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Personal
Statement by Karen
Robertson I seem to be labeled as pro-Richard
and anti-trustees. This statement should dispel that notion. I’m pro
fact and pro truth. I’ll follow truth wherever it leads. We’ve heard
some facts. We’ve heard some people’s truths – their
perceptions, experiences, opinions. Yet there are important facts and ”truths”
that have not come out before the group at large. Multiple, contradictory “truths”
are operating at various levels among us in disturbing and destructive ways. The underlying issues which
concern me most are Richard’s character and mental health. The
two are not synonymous. Regardless of whether Richard has a minor personal personality
imbalance or a severe psychological disorder, twenty years of therapy won’t
change his character. Therapy can’t make a dishonest person honest or make a
liar truthful. In regard to both Richard’s character and mental health,
absolutely the most damning characterization of Richard I’ve ever heard was
made by an individual I won’t name in a semi-private conversation with me three
weeks ago. This person described
Richard as a compulsive liar with no scruples; as deceitful, untrustworthy,
self-seeking, and mercenary; as an incompetent, ineffectual executive and
leader who is truly, seriously, gravely mentally ill and probably Insane. He
said Richard was having affairs with four women simultaneously, letting each
woman think she was the only one (the speaker did not cite his source of
information on this). He said Richard had agreed to walk away from both
Stelle and Adelphi forever for 30 grand - and what did that say. He said
Richard constantly broke agreements and promises and could not be trusted. He
said that not one trustee in the history of The Stelle Group had been able to
work with Richard; that if Stelle were a business, a corporation, Richard
would have been fired long ago for incompetence; and that when a trustee said
Richard was insane ten years ago, he didn’t believe it; now he does. He cited
many years of personal and professional association with Richard. He also
cited comments made by Dr. Meck to him personally indicating that Richard is
seriously ill mentally, ill enough that his being ‘sent” away is almost
synonymous with being ‘put” away. This individual’s comments
were not made in anger. He seemed exasperated and frustrated that I couldn’t
see his characterization of Richard as the obvious, absolute truth, What
would it take to convince me, he asked. We discussed an independent
psychological evaluation of Richard, a second opinion. I agreed that would be
useful. When I tried to counter his statements with Richard’s comments, he’d
say, “He lies! He lies! He’ll say anything.” He ended the conversation by
making it clear that he had nothing more to say to me. Either I could see the
truth or not. He, obviously, had no doubt. He had spoken his truth. This conversation rocked me
to the core of my being and has dominated my life for the last three weeks.
While my personal experience with Richard didn’t back up his statements,
there was no turning away from them. He’d known Richard longer and worked
with him more closely than I had. He was respected in a leadership capacity.
This conversation forced me to go back to where, for me, it all began. It has been twelve years
since I received The Ultimate Frontier
in the mail and read it the same day in a single sitting. I left husband,
home, and career and moved halfway across a continent to work with Richard in
bringing the Great Plan into reality. I’ve been here eleven years and in that
time I’ve gone past the child-bearing age, passing by opportunities for
family and home because I decided to give my undivided energies to building
the Nation of God. I never once seriously doubted the validity of the book or
Richard. However, in the past three
weeks I’ve had to step back, to question, to reevaluate. I returned to The Ultimate Frontier, which brought
me here, and to Richard. I needed to hear his truth. In the past three
weeks I’ve interrogated him a total of almost 20 hours. It’s been torturous
for both of us. This interrogation is still in process. I’ve been in an information-gathering
and assimilation mode. Later, I’ll need to evaluate and make choices. I
hadn’t planned to arrive at or state conclusions prematurely, but something
happened this weekend which changed that. It made me see the situation I
described within the group as much more destructive and dangerous than I had
perceived, I must speak out. Weeks ago I expressed
concern at the logically preposterous and ethically questionable position the
two organizations were in if they promoted the truth teachings of a liar.
I’ve been profoundly concerned by the increasingly damning and sweepingly
generalized characterizations of Richard as a deceiving manipulator and
mentally ill person being spread around. In addition to public testimony and
private conversation, we have circulating far and wide a written statement by
a prominent, respected participant backing up the idea that Richard can’t be
believed or trusted and a petition signed by a majority of the participants
in this area indicting they feel he needs psychiatric help. It has become a
mute point whether Richard is or is not who he says he is in The Ultimate Frontier, or whether he
is or is not guilty of all these charges. It’s too late. The characterization
is too sweeping and has been spread too far and too wide. I came to
understand that fully this past Sunday, three days ago, when I called two LPS
participants to see why they hadn’t come to class. I learned that these two
people are severing themselves from the group, and with good reason. One of
them was told by three group members, one a trustee, that Richard is a liar
and deceiver who has, among other things, seduced married women, and that he
is mentally ill. They now consider the whole operation a fraud. The one I
spoke with was told both that Richard had recently become mentally ill and
that he’d been mentally ill for over ten years, which the person considers
contradictory and unlikely. Richard could not be who he says he is and have
become mentally ill because the Brotherhoods would not have chosen a mentally
unstable person for such a position and task. Richard could not have become a
totally deceitful person, He must always have been deceitful, The
Brotherhoods would not have chosen a deceitful person for such a role. This
person was told that Richard was fine when he wrote the book, that the book
is valid, and that the current leaders and members are carrying out the work.
These people feel group members are too close to the situation to see the
truth and are living out the fantasies, the delusions of grandeur, of a
mentally ill deceiver, They feel sorry for all of us, are gravely concerned
about all the ruined lives associated with the book. They are even more
concerned about the tens of thousands of people like themselves who believe
the book. They feel the group has no right to keep the information that
Richard is a mentally ill deceiver and manipulator from all the people who
have read the book, perhaps are donating money and time, and studying and
preparing to uproot and move here, as these people did. This discussion left me
more shaken than my conversation with the trusted leader three weeks ago. I
began to grasp in all its breadth and depth what was happening and where it
would inevitably lead, my own concern shifted from the obvious logical
incongruities and ethical dilemmas to practical, legal considerations. Here I
was again, back on a legal issue. As before, I bounced my concerns off my own
legal source person. What came back at me was a twenty-megaton bomb. Let me
put it as concisely as I can. Richard wrote a book claiming to have an
assignment with the Brotherhoods to build Philadelphia and start the Nation
of God and founded two organizations to help him carry out his assignment. As
long as the legally responsible individuals in the organizations, the
trustees or directors, backed Richard and his claims, it was a matter of free
will and personal discernment as to who chose to believe or disbelieve
Richard’s claims and associate with the organizations, However, at such time
as even one trustee or director came to believe that Richard was a liar and
deceiver and mentally ill, for the organizations to continue to promote his
teachings, sell books and tapes which put them forth as valid, and, most
seriously, to accept financial donations from people who have not been
informed that the leadership and a sizeable portion of the members consider
Richard mentally ill, deceitful, untrustworthy, and lacking in credibility, the
directors and trustees, both individually and as a group, are liable for vast
numbers of mega-lawsuits, including class action lawsuits, for
misrepresentation. The kinds of things that were thrown out as wise immediate
actions to take were: have the groups sever all connections with Richard and
his works and teachings, cease publishing and distributing anything in any
way relating to him, cease all classes promoting his teachings, return all donations
and tithes, publish disclaimers separating themselves from him and his works;
and change their name. Even more serious are the
legal implications of selling lots on the Adelphi site. As I said previously,
it’s a mute point whether or not Richard is who he says he is. I’ve
questioned Richard in-depth about The Great Plan. It appears to me that Philadelphia
is a multi-locational operation which is, of necessity, top secret. The plans
for its realization cannot be carried out without an active emissary who has
a relatively accurate picture of the overall plan and knows when to release
information regarding it. There are smokescreens within smokescreens, and
possibly double-reverse quadruple smokescreens, existing of necessity and
sanctioned by the upper echelons. It’s entirely possible that key information
has been withheld from the emissary. It’s possible that the game-plan could
change. It is naive and simplistic to think that people in this organization
have enough information to carry it on their own. It was pointed out to me
that the word “safe” in the phrase “safe place” was carefully chosen. Safe
from what? This area could be financially safe but geologically dangerous.
Philadelphia is multi-stage and multi—locational and when all the plans are
known, it will become clear that the statement about a Pacific island is in
fact true. Richard is not free to give out information clarifying this point.
That’s his truth. We can’t claim to be building Philadelphia at Adelphi. No
one in the organization but Richard has enough information to do that, If the
organization’s leaders make such claims, they may be liable for both
misrepresentation and fraud. To say we’ll wait for
another emissary is foolish and presumptuous. If the Brotherhoods and The
Great Plan are real, the Brotherhoods will decide how to implement Their plan.
Richard says he has not been “fired” or asked to resign from his tasks. He
has not been told he’s mentally ill. Neither has he been told by his
superiors that he needs to leave the state and get three years of therapy. I
don’t see how he could take such actions unless his superiors sanctioned
them. The Brotherhoods have not chastised Richard for his personal life.
Recall that as David he had a harem, pursued a married woman and even had her
husband sent off to war. The Brotherhoods knew all about that, and so does
everyone who reads the book. He was evidently chosen by them based on other
criteria. In any event, if the book is true, the Brotherhoods started with an
emissary, Richard, who wrote a book and then founded two organizations. The
Brotherhoods will decide whether they retain Richard or replace him. However,
it is The Ultimate Frontier that
validates Richard. *** A new emissary would have
to write his own book to validate himself and would probably form his own
organizations. It mould be almost impossible for any emissary to make use of
The Stelle Group and The Adelphi Organization now with the atmosphere
surrounding Richard and the book so tainted by the negative characterizations
of Richard, not to mention the potential for misrepresentation lawsuits these
characterizations might engender. The Stelle Group seems to have become a
self-poisoning well, destroying itself by tainting its own life substance.
The Adelphi Organization seems to have become a bottomless boat. Is it really
going to float? What are my own feeling
about Richard and the book at this point, after having heard everything that
has been said, after questioning him for hours and hours? I don’t see any
signs that he’s seriously ill mentally. Though I’ve been shocked by some of
his admissions and concerned by some of his choices, I find myself believing
he is essentially honest and truthful and that the book is valid—but I’m not
sure. I go back to two things. The first thing I go back
to is the choice I made when I initially read the book. I knew I couldn’t be
sure about the predictions and The Great Plan then either until after the
fact, but I decided that if there was one chance in a billion these things
were true, I would act as if they were true. I had little to lose if they
weren’t true, but an enormous amount to gain if they were. I’ve tried to live
my life these past eleven years so I win either way. I striven to better
myself and help others. However it works out, I feel okay about myself and my
choices and glad for the rich associations I’ve had with other participants
in the past decade. I’m saddened that so many seem to be caught up in
negativity and nay-saying about a person I’ve seen give so unstintingly of
his time and energy to this work over the years. I feel good about Richard.
It’s been a privilege to work with him. The second thing I go back
to is Richard’s astrological chart. I don’t consider myself an astrologer and
don’t do charts and interpretations, but for over a decade, as an avocation,
I’ve been conducting astrological research projects, some of which are of
high quality and publishable. I’ve studied literally thousands of charts,
including the charts of many famous people, and a number of infamous ones. I
also studied charts of myself and many of my friends, including Richard.
Richard’s chart is something I cannot walk away from. To put it simply, It is
the most beautiful, powerful chart I’ve ever studied. It’s more beautiful and
powerful than the charts of Emerson, Bacon, Lincoln, Edison, Galileo, and
even Joan of Arc. It compares generically with the chart of Mahatma Ghandi,
but Ghandi’s chart is less powerful and much more stressful. Richard’s chart
is not the chart of a mentally ill person and a compulsive liar and con
artist. If you want to see such a chart, look at the chart of the Reverend
Jim Jones. I’ve come over the years to view astrological charts almost as X-rays.
Nothing is concealed in that inner spine which expresses both our
accomplishments and our potential. Seeing Richard at his best, I’ve seen
confirmation of the finest expressions of his chart. Seeing Richard at his
worst, I’ve accepted him as flawed and looked to that chart as a promise of
all he will become. I’m not sure, truly sure, of any of this, but for me it’s
real and valid and will affect the choices I make. I’ve essentially finished
my statement, but I want to make a few brief final comments on the
proceedings by the Stelle Trustees against Richard. I think of myself as a
truth seeker and a truth speaker. I’m acting alone and speaking for myself.
I’ve tried at various points to get some substantive information regarding
the proceedings against Richard without success. I wanted the date The Stelle
Group lawyer was contacted inquiring about the degree of the group’s
liability and the date that information was given to the group by the lawyer.
I have not been given that information nor the lawyer’s address and phone
number, which I requested so I could get that information myself. I have seen
a document, a draft agreement between Richard and the Trustees supposedly
used as a brainstorming document, which delineates the main concern as making
the group liable for lawsuits. It’s dated July 26. The term “abuse of office”
is used in that document, yet my attempts to get substantive information on
that have also been frustrating. As director of admissions and chief
executive officer and trustees Richard met almost everyone in the group as part
of the admissions process and is involved in every decision as to who is in
and who is out. He’s also been free, as a single man, to date single women.
Thus anything he does in an official capacity regarding a woman he's dated
could be construed as an abuse of office. Such charges need to be substantive
and specific. The one substantive charge turned out, when I investigated it,
to be a complete fluke. He was charged with having set up an admissions
interview that wasn’t part of the admissions procedure, then using that
connection to foster a romantic relationship. I have a copy of the admissions
regulations, and an interview with Richard was in fact a legitimate part of
the procedure, as was his giving feedback to the committee regarding the
applicant. However, the committee, not Richard, was supposed to set up that
interview. It turns out, however, that not once did the committee set up such
an interview, nor did it challenge him at any point for setting up these
interviews himself. I have documented this. If Richard is at fault in this
matter, so is the admissions committee. They are perhaps more at fault. I
requested documentation from the committee to compare with my information, I
have yet to receive It. I see more and more
indications that the proceedings against Richard were carried out by people
strongly biased against him, these admissions coming from some of the leaders
involved in the proceedings themselves. The most damaging admission for me
was the statement made by the person who officiated at the proceedings
against Richard that he had done psychic surveillance on Richard without his
permission and that he believes hypnotic and sexual linkings can be
accurately pinpointed through these scanning techniques. Richard says such
linkings are real but that it’s virtually impossible to distinguish between
therapeutic, hypnotic, and/or sexual linkages or to determine whether such
linkages are current or retained from a relationship long ended. A person
can’t be sure of the validity of any of these things. I tested the use of the
pendulum to scan food, I was able to reverse a strong negative rotation over
a deadly poison by mentally saying the word “positive,” and when I said the
protective prayer, the pendulum stopped dead in its tracks. Who knows what’s
going on here. Spirit guides are even
worse. Three friends of mine have gone down the tubes after taking spirit
guides. Two ended up in institutions. These guides always do beneficial
things initially. The decline is subtle and insidious. We know better than to
mess with such stuff. I’ve seen the effects of the doers of evil on this
planet, and I’m grateful to Richard for speaking out so strongly against
them. It’s another reason I’ve believed his information is valid. In summary, whether or not
Richard is who he says he is, it is not ethically and legally viable for The
Stelle Group and The Adelphi Organization to be based on Richard’s works and
teachings given their characterization of him as a liar and manipulator and a
mentally ill person. |
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