The Gathering

Tuesday, June 20, 2000 10:27 AM

My Friends,

I thought I would say a few words about the gathering. For one thing, it was a nice change of pace to get away from it all and retreat to the beautiful wooded area of McCall. McCall is a little like Sun Valley except more trees, and it is not so widely known by tourists. It is kind of the place where native Idahonians go, and they do not want to advertise the place to the world.

We all stayed in cute little cabins and had our classes in central tent called a Yurt. The staff took good care of us and fed us three times a day. They seemed to take a liking to the group and commented that we were one of the best behaved bunches to stay there, and that we are welcome back any time.

We all owe a debt of thanks to Lorraine - a budding initiate - who initiated the whole thing and carried it through to completion even though her circumstances were difficult.

We were all honored to be visited by Anni (from Denmark) and Xavier (from France) who came such great distances to be there. Both of them are about what you expect. Annie is sweet as can be and Xavier is very charming and fun to be with.

I was pleased with how supportive and cooperative the whole group was. There was peace and good will in abundance, and Saturday night I felt the doors of the soul open so wide I had difficulty containing myself. Several others felt what I did and I believe the experience was largely for them. My greatest desire is to see others feel the fire of the spirit for in this experience is true oneness. This experience causes great emotion, but is more than emotion.

I took about 50 pictures and I think I got good close ups of everyone, and will be sharing them soon.

One thing that stuck in my mind as we have been talking about the principle of freedom is how fortunate we are in this age to be able to meet and discuss mysteries. A couple hundred years ago we would have been burned at the stake for deviating from standard doctrine. It is indeed important that we appreciate our freedoms and continue to do our part to see they are preserved.

Tomorrow I'll try and get my mind oriented back to the real world and continue on topic.

JJ

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The astral world is full of illusion, but also a heaven of sorts and to rise above this illusion one must see through illusion after illusion until the celestial devachan is reached and finally Nirvana as taught by the Buddha. When this is reached the seeker finally sees reality as it is.

Light on Illusion, December 18, 2000