Closer to - What?

Bob Kuhn would have to be my pick for the most capable manager of the neutral zone. 

This past week, I caught the TV guide entry of his show Closer To Truth that was to be aired at about 2:00 in the morning.  So I set the DVR and enjoyed the show with my wife the next evening.  Can't remember which channel it was on, but I'm sure I can locate it again.  I could simply go back to his website of that name (linked below) and check their television broadcast schedule.  But the same programs are there at the website, each titled and easily accessed to watch at my convenience.  Good website!

Most of us who attended Ambassador College (AC) back in the sixties can remember the little buzz created around Bob's association with the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) and his quick ascent to the side of Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) who recognized a superior mind when it was there in his classrooms.  I can't recall now whether Bob was already Dr. Kuhn when he came to the campus in Pasadena, or whether he received his first doctoral status while also studying the Armstrong way to truth.  Perhaps the "Dr." title came along later, because we all began to switch from the familiar to the "Dr. Kuhn" reference at some point in the later sixties.  I also don't remember when he left the fold, and I have never been privy to any of the particulars of his departure from the WCG.

Bob was definitely a seeker of truth back then, and his specialty was the study of the mind.  Rather than kick him down and stifle his esoteric studies, the powers in the church decided to use this new energetic force in their midst as some kind of underscoring of the intent to attain accreditation for the college and to be open to new avenues toward - what, better worship?  In my own (admittedly distant and disconnected) view at the time, this genius who joined the ranks of HWA's army in Pasadena was going to assist greatly in the drive for understanding the "Human Potential" at the time being touted by Herbert.  From my perspective today, I presume Bob started wondering fairly early on why he had ensconced himself and his agile intellect in such a box.  All of us in that organization were well-schooled in the concept (with the ever-present scriptural ties) that any human's "potential" was directed toward the future nebulous time when we could be mini-gods, but only if we spent this life accepting our role as humble worms and small dust in the balance.  Any true potential was not seen as something here and now, to be realized while still human, but to be awarded to us as spirit beings.  Surely it wasn't long until the astute Dr. Kuhn recognized that his interest in the mind of man had a very short future.  The whole change from human to spirit - that moment of in the twinkling of an eye change, was set for a very few years beyond our rushing and hectic world of the sixties.  The study of how the human brain works would suddenly seem pretty irrelevant to a dedicated researcher like Bob Kuhn.

So it's clear I do not know much detail of the life of this man from that era of our common history, but I see his output today as some of the most fascinating and single-minded diligence anyone has yet attempted.  Bob is amazingly capable of listening intently, trying to understand the meaning of thousands of words poured forth by learned people in his search for what might be truth for him.    And I marvel at his calm approach as he remains neutral while compiling all this trash-pile of talk in the hope of mining treasure from it.  He spends most of his time with highly educated types, many of them in religion and related fields, and his listening skills are admirable.  His skill at keeping himself from looking incredulous and perhaps walking away from some who come across as educated idiots is a thing of beauty.  Character, I suppose.

At any rate, if you haven't yet taken a look at Bob's website, it's worthwhile: closertotruth.com

I don't know what truth might eventually satisfy Dr. Kuhn, but I appreciate his dedication in seeking it.  It would be more satisfying if his website wouldn't reject attempts to actually respond to some of his output.  I wanted very much to introduce my old acquaintance Bob to my now good friend, retired Stanford educator, Dr. John F. Bennett [writings found at longhighsurvival.org], but thus far have been unable to do so.  Bob would be able to grasp John's words about a Theory of Everything far better than I can, and he would most likely be enlightened by them far more than he has been by many another physicist or religionist.