"I didn't tell you what else blew my mind in the invitation for the weekend; I'm to present a review of my experience of the Nuri meeting." Ben looked at Joan. "I have no idea how they knew I was there. Maybe they knew you attended too?"

       "Nothing would surprise me," Joan said.

       A few minutes later Joan suddenly remembered what she'd seen on CNN earlier that morning. "Ben, did you see in today's news that Angela is in a coma, not expected to live?"

       "No, what is it?"

       "They don't seem to know. An aneurysm in the brain, something technical."

       Ben's mind flashed back to when he had first met Angela. "God, I wish there were something we could do to help. It's hard for me to think of her as the First Lady."

       "Yeah, me too. She almost managed to break us up, but she certainly doesn't deserve this kind of horror."

       "I'll phone Frank as soon as we land, and see if he's been in touch with Angela's doctors," Ben said.

       "Frank?" Ben said on the phone in the airport. "I just heard about Angela. I'm terribly sorry. Are you in touch with her?" He listened for a few moments.

       "My god, you're her brother, how can they keep you away from her?" There was a pause again as Ben listened.

       "Our nemesis Gorgon again! Well, keep trying and I'll see if there's anything I can do from my end. Joan's with me on this trip to Healdsburg, so maybe she'll think of something. Keep your spirits up and we'll be in touch soon."

      Joan was impressed at the beauty of the vineyards as they drove to Cartwright's rural estate. And she was even more dazzled by Cartwright's house and surrounding gardens. They arrived just at dusk; an enigmatic air seemed to emanate from the entire estate.

       Ben was astonished when they were met by Billy Peterson as they parked their rental car. "Hey, what're you doing here?" Ben asked, a smile playing around his lips. He suddenly had a feeling he'd been set up with the "robbery" at the bookstore.

       "Oh, I study with Dr. Cartwright," Billy said nonchalantly, smiling at them. "You have a choice of staying in one bungalow or two."

       Ben looked at Joan. "Why don't we stay in two," she said, "and play it by ear."

       That was fine with Ben. Billy showed them to their separate bungalows and Ben had a chance to unpack before the evening meeting was to begin. Ben knocked on Joan's bungalow door about five minutes before meeting time. She was all ready and they walked to the house without speaking, Joan putting her arm in Ben's. Ben noticed that they were both breathing deeply of the wonderful evening aroma coming from the trees and plants and the small stream next to the house.

       Billy met them at the door and led them to the meeting room. Joan gaped at the furnishings and pictures as they passed through the living room. There were already about two dozen people seated in a circle. Extra chairs had been brought in for the larger crowd. Ben and Joan were astonished to see Governor Green in the group.

       Precisely at 8 PM Cartwright entered the room and took his seat in the circle, asking that everyone introduce themselves to the others. Ben noticed that there were several other guests present, like Joan, as well as several of the same people he had seen at the previous meetings.

       Cartwright turned immediately toward Ben. "Dr. Hamilton has expressed a desire to move to the Healdsburg area to enhance his studies," he said to the others. "Why do you think this would be a good idea?" Cartwright asked Ben directly.

       "I'd like to have the opportunity to attend more teaching sessions and I felt my being nearby would facilitate this."

       Cartwright replied immediately. "On the contrary, if you were to move to this area, you would be placed in an instructional environment which would involve less attendance at teaching sessions here."

       "Oh," Ben replied, "well I guess I'd like to be nearby so I'd have more direct contact with the enterprise."

       Cartwright looked around the circle of people. "Who would like to respond?"

       Billy Peterson stood up. "Actually, there is no physical place which is more directly in contact with the teaching than another. Dr. Hamilton has been in direct contact with the enterprise since he was first invited to Healdsburg some months ago." He sat down. Then he got up again and looked at Cartwright. "Would it be appropriate to tell the story?"

       Cartwright nodded.

       Billy began. "A teacher once told three of his students to go to a place where they would be absent from everyone, spend a month there, and then return. The first two students started off immediately, but the third student stood still. 'Why don't you do as you were instructed,' the teacher asked him. "Because I cannot find a place where I will be absent from God.'" Billy sat down again.

       This amazed Ben, that a young man whom he had taken for a country bumpkin could be so apparently advanced in his learning.

       Cartwright continued. "Your experience with Mr. Nuri should have shown you that you are constantly in contact with the teaching, especially when you least suspect." He paused. "Having said that, I'd like to ask your guest if she would be so good as to tell us what she experienced at the Hakim Nuri event." He turned toward Joan. "Ms. Kendall, would that be all right with you?"

       Joan was somewhat flustered, but her broadcasting experience stood her in good stead and she started right in after standing up. "I was first approached by a man calling himself Hakim Nuri knocking on my condominium door. He asked if I would like to buy any of Dr. Cartwright's books, which he had with him, and then said that he was having an introductory meeting the next evening and would like to invite me to attend. He informed me that he was the Washington, D.C. representative of Dr. Cartwright." Joan looked around the circle.

       "Naturally, I was put off by such a person intruding on my privacy and told him in what I'm sure was a rude manner that he could take his books and his invitation and shove them." The group laughed quietly.

       "As seems to be my pattern lately, I immediately thought that Ben," she motioned toward him, "was somehow involved, since I knew that he had attended several of your sessions here in Healdsburg." She glanced at Cartwright.

       "I accused Ben of knowing something about this Nuri creature," Joan continued, "and wouldn't believe Ben when he told me he knew nothing about him. Several of my condo neighbors were as upset as I over this Nuri's intrusion into our privacy so we decided we'd go to his meeting--which turned out to be in our own condominium public meeting room--and give him a good tongue lashing. When I saw Ben at the meeting I was certain he was somehow involved with Nuri and got even more angry." She paused to let the group catch up with her account.

       "At the meeting, Nuri read what he called a 'special message' from Dr. Cartwright which he said he had been instructred to open only at the meeting. The message indicated that Nuri had come here to Healdsburg uninvited, that he had been hounding Dr. Cartwright for several years, and that all Dr. Cartwright had said to him was to continue his studies where he lived, in Washington, D.C. Nuri took it upon himself to appoint himself Dr. Cartwright's representative in Washington, had the audacity to arrange for a public meeting, and then was publicly humiliated." Joan looked at Cartwright.

       "You asked what my experience was during this event," Joan continued. "Anger at Nuri, presuming that Ben had something to do with it and anger at him, righteous indignation and a desire to revenge myself against this Nuri creature, and a belated realization that Ben had nothing to do with Nuri whatsoever and an attempt to apologize to him." Joan sat down again.

       Cartwright asked the group, "Are there any questions you have of Ms. Kendall?"

       Wallace Tailor stood. "What did the event lead you to feel about Dr. Cartwright?"

       "Oh, yes, I forgot that. I said to Ben just after the Nuri meeting that I felt that there might be more to Dr. Cartwright's work than I had allowed myself to believe."

       Tailor continued. "Is that why you're here this evening?"

       Joan looked quizzically at Tailor, reflecting. "Yes, I guess you could say that's why I'm here. I must admit that an earlier experience Ben had in New York City made me feel that Dr. Cartwright was something less than genuine." She chuckled and the group joined in her laughter.

       A young lady who had introduced herself as Jamila asked Cartwright, "What if Nuri continues portraying himself as your representative, won't some people be affected negatively?

       "Whoever pays the least attention to a person such as that gets the guru they deserve," Cartwright replied. "Just as the people at Nuri's meeting got the zealot they deserved. Anyone who is the least taken in by a person like Mr. Nuri would be unsuitable for our enterprise."

       Jamila continued, "What of Mr. Nuri himself. Has he been devastated beyond restitution?"

      "Mr Nuri has been given an opportunity to see his true self. If he uses that opportunity and gains even an inkling of what he has allowed himself to become, all the better for him."

       "But what if he is totally discouraged and never tries anything uplifting again?"

       "Then some day he may realize that the lesson for him was: 'I have been at the mercy of discouragement." Cartwright smiled pleasantly at Jamila.

       Cartwright then turned to a woman who had called herself Sophia. She was middle-aged, with a pleasant face, and a rather stocky body. "We're going to examine why it is you feel you'd like to study with me" Before she could reply, Cartwright continued. "I will read a panegyric which a student recently wrote about his teacher." He took out a sheet of paper and began to read.

       Cartwright continued. "Is that something like you feel?"

       The woman hesitated, then replied: "Well, something like that, perhaps not as flamboyant as what you read."

       "Almost anything one can say about wanting to associate with a teacher," Cartwright continued, "has already been surpassed by this disciple of someone we might very well question as being a genuine teacher. What I read was written by a person who considered himself the disciple of Saddam Hussein."

       After a moment Cartwright proceeded. "The feelings which accompany pseudo-discipleship--courtesy, seeming humility, flowery praise--make us imagine that we are dedicated and upright seekers of truth. In this state we are actually possessed of a negative spirit and it sometimes leads others to believe that we are true disciples. Never trust your feeling that a man or woman or a community is preeminent, because this is a conviction, not knowledge. Your work is to progress beyond conviction to knowledge."

       Cartwright turned to the Sophiaa again. "Which composer is greatest? Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, or Paganini?"

       Sophia thought for a moment and replied, "Bach."

       Cartwright looked at all the members of the group. "Our tradition employs an exercise which is called: 'the real meaning.' What is the real meaning of Sophia's reply just now?"

       The ravishing young black lady who had sat next to Cartwright in his hippie guise replied, "I like Bach's music best."

       "Precisely," Cartwright agreed. "Much of the supposed praise we give to others is actually a report of our own emotions, not a description of the other person at all. 'I think my teacher is wonderful' translates to 'I am a very clever disciple for having such an exalted authority figure.' Similarly, much of the criticism we make of others represents our own shortcomings, literally. 'He is a terrible person' translates into 'I have an equilibrium which is easily disturbed.'"

       Cartwright now turned to Green. "I'd like you to explain to the group the circumstance of your being here this evening."

       "Dr. Cartwright had earlier allowed me to speak with him here in Healdsburg," Green began. "At that meeting, Dr. Cartwright was dressed as a hippie, had his arm around a voluptuous young lady and his hand on her leg. Next to him was seated a woman who was clearly a bag lady in rags. He suggested that his sex nymph get a marijuana joint so they could share it with me."

      Green looked around the room. "In other words, Dr. Cartwright hit all my prejudices and I exploded out of here with the words ringing in my ears, 'whenever you think of this episode you'll say to yourself, 'Cartwright is a fool.'"

       "That's exactly what I did say to myself for about seven months. Then I began to reflect on what had actually happened. Dr. Cartwright had discovered that I was a fake prude about scantily-clad young ladies--actually I am very stimulated by them. He had evidently read an article I had written before I became Governor, indicating my strenuous opposition to marijuana. And I felt it beneath me to associate with bag ladies dressed in tatters. So, when I realized what had actually happened--that I had been possessed by my prejudices--I wrote and asked Dr. Cartwright if I might be allowed to study with him. He consented to my coming to this session if I agreed to undergo a test which would once for all determine if I could possibly study to good effect." Green turned to Cartwright. "I believe those were your words?"

       Without replying to the question, Cartwright said, "Let's begin the test if you're ready."

       "Yes, I'm ready," Green replied.

       Cartwright spoke to the entire group. Mr. Green has agreed to answer 'I believe you,' to everything I say during this test."

       He then looked directly at Green and said, "I am Franklin Cartwright."

      Green replied, "I believe you."

       "You are the ex-governor of California."

       "I believe you"

       "You lost your reelection campaign."

       "I believe you."

      "Your father was a thief and a villain."

      Green hesitated, looked at Cartwright quizically, then responsed, "I believe you."

      "Your wife is a woman of ill-repute," Cartwright said in an even tone.

      This time Green hesitated even longer, gaping at Green. After a moment, he said, "I believe you."

      "You are the illegitimate son of a prostitute."

      Green jumped up from his seat, overcome with rage. "Now see here!" he bellowed. "This is too much!" Suddenly he looked about him at the group, having forgotten where he was or what he was doing.

       He glared at Cartwright. "Okay, so you've tricked me." He raised his voice even louder, "you seem to like being surrounded by common people instead of having someone who really amounts to something!" He stomped out of the room. The group could hear his limousine leaving the compound.

       Everyone was visibly affected by this last episode. They quieted down after several minutes. Cartwright opened his laptop computer next to him on the table, asked Billy to turn on the large-screen TV, and waited until everyone had regained their composure.

       "To prepare for tomorrow's trip," he said "we are going to use this meditation exercise." The lights went out in the room and the group focused on the images on the screen.

       As the meditation exercise ended, Cartwright rose and said, "the canoe excursion begins at 6 AM sharp in the morning. Be sure to bring a change of clothes in a waterproof plastic bag. And there is an article on our Web site listed on the bulletin board that you should read prior to the excursion."

       Joan and Ben wandered out to the bulletin board and wrote down the name of the article on the Institute Web site which they were to read.

       This was the first either Ben or Joan had heard of a canoe trip and they asked some of the others in the group about it as as they prepared to leave Cartwright's house. The attractive young black lady replied, "It's all part of the learning experience; so it's best not to tell you too much about it. An important part of the experience is the unforeseen." She paused to make sure that they understood that she was not being ill-mannered. "By the way, my name's Kate." They shook hands and Kate walked with them toward their bungalows.

       "How long have you been studying with Dr. Cartwright," Joan asked her.

       "For thirteen months, five of those I lived in the Washington, D.C. area. Incidentally, I was in a therapy group with Angela and got to know her quite well. I'm disturbed by her illness, I think it may involve her relationship with Gorgon."

       "Gorgon," Ben blurted out, "what's he got to do with Angela's condition?"

       "Maybe nothing, but Angela was very psychically tied up with Gorgon. He manipulated her like a puppet. I should know, I was his robot too till I came to my senses and got out of there."

       "Where was that?"

       "The Parallax Corporation Clinic in New Reston, you know where that is?"

       Ben and Joan looked at each other. "Oh we know a lot about the Parallax Corporation," Joan replied, "Gorgon's one of our mutual enemies."

       Kate suddenly remembered, looking at Ben. "Oh, you're the one who went up against him on that TV debate." Then she looked at Joan and it suddenly dawned on her. "And you were the talk show hostess."

       "Righto," Joan said. "An ignominious event for both of us." She glanced at Ben.

       "Well, I'm happy you're here this weekend," Kate said. "I'll see you in the morning--bright and early." She smiled as she walked away.

       Joan gave Ben a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm going to turn in," she said. "See you in the AM."

       Before they went to sleep, both Ben and Joan used their laptop computers to link to the article which Cartwright had listed on the bulletin board.

      The next morning a group of fourteen stalwarts loaded into two vans, each with their change of clothing wrapped securely. Ben noticed that Tailor also loaded a waterproof container in the van he rode in. They travelled to a place called Alexander Valley and loaded into canoes which had been rented from a Healdsburg firm. The beauty of the river and the surrounding trees and plants was breathtaking. Twelve people outfitted with a lifejacket, a seat cushion, and a short or long paddle, they boarded the canoes and pushed off down the Russian River while the other two, a man and a woman, drove the vans back to Healdsburg.

       It was evident that the dozen people in the four canoes were to remain silent while they traveled down the picturesque waterway. Actually, Ben realized, no one had spoken all morning. All directions had been given by hand signal. There was still a bit of fog on the surface of the river and the travellers could hear turtles plop into the river as they passed.

      Suddenly a huge blue heron flew close to the canoers and alighted in the shallows about fifty yards ahead of them. As the canoeing party came close to the exquisite bird, it would fly ahead and wait for them in the river beyond. The bird's behavior seemed to have a mystic air about it, as though it were communicating with them in some enigmatic way.

       The river presented a variety of faces: slow meandering stretches followed by rapids with sharp turns. In one of the turns, the first canoe capsized but even with this mishap the waterlogged passengers remained silent. The other three canoes pulled over to the side while the first group drained the water from their canoe, put on their change of clothes, and started down the river again. Now Ben understood why the change of clothes in the waterproof plastic bag.

       Joan was in the first canoe which had overturned and Ben smiled at her as she turned in his direction.

       The canoeists took turns paddling in the fore and aft seats of the canoe with a passenger sitting on the canoe botton in the middle. The person in the rear steered the canoe by the movements made with the long paddle. Ben was in Cartwright's canoe which was now in the lead. Cartwright was at the front of the canoe and Ben noticed that Billy, in the rear, was watching each slightest movement Cartwright made with his short paddle.

       For some time Ben watched, trying to figure out just what was taking place. Then he realized that Cartwright was "signaling" Billy just what movements to make with his, Billy's paddle, for the canoe to move correctly from right to left and to move ahead at a certain speed. This realization hit Ben with a powerful force. Here was a man who could "teach" someone how to steer and propel a canoe, by what he did with his paddle in the front of the canoe. He would have to know precisely how the movements he was signaling would produce a distinct effect on the canoe's motion and direction. Ben suddenly thought to himself, I wonder what else I'm missing in what's taking place around me this weekend? He redoubled his efforts to stay awake to everything that was happening.

       The canoe party stopped for a short pause and Ben now took the seat in the rear of the canoe. He had canoed at a summer camp as a teenage Boy Scout, but that was a lifetime ago. He duplicated Billy's earlier behavior, watching each detail of Cartwright's movements with his paddle in the front: how deep the paddle went into the water, how rapidly he stroked, how long he kept the paddle trailing on one side of the canoe or the other to steer the canoe, and how silently he stroked , breaking the water without a splash. It was overwhelming to Ben that if he did precisely what Cartwright was "signaling," the canoe remained in a forward motion appropriate to the twists and speed of the river.

       Then Ben heard the roar of the rapids ahead. There was the blue heron waiting for them. Ben knew this would be his supreme test, to see if he could steer the canoe around the bend without overturning. As they approached the bend in the river the river's speed increased so much that each slightest movement Ben made with his paddle meant either moving safely ahead or turning the canoe sideways and overturning. He fixed his eyes on Cartwright's movements in the front. Ben instantly realized that Cartwright's motions with his paddle possessed extremely subtle nuances which he had to follow to keep the canoe upright. The motion was so dizzyingly rapid that Ben could not think about what he was doing, he had to watch Cartwright and do precisely what he was signaling.

       As they pushed through the bend into the slower water around some huge boulders in the river, Ben heaved a silent sigh of relief and Cartwright, for the first time, turned to smile at him.

       The river remained calm for quite a stretch. As Ben watched the blue heron ahead of them, he saw it fly up to the top of a mammoth pine tree where it had its nest. There was a stand of huge pines each of which had a heron nest. Ben and the others gazed in awe at the fantastic birds as they flew to and from their nests.

       Suddenly Cartwright signalled for Ben to pull over to the right side of the river and stop. The other canoes pulled up behind and everyone stepped onto the sandy beach. They lifted the canoes and carried them to a stand of shrubs where the canoes were hidden from the view of people passing on the river.

Cartwright led the way as the small band struggled up a sand bank to a wooded area. Ben wondered where Cartwright was taking them. Ben looked ahead as he walked and saw a strange shape through the leaves of the trees.      As they continued on through the trees and down a bank, they came to a small stream. They stopped and each cupped their hands and drank the wonderfully clear, cool water. It was the first water they had tasted all morning. Ben had wondered why they didn't carry canteens and now he understood why. They sat in a circle around the stream and Tailor passed out homemade whole wheat rolls made with honey and raisins.

Cartwright suddenly put his finger to his mouth to signal total silence then looked down stream. An enchanting white tail mother deer and her small, downy fawn were drinking from the river, nonchalantly gazing up at the small band of humans as if they were customary inhabitants of this scene. Then they walked away, the fawn frolicking merrily as it went.

      The travellers continued their trek through the trees when without warning a massive pyramid structure appeared ahead of them. As they approached the enormous structure, it was clear that it was a natural rock formation.

       Cartwright led the small band around the structure in a counter-clockwise motion. There were small trees that stood next to the pyramid and plants growing up its sides but at the peak it was completely bare.

      Cartwright moved to one side of the pyramid and started climbing up a steep incline. He motioned to the person in back of him to avoid touching the poison ivy that lined the path and the silent message was passed to each climber.

      As Ben struggled up the steep rock face he could see that this path was the only way up through the irregular stone crevices and slopes. As they reached the top of the pyramid, Cartwright sitting on the uppermost peak, they all gazed about them at the enchanting scene. The pyramid was set in a valley with steep hills surrounding them on two sides. From the pyramid crest they looked across the river to the blue heron nests in the towering pine trees.

       It suddenly struck Ben that it had been almost as though the blue herons had escorted them to this magical setting and now shared their secrets with their human companions.

       There was a natural feeling of trepidation from sitting perched on a high rock face, but Ben also sensed a mystical ambience infusing the entire area. He noticed Joan smiling at him; it was evident she too was feeling something unusual.

       The group sat on the pyramid peak for about thirty minutes gazing about them, the silence of the valley adding its part to the spectacle. Then from up river a whoop was heard from a noisy band of canoers. Ben realized why Cartwright had begun their canoe trip so early and why they had travelled in silence: to avoid the disharmony of insensitive heedlessness. When the barbarous canoers passed on down river, the silence of the valley was overwhelming and the early morning sunlight seemed to glitter as it spread over the hills, the trees, the pyramid, and the river.

      Ben had noticed that one of their band, a small man with a mustache, had been frowning throughout the trip. This man looked at Ben as he jumped down from the last part of the incline of the pyramid and rolled his eyes as if to say, "what a charade that was." It was a surprise to Ben that such a person would be permitted to participate in the canoe adventure.

      The river became more calm as the canoe party travelled on down the Russian River and Ben began to watch Cartwright more carefully. He became aware that Cartwright looked discreetly at specific scenes, whereas to Ben the river and surrounding setting was a jumble of commingled elements.

     He looked at the spot where Cartwright was gazing and suddenly discovered a breathtaking scene which would have been lost had he not concentrated on it. A waterflower and its perfectly mirrored reflection in the river presented itself to his gaze.

      Ben wondered how much he had already missed on the trip thus far.

He had been "looking" at the river and the encompassing setting, but he had not actually "seen" much at all.        He began to concentrate on discrete scenes and was suddenly rewarded with a spectacle of color. It struck him that this was actually a form of spiritual contact, as Cartwright's article had indicated.       How much of life do I miss, Ben asked himself, by being beset with my internal thinking or my worries or whatever? What would it be like if, like Blake says, . . . the doors of perception were cleansed and everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.

      As he pondered he was rewarded with another timeless drama of a beaver busily building his dam, the ripples in the water emanating in a kaleidoscopic aura. The busy beaver didn't seem to mind the human intruders, continuing busily with his construction work.

      The travellers reached their destination and beached the canoes on the left side of the river where they were met by the man and woman in the two vans.

       The silent band returned to Cartwright's compound and Ben and Joan took the opportunity to rinse off some of the canoe trip sand in steaming showers in their bungalows. They had arranged to meet and have dinner together at 6 PM in the dining room. As they passed by the center's bulletin board they found this message posted by Cartwright.