On the Death of the Immortal.

Leonard Orr, the Father of Rebirthing-Breathwork, also known as “California guru,” died on 5 Sep 2019. His death is quite a loss not only for his loved ones, but for the whole international Rebirthing-Breathwork community. Over the course of his life, Leonard gave this “gift of breath” to countless people across the globe. I learned this technique from him in Poland, in early 1980s. To this day, I observe how his breathing method brings healing to people who try it. Leonard’s ideas inspired me in many ways and I have considered him to be my “spiritual teacher.”

The death of Orr is also significant because he was one of the best-known proponents of Physical Immortality. [i] What a big deal, one could comment sarcastically, yet another “dreamer,” who hoped to “conquer death,” in the end succumbed to it? Still, Leonard’s death seems to call for some sort of reflection, especially within the Rebirthing-Breathwork community. I remember Leonard saying many times that “every person dies for us,” meaning that we can learn from every person’s death. Question is – what we can learn from Leonard’s death?

Here are some thoughts that come to my mind. To accomplish Physical Immortality it is not enough to:

• Want it
• Proclaim that one is immortal (in fact, this can be a risky move as it is at odds with predominant social view)
• Write Physical Immortality affirmations
• Repeat Physical Immortality mantras
• Teach Physical Immortality
• Declare oneself to be a “senility graduate” 
• Practice Spiritual Purification (Leonard was known for his extensive fasting and his love for fire)
• Take young lovers 

I would like to add additional comment to the last point, which I do not mean to be, in any way, personal. Being in a “loving relationship” seems to be good for most people. Statistics show that married people live longer. They also show that women live longer than men. One hypothesis about this phenomenon is that the “duty to provide” for wife and children constitutes a life long stress for most men, which takes toll on them. If so, one could argue, sex and immortality can be incompatible goals.

Another question is, if Physical Immortality can be accomplished in, what Leonard sarcastically referred to as, our “glorious civilization.”  According to Burton Goldberg, we “are being slowly poisoned to death.”[ii] Progressive degradation of the environment, ever increasing rates of cancer, problems with over-population, problems with massive flow of information, seems to suggest that Physical Immortality, in the world as we know it, may be unattainable goal.

I remember Leonard sharing the story of Bhartriji, supposedly an ancient king, who was 2000 years old, Leonard claimed, when he met with him. According to Leonard, Bhartriji emerged from the Indian jungle only every so many years and he never allowed anyone to get close to him. In most cases, Leonard narrated, when Bhartriji spoke to anyone, it was … across the river. All the immortals, Leonard claimed to had met, lived this kind of solitary, renunciated lives. So, perhaps, Physical Immortality is possible somewhere in Himalayas, but who, actually, has stomach for this life style?

So, is the “dream of immortality” dead with Orr’s death? I don’t think so. This has been a dream of the whole humanity, and is likely to continue. Research on nocebo seems to suggest that the only way to accomplish Physical Immortality is to BELIEVE IT IS POSSIBLE. For as long as you believe that death is inevitable, you have no chance.

Question is also – what now? What is the way forward for the community and for each of us individually?

As for the Rebirthing-Breathwork community, I would like to suggest a path similar to delineated by myself and co-authors in “Standards of Rebirthing-Breathwork as Therapy.”[iii] We proposed then to focus on what works very well in Rebirthing-Breathwork, that is: 

1. Conscious Connected Breathing (Intuitive Energy Breathing)
2. Techniques of Spiritual Purification
3. Cognitive techniques

All these elements are fairly straightforward and worth of promotion. With the respect of cognitive techniques, I would like to comment that Cognitive Therapy has much advanced this field over the last 30-40 years. Future oriented rebirthers should familiarize themselves with this progress. The most popular, in Rebirthing-Breathwork, technique of Affirmations still could have its place if used properly – not as way of telling oneself, so called, “positive lies,” but rather as a means of exploring one’s “negative mental mass.”[iv]

As for each of us individually, as we can see from Leonard Orr’s story, death is a definite possibility. The prospect of losing one’s body is scary, but should be looked at. We don’t want to be like those small children, who tremble at the thought that there is a monster under their mattress, but are too scared to look under the bed.

“The shock of the hour is a tremendous thing,” Quran suggests. Some people ease this shock by their belief in the salvific power of Lord Jesus Christ. Others try to prepare themselves through Buddhist practices such as Phowa, or by reading the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Yet another way is to subscribe to the philosophies, such as this of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, whose message is – “we are not our bodies.” Nisargadatta claims that what is really true about our nature, our awareness, never dies.

Haidakhan Babaji and Leonard Orr in Heirakhan, early 1980s.

There is also the way of Haidakhan Babaji, Leonard’s Guru, who said:

“The fear of death is born with man, though this is the only thing he knows is certain to happen to him. Attachment to material things makes man cling to life. When you chant the Name of the Divine, when you are one with the divine, you accept death. While you are attached to life and afraid of death, you die with that fear and that weight clinging to you. If you have attained liberation you are free from death (you accept inevitable). You die without fear and by remembering the Name of God, your soul leaves the body free of that fear and attachment. If you are reborn, your soul is still free from that fear. If you die in 'unity', you are free from rebirth, unless you will it.”[v]

Haidakhan Babaji accepted his own death. He stated:

“My body is meant to dry up one day. This body is nothing; it is here only to serve people.

All living beings--including animals, flowers, birds, stones--have been given a form (body) by God, and this form has been given by God a duty to perform in this world. Even my own body has come only to perform a duty to serve all human and all living things. (…)”[vi]

It appears to me that Leonard Orr, while promoting Physical Immortality all his life, eventually accepted the wisdom of his Guru. He served people with his body to the very end and I feel tremendously indebted to him.

Om Leonard Orr Jay Leonard Orr! Jay Maha Mirtenjay!

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[i] See for instance:

Orr, L. (1980). Physical immortality, the science of everlasting life. Staunton, VA: Inspiration University.

Orr, L. (1986a). Breath awareness. Staunton, VA: Inspiration University.

Orr, L. (1986b). Physical immortality for Christians. Staunton, VA: Inspiration University.

Orr, L. (1990). Turning senility misery into victory. Staunton, VA: Inspiration University.

Orr, L. (1992). The common sense of physical immortality. Staunton, VA: Inspiration University.

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Orr, L. (1995). Healing the death urge. Staunton, VA: Inspiration University.

[ii] Diamond, J.W., Cowden, L.W., Goldberg, B. (1997). An Alternative Medicine Definite Guide to Cancer. Tiburon, CA: Future Medicine Publishing Inc. P.11 The quote continues: “The list of poisons include pollution, pesticides, carcinogens in our food, air, and water, electromagnetic radiation, tobacco smoke, antibiotics, conventional drugs, hormone therapies, irradiated foods, nuclear radiation, mercury toxicity from dental fillings, diet and nutritional deficiencies, parasites, toxic emotions, X rays and more. (…) Ibidem.

[iii] Rajski, P., Delgado, T., Dowling, C., Heyda, A., Sudres, JL, Vignali, E. (2003). Standards of Rebirthing-Breathwork as Therapy. The Healing Breath: a Journal of Breathwork Practice, Psychology and Spirituality, Vol. 5, No. 3.

[iv] For more thoughts on this subject, you may review: Rajski, P. (2002) "Thinking Positive or Rational?" The Healing Breath: a Journal of Breathwork Practice, Psychology and Spirituality, Vol.4, No.3.

[v] Teachings of Babaji, P.41.

[vi] Teachings of Babaji, Feb. 2, 1983