Dr. Jeffery Martin on YouTube

I sat across from this guy for over six hours one day being interviewed and having the session recorded. When we left the restaurant I got in my car and headed home only to have him call me frantically, telling me that he couldn't find his car where he had parked it earlier that day. Well, it had been towed. I drove him to the lot about five miles away where the car was impounded and watched him angrily barter with the folks there to let him into the lot without paying first because all his money was in the trunk



We met at a TGI Friday's. He ate, I didn't. I think he might have been wearing that same red baseball cap. On a used napkin he drew me a map of his model of human development.

What are you saying?

Isn't it clear? He doesn't like eating at Fridays. Neither do I. The food is too salty!

Yep, I would rather go hungry.

Once the transhumanist movement has allowed us to move past biological existence, we won't have to eat at Friday's at all, nor will there be any need for "flair."

tinyurl.com/7l7vdg2

I think the point is that they guy wears a red baseball cap, just like Jettero Heller in L. Ron Hubbard's "Mission Earth" dekology. Scientologist John Travolta named his son Jet after the same character.

Would it be off-topic at this point for me to say something about the video?

By the end of Chris's post I was pretty certain the video would be of Chris and Dr. Martin having lunch at Friday's, complete with footage of the napkin sketch.

"
I sat across from this guy for over six hours one day being interviewed and having the session recorded. When we left the restaurant I got in my car and headed home only to have him call me frantically, telling me that he couldn't find his car where he had parked it earlier that day. Well, it had been towed. I drove him to the lot about five miles away where the car was impounded and watched him angrily barter with the folks there to let him into the lot without paying first because all his money was in the trunk

<span>;

We met at a TGI Friday's. He ate, I didn't. I think he might have been wearing that same red baseball cap. On a used napkin he drew me a map of his model of human development.

"

LOL. americans are not capable of posts with that subtle humor. so what are you doing? (confess! you are from the old world.)

"Would it be off-topic at this point for me to say something about the video? "


+1

(Apparently I can't just post +1, but have to have a minimum of three characters other than '+', '1', or <space>)

Anything you say is on topic in this topic.

Yeah. Where's the napkin-map. Because if there's anything we need, it's more maps. And napkins.

I memorized the napkin map, used it to wipe up a coffee spill I made and left it in the restaurant. It went from looking sort of geeky cool to drippy wet Rorschach test.

The waitress picked up the napkin and stared at it oddly for a little while. She now teaches at an Ashram in Dharamsala.

!

So here's my question: has this guy ever shown an interest in meditating himself, or does he just like interviewing people who do? Isn't he at least curious to find out for himself what it's like?

Great video. Thanks for the link, Chris.

I'm a big Jeffery Martin fan. Especially enjoyed the part about the synergy of enlightenment and trans-humanism.

Full disclosure: I participated in one of Jeffery's studies and we've become friends, visiting together whenever we find ourselves in the same town. We've hung out in New York, Switzerland, and San Francisco, and it's always a great conversation. He's a fun, quirky, and brilliant man, IMHO.

Here's the link again, for convenience:



"has [Dr. Martin] ever shown an interest in meditating himself, or does he just like interviewing people who do? Isn't he at least curious to find out for himself what it's like?" -JLaurelC

Interesting question. While he was working on his dissertation, he made it a point to stay away from meditation in order to avoid biasing his results. Since then, he is very interested in his own practice. When we talked in Davos earlier this year, he was immersed in his own process of discovery.

There are several of us here who participated in the study Kenneth mentioned. It has come to little, frankly, and I don't know if it was ever actually published in a peer reviewed manner, if at all. Martin pre-qualified us by making us take a series of tests, then chose about 50 of us out of a pot of about 1,000 or so, and did the kind of interviews I described in post #1 with those 50 people. My original intent was to make fun of myself and Martin because he's become a rather enigmatic guy who is not what he claims to be - a Harvard researcher. I felt that I was interviewed, taped and exposed (potentially) by a sort of phoney.

I think Jefferey Martin is a bullsh*t artist. I also think he's on to *some* good ideas and has been able to put certain aspects of awakening in perspective. Still, he's a bullsh*t artist. Awakened people can be a$holes and smart people can be full of crap. There is a tendency to look to people like Martin to validate us. Problem is, he's looking for us to validate HIM. It's sort of sad on both sides.

So when I saw that video I decided to pounce

"
There are several of us here who participated in the study Kenneth mentioned. It has come to little, frankly, and I don't know if it was ever actually published in a peer reviewed manner, if at all. Martin pre-qualified us by making us take a series of tests, then chose about 50 of us out of a pot of about 1,000 or so, and did the kind of interviews I described in post #1 with those 50 people. My original intent was to make fun of myself and Martin because he's become a rather enigmatic guy who is not what he claims to be - a Harvard researcher. I felt that I was interviewed, taped and exposed (potentially) by a sort of phoney.

I think Jefferey Martin is a bullsh*t artist. I also think he's on to *some* good ideas and has been able to put certain aspects of awakening in perspective. Still, he's a bullsh*t artist. Awakened people can be a$holes and smart people can be full of crap. There is a tendency to look to people like Martin to validate us. Problem is, he's looking for us to validate HIM. It's sort of sad on both sides.

So when I saw that video I decided to pounce -Chris

"

Hey Chris,
Can you say more please?
What kinda bullsh*t artist is he? and can you say more and how he is looking for you to validate him?
Im intrigued
Thanks!

A quick look at his book the God Formula gives you a good idea where he is coming from. As far as I can tell, it's standard "law of attraction" theory, with an unsupported claim of being science.

Well, I just downloaded three of his books on Kindle for $.99 each, not much of a sacrifice, and am reading his novel *The Fourth Awakening*, which he claims flushed out the people he needed to interview. I'm surprised by your assessment, Chris; I'd always gotten the impression he was doing worthwhile research. If you're correct and he's not then that's a shame, but someone ought to be doing such research.

He told me he was a "Harvard researcher." He is not. His methods are suspect because he doesn't ask for permission from subjects to use their interview material and does so anyway. He needs the validation of the dharma community because otherwise I suspect people would think of him as a crank or a crackpot. When he sent me an early sample of his written study results based on all our interviews we, the subjects, were very easily identified and our personal information not well disguised. I don't think that's normal in academic and scientific research circles. Usually there are protocols and protections afforded research subjects that were simply not in evidence in Martin's case. I know from talking to Kenneth that at least one of Martin's benefactors and former supporters has disowned Martin. Kenneth can elaborate if he so chooses.

Yadid, due to the nature of his research Martin needs subjects of a certain type. We liked being interviewed and considered as "special" in some way, and Martin provided that ego boost. It's a symbiosis that is, on reflection and introspection, a bit dubious. We both get what we might want but the result isn't optimal.

So, yeah, there you go.

Kenneth, with all due respect to your opinion and your personal relationship with Jeffery Martin, when you state that you are a "big fan" of someone like Jeffery you are providing a sort of endorsement. I think when you do that it's only fair that you present the full picture that you know of, and what you and I and others know is also that Martin is part fakir and BS artist, and that some of his supporters are dropping their original support due to legitimate questions about his claims to affiliation with Harvard, among other things.

I've just banned an account that posted on this thread because it was created just to imitate another registered user. Doing that will invoke instant banning. It may be done "innocently" in fun or in jest but it's a bad deal even so, so please don't do that even if you are tempted.

Chris Marti
KFDh Admin

He seems flaky, but I thought what he said about the compatibility of transhumanism and enlightenment to be interesting. As a singularitarian and someone aiming for a much higher degree of awakening, I sometimes think about these things. In meditation, we're opening ourselves to the ultimate unpredictability of things, the wildness of existence. Yet modern, technological society is based on control, predictability, and precision. Also, the inevitability of death is a frequent theme in Buddhism. We're supposed to dwell on this and learn from it. I dwell on that sometimes. I find it gloomy. So I think instead about how information technology will allow me to live forever, and then I feel happy.