Ummm . . .? : Our Man in the Ojai Valley Searches for the Truth, the Light--and a Little Something to Eat

What is the sound of one head spinning?

Read on and perhaps you will get close to answering that question. At least closer than I, who spent the past 30 or so days and nights pursuing enlightenment in the Ojai Valley, a place positively humming with spiritual energy.

You will read about what I (henceforth to be known as the Seeker) saw. The path was not a smooth one (even though the Seeker had just bought new tires), nor did it have clear directional signs. For someone with a poor metaphysical sense of direction, that can be a problem.

But the Seeker had heart, commitment and, of course, an assignment--to experience a sampling off the extensive Ojai Valley spiritual menu. Most importantly, the Seeker had a yearning for spiritual wholeness, and he had a job--one he wanted to keep.

So as this journey commences, those who are also at a spiritual crossroads might consider the Seeker to be a middleman; the universal (or at least countywide) Seeker.

The quest began simply enough. Even a neophyte spiritualist knows that Ojai and its surroundings are the nearest place to go for a little consciousness-raising. Hey, if it was good enough for J. Krishnamurti and the Theosophical Society, it’s good enough for the humble Seeker.

“The essence of Ojai is the spiritual energy that is here,” said Ken Cornelius, a man of the spirit and a cab driver in the Ojai area.

He also said: “I’m not the kind of guy who believes in hugga-bugga stuff.” The Seeker knew he was on the right road.

Here, then, is the recounting of that trip.

The Seeker called a few acquaintances in the Ojai Valley. To a soul, they asked, “Have you tried the Heart of Light?” They were referring to a metaphysical and holistic store on Ojai Avenue. It’s a nice shop, full of new-age items such as books, crystals and ethereal music. But of particular interest to the Seeker was the famous back-room bulletin board.

Tarot readers, meditation groups, a Tibetan Tantric healing group in Los Angeles, a guy who gives VCR lessons--a whole galaxy of people and organizations have their flyers and business cards tacked there. The Seeker knew, deep down, that the VCR guy would be the most enlightening; it had been many a moon since the Seeker had actually recorded a cable program.

But that was a material desire, certainly not appropriate for such a potentially life-transforming trek.

The Seeker spoke with store manager Randi Hirsch, a psycho-spiritual counselor. (The Seeker had already tried communicating with a spiritual counselor whose name he had found in the telephone directory, but the number had been disconnected. He tried concentrating really hard, but that didn’t work either.)

Hirsch gave the Seeker some tips and mentioned the store’s regular reiki healing and sacred circle session.

The reiki group--led by Hirsch and co-spiritual counselor Khabira--met on a Sunday evening. The Seeker figured that driving the 80-plus miles round-trip to participate had to count for something in life’s spiritual tally.

The session began with a group chant, the 16 or so participants standing in a circle, holding hands. The Seeker closed his eyes and tried to follow along. He didn’t know what he was singing but found it calming.

Then it was time for the healing. Those who had been initiated by a reiki master would work on those who hadn’t. Reiki is a nearly two-century-old Japanese form of hands-on healing founded by Dr. Mikao Usui. The word reiki translates to “ether wave,” or universal life energy. The healing takes place through the passing of energy from healer to healee.

The Seeker reclined on a table and, without getting a good glimpse of who was actually working on him, the session began. The healer moved from head to toe on the front of the body and then did the same on the back. Afterward, the healer told the Seeker that she felt a great exchange of energy. The Seeker, in fact, felt more relaxed. But to be honest, he still had the headache he came in with.

Later, the group sat in a circle to discuss the members’ experiences. In front of Khabira was a metal dragon standing on its head. It served as a talking stick--whoever had the dragon also had the floor. The Seeker found the dragon’s upside-downness profoundly meaningful until Khabira said, “Oh, it’s upside-down,” and flipped it over.

On to astrology. We’re not talking next-to-the-Mary Worth-cartoon strip newspaper variety, but rather real chart-your-life astrology. Helga Stern, who has a degree in physics, is a professional astrologer, a personal consultant. She also leads astrology groups.

One of those groups deals with “The Astrology of Transformation.”

“I am teaching people to look at horoscopes with an eye toward seeing their growth and what sort of issues they have in life; their talent, their skills, what they have to contribute to the world, how to overcome difficulties,” she said. “We studied (mass murderer) Jeffrey Dhammer’s chart and there were people in the class who had charts similar to his. We were able to understand that the patterns are there, but they can be used in an infinite number of ways.”

Essentially, she told the Seeker, the goal is to help people live life to its fullest.

Stern also leads a group in practicing an ancient branch of astrology that is used to make predictions based on specific moments.

“It kind of fell out of favor this century because it was so fatalistic, but there’s been a revival the last several years,” she said. “You ask questions, and a chart is drawn up for the moment the question is prevalent.”

Stern said the questions vary dramatically. “We have asked things like ‘Where are the missing car keys?’ to ‘What happened to a person who has been missing for five years?’ We’ve had some success but we have a lot to learn.”

The Seeker remembered his VCR. He thought about asking Stern about it but changed his mind.

The Seeker felt it was time to make his way up to Meditation Mount, near the Ojai-Santa Paula border. After all, didn’t Moses receive the Ten Commandments on a mountain? Didn’t Noah land his ark on a mountain? Mountains, thought the Seeker, are where things happen.

As he drove toward the plateau, he had images of people in a meadow, sitting cross-legged on pillows, eyes closed, backs straight. What he found was a horse and some hay. The Seeker had pulled into a ranch by mistake. Hey, he professes to be a Seeker, not a Finder.

He backtracked and made his way to the Mount, home of the national headquarters of the international Meditation Groups Inc. The Seeker was awed by the wonderful mountaintop view of hillsides and a multicolored valley illuminated by the sun.

The Seeker got out of his car and walked around the facility. It was so quiet he could hear the dry leaves crackle beneath his shoes--Zodiac brand, by coincidence. He made his way to the main office, to the library with its books on philosophy and religion, and to the meditating room. The Seeker got a chill at the last stop--it was either the energy in the room or the air-conditioning.

Meditation Mount, he found out, offered conferences and monthly full-moon meditation meetings. Meditation Groups Inc. offers a three-year beginner’s correspondence course in the basics of meditation. There is also a more advanced course.

On his way out of the library, the Seeker spotted a dirt path leading to a patch of wildflowers. This, he thought, might be the way to the ultimate answer. Then he noticed a sign warning any visitors who spot rattlesnakes not to harm them but to notify someone. He hoped the rattlesnakes had a similar policy regarding spiritual seekers, then abandoned the path.

On his way down the hill, the Seeker felt pangs from deep in his gut.

An inner awakening, perhaps? More likely hunger. He stopped at the Rainbow Bridge Health Food Store, another business with a much publicized bulletin board. To get into the spirit of the quest, he ordered his first-ever Garden Burger from the store’s kitchen.

Meanwhile, he listened to the conversations of the other customers.

“My Virgo daughter, she hates change,” one woman said. Being a Virgo himself, the Seeker could relate.

“Sometimes they ask you to join without telling you what it is,” said a man, referring to new age groups. Again, the Seeker understood.

Another man talked of meditating on a rooftop. That was a tough one to relate to. Fiddling, maybe, but meditating?

Every two weeks Devin Bull of the California School of Meditation drives from Malibu with his guitar to the Miramonte area near Ojai, where he leads a mantra meditation group at the home of two followers. The Seeker attended one of those sessions--where, by the way, they served tea and fruit salad with walnuts.

Having spoken earlier to Bull over the phone, the Seeker had one important piece of information: One of the mantras to be chanted was “Gopala Govinda Rama Madana-Mohana.”

“Our meditation is based on the hearing and repetition of different mantras,” Bull said. “A mantra is not a material sound vibration; it is a spiritual sound vibration, made up of names of God. By chanting God’s name you can become purified spiritually.”

Bull said the chants have been passed down from disciple to disciple going all the way back to God. Which God? The group is multidenominational.

Before starting the mantra meditation, Bull said, it is necessary to answer three questions: “What is my essence, spiritual or material?” “Am I God or a child of God?” and “What is my function?”

The Seeker was nervous. He hadn’t expected a pop quiz.

He was still trying to answer the questions when the group began what the Seeker considered to be a grueling chant of a Hare Krishna mantra--54 times. Bull suggested to the Seeker that he go home and do it 162 times. The Seeker wondered if enlightenment could be reached during hyperventilation.

Things were starting to get a bit muddled inside the Seeker’s brain, so he decided it was time to have a talk with Cornelius, who operates the Ojai Taxi Co.

Cornelius is a follower of Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, the Siddha Yoga guru. There were Siddha Yoga centers in Ojai up until about seven years ago. Now Cornelius goes to Santa Barbara when he wants to practice in a group setting.

At his home he has a prayer table and pictures of Gurumayi and her predecessor, Baba Muktananda--next to his taxi dispatch table--where his wife and children join him in mantra chants and meditation. Cornelius said he bows to Gurumayi’s picture each morning as a way of saying, “I’m giving the best part of my day to you,” he said. “But about 85 times a day I forget that, when I do something stupid.”

Cornelius said he has handed out Siddha Yoga correspondence course lessons to taxi passengers, and sometimes he and his wife will show a Siddha Yoga video to newcomers. When he was introduced to Siddha Yoga it was during the Baba days, and Cornelius was a little skeptical.

“I was suspicious of anybody who had a shaved head (which Baba did),” he said. “I just wanted to do my own thing. Nobody was going to tell me what to do.”

But once he began the practice he noticed a change. “All of a sudden I didn’t want to hang out with my beer-drinking buddies. I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. I didn’t watch football all day anymore.”

On the afternoon of the following day, the Seeker visited the Ojai Foundation property along California 150. It was shut down in 1991 because of building, fire and health code violations. The foundation was granted a partial permit last month and is once again holding retreats and other programs on the land. A Rockefeller grant of $300,000 will help it get back on its feet.

The foundation was founded in 1975 (though not much happened until 1979) to encourage the study and observance of international culture and spiritual practice and to promote healthy living. Assuming permits are reissued, people again will be able to rent out Mongolian yurts (huts) to escape from civilization for several days at a time.

Guest speakers visit periodically. In the past they have included Tibetan lamas, pottery artists, environmentalists, musicians, dancers and practitioners of Zen. Ajahn Amaro, a Buddhist monk from England, will visit Sunday.

The Seeker arrived at the foot of the 40-acre property, drove up a dirt road, past a water tank and toward the gorgeous hills. He noticed some odd rock formations and spotted a beautiful garden.

He got out of his car and felt light-headed. There was something about the immenseness of the area, the surrounding hills and lush flora that made him feel smaller than usual. He proceeded down a path toward the foundation office and found Peter Manzelmann doing his gardening. Manzelmann is one of the foundation administrators.

“We call it The Land,” he said, extending a friendly, compost-covered hand. “This piece of land really has a good feel to it. Spend some time here. It has a power of its own.” Manzelmman used to live on the property when it was a commune. “It was a community atmosphere,” he said, “a place where people could work together, but a place for contemplation.”

Leon Berg, another administrator, told the Seeker that he came to the Ojai Foundation on the advice of a friend.

“I was in San Diego when the land I was living on was sold,” he said. “One day I was in a state of prayerful meditation and I asked the Lord, ‘Now what?’ A still, quiet voice within me said, ‘Go to Ojai.’ ”

The Seeker had been touched, but was getting tired. His stomach was empty--a Garden Burger goes just so far, and his head was stuffed. Just one more stop, he told himself.

Transcendental meditation would be next. TM was big a couple of decades ago, but do people still practice it? According to Nick Scanlan, head of the Ojai office, yes, though not as many as before.

“It’s very easy to do,” Scanlan said. “Two times a day, 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes in the evening. You get more energy and more clarity immediately.”

The practice, developed in 1959 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, uses chants as do other forms of meditation. So what is the difference? asked the Seeker.

“It’s basically effortless, a natural practice,” Scanlan said. “You are transcending the surface of the mind to deeper and quieter levels.” Scanlan said earlier practitioners were looking for their inner selves, adherents now are looking for ways to make more money.

Tell me more, the Seeker said. But Scanlan said the rest, including how personal mantras are developed for each practitioner, is a secret. And it now costs $400 per adult to uncover the secret. “We take MasterCard and Visa,” Scanlan said.

The Seeker headed out of Ojai, maybe more enlightened, certainly more confused. He had a lot to think about, but wanted to be free of thought. He could try meditation, but there were so many varieties to choose from. Maybe a movie would be a better idea.

Then it hit him. There was a movie he really wanted to see that was going to be on HBO the coming weekend. What was the number of that VCR man?