Eric Pepin - Higher Balance Institute - Discussion

[Ryan]

And yes, I am invested in protecting Eric and HBI. I have not tried to hide that. The reason why I'm invested in this is because I strongly believe in the work that they are doing.

Ok, we get that. And we keep asking for data that clearly and unambiguously would refute the claims made against Pepin. You wrote in response to Laura's clear request:

Andrew Erwin may very well have said such a thing, but I can't imagine a reputable journalist printing such a biased statement. I did not hear in the transcripts Judge Erwin say the statements the article alleges him to have said, but I could have missed it...there's a lot there. I'd have to listen to it again specifically for omission of those statements to feel comfortable stating anything unequivocally. The only evidence I can produce at this point is that you listen and not hear them for yourself.

In general, I really appreciate the rigor to which I am being subjected here in defense of HBI and Eric Pepin. I do not expect anyone to just take my word for it and I would not feel good about the course of this dialogue if you did as ultimately it is my personal reputation that is at stake. In order to continue supporting the position I've taken so far and continue honestly answering your questions, I need to go through the transcripts again and notate relevant sections for reference. Given the holidays coming up and my general schedule, I will not feasibly be able to accomplish this prior to the new year. I will make every attempt to check back in with this board prior to the end of January.

I think that further dialogue on this topic is a pointless waste of energy until you can commit to an unambiguous position on whether Judge Erwin's quoted statements are in the court transcripts or not. Take as much time as you need to make that commitment. I'm sure that if Mr Pepin really is as innocent as you make out, and if you are truly interested in defending his reputation, you'll no doubt be able to make this commitment sooner, rather than later.

 

[Approaching Infinity]

This discussion reminded me of the following anecdotes, which Laura quoted in her Adventures series:

Psychopaths make their way by conning people into doing things for them; obtaining money for them, prestige, power, or even standing up for them when others try to expose them. But that is their claim to fame. That’s what they do. And they do it very well. What’s more, the job is very easy because most people are gullible with an unshakable belief in the inherent goodness of man.

Manipulation is the key to the psychopath’s conquests. Initially, the psychopath will feign false emotions to create empathy, and many of them study the tricks that can be employed by the empathy technique. Psychopaths are often able to incite pity from people because they seem like “lost souls” as Guggenbuhl-Craig writes. So the pity factor is one reason why victims often fall for these “poor” people.

Hare cites a famous case where a psychopath was “Man of the Year” and president of the Chamber of Commerce in his small town. (Remember that John Wayne Gacy was running for Jaycee President at the very time of his first murder conviction!) The man in question had claimed to have a Ph.D. from Berkeley. He ran for a position on the school board which he then planned to parlay into a position on the county commission which paid more.

At some point, a local reporter suddenly had the idea to check up on the guy – to see if his credentials were real. What the reporter found out was that the only thing that was true about this up and coming politician’s “faked bio” was the place and date of birth. Everything else was fictitious. Not only was the man a complete impostor, he had a long history of antisocial behavior, fraud, impersonation, and imprisonment. His only contact with a university was a series of extension courses by mail that he took while in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. What is even more amazing is the fact that before he was a con-man, he was a “con-boy.” For two decades he had dodged his way across America one step ahead of those he had hoodwinked. Along the way he had married three women and had four children, and he didn’t even know what had happened to them. And now, he was on a roll! But darn that pesky reporter!

When he was exposed, he was completely unconcerned. “These trusting people will stand behind me. A good liar is a good judge of people,” he said. Amazingly, he was right. Far from being outraged at the fact that they had all been completely deceived and lied to from top to bottom, the local community he had conned so completely to accrue benefits and honors to himself that he had not earned, rushed to his support!

I kid you not! And it wasn’t just “token support.” The local Republican party chairman wrote about him: “I assess his genuineness, integrity, and devotion to duty to rank right alongside of President Abraham Lincoln.” As Hare dryly notes, this dimwit was easily swayed by words, but was blind to deeds.

How does this process work? Reality (or just information that conflicts with an emotionally reinforced world view) can provoke cognitive dissonance (partial psychic disintegration) in the form of guilt, anxiety, dissatisfaction with self, etc. Until the contradiction is resolved, the parts of the brain that are activated are the ones where punishment, pain, and negative emotions are experienced.

Several subconscious processes help to keep the psyche in equilibrium, to avoid these painful disintegrations of a belief system. These processes resolve contradictions by compartmentalizing information (think of Orwell's doublethink), and the result is that the pleasure/reward parts of the brain are activated. This is "self-calming"--psychic equilibrium at the expense of truth. As I mentioned, it is a largely subconscious, automatic process.

The first example is simple denial (e.g. “It can’t be true, therefore it isn’t true”), or the blocking out of painful conclusions. In Manny's case, the uncomfortable conclusion is that Pepin, the man whose HBI has brought him much happiness, is in fact a con-man pedophile.

The second is selection of premises, where the specific pieces of information leading to the painful conclusion are blocked. This would be the evidence pointing towards Pepin's guilt. Because Manny is emotionally invested in Pepin NOT being a pedophile (and this is assuming Manny is being sincere with us here), this data MUST be blocked, no matter how irrationally.

The most complex process is substitution of premises, where new information is substituted for uncomfortable information (e.g. “There must be another reason for this”). This is a partially conscious process, whereas blocking is primarily unconscious. Rationalization is an example of this, whereby an action is seemingly justified by a paralogical explanation. In this way, uncomfortable data can be accepted but simply reinterpreted in a more comfortable context—both the interpretation and the implications (e.g. “So what’s the big deal, anyway?”) can thus be formed according to the dictates of a false world view. In this case, Manny has come up with a few pseudo-logical reasons for the uncomfortable data.

The thing about these processes is that they are painful to see in ourselves and in others. People will go to ridiculous lengths--twisting, rationalizing, engaging in pseudo-logical and pseudo-moralistic thinking--to hold onto their own illusions.

 

[manny]

Well, you folks have me all summed up don't you? I can tell that you are all very intelligent people, which makes me even more surprised that you have all jumped headlong into many conclusions about me, most all of them being incorrect. Based on the accusations that my inclinations are self-serving I'm convinced that none of you have even gone to my website to check me out.


I've read the content and followed the links at http://www.sott.net/signs/signsguide.htm. Is what I read there supposed to be news to me? Am I supposed to be impressed because you're discussing the obvious? Did you think that my feeble little mind was going to melt in shock that you believe 9/11 was an inside job and the world is run by the ruthless elite? By the way, I couldn't find a word about Gurdjieff there. Can I get a link to the pages where you lay out your collective interpretation of his work? A number of results came up when I searched the forums, but I would have to wade through a lot of not-Gurdjieff to get to anything of substance.

Regarding the rest of the Eric Pepin/HBI discussion, I'll get back to you with more as time permits a little research.

Thank you,

Manny

 

[anart]

Well, you folks have me all summed up don't you? I can tell that you are all very intelligent people, which makes me even more surprised that you have all jumped headlong into many conclusions about me, most all of them being incorrect. Based on the accusations that my inclinations are self-serving I'm convinced that none of you have even gone to my website to check me out.

You do not even understand the vocabulary - you do not understand what is meant by 'self-serving' in the context in which it is used here - which would be fine if you displayed any sincerity in attempting to learn - you do not. There has been no 'jumping to conclusions' - only observations based upon your input. It is much less about 'summing you up' than it is about recognizing the dynamics present in your thinking - based wholly on what you have written here and how you have written it - again - if you understood Gurdjieff you would understand this, and understand that it is not an indictment of you, per se; it is simply an observation of the dynamics at play in what you have revealed through the words you use and how you use them.

I've read the content and followed the links at http://www.sott.net/signs/signsguide.htm. Is what I read there supposed to be news to me? Am I supposed to be impressed because you're discussing the obvious? Did you think that my feeble little mind was going to melt in shock that you believe 9/11 was an inside job and the world is run by the ruthless elite? By the way, I couldn't find a word about Gurdjieff there. Can I get a link to the pages where you lay out your collective interpretation of his work? A number of results came up when I searched the forums, but I would have to wade through a lot of not-Gurdjieff to get to anything of substance.

Regarding the rest of the Eric Pepin/HBI discussion, I'll get back to you with more as time permits a little research.

Thank you,

Manny

You still don't 'get it'. Continuing this back and forth is noise and a distraction to this forum and its purpose.

 

[Laura]

Laura,

Andrew Erwin may very well have said such a thing, but I can't imagine a reputable journalist printing such a biased statement. I did not hear in the transcripts Judge Erwin say the statements the article alleges him to have said, but I could have missed it...there's a lot there. I'd have to listen to it again specifically for omission of those statements to feel comfortable stating anything unequivocally. The only evidence I can produce at this point is that you listen and not hear them for yourself.

In general, I really appreciate the rigor to which I am being subjected here in defense of HBI and Eric Pepin. I do not expect anyone to just take my word for it and I would not feel good about the course of this dialogue if you did as ultimately it is my personal reputation that is at stake. In order to continue supporting the position I've taken so far and continue honestly answering your questions, I need to go through the transcripts again and notate relevant sections for reference. Given the holidays coming up and my general schedule, I will not feasibly be able to accomplish this prior to the new year. I will make every attempt to check back in with this board prior to the end of January.

Best wishes,

As far as I am concerned, the discussion cannot continue without an answer to those questions.

 

[Laura]

Received this:

Subject: Higher Balance Institute vs. Quantum Future Group: Cease and
Desist
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2007 20:30:01 -0800
From: Eric Robison <ericr@higherbalance.com>
To: <sott@sott.net>
CC: <legal@higherbalance.com>



Ark, Laura, or Cassiopaea,

My name is Eric Robison, Vice President of Higher Balance Institute. It
is unfortunate we are meeting under these circumstances.

It has come to my attention that a thread has been created by owners, or
agents of the owners, of the site located at www.sott.net
<mhtml:%7BEBF6840D-FE17-4481-91B4-3F8284ABE13A%7Dmid://00001813/%21x-usc:http://www.sott.net/>
under the heading, "Eric Pepin - Higher Balance Institute - Front for
Pedophiles?"

While we fully support open discussion and opinions from all walks of
life, the title you have chosen to discuss Eric Pepin and Higher Balance
Institute is clearly intentionally defamatory and damaging. If a user of
your site had chosen to open the thread under that title, a 3rd party, I
would be more understanding. Of course, that is not the case. An
administrator of your site chose to rename the thread under the
alternative, damaging, title.

Since an administrator, Laura, is actively engaging in the discussion
and is solely, in her own words, responsible for renaming the thread it
would appear this is the official view of sott.net and it's owner,
Quantum Future Group, Inc.

While you may argue the question mark at the end of the title proposes
an open-ended, uncertain discussion I would like to suggest, according
to Laura's own statement, you are well aware of the damaging
implications you are making and that it is your intention to do so. As
you have named two separate entities, Eric Pepin and Higher Balance
Institute, you are causing immediate and irreparable harm to two parties.

I am requesting you immediately remove any thread, story or article,
regardless of content, mentioning Eric Pepin or Higher Balance
Institute. You will also actively moderate to remove any mention of Eric
Pepin, Higher Balance Institute from appearing on your sites in the
future. As Quantum Future Group, Inc has created and allowed to continue
harmful, damaging statements regarding these two parties it is clear
that any content on your site involving these two entities will be used
to cause further harm to Eric Pepin and Higher Balance.

Any future mention of Eric Pepin or Higher Balance Institute that is
allowed to appear in static form or mature on your sites will constitute
a failure to comply with this request. At that time we will immediately
seek all damages related to this matter.

Quantum Future Group, Inc has also reprinted, or allowed to be
reprinted, false, damaging statements made by news organizations and not
followed up by offering or reprinting retractions regarding the false,
libelous statements contained within those articles.

Your moderators and administrator have also made public, defamatory
remarks regarding Eric Pepin and Higher Balance Institute. Among these
statements:

- That Eric Pepin is a "psychopath" who "hunts for prey" (children)
- That Higher Balance Institute is a front for pedophilia
- That Eric Pepin is a "human deviant"
- That Eric Pepin is a pathological deviant and his deviant followers
con the public
- That meditation, as sold by Higher Balance Institute, is an act of
falling into confluence with a psychopathic reality

Most of those statements were made by an agent of your company, Laura.
Given the anonymous nature of the internet where people can speak free
of personal responsibility, I can see how you could be caught up in
making such statements. Yet each of us are solely responsible for our
words and actions regardless of where and in what format they take
place. As the owner of sott.net, Quantum Future Group, Inc is
responsible for the public views expressed by their owners and agents
published on domains owned and run by them.

You have now been given notice the statements on your site are false,
damaging, and have caused and are continuing to cause immediate,
irreparable harm to Eric Pepin and Higher Balance Institute.

Please comply with my request within the next 24 hours or Eric Pepin and
Higher Balance Institute will be forced to take immediate joint, legal
action against Quantum Future Group, Inc, its owners and agents.

Should you wish to discuss the damage or nature of your statements, I
will immediately forward your email and the full contents of your site
which has been downloaded to our servers, to our law firm of Bullivant,
Houser, Bailey. From there, they will serve you with each respective
suit. We will seek to collect the fullest extent of damages,
including attorneys fee's, for your actions and statements against each,
individual, party.

I look forward to hearing that this situation has been resolved and that
we have a clear understanding moving into the future.

Best regards,
Eric Robison




Eric Robison - Vice President
Higher Balance Institute
800-935-4007 / 503-646-4000
_www.higherbalance.com
<mhtml:%7BEBF6840D-FE17-4481-91B4-3F8284ABE13A%7Dmid://00001813/%21x-usc:http://www.higherbalance.co
m/>

Higher Balance Institute: Awakening the World One Mind at a Time



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[anart]

Ahhh, so Manny Otto's role becomes crystal clear - no shock on that one.

Seems we've hit too close to the mark to be ignored - they can't have people presenting the facts of the situation and alerting possible new victims to the danger involved. Pepin's actions may have done irreparable harm to HBI, but our discussing those actions can have no such effect - it's not like we 'made up' Pepin's actions - more conversive thinking on the part of representatives of HBI - at least the picture becomes more clear.

 

[atreides]

After much discussion, we have decided to change the title, but not erase the content or the discussion, as each post generally brings up some valid points, and as a forum, we are a place where people express opinions, which are neither endorsed or otherwise by all, it is just a discussion.

I find the letter sent by Eric Robison to be a little on the aggressive side, however we have decided that renaming the article is an agreeable concession. That said, I will restate that all posts represent personal ideas and perspectives, they are opinions, and will not be silenced just because some individuals feel singled out due to their allegedly reprehensible behavior.

The relationship between teacher and student is a time honored and serious institution which is fundamentally shaken and shamed by Pepin's behavior. Pedophile or not, teachers are leaders, they provide a path and knowledge and a feeling of safety while exploring understanding. Romantic or sexual relationships are a basic, fundamental, and untouchable taboo, not because they are dirty, or wrong, or sick, or perverse, but because they destroy the students ability to progress in any way. This alone is grounds for my personal disgust at the behavior that is deemed acceptable at this institute. To see that this individual boasts at having sexual or romantic relations with multiple students/aides/partners, shows a deep disrespect for the quest for understanding and knowledge, and is in fact predatory. This man uses his position and influence to sexually take advantage, that is conduct unbecoming.

Furthermore, it seems according to testimony presented that this man is not a good teacher. He has taken the deeply fundamental aspect of the teacher student relationship, that of absolute trust, and turned it into a method of seduction, he has morphed it into a Domination and submission dynamic for his and perhaps even his students sexual gratification, their self-serving needs and desires. Far from helping them to grow past their desires to be victims, seduced, dominated, he has encouraged this behavior, and that is the mark of a bad teacher. To take advantage of a students immaturity and ignorance is a dark deed. Perhaps he is a psychopath, but I don't think so, I think somewhere inside him is an unmet need to dominate, to control, and this is so powerful is has driven him to where he is now, a hidden trauma, equal in pain as the pain he causes in others, and he attracts those whose hidden pain and hidden trauma is a hole that needs to be filled with all the shame and submission they can get. What a terrible thing this institute, what a painful place it must be.

The discussion of whether or not this institute is helping or hurting, that is awakening or tranquilizing, I think that the above statement has answered my personal opinion on this. However I find it a non-issue. The truth of the matter is, while Pepin uses his position to live out his fantasies, he is in fact the one most damaged by his own actions, such a man is unredeemable. I feel sorry that he has been so successful, not just for his victims, but for himself, what a sad thing it is.

 

[Aeneas]

Well put Atreides! And like Anart commented above, the reason for Manna to suddenly appear on the Forum has become a lot clearer.

 

[atreides]

There is no particular malevolent reason for him coming here, it's rather normal. While the road to hell is paved with good intentions, (the road as described by St. Matthew that is), still, one shouldn't begrudge M for doing what is psychologically normal to do: defend one's beliefs and commitments in the face of adverse ideas.

Remember, if we are wrong and Pepin is some great teacher and has just been pidgeon holed or marginalized, nothing really changes for us or M. But if we are correct, which the large body of evidence supports us being fairly accurate, M's world is crushed: he must choose between the pain of truth and realization of his errors, and the death of his current reality, (or that is to say, his current interworking beliefs). If he chooses the lie, that means continuing to live in the lie, regardless of the long term consequences, spiritually speaking. He is actually playing the best game he can with the knowledge he has at the moment; we believe he will eventually lose. Time will tell.

 

[seekingtruthandlight]

Don't cave in to threats. You are on the right track here... You saw on the rick ross web site another former student came forward. There is another one on this thread:

_http://guruphiliac.blogspot.com/2006/07/master-eric-messes-up.html

At 10/11/2007 3:09 PM, Anonymous said...

If you want to learn something profound from Eric, you'd be better off meeting him 10-15 years ago, before he moved to Portland.

I knew him. He sought me to teach his mastery, yet I was wary, having sensed his hidden intent. The testimony is word for word the same tactic he used years prior in (likely) the same Beaverton home, 3-chakra focus, "crossing the abyss" and all. While I avoided his sexual advances over the course of my discipleship, I could tell that he was more than the average lecher, but less than what he once was.

This man has heightened spiritual awareness, indeed. However, his gluttonous ego leaves little room for new growth (and even a guru must grow, lest he or she become a dead seed).

He justifies his sexual exercises as a spiritual tool, but the intent in them is more for his own satisfaction than for the advancement of his sheep into shepherds.

I think his former students are subconsciously afraid of him and what he might do to them "metaphysically" so to speak. Or perhaps they don't want to go through the ordeal of being chased by his legions of followers who he has power over... No doubt he has a much larger network of students than those who work at the institute directly under him, like for example this manny character who has steered so much of the discussion on this thread. Perhaps these students have been inducted into some ceremonies or compromising situations.. Dirty little "secrets" or situations that eric has exposed them to that they don't want revealed.. U all know the tricks I am sure. The essence is, control by FUD. And he has developed techniques that seem to work quite well. Perhaps he should sell books on how to control people? He may make a good deal more money on it.

 

[Laura]

The problem with the Rick Ross website is that we also know, for a fact, that Rick Ross himself is something of a "cult leader" - like the "Anti-cult Cult." He went after us on the word of Vincent Bridges who is another Eric Pepin type and when we wrote to him to ask him to please look at the FACTS, he simply refused. This struck us as peculiar, at which point we decided to investigate Ross himself.

You can read the details here: (intro to the issue) http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/rickross.htm
and (about Rick Ross and his background) http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/rickross2.htm

This last page includes the exchange between Ark and Rick Ross and has all the "juicy" stuff.

Bottom line is: we KNOW Vincent Bridges and Jay Weidner are liars and Rick Ross supports their websites and refuses to post a prominent link to our report on Vincent Bridges - verified in every particular with documentation. (See, for example: http://www.cassiopaea.com/archive/most.htm and http://www.cassiopaea.com/archive/most1a.htm and http://www.cassiopaea.com/archive/most2.htm and http://www.cassiopaea.com/archive/most3.htm)

(In the pages linked above, Vincent Bridges and Jay Weidner are given pseudonyms: "Maynerd Most" and "Alvin Wiley" respectively.)

 

[Mr. Premise]

That's a frightening story, Hardy, and it sounds plausible to me. Sounds like Scientology an STS hierarchy where the energy of people low in the hierarchy is extracted and sent up to the higher levels of the pyramid, leaving most people drained and at the mercy of energy parasites.

How long ago was your involvement and how are you doing now?

 

[Hardy]

I left about 8 months ago from the online community. Hermit, no friends, no gf, no job, no plan for the future. Honestly and I don't like saying this but mostly im scared and I don't even know why.

 

[anart]

Hi Hardy, I see you posted a statement by Pepin on June 16th here in this thread - http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=1360.msg43655#msg43655 - that was six months ago, so you had already left their 'online community' at that time?