14 ... Gabriel Morrisa little too formal, but I agreed, saying I would see them the next
morning at the address they provided.
After making my phone call and then wandering around town a
little in the hot sun, I made my way back to the local health food
store to meet up with Natty and Apollo. We bought some food and
other provisions and then drove to a free camping area we’d heard
about at the north end of town, among the trees and along a river
that wound its way down the canyon and then through town.
The following morning we got up early, and Natty and Apollo
drove me across town and then out a country road, to drop me off
at the house where I was to meet the community members for my
evaluation. I knocked on the front door, and a tall, attractive blond
woman opened it.
“Hello, I’m Gabriel,” I said, feeling a little nervous as I extended
my hand.
“Come on in,” she said, shaking my hand quickly. “We’ve been
waiting for you.”
I stepped inside and was introduced to the three other community
members, who sat in chairs forming a semi-circle around another
vacant chair, where I was instructed to sit. I set my daypack down
on the floor and took a seat, feeling a little wary of the four pairs of
eyes staring at me.
They asked me a lot of penetrating questions, and proposed plenty
of authoritative answers, on a wide range of topics. They started off
with a long discourse on the “true” spiritual history of Earth—before,
after, and including the life of Jesus Christ—with an impressive air of
conviction. They expressed a number of spiritual beliefs that I was
essentially in agreement with: that Jesus was a great spiritual master;
that our current era of history was a time of great change and evo-
lution; that ultimately love was the answer to all the world’s many
problems; and that changing our inner selves was necessary for mak-
ing any lasting change in the outer world.
I liked some of the things they had to say—what committed spir-
itual seeker wouldn’t agree with many of these beliefs? I’d been