EINSTEIN, HOUDINI, JEHOVAH & other disturbed souls

EINSTEIN, HOUDINI, JEHOVAH & other disturbed souls

By Richard Rubacher

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Richard Rubacher

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Dedication

Introduction

1.Einstein’s two tragic mistakes, his public humiliation and his alienation from the scientific community

2.Houdini, his boast caused his death

3.Jehovah, the dark side of God. God’s eight mistakes are highlighted. His first and biggest whopper is creating the Devil

4.Truman Capote, playmate of the Devil

5.Charles Manson, I have dispensation to kill (based on my book about Manson)

6.Bobby Fischer parts 1, 2 & 3

7.Dostoevsky’s tortured character, Raskolnikov in Crime & Punishment

8.Virginia Woolf, regrettably, death by suicide

9.Serena Williams, anger management, where are you?

10.Charlie Sheen, he did the ‘Lazarus’ trick two times

11.J. Edgar Hoover, His Weapon was fear

12.The Unabomber, ragged and disturbed (his kinship with Norman Mailer)

13.Toulouse Lautrec, body deformed, mind deformed

14.Jackson Pollock, 4 years of Jungian therapy – not helpful

15.Noble Laureate John Nash, A Beautiful Mind

16.Wacko Jacko, dancing with Fred Astaire

Epilogue: Einstein’s new legacy applies to our life and supposed ‘demise’

And some of Houdini’s Escapes

APPENDIX A: Ego-ectomy (cutting out the fat ego)

APPENDIX B: Identity of disturbed souls

References

PREFACE

The fifteen biographies reviewed here irresistibly tempt us to enter a maze of successful human foolishness. These chosen souls all measured God, Man and Satan for pin-striped suits or Barnum & Bailey costumes (think Houdini) before destiny booed them off stage. ‘Terrifyingly amusing’ may even describe the reader’s experience for any who still think. I found myself turning the pages to make sure I didn't miss a clue or gossipy tidbit or something else these adventurously tortured souls thought might have been significant – just in case it held meaning.

Our author/editor/compiler enters like the uncle you’re always glad to see because he disappears without a trace till the next visitation. The curiosity pins you to the narrative’ which continually invites readers to ponder imponderables and human curiosities while flipping through the inner and outer-limits of famous not-so-forgotten ‘somebodies’ who curiously lived and pondered and then passed on – for better and worse.

Spirited and spiritual, Uncle Rubacher has chosen a portfolio that ranges from the pride of Norman Mailer’s artifice and Capote’s exalted self-destruction to Manson’s humbling demonic realism and lack of what he called ‘book-brain confusion’ – something that hampers many from attaining a peace-filled self-fulfillment. This is not to mention Bobby Fischer's thrones in Iceland and Japan, having been chased away by American sharks and the brouhaha of ordinary parasitism. Bobby is, in fact, certifiably ‘not crazy’ in my professional opinion. He just happens to be ill-informed, as were/are the bugs that infested him and the Una-Bomber.

One might therefore say this book’s a kind of ballet dedicated to the madness of bug-infested escape artists (think Houdini) and the compare-and-contrast-futility-busters-before-you-die kinda freaks; as are we all.

Although its morbidity is comfortably paired with immortality as cynicism delightfully cavorts with madness while genius sways quietly with modesty, Rubacher remains an elusive conductor and he means to be so. Where is he? one asks as the lines flow by, only to find he’s been holding your hand all along without touching it; a bit like the Grasshopper’s master who seems to have let go in the end (?). Poor fellow – Grasshopper I mean. The master’s doing just fine I expect, as are they all.

Bobby Fischer inelegantly said: The creeps are beginning to gather and you will find them in these pages, lurking in, behind, above and between the gathered story lines. They are the poison in the Yankee Doodle broth that few want to antidote because they actually belong there. Indeed, God put ‘em there as part of the divine saltation of destiny’s ballet.

Raising these tales depicts the great American cum Western decline in as much as they describe a society who fights heaven and at the same time denies its own brazen serpent identity. ‘America the Beautiful’ it is not. Yet Uncle Rubacher holds our hand without touching or speaking as he guides us through tortuously unguided lives, all the while exclaiming It’s alright child. This is just how it is. You needed to know before I go.

Why I found that comforting I cannot explain. Indeed, somehow the ‘uncle’ in him touched the ‘child’ in me and, if he were here, I’d ask him for the comfort of an ice cream soda.

Omar Zaid, Malaysia, Feb 2012

Website: http://www.zaidpub.com

Doctor Zaid, Yours is the damned best Intro I've read in years

‘Thunder’ Tom Dark, Heacock Hill Literary Agency LLC

NOTE: What is a Muslim’s perspective on suicide bombers?

Dr. Zaid answered the question that has puzzled many of us – Where do suicide bombers go? See his provocative comments in my blog: http://www.bangkokwriter.wordpress.com

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DEDICATION

To Bruce Gordon, Mr. Charisma, for giving me the opportunity to present my ideas on Einstein, Houdini and the others to your Consciousness Expansion Group in Pattaya, Thailand.

The evolved souls in the group gave me valuable feedback which I incorporated into the book.

To Karen M. Jones, Master Reiki Teacher & Healer in Bangkok. You are the most positive person I know. Your Presence makes me and others calm down.

To Shakarah (aka Heaven Helen), a world-class psychic and refugee from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Despite my objections, you drove me to the ER at a Bangkok hospital in May 2010. To my surprise, I was told if I had waited three more days, I would have died from kidney failure. You are the one who called me the Intuitive Investigator.

To Dr. Wayne Dyer for giving us a humorous prayer, which I recite upon awakening:

Good morning, This is God.

I will be handling

all of your problems today

I will not need your help

So have another miraculous day

(from Dyer’s The Power of Intention)

Of the 87 literary agents I contacted for his work, Thunder Tom Dark of the Heacock Literary Agency is the only one who resonated with my vision.

Lightnin’ Lou Savage for your valuable editorial comments, your expertise in editing and painstaking proofing the script. You’re a Savior.

And to my favorite wacky philosopher and jazzy social commentator, Woody Allen, who wrote, Life sucks. Then we die.

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INTRODUCTION

The reader is asked to read the last chapter – the Epilogue – first. That’s where Einstein’s new legacy is spelled out. I was able to take Einstein's E=mc2 equation and apply it to an

animate object – the flesh and blood of a human. As we know, Einstein’s theory focused on inanimate objects. When applied to a human, we have an exciting discovery. This triumph enables Einstein to have a positive, although belated, legacy as we can now experience our life and death with rapture and bliss.

What makes a gifted person succumb to melancholy, despair and self-destructive acts? It's sad that mega-stars like Michael Jackson, Virginia Woolf and Bobby Fischer allowed their inner demons to speak and act for them.

It’s tragic that Einstein’s two mistakes haunted him. One of his discoveries E=mc2 (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared) turned out to be a double-edged sword. It led to the discovery of the atomic bomb; it also explained the origin of the Big Bang and how the sun gets its energy. All this is discussed in the Einstein chapter.

Einstein’s ambitious plan to know the mind of God – a noble undertaking – resulted in ridicule from his peers in the scientific community during the last two decades of his life. The world refers to his disastrous attempt to probe the mind of God as Einstein’s Unfinished Symphony. All this is found in the last chapter on Einstein’s new legacy and its impact on our life.

You can read each chapter in the order found in the Table of Contents or you can choose any chapter that resonates with your heart and mind. Many of my friends told me their favorite chapter is Jehovah, the dark side of God. God’s eight mistakes are highlighted. His first and biggest whopper is creating the Devil. When Adam and Eve had the ‘Fall’, God, unfortunately, also had His fall. Because of His blunders, mankind has been in the middle of a muddle since Adam and Eve fell, along with God the Father.

In the Houdini chapter, I take exception to John Chambers, the author of Secret Life of Genius, for including Houdini as being touched by the spiritual world. In my view, Houdini’s boast resulted in his untimely death. If he had kept his yapper zipped he would not have been killed at the early age of 52. As we know, Houdini was relentless in his attack on mediums. He debunked all trance-induced people in his stage performances, writings and public appearances. The irony of Houdini is that in his will he stated that annual séances be conducted in which he will talk from the grave – that is, a medium will contact him to deliver a message from the deceased Magick Man.

Regarding Charles Manson: I had a four-year relationship with him from 1975-1979. He sent me 92 letters, 12 postcards and 35 pounds of mail from admirers around the world. I interviewed him in the prison nuthouse (his words) at the Vacaville, California Prison. He wrote that I have dispensation to kill. He pretends that he is at home in prison: It’s been my life. He pretends that he is joyful and is free from suffering. In repeated interviews with the media, he presents himself as a genial, happy-go-lucky dude. He tells us he passes each day singing, composing songs, playing his guitar and corresponding with his admirers. As you will see in this chapter, the opposite is true. He is a tortured soul. Charles Manson. He wrote that I have dispensation to kill. He pretends that he is at home in prison it’s been my life. He pretends that he is joyful and is free from suffering. As you will see in his chapter, the opposite is true. He is a tortured soul.

Truman Capote became the playmate of the Devil. The reason for this brilliant writer’s fall from grace, who, according to Norman Mailer, had rhythm upon rhythm in every sentence, was that he allowed his inner demons to act on his behalf. drugs, alcohol and bad-mouthing others turned his friends into potent enemies.

Serena Williams, the tennis mega star/fashion designer/actress needs to make an appointment to see Jack Nicholson. He can take care of her through his quixotic psychotherapist manner as seen in his film Anger Management.

Wacko Jacko has been given kudos by Fred Astaire for his dancing and artistic choreographic genius. He is now showing Fred Astaire how to do the moonwalk in the celestial dimension.

Charlie Sheen played his good hand poorly. Despite his self-destructive acts, he has become a Lazarus figure twice. His remarkable career shows a rise, a fall, followed by another triumphant Lazarus trip.

There is one fictional character in this study – Raskolnikov in Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment. Intense suffering characterizes the murderer Raskolnikov. Reading the novel had a bizarre effect on Robert Louis Stevenson – it made him sick for a week. The novel’s effect on me resulted in three weeks of nightmares and stunned bewilderment during my waking hours. In the novel there were three victims – the pawnbroker and her sister; they were murdered by Raskolnikov. It turned out the third victim was the murderer. This will become evident in the chapter. Robert Louis Stevenson and I suffered by being mesmerized from reading Crime and Punishment, making us victims.

Bobby Fischer, the child chess prodigy, the wunderkinder, continued to be a mental pigmy throughout his life. His inner demons took charge. Bobby kept changing for the worse.

The Unabomber has much in common with Norman Mailer, the celebrated American novelist/essayist/social critic/screenwriter/woman basher. Both agree that technology has been society’s downfall.

Virginia Woolf, the English novelist. What a sad story. See her life story in the depressing film, The Hours.

Jackson Pollack, the American abstract expressionist painter – four years of Jungian therapy not helpful.

Toulouse Lautrec, the genius French painter, was deformed in body and mind. He invented the deadly cocktail Earthquake – absinthe and cognac, with a generous amount of absinthe in a goblet. His downfall was due to the absinthe, drugs and advanced syphilis.

John Nash, as seen in the film A Beautiful Mind, truly had a beautiful as well as a disturbed mind.

J. Edgar Hoover, the former FBI czar, was a genius in many respects. He abused his Power in an evil way by using fear as his lethal weapon.

APPENDIX: Ego-ectomy (cutting out the Fat Ego). Some call ‘taming the ego’; others call it ‘becoming self-less’ while others see it as reaching ‘the happy place’

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EINSTEIN’S TWO TRAGIC MISTAKES

Plus his Public Humiliation & Alienation from the Scientific Community

(excerpted from the brilliant BBC documentary; permission pending)

In 1939 on the eve of the Second World War Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the American President, Franklin Roosevelt.

NOTE: The letter was composed by Leo Szilard, Einstein’s good friend. Both men escaped from Hitler’s Germany. Szilard was not as famous as Einstein. He persuaded Einstein to sign the letter. By signing it, it appeared as though it was written by Einstein.

Here is the full text of the letter:

Albert Einstein

Old Grove Road

Peconic, Long Island

August 2nd, 1939

F.D. Roosevelt

President of the United States

White House

Washington, D.C.

Sir:

Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of the situation which has arisen seem to call for watchfulness and if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration. I believe therefore that it is my duty to bring to your attention the following facts and recommendations.

In the course of the last four months it has been made probable through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America--that it may be possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium, by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate future.

This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable--though much less certain--that extremely powerful bombs of this type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove too heavy for transportion by air.

The United States has only very poor ores of uranium in moderate quantities. There is some good ore in Canada and former Czechoslovakia, while the most important source of uranium is in the Belgian Congo.

In view of this situation you may think it desirable to have some permanent contact maintained between the Administration and the group of physicists working on chain reactions in America. One possible way of achieving this might be for you to entrust the task with a person who has your confidence and who could perhaps serve in an unofficial capacity. His task might comprise the following:

a) to approach Government Departments, keep them informed of the further development, and put forward recommendations for Government action, giving particular attention to the problem of securing a supply of uranium ore for the United States.

b) to speed up the experimental work, which is at present being carried on within the limits of the budgets of University laboratories, by providing funds, if such funds be required, through his contacts with private persons who are willing to make contributions for this cause, and perhaps also by obtaining co-operation of industrial laboratories which have necessary equipment.

I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over. That she should have taken such early action might perhaps be understood on the ground that the son of the German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizsacker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, where some of the American work on uranium is now being repeated.

Yours very truly,

Albert Einstein

*** End of Letter***

The letter was about an application of Einstein’s famous equation – e=mc2 (energy equals mass squared) and his fear that the Nazis would use it to build an atomic bomb.

THE BBC DOCUMENTARY tells us that the letter set off a chain of events which led to the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Einstein would later describe the writing of this letter as the one mistake in his life.

This is the story of his famous equation of how e=mc2 changed history and Einstein forever.

On the eve of WWII Albert Einstein, the most famous scientist in the world was on holiday on the shores of Long Island, New York. He was an instinctive pacifist who had fled Nazi Germany and he had hoped to turn his back on the violence in Europe and continue his scientific research in peace. But his tranquil summer was interrupted by a visitor who had also fled the Nazis. The caller was Leo Szilard, another brilliant scientist and an old friend of Einstein’s from Europe. …Leo Szilard had come to persuade his old friend that the world was threatened by a devastating new weapon.

The Nazis were building an atomic bomb. The new bomb would be more destructive than could be imagined. Szilard’s aim was to convince Einstein that something had to be done. If the Nazis are doing it, so must the Americans. He wanted Einstein to help him compose a letter to FDR, the American President. Szilard explained that the Nazis were using Einstein’s equation e=mc2 to develop a weapon of unparalleled destruction.

E=mc2, the symbol of Einstein’s genius. An equation that sums up one of the most powerful truths about the universe. An equation which combines two ideas in a way, which until Einstein came along, no one had ever dreamed could be connected. The idea of mass. And the idea of energy.

DR. BRIAN COX, UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER: If you think about the idea of energy and mass it is not at all obvious that they’re anything like the same thing… So really, it’s a bold step to try and link them in any way.

Einstein's great insight was that energy, the thing that enables an object to move, and mass, essentially an objects weight, are not separate but different aspects of the same thing.

BRIAN COX: Einstein really found that energy and mass are two sides of the same coin. They're almost the same thing, so mass in a sense is energy waiting to be liberated.

In other words, mass could be converted into energy. And energy into mass. But Einstein's equation went even further. It gave an exact value to the amount of energy contained within any given mass. Energy equals mass times C - the speed of light, squared, a number that is absolutely huge. The implications of this neat equation were vast.

BRIAN COX: What it means is there is enough energy in a glass of water to power a city like London for an entire week.

Hidden within every object around us is a huge store of energy. Einstein published e=mc² in 1905. And it changed the world. It wasn't long before e=mc² solved one of the great mysteries of life on earth. What powers the sun?

For generations this had baffled scientists. Because if the sun just burned like a huge bonfire, the calculations showed it should have died out millions of years ago. But Einstein's equation explained what was powering the sun.

Mass is constantly being converted into energy. A process that can be sustained for billions of years. Billions of atoms were smashing together, and the mass lost in this reaction was transformed into energy. And soon people began to think, if e=mc² can power the sun, could we use it to generate power on earth? Could we release the energy inside atom for our own purposes? Soon, talk of getting energy out of the atom began to grip the popular imagination. And at a scientific conference in 1935, Einstein was asked whether he thought the atom would ever yield its hidden energy. His answer was to go down in