of which Radha Soami Satsang Beas was just one example.

There is another way of looking at the Inner Light and Sound though. This view is found in other traditions. They don't see it as an energy - instead they see it as an aspect of the mind. I have scanned two pages of a book called 'Journey of Insight Meditation' by Eric Lerner. This book helped me to see that there are other ways of thinking about the Inner Light and Sound, which is why I have included it here.

I like the bit where he writes "When the mind is still, its nature is light". I know that many will resist this view, as I did to begin with. Lerner's explanation is more poetic than mungojelly's.

When I was in Lifewave I was told to take what they said to me at face value, not to try to work it out for myself. I was told this is beyond your mind. That seems to be common in cults, I was told that elsewhere, with people getting angry if I dared to suggest there might be something incomplete about their wonderful system.

Well, sod them. When I read the above two pages I knew that there are others who take a completely different view about what the Inner Light and Sound is. And it's a more sophisticated view, which allows for a more complete understanding of what it is and how to use it. I don't anymore have to put up with anyone telling me I'm not able to think for myself. It's not me who is stupid.

introduction to Lifewave

This blog is intended to be a source of information for people who were part of a cult called Lifewave and anyone else who is interested in it. It will include documents from the time the cult existed and after it broke up, testaments from former members and my own opinions.

Lifewave was started by John Yarr (Herbert John Yarr). He joined the Divine Light Mission in 1974. They teach meditation on the Inner Light and Sound. This is a form of meditation found in the Radhasoami and Santmat traditions in the Punjab. There are a few organizations in India each with its own Sikh guru.

John Yarr followed the techniques of the Divine Light Mission and claimed that he had become enlightened. He persuaded four women (Jan, Liz, Caroline and Mari-Ann Barrett) from the Divine Light Mission to accept him as their guru and at least two of them believed they had become enlightened too. That was the nucleus of the cult that went on to have many members and over 40 supposedly enlightened people before it broke up. It broke up because people found out he was abusing his followers and their children.

People were taught to call him 'Ishvara', a mispronunciation of a Sanskrit word meaning 'Lord', 'Ruler' or 'Supreme Being'. The cult was called SOTM (Spiritual Organization for the Teachings of the Master) to begin with but changed its name to Lifewave in about 1980. It broke up in 1986. There are versions which continue, including one led by John Yarr himself (1meditation or The Path).

You may wonder why I am still interested in a cult from the last century. Most people will have moved on and lost interest. I have been involved in many spiritual movements but it is this one that opens up the most questions about the nature of true spirituality and where it can go wrong. Also, John Yarr started teaching again, in Leeds.

There have been articles about John Yarr in Private Eye magazine and in The Sun newspaper. There were a great many detailed articles by Frances Hardy in the Portsmouth Evening News in 1987. These articles are the most revealing about the nature of John Yarr, to see them go here or here or here.

John Yarr

I have identified 3 main features of this spiritual path:-

1. meditation on the Inner Light and Sound
2. 'going beyond form' also known as 'Second Initiation'
3. Enlightenment

I have devoted a post to each of these 3 features.