Edmond Bordeaux Szekely was a Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 philologist/linguist, philosopher, psychologist and natural living experimenter.

Life

Szekely's grandfather was Sándor Székely, poet and Unitarian Bishop of Kolozsvár

Cluj

Cluj may refer to*Cluj-Napoca, county seat of Cluj County, named Cluj until 1974*Cluj County, Romania*Cluj-Napoca International Airport*U Cluj, a Romanian sports club*U Cluj, a Romanian football club*CFR Cluj, a Romanian football club...

; his mother was French and Roman Catholic, and his father was a Hungarian Unitarian

Unitarianism

Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....

. Per Szekely's book 'Essene Gospel of Peace', he was a descendant of Hungarian philologist and orientologist Sándor Kőrösi Csoma

Sándor Korösi Csoma

Sándor Kőrösi Csoma , born Csoma Sándor, also known as Alexander Csoma de Kőrös, was a Hungarian philologist and orientalist, author of the first Tibetan-English dictionary and grammar book. He was born in Kőrös, Grand Principality of Transylvania...

.

Per publications of the International Biogenic Society, including 'The Essene Gospel of Peace', Szekely received a Ph.D. from the University of Paris

University of Paris

The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

, and other degrees from the Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

 and Leipzig

University of Leipzig

The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...

. He held professorships in philosophy and in experimental psychology at the Bolyai University in Kolozsvár (now Cluj, and now in Romania). His books were published in English, Romanian, Esperanto, German, French, Hungarian, and Spanish, per the introductory bibliography in his 1938 book 'Cosmotherapy, the Medicine of the Future'.
Szekely claimed to have translated a text he discovered at the Vatican

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

 in 1923, called The Essene Gospel of Peace which he published in four parts over several decades. With the 1974 edition, he also included what he said was the complete original Hebrew text from which he translated Book 1.

In 1928 Szekely founded the International Biogenic Society, with Nobel Prize-winning novelist Romain Rolland

Romain Rolland

Romain Rolland was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.-Biography:...

  Szekely travelled widely, to Tahiti, Africa, the Carpathians, France, and Eastern Europe. L Purcell Weaver met Szekely in Tahiti in 1934 and attributed his improved health to him. Weaver went on to translate several of Szekely's works, beginning with the 1936 book "Cosmos, Man and Society: A Paneubiotic Synthesis".

In 1939, Szekely married Brooklyn-born Deborah Shainman, whose mother was a past vice-president of the New York Vegetarian Society. In 1940 the couple opened a camp in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico, which they named Rancho la Puerta, where they could explore and test their ideas. The couple had two children, Alexander and Sarah Livia. Edmond Szekely continued his research, writing numerous books and conducting seminars all over the world.

In 1970, Szekely and his wife divorced and Edmond retired from Rancho La Puerta. Szekely married Norma Nilsson, a long-time assistant, and focused on his writing and teaching. He died in 1979.

The Essene Gospel of John

Szekely, while studying at the Vatican

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

 in 1923, claimed to have translated several obscure Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 and Aramaic texts which he said proved the Essenes

Essenes

The Essenes were a Jewish sect that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE which some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests...

 were vegetarians, and that vegetarianism was prescribed by Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

.

Szekely claimed to have found an Aramaic translation of The Essene Gospel of Peace and The Essene Book of Revelation at the Vatican library. In the scriptorium

Scriptorium

Scriptorium, literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the copying of manuscripts by monastic scribes...

 of the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino

Monte Cassino

Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, Italy, c. to the west of the town of Cassino and altitude. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. It was the site of Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944...

 he claimed to have found the original Hebrew text of The Essene Gospel of Peace. His findings, as did the writings of Romain Rolland

Romain Rolland

Romain Rolland was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.-Biography:...

, often challenged the assumptions of conventional religious adherents and politicized, established religious institutions about the life and teachings of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

, and he was therefore often criticized by them.

Szekely later said that he recognized several fragments in these that were either similar, or identical, to various passages from the Old and New Testaments, the Dead Sea Scrolls

Dead Sea scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...

, and the Avesta

Avesta

The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language.-Early transmission:The texts of the Avesta — which are all in the Avestan language — were composed over the course of several hundred years. The most important portion, the Gathas,...

 and thus he relied on available English editions of those works to produce the style of language used in his translations. Book 1, which he said constituted an eighth of the material, was published in 1936. He published more material in following years, including Books 2 and 3 in 1974, which with Book 1, he said, make up a third of the material. With the 1974 edition, he also included what he said was the complete original Hebrew text from which he translated Book 1.
While Szekely's claimed translations of the so-called "Essene Texts" have drawn interest from followers of various faiths, the original manuscripts have never been located, and have been considered forgeries by some modern religious scholars.

Author Keith Akers says the health concepts such as raw foods and colonic enemas in Szekely's claimed translation reflect vegetarian and naturopathic fads of the early twentieth century rather than historical practices.

When University of Lund theologian Per Beskow

Per Beskow

Per E. Beskow is a Swedish biblical scholar. In 1985 his Strange Tales was one of the first books to cast doubt on Morton Smith's Secret Gospel of Mark. Smith responded by threatening to sue Fortress Press.-References:...

 investigated Szekely's claims in Strange Tales About Jesus, both the Vatican and the National Library of Vienna denied that the original manuscripts existed. The Vatican

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

 also denied that Szekely had ever been admitted to the Vatican Archives in 1923. The third claimed manuscript source was the library at Monte Cassino

Monte Cassino

Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, Italy, c. to the west of the town of Cassino and altitude. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. It was the site of Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944...

, which was destroyed during World War II.

Some critics have pointed out that Szekely, after originally publishing a French translation, first published it in English in 1937 as The gospel of peace of Jesus Christ by the disciple John. After the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Dead Sea scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...

 in the 1940s and intense public interest in the Essenes, Szekely republished an updated version as The Essene Gospel of John. The scrolls appearing on the title page of later editions are not the manuscripts Szekely claimed to translate, but a reversed image of a Dead Sea Scroll from Professor Millar Burrows The Dead Sea Scrolls, published in 1958.

Credo

The credo of the International Biogenic Society states the following:

• We believe that our most precious possession is Life.
• We believe we shall mobilize all the forces of Life against the forces of death.
• We believe mutual understanding leads toward mutual cooperation; that mutual cooperation leads toward Peace; and that Peace is the only way of survival for mankind.
• We believe that we shall preserve instead of waste our natural resources, which are the heritage of our children.
• We believe that we shall avoid the pollution of our air, water and soil, the basic preconditions of life.
• We believe that we shall preserve the vegetation of our planet: the humble grass which came 50 million years ago and the majestic trees which came 20 million years ago, to prepare our planet for mankind.
• We believe that we shall eat only fresh, natural, pure, whole foods, without chemicals and artificial processing.
• We believe that we shall lead a simple, natural, creative life, absorbing all the sources of energy, harmony and knowledge, in and around us.
• We believe that the improvement of life and mankind on our planet must start with individual efforts, as the whole depends on the atoms composing it.

Biogenic living

Szekely classified foods into four categories, depending on their qualities and what they contributed to one's health:

• Biogenic: life renewing - germinated cereal seeds, nuts; sprouted baby greens.
• Bioactive: life sustaining - organic, natural vegetables, fruit.
• Biostatic: life slowing - cooked, stale foods (but legumes must be cooked after sprouting first).
• Biocidic: life destroying - processed, irradiated foods and drinks.

The daily diet should consist of 25% biogenic foods, 50% bioactive foods, and 25% biostatic. No biocidic foods should be consumed.

Biogenic living also includes meditation, simple living, and respect for the earth in all its forms.

Rancho la Puerta

In 1940, Szekely and his wife opened a camp they named Rancho la Puerta in Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

. The camp had one adobe hut and the Szekelys started an organic garden, bought goats and began marketing cheese, and invited like-minded people to visit for $17.50 a week. Guests (who chopped wood, milked goats, and brought their own tents) listened to Szekely's lectures on achieving good health, long life, and the interdependence of mind, body and spirit. Szekely spoke against herbicide

Herbicide

Herbicides, also commonly known as weedkillers, are pesticides used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often synthetic "imitations" of plant...

s, pesticide

Pesticide

Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...

s, artificial fertilizers, the increasing use of food processing, and the dangers of cigarettes. He emphasized the threat of pollution

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...

 and the need for pure air and pure water, recommendations for safe sunbathing, and the dangers of cholesterol

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a complex isoprenoid. Specifically, it is a waxy steroid of fat that is produced in the liver or intestines. It is used to produce hormones and cell membranes and is transported in the blood plasma of all mammals. It is an essential structural component of mammalian cell membranes...

 and fats in the American diet.

As the spa increased in size in the early 1950s and began to operate year-round, visitors of another sort were attracted by the weight-loss potential of Rancho la Puerta's vegetarian diet. Szekely and his wife began searching for and hiring specialists in yoga and other mind/body exercise regimens, adding a fitness aspect to their offerings.

Today, Rancho La Puerta is a 3000 acres (12.1 km²) holistic health

Holistic health

Holistic health is a concept in medical practice upholding that all aspects of people's needs, psychological, physical and social should be taken into account and seen as a whole. As defined above, the holistic view on treatment is widely accepted in medicine...

 spa and eco-resort with a staff of nearly 400, owned and operated by the Szekely family. The spa is situated on the slopes of Mount Kuchumaa. The spa includes, among other things, a full-size replica of the labyrinth

Labyrinth

In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...

 of the Cathedral of Chartres

Cathedral of Chartres

The French medieval Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres is a Latin Rite Catholic cathedral located in Chartres, about southwest of Paris, is considered one of the finest examples of the French High Gothic style...

, 32 acres (129,499.5 m²) of gardens, a 5 acres (20,234.3 m²) organic garden, 87 rooms, eleven gyms, a library, and the Szekely Art Collection—sculpture, painting, glass, and other work primarily by Mexican and South American artists.

Annotated Bibliography

Szekely is the author of over 80 books, including two autobiographies. Some of his best known include:

• Az Emberi Gondolat Története (History of Human Thought, in Hungarian, Hermes publishers)
• Az Emberi Társadalmak Története (History of human societies, in Hungarian, Hermes publishers)
• Cosmos, Man and Society: A Paneubiotic Synthesis (First published 1936). Translated and Edited by L. Purcell Weaver. Published London: The C.W. Daniel Company. 816 pages. Subsequent edition published 1937 with an index, and comprising 841 pages. In both editions, the translator (Weaver) contributed a preface outlininging how he came to know and be involved in Szekely's work. Revised edition published 1948. Rare copies circulate via out-of-print book
  Out-of-print book
  An out-of-print book is a book that is no longer being published. Out-of-print books are often rare, and may be difficult to acquire.A publisher will usually create a print run of a fixed number of copies of a new book. These books can be ordered in bulk by booksellers, and when all the...
  
  sales, and in some libraries such as the Soil and Health Library of Tasmania, Australia.
• Cosmos, Man and Society (1973). Published San Diego, California, by Academy Books. 134 pages. Not related to the 1936/1937 book above. It is a selection of chapters from the 1938/1951 book Medicine Tomorrow, which is listed below.
• Cosmotherapia, Naturismo integral (International Cosmotherapeutic Expedition publishers, Los Angeles)
• Cosmotherapy: A Guide to Treatment. (1936). Translated and Edited by L. Purcell Weaver. Published London: The C.W. Daniel Company.
• Cosmotherapy and the International Therapeutic Movement (International Cosmotherapeutic Expedition publishers, Los Angeles)
• Cosmotherapy of the Essenes
• Cosmotherapy, the Medicine of the Future (International Cosmotherapeutic Expedition publishers, Los Angeles, 1938)
• Deutsch und doch nicht Deutsch (in German, Esperanto Verlag publishers)
• Discovery of the Essene Gospel Of Peace
• Esperanto Lernolibro lau Psikoteknika Metodo (in Esperanto, Mondo publishers)
• Essene Gospel Of Peace, Book 1
• Essene Gospel Of Peace, Book 2: The Unknown Book of the Essenes
• Essene Gospel of Peace, book 3: Lost Scrolls of the Essene Brotherhood
• Essene Gospel Of Peace, Book 4: The Teachings of the Elect
• Essene Origins Of Christianity: How The Great Pan Died
• Essene Way: Biogenic Living
• Ia Ora Na, la guerison de toutes les maladies et la prolongation de la vie avec un siecle (in French, A Bambridge)
• Medicine and Dialectics (1937). Bureau of Cosmotherapy (Lawrence Weaver House, Leatherhead, Surrey) and C.W. Daniel Co., London. 36 pages.
• Medicine Tomorrow: An Introduction to Cosmotherapy, with a Guide to Treatment. Second (revised edition, 1951). 400 pages. Translated and Edited by Purcell Weaver. Published Ashington, Rochford, Essex: The C.W. Daniel Company. First published 1938. A subsequent 134 page selection of chapters (I-VIII, pp. 11–97; & XVI-XVIII, pp. 219–260) from this book was published in 1973 as Cosmos, Man and Society (not to be confused with the original 800+ page, 1936/1937 title) by Academy Books of San Diego.
• Sciences de l'avenir (in French, Bibliothèque du Mouvement Correlativiste)
• Sciences modernes dans la philosophie, psychologie et sociologie (in French, doctoral thesis, University of Paris)
• Sexual Harmony. (1977). Published San Diego, California: Academy Books.
• The Dialectical Method of Thinking. (1973). San Diego, California: Academy Books
• The Evolution of Human Thought. (1984). Published in Costa Rica, Central America, by International Biogenic Society. Printed in U.S. The text of this book is from chapter VII (pages 327-346) of the now unavailable 1936/37 Cosmos Man and Society.
• Treasury of Raw Foods. (1981). Published in Costa Rica, Central America. International Biogenic Society. Printed in U.S. The text of this book is from chapter XIX (pages 541-576) of the 1936/37 book Cosmos Man and Society.
• University Course of Cosmotherapy (International Cosmotherapeutic Expedition publishers)
• Utopia (in Romanian, a collection of essays published in the review 'Utopia')

Works translated by L. Purcell Weaver

The above-listed 1951 book 'Medicine Tomorrow' lists the following works as having been translated into English by Weaver.

• Cosmos, Man and Society: A Paneubiotic Synthesis
• Medicine Tomorrow: Introduction to Cosmotherapy with Guide to Treatment
• Sexual Harmony and the New Eugenics
• The Therapeutics of Fasting
• Medicine and Dialectics
• The Future of Medicine
• Sleep and the Will
• The Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ by the Disciple John
• The Teaching of Buddha
• The Living Jesus
• Yoga in the Twentieth Century and The Meaning of Christmas
• Zoroaster, the Master of Life
• Man, Art and World-Conception
• Sermon on the Mount: An Essene Interpretation
• Genesis: An Essene Interpretation
• Cottage Economy