Remembering Bruce Noble

Dave Wilson

2010-11-22T06:29:00.000-08:00

I met Bruce in the summer of 1970 when I moved into the branch of Abilitism that he had established in Oakland California. He had purchased a three story run down Victorian which he had the intention of restoring. There he was running a full on branch of Abilitism including courses, EI, clearing and whatever growth technique he was into at the moment. Being around Bruce was a little like meeting Hagrid in the Harry Potter stories he was wise and scruffy at the same time, forging forward on every front of life with great enthusiasm almost with reckless abandon.

I remember him talking me into taking a grape fast with him the day that arrived to live at his branch of Abilitism for the summer. Bruce was already on the second week of a three week fast and suggested that as a beginner finishing the last seven days with him was a perfect start. After a couple of days I couldn’t even walk around without feeling faint but without any hesitation he was also repairing the roof by climbing these hand made scaffolds three stories in the air and dragging me up there with him.

I was impressed with his diverse range of interests and skills he demonstrated, in one corner of the house he was working on inventing a new type of electric motor for patent. There was a printing press in another corner and he was quite adept at writing and editing. He was giving enlightenment intensives and clearing session, and had his own unique and sometimes puzzling philosophy which seemed to have the flavour of someone from a far off corner of the universe.

In a lot of ways he reminds me of Charles Burner in that he was indomitable, bright, very pragmatic had no tendency to defer to sanctioned convention. He enjoyed the power of influencing others to move beyond there limits and yet he welded that influence with genital controlled most of the time. Like with YM I never felt that close to him emotionally but there was a unspoken camaraderie as trailblazers on the cutting edge of the growth journey.

I stayed in touch with him into the mid 70’s doing rebirthing and EI’s. He didn’t seem to be all that interested in the shift to the yogic traditions that YM took about that time and so after the mid 70’s I only saw him on the annual intensives once in a while. Seemed to me that he gradually became more and more of a recluse as he continued to plunged as deeply as he could into knowledge of ultimate reality. The last time I saw him in the late 90’s I felt a little afraid for him he seemed to be very alone as if he were riding out a great storm on the merciless oceans of the illusion of life. Like the old man of the sea his strength was always up to the job. Till we meet again.

Dawn Nelson

2007-10-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Being at an Annual Intensive at Isis Oasis without Bruce Noble was a new experience for me. Although I've been involved in other kinds of courses held at Isis, never had I mastered, monitored or participated in an Enlightenment Intensive in that space without Bruce being on the premises. I truly missed his presence. . . though every once in awhile in my mind's eye I had a glimpse of him over in a corner hunkered down under that ancient and tattered brown blanket he used to wrap himself in, saw him sitting in a chair waiting to welcome his next partner with his exquisite attention and love or heard his laugh echoing through the trees. . . I remembered one dyad in particular with Bruce when he was experiencing who he was as "No thing" his awareness of this deepening as the dyad went on. The first thing my next dyad partner said on her turn was "I feel so sorry for that man who thinks he's nothing!" The memory makes me laugh and cry and bow in gratitude.

Mark Ederer

2007-05-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

I was taking a hike in Wunderlicht Park in Woodside
and came upon a giant Douglas Fir tree with large
girth and black bark. I had, on a previous walk,
designated this tree as my own Bruce Noble Memorial
Tree. Today, I strongly felt contact with Bruce and he
was appearing there and he wanted to continue with me
on my hike. He wanted to know if that was OK: to leave
the tree. I told him to walk with me. I held out my
hand and he wanted to see and feel the world through
my eyes and body and I obliged. He could pass in or
out of my form fluidly. We talked telepathically. We
stopped for awhile to look out over a valley of
Redwood trees. I communicated that I sometimes felt
the presence of George Simon as being strongly in the
woods- deeply bonded with and one with the organic and
inorganic physical and spiritual layers of nature
itself. Its just something I "get" about another. Its
inexplicable, really. Somehow another can be felt or
experienced as the very substance of the structure of
life well beyond the personal...a moment later a
cartoon like version of Anna Nicole Smith appeared to
us beckoning with enticing large overflowing naked
breasts and giant smile. Bruce lit up, bid a farewell
"later man", waved and took off delightedly after Anna
Nicole. I shook my head smiled to myself and had the
cognition: we're all just passing through!

Love,

Mark

Amrita Joy Ananda Ma (aka Elena Diana)

2007-04-30T20:48:00.001-07:00

it is 1am here in Cairo on Monday April 23rd. in California it is 4pm on Sunday the 22nd; i awoke about a half hour ago with Bruce and his memorial in my awareness. i reviewed the guide through after death and reminded him of all that is in it.

i has occurred to me that, as a professional psychic-channel, communion and communication with those who have passed over is a common-place experience for me, and i often forget that this is not so for most people. when i got the news of Bruce's death, i became acutely aware of him and his presence, and i remembered the last time i saw him. i remember having the thought that this may be the last time i will see him. since his death, mostly what i get when i am open to receiving what he has to communicate is that laughter of his.

i remember in particular one EI where he spent a lot of time in his van. his laughter (i think of it as a kind of spiritual chuckle; it seemed to me that he was likely laughing at the Great Cosmic Joke) emanated from the van seemingly non-stop. it was clearly what was coming up out of his contemplation, and i received it as such.

i am aware of being here, undergoing initiations that are transforming my consciousness, and i am aware of being there, with those who have gathered to honor Bruce. i am aware of my love for him, and of his for me. i am aware of his intention for Liberation, and support him in attaining that which comes at the end of desire.

in talking with some others i know who knew Bruce, it came as no surprise to me to note that forgiveness of things he did in his life does not come easily for some of us who knew him. i looked within to see if i had forgiven him for things that arose out of our intimate relationship, and i have. i remember my last dyad with Bruce and how open and clear the contact between us was; no leftover stuff from the past. it is my sense that forgiving Bruce is an act of support for his liberation. i know that forgiveness is really for the forgiver. my thought is that, just as we can get enlightened for someone else, so we can forgive for another. and i sense him asking for that forgiveness so he can release the past.

i am now aware of being with the gathering in spirit; i go now to sleep, anticipating the 5am wake-up call we are to receive in order to visit a sacred part of the pyramids (the details are to be a surprise for us) and exprience a potent transmission of the Sacred Mysteries. somehow what i am doing here has also to do with Bruce and my honoring of him and his path.

i know that Carl Wilson is attending the gathering, and has put forth the invitation for the EI community to join us in our land project in Hawaii. he has explained the connection with Bruce; the irony of the timing of Bruce's death is not lost on me. we intend to memorialize him in some way on that property as we develop it.

blessings and love,
Amrita Joy Ananda Ma
aka Elena Diana

Donna Gerry

2007-04-09T07:01:00.000-07:00

Bruce helped me get to peace with the apparent disparity between our deepest truth and what's going on here. At my first EI in Oakland in 1969(?), I experienced myself as "qualityless being." The day after the intensive, I was in awe as I experienced a friend of mine appearing from nothingness, instant-by-instant, into being that body/mind/personality. I wanted to commune ecstatically with others (to have communion at Source level central to life here for everyone) and I couldn't fathom why we humans do so much petty and viscious things to one another. When yogis and other reputedly wise beings came to town, I would listen and, if permitted, ask why this was true. My dissatisfaction with this dilemma continued for years.

I never received an answer that satisfied me until I talked with Bruce about it. He listened, then he asked me, "If you can be there, why don't you just be there?" I realized that, although I could briefly hold that space of deep communion with another, the main way I am able to be with others is in the normal mode of being human. I realized that a lot of dissatisfactory nonsense is going on amongst people because this is how we are able to be here with each other. I stopped nostalgically wishing for another reality and accepted this world - embraced being a spiritual being manifesting through nature and human society. I am grateful for Bruce's incisive, helpful comment.

I am happy to have known one so dedicated to Love. This showed in the way he worked with his own inner reality and in his responses to me and others.

Thanks and blessings to Bruce, and I have enjoyed reading others' postings.

Shawn Estes

2007-04-08T18:28:00.000-07:00

I just learned of Bruce's passing recently at Bill Savoie’s EI. I only knew Bruce as a 70 year old mystic, having first met him at the '05 annual intensive (led by Mark Ederer?). I think Bill gave me a good first impression of him, but it was quite different than my first visual impression. His clothes were ragged, but I knew the power and love that radiated from him instantly. In my first dyad with him, all I can say is, he gave me an experience that was truly remarkable. Always looking with the loving eyes that could see so far, with so much depth. I heard a loud rumbling from a distance as I became aware of planets that were in my view, earth I think, and some others. But, we didn’t stay there long, as the planets seemed to speed by one after the other, merging beautiful, light emanating stars into deep black space. I don’t know how long we journeyed like that, until I realized the loud rumbling had suddenly stopped, and I could have sworn it was right as Bruce snapped his fingers, I became aware of physical reality again, those absolute loving and deep beyond deep eyes. He just smiled a whimsical and knowing smile and commented on the divine.

That was the experience, simple but amazing. I have always felt he intentionally gave me that experience. I know he will be with me for a long time.

Erik Grabow

2007-04-04T11:35:00.000-07:00

God, but Bruce was big! Big body, big presence, big lust, big laugh. (Too big, I thought, filled with all my spiritually incorrect judgments when I first encountered Bruce in the Annual Intensives.) I tended to stay away from him at first, intimidated by his wildness . . . and besides, he violated the form in dyads!

Years later, Bruce and I were both attending a July Intensive at Origin, and Osha had volunteered me to give Bruce a ride up. I felt a dread, imagining being trapped in a car with this wildman for four or five hours. I picked him up at the dilapidated El Cerrito garage he was living in, barely a notch above a homeless camp. He seemed a bit embarrassed to have me see the squalor of his material life, then waved at the piles of papers and clothes and trash strewn about: "I'm an urban yogi--welcome to my cave!"

I got to know Bruce as we drove up to the mountains, the miles and conversation just flying. There was a sensitivity and gentleness to Bruce I hadn't noticed before--so much for my judgments. On the drive back I was frustrated, consumed by the desire for enlightenment and feeling like the Intensive had taken me right up to the very edge of something I felt unable to leap from. I then had the great good fortune of being on the receiving end of Bruce in his full-on developed Enlightenment Master mode, as he spent several hours working with me on "Who Am I?" as I drove. (Yes, I know we should never contemplate and drive, and Bruce and I were violating the form and breaking the rules . . . and at the same time, I felt a complete trust and safety in our process--we were quite mindfully following another set of rules.) I still hear his patient, firm voice repeating "Tell me who you are" as the question drew me into itself and the pavement began to shimmer and the passing trees sparkle with beauty. He began to describe to me subtleties of my unvoiced ongoing inner process, so utterly tuned into me that he could read my mind: "You're like a stone that is skipping along on the surface of enlightenment--you start to dip in, then you skip away. But it's okay, you can do whatever you want--after all, it's your enlightenment!" Later, he remarked that two of his favorite activities in life were making women come, and getting people enlightened . . . I never told Bruce, but after our time that July, I considered hiring him as an Enlightenment coach, which seemed like it could be a mutual win. But I still felt wary of his craziness, and remembering the old saying "Don't make friends with an elephant tamer unless you have a very large living room", I chickened out. The bonding of our time together was permanent, however, and I continue to feel the welcome love he offered as I write this now.

The spiritual traditions are filled with the stories of the wild ones, the ones who put Spirit first, and just let the rest of the house burn down. I feel fortunate to have know such a divine one, and continue to feel great gratitude for the ongoing lessons his big being offered. With love and blessings, I thank you Bruce. Namaste!

This February I was a monitor at the Love Intensive at Isis Oasis. The last time I had seen Bruce was at the 2006 Annual Intensive. Now I was very aware of his absence as I walked between the rows of dyads, the room permanently empty of his big booming laugh and the words: "I'm me . . . I'm divine me . . ." One night dinner was postponed due to one of the Isis animals having slipped past its keepers, and for our safety we had to stay away from the dining hall for a bit. The next day I overheard someone speaking the following words, and I thought "That sounds like a poem" . . . a minute later, and words grabbed me by the heart as I realized "and it's a poem about Bruce!":

For Bruce:

"I have the feeling
that sometime in the night
something wild and beautiful
escaped its cages."

Gone, gone.

Gone beyond.

Gone beyond Beyond!

All blessings

to the one

who goes:

Awakening, fullfilled!

Jerry Leach

2007-02-22T10:06:00.000-08:00

Jerry Leach forwards this piece written by Bruce many years ago. It's "Bruce's 12 Rules For Improving Relationships".

In my experience, the following rules may aid you in your relationships. As with all rules and guides they may be difficult to implement immediately, but if you make the decision and you make it a goal to behave in this or a similar manner, I think you will find your relationships improving and your life more harmonious.
(Wherever you see the words "the other person" you may substitute the name of anyone with whom you are in a relationship.)

1. Above all else love the other person unconditionally.

2. If you want to improve a relationship with anyone, change yourself. Almost all efforts to improve a relationship that are futile are efforts to change the other person.

3. Treat the other person in a way that enhances the building of a long term permanent perfect relationship that has no separation.

4. Be willing to expose your deepest feelings to the other person, even if there are unpleasant consequences that come from that, but get their permission first.

5. Do everything you can to not injure the other person.

6. Always be honest with respect to the other person and yourself.

7. Be willing to please the other person in all situations that do not require your not being true to yourself.

8. Remind yourself that whenever you're upset with your partner, that the behavior your partner is exhibiting is the same behavior in yourself that you've not handled.

9. Don't violate any agreements of the relationship.

10. If you are unhappy with an existing agreement, change the agreement, don't violate it. In a situation where no specific agreements exist, follow the general agreements of the surrounding society. As an example: if you are in a sub-culture, follow the agreements of the sub-culture if the other person is a member of the sub-culture also.

11. Don't expect the other person to read your mind. Ask for what you want.

12. Don't threaten the other person. If the situation is intolerable to you, state that it is such. Don't manipulate.

I really bless you and wish you and your relationships the very best of everything.

Dawn Nelson

2007-02-21T20:46:00.000-08:00

Back in the 80's, Bruce took a special interest in the roses at our El Cerrito house. He and a few other friends had spent a whole day helping me put in some new landscaping--I can't remember if the roses were planted that particular day--in exchange for a meal I cooked for everyone that night. During some EI, Bruce found black spots on a couple of rose bushes and decided to remedy the situation by carefully cutting off, one by one, all the affected leaves during the working contemplation periods. I remember him showing me after the EI what he had done and explaining that although the bush looked really bare it would come back and not to worry. . .Several of the roses in our Walnut Creek garden have been planted in honor of relatives and friends who have moved beyond the physical forms we knew and loved. Looking through a catalog recently something about this rose reminded me of Bruce and we have ordered one to plant in his memory.

Sweet Freedom Hybrid Tea Rose
It's strong, sweet scent and resistance to mildew and rust makes this an exceptional white rose. Let it blossom in your garden as a glorious celebration of freedom.

Jerie Gilbert

2007-02-20T16:45:00.001-08:00

On February 5 while getting ready to board a plane for Mexico I received a phone call from the Kern County Coroner’s office informing me that they had discovered Bruce’s body in his van near Lake Isabella. My name and phone number were tucked in his wallet. Although it has been over twenty years since Bruce and I were lovers, I believe that I have always been, and always will be in a relationship with him. I would like to share excerpts of what I wrote about Bruce in my journal on my trip to Sayulita:

I really loved Bruce, with all of his quirkiness, his radical ways of thinking. .. He was a big warmhearted bear of a man who helped me begin the healing process after 16 years of a troubled marriage. . . . Bruce listened endlessly to my pain, my sadness, my confusion, my challenges around restoring my self esteem.
Being with him was almost like being in analysis for five years. . . .lying around and talking and then being urged to talk some more … he led me to a whole new life, ultimately led me to Susan (my life partner) through Dawn , Barry, and Jackie – led me to Enlightenment Intensives, led me out of suburbia and into a more conscious way of living, led me really into becoming a psychotherapist, because I wanted to be able to listen as well as he did. . . wanted to learn that skill.

I remember meeting Bruce at a singles event (of all places) at a Unitarian Church in San Francisco when I was about 38. That would have been about 26 years ago. I was immediately attracted to his big warm smile, and the twinkle in his eye. I told the friend who had come to the event with me to “keep away.” “He’s mine,” I said as he made a beeline for me.

He said it was a past life connection from the start. (something that I simply couldn’t get my mind around). He said that we had implants together that we needed to work out to make our relationship flourish. I tried (a little) to embrace his idea (barely) about group marriage, but knew all along that it wasn’t for me. So we battled and loved one another. And I knew all along that we’d never mesh, but it took me five years to admit to myself that my strivings to join him in his desires and fantasies were a manipulation on my part, a way to try to get him to convert to my way of thinking, to my choices, and in fact, let’s face it to some of my own middle class values. .. .

I don’t like the idea of him being cremated and being placed into a communal grave, although I suspect he wouldn’t have minded that much. I’ll concede that he could very well be right about the past life stuff. I hope that if he is, he’s already returned to Earth and is a little baby in a warm loving family, safe and secure and cared for, and that he returns with the same loving heart that he so readily developed in this, his past life.

Bruce Nobel, all of the dear memories I have of you , will forever be tucked inside of my heart.

Jerie Gilbert

Patsy Boyer

2007-02-13T17:08:00.000-08:00

I last saw Bruce at the 2006 Annual which I had the honor and big, big blessing of co-mastering. When I now put my attention on Bruce there at the EI, what I get is light...I see him standing there and I see light radiating from him - rays of light come from him and I am feeling illuminated.

I first met him at my 2nd EI, the Annual in 1986, Edrid the master, Bruce was one of the monitors, and it all seemed crazy and mysterious to me. Over and over, Bruce set me back on track speaking of the great, unlimited possibilities that I would certainly achieve! I could feel his joy and love of the process, deep commitment to truth - to getting me to truth. All this power was accompanied with great belly laughs and piercing looks!

I'm very grateful for this noble man.

I love you, Bruce.

Patsy Boyer

Ron Skellenger

2007-02-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

Thanks for organizing this remembrance of Bruce; it is so sweet to hear how many people he touched over so many years. I found him amazing and too big to fit into my expectations or preferences; at times his laughter was too big for me, intrusive, but once, after resisting as he sat in the dyad next to me, laughing, the laughter irresistibly swept away my thinking and I "found myself" in laughter, too, that kensho state-change into no-anxiety, no-effort, no-resistance, peace, love. After that my gratitude let me see Bruce a little more clearly as an emissary of the divine, moving in mysterious ways. Thank you Bruce for your service to everyone and for helping teach me that the appropriate attitude toward each 'other" is one of gratitude and namaste. Peace be with you, wherever, however, whatever you are now.

Elad Levinson

2007-02-11T21:15:00.001-08:00

I first met Bruce at an EI that Mark Ederer had roped me into and now I had no choice because my ex wife Fran had already gone to one and she was threatening to become enlightened.

Bruce was on staff with Nancy and Sergei at their wonderful place in Santa Rosa.

I recall Bruce’s huge presence- I thought maybe a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears had taken the wrong turn in Moline looking for Soldier’s Field and ended up in CA.

His energy was always on the side of transformation- he was in service of our lives improving due to practice, persistence and patience.

I loved getting hugs from Bruce- to this day I wear a back brace due to one in particular.

We are all unique and irreplaceable but some are just a bit more unique like x2- Bruce was one of them.

I will miss your love and zaniness. May you be free of suffering; may you be happy; may you be safe on your journey through the Bardo or in your case you probably thought of it as Barfo.

Elad

Virginia Burroughs

2007-02-11T16:49:00.001-08:00

I met Bruce at four annual intensives,'95, 97, '05, and 06. At the first one, he helped me after the EI was over because I'd not had a direct experience and as someone said he liked rescuing ladies. I had an experience on the plane on the way home and wrote to tell him. For years I told people about Bruce and what a character he was; my favorite along with Shirley and Bobbie.
In 97 after the EI we talked a lot and he told me stories of his life in his van and on the streets in Oakland. My life has been in the woods of Alabama and it so was an education for me. Somehow though, I felt he was taking care of me.
In 05, we made a pact to work on the Love question for twenty more years since he figured we had at least that ( he and I being close in age.) He surprised me in 06 by going back to Who. He said he realized he hadn't finished it yet. He was in rare form for that EI, working with Edrid in taking new directions, and working with great enthusiasm.
He was a wild man, Han Shan of Oakland and I loved him.
Virginia Burroughs

Anna Billings

2007-02-11T16:43:00.000-08:00

Midway through my first Enlightenment Intensive (in 1983) I was convinced it would also be my last. When I learned some participants had actually attended more than one of these, I was aghast. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to endure such torture and go on to choose it yet again. Then I hit a crisis. Something arose in my consciousness that I was sure another could never understand. Though I wanted to quit, the master, with her strong, compassionate support, encouraged me to get it across anyway. I saw in her eyes she knew I could do it and I did. It was the first time I had ever experienced getting something fully across to another that arose out of the deepest places in my heart and soul. I'm forever grateful to Menaka for this. I couldn't wait to sign up for another Enlightenment Intensive.

The next available one was the Third Annual Intensive and I was there. So was Bruce. He was a monitor and he zeroed in on me early on. I was reveling in the wild and wonderful freedom of truthful communications and found myself in a blissful state in which I was so satisfied, I felt this had to be as good as it could possibly get. Then along comes Bruce.

"I'm feeling great," I told him as I described the warm, buttery openness I was enjoying. "How could it get any better than this? I can taste all the subtle flavors in the food. I can feel the sweet textures of soft wind on my skin. I feel happy and free. Isn't this enough? I think I've got it, don't you?"

That was the first time I heard Bruce's famous laugh. He said something about there being so much more and that it was well worth it to persist in the inquiry. Though I wasn't sure what this could be, I got there was truth in what he was saying. He re-engaged my interest and I kept at it. Whenever I felt discouraged, there was Bruce again, sometimes standing behind my dyad partner, sometimes mouthing, "Who are you?" or whispering it in my ear."

He was annoyingly persistent and steadfastly supportive. And I soon came to realize that, indeed, there is so much more.

This past October, I had the great honor and privilege of co-mastering the Twenty-seventh Annual Intensive in which Bruce was a participant. We had come full circle as I found myself in the role of supporting him in this work I have come to love so much.

So here's to Bruce, courageous pioneer, crazy-wisdom seeker, compassionate elder, and self-proclaimed record-holder for the greatest number of intensives attended (and he could recite the exact number as participant, as monitor, and as master).

A remembered quote from Bruce: "I believe I'm the oldest participant here, so as senior spokesperson, let me say thank you."

And thank you too, Bruce. We will miss you and we will remember you.

With love always,

Anna Billings

Richard Hudson

2007-02-10T21:12:00.000-08:00

So who is Bruce to be remembered? What does it mean to remember Bruce? For this one, to remember Bruce is to be Bruce.
Who is Bruce...well anyone that was at an Intensive when this one awakened and was still dreaming, was drown to that blinding light of infinite nowness like a moth to flame and invariably if they got too close, it was all over for that dream self. Bruce and this one seldom dyaded because there was not a need. One light, one truth...where is the separate self?
But yet...here is the rub. I feel a deep sense of sadness and loss. Who am I? Well, right now I am the one who is, to a degree, identified with being a separate pain body-conditioned mind dream self and by the way, not a good dream. Now this dream self well knows what death is and make no mistake about it, Bruce died. In this courageous and dear soul, the pain body-conditioned mind ceased to be. Good riddance! After all, does anyone doubt this, Bruce dedicated his life to simply die to that painful illusion and awaken to the infinite and to be a guiding light to all of use, which I feel he was. Some call this a double death - death to the conditioned mind and death to the pain-body, but really just one demise. This is for sure! The body that we called Bruce died...it stopped working. Now with this incredible soul, it is possible that he had killed that nightmare before the body ceased to function and in that case, no one died.
I never knew Bruce personally like pretty much everybody who is a member of our community...those that have dedicated their
lives to awakening by using Intensives as one means to turn on the light switch. It's a very odd community...this...in that
most of us really don't know each other personally, but have become each other...two in one...one in two...or have plumed the depth of how it is for us when we are connected in a dyad, which makes the personal seem almost irrelevant. And yet,
I think that we have all come out with a sense of each others unique dream world character despite it all. This might not be true and really I hope not, but the intuition here about the personality, Bruce, was that he battled ferocious internal demons, at least in the many years that we did the enlightenment intensive dance together, and it seemed to be a stalemate. So what was so amazing about Bruce, given the enormity of this battle, is that he stayed a warrior through and through. He essentially never gave up the journey by putting his tale between his legs and limping off into the wilds of Maya. Sure, he got the holy crap beat out of him like we all do by those paper monsters... and those fire breathing devils are much more frightening than the real thing, paper or no paper. For this one, then, what was so awe inspiring about Bruce was he picked himself up no matter how badly he had been battered and steadfastly continued on the journey to awakening and as a result became the holy grail again and again and again or no time at all.
So, who is Bruce right now for this one? Simply stated, Bruce is just a sound that emanates from no mouth or space.
Can you hear it? Bruce's chuckle of liberation that seems to go on forever but comes from no place discernible...
that called us all home if we were not already that. I wonder if he ever knew what an amazing legacy he would leave
all of us on the path...the chuckle of no chuckle at all. To become that no-sound is to become Bruce and chuckle
of into infinity. What more could anyone ask for?

nobody....

Popi Hudson

2007-02-10T15:25:00.001-08:00

Bruce. I barely knew you and yet you remain one of the most precious to me in this life. We shared several Annual Intensives over 20 or so years, (I'm not so good at counting).

You....... Listening, encouraging, appreciating
Me.........Safe to explore, discover
You .......Holding the fort
Me.........Sharing.....all
You........Beaming.....present....Loving
Me.........Holding truth......Unwavering
You........Humble......admittedly not knowing
Me.........Right here..loving...unconditionally
You........Or... is it me?
Utterely Bruce....... Utterly Divine Me

I feel so sad!!!! Tears have a mind of thier own. Yes. I admit it, in a most human way I would have very much liked to have you around a little longer in our E.I family of friends (in the body). And I celebrate the (imagined) release for you from a body worn out. I know it is perfect that you have passed now. How? The last Love Intensive has instructed me so. Not because it is good. Not because it is bad. Not because I like it or because it makes some clever or grandiose sense to the mind. It is perfect because it Is. Love is like that. Love loves all. As it is, because there is no mind there to prevent Love from Being Love.
I acknowledge that each moment in life is an opportunity to be one with Truth. Some opportunities are more easily recognized than others. Your passing is one of those moments. Bruce, I hardly knew you.......and yet you remain one of the most precious to be a part of my life. Thank you Bruce for big bear hug you ........and for Divine You.

Katya Betz

2007-02-10T10:48:00.000-08:00

Remembering Bruce: Although I have been around intensives since the early seventies I didn’t meet Bruce until much later. My memory of Bruce is from an Annual EI that I took 3 years ago. It was my most difficult intensive. On the second day I lost God. The depth of despair was without limit. As I stumbled through that day I searched out participants to work with that might understand. At one point Bruce approached me to work. I hesitated for a moment because of his history as a free spirit in regards to the technique, but within his eyes were a deep understanding and I was attracted by his compassion. Bruce has a great capacity, a great gift, to listen and understand. He gave that gift to me during that dyad. Afterwards he did give me his commentary and the funny thing was that he was correct. He said, “ You are in No-Gods land.” We both laughed at the play on words, but his insight gave me a chance to see it was only a phase I was going through, albeit a yearlong phase. Bruce dying alone is nothing new. We all die alone, even if surrounded by friends. I do regret not knowing sooner that he had died, so I could have walked a bit with him in the halls of death. When I tuned in a few days ago, he was way off in the distance, ambling along. Go with God Bruce.

Brock Palmer

2007-02-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

Click this link:
Remembering Bruce
With love,
Brock

Bret/Chakravarta

2007-02-10T08:08:00.000-08:00

I was suicidal in the mid-eighties - I couldn't make life work given the way I'd been indoctrinated to be (and fell for, and defended). My friend Donna Gerry suggested I take an Enlightenment Intensive. I walked out of the first one 6 hours into the first day - too paranoid to do it.

Donna was disappointed, and so was I, actually. Why couldn't I just decide to spend three days doing this?

Donna introduced me to Bruce, and I decided to take an EI with him 6 months later, at Tatagatas. The same stuff came up, and I wanted to leave. He gave me an interview, listened to all my objections, answeredthem (as he could), then asked me if I could think of a reason to stay.

I did, and I determined to get into it as much as I could, and I got really freaky from confronting it. And that afternoon I had my first Experience, and I knew where the center is (although I'm not done getting rid of my junk).

I took several more EIs Bruce gave, and he monitored on several others I took, and participated in more. And dyad nights in Berkeley. Sometimes I didn't think so well of his approach, but he was always open and accepting - quite an accomplishment really (or lack of one, depending on one's view of things). I'm sure I could have asked him for help
anytime, and he likely would have done it. I remember he thought well of me.

I knew he was living rough later on, and I lost touch when I moved Down Under, although I'd hear about him occasionally through Marshall. I would have liked to speak with him again, to tell him how much he helped me. Perhaps it would have been someone else if not him (others did help me quite a lot), but he was up to the task, too, and I'm very grateful.

As I think about him now, I can see how sincere he always was, and that is about the highest compliment I can think of for someone. He meant it, and he lived it. And he was kind and patient. I'm not sad thinking about him - I'm happy I knew him.

I don't have any pictures of him, except in my mind. And I remember his voice.

Bret / Chakravarta

Murray Kennedy

2007-02-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

In 1982 Bruce and I did one of Osha’s Intensives up at Origin. I was a traditionalist at the time and pressured Osha to have us do the late night dyad on the second night. Osha agreed to my request, which meant the whole intensive - Bruce included - had to stay up - because of me. But Bruce didn’t want to stay up, he wanted to go to bed! What ensued was one painful dyad. I found out Bruce wasn’t a guy you really wanted to piss off.
The years passed. In 2003 circumstances conspired. I was getting a lift to the Annual with Dawn. When I got to her place Dawn blithely told me were taking Bruce too.
Oh oh!
We went by his place. I knocked on his door. He opened it and saw me standing there. Poor Bruce. He had no warning. It was like he was looking at a ghost. So he hadn’t forgotten our last-dyad brouhaha either.
But being together in the car gave us the opportunity to face what happened between us. It's a tribute to Bruce that he brought it up.
Without my saying a word, he told me for years he had been distressed about what he'd said to me. He expressed deep remorse about it, and apologized to me in a truly heart felt way. All this he volunteered; - gave out of his heart, his generosity, his integrity. I didn't have to ask. He just gave - that was his nature.
It was very beautiful, and I was so touched and felt so happy and free.
I loved Bruce (we did Andrew's Wilderness Two Week together, so we knew one another very well). I hated being out of harmony with him and I was so glad to be friends again.
It's funny how it goes; when Dawn said we were driving Bruce up too, I stiffened inside. I dreaded meeting him.
But the thing I least wanted to happen turned out to be the best thing that could have happened, a total blessing, on both of us. Sweet forgiveness.
I was thankful for it then I am even more thankful for it now that he is gone out of this life. He was a great soul.

Dawn Nelson

2007-02-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

I met Bruce at the First Annual Enlightenment Intensive Osha put together held at Ft. Mason in 1980, mastered by Jim, William and Jeff Love. It was my first Enlightenment Intensive. Jackie Dennis and I came together--we had this agreement that if one of us really didn’t like it, we’d give the other a signal and we’d both leave. Needless to say, we both stayed and that three days changed both our lives.

Bruce was a participant on my student Intensive at my house in El Cerrito and the reason I didn’t “pass” (though that didn’t stop me from continuing to give Intensives) since I had allowed him to word his question in his own way. We had a number of Intensives in that house over the next few years given by various people. I monitored for Bruce on an Intensive he gave there where everybody wore a colored circle symbolic of what level of monitoring they wanted—none, light or heavy.

Bruce was such a lover of Truth! He had the courage to experiment. He was endlessly encouraging, unwavering in his support of others. The best listening partner I ever had, he did “seem” to fall asleep on me during one late night dyad we shared many years ago—when EI masters were still keeping us up until nearly midnight--but even with his eyes closed I still felt his intention, his attention and his love.

Bruce supported me in myriad ways over three decades—as a dyad partner, a fellow monitor, a fellow master, and a friend. To me he was part little boy, part teddy bear, part wild, rebellious zen master spouting crazy wisdom that I seldom understood—always “real and true to himself. In all the years I knew Bruce— he remained eager, passionate and vigilant in pursuing his unique brand of contemplation, and he followed it wherever it took him.

Bruce's warm bear hugs and great belly laughs were legendary even before I met him. I will miss those and yet they, and he, are with me still. I can hear his laugh echoing throughout the universe. I feel certain Bruce is embracing the mystery of the after life adventure with as much gusto as he embraced his most recent incarnation. We are all blessed to have shared a bit of this one with him.

Dawn Nelson

Andrea Boone

2007-02-09T20:51:00.000-08:00

I had heard about Bruce before I met him, because my husband Carl had known him for years, as old Abilitist intensive-goers together. I was a little bit scared of him, he was so big, so booming, so open! I wasn't sure what he'd do next; could be anything.

But what he did was great. We were at an intensive in Oakland. It was maybe my 4th intensive. He wasn't my partner, but was in the dyad next to me. My partner started hitting on me during his turn in a really obnoxious way, and Bruce, when it was his turn, began talking about how annoyed he was at the jerk next to him who wasn't following the technique, and was violating the rules. Of course, Bruce was violating the rules too, but I felt protected and cared for in a way. My partner shut right up, and afterwards, when I thanked Bruce, I got the first of any of his big bear hugs.

He was around our family from time to time, always bringing so much love. Some of his ideas were way out there! But what a big heart. I felt sad seeing his life become less and less viable on the outer. Being homeless part of the time, he told us that he would just go among the other homeless people, doing what he could to help them wake up to the truth of Being. Like a divine fool, a hidden master that nobody but us intensive-goers would recognize. He had a thing for rescuing women in distress as well; he would bring over the latest from time to time.

Bruce, thank you for your life, for your presence in the world. It has added greatly to the whole, and knowing you, I'm sure that you will be working just as hard for the enlightenment of all beings, from the other side.

Blessed be,

Andrea Boone

Pat Liles

2007-02-09T11:06:00.000-08:00

As I hold Bruce in my heart and wish him well on his journey, I hear him saying "Love is Divine Union" in every dyad. I see his van rocking with his laughter in the parking lot of Isis Oasis. He beckons me over to his chosen corner of the Intensive for dyads- sometimes galactic space maps, soft snoring, or boundless emptiness, ... I feel his never ending delight in the feminine sitting across from him in dyad. I hear him saying at the end of intensives at Origin, " As senior member here, I want to thank Osha for her loving presence and ....
A true old soul without much baggage except his dedication to the truth and enlightenment.
Thank you Bruce, you are a teacher even in your passing.
May the gopis refresh you and sing your praises!
Namaste

Justin Pomeroy

2007-02-08T22:48:00.000-08:00

I wrote Osha that I'm sad about Bruce's passing....he was such a humble, loving person. It's a pity how he died seemingly all alone. Yet, he is/was one of those rare beings who was "in the world but not of the world", here, yet not here, not involved with samsaric living.....just dedicated to the truth, to being conscious, awake, open and helpful to others. Bruce was one of the "originals" of the Enlightenment Intensive "revolution" as were Osha, Edrid, and Mark. He carried that original "Abilitist spirit"—communication and understanding as an accelerated pathway to awakening to ultimate truth. But as his "planetary" life crumbled all around him—a mystery to me at first— he still attended enlightenment intensives to the very end. I think he saw his highest calling, his 'bodhisattva path" as being there for others in the contex of an enlightenment intensive, the venue of truth-talking and awakening. He didn't seem to find anything else in life more worthwhile for himself.

One of my favorite memories of Bruce

Back in the 1980's, my friend, Norm Don (who many of you know from enlightenment Intensives) wanted Bruce and me to give a presentation on the "Enlightenment Intensive Process" at the Council Grove Conference held every year in Council Grove, Kansas, a rural bucolic park once the center of Native American council meetings of braves, chiefs and medicine men. I had heard about this yearly event for years and I had heard it was a kind of "top secret" gathering of many luminaries of diverse backgrounds: cutting-edge quantum physicists, biofeedback researchers, paranormal experimenters, intuitive healers, psychedelic scientists, transpersonal psychologists, Transcendental Meditation masters, UFO abductees, Tibetan Buddhist Lamas and Rimpoches, roshis and sufis. If you were a "consiousness junky", Council Grove was the place to be every year the week after Easter! It was/is a kind of "sacred" area where many Native American tribes met each year in the geographical center of the contiguous United States. It had morphed into a consciousness conference started by Walter Pahnke, a LSD researcher back in 1968. However, you had to be formally invited to this very limited audience, secretive event. Somehow, Norm, who had been invited for a number of years due to his excellent work in parapsychology, had secured an invitation for Bruce and I and we were on the "roster" to present on the Enlightenment Intensive!

When Bruce and I arrived, we couldn't believe our audience! There was physicist Gary Zukof, Rupert Sheldrake ("morphogenetic fields"), Jean Houston ("Varieties of Psychedelic Experience"), Andrew Weil, Caroline Myss ("The Anatomy of the Spirit"), Elmer Green, Chief Rolling Thunder along with various Buddhist monks , Hindu Swamis and sundry other consciousness rogues, healers and yogis! I was nervous! Like, what did we step into? When it was our turn to speak, Bruce let me go first. I did my best to share my experience, myself, my "hit" on what the EI process was all about. Then Bruce took over! He hardly spoke of the Enlightenment Intensive; instead he talked about his experience of "no self" as his awakening. He went on and on about the importance of waking up, of directly experiencing the truth. I looked over at the the Buddhist monks, many of whom were dressed in traditional Tibetan robes. They had that look, that glint in their eyes of recognition. A lot of them smiled! I knew then, that our presentation was a success. Bruce had wowed them all!

Veronika

2007-02-08T22:45:00.000-08:00

I met Bruce at Origin in July 2003. It was my first Intensive and he was the seasoned veteran who took me under his wing. Bruce had a PRESENCE. His soul literally radiated from his body. He was magnetic because his intensity was non-threatening.

For nearly a year after the Intensive, we talked on the phone for hours at a time most days. He selflessly coached me in overcoming attachments to the mundane. Can you imagine the patience??? Bruce loved the pursuit of BEING. I understand how the sad moments of his life nudged him relentlessly toward a spiritual path. And he came back – for the rest of us – to help us join him on that path.

I write this as I think back to the plane ride after the Intensive… with a crimson and throbbing face that elicited worried inquires from the flight attendants… I had taken my first mega dose of Niacin, just like Bruce…

Now I want to cry for you, Bruce, but you are not really gone. Your presence in my life is permanent because knowing you correlated to my most meaningful transformation. I will never forget you, Bruce Noble. You lived a purposeful life!

Love,
Veronika

Barry Evans

2007-02-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

Oh man, Bruce Noble, found dead in a van—poignant, sad, perfect. He couldn’t just die, just like he couldn’t just live.

Bruce was always larger than life for me. Here he was, at Origin I think, doing his “I am Divine Me” thing, then, this sort of conspiratorial aside to me as his listening partner: “There’s more, I know there’s more!” I laughed and laughed, and still do, as I write this. Who else would be touching the divine and insist there’s more?

Another time I was struggling with The Technique (ah, The Technique!), during the afternoon question period, asking my usual dumb-shit questions, trying to figure out what the hell the Master was talking about, when Bruce, who in my experience had never previously spoken during the Q&A time, suddenly boomed out, “If I’d followed the technique, I’d never have had a direct experience.” Which was just, exactly, what I needed right then.

Crazy wisdom, someone said. Amen. Thanks Bruce for letting me share your craziness.

Barry Evans

Jeffrey Winters

2007-02-08T16:58:00.000-08:00

Have a beautiful transition Bruce.

Love,

Jeffrey Winters

Cynthia Nightingale

2007-02-08T16:40:00.001-08:00

I have a flurry of memories of Bruce- a great montage of sweetness, generosity, presence, light, laughter, fearlessness, and formidable awareness of and dedication to the Truth.

About 10 years ago, Bruce came over to my little cottage in Oakland for a dyad night. I was surprised to see him as I didn't know how he had heard about the evening. But I was, as always, so happy to see him. The minute he walked through the door, I remember the feeling of the room changing, becoming lighter, like angels had fluttered in. It was sometimes amazing to me how his large physicality could seem so at odds with his lightness of being.

I recall the time (was it at Edrid's infamous Annual Intensive at Our Lady of the Redeemer in Oakland?), where Bruce had brought a girlfriend- a young African American woman who had just gotten sober. I had only been sober a few years myself and I can remember thinking, how in the world did he talk her into doing this?

Out of nowhere, I would "run into" Bruce at the Berkeley Whole Foods. This happened about every 6 months or so. Everytime, the look on his face, light, huge smile...he would approach me in exactly the same way; a big ole hug and then he'd grab both of my arms and look deep into me. And when I would see him at Intensives, the same thing. I used to always think these meetings to be purposeful and specially designed for my well-being, because I always needed what Bruce had to share with me. It was always something good- simple, true and timely delivered. He was like a Big Reminder icon.

Once after an intensive, I asked him about " I am Divine Me". He went into a very lengthy explanation about it and how it was, in his opinion, the fastest way "in". For the next week or so, all I could here was Bruce, in that low, booming bass, "I AM DIVINE ME, I AM DIVINE ME, I AM DIVINE ME."

I remember Bruce's 100th Intensive up at Isis Oasis. He was like a little boy when he was telling us about it.

I can never remember a time when I wasn't happy to see Bruce.
I can never remember a time when he wasn't total.

Reading the other blogs, I am aware that all of our memories are like the same memory of Bruce. It is just like the One Big Memory, or like the One collective experience. I knew the Bruce you knew. You knew the Bruce I knew.
Bruce, Divine, Bruce. I cannot believe that I will not see you again here.
I will miss you, entirely.

I am so grateful our paths crossed and that you were in my life. It is better for it.
Fly Bruce, fly.

Love, Cynthia

Edrid

2007-02-08T15:30:00.000-08:00

Way back in the early '70s, I had a health problem. My right knee swelled up and I couldn't walk. I had just broken up with my first wife (maybe that had something to do with it) and I was living in a little attic room in Menlo Park. I was broke, feeling alone, and flat on my back with lots of knee pain. It wasn't the best of times for me.

Bruce called and asked if I'd like a healing session with him. He had some ideas about spiritual healing and wanted to give them a try on me. I thought, what the heck, and so he came down from Oakland with a hot plan to work a miracle.

As I lay there, Bruce told me to say whatever came up while he began to hover his hands over my bad knee. I could see he was concentrating, and I was appreciating his sincerity. It was a kind of crazy wisdom moment.

I reported on some mental pictures that were coming up for me, and then suddenly I was into a huge experience, full of wild energy and visions. My body was twitching and shuddering and yellow, sparkly energy was flowing out of the knee, up through my body, and out my hands and mouth. It went on for about 5 minutes or so, then subsided.

I think Bruce was as surprised as I was. Something really happened, that's for sure.

I had been laid up for about 6 weeks with no improvement. After that episode with Bruce, I was walking the next day with just a little soreness, and the day after that I was fine. I even went jogging.

Over the years we talked about the episode a few times, and each time he'd just light right up with a big grin. Me too!

Thanks again for the help, Bruce.

Edrid

Jlynn Hennessy

2007-02-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

I don't have any pictures of Bruce except the one inside my being. The image of a big gentle man of faith and divine wisdom. He was an inspiration to me in the EI's. I recall when I first met Bruce back in the early 80's and not wanting to do a dyad with him cause I thought he was too "off the wall" but eventually I went ahead and worked with him anyway. What an awesome experience I had with him. He was my friend after that. I looked forward to doing dyads with him again and again in the years to follow.
I remember going down the hill from Osha's one snowy Sunday evening after an Intensive with Fred driving his bomb of a car, and Bruce in the passenger seat and I in the back, we had the most delightful journey talking and giggling all the way down the hill to the Reno airport. Bruce would turn around and look at me, laughing, and there was just so much light coming from his eyes that I could actually see very clearly for it being so pitch dark outside!!!!
I loved working with Bruce in the EI's. I even recall having a direct experience with him. And how we both laughed for the longest time after that.
He would hug me with the tenderness of a sleeping child and yet his arms would feel like that of a bear holding on and never wanting to let go. I just loved the way he would laugh!
I remember one time he thought he could outsmart the slot machines in Reno, he was totally serious about that and I just had to give him his glory at that point with pure love coming from my heart. Cause I believed that he could.
His eyes would always shine when we embraced and his heart was always wide open. I just loved him with all my heart. He will be missed. I love you Bruce Noble, you are and always will be my Big Spiritual Brother.
Love, JLynn

Osha Reader

2007-02-08T11:31:00.000-08:00

I met Bruce at my first Enlightenment Intensive in July of 1969. He was a loyal friend over many years. Bruce was a fiercely independent, unique being and true spiritual warrior, deeply dedicated to transformation and to supporting the awakening and transformation of others. Bruce took more Intensives than anyone, as far as I know....105, 110? I was honored to participate with him in the 28th Annual Intensive in October, which was his last. For years, his only questions were "Who am I" and "What is love." At Intensives he spent about half his time working on himself and the other half serving others, which Charles Berner, our old teacher, always said was the way we should spend our lives.

Please spend a few quiet moments contemplating our departed friend and the ways he may have touched your life. Bruce, I will always remember your relentless generosity of spirit, your wonderful laugh, your bear hugs, your enormous love. I will miss you.

Osha

Greg Lincoln

2007-02-08T11:30:00.000-08:00

SAD NEWS ABOUT BRUCE
I'M GOING TO GO BUY HIM A LOTTO TICKET
ANY WINNINGS GO TO CHARITY

Mark Ederer

2007-02-08T11:28:00.000-08:00

May Bruce be at peace and abide in light and love.

I first met Bruce at my 1st EI Sept. 1969 held in
Oakland at his house which was an Oakland branch of
the Institute of Ability. The intensive was mastered
by Charles Berner. Of the many folks attending or monitoring
were Bruce, Rich Williams, Marshal Savage, Carl
Wilson, Woody McPheeters, Nancy Prince, Edrid, Lorna
Dalton, Toby Clark, Francine Wick, Gary Young, Ava
Berner, Yvonne, Susan Hird and Jim Scheuneman. Many of
these folks were students up from the desert...some
have stayed around, some scattered and some have
passed on.
I lived in that same house for a while, many of us
did at one time or another- a reflection of Bruce's
innate kindness, generosity and idealism. The house
was a beautiful, old, and large rambling Victorian in
need of a lot of work which Bruce and his
family opened as a way station, meeting place, EI
facility..I have many memories of that time -Bruce
built an ETR room in the attic which I also used. When
he moved on from Charles- which most of us did sooner-
some later- he renamed it the Life Institute. The name fit
him well. He put out a lot of life energy- and
experienced in fullness life's tragedies and joys.
Bruce experienced great joy when his son was born and
later grief when, Brian, his baby boy died. He held a
memorial service on the front lawn and read from The
Book of The Dead tearfully beseeching Brian to move to
the light.
Everything Bruce did he did with a big and generous
heart.
Bruce's life, presence and mission reminds me that
what brought us together is stronger than what keeps
us apart.

With Love,

Mark Ederer

Steve Cavin

2007-02-08T11:25:00.000-08:00

When I first met Bruce Noble, I thought I was meeting a mountain. He was a huge, powerful, plain-speaking man with a deep laugh and a huge bear hug. I grew to know Bruce by sitting in dyads with him over the next 20 years. He often fell asleep(!), but his intention and commitment to know the Truth never once wavered. What I admired most about Bruce was his perseverance, his willingness to accept the good and bad in his life without complaint, and his complete openness to put his full attention on another. Bruce was always ready to listen or help, any way he could.

When I gave my first intensive, Bruce was one of the participants. I made a point of recognizing Bruce as a mentor and one of the "old school" Enlightenment Masters who had shaped and defined our community. Where he has gone, who can say? But, I still hear him laughing, deep in my heart and mind.

Steve Cavin

Edrid

2007-02-06T15:23:00.000-08:00

Bruce's passing took me by surprise. I first met Bruce nearly 40 years ago. Over the years, we got to know each other very well, in many situations, but mostly from sitting across from each other at Enlightenment Intensives. At well over 100 EIs, he doggedly pursued self-enlightenment and love-enlightenment. There was a unique flavor in his process. Many people heard him say, "I am Divine me" as he would touch deeply into his self experience. We can all recall his long episodes of laughter, sometimes a little freaky, booming out through the Intensive floor, triggering a wave of mirth from the rest of the group. As an open listener, he knew no peer. Sometimes he went to crazy wisdom places that were hard to comprehend, but at all times, his big, burly, generous love would come bursting through. He'd hug me and I'd feel like a frog in the hand of a big kid, squeezed, and eyes bulging a little.
I'll miss him, as, undoubtedly, many will. When I heard that he had died, I was on my way to a workshop evening called "Awakening from the dream." I'm thinking that Bruce is having the great good fortune of awakening from the dream. In my reflections on him now, he seems to be reporting back from the other side that "all is well".
May Bruce have every blessing from here on out.