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 Amy, she said, as she sat down next to me, smiling and bringing
her legs into cross-legged position. John then brought his hands to-
gether at his heart in prayer position, and we all did the same, closing
our eyes and taking a deep breath, letting out a group Om to begin
the session, as the sun shone down upon our dusty faces.
Later that day, my brother and I helped out in one of the many
kitchens preparing food for dinner where Amy happened to be work-
ing. Christo and I ended up talking with her and her friend Lisa, while
we all cut potatoes and other veggies together. She was three years
younger than myself, from Austin, Texas, and she and Lisa were on
a wild summer road trip together, which had unexpectedly brought
them here, to their first Rainbow Gathering. They hadn t even heard
of the event until a week or so earlier, when they d picked up a hitch-
hiker who was going there and decided to check it out.
Kundalini and the Art of Being & 53
Amy and Lisa weren t quite sure where they were going onwards
from there. Amy had an aunt in Portland, Oregon, whom she was
thinking of visiting. I mentioned that I was living in nearby Eugene
and she suggested maybe they could stop by and say hello, if they
happened to pass through the area sometime later.
A few days later, as we were sadly taking down our tents and
packing up our belongings to leave the gathering and head back
home, Christo said,  Hey, I should give those two girls our phone
number before we go. I had pretty much forgotten about Amy and
Lisa by then, considering our fairly brief encounter.  Sure, I said.  If
you want to, go ahead and we ll wait here for you.
He ran off to the kitchen where we d worked with them a few
days before, hoping they might be there. Soon he came back, saying
that they d said goodbye, and hoped to see us in Eugene at some
point. Little could I have realized at the time the effect that my broth-
er s simple action would have on the future course of my life.
CHAPTER 8
izarre, unexpected things took place around me following the
Rainbow Gathering. I found myself caught up in a maelstrom
Bof unanticipated events that left me confused and shaken and
that, once again, managed to blow me wide open. I tried to get back
into my usual routine of working at the pizza joint, living in the city
in a house with three other people, and making occasional trips out
of town to find some silence and connect with the peace and quiet
of nature. But something that I couldn t quite identify or figure out
seemed out of place. The inner peace that I sought always managed
to elude me. My spiritual quest seemed to have no eventual resolu-
tion, like some kind of cruel cosmic hoax, a carrot at the end of a stick
leading me always in some inexplicable direction.
Late one evening after work, a couple of weeks after returning
from the Rainbow Gathering, I got a call from Amy and Lisa. They
were in town right at that moment and thinking of heading up to
nearby Cougar hot springs for a few days. They wanted to know
if my brother and I would like to come along. I wasn t sure exactly
what my schedule was the next few days, but I invited them to come
over and at least crash at my place for the night. They said  sure,
they were actually hoping that I might make such an offer they d
be right over.
They soon arrived at my door, and I gave them both big rainbow
hugs. Besides the fact that they were beautiful young women, I was
happy just to see someone else from the Rainbow Gathering, since it
was beginning to fade into a distant, hazy memory, more like a dream
than something I d recently experienced. Although we hadn t spent all
that much time together there, just having the experience in common
54
Kundalini and the Art of Being & 55
gave us an instant bond, an openness that I didn t share even with my
housemates of the last few months. Although my housemates were
all young, friendly, creative people with whom I got along well, there
was something magical about the Rainbow Gatherings that opened
up a long dormant part of the soul, so that virtual strangers might be-
come good friends in a matter of days or even hours.
One way or another, Amy and I ended up alone in my room that
night, talking into the early hours. Around three or four in the morn-
ing, we finally decided that we d better get some sleep. She got up
out of the lounge chair next to my bed to leave, and I got up from
my bed, where I had been lying on my side, to give her a hug. We
embraced one another, as love flowed between us like a warm, com-
forting breeze. We had wanted to touch one another all night, but
hadn t found the opportunity until now. We just stood there holding
each other, eyes closed, feeling the energy flow freely between us,
squeezing each other softly, caressing one another s backs with our
hands, feeling the soft touch of our embracing bodies.
Eventually, I motioned her to the bed, and we pulled back the cov-
ers and crawled under the warm blankets. We resumed our embrace,
kissing each another softly. Finally we fell asleep, still holding each
other close.
We awoke late the next morning to Lisa knocking on the door,
having reasoned that we must be in there together.
 Wake up, you sleepyheads! Let s go to the springs!
As it turned out, I had the next two days off, although, to his frus-
tration, my brother had to work the next few nights at the pizza
parlor, so he wasn t able to join us. Amy, Lisa, and I left town that
morning. I followed the two of them in my Datsun pickup truck
out to the hot springs, about forty miles east of Eugene. We camped [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]