DAY 4 · Part III: After the Ra Contact
CHAPTER 19
Bring4th.org
to the Present*
2008–2014
Gary We resume with the final chapter of the L/L Research story. Carla and Jim, in May, 2008, you crossed paths with Steve Engratt. What happened there?
Carla Well, I had been trying to get an online community going for some time. It had gone through two tries before that; they both failed, and we pulled them offline. I think they exist somewhere in the bowels of old versions of stuff, but we don’t have those versions and as far as I know, they’re gone. So, Steve was a guy that wanted to do a website too, and his vision was very compatible with mine—of it being a place where we could bring together people who were lonely and who wanted to talk freely in a positive atmosphere.
So we talked about it with you [Gary] and Jim—for the most part you—and we three sort of cobbled together that original vision for the present incarnation of Bring4th.org. We set what it was that we wanted to do and how we were going to try to do it as far as priorities go. I think the first thing was a forum—set the forums up, and then we set up other features. We went online bit-by-bit.1
I was really thrilled with Engratt’s work. He was very positive, and I was
* Present at the point of this interview.
very deeply involved in writing at that point. I believe I asked you to find a way to monitor the communications in the forums to make sure that all the postings were respectful and loving and had a good energy to them. So there has always been oversight there. By necessity, being a dinosaur as far as computers and all things computer-ese go, I had to leave the technical aspects in your hands. I’ve been very thrilled with the results through the years. Seems like it’s being of service and that is our goal.
Gary Do you feel that your vision was fulfilled in what we were able to build? It sounds like you’re satisfied with it.
Carla I did feel that my vision was fulfilled because I basically wanted a place where people could go and talk; they certainly can, and they certainly do. I don’t know how many thousands of posts we’ve had on there now, but it’s way up there.
Gary Maybe over 100,000 at this point2?
Carla So people are finding good conversations and it has been kept from being ugly. Once somebody starts to be ugly, they’re warned and they go through a fairly long process of being warned and being talked to. Almost every case you can work it out and smooth it out. In some very few cases we had to stop the postings from being available with these people, simply because they are going to be ugly, and we don’t want that energy online. Nowhere on the site do we want anything except loving energy.
Gary Moderating is not often a fun or rewarding task.3
Carla No, it’s a tough job. But somebody’s got to do it.
Gary So why was there a necessity to create a separate website for online community and not just incorporate it into the archive website?
Carla Simply because Ian did not have a vision of that; he wanted a library website. He did not, specifically did not, want a community website. He saw a lot of problems with that, and he didn’t want to get involved in that much work. He was already involved in a huge amount of work, translations started pouring in . . . he was putting different translations online and getting each one of those produced, coded, and so forth. The guy was working hard, and he was doing fine at what he did. So we just made another site. But now that Ian has retired and Steve Engratt has taken over the reins for everything, I like your vision of bringing the two websites together so that it’s easier to use.
Gary So with the new website also came L/L Research’s first online store, the first time that readers could order your books through the internet without using a mail order form.
Carla Right. And it’s the first time that they could easily use charge cards.
Gary Yep. And the online store also had the added advantage of making it easier for the readership to donate to L/L Research. Consequently, for the first time in all the years that you guys have been running L/L Research, you didn’t have to fund the organization out of your own pockets. Just enough came in to keep the lights on, as you like to say.
Carla It was amazing. Sometimes we’d think there’s no way, and then somebody would send in a big donation and make it just okay, just squeaking by. We’ve never had a lot over, but we’ve squeaked by.
Gary That’s been my experience of working through L/L Research. We usually start to coast on fumes near the end of the year until enough comes in to keep us running—thanks to the annual fundraiser.
I wanted to note during this interview that you guys have not only performed this channeling service all these years and hosted these workshops and responded to seekers, but you were paying for this whole venture.
Carla That’s true, that’s true. And it was very distressing to those who helped me with what Don left me, which I put in trust; my trust officer said, “Why are you taking more and more out of your trust to spend on this—donate to this group?” I said, “Well, they need it. I want to make sure that there’s money enough to do this.”
Jim We are the “they,” and that is our work. What else is there to do? We do whatever we can.
Carla Yeah, she was somewhat distressed, but I said, “If I pay out all that Don left me, then that is just. Don would have done that.” So I was satisfied. And she had to be satisfied.
Gary Among my objectives in having this interview was to communicate to future generations (should L/L Research continue) what the founders’ intent was, what your spirit was, how-you-guys-did-things. So whether it’s me serving as administrator or somebody else down the line, this is going to be, I hope, part of a policy that stays: that no matter what, we keep L/L Research alive. Even if the donations run dry, then it’s up to us to begin chipping in. If I need to get a different job, then I get a different job to make income, but this is primary and this ship stays afloat.
Jim That’s the spirit. You’ve got the spirit.
Carla You got it, that’s right. And hopefully you won’t have to do this kind of sacrificing that we’re talking about here.
Gary Through the middle of the 2000s up to now, it’s been a process of you guys gradually pulling back from some of the front-and-center L/L duties—always remaining, of course, the creative heart and spirit of L/L Research. And as you have done that, I became the de facto direction-setter, policy-maker, and representative of L/L Research, essentially coordinating and managing the entire operation as an administrator. Can you describe this transition and whether I carried forward your work and spirit in congruence with your own heart?
Jim Oh, yeah. We are thrilled to have you there. We’ve talked about this a number of times over the last, I guess, year or so, and it’s a good thing to talk about it in public, I’d say. But it’s obvious: you’re doing things that we never dreamed of and even if we dreamed them now, we couldn’t do them. As Carla said, we’ve become somewhat of a dinosaur in certain areas, so we are thrilled to sit back and do what we can to be of service to others—communications, meditations, and talking when possible, whatever. But for the sailing of the ship and the steering of the course, there you are, and thank God for you.
Carla If I had ever seen anything that was questionable, I would have questioned you on it. You’ve never said, “Well, I’m taking over now, you guys can just go away and retire.” It’s always been a joint effort, and I think it always will be as long as we’re alive. But I don’t understand the technical aspects of a lot of things. I can certainly understand the non-technical aspects, and those aspects we’ve talked about, and they always measure up. So I’m really happy with you.
Gary Thank you. That question could have gone the wrong way. [laugh-ter]
Jim The interview could have been over! [more laughter]
Carla Keep your tail up and wagging because you have a right to be cocky.
Gary Thank you for the positive reply. It means the world to me.
In the last self-referential question, during my tenure, as you guys have indicated, L/L Research has grown organically in important ways. L/L is facilitating both an archive and an online community; it’s hosting larger workshops; we’re doing the weekly In the Now radio program. We host a more developed prison ministry, multiple newsletters, a daily blog, social media outlets, a Daily Q’uote feature; we’ve been working, thanks to Austin, on making audio and e-books of the material available, assisting Tobey’s Relistening Project, hosting booths at expos, coordinating volunteer translation projects, etc. Not to reflect on me personally but the organization, how do you reflect on this and are you content with the growth that your organization has undertaken?
Jim Oh man, it’s amazing. I’m amazed. And astonished. Yeah, just to have it all listed in one place like that, that took a while. It’s wonderful. It’s fantastic.
Carla And if we could think of any more ways to be of service, we would do it. That’s the idea. And any and all ideas that volunteers come up with we’ll consider, and the ones that seem good we preserve, and do them.
Gary As we near the end of the L/L Research story, one of its more recent milestones happened in 2013 when you greenlighted my request to bring in Austin Bridges, one of L/L Research’s volunteer moderators on the forums, to work alongside of me in the office. Why was this needed, and what have the results been thus far?
Jim Well, we got it on good account from a very knowledgeable person that there was enough work to do that we needed another person because you needed help. You had set out on a bold and brilliant course and discovered that there’s a lot to do, and to have a buddy in there working with you would be a real blessing. So of course we said yes, and it’s been great. I think Austin has done a wonderful job. He’s extremely capable, a very gentle soul, very intelligent, wise, and patient. We appreciate his counsel as well, especially talking over what to do about moderator situations. We’d had problems with various people.
Carla He’s very loving and very sensible. Good combination: thoughtful and loving. He seems to either create projects that you hadn’t done at all, or manifest projects that were in your head, like digitizing everything on the Q’uo [channeling sessions]. So he just finds more ways to be of service and to make it more possible for people to find us, if they want to. God bless his soul.
I think it’s a natural tendency of work to fill the time that you’ve got, and then to get overfilled. I know that I was overworked for a long time before I finally squawked and we got an admin. And then, for about, oh, fifteen minutes, you didn’t have too much to do and you were making lists and then doing stuff on the lists, then coming to me for another list. And then you had lists you never finished, and then it got worse and worse. Finally you came to us and said, “Help!”
And it worked out. It worked out with Austin. I was never so happy, and now I hear from his indications that he’s getting to the point where you both have too much to do. [laughs] It seems like there is an expansion there; it is just amazing. I hope the spirit sends us a third person eventually, because it looks like we’ll need one.
Gary It’s wonderful that you guys feel that way. It’s almost a year; the beginning of August will be a year that he’s been with us.
Carla It doesn’t seem like the time could possibly have passed that much, but he’s a joy to have with us. He really is.
Gary A really grounded individual, a good head on his shoulders, and I knew that would be needed, considering . . .
Carla And he fit right in, seamlessly. There wasn’t an adjustment period that I could tell.
Gary Having seen people spin themselves out in this environment, whether it’s because of the metaphysical qualities, or whether because we’re just hard people to get along with, whatever the case may be—
Carla One or the other . . . or both. [laughs]
Gary —I knew a strong grounded nature would be needed. And he’s rock solid for sure. I agree with the other adjectives that you used as well, including wise and patient and a kind soul.
Carla My gosh, somebody who comes in and does dictation for me because I can no longer see the computer keys! I can’t keep up with my correspondence, so he helps me with that. At the end of it—and you know, talking to friends and stuff isn’t exactly high priority for L/L Research—but he helps me out with my personal friends. It’s got to be boring—it’s got to be very boring—and at the end of it, he thanks me that we’ve been able to work together.
Gary Yes, and you said the word “seamless”. That’s one word I would have used too. He and I just operate seamlessly, and the four of us do…
Carla You really do. You’re like the Bobbsey Twins, especially when you go into the office and look at the two of you from behind with your curly hair up in your two ponytails that are just alike. I swear to God you look like twins, just going away—clickity-click, clackity-clack. [laughs]
Gary Every once in a while somebody will come through here and say, “Are you two brothers?” And I’ll answer and say, “We are not of relations.” Which is how Forest Gump replies to Lt. Dan when he asks if he and Bubba Gump are related and Forest looks at Bubba confused, not getting that it’s not a valid question.
So for our final question regarding the long and rich story of L/L Research’s biography: in my own experience over the past eleven years, so much of what L/L Research has been able to accomplish has happened thanks to volunteers. Often those volunteers proactively offer and initiate a specific service of their own design. Has this always been the case, and why do you think this is?
Jim People just want to help out.4 We’ve had that happen throughout the years, whatever their talent was. Before the age of the computer, they offered things like artistry—do you want me to draw something for you?—or editing—I can edit—or—
Carla Or helping us sort mail when we had a lot of mail to sort.
Jim Yeah, people just want to help. We’ve always been inspired and amazed by the quality of person that’s interested in The Law of One information. We just keep seeing that reflected back to us with the offers from folks wanting to volunteer.
Carla I feel that spirit is sending us that which is necessary. There is an animation of spirit involved in the whole energy of this. People do want to help but I think also there is that feeling of being blessed by spirit that we’ve prayed for, that we’ve gotten spiritual, angelic help all along. There are a lot of unseen friends at L&L Research, both from elsewhere and from right here.
Gary I agree on all accounts, especially the type or quality, you might say, of person that is attracted to this material. I’ve crossed paths with some of the best people in the world thanks to The Law of One, thanks to this information.
Carla It’s a wonderful lens that draws people together.
Gary And the volunteer work has been amazing in that sometimes we create a goal for ourselves or have a specific need that we may or may not vocalize, and that specific goal or need is met by volunteers. And then sometimes volunteers come to us with their own projects, and it’s something we may not have considered previously. But I think one of the strengths of this organization is that we look at it and say, “That’s great, let’s do it!” Like, “What do you need? How can we assist you?” and then it becomes this collaboration. We become greater than the sum of our parts.
Carla Right, and we always have been greater than the sum of our parts, even when there were just three of us working, and far greater than that.
Jim We should mention that one of our best volunteers is right here in the room with us, videographing us as we speak and talk.
Gary Off camera I looked up at him.
Carla Yay, Ken!
Ken You’re quite welcome.
Gary The Reverend Doctor, as he’s known in some parts. He’ll also be the officiant at my wedding, so we’ve turned to calling him The Reverend. With his Ph.D. he’s got the doctor, so he’s the Reverend Doctor Ken.
And on that note, we close the biography portion of L/L Research. We’ve had a long journey: from the Thomas Mantell case and the sparking of Don’s interest in the UFO phenomena up to the present moment.
Carla May it wave as long as there are people that need this energy.
Notes
[1] To the forums were also added other features, including blogs, a chat room, a map to connect seekers, a subscriptions page for our newsletters, a comprehensive link page, daily revelations of the secrets of the universe, among other components. ↩
[2] 193,920 posts in 10,329 threads, with 6,025 registered members as of February 16, 2016. ↩
[3] Empirically speaking, it is the worst. ↩
Fortunately Austin Bridges now heads up the moderator team with the invaluable and intelligent aid of our Australian friend and volunteer, Garry Fung. Username Bring4th_Plenum, Garry is the best moderator an online forum dedicated to the Law of One and spiritual community could have.
[4] In calendar year 2014, we received help from about 50 volunteers, including translators. ↩