Additional information
by Carol Sill (Introduction by), Shamcher Bryn Beorse (Author)
Welcome to the world in which fairy tales are true, where the prominent scientists of the day join together to seek wisdom from a great sage of the Himalayas at the fabled Kumbha Mela. Guided by a trusted myth-spinning storyteller, their journey and its preparation are peppered with tales of metaphysical adventures. From the bohemian Shangri-La of the Oceano Dunes to the ancient Ganges flowing from Himalayan heights, the group travels and discovers the realm of "silent reach". In the tradition of metaphysical fiction that was popular in the 1920's and 30s, Fairy Tales are True sweeps the reader into a vortex of yogis, scientists, spies and fools. Unlike most of those forgotten novels of secret universal Buddhist brotherhoods and mystical Tibetan quests, this book is more than partly true. Bryn Beorse, who was known to the Sufis as Shamcher, was the real deal: an actual world-travelling yogi-sufi who also was an esteemed economist and engineer. Here he has created a fantastical autobiographical allegory in a book that defies categorization.As one long teaching story comprised of nested teaching stories, Beorse's book may take liberties with facts to illustrate truths, but not as often as you might think. It is not only autobiographical, it is also a novelized or storified account of concepts that cannot be easily grasped by the literal mind. From California pre-hippy communes of eighty years ago, to the mysterious convening of the sages in modern-day India, this story sweeps the reader along following the secret thread whose strands have held mankind together for the last few thousand years. Visits to simple villagers with amazing powers alternate with the adventures of an expedition of the world's most important scientists, as Bryn Beorse takes us into the "inner sanctums" of our own everyday world.
Author Biography
Bryn Beorse (Shamcher) (1896-1980) was the author of many non-fiction books, novels and articles, covering topics of energy, economics, full employment, and global awareness as well as yoga and Sufism. Born in Norway, he worked and travelled in over 65 countries in his lifetime, and he eventually settled in the United States. Fluent in several languages, his comprehensive worldview included the inner meditative life as well as the accomplishment of life in the world. Sent on a UN economic mission to Tunisia in the 1960's, helping to rebuild the Norwegian economy after WWII, Beorse also spent time in exploration, travelling to the Kumbha Mela in India, living as a beach bum in the dunes of Oceano, and going to China at the time of the revolution. A spy in WWII, he was part of the plot to kidnap Hitler. An advocate of the giro-credit economic system, he spoke out against the stagnation of hierarchical organization. An accomplished yogi and Sufi, Shamcher was instrumental in developing Sufi centres throughout the world, in the tradition of Inayat Khan. He dedicated the last years of his life to OTEC, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, a source of benign solar power from the sea. More info at: www.shamcher.org
