Bendit, Laurence J.

(1898-1974). Active lecturer and writer for the Theosophical Society (TS), Bendit was born in Marseilles, France of American and British parents. He graduated from Cambridge University, England, with M.D. and M.A. degrees, gaining a postgraduate diploma in psychological medicine. His doctoral thesis dealt with parapsychology and it seems that this was the first time a Ph.D. degree was conferred by a British university for such a subject.

Bendit’s mother joined the Theosophical Society in 1899 and it was as a result of her interest in theosophy that he came into contact with the teachings and joined the Society in 1912. He served as General Secretary of the English Section from 1958 to 1961. Bendit was one of the early members of the Medical Research Group, chairing it from 1947 to 1951, contributing many papers to its journal.

Bendit married Phoebe Payne who was a trained clairvoyant and they made an effective partnership in the field of healing and together lectured in many part of the world. Bendit wrote many books and articles and all his work exhibited a very high standard of scientific scholarship. He died at the Ojai Valley Community Hospital, Ojai, California on September 20, 1974. His publications include:

Paranormal Cognition; Self Knowledge, a Yoga for the West; The Mirror of Life and Death; The Mysteries Today; and jointly with his wife Phoebe D. Bendit: The Psychic Sense; This World and That; Man Incarnate.

P.S.H.

© Copyright by the Theosophical Publishing House, Manila