My name is
Ben Gilberti
I'm a compulsive
"teacher." That must be like being gay because I can't seem to control or
change it. I'm gay too.
I'm not joking about
the teaching malady. I started teaching atomic physics when I was in fourth
grade. That's true. In College I'd buttonhole a professor about to start his
class and ask if he'd let me do it instead. I'm sure that must be very hard
to believe, but it's true. Sometimes they'd let me do it. This was at
Fordham University.
They eventually arranged for me to teach an undergraduate course at Fordham
while I was myself still an undergraduate.
After College I
joined a brutal
Fourth Way School
in California. The Fourth Way
Master was a fellow by the name of
Thane Walker,
who was trained by
Gurdjieff.
The training was extremely traumatic, but I just supposed that was the price
of enlightenment, which, you’ll not be surprised to hear, never occurred.
The School
certified me to teach in 1976 and off I went on teaching tours that included
19 cities around the country. I taught
ontological metaphysics,
I guess you'd call it – sort of a streamlined, mathemetized upgrade of
Christian Science.
The basic idea was that Truth is all there is and everything else is illusion
that should dissolve into the nothingness from whence it came. Easier said
than done.
The Fourth Way Master
threw me out of the school because of my intolerable arrogance in 1982.
I then studied the
Sedona Method
and
Avatar,
becoming a
Master
and, would you believe, a
Wizard,
all at very great expense. No wizardry was ever in evidence, however.
Probably a blessing.
I then got a job as
Executive Director of the richly endowed Wisdom Society in San Diego,
entitling me to seduce professors to do all kinds of things that basically
wasted their time. It was fun. For me, not them
I then got a very
good job with IBM.
But then, rather
suddenly, in 1997, I literally went insane. I was soon diagnosed to have
Bipolar Disorder Type
II, Mixed and Rapidcycling,
which, some of you may know, is no picnic; and eventually warranted my being
placed on disability.
I currently spend
most of my time writing, counseling and teaching, all through the internet.
I'm fortunate to have
a few good friends, which seems just perfect. Knowing that I’m addicted to
teaching, most of my friends tolerate what would have otherwise been a bit
offensive.
I’ve written a book
called
Ontological Mysticism,
which is available on the internet. Some like it. I think it's a bit stuffy.
I have a new Yahoo
Group, a very friendly bunch, at this location:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Feelings_and_Experiences/
When I teach on
PalTalk,
my friend Phil Frisk records and posts the talk on a website he maintains on
my behalf, which you’ll find at:
I’m 58 years old and
live in a large house on the
Hudson River
with a much younger, very pretty single woman who I don’t bother with because
I’m gay.
I’m not sexually
active any more, not because of age, but because it’s just too damn much
trouble.
My hobby is making
fractals with
www.ultrafractal.com
and I’ve become quite good at it. I have the peculiar ability to make
personal fractals for people that somehow makes them feel better, at least so
they tell me. If you'd like me to make a fractal for you, just drop me a
note. I'd be happy to do it.
That’s about it. Now
that you know more of my oddities, I may not seem as odd as before. I hope.
Much Love,
Newburgh, NY