The gospel according to Tal Brooke

Tal Brooke documented her quest for enlightenment in AVATAR [ The incarnation of a god on the earth ] OF NIGHT, 1990. The first guide he looked for was a psychiatrist who had “saved himself” from the real issue … by lying to himself when it was convenient, to make things work. He did not allow himself to think about eternal or last matters. He was glad he was holding his brandy on his yacht … too old and too tired and too proud of his neat system, so he looked away. Eventually, Tal took responsibility for his own life and left this guide.

Tal took a psychochemical approach with LSD as an assistant for his second attempt. He felt that mysticism could take him beyond his senses and his intelligence so that he could find God. His experiment led him to travel to India because yogis, godmen, and enlightened seers claimed to have enlightenment that the self can become God.

Tal’s third guide was Sai Baba, who performed miracles and taught that the moment you enter his presence, all your sins are forgiven. The miracles led Tal to confess to Baba, “I offer you my life, as a son, as a servant, for your direction, so that you may fully possess and do whatever you want.” Baba’s miracles included healing his own burst appendix, healing a Stanford doctor, waving his hand, and materializing stones, gems, and food. He could climb a hill in the blink of an eye when it took others ten minutes to climb. He said it gave a special grace when the center of his head opened and a light as bright as the sun blinded them all for half a day afterward.

So why would Tal leave Baba? The lies were covered up by saying that they were tests to see if Baba’s divinity was doubted.

A baby won’t stop screaming in your presence. They found out that she was a woman. Then Tal puts up some missionaries who prayed. He found her silent power of conviction disconcerting. He felt in them a sense of deep goodness. They cited Scriptures that had an impact on Tal’s system. The coming of Christ was based on hundreds of Old Testament prophecies, not just the cosmic mind. There was evil against good, mind against matter, and spirit against flesh. Christ and Baba were not the same. A thought that had never entered his universe was “There is no better salesman of false truth than a good man.” Then, in a dream, Tal found himself unexpectedly calling out the name of Jesus for help and running and running. He needed more proof, so one day, looking at Baba’s many buildings, Tal challenged God: “Okay, God, how do you explain the apparent love of this self-proclaimed incarnation of God and his miracles? Tell me that.” Tal threw his Bible on a rock and it opened to Matthew 24 and read verse 24, “See that no one deceives you …” This was radically new to him. He came to Christ and “It was like lightning in his power and shocking immediacy. In an instant I went from Tal Brooke, dead in her sins, to Tal Brooke, forever redeemed … I was feeling a radiant lightness of spirit from some spring. hidden that I have never felt before in my millions of consciousness transitions, from LSD elevators to mountaintop epiphanies.page 374.

Today, Tal is president of the Spiritual Forgeries Project in Berkley, CA and talks to many college students.