Belk Library at Jwalan Muktika School
Hidden Mysteries in Treasured Works
Research on psychic abilities such as channeling, prophecy, psychic healing and surgery, and materialization are just a few of the subjects that fascinated William Henry Belk, Jr. (1916-2001), one of the parapsychology pioneering giants associated with Duke University. After Belk’s death in 2001, his vast, personal collection of 4,000 books, periodicals, rare texts, and audio/video recordings from all over the world was packed away and nearly lost to the public. Jwalan Muktika, a non-profit educational organization located in Kalispell, Montana, has been gifted Belk’s personal library of priceless metaphysical and religious works. The Jwalan Muktika School for Illumination is proud to announce that the generous donation of the Belk Foundation Library is now located in the school.
The Belk Library is a service of the Jwalan Muktika School for Illumination to patrons who seek to explore and study human consciousness. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Founder, Carolyn Rutherford, and Director of Research, Bill Kint, shared their vision of Belk’s treasured collection reporting that, “Belk’s library on human potential is strikingly aligned with the school’s mission of expanding the scientific understanding of parapsychology and facilitating our student’s wisdom of the true self. We are honored to have been chosen to make this extraordinary collection available to the public.”
Jwalan Muktika’s 501c3 non-profit school and library are funded by donations. If you would like to assist in bringing the wisdom held within these treasured pieces to the public, the school urges you to please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Jwalan Muktika School for Illumination. Your generosity breathes new life into this amazing trove of collected wisdom, which has not been available since 2001.
If you would like to play a vital role in helping to manage or support this historic library collection with Jwalan Muktika in Kalispell, Montana, the school invites you to contact our librarian Kathleen Crow.
For more information about donations or volunteer opportunities, we invite you to contact us today!
William Henry Belk, Jr., Parapsychology Pioneer
Eldest son of William Henry Belk, founder of Belk department stores in Charlotte, North Carolina, Belk graduated from Duke University and served in Naval Intelligence in the United States Navy during World War II. Belk is credited as being one of the original, groundbreaking giants in parapsychology, the study of unexplained mental phenomena. His connection with key figures in history is a who’s who of human-potential thought leaders.
Belk moved in prestigious circles. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, friend of William Belk, was reported in the Charlotte Observer as once commenting that, “Mr. Belk was one of the most knowledgeable men on religion that I know.” Raised in the same city as Christian evangelist Billy Graham, Belk recounts his friendship with Billy in an AP Magazine article, “An Interview with William Henry Belk,” by Brent Raynes. The article describes William urging Billy “to consider a scientific approach to religion,” which was the beginning of their good-natured banter on religion. Not surprisingly, Belk maintained a large library of books on world religions, including the Kabbalah, which are still part of this collection.
William Belk was notable for his study at Duke University in the 1930s and ‘40s with respected researcher and psychologist J. B. Rhine who founded the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory and the Rhine Research Center, an Institute for the Study of Consciousness. Rhine is credited with publishing his research on Extra-Sensory Perception in 1934, coining the term ESP. During their tenure at Duke, Rhine and Belk investigated psychokinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, and other unseen parapsychology phenomena. Strange Science, Volume 95, No. 6, November-December 2009, noted that Duke University academic researchers were committed to using scientific methods to study psi, understand how consciousness works, and find evidence for life after death.
Fellow researchers included Stanley Krippner, psychologist, parapsychologist, and executive faculty member and Professor of Psychology at the Saybrook University in San Francisco. Krippner is a prolific author who continues to direct extensive research on human possibilities.
“Henry Belk is well known for his success in the business world and for creating a chain of consumer-friendly department stores. However, he was also a scholar of world religions, of mystical traditions, of parapsychological research, and of anomalous phenomena. He read widely and his extensive collection is now housed in the Belk Library where it is available for perusal and study. This is a unique repository of material that includes many rare and valuable volumes.I enthusiastically recommend it to serious investigators, to curious visitors, and to generous donors.”
Stanley Krippner, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, Saybrook University