Welcome to John of AllFaith's MyStory
True Stories
That Changed My LifePart Three: The Seventies, Part two
Go to Part OneGreetings and Welcome to MyStory!
With the Fisher's of Men I did street ministry in downtown Atlanta, in Honduras, Guatemala, New Orleans and elsewhere. Our base of operations was His Place in Atlanta, named after Arthur Blessitt's mission, His Place on the Sunset Strip.
From the spring of 1976 until 1981 or so, my spiritual practices were eclectic and varied. At times, I could be found preaching Jesus in the streets, at other times dancing before Radha Krsna deities at the Hare Krsna Temples or practicing the Omkara before Lord Siva or dancing naked with the Witches, or sweating in the lodges of the AIM, or seeing the light with Guru Maharaji's people, or celebrating life with the Children of God, or hanging out in Piedmont Park... and so on. I continued my quest with zeal, incorporating many traditions as though they were all essentially one. It was during this period that I first heard the Rg Veda saying, "Truth is One, the sages call it by different names" and again, Ek Onkar: God is One.
During this time, I met the followers of Chôgyam Trungpa Rinpoche of the Dharmadhatu Buddhist sect, my fourth teacher, and learned much about meditation and controlling my body, mind and spirit.
I also returned to the International Society for Krsna Consciousness on Ponce DeLeon Ave. in Atlanta. The Bond Community, the area surrounding Little Five Points, was a Dharma Bum's dream come true! At three AM I'd be at the KRSNA mandir (the Hare Krsna temple) and mangala arotika (morning worship), after prayers I was off to Guru Maharaji's Divine Light Mission, then to the 3HO restaurant of Sikh Master Yogi Bhajan for lunch or to Guru Maharaji's Rainbow Grocery for trail mix and apples. After lunch, I'd trip over to Ravenwood for talks with Lady Santana or Lord Collin about Paganism. There was so much to do! And of course, David Moses' Children of God house was always fun!
During much of this time I was staying in a hippie commune near the First Existential Church of Atlanta. Then in the evenings, I was off for Christian street ministry downtown with the Fisher's Men. Ek Onkar, God is One and I sought that One joyously. People would often tell me that I needed to pick one Path and follow it alone, but how could I when I beheld the presence of God everywhere I looked? Everywhere I witnessed miracles, perceived spiritual mystery and felt the presence of God. I simply could not deny what I was experiencing!
I quickly learned that it was vital to keep my various group participations separate however. For instance, once I found a saffron/orangish colored suit that reminded me of the saffron robes of the Hindu Sanyasins. The ISKCON Devotees loved it! Balavanta, the temple president laughed and called me KRSNA's ambassador to the Christians. The Fisher's of Men were not so accepting however! I thought I was going to be kicked out of the group! I wasn't, but never again did I mention my other interests to any of them.
Today everyone who knows me knows of my AllFaith beliefs, but back then it seemed prudent to keep such things to myself. Many of the groups I was working with had little tolerance for other faiths. But for me... God was absolutely everywhere! The Greek Orthodox Church moved my soul with their spiritual invocations and Holy icons. The Pentecostals were rolling in the aisles and soon the Spirit of God had me rolling on the floors and speaking in tongues with the rest. I loved to go to the Pentecostals early service, and then rush to the Primitive Baptists for their gloriously somber services! How could I choose one group over another? I felt God's presence everywhere! I was in heaven!
Also in the Bond Community I found a group that shocked me. In a small storefront on North Highland Ave was a Christian church. One Sunday morning I went in to check them out. The minister was a woman as I recall, but I'd seen such before, as strange as it was to me back then. At first, it seemed like a normal, small church but then... Then I noticed that the two guys sitting across from me were holding hands! In front of me a woman whispered something to the woman to her right. The friend smiled, and then... kissed her on the lips! Not passionately, just the way a husband will give his wife a quick little peck, but... these were both women! This church served the homosexual community! I'd never even heard of such a thing before!
The area had a rather active LGBT community which I thought was cool, but a church? This was the Atlanta First Metropolitan Community Church. I was amazed and added them to my regular spiritual rounds. Today this premier Atlanta UFMCC is large and has an impressive church building. They were just getting started back then.
By this time I had already discovered that Piedmont Park was the local gay sex hangout, but most of the people there seemed so unhappy, many hiding in cars and beneath the entry bridge for clandestine meetings that seemed to be merely physical and unfulfilled. But here I met happy gay people who genuinely loved God and I learned that same gendered sexuality with other Christians could be as fulfilling as any other love! Since then I have always stood up for homosexual rights and God's love for this community.
Through the Fisher's of Men, I met Christian Evangelist Arthur Blessitt, "the man who carried the cross around the world" (literally!). I preached with Arthur in Central America and on the streets of Atlanta (and years later in San Francisco). I was deeply inspired by Arthur, and so I carried my own 12x6 foot wooden cross from Atlanta to San Antonio Texas (approximately 1000 miles), where I was ordained by Calvary Chapel in 1978 after a period of study. Pastor Foster and the Christian community there also anointed me with oil and prayers and God mended the hole in my left ventricle.
I returned briefly to Atlanta, then headed north where I spent three months alone in cave in the North Georgia Mountains seeking the truth within. As the snow began to fall, the idea of being trapped deep in the mountains with only a few bags of trail mix seemed a bit unwise, so I returned to Atlanta as the first snows began to fall around Raburn's Gap.
A couple of months later the Spirit of Ek Devata, the One God, led me back to Daytona Beach, Florida. I was inwardly certain that I was being directed there by Marga or Destiny. At times I sense that a certain course is destined to be. This trip was such an occasion. While in Daytona Beach I met Ed and Ann "R". From the moment we met, we knew our destinies were intertwined. It was our certainty that Ed was the reincarnation of famed psychic Edgar Cayce and that the two of us had something important to accomplish. We had met for a reason. And we had. In the photo to the left Ed is standing beside Cayce's photograph at the Institute for Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach, Virginia. There were a few folks involved in our little group of seekers, including Gary and Liz "W", and in time, we all moved to Virginia Beach (and later to North Carolina not too many miles from my cave described above). To the right is a photo of me sitting in our Virginia Beach ashram before a small eclectic alter (circa 1979 if my dates are right). My experiences with these good people were periods of important growth and spiritual development for me. In time our little band drifted apart, but I still remember them fondly and am certain that our friendship was one of destiny. Perhaps I'll write more on this some day...
In 1979 I was on a bus going through Alabama or thereabouts when a most fascinating man approached and sat down beside me. He knew my name and a lot of information about me that he had no way of knowing according to normal methods. Through our conversations I came into a much deeper understanding.
I returned to Daytona. Having learned to read thanks to the Witnesses I fell in love with poetry. Around this same time, I wrote the following poem while, I believe, sitting in Ed's garage. It reflects my essential beliefs today as well as it did when it was written around 1979.
God's Garden ~by John of AllFaith © 1979 Some folks say they know the truth
They claim they've got it all down,
But I say that such people
Are little more than clowns
For God is far greater
Than anything we conceive
And so we're only partly right
No matter what we believe
Like Paul we gaze in the mirror
And behold our own reflection
I guess we won't really know the Truth
'Till we attain perfection
The only thing I know for sure
Is that God is Love
My only hope of salvation
Is to trust that Love above
Yah vishva deva
Ki vatika
Hai sair karne
Ke liye
[translation: This universe is God's garden
And its meant for roaming in]
After our time together ended, in the fall of 1979, I managed to work passage to the UK. I traveled a bit, and then returned. Nothing noteworthy happened during this trip. What a short strange trip its been!
Part Four
