Kundalini and the Art of Being ... 11during break, there was something about their energy that just plain
creeped me out. They were too much on the same spiritual page, and
not illustrating that they were allowed to have minds, and beliefs, of
their own.
I left this meeting as confused as before—and with yet another in-
vitation—to come visit their land outside of town a few days later and
see the early stages of their community. Even though I was starting
to realize it probably wasn’t the home I was seeking, I still couldn’t
say for sure if these people were as crazy as my gut was telling me
they were, or if I just had a problem with their level of abounding
spiritual positivism. So what if they had high ideals—didn’t I? Some-
how, I found it hard to accept that an entire group of people could
be on a collective course of self-delusion, despite the obvious lessons
of history.
That night, back at our river campsite, I made a simple, silent
prayer before going to sleep—to God or whoever might be listen-
ing—to give me a hand in making sense of this dilemma.
The next morning, the three of us were on our usual route from the
camping area into town to go to the health food store for breakfast,
visit some bookstores, and see who or what we might run across to
liven up the day. Along the way, Natty pulled over to pick up a hitch-
hiker at the edge of town. As he settled into the seat next to me and
we continued down the road, I asked the hitchhiker his name.
“Gabriel,” he said.
For a moment I was confused, thinking he was addressing me.
Then it clicked: he was just answering my question, as we both had
the same name. And then something else clicked, as I realized that it
was a trio of Gabriels—him, myself, and the leader of the commune.
When I asked a few more questions and discovered that he lived in
the area, I decided to ask him if he knew anything about the com-
munity.
“You mean those people out on Red Rock Road, Aquarian Con-
cepts?” he said, as his eyes filled with loathing. “Shit, man, that place
is a total cult. They’re major control freaks, believe me.”