40 Years of Living the Future

Transcription

1 Heart Consciouness Church Years of Living the Future

2 We re Celebrating!! It was not easy for a bunch of shell-shocked young people, refugees from a decade of assassinations, Civil Rights upheaval and the Vietnam War, to come together to form a community. But here we are, 40 years later, having not only survived but thrived. Many other intentional communities began at that time and have by now failed. In that sense, ours is an important story. There are three books that, taken together, give a detailed account of Harbin Hot Springs in its early days as a healing/retreat center and New Age community. The first, Harbin Hot Springs - Healing Waters, Sacred Land by Ellen Klages, an award-winning writer, was written just before Harbin s present owner, Heart Consciousness Church, turned twenty years old. It is an extraordinary book which begins at the beginning of Harbin s true history - in pre-history, when Native Americans found sacredness in the land and waters - and continues a colorful account through Victorian, Prohibition, and hippie eras. The final quarter of the book details the establishment of the current era that began in 1972 when Robert (Ishvara) Hartley bought the ruins of a 60s counter-culture experiment called Harbinger University. The second book of the three is Ishvara s own account of buying Harbin, his spiritual path, and his personal journey in establishing Heart Consciousness Church. The book is called Oneness In Living - Kundalini Yoga, the Spritual Path, and the Intentional Community, published in An excerpt can be found in these pages. The third book, circa 1990 s, is by Sajjad Mamoud. Sajjad, a former surgeon, arrived in 1983 as a resident/construction worker and, after designing Harbin s first ever budget, was Harbin s top manager - a position he held till his retirement in January of He created a viable working and living structure so residents could sustain themselves over the long haul. Before Sajjad, most residents left after a few years - now there are many, such as myself, who have been here for two or even three decades. Sajjad s contribution is the most important of our underreported stories - the 170 residents at Harbin owe him a real debt of gratitude. Sajjad s book, written under the name Sajjad Wyne, is called The Big Bang and the Harbin Experience. As the title implies, this is a humorous look at the dayto-day ironies of such an eclectic group of political/spiritual anarchists trying to govern themselves. All three books are available for sale in the main office at the Harbin Bookstore and give a good overview of Harbin up until twenty years ago. Thirty years of Harbin Quarterly magazines have kept track of the history since, and are available for reference in the Harbin Library. On this 40th anniversary of Heart Consciousness Church, we hope you enjoy reading about our past - we certainly enjoyed living it. And we hope your present stay is one you will want to repeat again and again in the future - for at least forty more years. Blessed be, AnnPrehn

3 Contents... 4 The History of Harbin Hot Springs Part III - Evolution of Community (from Fall 86 Quarterly) 7 Kerista Institute Publication (Spring 77) 8 Harbin s first workshops ( 76) 10 Ishvara s 75th Year (from Spring 08 Quarterly - excerpted from Ishvara s book, Oneness in Living. Many more stories are available at Harbin during February. Come visit us.

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8 Harbin s First W When Homeopathist Dana Ullman was arrested for arrived at Harbin for 4 days of 40 outside workshops (fe fense.thanks to Elo Devi (Michelle) Hea Dana Ullman 8

9 orkshops practicing medicine without a license, 400 people w buildings were habitable) to raise money for his dert and Dana Ullman for these photos. 9

10 Iwas born Robert F. Hartley

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