My brother gave Barnes & Noble gift cards to my parents this Christmas, and my mother is enthralled by the Kindle, so I've been shopping around for a new family. I'd like my new family to be financially secure, broad-minded, and happy. They should also be here in Oregon, because I don't want to have to get a new driver's license photo taken.
Focusing on these criteria, I think I've found my new family in the pages of the book This Very Place the Lotus Paradise.
These people are so happy! What could be better than greeting your spiritual leader with flowers and song as he drives by in his Rolls Royce?
Or helping with his travel plans by painting one of his airplanes?
Or lining up along the dirt road in anticipation of his driving by in a(nother) Rolls Royce?
Or taking part in the first documented bioterror attack in the U.S.?
The Bagwan Shree Rajneesh — later rebranded as Osho — was deported from the U.S. and eventually went back to Pune, India. Now the site of a beautifully appointed retreat, the Osho community location in Pune has a web presence that could just as easily represent an upscale day spa or meditation center in Tucson.
I'm 25 years too late to join the family group at Rajneeshpuram, Oregon. Perhaps I'll just meditate on forgiveness.