"A Writing Mystic in Uniform" by Monique Benoit (notebook includes cutting with a photo of Walter H. Cronk): We met in the elevator of the Chronicle building one day. As I was talking with someone the man behind me asked where I was from in France. "Paris." "Do you remember what you were doing on August 24, 1944?" "Certainly. I was greeting and kissing soldiers from the French Second Armored Division who had entered Paris." "Did you kiss American soldiers, too?" "Quite a few, on that day," I smiled. "Then we may have kissed. I was with Patton's Third Army and entered Paris with the Leclerc soldiers." One thing led to another--all very respectable--and Lieutenant Colonel Walter Cronk, a reserve officer in the Air Force, invited me to lunch at a later date, when he would be at Travis Air Force Base for two weeks. Walter, who is advertising sales manager for Pacific Telephone in Los Angeles, left with me his book, Golden Light, which was published recently. I read it and was puzzled. The rugged-looking man didn't appear to be a mystic, yet this was a spiritual book. It described how on Easter, 1953, he was struck by the "Golden Light," which paralyzed him for a few minutes while a thunderous voice asked: "Is This What You Want?" Some time later, in Rome, he had another ecstatic experience, beholding the Star of the East. "Why did you write that book? I don't mean to sound cynical, but even if you experienced those spiritual revelations, why write about them? Isn't spirituality, like love, a very private thing?" "Since I was eight, I have had a strong spiritual awareness. Later, I met a man who was my teacher for many years. He said that when he would leave his physical body, he would be `as close to me as the paper on the wall.' Since then, a little voice has been with me constantly to guide and protect me. One night I had a call from a mystic. He didn't know me but had been told to call me to say that a sick person would come to see me. Through my prayers I would heal this person, whose name would be Evans. The caller didn't know whether it would be a man or a woman. This would be a sign that I should write a religious book. It all happened as predicted, and I felt compelled to write the book. Its purpose is to show people how the "Golden Light" is there for everyone to see." "But don't you think that when people don't get struck by that light and don't hear the thunderous voice they feel cheated?" "But it can happen to them, too. I explained how through meditation we can all experience spiritual ecstasy. This book is meant for people who cannot be reached by the chaplains, ministers, rabbis, or priests. They need to be shown that there is something besides materialism, and that when our spirit leaves our body it is not the end. We are here to realize Oneness with God and will come back until we achieve this." "Don't you think `humanism' is a more positive answer, one that pleases God just as well as all that spirituality? Many people aren't spiritual, yet are good and compassionate." Walter reluctantly agreed it might be true. In Golden Light the author describes how he was also compelled to give up meat when waves of golden lines appeared before his eyes as he read a passage of the Dead Sea Scrolls. "My `Little Voice' bugs me at times. It has made me give up cigars and Scotch. I wonder about what it might ask next. If it's wine and sex I think I'll rebel," said Walter, laughing. Ah ha--not altogether spiritual, after all.
-- Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 4 : Introduction To Mystical Glimpses > # 197
