Levi H. Dowling

Levi H. Dowling (18 May 1844 – 13 August 1911) was an American preacher who authored The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ (1908).

Life

He was born in Bellville, Ohio. His father, of Scots and Welsh descent, was a pioneer preacher among the Disciples of Christ. At the age of thirteen, in his first public debate, he took the negative side against a Presbyterian elder on "The Everlasting Punishment of the Wicked."[1]

Levi began preaching at the age of sixteen; and at the age of eighteen was pastor of a small church. He entered the United States Army at the age of twenty, as a chaplain, and served in this capacity to the end of the Civil War. In 1866–1867, he was a student at Northwestern Christian University at Indianapolis, Indiana.

The next year he began publishing Sunday school literature, issuing Sunday school lesson papers, song books, and a children's Sunday school paper. Dowling preached President Lincoln's funeral service to Union troops in Illinois. He was the author of two spiritual healing books Self-Culture and Biopneuma: The Science of the Great Breath. The publisher's introduction to Biopneuma says that Levi taught chemistry, toxicology, physiology, histology, and lectured on the use of electricity in medicine.

Much of his time was devoted to the cause of prohibition. He was a graduate of two medical colleges, and practiced medicine for a number of years. He retired from the medical profession to resume literary work.

Even as a child, he was impressed with the sensitiveness of the finer ethers, and believed that in some manner they were sensitized plates on which sounds, even thoughts, were recorded. He studied etheric vibration , determined to solve the great mysteries of the heavens for himself. Forty years he spent in study and silent meditation, and allegedly eventually he found himself in that stage of spiritual consciousness that permitted him to enter the domain of these superfine ethers, and become familiar with their mysteries. During the meditation, it was claimed that he was able to repeat events, as many times as necessary, in order to produce a perfect transcript. He spent many months transcribing the events he supposedly witnessed – in "The Book of God's Remembrance" also known as the akashic records. His transcription is commonly known as "The Aquarian Gospel." He allegedly learned that the imaginings of his boyhood days were founded upon veritable facts, and that every thought of every living thing is there recorded. He claimed that as a boy, he also had a vision in which he was told that he was to "build a white city." and this vision was repeated three times over a period of years. The building of the "white city" was The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ.

In 1904, west of Los Angeles, "Mount Carmel-by-the-Sea," planned for 40 years as a self-contained community was being built on 800 acres purchased between Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach by the Mount Carmel company for about $65,000 from the Hermosa Beach company. Members received 1 acre lots for housing in the core section called the "White City of the Mystic Initiates," home of the Gnostic people. Dowling was to be the head instructor in their polytechnic high school called "Temple of Resplendent Light." Businesses, factories, water, power, streets, parks, and a top university would follow.[2][3]

The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ

Dowling wrote The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ (full title: The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ: The Philosophic and Practical Basis of the Religion of the Aquarian Age of the World and of the Church Universal)[4] in the late 19th century and published it in 1908. He claimed it was the true story of the life of Jesus, including "the 'lost' eighteen years silent in the New Testament." Dowling claimed to have transcribed it from the akashic records in the early morning hours from two to six - the absolutely "quiet hours".

The Aquarian Age denotes the human race as standing on the cusp of the Piscean-Aquarian Ages. Aquarius is an air sign and the New Age is already noted for remarkable inventions for the use of air, electricity, magnetism, etc. Men navigate the air as fish do the sea, and send their thoughts spinning around the world with the speed of lightning. The word Aquarius is derived from the Latin word aqua, meaning water. Aquarius is, however, the water bearer, and the symbol of the sign, which is the, eleventh sign of the Zodiac, is a man carrying in his right hand a pitcher of water.[5]

Legacy

The Aquarian Christine Church Universal, Inc. (ACCU) is a denomination founded on the teachings found in The Aquarian Gospel and other writings by Levi H. Dowling. These include Self-culture and Biopneuma: The Science of the Holy Breath. The church also incorporates other New Age teachings. It is similar to the "I AM" movement and the Ascended Master Teachings.

In a biographical sketch included in the original publication of Self-culture, Levi is said to have taught and lectured medical students in the use of electricity in medicine.[6] The Aquarian Christine Church considers Dowling an Ascended Master.[7]

See also

Sources
  1. The publishers. Who Was Levi? Who Was Levi?. in Dowling 1920
  2. "Gnostics Plan Extensive Buildings for the Order". Los Angeles Herald. June 19, 1904.
  3. "Founder And Seer Of New Sect Would Build Holy City By Sea; Buys Large Tract of Land Near Redondo and Sells Lots [PHOTO]". Los Angeles Herald. October 7, 1904.
  4. Dowling 1920
  5. Eva S. Dowling. Introduction Introduction. in Dowling 1920
  6. Levi H. Dowling, Self-culture
  7. Jacob L. Watson, III (2009). Initiations of the Aquarian Masters: The Theosophy of the Aquarian Gospel. Outskirts Press. ISBN 9781432745981.
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