Acknowledgements

I’m always amazed when I read the acknowledgements page in a book, especially non-fiction. The author tends to thank enough people sufficient to invade mainland Europe. I think to myself how does he/she even know that many people much less having managed to rope them into helping.

Though it required less people, this book was no exception to the immutable law which states that it takes a village to raise a book. Each who brought this book into manifestation generously, graciously, and freely volunteered their time, energy, and in some cases buckets of sweat. They include:

Aaron Turner, Michelle Holt, Linda Hoagland, and Kimberly Thomp-son for listening to the audio recordings of this interview and translating the spoken word into text through the art of transcription. If you’ve ever attempted transcription of the spoken word, not to mention at the speed of conversation, not to mention with dialogue including interruptions and some simultaneous speakings, you’ll know it’s none-too-easy a task. To Aaron Turner especially I owe my gratitude in this category for carrying the lion’s share of that load.

Though given homage in the Dedications page, and thanked by way of the book itself, Jim McCarty for performing a read-through of the material before publication and making himself available to the multitudes of questions I had after the interview while editing and building footnotes and endnotes.

Tobey Wheelock for his years of proactively initiated volunteer effort in building and maintaining www.lawofone.info—not for L/L Research, and not for this book (as it was done years before this came into being), but for the benefit of the student of The Law of One, of which I am self-avowedly one for life. The way he numbered the Q&As of the Ra contact and entered the material into a database in order to make it searchable made my research for this project to create over 400 questions exponentially more efficient, and the book significantly richer. And the endnotes a lot longer. Sorry about that.

John Hodapp for calling upon some great magic in order to create what probably caught your eye more than the title or the book’s description: its cover art. John went above and beyond investing himself into and believing in this project, doing his utmost to cooperate with my non-artistic-lucky-if-I-can-draw-a-circle vision of a Quixotesque cover, and windmills for chapter headers. Outside of the photo gallery, and the (obviously) artful formatting of the text, his is the only contribution that gives this great labor of love a visual aesthetic. I’ve gazed so long at the cover artwork that it is by this point burned into my retinas. It is sublime and perfect. Please visit John’s webpage at www.johnhodapp.net.

Ken Wendt for being not only the officiant of my wedding (having been ordained by the Church of Latter-Day Dude, a Big Lebowski offshoot), but also (to speak to something actually relevant to this book) for traveling to Louisville and giving a full week of his life to film the seven-day interview. In another age when more than ten people are interested in the work of L/L Research (say, after the ETs have landed, or we are in a new density, or HBO makes a miniseries), there will exist this wonderful archival footage of two humble people reflecting upon their work and their unique mission.

Jeremy Weiland for being on the other end of the red phone (you know, like the US and Russia share) who answered the urgent call with me shouting NEED EDITING NOW! Providing me very useful and detailed feedback on the introduction, dedication, and epilogue pieces. And, while I’m here, for being one of my longest-standing friends in the new incarnation that began upon awakening to spiritual seeking.

Lane Ratchford who responded to my call seeking an editor for the second half of the book after the first editor became physically unable. Despite being afflicted with that which curses everyone these days, an overly busy life, she squeaked out the time to navigate through the reams of digital files with instructions and editing notes in order to apply her “nerd grammar” to editing the second half of the book. Also for sharing questions and insights from her standpoint as a mental health professional that prompted me to write the needed endnotes to Chapter 27 regarding Don Elkins’ final years.

An individual who wished to remain anonymous for doling out tons of time and labor to help refine our existing editing/formatting standards, raising the bar and setting us on a course to bring the book into a professional aesthetic that we might otherwise not achieved on our own. Thank you you know who you are.

Austin Bridges for carrying out and then undertaking the journey with me to further develop those standards in formatting the entire book for publication after performing the final round of edits to the remaining two-thirds of the books (effectively becoming a book publisher), for navigating the self-publishing world, and for scanning hundreds of negatives, slides, and photos both for preservation and so that I could build the photo gallery of this book. Together we proved that we could publish a book! Also for being my constant companion in the office who held down the fort as I conducted the interview, who puts up with my daily interruptions to his work as I turn to him with questions both important and inane, and who is as steady and rock-like in everything he does as his beard is long. Austin has been a crucial ingredient in amplifying what L/L Research has been able to accomplish and in assisting in, shall we say, bridging L/L Research into its next evolutionary phase of service.

Don Elkins for being the one person I have not personally met who has most directly and powerfully affected my life. His work would never have achieved or even come close to the mountaintop without the synergistic, mutually supportive and sacrificial group work that Carla and Jim undertook with him, but that effort grew out of his own personal drive to question, to seek, to know, to understand. He was the leader that drove the spearhead profoundly and deeply into the unknown, returning with treasures for the rest of us that will, if the work survives, redound to countless generations of spiritual seekers, rippling outward through metaphysical waters into places of eternity we can scarce imagine.

And finally, Michelle Holt for transcribing, editing, counseling, drafting the house standards, and for doing everything she did while walking the long and arduous journey of recovering from the catalyst of cancer. Though this book could not have been accomplished without the combined efforts of everyone listed, especially Austin Bridges’ home runs in the book’s latter stages, (and presumably a healthy dose of unseen support), if I had to name one angel most vital to the project it would be Michelle. After transcribing multiple sessions she then selflessly volunteered for the critical first editor role, in so doing helping to lay the foundation of the standards and helping us to take a giant, self-empowering step forward in transitioning from the loss of L/L’s volunteer editor of 17 years by developing L/L Research’s first ever articulated house standards document—something that helps us to define our standards of editing and publishing for this and all future publications. And when reviews were needed of other pieces, or questions appeared in the mind, Michelle made herself available to the need with palpable gifts of grace, support, and infusions of love. Thank you, Michelle.

This book has largely been a labor of love. Even roughly seventy percent of my own part in its development took place outside of the L/L Research office, often late at night on my personal computer. But to those aforementioned beautiful souls who gave of themselves to this book, I ask that you rise now for a private standing ovation (provided you are not in a public space as this would call suspicion on you).

To everyone I mentioned here I owe a debt of gratitude that words cannot repay. Hopefully I am not karmically bound to you to pay off this off in future lives. In which case may I instead send you gift cards to chain restaurants now in order to absolve me of any outstanding karmic debt?

Thank you, my friends. Thank you for helping me get this supplementary but wonderful material of Carla, Jim, and Don’s into the hands of spiritual seekers. Hopefully it may help deepen their understanding of the philosophy and the context of how it came to be. Hopefully it may assist in some small way in their own journey of self-realization. And if not then at least give them something that might net 50¢ at the next yard sale.