My Life In The One World Family Commune

II: Our Dynamic Demonstration

You can imagine what a profound change it was for me, going from a housewife in suburbia with four young children, to the communal lifestyle of hippies in the world of the “Flower Children.” It was the Happy Hippy days of the 60’s, and there we were, right in the midst of it all on Haight Street, operating our little macrobiotic restaurant, The Here and Now.

In the have-and-have-not’s world, where most people must “work for a living” I had been conditioned to regard service-type occupations as demeaning and, having set my sites on something far more glamorous, never could have imagined that I would work in a restaurant. Glamour is a false illusion of the material world, the world of duality, which people have been conditioned to value generation after generation, and I had never experienced the joy that can come from the simplicity of sharing and serving together as one family.

“Channeling energy,” as we call it, in our “Creative Schools of Experience” is nothing like what they call “work” in the world of buying and selling. It’s a fulfilling experience when, together with your family and friends, you are preparing food that you know is delicious and healthful for one another and for people in your community and, with the high vibes of the Flower Children, it was magical! The word, “work,” naturally began to fall out of our vocabulary, just as it will no longer exist in the New World of sharing.

In the work-a-day world, most parents, children, husbands and wives live under an illusion of dependency and possessiveness, reacting emotionally rather than responding to need, blocked from growing and perfecting their individuality and autonomy. When we learn to freely give and receive unconditional love thru service to one another, we will no longer fear the loss of control over those we are close to. We will recognize that each of us is an autonomous being and that we are always there to serve one another. This is the meaning of Love.

Each of us committed ourselves to a five hour per day “love service shift.” We rotated between food service in the Here and Now, baking macrobiotic pastries and bread in the second-floor bakery of our house on Oak Street and daily shifts in child care, meal preparation, house cleaning, buying, publications, promotions, art projects and performing our music and songs. Hundreds of songs were written over the years, inspired by our sharing lifestyle, and singing with others was one of my dream’s come true.

Making up the shift schedule was both challenging and rewarding, and it helped bring us in touch with the understanding that each person, to the extent of their ability and past conditioning, is doing the best they can. With forgiveness and affirmation of one another, we are freed from self-limitation to excel to greater heights in contributing our individual abilities to the whole and recognizing our true selves.

One of the fears many people have relative to communal living is that they will lose their individuality. The opposite is actually true. In our large group, where so many facets were covered, we were freed to pursue our individual talents and to develop new projects to be added to our Creative Schools of Experience, such as food preparation, baking, airbrushing, sewing, woodshop, video, music and publishing.

Those early days are a memory of joy and despair, going thru a myriad of changes, learning to trust and care for others outside our immediate family and letting go of attachments to people, things, and ideas. At times, it was like childhood memories of playing and sharing with friends, while at other times, it was the disorientation and insecurity in relationships that go with such changes. It was all made easier by knowing that it was just old programmed fears and that we had found the real thing and were living it.

The conditioning in the getting-for-self world of duality didn’t just vanish overnight. There were many times when, because of my childhood experiences and 40 years in the status quo world of effects (and previous lifetimes), the pain from the negative feedback (karma) would build up to the point where I would say to myself, “I’ve got to get away from here!” The next instant, I would recognize that there was no place to go, for the status quo world of effects held nothing of value for me. So I was forced to face my karma and make the changes within myself necessary to stay in the high energies of sharing.

When Michael and I joined the commune, the change was most difficult for our oldest son, Mike, who, at nine years old, felt that he had lost a father. Even though we know we couldn’t have done otherwise at the time, when we look back, it’s painful to realize that, if we had known what we know now, we could have helped our children deal with much of the hurt and unhappiness they experience in this backwards world. Michael and I were captivated by the inspiration of it all, while at the same time going thru great changes ourselves and were unable to recognize the insecurity Mike was feeling and to give him the support he needed. I realize that it was also Mike’s karma from past lifetimes to attract that experience, just as we all have karma that plays back to heal past errors and to prod us on in our awakening. I feel that he, and all of our children who grew up in the Commune, would have a far more difficult time in the world as it is, had they not had that sharing communal experience.

For me, it was an intense learning experience as I began to realize that things don’t have to be done “my way” to turn out right – and, being a very strong Leo mother, that was quite a revelation! It has taken all these years, but I’m learning to value the particular strengths I have and to share them with others without feeling the need to force anything on anyone, as well as to recognize and appreciate abilities in others. We each have our particular strengths to add to the whole, and when we live together as we do, no one person has to be all things. It’s been a wonderful, growing experience over the years, with Allen Michael, a master of relativity, setting the example along the way.

When I look back on my life before this awakening, it seems as though I was acting a part, and I’d forgotten who I really was, and of course, I’m still learning. We all are conditioned in our childhoods and past lives from our experiences in this backwards world of negative effects. Much of our early conditioning is based on fear, seeking approval from others out of fear of rejection in this status quo getting-for-self world. In the Commune, we are recording in the morphogenetic field, the new way of living, as we create our lives for ourselves from moment to moment.

In the world of duality and materiality, fear of lack has been the motivating force in maintaining the backwards, ungodly system of usury money. In our sharing new world, along with all other words of duality and fear, the word, “lack,” will no longer exist. As Jampolski says, “Love is letting go of fear.” Love is sharing and serving, and as all of humanity comes into a sharing relationship, there can be no more fear and nothing to let go of.

Nature’s Potions

In order to maintain our revolutionary purpose as we operate in the dualistic consciousness, we were given an abundance of psychedelics, Nature’s Potions, or what we call “sacrament” – marijuana, magic mushrooms, peyote and LSD. It’s a loving Universe and even tho’ there are painful experiences from time to time, we are always being given what we need, individually and as a humanity, in furthering our path to enlightenment and healing. In the early 70’s, during that initial period of planetary awakening, it was obviously a need, because we certainly were given an ample supply of Nature’s Potions. The psychedelics helped us bridge the gap – the disparity between the consciousness of society at that time and our visionary crusade, our newly-found awareness of the Universe, planet earth, space beings and our humanity’s relationship to it all.

The ecological, self-healing, self-perfecting Universe automatically manifests whatever is needed to maintain balance and bring healing, even tho’ many times, it’s painful. Nature’s Potions have been put here by Creation as an aid in the expansion of consciousness. However, the motivation for self-gain has brought about harmful consequences from the misuse of much of Creation Nature’s gifts, from nature’s potions to the food we eat. The commercialization and wrong use of all things natural, including food, is backwards and is the basic cause of the increasing negative effects. Right-use-ness simply means using all of Nature’s gifts according to the Natural Law, which benefits all life in body and soul.

Narcotic Entrapment

A short time before we joined the Family, Allen Michael had been arrested in a narcotics entrapment by the paranoid establishment out to get the “bad guys.” It was an ongoing test during the early days of our commune as we balanced the paranoia of the status quo consciousness toward anything that deviated from “business-as-usual.”

It was in Long Beach, California that Allen Michael had his art studio and his first ETI contact in 1947. In 1967, he moved to San Francisco, and a small group of inspired people, he started the One World Family Commune. With the help of his son, Dennis, he opened The Here and Now Macrobiotic Restaurant on Haight Street. One day, an acquaintance of his from Long Beach came to see him and asked if he would get him some marijuana. In Allen Michael’s usual way of giving to those who ask, he obtained the marijuana only to discover that he had been set up for an entrapment. This was brought about no doubt because of the truth he was speaking relative to the establishment and ending the money system. He was arrested, charged with eight felony counts and then released on $3,750 bail.

Shortly after we joined the Commune, Judge Neubarth, in a paranoid state of hallucination, decided that he was a menace to society and had him put back in jail with bail raised to $25,000. With his welfare as our common bond, we were brought closer together and, during the months that Allen Michael was confined, we were able to show ourselves, as well as the authorities, that it was not because of a beguiling charm or hypnotic persuasion that we had come together with him, but because of our own recognition of the truth he was channeling. Rather than becoming discouraged and losing sight of our direction, we were given the opportunity to become stronger in our individual abilities and to serve as leaders in Creation Nature’s sharing way of living. We were once again recording in the collective consciousness the Natural way, as we had in previous incarnations, when we were the Essenes and the Disciples spoken of in Acts 4:32-35, who sold all their land and houses and “brought the prices of the things that were sold, laid them down at the apostles’ feet and distribution was made to every man according as he had need.”

While Allen Michael was incarcerated, along with operating “The Here and Now,” maintaining our home and caring for our children, we published our first newspaper, The Universal Communicator, and sold it wherever we went. In our old yellow school bus, which Allen Michael, the master sign-maker, had beautifully painted, we toured five universities and colleges in Oregon with our musical group. We chugged up and down the mountainsides in our old school bus at the top speed of 45 mph, played and sang our songs and told of Allen Michael’s entrapment and the joys of our newly-found communal way of life.

After we returned from our tour of colleges in Oregon, we held a demonstration in front of the San Francisco Federal Building, protesting Allen Michael’s return to jail and the increased bail. Just as everything was happening in those magical days, we met Richard Cohen, a young attorney who had just passed the bar and volunteered to represent Allen Michael in court without a fee. We rounded up the people and put on a week-long benefit at the Straight Theatre on Haight Street, which, among the many local bands, included the Sons of Champlin, Tower of Power and The Congress of Wonders, all donating their time and energy toward raising money for Allen Michael’s bail. It was the wonderful all for one and one for all sharing consciousness that prevailed during those inspired days of the Flower Children in “the Haight,” and a precursor of the coming New Age of sharing.

After spending four and a half months in jail, Allen Michael was free, thanks to an unknown friend who donated the $2,500 needed as premium for the $25,000 bail bond, and to Allen Michael’s friend, Leland Mills’ generous posting of property with equity worth over $100,000, the amount required by all SF bail bond companies.

Even though the status quo powers-that-be had their minds made up regarding his “ulterior motives,” Allen Michael’s testimony during his trial was so powerful that Judge Eimann, who had replaced Neubarth on a defense motion to disqualify, was unwilling to sentence on his own and sent him to Vacaville, the State of California rehabilitation center, for 90-days observation.

The Everlasting Gospel

Two very special events took place while Allen Michael was in Vacaville. He channeled what was to become the first of The Everlasting Gospel series of books, “To the Youth of the World,” and Allen’s wife, Dianne, gave birth to Allen David, the first of their three beautiful children, Allen David, Cosmon and Synthea.

When Allen Michael was released, the doctors and Vacaville authorities described him as a genius, recognizing his acute perception, rational mind and singleness of purpose, and gave him a high recommendation for probation. Judge Eimann ignored the reports, saying he stopped reading on page two and sentenced him five years to life. The decision was appealed and ultimately reduced to three years probation, with the mortal-minded provision that Allen Michael would see to it that all single male and female members who were actually living together as couples, would be “sanctified by the state” in marriage.

It was wonderful having Allen Michael back with us and being free of the uncertainty of whether or not he would be sent to prison. We had been growing as spiritual revolutionaries, getting high serving one another and the community our natural, nutritious food in our little Here And Now restaurant. It was truly a magical time, and the inspiration of it all brought forth hundreds of songs and music that we all have played and sung together over the years.

With our leading musicians of the family, Bill H., Steve W., Aundor, Leaetta, Bill B, joined by others of us in the band and chorus, we traveled around in our brightly painted school bus, performing at fairs and putting on “happenings” at churches and colleges all over the Bay Area. Allen Michael channeled his far-out messages from Galactica, revealing the truth of the solar catastrophe, which was the cause of the negative energy in the duality consciousness of this planet and the resultant satanic usury money system, along with the Plan to end the money system and bring forth the world of sharing as one humanity. We were spiritual revolutionaries inspired by the truth of it all, as we performed our music, served our delicious natural food and cared for our children.

A short-lived but bright spot in the Bay Area music scene was the Family Dog, an enormous hall at Playland-by-the Beach in San Francisco operated by Chet Helms and friends. For a short period of time, we operated the natural food concession there for rock concerts and also provided the natural food concession for Steve Gaskin’s popular “Monday Night Class.” The concession was not only financially rewarding, but also provided us with exceptional weekend entertainment, which included the Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane and many other top rock bands. We were impatient to get Allen Michael’s message in the EG to the people. So, in spite of the fact that we were barely getting by financially, when it became evident to us that we were not to be given the opportunity to communicate our message and that all of the energy we were putting into the food service was solely to maintain a money-making venture, we ended our affiliation with the Family Dog, unable to see the relativity of it all.

Little did we know how many years it would be and how much more the negative effects would have to increase for the consciousness to grow to the point of recognizing a higher truth. Of course, it’s all the same day in the Universe, and all things are happening together in the Uni’s perfect synchronicity – everything in its own season. Time, as most people think of it is simply mortal mind counting this planet’s revolutions around the sun so they can add interest to money, collect taxes and get paid. As we say, it’s always the same day in the Universe, always NOW.

Communal Children

When we live together as one family, sharing the roles of mother, father, sister and brother, we relate on a different basis than those of the status quo world of employers, employees and segregated parental-dominated family units. We recognize our children as Universal Beings, as we are, with knowledge gained from their former lifetimes. The special bond earth parents have with their children is being extended to encompass all children on the planet as we come into the awareness that we are one humanity of Universal Beings.

We all shared the responsibility of the children’s care and well-being until, through their experiences, they gained the ability to care for themselves and serve one another. As our commune grew and the number of children increased, our Children’s shift was quite a challenge. It was an invaluable learning experience, not only for the parents, but also for the older children and young women and men, who had the experience of caring for infants and toddlers before having children themselves. Unfortunately, this continuity is lacking in most of the separate households in the more affluent Western World.

In order to be of one mind and consistent in our guidelines for the children, we had weekly meetings to discuss such things as diet, discipline and structure. Coming from my past conditioning, I probably had the most changes to go thru in this regard. In my role as the “woman of the house,” I had been the authority relative to our children and our household, and those old conditioned patterns were not easy to let go of, but thankfully, too painful to hold on to. It’s been a totally rewarding and an on-going process for all of us, learning together to let go, to forgive and to share.

Right-use of the tools, equipment and supplies, as well as cleaning up when we are thru, are all part of our learning experience. In an environment of acceptance and free of judgment, children are anxious to learn by example and love to share with others in creative projects. We say “love is service done” – and when we have that attitude as we carry out our daily shifts and do them with joy, the children are naturally attracted to be with us.

The traumatic effect on children whose parents separate or divorce, so prevalent in our society, was lessened in the commune inasmuch as when a man and woman no longer felt compatible living as a couple and sharing the same room, one simply moved to another room. The fact that they could relate during the day in other creative endeavors made it possible for them to work out their differences objectively and helped eliminate the children’s fear of losing a parent. The children grew as brothers and sisters, participating with the adults in our many productive creative endeavors, joining with us to dance and sing and serve. Our music and hundreds of songs were inspired by the lifestyle we were living and the knowledge that we’d found the real thing.

Having the family members share in the care and guidance of the communal children, enabled those of us with children to develop our individual abilities in the different Schools of Experience. The children were included in many of the SOE’s and, under Thera’s direction, even had their own Children’s Raw Candy Factory.

The so-called “generation gap” in our society between the adults and the youth occurs at the age where the teens are resisting the adult’s world of effects. It’s a time in the young men and women’s lives before they take on the programming of the status quo. It is a time when they begin to see the great disparity between what they have been told and have accepted as guidance given by parents and authorities and what is actually being demonstrated by the adult world, the hypocrisy, lies and inequality, and they are struggling to maintain an identity before succumbing to the mold of conformity. The youth mistakenly blame the older generation, who, just as equally, are victims of the system and its negative effects.

Our whole society is a case of “mistaken identity.” The youth, out of fear of rejection, of homelessness, and of starvation, either take on the yoke of the wage-slave to become “responsible adults,” or because of the conditioning of deprivation, are unable to fit into the usury money system and end up in prison or on the street. Now, with the increasing inequality and failure of the system, more and more people of all ages are on the street and homeless in “the land of the free!” As Allen Michael says, “free to buy your way around.”

Natural Childbirth

Along with other things natural to life on this planet, we were crusaders in home birthing, and I am grateful to have had the wonderful opportunity of assisting in several home births in our Berkeley and Stockton houses. Most of our beautiful New Age children have had the good fortune to have experienced natural birth and home delivery, and many of the men, as well as the women, have had the opportunity to participate in this marvel of Creation. It’s an experience so sadly lacking in our compartmentalized world of professions and separate households, along with the other simple joys of living and sharing. Because they have become subjugated to materiality, most people have become divorced from the real things of life, the only things that bring true happiness.

What is thought of as extreme pain in childbirth is in truth the dynamic energy needed by the body to expel the baby from the womb. It is the resistance to this force, out of ignorance and fear, along with the unnatural position women are forced to be in, which produces the excessive pain they experience. The men, who are totally superfluous to a woman in this perfectly natural aspect of Creation Nature, have taken control, with their medical priest craft. Naturally the men of the medical establishment have no direct experience of this phenomenon, so are unable, not only to enlighten the women on the subject, but they have their own fear to deal with. They have been given a status of omniscience in our society, so we expect them to have an answer for everything relative to the body. There are, of course, many in the medical field who are more enlightened relative to childbirth, to the inherent ability of the body to heal itself and to the relationship of a healthy body to food, exercise, the environment and the mind. It is those of higher consciousness who are bringing forth the holistic and alternative methods of healing and natural childbirth.

This is not to say there is no need for medical care for the women who suffer from the negative effects of a backwards society and are unable to experience natural, healthy childbirth. Due to misuse of Creation’s Natural Laws generation after generation, the genetic strains have been affected, causing the deformities and weaknesses in strains of bodies. However, no abnormalities will exist when we return to the natural way of life on a sharing, caring, healthy planet.

When I became pregnant in 1958, I had heard of “natural childbirth” and began to read everything I could get on the subject. So, when I gave birth to Michael, my first child, I was able to experience the wonder of this creative process even tho’ I was living in Spain, which then, was even more backward than the US in this regard. I was sent books on natural childbirth from the States and shared them with many of my American friends who were also preparing for childbirth.

The Feminist Movement has been part of a natural progression in the awakening consciousness. However, for us coming out of the male-dominated world of business-as-usual, there is little gender consciousness or thought given to roles. We all take part in all aspects of communal life as much as possible. As the children so quickly pass thru their early formative years, the men have been able to share with the women in the joy of guiding and nurturing them, bringing a continuity to the lives of men and women, sharing and serving together as equal partners and friends.

The general belief is that everything has to be taught from books, as though the entity comes into the world a blank. Because of this, most adults look upon children and youth as lacking in ability to understand things of life. What the children don’t understand, in their perfect state coming from the heavenly abode, is life on this planet, which as it stands now is a perversion of Creation Nature. As they grow, young children are conditioned not to share but to guard what is called “theirs,” and as they mature, to expect a reward in exchange for their creativity and services, rather than being able to recognize that the joy is in the doing. As the children grow and are conditioned in this backwards way of life, they take on fear and lose their trust, spontaneity and God-given knowing. Their intuitive awareness is replaced by a constant self-monitoring system in search of approval in a program that conditions money-motivation. The money system of usury and taxation keeps the people under fear of lack. They are as slaves, turning the wheels for those who control it and who contribute nothing of value toward the necessities of life. The world bankers and giant corporations, along with the so-called government, are the biggest welfare recipients of all.

The concept of “possessions” and the fear of losing them has manifested out of this fear of lack and thereby, feeling the need to control. None of this has anything to do with life in Creation’s Universe, or on a planet which is abundantly rich in all things to be shared. All of the difficulties experienced in relationships between nations, tribes, religions, races, men and women, parents and children will automatically be healed when the consciousness is free of fear, and even predator animals who are mutations of the original earth strains because of the negated energies, will “lie down with the lamb.”

All things being relative, we can see that much of the limiting roles the people have assumed in their relationships with one another has been a necessary social structure during this period of awakening. In this planetary healing it has been necessary for Galactica to use money as a prod to progress, to motivate the people to bring about the science, technology, computer electronics, and finally, the Internet, before the 30/30 Plan of the World Wide Work Stoppage/Karma Yoga Exercise and the ending of the money system could be carried out.

Marin

Back in San Francisco, the success of our little vegetarian restaurant, The Here And Now, attracted Si Furman, who liked what we were doing and was looking for someone to take over his restaurant in Mill Valley. It sounded good to us, so we took him up on his offer. In 1969, we opened the Mustard Seed Natural Food Restaurant in the Town & Country Shopping Center in Mill Valley and moved to Larkspur, a short drive from there, where we rented a very large house that had previously been a convalescent home.

Beautiful, green, and at that time, peaceful Marin County, with its fresh air and wooded hills, was a welcome change from the city. When it became known in the community that we were an “extended family,” an effort was made to have us evicted based on a statute in the city charter. With Uni’s help once again, and with the donated assistance of an attorney friend, we protested, and the city lost their case.

The Mustard Seed was in an attractive setting in the Shopping Center and the first vegetarian restaurant in Marin County. We were an immediate success, with people coming from all over the County to eat our pure, natural food and enjoy our high vibes. We had been successfully operating the restaurant for almost two years when we were forced to move out. The shopping center was under pressure from a large status quo business investor, worried about our revolutionary ideas and hippy-looking customers, especially the young man with a monkey sitting at an outdoor table. They were able to evict us based on a small technicality in the lease, which, of course, they had ignored when they wanted our business.

Berkeley

Just prior to our eviction from the Mustard Seed, our friend Si once again came to us with the proposal that we take over The Forum, a large restaurant that he and his partner, Franco, had been operating on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. It was in the same magical way everything was working for us in those days, and we accepted his offer.

Michael, Bob, Bin and I went to Berkeley (or, Berzerkly, as we fondly called it) to begin setting up our natural food service next to Franco’s coffee house in the building that had formerly been a supermarket. The restaurant space was about four times the size of our little Mustard Seed in Mill Valley, and we really got into cooking large quantities of food in a hurry. Frankie had retained the front of the restaurant to serve espresso coffee, and soon the Forum’s steady flow of customers, who were still meat-eaters, dwindled to a trickle.

We rented a large fraternity house, formerly the Acacia House, a block up the hill from the restaurant on Piedmont Avenue, and the rest of the family in Larkspur joined us there. It was quite a contrast to peaceful Marin County, and we buckled into the frantic pace as we operated our communal free enterprise natural food service, “The Mustard Seed,” alongside Franco’s espresso coffeehouse. After a few months, we found Franco’s less-than-honorable way of operating in the getting-for-self consciousness so incompatible with our communal sharing ways, we were forced to move out. The arrangement with Frankie had proven to be very difficult for us to balance and we weren’t too sorry to leave. The only thing about the move was that we had an exceptionally large family to house, clothe and feed.

Following our departure from the Forum, our community services took a more varied form. We found a bakery that was having financial problems, so that in return for painting and cleaning up the bakery in the afternoon, an unbelievable mess, we were allowed to use the facilities for our own baking. We sold our bread and pastries to health food stores all over Berkeley and our Sunflower/Sesame Seed Whole Wheat Bread had the reputation of being “the best bread in town.”

During this time, we took in boarders, prepared vegetarian dinner parties, catered and played music at churches, fairs and schools. It was a new adventure, and as representatives of our Universal Industrial Church, Thera and I occasionally had a lark obtaining donations of food at the large produce market in Oakland.

With such high rents and so many people to feed, it became clear that we were rightful recipients of Welfare funding. We felt that to participate in the buying and selling wage-slave system of usury money would defeat our purpose in being here, and that we could no longer function at that level of consciousness and carry out our communal democracy demonstration to teach the truth of sharing.

Government Funding

We could see that the Godmind had set up the Social Security System so that spiritual revolutionaries would be able to drop out of the backwards, ungodly system and have their basic needs met while fulfilling their mission. So, we individually applied for Supplemental Security Income, SSI, based on our heightened state of awareness and our inability to stay balanced and function in the vibration of the lower energies of the status quo system. It is clear to us that because of our spiritual motivation and our righteousness, with Uni’s help, we were granted the Social Security benefits, as have many others since then who have recognized the truth of sharing. This has made it possible for us to continue our demonstration, maintain our sharing/serving relationship all of these years, and to bring Allen Michael and the Everlasting Gospel to the people thru our publications, video productions, speaking engagements and now, through the Internet at www.galacticmessenger.com, we are live online 24/7/365 for the World People!

The One World Family Natural Food Center

A short time after we had moved out of the Forum, we were surprised by a contact from Dr. Humphreys, the principal lease-holder of the building. He had bought Frankie out, and because he respected Allen Michael and what we were doing, asked us if we would like to reopen our restaurant with a long-term lease.

We agreed and opened the One World Family Natural Food Center on Telegraph Avenue for the second time in March of ’72 and, for the following three years, we continued remodeling and adding to the Center. We added a bakery and pizzeria in the rear of the building, a large entertainment hall with stage next to the restaurant, and in the front of the building, our Far Outfits handmade, airbrushed clothing shop.

It was a great experience for everyone, participating with AM on the remodeling, a master craftsman with years of carpentry, cabinet making and set designing experience. For Allen, it was a valuable lesson in learning to direct many activities at one time and balancing out the frustration of working with people inexperienced in the field.

The corner of Telegraph and Haste was a kaleidoscope of energies and the central “dealing” spot on Telegraph Avenue. Musicians and “street people” gathered outside, and Hari Krishna devotees danced in and out of the Center, spreading light and joy with their symbols and songs. It was the same corner where police tear gassed the rioting UC students during their demonstration over “People’s Park,” which was located behind us in the same block.

In addition to the natural food restaurant, the Center contained a pizzeria, a bakery, an entertainment hall and our Far Outfits shop, where we sold our airbrushed, handmade clothing. Our weekends were filled with music and dancing to our band, Quazar, our other musical groups and local bands. The highlight of the week was our Thursday Evenings of Enlightenment, with Allen Michael channeling from Galactica the ways and means of bringing about social and planetary transformation.

Our older children took part in the restaurant operation and we had the wonderful experience of being able to share with all of the children the singing and dancing which were an integral part of our lives. Hundreds of New Age youth were attracted to our energies during the four years we were in Berkeley. They came and went, learning from us and we from them, helping with our giant undertaking of providing the community and ourselves with a beautiful New Age Natural Food and Entertainment Center. We all contributed our love services freely and no wages were ever paid.

Coordinating the shift schedule was a challenge as well as a rewarding experience in learning to stay balanced while dealing with different needs and personalities. Each of us committed ourselves to a five hour per day Love Service shift, rotating between the food service shifts which kept our cash flow coming in and childcare, meals, housecleaning, buying, publications, promotions, gardening, musical performance, sewing, airbrushing and woodshop.

According to our autonomous self-government structure, each person chooses themselves to be. Without thought of reward, we willingly give our services where needed and in whatever area our abilities lie, to provide our daily needs. The cash flow from our various “schools of experience,” such as natural food restaurants, bakery, clothing shop, woodcrafts, video, publications, promotions, musical performances and recording has been used to maintain and expand the various Schools of Experience and continue publication of the Everlasting Gospel. In recent years, with a much smaller communal group, our creative projects have narrowed down to video production and book and newsletter publishing.

During our five years in Berkeley, we moved up the hill behind our Center, block by block up Haste Street. Following the Acacia House on Piedmont, we moved a block up to Warring Street, where we had two large houses side-by-side, which we named “Altamedia” and “Placentia.” From there, we moved another block up to Prospect Street, where we rented two houses, also side-by-side, the “Novida” and the “Altamira.” All of the houses were former UC fraternity houses and ideal for communal living, with their multiple bedrooms, communal-sized kitchens and dining rooms.

In our houses, we would allocate a space for what we call our community clothes closet, where we put clothing to be passed on. It’s an interesting phenomena how materiality always seems to accumulate over a short period of time, and the larger the group, the more use can be found for the various tools, equipment, clothes and other miscellaneous matter. “Righteousness” simply means right use of all materials and energies. The equipment, tools and instruments are maintained and coordinated by the person or persons most involved in a particular School of Experience.

Natural Selection

We had been together for about four years when, at one of our weekly family meetings in the Altamira House, Allen Michael opened the discussion up to group tantra, the exchange of sexual energies, or as we call it, Natural Selection. The wisdom of Allen Michael’s unprecedented ideas had been demonstrated to us consistently during our years together, so when he brought forth the idea, we were timidly open to trying it out. The following week, we initiated the beginning of what, to me, was the most revolutionary of our communal experiences.

We could see the benefit of going beyond the mortal-minded status quo programming in order to provide for one another the health benefits in exchanging hormones and energies in right sexing and the accompanying increased telepathic communication, while at the same time ridding ourselves of false programming of shame, guilt, jealousy and possessiveness.

In subsequent meetings, we discussed the ways and means to come together in a tantric circle, “cross-catalyzing” and sharing energies, while keeping in mind pitfalls in an area so fraught with hang-ups and paranoia. There was an excitement as well as apprehension in knowing we were taking the leap.

We began our first NS meetings with group massage and became comfortable developing a more intimate relationship with one another. We began to establish guidelines for the meetings, being sensitive to one another’s needs in an area so misunderstood and negated in our society. We limited our first classes to the original six couples who had come together, and it became a custom for the women to invite the men to join them for each meeting.

During the week, the doubt would creep in, and I would begin to think of any number of reasons why I couldn’t make the next NS meeting, but in the end, I was able to balance the negative pole and follow thru and was always thankful afterward that I had.

Beautiful music, candlelight and pleasant surroundings helped to raise the vibration and set the scene as we came together as couples, bathed and dressed in loose garments. We related to one another with affection and warmth, aware of the power of our thoughts and of our telepathic communion. I could see that, for myself and everyone involved, it was essential that I rise above any thought of doubt or negation and affirm the beautiful, spiritual relationship of man and woman coming together as one.

We often would begin with a glass of wine or juice, as we conversed, stretched and relaxed together. After a period of time, we formed a circle, with the women facing the men in the tantric position. We caressed and massaged one another as we shared the feeling of intimacy in the rising energies.

At the end of each song on the tape, the women would change partners as they moved around the circle. There were no set rules for timing, but usually we would complete the circle once and then, the second time around, as the energies would rise, the men and women would complete the sexual union.

The purpose of “cross catalyzing” (as we called it) in our Natural Selection classes was not to reach a climax, but to rise in consciousness, from the solar plexus, to heart, to head chakra, as we exchanged the health-giving energies. It was understood that men who were new to the experience and unable to control an ejaculation would simply disengage from the woman, eliminating any fear of unwanted pregnancy.

As we passed around the tantric circle, giving and receiving hormones and energies, with the affirmation of our oneness in God consciousness, I experienced an exhilaration and sense of oneness unlike any other group relationship I have ever known. As I would rise in the energies, I found myself transcending personalities and often would lose my sense of identity, as well as that of my partner. I would become aware of myself and my partner as etheric Beings in bodies, giving and receiving as one in the flow of Creation energies. In the healing experience of natural sexing, the uniqueness in each other’s energy and beauty is unveiled as facets in the jewel of Creation, affirming our true relationship and oneness of purpose. At the end of our meeting, I experienced a wonderful euphoria and comraderie with everyone, as we all floated back to our various niches for the evening.

After a few meetings, when we felt we had established our guidelines and were feeling secure in the experience, we opened the meetings up to other communal members who wished to participate. As we grew in our ability to balance the negated thought postulates and maintain a high vibration, more and more of the family members who were ready to go beyond old recordings joined the group. The wonderfully transformative weekly meetings continued consistently for four years.

The degree to which we were able to transcend the heavily recorded fear around natural, healthy, fulfilling sexual relationships was based on a bond of trust, which is formed between men and women when they live together communally, sharing all things in common, and are in service to one another. Also, I feel, that to have taken the leap of faith that we did, it was necessary for us to have had the guidance of a master adept such as Allen Michael.

It’s a sad thing that trust is so lacking in our fearful, getting-for-self society, where money comes before human welfare. When we are living together as a group, committed to sharing and caring for one another, we know we will always be supported, and we grow in this awareness as we heal past conditioning from a backwards lifestyle. For me, our Natural Selection meetings were the most liberating and transcending experience I’ve ever had.

The recognition is growing that the spiritual union of two people who come together on vibration to share their lives does not require a contract sanctified by the State. When we are free to express and give of ourselves in creative experiences, giving and receiving with one another on a daily basis of love services, we no longer expect one person to be all things. We can honor each person for their unique, individual talents, abilities and contributions, as we come together with different people at different times in our harmonious, flowing dance of life.

False ideas of ownership and attachments, whether they are to people, property, materiality or ideas, are just an effect of the fear of losing something and a by-product of the unnatural getting-for-self money system, with its haves and have not’s. Attachments keep us from being free to be in the omnipresent here and now, knowing that Creation Universe provides for all of our needs. The idea of “owning” property and our mates comes from this concept of lack – an illusion recorded in the collective consciousness. In our coming New World, there will be no lack or need for laws to protect the money and property of the few, and there will be no crime, another of the effects of an unnatural system of inequality.

Of course, we had the old recorded hang-ups from past conditioning to deal with, but they were healed as we went along. We recognized that what we see in others, is what we have in ourselves, and in forgiving from moment to moment, we heal ourselves as well.

For a group to be in this higher state of consciousness, I have found the necessary ingredient to be on-going creative projects and goals that benefit the whole and that everyone takes part in, the degree to which depends on each person’s ability. People with more highly evolved talents and abilities naturally become the leaders in different areas, or “Schools of Experience,” as we call them. The leaders pass their expertise on to others interested in that particular SOE and then go on to learn a new skill.

Our aim is to go beyond the specialization trap that has come out of the usury money system, where the more highly skilled people make more money and are looked up to as being superior. The truth is that they are trapped in the monotony of repetition along with everyone else, while the lower paid, more menial workers are unable to advance and gain the same skills as others and are thereby relegated to a less-qualified, inferior status of monotony. No one really wins in the old status quo buying-and-selling, wheeling-and-dealing system, not even the World Banker ruling class, stuck in their illusions of bringing about a new world order with their money system and their fear of losing what they have.

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