Sad ending to The Actual Supreme Being....

[Elias]

Apparently Mark Provo, who, as the "Actual Supreme Being", challenged Adi Da over the years from various websites, has killed himself.

Here's the link, forwarded to me by an ex-Daist:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianeditors/2008/03/sad_ending_to_p...

Only the ASB will know if he is happy now. Unfortunately paranoia is not easily cured by suicide.

namaste,

Elias

[Elias]

Here's a link to Mark Provo's last series of post on the Lightmind forums, last year:

http://lightgate.net/boards/search.php?search_author=MProvo

In one of the threads, Provo says:

This posting is to bring your attention to a very serious document I have just prepared that revolutionizes our understanding of the nature of reality, and overturns the current ideas about “Consciousness.” You will have never seen anything like this before. Some may recognize my name as I was involved with the Franklin Jones material for five years, from 1991 to 1996. Over the past 23 years I have gone through a process of discovery that has produced major new understanding of every issue found in the overall topic of, “What is the actual nature of reality?” I have a degree in mathematics from the University of Washington, and was chairman of a mathematics department. I am now a fully functioning mathematician and scientist, given the unexpected developments of the past 12 years. ..

Provo later deleted that document, but as I recall somebody had copied it and posted it somewhere else. If anybody has the link, or links to his Actual Supreme Being papers, please let me know.

~E

[Elias]

If you google Mark Provo there are quite a few interesting links that come up. One is a link to his home page, another to a PDF of a long piece by him answering his "internet critics".

Let me say, Mark cut a ridiculous figure in his strange attempts to proclaim his "authority" on everything in the universe. But I feel great sympathy for Mark. There is a very thin line between madness and illumination. Clearly he was mad, and ultimately his madness resulted in his self-destruction.

Anyone who is in a religious cult (or even an economic or political cult) ought to pay close attention to their own mind and its contents, and try to develop a fierce honesty about themselves and about all the people around them -- especially the authority figures to whom they have given their allegiance.

In my opinion, the question of authority (and its close relative, "power") always comes down to a simple equation: no one has authority over you, and in an ultimate sense you are responsible for being an authority over yourself.

Wherever you are, A.S.B., may God give you peace.

Elias

[Elias]

OK, I have found one of Provo's documents, an astonishing 40 page tract in which he gets into some A.S.B. cosmic mathematics concerning Franklin Jones (Adi Da).

The document is a pdf, and you can view it (or download it) here---

http://www.lightgate.net/archives/mprovo-explanation.pdf

[Elias]

I've located one of the "Actual Supreme Being" docs, from 2004. You can view it here:

http://lightgate.net/archives/ASB-001.html

You will note that I've started an archive of this material, in hopes of accumulating other interesting pieces. As I recall, back in 2003 or 2003 Provo first surfaced with an entire website devoted to his claims of being "The Actual Supreme Being". I am hoping some of that is still around, and if I find it I will post it here. I have also located some earlier material, which I expect to archive in a couple of weeks.

I find Provo a fascinating character, and a fine example of how a human mind, touched in some way by spiritual reality, can fly completely off the tracks. That's my take on him. As the saying goes, "your mileage may vary".

~E

[Elias]

correction -- I just located the original save of this document...it is from April, 2000. That would indicate that ASB's earlier website wasn't in 2003, but much earlier, probably in the late 1990s.

~E

[Elias]

Here's a good series of posts (including a post by M. Provo) from January 2007:
http://snipurl.com/2akee

Unfortunately the links in these posts to the old archives are no longer active, because the host (Yahoo) discontinued using MIVA, the html language in which they were posted.

I do have everything stored offline, however, and at some point will try to resuscitate some of it.

~E

[Elias]

Here's a Mark Provo/ASB update:

I obtained a copy of Provo's 1991 book, The Collapse of My Christian Belief:

The inside back of the book has a short bio of Provo as well as a photo:

Most of the book isn't especially interesting to me, however there are a few choice passages that seem to reflect the genesis of the A.S.B. personality. I will quote them as time goes on.

~E

[henri]

What a question; 'What is the actual nature of reality...'
A real koan for a mathematician and a scientist...

One needs luck (or good merit) to find answers to life's questions, things this guy unfortunately did not have.
To get a little understanding of reality one needs to get a little understanding of one's mind. This is hard when you're a rationalist and you try it in a new way... The dark night of the soul is only to survive by mercy, be it by God, the Guru or whatever... He wasn't that lucky, I was.... And I still don't even know why...
Let us just be mercyfull.

[Raimundo]

I knew he was deluded but it was only when I read the ASB "material" that the extent of it became obvious - he was way off the deep end and unable to even admit that it MIGHT be so. Poor guy - he must have known that in the final act he was admitting he was NOT what he claimed nor did any of his "great work" mean anything.

[Saint_Anthony]

i respect anyone's right to end their own life.


may he rest in peace.