Chapter Three

ONE SUMMER BETWEEN 1906 and 1911, there was a remarkable encounter involving two couples. One of the couples was Dr. William Sadler and his wife, Dr. Lena Sadler; the identity of the other couple is not known. The event would completely alter the lives of all four individuals, and would have implications that are still not fully grasped nearly a century later.

The exact date and nature of the meeting of the two couples has been an object of much discussion. The 1911 date of this episode can be documented by two references from the Appendix in The Mind at Mischief. Dr. Sadler simply states that he was brought into contact with this case in the "summer of 1911." He also states: "Eighteen years of study" had taken place at the time of publishing The Mind at Mischief, which occurred in 1929, again placing the meeting at 1911.¹ Some researchers have called this a printing error, claiming that Dr. Sadler came into contact with the so-called "sleeping subject" as early as 1906. It hardly seems likely that two printing errors were made.

A date of 1908 is suggested by other researchers, and is supported by evidence that the Sadlers, while they were waiting for a new residence to be prepared, lived in a temporary apartment in La Grange, Illinois, during the spring and summer of 1908. This interim residence situation seems to have occurred only once, and fits the version of Dr. Sadler's description of the seminal events that was disclosed by author Harold Sherman. Sherman's information is based upon a conversation with Dr. Sadler that took place in 1942, in which Sadler stated the first encounter with the sleeping subject had been about "thirty-five years ago," more closely matching the earlier dates.²

Long and tedious efforts have been made to establish the date of the Sadlers' first contact with the sleeping subject based upon records of their various residences. It may have been that they met the sleeping subject in 1906 or 1908 — we cannot be sure. Some believe Dr. Sadler intentionally created confusion about the date to protect the identity of his patient, the individual who would become known as the sleeping subject. It is also possible that in the early days the sleeping subject appeared to be nothing more than a patient with some kind of a sleeping disorder. As we shall see, the sessions with the sleeping subject took a remarkable and baffling turn somewhat later in the process.

Some writers, with agendas to discredit the authenticity of the Papers, have detailed biographical information on Dr. Sadler and others to set the stage for one claim or another. In this history, we are less interested in establishing factual dates and exhausting the biographical backgrounds of the participants than we are in following the authentic historic development of the Revelation.

It is important to relate here that all the people who were involved in the early stages of the contact (and all subsequent stages) were quite ordinary human beings. Not withstanding Dr. Sadler's status as a psychiatrist and prolific writer in his field, both he and his wife were simply ordinary folks with foibles and strengths just like the rest of us. To my knowledge, no one associated with the Urantia Movement has demonstrated any special spiritual status or unique "power." In the early sessions, we can know for certain that only Dr. Sadler, Dr. Lena, the sleeping subject and his wife were involved. Dr. Sadler's son, Bill Sadler, Jr., was not involved in the early contacts, he was only three years old in 1911.³

Dr. Sadler estimates in the Appendix of The Mind at Mischief that about 250 night sessions with the sleeping subject had taken place by 1929. We have only the testimony of Dr. Sadler about the events that took place prior to the commencement of the Forum and the enlargement of the Contact Commission in the early twenties. We will see that the activities were significantly altered as other personalities became involved. Although Sadler has written virtually nothing about the primal events that set the Revelation into motion, Meredith Sprunger supplies a great deal of the information that he had personally learned from Sadler.

Less reliable information about the seminal events has been provided by Harold Sherman, (a writer and a self-proclaimed psychic) who was generally hostile to the Urantia Papers. Even so, Sherman and his wife were reporters, and they claimed to have a candid interview with Dr. Sadler in August of 1942, in which he described the early episodes. They said they wrote their recollections down immediately after hearing the story.⁴

Generally, what Sherman wrote in his book, How to Know What to Believe, is self-serving and configured to support his own views of psychic phenomena. However, in the particular segment of his book referring to Dr. Sadler's story of the early contacts, a great deal of his information correlates with that of Dr. Sprunger and other early Urantians. Also in support of this portion of Sherman's narrative are the comments of Carolyn Kendall, who briefly worked for Dr. Sadler as a receptionist and who has been closely associated with Urantia Foundation. Carolyn states that when she was "almost 19 years of age" (in 1951), Dr. Sadler related to her the story of the sleeping subject. Carolyn recalls that it was "essentially the same as in Sherman's book."⁵

La Grange, Illinois, Circa 1906 - 1911

If, for the sake of argument, we split the difference and use the 1908 date, picture a 33-year old William Sadler, his wife Lena, and a newborn Bill Sadler, Jr., living in a suburb of old Chicago, Illinois. They were temporarily housed in a furnished apartment, waiting for their new residence to be prepared. We know that some accounts relate that late one summer evening there was a knock on the door. Evidently another tenant, a lady directly beneath their apartment, had learned that they were doctors.

"Will you come downstairs with me?" she asked. "Something has happened to my husband. He's gone to sleep, he is breathing very strangely, and I can't wake him up."⁶

The Sadlers donned robes and slippers and followed the distraught woman to her apartment. In the bedroom they found a middle aged man lying on a bed. He was apparently sleeping, but his respiration seemed disturbed. He would take a couple of fast breaths and then stop breathing for an almost alarming interval. Dr. Sadler quickly took his pulse, and was surprised to find it normal. However, the depth of the subject's sleep was quite profound. Dr. Sadler attempted various ways to awaken the man, but without success. Finally, there seemed nothing left to do but wait.

Nearly an hour went by. The man's body made several rather violent movements during this period. Then, suddenly, he sat up and looked around. "Who are these people?" he asked his wife. She explained that they were doctors whom she had called from upstairs when she could not wake him. He exclaimed: "What? What has happened? Is something wrong?"

Dr. Sadler asked: "How do you feel?" "I feel fine," the man replied. "What is it you have been dreaming about?" asked Dr. Sadler. "Why, nothing." the man replied. "But you have been jumping all around the bed," said Sadler. "Well, I don't know anything about that," the man replied. "I feel fine."

After a bit of small talk, Dr. Sadler said: "Look, I believe it will be wise if you come in for a complete examination tomorrow morning. This is quite unusual, and we want to be on the safe side." The man and his wife agreed.

The next day Dr. Sadler made the examination and found the gentleman to be in excellent physical condition. After thoroughly testing him, Sadler checked into the man's family history. There was no record of insanity or of epilepsy. Dr. Sadler suggested that he would like to keep the patient under observation for a while, and the patient consented.⁷

Several weeks passed. Then the wife called and informed the Sadlers that her husband was in the peculiar deep sleep again. The doctors responded, and discovered him to be in the same profound sleeping state as before. They attempted to rouse him, even sticking pins in him, but nothing worked. Fortunately the pulse remained normal during the strange breathing sequences and abnormal movements, so nothing appeared life-threatening about the extraordinary state. Then, he awoke as before, completely oblivious of any unusual behavior during his sleep. Both doctors were puzzled.

The phenomenon occurred several times by the fall of that year, when the Sadlers' new residence was ready. The lease on the subject's apartment was expiring at the same time. He and his wife elected to move so they could be near the Sadlers. It was at this new address that the peculiar "sleep" of the patient became considerably more remarkable and perplexing.

The first contact

The Sadlers were soon called to the new residence of the subject. The customary procedure was followed, and the physicians sat by the bedside, observing and waiting for him to awaken. Lena Sadler noticed the subject was moistening his lips. "Perhaps he wants to say something. Perhaps we should ask a question," she said. "How are you feeling?"

To the great astonishment of everyone, the subject spoke! But the voice was peculiar, not his normal voice. The voice identified itself as a student visitor on an observation mission from another planet!⁸ This "being" apparently was conversing through the sleeping subject by some means. Both doctors thought they were simply observing a phenomena known as automatic speaking. This activity involves the subconscious mind, and can take place without the awareness of the patient.

To verify this diagnosis, Dr. Sadler arranged for the subject to come to his office a few days after the remarkable occurrence. He was certain that he must explore the mind of the subject in order to discover the source of (what seemed to Dr. Sadler at the time) a phenomenon that was rooted in the sleeping subject's subconscious. In cases of subconscious activity that apparently drives otherwise inexplicable behavior, the traditional tool of psychiatry is hypnosis. At Dr. Sadler's request, the sleeping subject agreed to be hypnotized.

Once in the office, Dr. Sadler found it difficult to get the subject "under." After finally achieving a hypnotized state in the subject (in this and subsequent hypnosis sessions), Dr. Sadler discerned that there was absolutely no subconscious awareness of the information that was discussed by the purported celestial visitor. This was most amazing, and quite bewildering. As time progressed other supposed visiting beings began to speak "through" the subject. Dr. Sadler remained confounded as to how the unusual and challenging material being disclosed could have its origin in the psyche of the patient. The quality, uniqueness and consistency of what was being reported impressed both of the doctors. Dr. Sadler and Dr. Lena were also perplexed in that the sleeping subject was indifferent to the process and the material that resulted from it. Although the wife of the sleeping subject was anxious about the procedure, the subject seemed to have little interest or concern about what had happened during his deep sleeping state.

Notwithstanding his bafflement, Dr. Sadler continued to be certain that he could find a "scientific answer" to the case. He began to consult with other scientists and doctors about the mysterious phenomena of the sleeping subject. As stated earlier, Howard Thurston and Sir Hubert Wilkins, experts in spiritualistic frauds and tricks, were called in. These and other specialists were unable to account for the strange behavior of the sleeping subject — and were equally intrigued and bewildered by the remarkable information coming from the nocturnal sessions with him.

In the meantime, life went on. The decade between 1911 and 1921 was to be one of the most turbulent and terrible in human history. The mighty Titanic slipped beneath the waves of the Atlantic in April of 1912, a stunning rebuke of the technology of the mortal beings who had defied nature to sink it. The material loss of the Titanic was widely communicated. But the corporate indifference of the White Star Line was quietly accepted and not reported by the news media of the day: the company docked the pay of the crew from the minute the ship sank. The bereaved widows received pay checks diminished even further since the cost of their husbands' uniforms were deducted — a brief note explained that the uniforms were not turned in as required. Two years later the civilized world was at war. Even though it was all over by 1919, the seeds for World War II were to be sown in the aftermath of that first struggle. Meanwhile, in Chicago, the groundwork continued for a new age of religious living and spiritual discovery. In the early twenties, the effort to bring an epochal revelation to light the materialistic darkness of Urantia took a new turn.

The Forum

About 1923, on his way to the University of Kansas for a lecture on Gestalt psychology, Dr. William Sadler wrote a note to Bill Sadler, his son, who was fifteen and in high school at the time. Dr. Sadler suggested that it would be good to begin getting together with some of both Dr. Lena's and Dr. Sadler's friends and colleagues for tea and philosophic discussions on Sunday afternoons. (The Sadlers had moved to their spacious new residence at 533 Diversey Parkway the year before). He proposed that Bill talk over the idea with his mother. When Dr. Sadler returned to Chicago he discovered his wife had invited a group of about thirty friends for a three o'clock Sunday afternoon tea.⁹

The group was destined to become the "Forum," and soon began to include interested individuals from all walks of life. Clyde Bedell¹⁰ told me there was a brief screening process consisting of an interview with Dr. Sadler, and the early sessions were somewhat informal. Later, as the Urantia Papers were read, the meetings may have been rather tedious. The turnover of Forum members was great, and during its period of existence, a total of 486 members had come and gone. The final meeting of the Forum as such took place on May 31, 1942.¹¹ In a 1983 interview, Clyde Bedell spoke of those early days. The year was 1924; Clyde was 26 years old. He had just returned to Chicago:

"I saw Lister Alwood . . . I had Sunday dinner at his home . . . He asked me if I would like to go to a Forum meeting at the home of an eminent Chicago psychiatrist. I asked a few questions, and he said: ‘Well, Sadler is a fantastic speaker; he talks about all sorts of things. Discussion may go in any direction. But he's a fascinating, interesting, brilliant man.' . . . So that first Sunday I had dinner at Lister's home and we went to Dr. Sadler's Forum at 533 Diversey. It was extremely interesting. I have no idea what it was all about or what he talked about now . . ."

Clyde goes on to tell us that he asked Dr. Sadler's permission to invite a woman to attend a session. He brought his future wife, Florence Evans, to the next meeting.

"Incidentally, I should mention the fact that shortly after I joined the Forum, Lister Alwood was through with the Forum . . . There was quite a little turnover. There were no limits on what could be discussed. I think a good many people in the very early Forum felt, years later, they had been circumstanced into it. If that is the case, what occurred before papers started coming . . . was of no moment. It's a strange thing but . . . many things which you think today we should have remembered we do not remember . . . What year did the papers begin coming through? I don't know. If we had known that such a thing as an epochal revelation was coming through, we would have kept diaries . . ."¹²

As the Forum began to discuss various issues, Dr. Sadler was continuing his efforts to discover the source of the puzzling night manifestations of the sleeping subject. He and his wife had begun to work out various questions about the universe in advance, asking them verbally as opportunities arose.

Sadler decided to privately develop a series of especially difficult questions as a test. He memorized fifty-two specific questions (Dr. Sadler was noted for having a remarkable photographic memory) to see if these so-called "student visitors" could ascertain what was in his mind. It should be noted that according to Dr. Sprunger, Sadler did not believe that mental telepathy was possible.

Shortly after, in one of the nocturnal sessions with the subject, Dr. Sadler and Dr. Lena encountered a particularly "electrifying personality" who claimed to be from a distant planet. He greatly excited the doctors by his comments. As this personality seemed about to take leave, Dr. Sadler challenged him saying: "How can you prove you are who you say you are?" The entity replied: "I cannot prove — but you cannot prove that I am not." He then stunned the doctor with this remark: "However, I have just received permission to answer forty-six of the fifty-two questions you have been holding in your mind."

Lena spoke up in surprise, "Why Will, you have no such list of questions, do you?" Dr. Sadler was forced to admit, "Yes I do Lena, and fifty-two is the exact number."

The astonishing personality then proceeded to answer the forty-six acceptable questions as promised.¹³ He then added a pointed admonition:

"If you only knew what you are in contact with you would not ask me such trivial questions. You would rather ask questions as might elicit answers of supreme value to the human race."¹⁴

The Contact Commission

At the time the above remark was made (probably later in 1924) we can be reasonably certain that the group that was to become the Contact Commission consisted of at least Dr. Sadler who was then about 48 years of age, Dr. Lena (48), Lena's sister Anna Bell Kellogg (49), and her husband, Wilfred Custer Kellogg (50). Emma Louise Christensen (36) had likely become a new member, since she had been "adopted" as a family member by the Sadlers in December of 1923.¹⁵ Bill Sadler, Jr. was not at the "electrifying personality" session depicted above, and related his knowledge of it as "hearsay."¹⁶ Clyde Bedell mentions in the 1983 interview that the Kelloggs had a daughter who may have "very rarely" attended some of the sleeping subject sessions. He also had a vague memory of another doctor who may have attended occasionally in the early days. Urantian historian Mark Kulieke identifies the doctor as possibly Meyer Solomon. (Dr. Solomon wrote a "Neurologist's Introduction" for "The Mind at Mischief" in 1929, pp xiii - vx. He was a professor at the Northwestern University School of Medicine).

We can reasonably assume Bill Sadler, Jr.'s earliest attitudes toward the Revelation were guarded. Dr. Sadler wrote in early 1958:

"When my son came home from furlough from the Marine Corps to read the Urantia Papers, the first question he asked me was: ‘Dad, is there anyone making money out of this thing?' I answered: ‘No, son, but there are a number of people who are putting money into it.'"¹⁷

Eventually Bill Sadler, Jr. became a dedicated member of the Contact Commission, a student of the Papers, and perhaps the first Urantian philosopher. The final makeup of the Contact Commission as it saw the project through to completion¹⁸ consisted of six members: Doctors William and Lena Sadler, Wilfred and Anna Bell Kellogg, Emma Christensen (or "Christy"), and Bill Sadler, Jr.

Whoever was present when the dramatic statement of the celestial visitor was made, we are told that it was taken as a challenge as well as a rebuke. On the evening of the remarkable admonition, Dr. Sadler was said to have later remarked: "Now they have asked for it. Let's give them questions that no human being can answer!"¹⁹

The stage was set. Very soon, in one of the Forum gatherings, a chance question by a member to Dr. Sadler would set into motion a fresh chain of events, and the casual nature of the informal Sunday teas would sharply change. The Forum would become drawn into its own rendezvous with destiny.

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Footnotes

^1. THE MIND AT MISCHIEF, by William S. Sadler, M.D., F.A.C.S.; Funk & Wagnall's Company, New York and London, 1929, page 383. [See Appendix to "The Mind at Mischief"]

^2. HOW TO KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE by Harold Sherman, Fawcett, New York, 1976, pp. 61 and 62. [See "Pipeline to God," page 61 of "How to Know What to Believe]

Sheman substituted fictional names for the characters in his narration. Kristen Maaherra rewrote this narrative and replaced the fictional names with the real names. [See "Pipeline to God" with real names inserted.]

^3. It is difficult to establish a birthdates for Bill Sadler, Jr. The Urantia Book Fellowship Website contains an excellent timeline of events related to the Urantia Movement. The date there is given as 1908, but indicates some dispute exists about this. It is believed Bill Sadler's Marine Corps records erroneously show 1906 as his birthdates because he lied about his age in order to enlist.

^4. HOW TO KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE by Harold Sherman, Fawcett, New York, 1976, pp. 58-96. [See "Pipeline to God," page 58 of "How to Know What to Believe]

^5. THE CONJOINT READER, Interview by Polly Friedman, Summer, 1993, page 3. In addition to Carolyn's verification, the basic facts in the "first contact" narrative were developed from Sherman's information, cross-checked against and modified by Meredith's information and my recollections of discussions I had over the years with Clyde Bedell and Berkeley Elliott. Clyde joined the Forum with his wife Florence in September, 1924, at the age of 26. Clyde Bedell was closely involved with the Urantia Movement until his death in January, 1985. Berkeley Elliot was a close friend of mine who had many candid conversations with Bill Sadler, Jr. in the late fifties and early sixties. I developed the dialogue between the various individuals in the seminal contact with some artistic license. It was based upon a composite of the sources above and is a plausible dramatization that fits the known facts. [See The Hales' Interview]

^6. HOW TO KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE by Harold Sherman, Fawcett, New York, 1976, page 62. However, we may never know exactly how Dr. Sadler and Dr. Lena first encountered the sleeping subject and his wife. David Kantor has heard a different version, and wrote this note to me: "My understanding is that the wife of the sleeping subject was a medical patient of Lena Sadler's and that when she described to Lena the curious sleeping problems her husband seemed to be having, Lena suggested that they get Dr. William involved due to his interest in and knowledge of psychic phenomena." This story has plausible features to it. We know that Dr. Sadler sought to protect the identity of the sleeping subject, and therefore the beginning of the story which set the scene in the version he told Sherman and Carolyn may have been fabricated for this reason. If so, the 1908 dating of the meeting, based upon the residences of the Sadlers, may be suspect. [See "Pipeline to God," page 62 of "How to Know What to Believe]

^7. HOW TO KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE by Harold Sherman, Fawcett, New York, 1976, page 63. [See "Pipeline to God," page 63 of "How to Know What to Believe]

^8. IBID., page 64.

^9. HISTORY OF THE URANTIA MOVEMENT TWO - [Compiled by a Contact Commissioner.] Undated, page 7. [See A History of The Urantia Movement (Two)]

^10. I became associated with Clyde Bedell in 1968, when he lived in Santa Barbara. At the time, Clyde had become known as one of the great retail advertising experts of all time. He wrote a book on retail advertising in the 1930's that was used as a college text book. Our common interest was advertising. As stated earlier, Clyde gave me my first Urantia Book, an original 1955 printing.

^11. HISTORY OF THE URANTIA MOVEMENT ONE, "by a Group of Urantian Pioneers, assisted by Members of the Contact Commission, 1960", pp. 5-6. The Forum seated about fifty people, and this would indicate a turnover factor of ten over the approximately twenty years of functioning. In other words, although a few stalwarts such as Clyde Bedell stayed the distance, the average Forum-member lasted only two years. [See "History of the Urantia Movement" (one)]

NOTE ON HISTORIES: [See the exhibits on following four pages]. I am using two different "histories" of the Urantia Movement for some specific information. For clarity, I identify them as History One and History Two.

History One is a short historical narrative of 14 pages. The cover of this document states that it was written by a "Group of Urantian Pioneers, assisted by Members of the Contact Commission, 1960." A copy of this document, with the word "Sadler" written across the cover, was given to me by Dr. Sprunger. It contains editing and remarks that were probably written by Dr. Sadler.

History Two was authored by one or more anonymous individuals and was submitted to a court in 1994 in behalf of Urantia Foundation during a copyright litigation against Kristen Maaherra.

Although Urantia Foundation and others continue to refer to this document as "written by Dr. Sadler," it almost certainly was not. After careful examination, the 30 page document appears to be the long lost, unfinished "history" of Emma Louise Christensen. This history was known to exist, but could not be found after her death in 1982. "Christy," as she was known, apparently used History One as a template, inserted a few pages authored by Dr. Sadler but never published, and added her own observations. The History Two document, as submitted to the Court, had no cover page, but began with what was "page 2" of History One. The pages were obviously renumbered, in some cases having two conflicting page numbers. History Two is a hybrid that is obviously the product of an inexperienced writer and editor. Dr. Sadler was an accomplished author. There are awkward shifts from second to third person, and long passages refer to Dr. Sadler in the third person. In one place (page 7) the writer inserted a comment: "The doctor continues his narrative:" Dr. Sadler never wrote about himself in this manner. The information in History Two is helpful, but must be regarded with some caution and weighed against other information. A copy of the original court submission was supplied to me by Kristen Maaherra.

^12. AN INTERVIEW WITH CLYDE BEDELL, conducted by Barbara Kulieke, The Study Group Herald, December, 1992, page 12. [See Barbara Kulieke's Interview with Clyde Bedell]

^13. HOW TO KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE by Harold Sherman, Fawcett, New York, 1976, page 65. Both Meredith and I separately recall hearing, along the way, the story of Dr. Sadler's memorized questions. [See "Pipeline to God," page 65 of "How to Know What to Believe]

^14. HISTORY OF THE URANTIA MOVEMENT TWO - [Compiled by a Contact Commissioner, Undated] page 5. [A History of The Urantia Movement (Two)]

^15. URANTIA BROTHERHOOD BULLETIN, Special Memorial Edition, Spring, 1982, page 1.

^16. Bill Sadler, Jr. describes the encounter with the "electrifying personality" in a tape made in Oklahoma City, dated 2/18/62. However, he states in the same tape that incidents between 1924 and 1928 that he will relate on the tape are "hearsay." [See transcript of this tape recording]

^17. CONSIDERATION OF SOME CRITICISMS OF THE URANTIA BOOK by Dr. William S. Sadler, a paper produced in 1958, page 19. There is plausible but unverified testimony that Lena used her connections with the American Red Cross to get Bill Sadler, Jr. released from the Marine Corps early. It is believed she wanted him to become involved in the Revelation. The date of his leave from the Marines and his reading of the Papers (that were available at the time) was not given in Dr. William Sadler's reference.

^18. Dr. Lena Sadler did not make it to the publication of the book. She died August 1, 1939, at the age of 64. [See "Consideration of some Criticisms of The Urantia Book"]

^19. HISTORY OF THE URANTIA MOVEMENT TWO - [Compiled by a Contact Commissioner, Undated] page 5. Also on the Oklahoma City tape dated 2/18/62 Bill Sadler, Jr. attributes the remark: "Now they have asked for it. Let's give them questions that no human being can answer!" to his father. [A History of The Urantia Movement (Two)]

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