Foundation for Mind-Being Research
Dean Brown
Dean Brown was one of the most versatile people I have ever known. More
than that, however, he was a person of great love, humility, and generosity
of spirit.
I thought of Dean as my best friend during the past ten years or so. We
spent hours every week together in conversation - even after I moved from
California to Nevada. And, during the time I hosted the "Virtual U" radio
program for the Wisdom Network, Dean was my most regular guest. We did
fifteen, two-hour interviews together that are still preserved on
tape. Here are the topics:
The Unity of Wisdom and Knowledge (three parts)
Misconceptions of the Twentieth Century
Why is Physics Mathematical?
Metaphysical Laws
Cosmology, Creation and Consciousness
Science and Wisdom: Quantum Mind and Ego Mind
Symmetry in Nature: A Metaphysical Principle
Hierarchy vs. Parity
The Inner Discipline of Investing
The Immensity of the Universe
What Does it Mean to be Human?
Sexuality in Nature
Sexuality in Spirit
He was a sanskrit scholar. A few years ago the Philosophical Research
Society published his translation of the Upanishads and Yoga Sutras. More
than that, he was conversant with many all of the world's great spiritual
texts. And, he studied them in their original languages. At one time he
counted 25 languages with which he was familiar. He passion was to find
the "invariants" within all of this literature - the metaphysical
underpinnings of world spirituality.
But, it would be a mistake to simply classify Dean as a student of
metaphysics and religious traditions. He was a physicist of the highest
order - making contributions to the development of the hydrogen bomb and
designing the fuel element for the Nautilus, the world's first nuclear
submarines. In his youth, he worked at the Institute of Advanced Studies
in Princeton - and was a friend and colleague of Albert Einstein. They
enjoyed playing "Go" together as a way of exploring Von Neumann's game
theory.
Dean was also a computer scientist. He is actually the first person, back
in the 1950s, to suggest that computers would have applications in the
field of education. He worked with the United Nations for several years
introducing this technology to various countries around the world. One
project involved installing computers throughout the educational system of
Spain. At this time he wrote a fascinating little book on the essentials
of learning.
Dean was a founder of Zylog, Inc., a company that manufactured one of the
first microprocessors, the Z80 chip - which is still in use today. Dean
was instrumental in designing that chip. Another company that he founded,
Picodyne, is still active today in the field of educational software.
Dean had many other interests. He believed that one could find God in the
details. So, he loved to study the details of most everything. On one
occasion, as we were walking together on a trail in Marin County, Dean was
pointing out and naming each of the plants. I was astonished and said,
"Dean, I'll bet that you can name every plant in California." "Yes I can,"
was his response. "My gosh," I exclaimed, "that must be over ten thousand
different plans!" "No," he responded. It's only about 7,000." Then, he
added, "but I can actually name all of the plants in the United States -
and that would be about 11,000."
Dean and his wife, Wendy, actually kept a collection of grasses that they
collected from all over the world. They enjoyed comparing them and
noticing the tiny differences in different species of grass. On one
occasion, when I was visiting Papua New Guinea, I brought back a handful of
grass that I picked up near a sidewalk. They were thrilled to have it. I
couldn't have found a finer gift.
Dean also was a composer, and student, of music. He created various
musical compositions for children's software. He introduced me to the
concept of a "MIDI" system, that enables one to pick out tunes on a
keyboard and then writes down the musical score. Now, because of his
influence, I am also composing music.
In addition, Dean was an artist. One of his last gifts to me was a
prophecy he made for me just a few weeks ago. When I told him about the
music I was composing, he said, "Jeffrey, I predict that soon you will
start painting." And, now, I am developing a whole series of new Rainbow
YinYang images - based on the graphic ideas expressed in the Intuition
Network logo (as seen on our website). (In fact, Obadiah Harris at the
Philosophical Research Society has even offered to host an exhibition of
these images. This is a major breakthrough for me - and I owe it to Dean's
magical inspiration.)
I can also credit Dean Brown with the fact that I happen to be a registered
Commodity Trading Advisor. It has he who stimulated my interest in the
financial markets - virtually taking me by the hand and teaching me his
theories of investing. Naturally, once he got me started, I had to take
things even further by studying other approaches, so I could compare them
with his. More than simply teaching me strategies of investing, Dean
showed me that there was really no difference between the worlds of
business and finance and the world of spirit.
You see, at heart, his approach was Tantric. He believed that there were
ultimately no dualities or hierarchies. All was unity. And he lived his
life based on this principle.
There is so much more to say. He was, for example, the main inspiration
behind the new University of Philosophical Research that we helped to
create in partnership with Obadiah Harris. Dean is the one who pointed out
to Obadiah the possibilities for a distant learning university using
audiotape, videotape and computer conferencing. Now the program is several
years old. The courses (offered in partnership with the Holmes Institute)
are required for those wishing to become ministers of the United Church of
Religious Science. And, Dean, himself was known as the "resident sage" of
the university. He was most beloved by students and faculty.
Dean was also a futurist. He worked with Willis Harman (former president
of the Institute of Noetic Sciences), at SRI International, back in the
1970s and there he helped to create a famous study called "Changing Images
of Man." This report was widely read throughout the business and
intellectual communities. It argued that people were developing new
identities that included psychic and intuitive awareness. I think that one
of the main projects he was working on at the time of his death was an
update and revision of that report. This he was doing in conjunction with
Oliver Markley, one of the original researchers on the study, who has been
living with the Browns in their home.
While working at SRI, Dean became closely involved with the parapsychology
research of physicists Russell Targ and Hal Puthoff. This was at the time
when they were doing their first studies with the famous Israeli psychic,
Uri Geller. Dean's role in this project was to become Uri's friend and
confidant -- helping him to feel comfortable in the California think
tank. As a result of this encounter, Dean and Uri have been good friends
for the last thirty years. And, Dean has learned much about psychic
functioning himself.
In fact, Dean and Wendy Brown, were both excellent remote viewers -- and
remote viewing judges. Together with Russell Targ and Jane Katra they
participated in an important research study, showing how successful
intimate friends and couples can be in the remote viewing process.
Dean's intellectual hero has always been C.S. Peirce, who along with
William James, was the founder of the American "pragmatic" movement in
philosophy. About two years ago, Dr. Walter Semkiw astonished me by
suggesting that he believed I was William James (my intellectual hero) in a
past lifetime. Walter suggested that I could test his idea (which he later
confirmed in a psychic reading with Intuition Network board member Kevin
Ryerson), by seeing if any of my close friends and colleagues seemed to
match up with close friends and colleagues of James. Naturally, I thought
about Dean and C.S. Peirce. And, Ryerson's spirit guide not only confirmed
this connection - but the connection between Peirce's wife, Juliet, and
Dean's wife Wendy.
Dean and Wendy, to their credit, were open-minded about this possibility -
and gave Walter permission to publish this ideas in his recent book, Return
of the Revolutionaries. But, in all honesty, I can say that (like myself)
Dean was ambivalent about the connection. I think he was even a bit
embarrassed by the association - in spite of his desire to support Walter's
potentially breakthrough research. The reasons for this are undoubtedly
quite complex. But, perhaps they are best explained by a statement Dean
once made to me. He believed that his goal was to walk through life
without leaving any footprints.
In spite of his enormous accomplishments in the worlds of science, business
and education - Dean was happiest just sharing small pleasures with his
friends, students and family. And, he never failed in his generosity to
those of us in the Intuition Network who sought his advice and counsel.
I know I will never be able to replace Dean Brown in my life. But,
somehow, it seems as if our time together was so rich and full, and our
conversations so cosmic and eternal, that I have complete confidence we
will one day meet again and simply pick up the conversation where we left
off.
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