Roger Delano Hinkins
Encyclopedia
Roger Delano Hinkins known and published as John-Roger, is an American author, public speaker, and founder of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
(MSIA), as well as several other New Age
spiritual
and self-help
organizations.
of Rains, Utah
. He was brought up in the Mormon
faith; as a youth, he attended the local LDS church's Mutual Improvement Associations and occasionally gave inspirational "three-minute talks". Hinkins describes his childhood as "typical", distinguished only by an early belief that he could spot aura
s, colorful fields that some people believe surround the human body. Upon graduation from high school, Hinkins attended the University of Utah
, where he would go on to earn a Bachelor of Science
degree in psychology
in 1958 and a Secondary Teaching credential
in 1960. While in college, he worked as a night orderly
in the psychiatric hospital
ward of a Salt Lake City hospital. He then moved to San Francisco to work as an insurance claims adjuster
.
He received a Secondary Life Teaching Credential from the State of California, and performed post-graduate work at University of California, Los Angeles
, University of Southern California
and California State University, Los Angeles
. He then began teaching English at Rosemead High School
in a suburb of Los Angeles
.
for a kidney stone
in late 1963, after which he fell into a nine-day coma
. After this experience, Hinkins claims he became aware of another "spiritual personality" that had superseded or merged with his previous personality. He began to refer to himself as "John-Roger" in recognition of this transformation.
Hinkins has written that during the surgery he had an experience that all things were “in the Light” – that everything was completely safe, protected and perfect
, and that following the surgery he began to experience this higher consciousness
expressing more and more into the physical world – i.e. that he could see and perceive everything taking place in this physical world as being perfect in some greater sense, “as being part of a greater whole, part of the highest good”. He claims that, following the experience, he was able to move back to this state of mind
when faced with challenging and difficult times, and that he became “more understanding, kinder, and able to respond and act in a way that was based on the good of everyone, not on his own personal perspective."
Hinkins termed this consciousness the "Mystical Traveler Consciousness" and claims that he was given the "keys" or began to "anchor" the Consciousness on the planet after the surgery. He further claims there has always been someone on the planet "anchoring" the consciousness to assist individuals spiritually, and has made this claim a tenet of Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
(MSIA), the spiritual movement he founded. According to Hinkins, he was passed the "keys" by the previous receptor of the Consciousness, Sawan Singh, the late Radhasoami Satsang Beas master who died in 1948, while he was on the "inner spiritual planes". Hinkens held the "keys" to the Consciousness from December 1963 until they were passed to John Morton, the current Spiritual Director of MSIA, in December 1988.
Hinkens maintains that humans are locked in an eternal cycle of reincarnation
and karma
, and can only escape by ascending from Earth's negative realms into "a totally positive state of being" called "soul
consciousness
." This, according to his teachings, is nearly impossible without the assistance of the Mystical Traveler Consciousness he believes he embodies. He has written that "Initiates of the Mystical Traveler Consciousness are those that I am specifically taking home to God."
, Hinkins began to hold seminar
s as an independent spiritual teacher in homes of friends in Santa Barbara
and Thousand Oaks
. The demand for his seminars grew and spread, until in 1971, Hinkins resigned from his secular job as a high school
English teacher and formally incorporated
the Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
.
MSIA is a nondenominational and ecumenical church, the stated purpose of which is to "teach Soul transcendence, which is becoming aware of yourself as a Soul and as one with God
, not as a theory
, but as a living reality
."
MSIA is a nondenominational and ecumenical church, the stated purpose of which is to "teach Soul Transcendence, which is becoming aware of yourself as a Soul and as one with God, not as a theory, but as a living reality." MSIA currently has participants in over 30 countries, with its largest following in the United States, Australia, Colombia, Brazil, and Nigeria respectively. The church was estimated in 1993 to have 4500 members.
Controversy has surrounded MSIA: it has been accused of being a cult by some former members and by the Cult Awareness and Information Centre
, and claims have been made that Hinkins had unethical sexual relationships with members.
MSIA has also been accused of being an "offshoot" of Lifespring
, a private, for-profit, New Age
/human potential training
company founded in 1974. According to Nan Kathryn Fuchs, a devoted member of MSIA for 13 years and a minister who served on the Ministerial Board for a number of years, Hinkens' teachings changed substantially in tone when Russell Bishop introduced his version of Lifespring Training to a group of MSIA ministers and John-Roger took it over and promoted it as his own idea, calling it "Insight Training Seminars
". "As the money began to roll in, John-Roger became more inaccessible, and his aphorisms changed from 'Help yourself so you can help others' to 'Use everything to your advantage'. He certainly has."
Lifespring was the subject of several investigative reports
by the media, criticism by former staff and participants, and a series of lawsuits in the 1980s which alleged that Lifespring was responsible for mental damages to the plaintiffs.
In 1976, he founded Koh-e-nor University, later renamed the University of Santa Monica
(USM), a private, unaccredited institution offering master's degrees in Spiritual Psychology and Consciousness, Health & Healing, and a doctoral degree in Spiritual Psychology. John Roger serves as the chancellor of the University.
In 1977 Hinkins founded the Peace Theological Seminary & College of Philosophy
(PTS) as an educational non-profit organization for MSIA students to undertake undergraduate workshops, courses and retreats, and also postgraduate programs. The school, which is ecumenical and non-denominational, offers a Master and Doctorate degree in Spiritual Science. Its headquarters is home to the Peace Awareness Labyrinth and Gardens. Hinkins received his doctorate in Spiritual Science from this organization, and is its President.
In 1978 Hinkins created the Insight organization with friend and fellow MSIA Minister Russell Bishop. Insight Seminars
is an international non-profit educational organization headquartered in Santa Monica, California
. Hinkins serves as Insight Seminars' Chairman of the Board.
In 1979, Hinkins founded the Heartfelt Foundation, a volunteer-driven, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to serving and assisting people in any form of need.
In 1982, Hinkins founded the Institute for Individual and World Peace (IIWP), a volunteer-driven 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to studying, identifying, and presenting the processes that lead to peace. IIWP owns and operates the Windermere Ranch, a 142-acre property in the Santa Ynez Mountains
that is used to breed and train Arabian horse
s.
, The Roseanne Show
, and Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.
In 1988, Hinkins partnered with actor Jsu Garcia
to create 'Scott J-R Productions', a film production company committed to creating "spirit-filled" films. Their first full length feature was 'My Little Havana', followed by 'Spiritual Warriors', based on Hinkins' book 'Spiritual Warrior: The Art of Spiritual Living'.
and the Insight Seminars
websites.
. Other notable students of Hinkins are the Beach Boys’ Carl Wilson
, model / actress Jaime King-Newman
, actress Sally Kirkland
, an MSIA minister since 1975, actress Leigh Taylor-Young
, also an MSIA minister since 1975, actor Jsu Garcia
, and author and management consultant David Allen
.
, and plagiarism
. These allegations, as well as the revelation of the high-profile Ariana Huffington's association with the group, led to a series of investigations by publications such as People
, Playboy
, the Los Angeles Times
and Vanity Fair
. MSIA began to be referred to by some elements of the media as a cult
. Cult expert and psychologist Steven Hassan
, when asked by ABC News Nightline
's Ted Koppel
if MSIA qualified as a cult, responded:
s at MSIA's Santa Monica headquarters to support his claim of possessing extrasensory perception. One disenchanted member claimed "What people thought was J-R's clairvoyance was just his cunning and deceitful information gathering."
According to Susan Whitmore, MSIA defectors hesitated to challenge Hinkins publicly even after leaving the movement "because we were made to be afraid." She claims that Hinkins would declare that people who questioned him had placed themselves "under the Kal (a devil-like spirit) power and its field of negativity, known as the Red Monk," and would essentially be warning that members who associated with defectors risked spiritual disaster. Whitmore alleges that one woman was told she had had a miscarriage because she had hugged one of the defectors.
The Whitmores also claim that after they left MSIA, their cars were vandalized, they received obscene letters accusing them of homosexuality, and phone calls in which threats were made on their lives. Similarly, Eve Cohen, the daughter of ex-MSIA ministers Matthew and Ellen Cohen, and at the time a teenager, received a letter graphically alleging that her father had had sexual acts with other men. The letter claimed to be from a friend of Eve's in Los Angeles.
Religion academic and writer David C. Lane
claims that in the fall of 1983, after he called Hinkins, who at that time he considered to be a friend, to get his response to the allegations of plagiarism, sexual manipulation, and charlatanism that had been raised by other friends, he was subjected to a series of threats, including several made against his life and the lives of his friends/informants. His home was subsequently ransacked and a number of his research files were stolen. He claims that documentary evidence implicates John-Roger with the robbery, as well as with implementing a smear campaign
including threats against Lane and other of his critics. This included setting up a front organization called the "Coalition for Civil and Spiritual Rights", an act which was eventually traced directly back to Hinkins.
have also been levied against Hinkins, in connection with both MSIA's core teachings and as other publications. Many of these have centered on the reportedly close similarity between certain MSIA materials and doctrine and that of Paul Twitchell
's Eckankar
, known prior to 1985 as "The Ancient Science of Soul Travel". One of the main allegers, religion academic David C. Lane
, has published evidence that Hinkins took without attribution key spiritual teachings from Twitchell, who, Lane further claims, took them in turn from Radha Soami Satsang Beas
, a movement with which Lane was at the time actively involved.
Hinkins, himself, admits that he had some level of involvement with the group: around the time of his surgery and religious experience, he had been exploring a variety of different spiritual teachings, and these explorations included Eckankar. Religion scholar James R. Lewis, in his book on Hinkins and MSIA, quotes a conversation in which Hinkins acknowledges that he studied with Eckankar, had a private interview with Twitchell, and received information from the group stating that he was an initiate, but denies being formally initiated into the group. Nonetheless, side-by-side text comparisons of materials published by Lane appear to clearly show that Hinkens copied nearly verbatim, Twitchell's idiosyncratic cosmology
(as found in Twitchell's 1971 The Spiritual Notebook) in his own 1976 publication The Sound Current. Hinkens also appears to have clearly plagiarized in his work Affirmations (1981) from Florence Scovel Shinn's book, The Game of Life and How to Play It (DeVorss & Company, 1925).
In 1994, Peter McWilliams
, a former high-level member of MSIA, published Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You, which charges that Hinkins had repeatedly abused his power as a guru
. McWilliams claims, among other things, that he was the sole author of the highly-successful Life 101 and several subsequent books purportedly coauthored by Hinkins (as "John-Roger"), who was his spiritual adviser and church leader at the time. Hinkins countered with a libel lawsuit. Ultimately, McWilliams agreed to abandon the copyright to Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You to Hinkins to settle the suit.
.
Organizations controlled and/or started by Hinkins
Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
The Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness is a 501 non-profit religious corporation, incorporated in California on June 25, 1971. Before incorporation, the group was founded in California in 1968 by John-Roger...
(MSIA), as well as several other New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
spiritual
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
and self-help
Self-help
Self-help, or self-improvement, is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders...
organizations.
Early life and education
Hinkins was born on September 24, 1934, and raised in the small mining townMining town
A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry for the extraction or smeltering of ore.-United States:...
of Rains, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. He was brought up in the Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
faith; as a youth, he attended the local LDS church's Mutual Improvement Associations and occasionally gave inspirational "three-minute talks". Hinkins describes his childhood as "typical", distinguished only by an early belief that he could spot aura
Aura (paranormal)
In parapsychology and many forms of spiritual practice, an aura is a field of subtle, luminous radiation surrounding a person or object . The depiction of such an aura often connotes a person of particular power or holiness. Sometimes, however, it is said that all living things and all objects...
s, colorful fields that some people believe surround the human body. Upon graduation from high school, Hinkins attended the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
, where he would go on to earn a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
in 1958 and a Secondary Teaching credential
Teaching credential
A United States teaching credential is a basic multiple or single subject credential obtained upon completion of a bachelor's degree and prescribed professional education requirements. Teaching credentials are required in the United States in order to qualify to teach public school, as well as many...
in 1960. While in college, he worked as a night orderly
Orderly
A medical orderly , is a hospital attendant whose job consists of assisting medical and/or nursing staff with various nursing and/or medical interventions. These duties are classified as routine tasks involving no risk for the patient.- Job details :Orderlies are often utilized in various hospital...
in the psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
ward of a Salt Lake City hospital. He then moved to San Francisco to work as an insurance claims adjuster
Claims adjuster
Claims adjusters investigate insurance claims by interviewing the claimant and witnesses, consulting police and hospital records, and inspecting property damage to determine the extent of the company’s liability. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, the Caribbean and New Zealand...
.
He received a Secondary Life Teaching Credential from the State of California, and performed post-graduate work at University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
and California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...
. He then began teaching English at Rosemead High School
Rosemead High School
Rosemead High School is a secondary school located at 9063 East Mission Drive in Rosemead, California, in the ZIP Code 91770. It is a secondary school in the El Monte Union High School District...
in a suburb of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
The Mystical Traveler
Hinkins claims to have had a near-death experience while undergoing surgerySurgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
for a kidney stone
Kidney stone
A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...
in late 1963, after which he fell into a nine-day coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
. After this experience, Hinkins claims he became aware of another "spiritual personality" that had superseded or merged with his previous personality. He began to refer to himself as "John-Roger" in recognition of this transformation.
Hinkins has written that during the surgery he had an experience that all things were “in the Light” – that everything was completely safe, protected and perfect
Perfect
Perfection is a philosophical concept.Perfect may also refer to:- Music :* Perfect interval, a type of interval used in music* Perfect * Perfect , a band from Poland* "Perfect" , 1988 single...
, and that following the surgery he began to experience this higher consciousness
Higher consciousness
Higher consciousness, also called super consciousness , objective consciousness , Buddhic consciousness , cosmic consciousness, God-consciousness and Christ consciousness , are expressions used in various spiritual traditions to denote the consciousness of a human being who has reached a...
expressing more and more into the physical world – i.e. that he could see and perceive everything taking place in this physical world as being perfect in some greater sense, “as being part of a greater whole, part of the highest good”. He claims that, following the experience, he was able to move back to this state of mind
Altered state of consciousness
An altered state of consciousness , also named altered state of mind, is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking beta wave state. The expression was used as early as 1966 by Arnold M. Ludwig and brought into common usage from 1969 by Charles Tart: it describes induced...
when faced with challenging and difficult times, and that he became “more understanding, kinder, and able to respond and act in a way that was based on the good of everyone, not on his own personal perspective."
Hinkins termed this consciousness the "Mystical Traveler Consciousness" and claims that he was given the "keys" or began to "anchor" the Consciousness on the planet after the surgery. He further claims there has always been someone on the planet "anchoring" the consciousness to assist individuals spiritually, and has made this claim a tenet of Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
The Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness is a 501 non-profit religious corporation, incorporated in California on June 25, 1971. Before incorporation, the group was founded in California in 1968 by John-Roger...
(MSIA), the spiritual movement he founded. According to Hinkins, he was passed the "keys" by the previous receptor of the Consciousness, Sawan Singh, the late Radhasoami Satsang Beas master who died in 1948, while he was on the "inner spiritual planes". Hinkens held the "keys" to the Consciousness from December 1963 until they were passed to John Morton, the current Spiritual Director of MSIA, in December 1988.
Hinkens maintains that humans are locked in an eternal cycle of reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
and karma
Karma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
, and can only escape by ascending from Earth's negative realms into "a totally positive state of being" called "soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
." This, according to his teachings, is nearly impossible without the assistance of the Mystical Traveler Consciousness he believes he embodies. He has written that "Initiates of the Mystical Traveler Consciousness are those that I am specifically taking home to God."
MSIA
In 1968, five years after his purported religious experienceReligious experience
Religious experience is a subjective experience in which an individual reports contact with a transcendent reality, an encounter or union with the divine....
, Hinkins began to hold seminar
Seminar
Seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is...
s as an independent spiritual teacher in homes of friends in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
and Thousand Oaks
Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks is a city in southeastern Ventura County, California, in the United States. It was named after the many oak trees that grace the area, and the city seal is adorned with an oak....
. The demand for his seminars grew and spread, until in 1971, Hinkins resigned from his secular job as a high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
English teacher and formally incorporated
Incorporation (business)
Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
the Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
The Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness is a 501 non-profit religious corporation, incorporated in California on June 25, 1971. Before incorporation, the group was founded in California in 1968 by John-Roger...
.
MSIA is a nondenominational and ecumenical church, the stated purpose of which is to "teach Soul transcendence, which is becoming aware of yourself as a Soul and as one with God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, not as a theory
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...
, but as a living reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
."
MSIA is a nondenominational and ecumenical church, the stated purpose of which is to "teach Soul Transcendence, which is becoming aware of yourself as a Soul and as one with God, not as a theory, but as a living reality." MSIA currently has participants in over 30 countries, with its largest following in the United States, Australia, Colombia, Brazil, and Nigeria respectively. The church was estimated in 1993 to have 4500 members.
Controversy has surrounded MSIA: it has been accused of being a cult by some former members and by the Cult Awareness and Information Centre
Cult Awareness and Information Centre
The Cult Awareness and Information Centre is an organization based in Brisbane, Australia that provides resources and information on groups they identify as cults and other controversial groups...
, and claims have been made that Hinkins had unethical sexual relationships with members.
MSIA has also been accused of being an "offshoot" of Lifespring
Lifespring
Lifespring was a for-profit private company, founded in 1974. The company promoted itself through books and word of mouth advertising. By 1989, officials stated that over 300,000 people had enrolled in the company's seminars...
, a private, for-profit, New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
/human potential training
Training
The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...
company founded in 1974. According to Nan Kathryn Fuchs, a devoted member of MSIA for 13 years and a minister who served on the Ministerial Board for a number of years, Hinkens' teachings changed substantially in tone when Russell Bishop introduced his version of Lifespring Training to a group of MSIA ministers and John-Roger took it over and promoted it as his own idea, calling it "Insight Training Seminars
Insight Seminars
Insight Seminars is an international non-profit organization headquartered in Santa Monica, California. The first seminar was led in 1978 by founders John-Roger and Russell Bishop under the name Insight Training Seminars. Insight has held seminars in 34 countries for adults, teens, and children, in...
". "As the money began to roll in, John-Roger became more inaccessible, and his aphorisms changed from 'Help yourself so you can help others' to 'Use everything to your advantage'. He certainly has."
Lifespring was the subject of several investigative reports
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
by the media, criticism by former staff and participants, and a series of lawsuits in the 1980s which alleged that Lifespring was responsible for mental damages to the plaintiffs.
Other organizations founded
In addition to MSIA, Hinkins has founded several other non-profit organizations.In 1976, he founded Koh-e-nor University, later renamed the University of Santa Monica
University of Santa Monica
The University of Santa Monica is a private unaccredited graduate school in Santa Monica, California, offering master’s and doctoral degrees in spiritual psychology.-Mission:...
(USM), a private, unaccredited institution offering master's degrees in Spiritual Psychology and Consciousness, Health & Healing, and a doctoral degree in Spiritual Psychology. John Roger serves as the chancellor of the University.
In 1977 Hinkins founded the Peace Theological Seminary & College of Philosophy
Peace Theological Seminary & College of Philosophy
Peace Theological Seminary & College of Philosophy is a theological seminary and the educational arm of the Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness...
(PTS) as an educational non-profit organization for MSIA students to undertake undergraduate workshops, courses and retreats, and also postgraduate programs. The school, which is ecumenical and non-denominational, offers a Master and Doctorate degree in Spiritual Science. Its headquarters is home to the Peace Awareness Labyrinth and Gardens. Hinkins received his doctorate in Spiritual Science from this organization, and is its President.
In 1978 Hinkins created the Insight organization with friend and fellow MSIA Minister Russell Bishop. Insight Seminars
Insight Seminars
Insight Seminars is an international non-profit organization headquartered in Santa Monica, California. The first seminar was led in 1978 by founders John-Roger and Russell Bishop under the name Insight Training Seminars. Insight has held seminars in 34 countries for adults, teens, and children, in...
is an international non-profit educational organization headquartered in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
. Hinkins serves as Insight Seminars' Chairman of the Board.
In 1979, Hinkins founded the Heartfelt Foundation, a volunteer-driven, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to serving and assisting people in any form of need.
In 1982, Hinkins founded the Institute for Individual and World Peace (IIWP), a volunteer-driven 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to studying, identifying, and presenting the processes that lead to peace. IIWP owns and operates the Windermere Ranch, a 142-acre property in the Santa Ynez Mountains
Santa Ynez Mountains
The Santa Ynez Mountains are a portion of the Transverse Ranges, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of the west coast of North America, and are one of the northernmost mountain ranges in Southern California.-Geography:...
that is used to breed and train Arabian horse
Arabian horse
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...
s.
Author and filmmaker
Hinkins is the author of over 55 books. His most recent books are 'The Rest of Your Life' (2007), 'Timeless Wisdoms: Volume One' (2008) and 'Timeless Wisdoms: Volume Two' (2008). He has given more than 6000 seminars over the last forty years, most of which have been recorded either in audio or video format by NOW Productions. Hinkins also produces his own national cable TV show, 'That Which Is', and has appeared on other television and radio programs, including CNN's Larry King LiveLarry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
, The Roseanne Show
The Roseanne Show
The Roseanne Show is a syndicated talk show hosted by American actress Roseanne Barr following the end of her long-running sitcom. The show featured Roseanne interviewing a mixture of quirky guests along with Roseanne's signature style of brassy, in-your-face, domestic goddess comedy.The Roseanne...
, and Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.
In 1988, Hinkins partnered with actor Jsu Garcia
Jsu Garcia
Jsu Garcia is an American film and television actor, and film producer. In his earlier years, he was credited under the name Nick Corri. Together with author John-Roger, he runs the production company Scott J-R Productions....
to create 'Scott J-R Productions', a film production company committed to creating "spirit-filled" films. Their first full length feature was 'My Little Havana', followed by 'Spiritual Warriors', based on Hinkins' book 'Spiritual Warrior: The Art of Spiritual Living'.
Present day
Hinkins currently lives in Los Angeles, California, and still participates in some MSIA and PTS annual events. His public speaking is now limited to the PTSPTS
PTS or Pts can refer to:In academics:* Pali Text Society, a society to study texts in the Pali language of India* Palmer Trinity School, an Episcopal middle and high school in Palmetto Bay, Florida...
and the Insight Seminars
Insight Seminars
Insight Seminars is an international non-profit organization headquartered in Santa Monica, California. The first seminar was led in 1978 by founders John-Roger and Russell Bishop under the name Insight Training Seminars. Insight has held seminars in 34 countries for adults, teens, and children, in...
websites.
Notable followers and associates
Several well-known individuals and public figures have worked with, or, with varying levels of dedication, have been associated with Hinkins since the 1970s. The most prominent of these is Arianna HuffingtonArianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington is a Greek American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known as co-founder of the news website The Huffington Post. A popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she adopted more liberal political beliefs in the late 1990s...
. Other notable students of Hinkins are the Beach Boys’ Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson
Carl Dean Wilson was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, best known as a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist of The Beach Boys...
, model / actress Jaime King-Newman
Jaime King
Jaime King is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents, because her agency already represented another Jaime — the older, then more famous model Jaime...
, actress Sally Kirkland
Sally Kirkland
Sally Kirkland is an American film and television actress.-Early life:Kirkland was named after her mother, fashion editor Sally Kirkland, who was a fashion editor at Vogue and LIFE magazines, and was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father, Frederic McMichael Kirkland, worked in the scrap...
, an MSIA minister since 1975, actress Leigh Taylor-Young
Leigh Taylor-Young
Leigh Taylor-Young is an American actress who has appeared on stage, screen, and television.-Early life:Leigh Taylor-Young was born on January 25, 1945 in Washington, D.C. Her last name is an amalgamation of the last names of her father, a diplomat, and her stepfather, a successful Detroit executive...
, also an MSIA minister since 1975, actor Jsu Garcia
Jsu Garcia
Jsu Garcia is an American film and television actor, and film producer. In his earlier years, he was credited under the name Nick Corri. Together with author John-Roger, he runs the production company Scott J-R Productions....
, and author and management consultant David Allen
David Allen (author)
David Allen is a productivity consultant who is best known as the creator of the time management method known as "Getting Things Done" .He grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana where he acted and won a state championship in debate...
.
Accusations of cultism, criminal conduct and abuse
In the 1980s and early 1990s, several former members of MSIA accused Hinkins of various crimes and abuses, including high-tech charlatanism, the sexual coercion of young male staffers, brainwashing and intimidationIntimidation
Intimidation is intentional behavior "which would cause a person of ordinary sensibilities" fear of injury or harm. It's not necessary to prove that the behavior was so violent as to cause terror or that the victim was actually frightened.Criminal threatening is the crime of intentionally or...
, and plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
. These allegations, as well as the revelation of the high-profile Ariana Huffington's association with the group, led to a series of investigations by publications such as People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
, Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
. MSIA began to be referred to by some elements of the media as a cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
. Cult expert and psychologist Steven Hassan
Steven Hassan
Steven Alan Hassan is a licensed mental health counselor and an exit counselor. Hassan was an early advocate of exit counseling, and is the author of two books on the subject of "cults", and what he describes as their use of mind control, thought reform, and the psychology of influence in order...
, when asked by ABC News Nightline
Nightline
Nightline, or ABC News Nightline is a late-night news program broadcast by ABC in the United States, and has a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. It airs weeknights, usually for 31 minutes. Created by Roone Arledge, the program featured Ted Koppel as its main...
's Ted Koppel
Ted Koppel
Edward James "Ted" Koppel is an English-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for Nightline from the program's inception in 1980 until his retirement in late 2005. After leaving Nightline, Koppel worked as managing editor for the Discovery Channel before resigning in 2008...
if MSIA qualified as a cult, responded:
"In my professional opinion it does. It's a pyramid-structured authoritarian regime that uses deception in recruitment and mind controlMind controlMind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
techniques to keep people dependent and obedient. People are instilled with phobias that if they ever question John-Roger or if they ever leave the group terrible things will happen to them."
Charlatanism
Dissidents in the organization say Hinkins employed covert listening deviceCovert listening device
A covert listening device, more commonly known as a bug or a wire, is usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. The use of bugs, called bugging, is a common technique in surveillance, espionage and in police investigations.A bug does not have to be a device...
s at MSIA's Santa Monica headquarters to support his claim of possessing extrasensory perception. One disenchanted member claimed "What people thought was J-R's clairvoyance was just his cunning and deceitful information gathering."
Sexual coercion
Susan and Wendell Whitmore, who joined MSIA in the early '70s, finally decided to leave MSIA in 1983 after several male staff members confessed during an informal group discussion that Hinkins had used spiritual threats and promises to coerce them in to having sex with him. The Whitmores claim that MSIA members had been led to believe that Hinkins had taken a vow of celibacy, and therefore did not question the series of attractive young men that stayed in his house. "He always had someone sleeping in his bedroom at night, supposedly to protect his body while he was out of it," says Whitmore. Former MSIA members charge that staffers who submitted to their leader's sexual advances were promoted to positions of authority and were praised by Hinkins for their spiritual qualities. Ex-MSIA member Victor Toso, said that although he was not homosexual, he consented to Hinkins's requests for sex because he feared being expelled from the MSIA staff. "Whenever we fell out of line, having another sexual encounter with him was sort of required to seal us back in the brotherhood," said Toso.Intimidation
Wesley Whitmore, Wendell's twin brother and also former MSIA staffer, recalls that in "contrast to his public behavior, Hinkins in private was often angry, vindictive and bizarre, occasionally shouting that he was under attack from negative forces." He and his wife said that their devotion to Hinkins kept them from addressing these issues.According to Susan Whitmore, MSIA defectors hesitated to challenge Hinkins publicly even after leaving the movement "because we were made to be afraid." She claims that Hinkins would declare that people who questioned him had placed themselves "under the Kal (a devil-like spirit) power and its field of negativity, known as the Red Monk," and would essentially be warning that members who associated with defectors risked spiritual disaster. Whitmore alleges that one woman was told she had had a miscarriage because she had hugged one of the defectors.
The Whitmores also claim that after they left MSIA, their cars were vandalized, they received obscene letters accusing them of homosexuality, and phone calls in which threats were made on their lives. Similarly, Eve Cohen, the daughter of ex-MSIA ministers Matthew and Ellen Cohen, and at the time a teenager, received a letter graphically alleging that her father had had sexual acts with other men. The letter claimed to be from a friend of Eve's in Los Angeles.
Religion academic and writer David C. Lane
David C. Lane
David Christopher Lane is a professor of philosophy and sociology at Mt. San Antonio College, in Walnut, California. He is most notable for exposing Eckankar as a cult and its founder, Paul Twitchell, as a plagiarist in his book The Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul...
claims that in the fall of 1983, after he called Hinkins, who at that time he considered to be a friend, to get his response to the allegations of plagiarism, sexual manipulation, and charlatanism that had been raised by other friends, he was subjected to a series of threats, including several made against his life and the lives of his friends/informants. His home was subsequently ransacked and a number of his research files were stolen. He claims that documentary evidence implicates John-Roger with the robbery, as well as with implementing a smear campaign
Smear campaign
A smear campaign, smear tactic or simply smear is a metaphor for activity that can harm an individual or group's reputation by conflation with a stigmatized group...
including threats against Lane and other of his critics. This included setting up a front organization called the "Coalition for Civil and Spiritual Rights", an act which was eventually traced directly back to Hinkins.
Plagiarism
Claims of plagiarismPlagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
have also been levied against Hinkins, in connection with both MSIA's core teachings and as other publications. Many of these have centered on the reportedly close similarity between certain MSIA materials and doctrine and that of Paul Twitchell
Paul Twitchell
Paul Twitchell was an American spiritual writer, author and founder of the group known as Eckankar. He is accepted by the members of that group as the Mahanta, or Living ECK Master of his time. He directed the development of the group through to the time of his death...
's Eckankar
Eckankar
Eckankar is a new religious movement founded in the United States in 1965, though practiced around the world long before with a solid following in China. It focuses on spiritual exercises enabling practitioners to experience what its followers call "the Light and Sound of God." The personal...
, known prior to 1985 as "The Ancient Science of Soul Travel". One of the main allegers, religion academic David C. Lane
David C. Lane
David Christopher Lane is a professor of philosophy and sociology at Mt. San Antonio College, in Walnut, California. He is most notable for exposing Eckankar as a cult and its founder, Paul Twitchell, as a plagiarist in his book The Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul...
, has published evidence that Hinkins took without attribution key spiritual teachings from Twitchell, who, Lane further claims, took them in turn from Radha Soami Satsang Beas
Radha Soami Satsang Beas
Radha Soami Satsang Beas is a spiritual society founded by Jaimal Singh in 1891 at a site called Dera Baba Jaimal Singh on the West bank of the Beas River, Punjab, India....
, a movement with which Lane was at the time actively involved.
Hinkins, himself, admits that he had some level of involvement with the group: around the time of his surgery and religious experience, he had been exploring a variety of different spiritual teachings, and these explorations included Eckankar. Religion scholar James R. Lewis, in his book on Hinkins and MSIA, quotes a conversation in which Hinkins acknowledges that he studied with Eckankar, had a private interview with Twitchell, and received information from the group stating that he was an initiate, but denies being formally initiated into the group. Nonetheless, side-by-side text comparisons of materials published by Lane appear to clearly show that Hinkens copied nearly verbatim, Twitchell's idiosyncratic cosmology
Cosmology
Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...
(as found in Twitchell's 1971 The Spiritual Notebook) in his own 1976 publication The Sound Current. Hinkens also appears to have clearly plagiarized in his work Affirmations (1981) from Florence Scovel Shinn's book, The Game of Life and How to Play It (DeVorss & Company, 1925).
In 1994, Peter McWilliams
Peter McWilliams
Peter Alexander McWilliams was a writer and self-publisher of best-selling self-help books. He was an advocate for those suffering from depression. And, in his later years, he was a cannabis activist. Terminally ill with AIDS and cancer, he became a vocal campaigner for the legalization of medical...
, a former high-level member of MSIA, published Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You, which charges that Hinkins had repeatedly abused his power as a guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
. McWilliams claims, among other things, that he was the sole author of the highly-successful Life 101 and several subsequent books purportedly coauthored by Hinkins (as "John-Roger"), who was his spiritual adviser and church leader at the time. Hinkins countered with a libel lawsuit. Ultimately, McWilliams agreed to abandon the copyright to Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You to Hinkins to settle the suit.
Defense against cult charges
James R. Lewis, an academic who researches new religious movements, conducted a study of Hinkins and the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness. Lewis stated that he did not consider MSIA a cult. Lewis's book was published by Mandeville Press, the publishing organ of MSIA. Lewis has been accused by skeptical societies and anti-cult groups of serving as an apologist for several cults, including the Family and AUM ShinrikyoAum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway....
.
Books
| Books in print |
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| Books out of print |
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Audio
- The Anointed One, CD set (2006) ISBN 978-1-893020-39-9
- Health from the Inside Out, CD set (2006) ISBN 978-1-893020-40-5
- Inner Worlds of Meditation, CD (1998) ISBN 978-0-914829-64-5
- Inner Worlds of Meditation (incl. Master Chohan), CD set (1997) ISBN 978-0-914829-45-4
- Joyful Meditations, CD set (2005) ISBN 978-1-893020-37-5
- Living In Grace, CD set (2005) ISBN 978-1-893020-38-2
- Momentum, CD set (2005) ISBN 978-1-893020-41-2
- Money, The Great Mirror of Consciousness, CD set ISBN 978-1-893020-06-1
- Turning Points to Personal Liberation, CD set (2006) ISBN 978-1-893020-45-0
Video
- Journey To The East, DVD set (Year) ISBN
- Moments of Peace, Video (1999) ISBN 0-914829-60-2
- Spiritual Warriors Movie, DVD, UPC: 700261245539
Related organizations founded by John-Roger
- Peace Theological Seminary & College of Philosophy (PTS)
- University of Santa MonicaUniversity of Santa MonicaThe University of Santa Monica is a private unaccredited graduate school in Santa Monica, California, offering master’s and doctoral degrees in spiritual psychology.-Mission:...
(USM) - Institute for Individual and World Peace (IIWP)
- Insight SeminarsInsight SeminarsInsight Seminars is an international non-profit organization headquartered in Santa Monica, California. The first seminar was led in 1978 by founders John-Roger and Russell Bishop under the name Insight Training Seminars. Insight has held seminars in 34 countries for adults, teens, and children, in...
- Heartfelt Foundation
- Mandeville Press
External links
General- Hinkins' website
- People Magazine article on Hinkins http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20100035,00.html
Organizations controlled and/or started by Hinkins