The author's true, exciting and serendipitous journey through the wilds of Papua New Guinea, the Himalayas, around the planet and into the heart of life guaranteed to change the way you see the world.
In Search of Simplicity is an autobiographical travel adventure story that reads like a novel. Over the years, when I’ve told some of the stories of coincidences now contained within the book, listeners began to have (or at least to notice) magical happenings in their own lives.
Now it is with great satisfaction that I receive feedback from readers of the transformative and inspirational quality of the book. Only yesterday I received an amazing review that I’d like to give you an opportunity to read. This makes all the work of writing worthwhile. Here’s the link:
Twice in my life I’ve contracted spinal meningitis, once at age 4 and again at 28. I was fortunate to survive the second time after ending up in a coma in an isolated Norwegian town. Both times the disease followed vaccinations. Is this a coincidence?
If we believe the press, New Zealand has had an epidemic of spinal meningitis since 1991. That’s the very year the MMR vaccine was introduced here. Is this a coincidence?
Click here to watch a family’s story of child vaccine injury. A family who sued the makers of the MMR vaccine for causing their child’s brain damage……….and they won the law suit.
There’s a Canadian doctor causing ripples if not tidal waves in the ocean of mainstream medicine today. He claims every vaccine causes a tiny stroke in the person receiving it. He says the effects of these vaccine-induced strokes are cumulative. Dr. Andrew Moulden has traced the clotting blood, common in the metabolism after vaccination, to brain damage in many children.
A. True Ott, PhD, ND has written a convincing treatise claiming that all pandemics in the last hundred years have been induced by vaccines. The list includes the 1918 flu pandemic, polio (the ONLY cases of recorded polio in the modern era have immediately followed vaccinations), the 1976 “Swine Flu” Fiasco, AIDS and “Gulf War Syndrome”. For more detail visit here.
Another Canadian doctor Ghislaine Lanctôt, author of the Medical Mafia, has underscored the lawsuit recently filed by Austrian journalist Jane Bürgermeister against the WHO, the UN, and several high ranking government and corporate officials. Bürgermeister has documented how an international corporate criminal syndicate plans to unleash a deadly flu virus and institute a forced vaccination program. Read more here.
A recent guest of mine on Voices from the North, talented naturopath, homeopath and osteopath, John Summerville stated in our show that of the people diagnosed with flu in 1918 and treated with conventional allopathic medicine there was a 28% mortality rate. Of those treated with homeopathics less than 0.1 of 1% died.
The medical community, supported by the pharmaceutical companies that make untold billions from vaccines, claims vaccinations have eradicated all sorts of killer diseases from the earth. Yet study after independent study show that the arrival of the vaccine followed the decline of the disease. The same studies and others demonstrate conclusively that cleanliness, hygiene and improved living conditions actually eliminated the diseases. London experienced seven major cholera outbreaks in the 1800s at a time when the inhabitants of that city lived in filth and squalor. Cholera is still found today in places with similar filthy living conditions. Polio too is a water-borne disease and it disappeared in America when chlorinated water filtration plants were introduced in the early 1960s.
Only 40% of medical workers choose to be vaccinated despite tremendous pressure to do so. Why? When NY State recently instituted compulsory swine flu vaccinations for health care workers did these same workers say, “Thank you?” No, they rose up in unison and marched at the state capital in Albany in protest. If they feel so strongly how should the general public feel?
Our two daughters, now age 19 and 16, have never been vaccinated. They have also never had to visit a doctor nor has either of them ever taken so much as an aspirin. Granted, they’ve each had the occasional cold or flu. But nothing that rest, plenty of fluids and natural remedies wouldn’t heal.
In the deliberate manufactured hype of today I urge you to use common sense and avoid being subjected to any dangerous vaccinations. And remember, as Dr. Moulden says, they’re all dangerous to some degree.
“In Search of Simplicity is a unique and awe-inspiring way to re-visit and even answer some of the gnawing questions we all intrinsically have about the meaning of life and our true, individual purpose on the planet. I love this book.”
“In Search of Simplicity is one of those rare literary jewels with the ability to completely and simultaneously ingratiate itself into the mind, heart and soul of the reader.”
Dr. Vinay Goyal is an MBBS,DRM,DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid specialist) having over 20 years of clinical experience. He has worked in institutions like Hinduja Hospital , Bombay Hospital , Saifee Hospital , Tata Memorial etc.. Presently, he is heading our Nuclear Medicine Department and Thyroid clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre, Malad (W).
The following message given by him, I feel makes a lot of sense and is important for all to know.
The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it’s almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.
While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):
1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).
2. “Hands-off-the-face” approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).
3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don’t trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.
4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*
5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.
6. *Drink plenty of warm liquids as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.
My special guest on Voices from the North Wednesday, October 21st was activist Ashiya Austin, co-founder of the Coalition for Humanity in Australia. Here’s a lady unafraid to speak from her heart contrary to messages perpetuated in mainstream media. I interviewed her two years ago when she visited New Zealand from her then home base of Byron Bay in New South Wales in Australia. At the time she was on a mission to protect the whales of the Southern Ocean from illegal whaling.
Now she has a new bee in her bonnet. She’s here to wake people up to the dangers of the Swine Flu vaccine and to the (as she claims) agenda behind the apparent scare of today. I urge you to listen to the interview. It has shades of Orwell’s 1984 or a Ludlum novel. And Ashiya claims it’s really happening. With the news in the last days in America I can hardly believe the timely nature of this interview. I’ve got some other pressing writing currently so this is it for now. I’ll be posting more soon.
Again, Ashiya outlines the dangers in the Swine Flu Vaccine and in the concerns she and others have of an agenda to use the vaccine to depopulate the world. Yes, you read this correctly. This is a controversial interview I urge you to listen to with an open mind. It contains an audio clip of retired Finnish Chief Medical Officer Rauni Kilde and another of the catchy rap Flu Song.
Below is the talk I did on October 21st with Ashiya Austin. I won’t say, ‘Enjoy,’ as I usually do. I will say, ‘Be informed.’
“In Search of Simplicity is a unique and awe-inspiring way to re-visit and even answer some of the gnawing questions we all intrinsically have about the meaning of life and our true, individual purpose on the planet. I love this book.”
“In Search of Simplicity is one of those rare literary jewels with the ability to completely and simultaneously ingratiate itself into the mind, heart and soul of the reader.”
Our End of Beautiful Coopers Beach. It is Paradise.
What a beautiful morning! I’m just back from a long walk up and down hills and along the beach. I did a pre-interview with a neighbour who’s going to speak about Freemasonry on the radio with me in November. He’s the Grandmaster for Northland and we often bump into each other on the beach. We touched on Dan Brown’s take on the Masons from his new book, The Lost Symbol (I got a call last night to confirm my suspicions that Dan Brown is himself a Freemason). I loved the book, by the way. And, of course, I came back with mulberries for a smoothie.
Erwin Alber of VINE (Vaccination Information Network – look for his Facebook Page on this)) has been in touch (he’ll be back in New Zealand for a few months from his current home in Thailand) and we’ve tentatively set up an interview date for late January. The interview with Ashiya Austin about mandatory swine flu vaccinations last night was really out there and extremely thought-provoking. She even spoke about FEMA, sort of concentration camps for people who refuse to be vaccinated????? Supposedly there are something like 18 in Australia and hundreds in America. Don’t quote me on this. I haven’t done the research. I sure needed a walk on the beach after that interview. I’m curious what listeners thought of it. I’ll be posting it here with links soon. Stay tuned.
Anyways, it is such a magnificent sunny morning with voluminous birdsong that I’ll have to go out and do some gardening now. It’s too nice to miss. It might even be a swimming day if it stays like this.
Here’s a nice cover of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s – “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World”
The following is the prophecy of Peter Deunov regarding the end of our civilization and the beginning of the Golden Age on earth.
Also known under the spiritual name of Beinsa Douno, the Bulgarian Master
Peter Deunov (1864-1944) was a being of a very high level of consciousness,
at the same time an incomparable musician, that gave during his whole life
an example of purity, wisdom, intelligence and creativity. For years he was
established close to Sofia where he lived surrounded by numerous disciples,
he, by his radiance awakened the spirituality of thousands of souls in
Bulgaria as well as the rest of Europe.
Some days before his departure to the other world, he was in a profound
mediumistic trance, he made an extraordinary prophecy in regards to our
troubled epoch that we are crossing today, a prophecy about the “end of
time” and the coming of a new Golden Age of humanity.
Here is this deeply moving testament. It is current and so vibrant that one
doubts that these words were spoken almost 60 years ago.
“During the passage of time, the consciousness of man traversed a very long
period of obscurity. This phase which the Hindus call “Kali Yuga”, is on the
verge of ending. We find ourselves today at the frontier between two epochs:
that of Kali Yuga and that of the New Era that we are entering.
A gradual improvement is already occurring in the thoughts, sentiments and
acts of humans, but everybody will soon be subjugated to divine Fire, that
will purify and prepare them in regards to the New Era.. Thus man will raise
himself to a superior degree of consciousness, indispensable to his entrance
to the New Life. That is what one understands by “Ascension”.
Some decades will pass before this Fire will come, that will transform the
world by bringing it a new moral. This immense wave comes from cosmic space
and will inundate the entire earth. All those that attempt to oppose it will
be carried off and transferred elsewhere.
Although the inhabitants of this planet do not all find themselves at the
same degree of evolution, the new wave will be felt by each one of us. And
this transformation will not only touch the Earth, but the ensemble of the
entire Cosmos.
The best and only thing that man can do now is to turn towards God and
improve himself consciously, to elevate his vibratory level, so as to find
himself in harmony with the powerful wave that will soon submerge him.
The Fire of which I speak, that accompanies the new conditions offered to
our planet, will rejuvenate, purify, reconstruct everything: the matter will
be refined, your hearts will be liberated from anguish, troubles,
incertitude, and they will become luminous; everything will be improved,
elevated; the thoughts, sentiments and negative acts will be consumed and
destroyed.
Your present life is a slavery, a heavy prison. Understand your situation
and liberate yourself from it. I tell you this: exit from your prison! It is
really sorry to see so much misleading, so much suffering, so much
incapacity to understand where one’s true happiness lies.
Everything that is around you will soon collapse and disappear. Nothing will
be left of this civilization nor its perversity; the entire earth will be
shaken and no trace will be left of this erroneous culture that maintains
men under the yoke of ignorance. Earthquakes are not only mechanical
phenomen, their goal is also to awaken the intellect and the heart of
humans, so that they liberate themselves from their errors and their follies
and that they understand that they are not the only ones in the universe.
Our solar system is now traversing a region of the Cosmos where a
constellation that was destroyed left its mark, its dust. This crossing of a
contaminated space is a source of poisoning, not only for the inhabitants of
the earth, but for all the inhabitants of the other planets of our galaxy.
Only the suns are not affected by the influence of this hostile environment.
This region is called “the thirteenth zone”; one also calls it “the zone of
contradictions”. Our planet was enclosed in this region for thousands of
years, but finally we are approaching the exit of this space of darkness and
we are on the point of attaining a more spiritual region, where more evolved
beings live.
The earth is now following an ascending movement and everyone should force
themselves to harmonize with the currents of the ascension. Those who refuse
to subjugate themselves to this orientation will lose the advantage of good
conditions that are offered in the future to elevate themselves. They will
remain behind in evolution and must wait tens of millions of years for the
coming of a new ascending wave.
The earth, the solar system, the universe, all are being put in a new
direction under the impulsion of Love. Most of you still consider Love as a
derisory force, but in reality, it is the greatest of all forces! Money and
power continue to be venerated as if the course of your life depended upon
it. In the future, all will be subjugated to Love and all will serve it. But
it is through suffering and difficulties that the consciousness of man will
be awakened.
The terrible predictions of the prophet Daniel written in the bible relate
to the epoch that is opening. There will be floods, hurricanes, gigantic
fires and earthquakes that will sweep away everything. Blood will flow in
abundance. There will be revolutions; terrible explosions will resound in
numerous regions of the earth. There where there is earth, water will come,
and there where there is water, earth will come. God is Love; yet we are
dealing here with a chastisement, a reply by Nature against the crimes
perpetrated by man since the night of time against his Mother; the Earth.
After these sufferings, those that will be saved, the elite, will know the
Golden Age, harmony and unlimited beauty. Thus keep your peace and your
faith when the time comes for suffering and terror, because it is written
that not a hair will fall from the head of the just. Don’t be discouraged,
simply follow your work of personal perfection.
You have no idea of the grandiose future that awaits you. A New Earth will
soon see day. In a few decades the work will be less exacting, and each one
will have the time to consecrate spiritual, intellectual and artistic
activities. The question of rapport between man and woman will be finally
resolved in harmony; each one having the possibility of following their
aspirations. The relations of couples will be founded on reciprocal respect
and esteem. Humans will voyage through the different planes of space and
breakthrough intergalactic space. They will study their functioning and will
rapidly be able to know the Divine World, to fusion with the Head of the
Universe.
The New Era is that of the sixth race. Your predestination is to prepare
yourself for it, to welcome it and to live it. The sixth race will build
itself around the idea of Fraternity. There will be no more conflicts of
personal interests; the single aspiration of each one will be to conform
himself to the Law of Love. The sixth race will be that of Love. A new
continent will be formed for it. It will emerge from the Pacific, so that
the Most High can finally establish His place on this planet.
The founders of this new civilization, I call them “Brothers of Humanity” or
also “Children of Love” They will be unshakeable for the good and they will
represent a new type of men. Men will form a family, as a large body, and
each people will represent an organ in this body. In the new race, Love will
manifest in such a perfect manner, that today’s man can only have a very
vague idea.
The earth will remain a terrain favourable to struggle, but the forces of
darkness will retreat and the earth will be liberated from them. Humans
seeing that there is no other path will engage themselves to the path of the
New Life, that of salvation. In their senseless pride, some will, to the end
hope to continue on earth a life that the Divine Order condemns, but each
one will finish by understanding that the direction of the world doesn’t
belong to them.
A new culture will see the light of day, it will rest on three principal
foundations: the elevation of woman, the elevation of the meek and humble,
and the protection of the rights of man.
The light, the good, and justice will triumph; it is just a question of
time. The religions should be purified. Each contains a particle of the
Teaching of the Masters of Light, but obscured by the incessant supply of
human deviation. All the believers will have to unite and to put themselves
in agreement with one principle, that of placing Love as the base of all
belief, whatever it may be. Love and Fraternity that is the common base!
The earth will soon be swept by extraordinary rapid waves of Cosmic
Electricity. A few decades from now beings who are bad and lead others
astray will not be able to support their intensity. They will thus be
absorbed by Cosmic Fire that will consume the bad that they possess. Then
they will repent because it is written that “each flesh shall glorify God”.
Our mother, the earth, will get rid of men that don’t accept the New Life.
She will reject them like damaged fruit. They will soon not be able to
reincarnate on this planet; criminals included. Only those that possess Love
in them will remain.
There is not any place on earth that is not dirtied with human or animal
blood; she must therefore submit to a purification. And it is for this that
certain continents will be immersed while others will surface.
Men do not suspect to what dangers they are menaced by. They continue to
pursue futile objectives and to seek pleasure. On the contrary those of the
sixth race will be conscious of the dignity of their role and respectful of
each one’s liberty. They will nourish themselves exclusively from products
of the vegetal realm. Their ideas will have the power to circulate freely as
the air and light of our days.
The words “If you are not born again.” apply to the sixth race. Read Chapter
60 of Isaiah it relates to the coming of the sixth race the Race of Love.
After the Tribulations, men will cease to sin and will find again the path
of virtue. The climate of our planet will be moderated everywhere and brutal
variations will no longer exist. The air will once again become pure, the
same for water. The parasites will disappear. Men will remember their
previous incarnations and they will feel the pleasure of noticing that they
are finally liberated from their previous condition.
In the same manner that one gets rid of the parasites and dead leaves on the
vine, so act the evolved Beings to prepare men to serve the God of Love.
They give to them good conditions to grow and to develop themselves, and to
those that want to listen to them, they say: “Do not be afraid! Still a
little more time and everything will be all right; you are on the good path.
May he that wants to enter in the New Culture study, consciously work and
prepare.”
Thanks to the idea of Fraternity, the earth will become a blessed place, and
that will not wait. But before, great sufferings will be sent to awaken the
consciousness. Sins accumulated for thousands of years must be redeemed. The
ardent wave emanating from On High will contribute in liquidating the karma
of peoples..
The liberation can no longer be postponed. Humanity must prepare itself for
great trials that are inescapable and are coming to bring an end to egoism.
Under the earth, something extraordinary is preparing itself. A revolution
that is grandiose and completely inconceivable will manifest itself soon in
nature. God has decided to redress the earth, and He will do it!
It is the end of an epoch; a new order will substitute the old, an order in
which Love will reign on earth.”
In this inspiring interview Tony Achtzehner outlines the shifts he has made from accountancy to running a successful beer garden (in his homeland of Germany) to an organic self-sufficient lifestyle and community creation in New Zealand. The self-healing modality of Body Electronics is discussed in the second half of the show.
My special guest Wednesday, October 14, 2009 on Voices from the North was Tony Achtzehner. Tony has made dramatic transformations in the course of his life. He spent his first twelve years in an idyllic German village in the Bavarian mountains near the Austrian border. He began his working life in accountancy. After a few years of working at a desk with numbers his desire for change kicked in and he ultimately attained great success running a beer garden at an old chateau with period furnishings in a picturesque setting of large established trees on a lake. He employed upwards of 30 people and weekends could see as many as 2000 patrons happily imbibing the local brew. Tony pointed out a startling fact: in eight summers this outdoor drinking establishment never experienced a fight or violent outbreak. Beer is like food for Bavarians and they treat it and each other with respect, it would seem.
Tony was exposed to the philosophical teachings of the friend and contemporary of Mark Twain, Prentice Mulford (1834-1891). For more on this little-known and read nature-inspired new thought pioneer click here. The viewpoint and words of Mulford proved to be perhaps the first trigger in Tony’s mind that there would be more to his life than being the successful proprietor of a drinking (and eating) establishment. When he read a book summarizing the prophecies of many seers and religions all pointing to a grand age of enlightenment (after some discomfort on the part of humanity) around the beginning of the new millennium, he realised he wanted to participate in this planetary shift somewhere other than in Europe. A serendipitous meeting and friendship with a Kiwi working for him brought him to New Zealand for the first time. He knew almost instantly this would be his new home.
Blobs Grow in Beloved Gardens – 1975
He settled initially near Opua in the Far North, by happenstance adjacent to the famous European artist and architect, Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000), who became a good friend. Hundertwasser was escaping his continental fame and notoriety and was relishing the opportunity to plant trees and live simply and as closely as possible to nature. He proved to be a great inspiration to Tony, who himself became a lover and planter of many trees and who has incorporated Hundertwasser-inspired earth roofs and mosaics into his many subsequent building projects.
Hundertwasser Architecture
In the last decade and a half Tony has created an amazing property of organic orchards and gardens, retreat huts and dwellings. This inspirational place on the edge of Kerikeri, recently reclaiming its ancestral name, Pukewhau, has morphed into a thriving community of like-minded souls. There is now a hall available for a preschool and for meditation gatherings and a plethora of eclectic workshops.
Tony spoke with admiration for the friendship he had with an amazing man, Dr. John Whitman Ray, the founder of a healing modality called Body Electronics.
Dr. John Ray 1998
Dr. John wowed his audience of 120 during the tea break of a talk he gave at the Union Church in Kerikeri when in the fifteen minutes of the break he healed the swollen and broken leg of one of the attendees. When she began to jump around with delight on her previously broken leg (and there was an X-Ray to prove it) Tony knew he wanted to spend more time with Dr. John and his knowledge and skills. Doug Morrison continues to lecture and write on Body Electronics today, carrying on the amazing work of John Ray, who died a few years ago. I’ve personally experienced the seemingly miraculous results of Body Electronics and I encourage you to look further here.
The beautiful song played in the middle of the interview has been identified as performed by Israel “Iz” Kaۢanoۢi Kamakawiwoۢole (May 20, 1959 – June 26, 1997)). My special thanks to Karoline Dehnhard who researched and found the name of this amazing artist. I’ve added a video of him singing another version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow to the end of the blog.
Like his mentors Hudertwasser and Mulford, Tony Achtzehner has chosen to live a simple life closely attuned to nature. I have a feeling his work and that of others around him will inspire many to lead organic and more self-sufficient ‘closer-to-nature’ lives in the years to come. Listen to the complete interview here:
Downtown. Small, owner-managed shops. Friendly, safe places with people on foot who have time for each other. A nostalgic glimpse of the past or a whimsical wish for the future? Warren Snow of Envision New Zealand would like to see it as an enduring icon of the present.
Warren is passionate about waste reduction and sustainability and retaining and restoring vibrancy and resiliency to downtowns and small towns. He has worked with Stephen Tindall of the Warehouse and sees that model of retailing (based on the Walmart-model) as counterproductive to local foot-based retailing. Have you seen the revealing documentary, Store Wars: When Walmart Comes to Town? We discussed the detrimental impact megastores can have on small local manufacturing as well as retailing. I See Redis a book describing one instance where The Warehouse spelled the demise of a local business that supplied quality products and created many jobs.
Perhaps Warren’s easiest suggestion to improve our local communities is for each of us to spend just $5 a week more locally—at farmers markets or local shops. This single act can make a significant difference.
The music is We Are One by Dan Seals with vocals by Dan Seaforth.
“The pygmies of the Ituri Forest must be saved. They still represent the true human potential for love, peace and harmony, without crime or greed.” Jean-Pierre Hallet
Imagine an explorer who survived backwater fever, a knife slash in his leg, and a dynamite explosion that not only blew off his right hand at the wrist, but caused a 75 per cent loss of hearing. Though he was bleeding profusely, he swam across a lake, narrowly escaping crocodiles, and began a painful two-hundred-mile journey to reach medical aid. Jean-Pierre Hallet was that explorer and I reckon if he could live his dreams any of us can pursue ours. He was truly a giant of the 20th century. The following words summarize his life and were found at: http://www.midhudsongalleries.com/id8.html
Jean-Pierre Hallet was a man more intimately connected to Africa than perhaps any other westerner. His feats were legendary-what one expects of fiction and adventure movies. About his mission to save the vanishing Bambuti pygmy tribe in the Ituri Forest in Northeast Zaire, the newspapers and magazines of three decades reported it in various ways. He Saves Little People; A Giant Comes To The Rescue; He’s The Biggest Of The Little People of Zaire; Humanitarian Sows Seeds of Hope and Pygmies Have A Friend in Hallet.
A friend, indeed. In 1955 he lost his right hand, in an explosion, while dynamiting Lake Tanganyika for fish to feed a Pygmy tribe. In 1957 he was successful in obtaining, from the colonial government, official acceptance of his “Declaration of Emancipation” for the endangered pygmies. He lived with the Bambuti pygmies for eighteen months and learned six aboriginal languages and seventeen dialects. His extensive knowledge of the pygmy language resulted in a dictionary of more than 18,000 terms, which remains unpublished. He founded The Pygmy Fund in 1974, the only organization devoted to the preservation of the lives and culture of surviving forest dwelling Efe pygmies.
Born in 1927 in Louvain, Belgium, Jean-Pierre Hallet was the son of Andre Hallet, the famed Belgian post-impressionist painter, who lived in the Congo. Jean-Pierre played with pygmy children, north of Lake Kivu, in the northeastern part of the former Belgian Congo. At six, he left his playmates to go to school in Europe. He was already the height of an average adult pygmy in the forest. He returned in 1948 with a Sorbonne education. He was now an agronomist and a sociologist. Jean-Pierre was twenty-one. He was six feet five inches tall and 225 pounds. His incredible life was about to unfold and his reputation as “father to the pygmies” and the “Abe Lincoln of the Congo” was just beginning.
Jean-Pierre Hallet would become a heroic figure. He would become an authority on African culture and a blood brother to many tribes. He was an internationally renowned africanist, ethnologist, naturalist, author, lecturer, explorer, cinematographer, artist, African art authority and collector as well as a death-defying adventurer. He delivered more than 500 African babies, pygmy and non-pygmy. It would be difficult to find another man with such a resume.
He would author three books, the Kitabu trilogy. (Kitabu is roughly translated in Swahili as book.) Congo Kitabu, the first of the trilogy was autobiographical. It would be translated into twenty-one languages including Chinese and Russian. His own words say it best. “I grew up among the pygmies, learning everything that is their world,….making my first bow and arrow…..identifying birds and animals.”
In Animal Kitabu, he explained the odd double life of the hippopotamus, aquatic by day and terrestrial by night. “At the Rwindi Camp in the Congo’s Albert National Park, the hippos used to come on moonlit nights, walking a full mile from the Rwindi River, just to stand outside the restaurant and watch the tourists eating, drinking, chattering and playing cards. During the day, tourists went to the river to watch the hippos.”
In Pygmy Kitabu, his descriptions of the pygmies had palpable charm -”They are very amiable, warmhearted, fun-loving, sometimes mischievous but wholly non-aggressive characters, who behave more like the elves of European legend than the awful killer apes of modern myth.” He also wrote “They love to dance, sing, play the harp and flute, tell jokes, compose tongue twisters, and engage in thrilling sports like the grand old game of archery-ball.”
Human Potential, a magazine published by The Ambassador International Cultural Foundation, featured a cover story in the September 1975 issue entitled” To Save A People”. The cover photograph was a charming portrayal of a moment of tenderness between a pygmy father and child. The man behind the lens was Jean-Pierre Hallet who captured the warmth and the sensitivity of that moment. “To Save a People” was comprised of a series of conversations by M. Hallet as told to Senior Editor Herman L. Hoeh. Following is some of what he said.
About the pygmies: “The pygmies of the Ituri Forest must be saved. They still represent the true human potential for love, peace and harmony, without crime or greed. If people are judged by the quality of their hearts and minds, the ancestral pygmies are giants of mankind. Yet, our often blind, “civilization” is now responsible for the imminent extinction of those people by systematically destroying their forest. Sophisticated technology is self-destructive. Our ultimate survival can only be inspired by saving a simple people such as the pygmies…”
On the pygmy belief about death: “God willed it. If God willed it thus, it is because He had his reasons. One does not judge God.”
On his documentary, Pygmies: “In the fall of 1972, I made a full length documentary on the Efe pygmies wanting to raise funds to help them in their struggle for survival. The Zaire government was about to rule that the pygmies could not be photographed, since they felt that because of their “primitive” appearance they “are bad public relations for the new nation.”…..I managed to produce this graphic documentary incorporating into 90 minutes the essence of a lifetime of observation and understanding-the first and last ever made. In September 1973 the film was shown, at a press preview, at The Academy Award Theatre in Los Angeles. It was a great success: standing ovation and excellent trade reviews.”
Jean-Pierre Hallet was appealing and charismatic. He charmed Tonight Show viewers appearing as a guest of Johnny Carson. He was photographed with Dwight Eisenhower. Writing his eulogy, following his death on New Years Day of 2004, family friend, Donald Heyneman, Ph.D., wrote “…he could not enter a room without arresting all attention. He could commandeer any conversation usually redirecting it towards his worthy objectives. Strong opinions, strongly-and fully delivered were a trademark. He was indeed larger than life, a powerful presence. One who led a full, unrestrained unconventional independent and important life, Jean Pierre Hallet was, and remains, a significant force in the lives of all who were privileged to have known him.”
“In Search of Simplicity is a unique and awe-inspiring way to re-visit and even answer some of the gnawing questions we all intrinsically have about the meaning of life and our true, individual purpose on the planet. I love this book.”
“In Search of Simplicity is one of those rare literary jewels with the ability to completely and simultaneously ingratiate itself into the mind, heart and soul of the reader.”
The author's true, exciting and serendipitous journey through the wilds of Papua New Guinea, the Himalayas, around the planet and into the heart of life guaranteed to change the way you see the world.
Now it is with great satisfaction that I receive feedback from readers of the transformative and inspirational quality of the book. Only yesterday I received an amazing review that I’d like to give you an opportunity to read. This makes all the work of writing worthwhile. Here’s the link:
Tony was exposed to the philosophical teachings of the friend and contemporary of Mark Twain, Prentice Mulford (1834-1891). For more on this little-known and read nature-inspired new thought pioneer 
