My Life In The One World Family Commune

By Del Rainer

It has been over 40 years since a group of us dropped out of the old world of duality, of buying and selling for personal gain, and joined together to live as a communal family, sharing all things in common, giving, receiving and forgiving. This is the story of my experience, covering the wonderful days of the One World Family Commune and the revelations of truth that have come to me as the result of living and sharing together and, above all, being associated with an enlightened Being, Galactic Channel Allen Michael.

An Awakening Experience

It was the late 60’s, and I was a married woman with four children, a home in suburbia and a husband who was having a “nervous breakdown.” Michael was suffering from the nightmare of being trapped for life, responsible for the support of a wife and four children and signing away 30 years of his life as a wage-slave to pay for his “American Dream.”

A short time after signing the papers for the mortgage on a house in Marin County, a San Francisco bedroom community, Michael was led to group therapy and I, at home with four small children and a house to take care of, began to soak up the broadcasts from Pacifica’s listener-sponsored radio station, KPFA-FM in Berkeley. It was a time of awakening, and I began to take notice of what was going on in the rest of the world. I was attracted to what I had been hearing about the “Flower Children” of Haight/Ashbury and persuaded a friend to accompany me on a trip to San Francisco to check it out. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I had a feeling of elation as we strolled along Haight Street, taking in the high vibes of the Flower Children.

Thanks to KPFA’s in depth coverage and more enlightening programming, even more a rarity at that time, I was introduced to the teachings of Krishnamurti, discovered the meaning of the word, karma, and tuned in to the songs of the Beatles, Joanie Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger and the many other inspired New Age musicians of the time.

One day, as I was walking down the street in Mill Valley, I noticed a sign posted on a building that read, “Get out of Vietnam!” Up to that time, neither I nor any of my friends ever discussed politics, or world affairs, no doubt recognizing the disparity between what we heard and what we could see in the world around us, along with a feeling of being disconnected from it all. The sign about Vietnam, however, piqued my interest, and then, in listening to KPFA-FM, I heard the truth in direct broadcasts from Vietnam and from the people involved, about what was going on, of the CIA’s covert operation in Vietnam, as well as in many other places throughout the world. It was a far different story from what we were getting from the establishment-controlled mass media, and I was surprised to find the number of people who were also aware of the true story and were protesting the inhumane acts being carried out in their name as U.S. citizens. None of which, of course, was being reported in the media.

I had many passionate discussions with friends and acquaintances regarding the travesty of our involvement in Vietnam, but always found myself to be the lone protestor. It was a revelation to discover what a backwards, uninformed society I lived in. I joined the Peace and Freedom Party, but with four small children and a house to maintain, my only participation was to stand with others at the Port Chicago Weapons Depot for a day, protesting the shipment of arms to Vietnam.

One evening, Michael made a suggestion that came as such a surprise I still remember it clearly. He had just finished reading a biography of Benjamin Franklin, who was a vegetarian, and out of the blue, he suggested we eliminate meat from our diet. It’s hard to imagine now, living in California in this day and age of “natural food,” but I had never heard of such a thing as a “vegetarian.” I’d been programmed to think that the more red meat, the better, and was amazed that Michael could even consider such an idea. However, beginning with Gaylord Hauser, the health enthusiast and body-builder, and then Adele Davis, the nutritionist, I had long been health-conscious. So after the initial shock, I was more receptive when Michael later introduced me to Georges Asawa’s “macrobiotic” diet. I read Asawa’s book, and it made sense, so I agreed to take on the challenge of radically changing our diet to macrobiotics and eliminating meat.

The next step in our awakening occurred when we were coming home from an encounter group session in Berkeley, and we picked up a young man named Richard (hitch hiking was “in,” in those sharing Hippy days). Richard was leaving the Haight/Ashbury and was on his way back to his home in the Midwest. We enjoyed his company and invited him to stay with us for a few days, at which time he helped Michael build a beautiful gate for our fence.

We had been interested in the effect of smoking marijuana, so one day, Richard went to San Francisco, brought some back, and we “turned on.” It was such a revelation, and I felt like I was suddenly seeing the beauty and truth of the real world for the first time. It was as though I was awakening to something I had known as a child and had forgotten (the main reason the establishment wants to prohibit psychedelics). Michael and I didn’t really fit the roles of suburban homeowners, and with our growing awareness, we were becoming more and more discontent with the separateness lifestyle in suburbia. We discussed, with our friends, the “radical” concept of living and sharing with other families, and they all agreed that it would be the most reasonable thing to do, however, none of them were ready to take the leap and make such a commitment to change.

Following a trip to Los Angeles to spend Christmas with Michael’s family, I received a phone call from an attorney who was unaware that I had been out of town and had not heard the sad news of my mother taking her life. It was particularly shocking because my mother and I had never been close, and sadly, I had had no indication that she was in such a state of mind. She had been a very strong and independent person, but was unable to fit into the dog-eat-dog buying and selling world of duality and wage slaves and had been unable to have close, meaningful relationships. With the insurance I received from this tragedy, Michael and I were spurred on to make the total change in our lives we had been dreaming of.

Dropping Out Of the Status Quo

Toward the end of the summer of ’68, Michael and I sold our home and were preparing to leave for a communal project we had found called the Boudouin Society in Oakhurst, near Yosemite Valley. Prior to that, during our search, we had called the Haight/Ashbury Switchboard, and thru them, met “Flower Children,” Iris and Eddy. They had discovered a communal group in San Francisco, the One World Family, and insisted that we should meet them there. So, before leaving on our trip, we joined Iris and Eddy and their baby, Gentle, at the Commune’s macrobiotic restaurant, the “Here and Now” on Haight Street.

We agreed to meet them there, where we were introduced to the communal family on shift and our first delicious soybean “macroburger.” I was particularly impressed by a letter posted on the front door, written by the communal members protesting Allen Michael’s incarceration in the county jail following a narcotics entrapment. The letter described Allen Michael as a man of integrity and selfless service to humanity, who was channeling from Galactica the plan to bring about the kind of world we all want to live in, with absolute freedom, security and abundance for everyone. Michael and I were both turned on by the high energies and attracted to the communal members we met there. A few weeks after that, Allen Michael was released from jail on bail, and we decided to attend his “Evening of Enlightenment.”

The One World Family Commune was located in an attractive, renovated three-story Victorian house across from the Golden Gate Park Panhandle on Oak Street. I’ll never forget the evening we entered the beautiful meditation room, with its soft colored walls and colorfully carpeted platforms and pillows. We were met at the door by Carl, a visitor with a long white beard who welcomed us as old friends. Allen Michael, communal members and guests were gathered, and, as we joined in on some Family songs, both Michael and I had that wonderful feeling of being with kindred spirits.

During the meeting, Allen Michael responded to a group of young Baptist Bible students who had come with their minister to question his statement that he was a “messiah,” or messenger, and was the entity fulfilling the prophecy of the Comforter, spirit of truth. In spite of the fact that I had always been turned off by organized religions and their dogmatic interpretations of the Bible, when I heard Allen Michael say that he channels messages from the Godmind being broadcast from Galactica and that he is the entity spoken of in the Bible, who would come as “the comforter,” in St. John 14:16,17 & 26, I had that flash of knowing we get when we recognize the truth for the first time. Even the Baptist minister, who had brought the Bible study group to challenge him, commended him for his knowledge of the Bible. I could finally see the true meaning of the prophecy – it all just clicked. It’s evident to me now that Michael and I had been led to be there on that particular evening.

The concept of flying saucers, UFO’s and extraterrestrials was new to both of us. However, when Allen Michael spoke of ETI (extraterritorial intelligence) and the Galactic Space Beings’ role in the transformation of the planetary consciousness, it all rang true. His vision of a world of sharing, love and forgiveness was the best thing I’d ever heard, and I felt a kinship with the people who had gathered with him – Diane, Kathy, Bill H., Bill B., Beldon, Aundor, Steve, Thera and Jubal. I admired their sincerity and dedication to Allen Michael as an enlightened Being and Galactic channel. Allen Michael communicates from a Universal perspective of relativity beyond anything I’d ever heard before, and although it was all new to both of us, we recognized the truth of it. It was all so natural and simple. However, joining a Hippy commune in the city was something Michael and I hadn’t even considered, and we continued on with our plan to go to Oakhurst.

The Boudouin Society was quite a change from the status quo world of conformity we had come from in Marin County. Although it was a cooperative arrangement rather than the total sharing one we had been looking for, it was a valuable transition between where we had been and our new lifestyle to be. We went from owning a house in suburbia, to sleeping in tents, milking goats and feeding horses. I remember it being a wonderful, liberating experience when I got up my nerve, took off my clothes and swam nude in a beautiful mountain lake surrounded by pine trees near our property.

It was the beginning of the school year and when we enrolled Mike and Rhys in school, the teacher told us in no uncertain terms that we would have to cut their hair – which actually touched their collar. We were beginning to look like Hippies, and there was much fear at that time, especially in small towns, of the Hippy movement.

When we returned to San Francisco to get some things out of storage, we attended another of Allen Michael’s “Evenings of Enlightenment,” and that was it! This time when we heard Allen Michael channel and were reacquainted with the communal members, we could see that Allen Michael had the wisdom and far-reaching perception that only an enlightened Being could have, and that the One World Family Commune was just what we had been looking for. We had a great feeling of elation as we made the decision, then and there, to move back to San Francisco and join the Commune.

So, to the astonishment of friends and disbelief of family, we retrieved our children in Oakhurst and moved into the One World Family Commune in the Haight/Ashbury District of San Francisco. As Timothy Leary was teaching, we had “turned on, tuned in and dropped out.”

The One World Family Commune

Coming out of the buying-and-selling world of money motivation, and into a world of sharing, giving and receiving and serving without thought of reward, has been an on-going awakening to who I really am and what life on this planet is all about. Since our beginning in 1967 as the One World Family Commune, all of the remarkable things we accomplished have come about because of the inspiration and guidance we have received from Allen Michael and our having a purpose greater than ourselves.

It was such a wonderful experience to come together with others of like-mind, who were actually living according to what they knew to be true. We intuitively recognized the truth of the existence of extraterrestrial Beings and of flying saucers, as Allen Michael spoke of the out-of-body experience he had in 1947, when he was opened up to be a telepathic channel of the Godmind. He had accepted the mission from the Godmind to be the channel of the “Everlasting Gospel,” fulfilling the role of the “comforter,” prophesied in St. John 14:16,17,26 and 16:7-14.

The concept of “channeling” was new to us, but when we heard Allen Michael speak, the words resonated with that inner part of us that knows the truth when we hear it, and it lifted us to a higher awareness of being. Since that time, society has come to use the word, “channel,” to describe people who allow disembodied entities (usually from the heavenly abode, or within this solar system), to speak thru them. These channeled messages benefit many souls on this planet who are at a certain level of awareness. However, the distinction needs to be made that they are of the 7th dimension and not the same as the Universal channelings of the Godmind, coming from Galactica of the 12th dimension thru Allen Michael.

In my single days, living in San Francisco, where sophistication was a valued goal along with the seductive glamour of materiality, I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined being part of anything called “The Messiah’s World Crusade.” However, when I heard Allen Michael channel, I realized that the true meaning of the word, messiah, was messenger, and at last I could see a far greater vision of it all and my connection to it.

We were being guided along the way, which I now know is always the case when we can let go of the fear of survival and not being in control. We are in service to one another and to humanity in a sharing relationship. This is the natural way all life will be when we let go of the ungodly usury money system and the fear of lack that goes with it.

With the world sharing economy, we come into the higher realization that we are all one, in telepathic communion with the Universal Mind. We are here to share all things in common and to serve one another without thought of reward, as did Jesus’ disciples in Acts 4:32-35. Just as the stars and planets rotate together in harmony in the solar system, and the solar systems all rotate together in harmony in the galaxy, and the galaxies rotate together in harmony in the Universe, we are all One.

Creating Spiritual Revolution

Those early days were a magical learning period of highs along with the karmic cleansing lows. We were inspired revolutionaries with the vision of a world of harmony, peace and love, as we awakened to the joy we had known as children when we “played house.” “Love is Service Done,” or LSD, became our motto, and life took on a wonderful new meaning. We let go of the false motivation of getting and possessing money and materiality for self, along with the insecurity that goes along with that programmed illusion. The welfare of the group as a whole became our priority, and we put our trust in the Universe to provide all our needs. There were times in those early days when we “just made it” financially, but that simply caused us to be more creative, and we never lacked for our basic needs.

During those days, along with his continuous channelings, writing and speaking, Allen Michael did everything from changing the babies’ diapers to mopping the restaurant floor, always making himself available to anyone with need. He did not set himself up as an authority, an idol to be worshipped, or personality to be adulated, but only asked that he be loved as he loves, served as he serves and recognized for his ability to channel messages from Creation Universe.

The old saying, “life begins at forty,” was definitely true for me. At 40, I had switched from playing the role of a suburban family housewife and mom, to being a communal mother, sharing the joy and responsibilities with other mothers. It was a high time, serving our healthy natural food, preparing fresh green grape juice and macroburgers in The Here and Now for the wonderful Flower Children, baking our delicious Whole Wheat Sunflower Seed bread in the second floor bakery of our house nearby on Oak Street, caring for all of our beautiful children and dancing to our own music and the music of the Beattles, the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Pete Seegar and all the other inspired rock and folk musicians of the day.

I felt as though I had been swept up into a fairy tale – and they all lived happily ever after! Along with the necessary discomfort of going thru great changes, life was an on-going adventure of romance and creativity. We found that living communally and sharing all things in common fulfilled our spiritual and social needs more than anything we could have imagined. We were inspired by the truth from a greater perspective than we had ever heard before and could see that Allen Michael was a Being of great wisdom as he channeled messages for the New World from Galactica.

As an only child of a young single mother, I had never experienced family life, so sharing with others, doing projects together, cooking, cleaning, shopping, sewing, singing and playing music, with the welfare of the whole being our foremost concern, was all new and wonderful. It was like finally coming home.

As I dropped out of the fear-of-lack/getting-for-self lifestyle, I could see how the way we use money comes between individuals, family members, races, religions and nations. It distorts every aspect of our daily lives and perpetuates in the collective consciousness the unnatural fear of the unknown. In Normal Universe, there is no fear. There is only Love.

We recognize ourselves as an autonomous democracy, led by wisdom and true personality. We felt that when they heard it, the rest of the world couldn’t help but recognize this wonderful, comforting truth. We had no idea that it would take this many years for this to come about, but everything being relative, that time is coming at last.