Relationships Spiritual Self Improvement When I Was a Hippie (Part 5 of 5)
It was great being back in the Bay Area, and greater yet seeing Janet. She was the kindest person I had ever known. One day, we were walking around downtown Oakland in 1981 (I was working for some temp. agency stuffing envelopes) and all of a sudden she popped the question, and I didn't hesitate a heartbeat. "Sure," I said, and before we knew it, we were saying our "vow" at the Berkeley Priory in front of Roshi Kozan, a Zen priest affiliated with the Abbey and in charge of the priory at the time. We made only one vow - witnessed by the twelve other people we were living with - to help each other find truth in this lifetime.
We knew that if we became caught in the awkward situation of one foot in this world and one in the next, we would be miserable, so before we climbed up on the stage and peeked behind the curtains, we had to be prepared to walk away from the audience. Therefore, it was good-bye to the Priory and on to Boulder, a small, picturesque town in Colorado surrounded by mountains, and according to some clued-in hippies at the Farm, a very spiritual place. We were about broke after the enormous wedding expenses (two cheap gold rings and a cake), and had to get some money together, but since I was still in exile hiding from creditors, we knew that our stay would be short-lived before they tracked us down through employment records.
I was climbing mountains of mist, or so it seemed. New relationships, different clothes, jobs, houses, towns - holding on, letting go, waiting . . . for something. I had always convinced myself that whatever it was I was waiting for was right over that next mountain, but when I scrambled up my mountains and excitedly looked over the top for my deliverance, all I could see was the next mountain. What was I really searching for? What defining moment started me on this quest? Was it a longing inside, or a flash of some kind--maybe just curiosity? Whatever it was, it was compelling, leaving me with no other choice.
I thought about where I had learned my greatest lessons in life. Was it when I was having a good time, or when I was blind-sided by disaster? I don't recall many of my childhood birthday parties, but I remember a speeding car running over my little dog and killing him when I was a kid. He lived for a few short minutes, convulsing in my arms. The memory etched itself indelibly in my mind - and it changed me.
It was nice riding the bus with Janet, and soon we were past Fort Collins and heading down the valley toward Boulder. ***********************************************************************************************************
E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center, http://www.SouthwestFloridaInsightCenter.com His twenty-eight years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His book, A Year to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books) is now available at major bookstores and online retailers. Visit http://www.AYearToEnlightenment.com
Related Tags: relationships, spirituality, philosophy, religion, new age, psychology, hippie
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