March 2026 TAT Forum

We were all not there, not real to Jane, and this made her, and me, very sad. She knelt on the floor crying for some time. But time was the farthest thing from my mind.

I wasn’t sure of the mechanics of the experience, but I knew that Jane and Rose were linked in some way. His words seemed to either help her out of the despair or drive her to more tears, depending on the nature of his comments. He seemed to be along for the trip, but not able to control her every experience. After some time passed, Rose seemed to draw Jane out of the Pit by making favorable comments to her. When he would say, “you’re beautiful inside,” the crying would slow up or stop. Without favorable comments, she would seem to fall back into the Pit—explaining how hopeless and empty everything was. Her face changed dramatically again and she returned to the air-headed, energy-driven person I knew. It was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde before my eyes. Rose later said he coaxed her out because he didn’t feel she could go any further. He turned his inner head away—shutting off the pictures she was picking up on. He told her if she wanted to finish it off, she should come back and stay for a definite time period.

I believe Rose said to Jane, right before the experience, “you’re inside my head.” Jane said, “I know, I’ve been there all day.” Early in the day we were at Rose’s farm walking around, J. (my wife) and myself, Jane and Chuck, and Mr. Rose. Rose said he was able to get inside her head as we walked and talked. Also, before the experience, Rose was doing some hypnotic suggestions and he read the Three Books of the Absolute. I remembered how alive all the words were. I seemed to drift into a state where I was feeling or seemed to be experiencing some of what he was saying. “Oh tender I-ness, what have I done to thee.” He started to point at me as if he recognized my mental state. At that instant, Jane started to cry. All of the attention in the room, including mine, was shifted in her direction.

I remember Rose had given Jane a posthypnotic suggestion, something about sugar. I believe he said when she heard the word sugar she would crave something sweet. I remember she left the room and when she came back from the kitchen, Rose said, “were you in the sugar bowl—were you eating something sweet?” and she started to laugh as if she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Then she started to cry. I believe that’s when he said, “You’re inside my head,” and she replied, “I’ve been there all day,” or something to that effect.

After the experience, I thought Jane would become a totally spiritual person. I visited her a few days or weeks later and I was amazed. She was dressed in a black mini-skirt on her way to a bar maid’s job. Her make-up seemed excessive and she was in no mood to discuss a spiritual direction with me. She said what she saw was death and that she wanted to live. She didn’t want to get into it anymore. I remember being upset with her because I felt her experience was real and that it was important for her to work with others and continue to pursue her own final spiritual experience. Rose had said she had seen only one part of the picture. The nothingness of life—illusion…but she hadn’t seen that she was everything. In these days Rose was a powerful transmitter of thoughts. Jane, in my opinion, was a highly sensitive and energetic person who was able to pick up on his head and this is what propelled the experience. Zen masters call it transmission.

Jane had been into TM and EST before we met up with Mr. Rose. She transformed during this experience. It changed her drastically so that she was trembling so much that she could barely speak. Normally it was hard to shut her up and she was highly egotistical. She did all of her husband’s talking, too. I’m not certain if it was her fault or his passive nature.

One night, months after her experience, she was doing some mescaline and I was taking notes and asking questions. I believe she started to go back into the experience. She looked at Chuck again and asked J. (my wife) to touch him. She said he has no feeling, that he is not real or something close to those words. Chuck was not upset at all and offered his hand to J. and I to prove he was real. J. refused, I didn’t. Jane seemed to get upset.

Shortly after that night Jane decided to divorce Chuck. Jane was a powerful personality. She did a million things at once. She was able to manipulate more than Chuck. J. was also under her spell (energy or the Holy Spirit and voltage) for some time when they moved into an apartment together.

Even though I had meditated and sat with people and searched for knowledge and power during my years in yoga, I was amazed by the energy that was present in the room the night Jane went into her experience. It was true what the yogis had said…a person could experience such an energy force without drugs. The room was electrified. I could feel it. Rose later told me he could watch it move around the room. He said it was working on my head when Jane entered the room and it hit her. It seemed to freeze my mind or lock it into a single vision. All the right place to find the true self and get some answers. I was impressed with Rose. He was an older man in his 50’s, but he seemed to have more energy than us youngsters. This energy phenomena was not isolated to just the Jane S. experience. Following the formation of a group of people who felt Rose could help them, I witnessed this energy again several times. In most cases, the voltage would transform whoever it descended on. I guess you could say they were all mild Jane S. types of transformations. These experiences mostly happened when we sat in small groups we called rapport sessions. The energy would build in the room and suddenly someone would receive a jolt. It caused tears, facial changes and new perspectives. Some who experienced, namely A.F. and M.G. (from OH) and D.P. (from PA), told me that they tried to fight it. I remember A.F. telling me how he felt the energy was trying to take something away (his ego) and he fought it tooth and nail for 20 minutes. A. He felt somewhat transformed—even though temporarily by these experiences.

To me, this proves that the energy was a universal principle and a teacher need not be present. Rose didn’t have a monopoly. He advised us on how to bring it about, and that it wasn’t really necessary for him to be there. I guess most street people would think I was crazy if I told them sitting in a room quietly for 35 minutes could produce such wild results.

None of the people that I sat with in rapport were present during the Jane S. incident so they could not fake or create the events I have recounted during these rapports.

During private meditation I would feel energy, but never to the degree that I witnessed during the group rapports. The voltage seemed to help open doors for people to see things about themselves or to help them change. It seemed to apply pressure to them; they didn’t seem to enjoy it. It was not always enjoyable. Many people feel that anything that is not enjoyable cannot be good. But in spiritual progress this seems to be totally false. Through self-discipline, sacrifice and suffering, a person grows in stature if he can bear the load.

I often wondered how this energy was manufactured. Some people seemed more sensitive to it. Others would say they felt very little during a session. Rose says women have greater sensitivity so they would more often than not, receive the voltage. This prompted male and female rapport groups. Many people other than myself can attest to this phenomenon. I believe the number is close to 20 to 30 who have had minor breakthroughs as a direct result of Rose and his advised rapport sessions.

I admit this concept is nothing new. Quakers have used it. Christians talk of the Holy Spirit moving people. But for many people who came into contact with Rose, this energy was not just a concept, but an experience in life.

The energy phenomena happened to others in the company of Rose. J. was sitting in Rose’s kitchen and felt an energy flowing between Rose and herself as it hit her in the heart area—she started to cry. M.M. (from OH) was in the room at the time and put his head across the table in the line of energy and was jolted by the current. I was present for another similar experience. J., myself, A.T. (from PA) [not Art Ticknor -Ed] and Rose were talking about some historical events when A. seemed to join a certain train of thought that Rose was thinking. In my opinion, he entered Rose’s mind. The words of a certain battle hymn came out of A.’s mouth and his eyes got big and he started to get choked up. His transformation lasted a short time as J. turned to him and said, A., what’s the matter? He slowly came back to earth. Later that day on the way to the farm I asked him what he had seen. He said he would never doubt that Rose was a genuine teacher. “He said Rose knows the answers, he really does. Most people think he knows, but I know for sure.” I believe he also said he felt that their minds were one for a short time.

Rose, in evaluating his success as a spiritual mentor, has been pretty hard on himself at the time of these writings.

March 10, 1985: No one has reached the maximum answer “absolute truth”, but many have received minor spiritual experiences as a result of their contact with Rose and the group. I wonder when compared to any congregation or religious group how well he would stand. In my opinion, most people who stayed with his system were affected in the manner I have described.

A meeting at my home developed into an intensive session. M.T. (from D.C.) received the energy on this 1979 occasion. Rose was away from the group at this time. We had a meeting of all the group (Pyramid Zen) monitors. We sat for a while and the energy began to build. When I saw the force that was on M., I decided to point at him. Rose had said when this was done at the proper time, it would intensify the energy. I was not sure if I was doing the right thing, but my intuition was giving me the go ahead. This session was intense. M. was trembling and seemed to get some insight from the session. Later, other participants confirmed my feeling and felt that the pointing I had directed was appropriate. I was glad to see we could produce something without Rose. Someday he will be gone and I thought these types of experiences should help to keep a group together…or help to bring in new people.

Rose taught us on various levels at once. Questions were addressed to all subjects—anything from auto mechanics to sex. Many of the early members were lacking the householder skills. I remember how much I learned on a physical level, (and) learning to be a man which would help on a higher level.

Rose was a powerful communicator—he would talk directly, didn’t beat around the bush.

My first encounter with Rose was at the University of Pittsburgh. A student at the high school where I was teaching told me about him after he had attended his lecture. He said that he shook hands with Rose after his talk and felt a tremendous jolt of energy. He thought I would like what he had to say. J., myself, Jane and Chuck decided to attend the following week. We headed for Pittsburgh to see how Rose compared to other outfits (T.M., EST, etc.) we had been investigating. We walked into an apartment and Rose was sitting on a stool discussing philosophy. After listening for a few hours, I was impressed. He talked directly and wasted
little time in making his points. I knew from that moment, that he had something that I wanted. Some self-knowledge that I was lacking. I bought his book that evening—that shows what a good salesman he is, as I am not easily sold. It made for interesting reading for the next few weeks, but I was more impressed with his discussions, so we arranged to make a trip to Benwood to visit at his house. These weekend meetings became the highlight of my life. The more time I spent there, the more I wanted to return. He didn’t have as many irons in the fire then, and was able to devote much of his free time with us. We would spend many hours in discussions, trips to his farm, hypnosis techniques and rapport sessions. He would also read from the “Three Books of the Absolute.”

*

~ Thanks to Paul Constant for locating this article, and thanks to Bob Cergol for the photo of Frank from the early years of TAT.

In 1989, he moved to Wellington, Fla., and became a guidance counselor in the Lake Worth School District, where he worked for over 30 years and from where he retired in 2015. Frank was beloved by his students and was always there to greet them with a friendly face and provide help to them in any way possible. Frank had to endure one of the early school shootings, which sadly today have become commonplace, when a teacher who was a good friend a few doors down from his own room was shot and killed by a 14-year-old student. He said at the time that it was one of the most difficult times in his life, trying to help counsel those students who witnessed the shooting and to prepare them to testify in court against a fellow classmate. Frank was a shining light in the lives of all who had the privilege of knowing him. His journey on this earth was one marked by love, compassion and understanding. His passing has left a void in the hearts of his family, friends and many more whose lives were touched by him. We ask that you remember him not for the way his life ended, but for the way it was lived and for the profound impact it had on the lives of those who had the pleasure of knowing him.

Frank is survived by his wife of 53 years, Jeanne Tench Mascara; his two daughters, Maria (Joseph) Rodriquez and Marcy (Alex) Parr; his son, Frank T. Mascara; four grandchildren, Mason and Chase Rodriquez and Pierson and Milana Parr; his sister, Karen Talbert; stepfather, James Levy; and many nieces and nephews who were very special to him. He was predeceased by a brother, Mark Mascara. A celebration of life will be held at 4 p.m. June 28, 2025, at Replay, 6600 High Ridge Road, Boynton Beach, FL 33426. Condolences can be made to the family by mail at: 9485 Cobblestone Creek Drive, Boynton Beach, FL 33472 or by email: mascaralaw@gmail.com.

~ Thanks to Mike Gegenheimer for this obituary.