An Interview with Dr. Horace E. WalcottHe is a mystic and biomedical scientist. For four decades and more he has been studying, practicing, and teaching the Raj Yoga of the Brahma Kumaris. He has been a heterodox Raj yogi (Eliade, 2009) and for more than four decades a mystic, who was born and raised in Guyana, formerly British Guiana. Dr. Horace E. Walcott, an aquatic veterinarian and ecological toxicologist, will share with us experiences of more than 40 years of the study and practice of RYBK, especially its influence on his evolution spiritually. This is a two part interview, in which part I will consist of 10 or more questions focusing on the first 15 years, including the years before and after his banishment from the BK system by Dadi Janki in the autumn of 1990.
His awards since 1990 are too numerous to mention and he insists that he should not be characterized by them (NYU School of Engineering, 2015; Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), 2015; Walcott, 2013; Wilson Center, 2011). Recently he was granted the Distinguished Alumni Award. For more than three years he has been the recipient of the Intel Badge Award for mentoring pre-university students conducting scientific research at the doctoral level. Additionally, he has been the guest DJ for more than seven years on Dave Kenney’s show: Everything’s Old That’s New Again on WBAI, FM 99.5. In 2010 and 2011 he received the Siemens Founders Award and the STARS Award, respectively. In 2014, Dr.Walcott was a Visiting Scholar at Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health where he was granted the Alumni Award for 30 years of service in veterinary medicine.
Dr. Walcott first came to the United States of America in the summer of 1977 as a Guyana Scholar to pursue pre-veterinary and veterinary studies at Tuskegee University. He attended Central High School and St. Stanislaus College in Georgetown, the capitol of Guyana. In high school he studied Japan Karate Association/ Shotokan Karate, and took part in elocution competitions and athletics. He was also a mathematics teacher for two years prior to matriculation to Tuskegee. In the spring of 1984, he graduated from Tuskegee with the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. He also has a BSc degree in animal science and pre-veterinary studies from Tuskegee. In 1992, Dr. Walcott was awarded the rank of Shodan, first degree black belt from Master Takauki Mikami in New Orleans, while completing graduate studies at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (TUSPH & TM). He has two post-doctoral master degrees from TUSPH & TM and the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), University of London. Both degrees are in aquatic veterinary medicine. He has also been preparing two books for publication.
Questions and Answers
Guptarati 6666(GR): How are the two books connected to you? Are they text books or novels?
Horace Errol Walcott (HEW): Both are novels. One is a fictional autobiography. It is an underwater adventure titled: The Pych Quest (Walcott, 2016 b). The other novel is a fictionalized version of my investigation of the thallium poisoning epidemic in Guyana in 1986. Walter Campbell (1990), a friend and colleague of mine in her novel on the 86/87crisis in Guyana was very careful to change the name of the toxic agent to arsenic and made little mention of me to maintain the fictional integrity of her book. She was the Scientific Officer at the Government Analyst Department in Georgetown who conducted the toxicology evaluations on specimens submitted by me, including my own blood samples. Tests by Walter-Campbell enabled me to have a break-through in my investigation of the thallium poisoning at the Georgetown Zoo.
GR: Your investigation of the thallotoxicosis at the Georgetown Zoo provided unequivocal and robust scientific evidence (Walcott, 2014) that forced the Government of Guyana to admit, in the Guyana Chronicle (1986) that thallium poisoning was a national health problem, after almost a decade of state sponsored denial. The sugar industry almost collapsed and the dictatorial regime of the People’s National Congress almost imploded. How did the local center-in-charge react and how did you navigate the slender thread between your life as a dissident doctor /Raj yogi, and your job as a Government Veterinary Medical Officer? There must have been a delicate balance, riddled with mine fields, since former Vice President of Guyana, Mr. Steve Narine was a prominent figure in BK Raja Yoga and at that time was the Guyana Ambassador to India.
HEW: The intelligence agencies in Guyana knew of my connections to BK Raja Yoga. I had the choice of being dissident and honest or acquiescent and dishonest. I choose the former, in spite of the fact that my dissidence and honesty would have caused a rift between myself, the BK administration and Guyana Government. Past life regression have demonstrated that in many past incarnations, I have been a knight in some past lives, a samurai in others, and a magician in others. I am unable to suppress or eliminate the codes of a warrior from my present incarnation.
There was a failed assassination attempt against me in 1986, in which thallium was infused into milk delivered to my parents’ home, where I resided. I informed BK Kamood about the incident and advised her to be cautious about food and water contamination. Kamood bhen doubted the scientific merits of the advice and veracity of the assassination plot. She did, subsequently secured the water tanks in the BK center compound.
GR: In terms of security, how did you protect yourself? How much support did you receive from the BKs?
HEW: Hansa bhen in Texas was provided medical advice and other forms of assistance. At that time, I had great relations with Raja Yoga Texas. Hansa was at that time like a big Sister to me, professionally or a mentor. The relationship quickly changed when I returned to the US in 1990. She made arrangements with Fort Sam Houston for me to undergo treatment in Texas, while the Guyana Government was planning to send me to Cuba for treatment. The Regan Administration refused to issue me a visa and I refused the offer of the Guyana Government to travel to Cuba for treatment. Brave citizens of Guyana, BKs and non-BK were helpful. On the spiritual level the Godly protection can be described as similar to scenes in both versions of the film: The Day the Earth Stood Still.
I elected to remain in Guyana and treated myself under the supervision of Dr. Davi, an expert on thallium poisoning treatment at the St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital. I lived my life one day at a time (Siebel, 2013; Walcott, 2016 a) knowing that I may never awake the following day as the antidote, Prussian blue chelated the thallium ions as they were excreted by my liver through my bile duct (Walcott, 2016 a). It was also clear to me that I could be killed by an assassin’s bullet. Counter espionage measures instituted by me enabled me to determine that I was under surveillance 24/7, 365 days for more than two years. I was also black-listed and could not depart Guyana. My applications for firearm permits were also denied.
GR: Was it not paradoxical that a person of peace, a Raj yogi should using firearms? But then you are quite heterodox.
HEW: Part of the prerequisite for the Guyana Scholarship mandated I undergo guerrilla warfare training in the Guyana jungles. Additionally, most zoo veterinarians have to be marksmen. I have no spiritual problems using weapons. I have been comfortable with Brahmin and warrior heterodoxy.
GR: You are also a three weapons fencer and had quite an extensive training at the Metropolis Fencing School. The BKs would and have regarded your heterodox life to be inconsistent with the life of a Raj Yogi. You, of course, would disagree and have been unorthodox, the first minute you were initiated into Raja Yoga. Are you angry with the BKs? Why or why not?
HEW: In the tradition of budo (way of the warrior) or bushido (the way of the warrior scholar) I give my respect to the BKs for introducing me to the path. My entering the path has been a shamanistic experience and continues to be shamanistic (Winkelman, 2011; Winkelman, 2010). Of course, I am not going to have the Stockholm syndrome. The wisdom, thus far from my life experiences, including the study of Yoga (Beauregardé, 2011; Buttle, 2015; Eliade, 2009) has enabled me to effectively transform my existential fears into practical courage and a positive perspective on life (Koole, Tjew A Sin, & Schneider, 2014). Though I have not entered a BK center since 1990, I still maintain a connection with Baap Dada. I still meditate at pre-dawn each day. With extreme sincerity I express my gratitude to BKSWU and recognize their role in my spiritual and intellectual growth. Fencing is a pre-breakfast routine for me and helps to burn off stress hormones. The BKs do not have a monopoly on God Almighty; the Great Spirit connects to all humankind and matter.
GR: How well do you think the BK system of Yoga will stand the rigors of examination by the Benson-Henry Protocol (Bashin et al., 2013; Elliot, 2011)? [An appendix for this interview will be presented in a subsequent post]
HEW: I will respond to your question with some questions and answers? Can Raja Yoga practitioners increase their neuro-plasticity? Are they able to lengthen their telomere lengths (Monaghan, 2014) and counter the effects of inflammation at the cell and molecular levels? Raja Yoga is meant to change sanskars that are old as 63 incarnations. The BKs may have to re-engineer their system to be more humanistic and the re-engineering can produce major splintering of the Yagya.
GR: ConclusionIn terms of personality, Dr. Walcott on the Mayers-Briggs testing is an INTP (introverted, intuitive, thinking, perceiving) a trait he shares with Sir Issac Newton and Albert Einstein. He prefers to be characterized as the hybrid between a Dynamic Aggressive and Dynamic Assertive derived from a life energy personality chart formulated by Null (1996). He will be available to answer any questions presented by guests of this site and has shared links and videos of his work.
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