NEWS
Since late February 2000, Stan and Cynthia Tenen have been visiting the San Francisco Bay area.  It's been an energizing and productive stay, and we'd like to thank all of you who've made it possible.  In early May, we will be returning to Massachusetts via Tucson, Arizona, where we have been invited to meet with Drs. Gary Schwartz and Linda Russek of the University of Arizona at Tucson, who are prominent figures in the field of consciousness research, and authors of the new book, "The Living Energy Universe."  We look forward to this opportunity to share findings and ideas with Drs. Schwartz, Russek, and their colleagues.

STAN TENEN's INTERVIEW on ART BELL'S COAST TO COAST
On 28 February, 2000, Stan appeared on Art Bell's Coast to Coast late-night radio interview program, with guest-interviewer Rollie James.  As a result, the Meru Foundation website, <http://www.meru.org>, registered nearly 10,000 additional hits within the following few weeks, and traffic and orders both increased on our distribution website, <http://www.meetingtent.com>, as well.  Meru Foundation's future depends in part on people's growing awareness of who we are, and what we have to say, and their willingness to support us while they learn, by purchasing our videos, models, and other materials.  Increased public awareness is the reason we do popular interviews such as Coast to Coast, and we're pleased that February's interview was a success.

Stan's February 28, 2000 Coast to Coast interview is available on audio cassette through the Art Bell website, <http://www.artbell.com>, as are the two earlier interviews he had with Art in June and July 1997,  At the moment, the extensive online Real Audio archive of older Coast to Coast interviews once available on the Art Bell website -- including all three of these interviews -- has been taken offline by their webmasters.  Our understanding is that a new home will be found for these Art Bell interview archives; those interested should monitor <http://www.artbell.com> for updates.

INTRODUCTION to ASHLAND, OREGON
On April 11-12, 2000, Stan and Cynthia, along with Meru's President Bill Haber, traveled to Ashland, Oregon to teach two introductory classes in Meru Foundation research.  This was our first visit to Ashland -- friends have been trying for years to persuade us to stop on one of our trips north from San Francisco to Washington State -- and now that we have, we realize why.  I want to welcome new friends from Ashland to this Meru Foundation eTORUS(tm) Newsletter; I've taken the liberty of adding your email addresses to our mailing list.  In particular, I want to thank Deborah Leff, and David Zaslow, Rabbi of Havurah Shir Hadash, who were instrumental in arranging our trip and in making it so successful.  Turnout for our evening talk, sponsored by the Havurah, was twice what we had expected; many people in the audience were already familiar with our work, and the questions at the end of Stan's talk were intelligent, knowledgeable, and interesting.  Our Tuesday morning seminar was a very enjoyable small-group round-table, where we were able to discuss particular aspects of Meru research of interest to people who attended, in considerably greater depth than we usually have the opportunity to do.

In short, Stan, Bill, and I had a wonderful experience in Ashland, and want to thank all of you who came to hear us, and who helped to make this visit a success.  In fact, we would be very pleased to return some time in the coming year if there's sufficient interest in the community; if you have ideas or feedback, please contact Meru President Bill Haber at <service@meru.org>.

NEW ANIMATIONS ON MERU WEBSITE
For the past several months we've been working with Robert Amick, an animator in Bloomington Indiana, who has taken a strong interest in creating visually compelling renditions of some of the models used in Meru Foundation research.  Those of you who regularly check our website know that for a month or so, Robert's first completed animation, The 3,10 Torus Knot in Rotation, has been posted to our website at <http://www.meru.org/compuimages/3-10knot.html>.  (This GIF animation is 960K.)

We now have a second animation from Robert:  The Round Dance, at
<http://www.meru.org/compuimages/3-10dance.html>.  (This GIF animation is 582K).  It shows the 3,10 torus knot "growing" cyclically, from the center outward and back towards the center; it's beautiful, it's evocative, and I urge people to go and take a look.  Needless to say, we're more than delighted with this wonderful work, and want to thank Robert for his time, his effort, and his care.  --More animations are on the way, though each takes some time to design and complete; watch the announcements at the top of the Meru Foundation home page, <http://www.meru.org>, for updates.

NEW FEATURES on MEETINGTENT.COM
Meru's President, Bill Haber, has also been expanding the Meru Foundation distribution website at <http://www.meetingtent.com>.  Bill has designed and written a new, layperson's introduction to some of the basic concepts used in discussing the Meru Foundation findings, which he calls Meru Made Easy.  If you -- or people you know -- are curious about our work, want to understand more of what we're talking about, but don't really know where to start, you might give Meru Made Easy a try.  The first section, The First Verse, is available at <http://www.meetingtent.com/mme.html>; other sections will follow as they're ready.  For more information, or questions about Meru Made Easy, write to Bill Haber directly at <service@meru.org>.

Also on our Meetingtent website, Bill Haber has started a "Meru Online Feedback Board," where people can ask him basic questions about our videotapes and other products, and about ideas they find in Meru Made Easy.  You can find a link to this feedback area by scrolling down the Meetingtent home page, at <http://www.meetingtent.com>.  The Meetingtent website is always evolving; please let Bill know what you think, and please suggest additional features you'd like to see.

PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS BY STAN TENEN
In this issue, we continue our practice of offering our readers a taste Stan's most recent contributions to various online discussion lists, on the topics of science and consciousness, or science and spirituality.  For this issue, I've chosen a piece which was originally written for an academically-oriented list focused on religion and science.  In this piece, Stan argues that the Five Books of Moses should be analyzed using different tools than those used to study other writings which are considered to be Western sacred texts, because the nature, and structure, of those Books differs in a profound and fundamental way.  Here are Stan's introductory paragraphs:

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     "I'm sure the scholars and historians here will correct me and/or fill in the details, but it's my understanding that just about everyone agrees that the Christian Bible was written down by human beings, sometime shortly after the death of Jesus.  So it's appropriate to study these writings from the perspective of the documentary hypothesis, which investigates various threads of authorship and editing in the Bible.  No one suggests that there's any sort of special coding in the Christian Bible, either in the parts written in Aramaic, or the parts written in Greek.  So, it seems reasonable to analyze this text using all the normal tools of wordsmith scholarship.

     "But apparently the Torah is being treated the same way, and the Torah comes with now-written-down oral traditions that assert that it was created of whole cloth, in a revelatory experience of Moses at Sinai.  Rabbinic tradition asserts that the Torah is coded at the letter level, at least up through the giving of the Torah in Exodus at Mt. Sinai.  A Rabbi Weismandel, earlier in the last century (the early 1900s, I think) by hand, discovered and presented evidence of letter-level coding that extended throughout the Five Books.  No one paid any attention to this.

     "More recently, professional statisticians have been arguing over the meaning of statistically demonstrated letter-level coding that extends throughout the Five Books (most of the investigation has focused on Genesis).  While the meaning of the coding that has been statistically confirmed is the subject of heated debate, the fact of its existence has not been challenged...."
(Essay excerpt copyright 2000 Stan Tenen)
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Stan's complete essay is posted online on the Meru Foundation website at <http://www.meru.org/Newsletter/documentary.html>.

I hope you enjoy this Meru Foundation eTORUS Newsletter.  We welcome your feedback; if you have questions, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to write me at:
Cynthia Tenen <meru@meru.org>

Thank you for your interest in the work of the Meru Foundation.

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The Meru Foundation eTORUS(tm) Newsletter is copyright 1999, 2000, 2001 Meru Foundation.
Past issues of eTORUS(tm) are archived online on the Meru Foundation website at
<http://www.meru.org/Newsletter/journalindex.html>.

You may duplicate and pass along this newsletter, in its entirety, as long as you include this copyright notice and the contact information below. Please send comments and questions to <meru@meru.org>.

Meru Foundation research offices:
  Research Director: Stan Tenen    Secretary-Treasurer: Cynthia Tenen
  PO Box 503
  Sharon, MA 02067 USA
  781-784-8902 Voice    781-784-2955 Fax
  Email:  <meru@meru.org>
  Website: <http://www.meru.org>

How to order Meru Foundation Videos and Products:
  Visit our secure-server website at  <http://www.meetingtent.com>  OR
  Fax your order to 1-509-696-8795   OR
  Email: <meetingtent@yahoo.com>

To order by phone:
  In the U.S., call toll-free: 1-888-422-MERU (Bill Haber, C.E.O. Meru Foundation, in California)
  Outside the U.S., call 1-925-674-8640

EUROPEAN AND PAL VIDEO ORDERS:
  To order PAL versions of Meru Videotapes:
  Email: Ron Engert in Germany at <info@syntropia.de>
  German readers may now also visit Ron Engert's Meru website:
         <www.meru-info.de>