This article was originally published in New Dawn 131 (Mar-Apr 2012) and reprinted in New Dawn Special Issue Vol 13 No 2 (April 2019) On 2 January 1885, a mental patient named Louis Vivet, suffering from dédoublement (“double consciousness or […]
John Chambers
Caodaism: How a Secretive Sect Based on Spirit Communication Shaped the Destiny of Vietnam
From New Dawn Special Issue 11 (Mar 2010) Caodaism was always the favourite chapter of my briefing to visitors. Caodaism, the invention of a Cochin civil servant, was a synthesis of the three religions. The Holy See was at Tanyin. […]
Sir Isaac Newton & the Land Where Time Began
From New Dawn Special Issue Vol 7 No 3 (June 2013) The sixth-century BCE Greek philosopher-mystic Pythagoras was a man of spectacular achievement. Plutarch says that he taught an eagle to come at his command and stoop down to him […]
The Chinese Nostradamus
From New Dawn 129 (Nov-Dec 2011) This year [2011] is the 700th anniversary of the birth of Liu Ji (1311-1375), military commander of Chinese forces both on land and on sea and long-time advisor to the first Ming emperor Zhu […]
Ouija: How the Spirit World Helped a Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet
From New Dawn Special Issue Vol 6 No 2 (April 2012) Sois sage dear heart & set my teachings down If you do not your world will be undone& heaven itself turn to one grinning skull.1 These lines appear in the […]