Professional Biography of Phil Norfleet
 

Formal Education:

I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. I matriculated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts. While at MIT I studied science, mathematics and philosophy.  During that era, the MIT faculty included many notable individuals in many academic fields; however, there were two men who had a truly significant influence on my intellectual development.  These men were Jerry Fodor and Giorgio de Santillana. 

Although at the time I studied under him, Jerry Fodor was only a young instructor in Humanities, Fodor subsequently became one of the most important American philosophers of the late Twentieth Century. Fodor was the person who first taught me about some of the greatest ideas of Western Civilization, particularly the thought of the ancient Greek philosophers, historians and playwrights; such as Plato, Thucydides and Aeschylus.

When I was at MIT, Professor de Santillana was a senior professor of Humanities and an internationally renowned authority regarding the history of science.  It was Professor de Santillana who introduced me to the profound epistemological ideas concerning the connection between astronomical science and the great mythologies of ancient civilizations.

Main MIT Campus on the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts

I had intended to study electrical engineering at MIT but, upon encountering my first courses in the subject, found that I really had absolutely no interest in any of the engineering disciplines. For that reason, as well as significant financial considerations, I transferred to the University of Colorado (CU) where I received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1966.  Subsequently, I entered the CU Graduate School where I studied for an additional two years in the areas of Computer Science, Business and Public Administration.  Unfortunately, I never completed my thesis and thus never received an advanced degree.

 

Human Consciousness Studies:

In 1978, I began to actively investigate the possibility of attaining higher states of human consciousness; in particular, I began to study the writings of the noted Fourth Way teachers G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky.  From 1979-1981, I participated in activities of the Denver branch of the  Prosperos - a Fourth Way Group founded by Thane Walker. 

Upon my relocation to Belgium in 1981, I made contact with the Gurdjieff Foundation in Paris which was then led by Mme. Jeanne de Salzmann, one of Gurdjieff's senior students.  As time permitted, I studied with a former member of the Paris group who had established an independent Fourth Way group located in Brussels, Belgium.  This study continued until I moved to Naples, Italy in 1986. 

Between 1986 and 2003, I continued to study Fourth Way writings but was not involved with any formal groups.  However, while temporarily residing in New Mexico intermittently during the period 2004-2006, I participated in the activities of a Gurdjieff Foundation group located in Albuquerque and subsequently with a group founded by Professor Paul J. Watson of the University of New Mexico.  Professor Watson's group sought to integrate Fourth Way teachings with the latest findings of scientific research into human consciousness.

Since 2007, I have resided in Gainesville Florida where I continue to study human consciousness. My personal goal is to integrate the teachings of the Fourth Way with Neoplatonism and Rosicrucianism. I hope that the result will be an effective and practical system of exercises which serious seekers may employ to achieve higher states of conscious awareness.

 

Career with the United States Government and NATO:

In 1968, I took a position with the United States Air Force (USAF) Contact Management Division; ultimately becoming the Chief of Contracts at the Air Force Representative Office at the Martin Marietta Corporation, Denver Division in 1976. While with the Air Force, I was involved in the contract management of several major missile and space projects including Titan III Launch Vehicles, MX Missile, NASA Skylab, Space Shuttle and Viking Mars Lander Programs. In all, I remained with the Air Force for about twelve years.

In 1981, I accepted a position as Contracting Officer for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); I was located at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) near Mons, Belgium.  While at NATO, I was responsible for the contract management of several major Command, Control and Communication Intelligence (C3I) Systems. In particular, I was the contract manager for the  development of the Status Control Alerting and Reporting System (SCARS) Program, a Strategic C3I program for the control of all the nuclear assets assigned to the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR).  I also was involved in the acquisition of a command and control system to process NATO early warning radar information and a Tactical C3I system for the Allied Forces Central Region (AFCENT) headquarters located at Brunssum in the Netherlands.  I worked at SHAPE for approximately five years.

SHAPE Headquarters in Belgium

In 1986, I relocated to Naples, Italy to take a position as the Director of Contracts for the United States Navy in the Mediterranean and the Middle Eastern Regions.  While at Naples, I was involved in several major international undertakings such as negotiating an agreement between the US Navy and the Turkish General Staff; organizing an economic symposium in Athens, Greece; and establishing an organizational detachment for the Navy on the Island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.

I returned to the United States in 1988 and took a contract management position for the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) located in Norfolk, Virginia.  While at SACLANT, I was responsible for major system acquisitions including the contract management of a "Strategic Level"  B-3 (per the Orange Book) Secure, Command, Control and Communication Intelligence (C3I) System.  I also was involved in the acquisition of a digital communications system for the NATO Base in Keflavik, Iceland and a "Theater Level" C3I System for the NATO Iberian Atlantic Command (IBERLANT) in Portugal.

SACLANT Headquarters at the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the end of the Cold War, work for NATO and the US Department of Defense seemed to diminish in significance.  Accordingly, I took an early "bonus retirement" from Government service in 1994 to devote my remaining years to other interests, which were important to me, but had been placed on the "back burner" during my many years of service for the US Government and NATO.

 

Post Retirement Activities:

Upon retirement, I relocated to Panama City Beach, Florida.  During the first 12 years of my retirement (1994-2006), I traveled extensively throughout the United States while pursuing philosophical, historical and genealogical research. Main topics of that research included the Revolutionary War in the South Carolina backcountry; Bell Witch Folklore in Middle Tennessee; and the genealogies of the Norfleet, Campbell and Mayfield families.  Since the year 2003, I have been primarily involved in the study of metaphysics and art history. 

I have created a total of nineteen Web sites pertaining to my various intellectual areas of interest.  Five of these sites are still under construction (see below).

At the present time (2009), I reside in Gainesville, Florida where I'm mainly involved in the study of Neoplatonism and Rosicrucianism.

Phil Norfleet with his new Saturn

 

Websites:

I currently maintain nineteen websites. Ten sites are related to philosophy and art and nine are related to genealogy and local history.  Hyperlinks to these sites are shown below.

Philosophy and Art:

Alchemists of the 20th Century* Baudelaire and the Impressionists Concepts of Consciousness
Greatest Minds and Ideas Mozart's Opera - The Magic Flute* Objective Art
Philosophy of Heraclitus Platonic Golden Chain* Platonism, Paganism and Christianity*
Mysteries of Isis and Osiris*    

* Sites which are still under construction

 

Genealogy and Local History:

Bell Witch of TN Campbell Family Cherokees of Rusk County TX
Mayfield Families of VA, NC, KY, and TN Mayfield Families of South Carolina Mason, Mortier and Cory Families
Norfleet Family SC Revolutionary War Sites SC Tories and Rebels