In his inimitable style, David Morton, a long-time MSIA minister and initiate, provides an “interview” of himself about meeting John-Roger in the early days of the Movement.

Q: You were from the UK. How did you find MSIA, and meet J-R?

David: I had been questing spiritually for a number of years while I was in the British Royal Navy. I used to try and meditate on the ship, but a warship is a noisy place and it was pretty difficult to maintain any focus. When I was a teen I used to go to different churches in England looking for something, but not finding it, and that was why I kept looking.

In November 1972 I decided to leave England and travel, initially to Morocco for surfing, but I eventually planned to take a ship from Casablanca to New York. My plans were thrown into disarray when I ended up in a Moroccan prison for a short time, but I still looked towards the west.

I took a Yugoslavian passenger freighter to New York arriving in February 1973…which was a shock to the system because of the very cold weather after Africa. I brought over on the ship an old girlfriend…joking….an old Volkswagen camper. I drove down the east coast and eventually into Mexico and across that country to the Pacific side to Mazatlán. While in Mexico I met a guy from Altadena in California. We met again when I ended up in a campsite above Altadena where he was camping. Through him I met his friends, and one of those ladies kept wanting to tell me about, in her words, “This man.”

For the first few times she tried this I declined to listen, but eventually the smart part of me said to her, “Okay, tell me about this man.” Of course it was John-Roger. I asked her, “Where is he?” And she responded, “In England.” Which I thought was hilarious. Here I had travelled across Europe, North Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, the East Coast of the USA, Mexico, Arizona, and now California…. And the man was in England!

I eventually ended up in a taped seminar in Joel Harris’s house in Altadena to hear J-R. In those days you had to attend three taped seminars before you could catch a live one with J-R. As I lay on the floor listening to the tape my mind kept saying, “I’ve heard this man’s voice before.”

When the tape ended I asked the small group, “What does this guy look like?” Everybody responded with laughter and pointed at the walls, and around the living room of Joel’s house were poster size pictures of John-Roger…which I hadn’t seen when I entered the room. At that time Joel Harris was the editor of the Movement Newspaper, the early version of the New Day Herald.

After the three seminars the next step was a live seminar with J-R. This would be at Kurt and Sandy’s house somewhere in the San Fernando Valley. I arrived at the suburban house with a line of people standing outside waiting to enter.
John-Roger was sitting up on an armchair slightly elevated. At the time I thought there had to be around a hundred people there, but with hindsight I realise it was more like twenty as most people’s houses do not sit a hundred people in their living rooms.

In those early days J-R had people write questions and pass them up to him, and then he would answer them. As J-R talked I was struck by how much of what he said about reincarnation etc. matched by own belief system. I don’t remember many of the folks there, but Randy Garver stood out for me. Mainly because the Light was streaming out of his eyes…I had never seen anything like that before. I had come across a mystic guy much like Jesus in Marrakesh, but nothing like Randy with this Light.

I also went to the Light Castle a few times, which I enjoyed. I signed up for Discourses, which in those days was like a rolled off multi paged pamphlet, you only got one Discourse at a time then. I also went to J-R’s house and had an aura balance. I met I believe Edgar and Phillip there, they were J-R’s staff at that time and would do the services.

I then took off for Mexico and Guatemala for six months driving around those countries. Needless to say my individual Discourses didn’t catch up with me very often between the Mexican mail system and me on the move all the time.

I got to meet Maria Elena in Mexico City, she was a stalwart of the Movement in those days. Myself and my traveling companion Lynn Ashby stayed with her and her son. He was around ten, spoke perfect Spanish, and proceeded to show us around the capital. We even took him up the volcano Popocatepetl and camped at 17,000 feet, and wondered why it took an hour to boil water. Now that volcano is erupting, but back then it was covered in ice.

Eventually we stayed in Guatemala for a few months before heading back to California via Mexico City. Back in those days I was doing marijuana, but knew within myself it wasn’t really taking me anywhere. I was in a movie theatre in Mexico City seeing It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World….some people will remember this film. We were stoned, and I remember saying to my friend next to me, “I know what you are going to say next.” He looked at me and said, “So what am I going to sat next?” Of course I didn’t have a clue. And in that moment, I remembered all J-R had said about drugs and how they blocked you spiritually…I stopped for good.

I believe after that I went to my first Conference in 1974 at the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium. Many people had come from the east coast and middle America. It was the last gasps of the Hippy Era, and much of the Conference reflected that. J-R was just wandering around the many folks selling their wares which could be anything from tie dyed T shirts to good food items. I asked him to sign my hard copy of his book Spiritual Promise, which he did and I have it to this day.

I believe we were at a seminar at the Light Castle when JR talked about purchasing what would eventually become Prana. I remember he told us the address, but then told us not to go there so we didn’t screw up the real estate deal going on then. I thought it was odd he would tell us the address, but then tell us to stay away. Maybe it was some kind of test…so I passed that one.

When I returned from Mexico I had an issue. One night I had this dream where something was living inside my ankle. Within days my ankle swelled up and I had difficulty walking. I ended up in hospital having every test known to man at that time, but all to no avail. They thought it might be Gout, which to me was something from the Dark Ages, or only very old men got it. It was such a different time back then. I was a vegetarian, and the hospital sent a dietician to see me. The end result was: with my meal I got a packet of salted peanuts…even I knew this was rubbish, but this was the world we lived in then.

After two weeks of no results and me not paying anything because I didn’t have any money, they discharged me. I see this now as a Light action because most hospitals do not work for free.

So off I went to Kurt and Sandy’s for a seminar. I asked J-R in my written request if he could help me. Remember in those days he wasn’t allowed to directly give medical advice or he could be charged by the medical folks. So he told me to call him later that evening at his home, which I did.

Back then there was a diet for losing weight of Apple Cider Vinegar with a few other things which I do not remember. He also told me I had to elevate my leg for three months while doing this diet. I believe he also told me that this was all the crap in my life up to now.

So I did what he said, and over those three months eventually my ankle slowly became better.  So after that, off I went Hang Gliding off a big hill wanting to be able to fly, but crashed into the ground head first breaking my foot and wrist, but very lucky not to break my neck. Back to the seminar on crutches asking J-R again for help. He responded, “You are keeping me busy.”

By 1975 I was healthy again. So I decided to apply to live at Prana. The application process was basically going down into the basement and talking with Pauli who pretty much ran MSIA things. For a long time because of the way Americans speak I thought her name was Polly. Anyway, Pauli said, “Just go to the South Wing and pick a room.” Which I did as most of them were empty. But within a pretty short time Prana started filling up with more folks wanting the Prana and J-R experience. I believe before long we were over a hundred people with many of us doubling up in our rooms. I shared with the lovely Dan Melbourne for quite a while, and eventually with Bob Strimpel.

We used to have a House Meeting every week or two weeks, probably the week when J-R didn’t do his Wednesday and Thursday seminars at Prana. After the meeting we used to do these things called Light Circles. We would break up into groups and do ostensibly spiritual work.

I remember one group where we would go around the circle saying something about the focus person. It was all very loving and probably truthful. So I was basking in the glow of this feedback each person was getting, until it came to my turn. They proceeded to rip me apart, which completely devastated me. But with hindsight, I was a pretty tough cookie in those days, especially as I had been in the Royal Navy from fifteen ‘till I was twenty-five. I had hardened myself to survive being with only other men in many difficult and sometimes life threatening situations. All these other Prana folks were in that spiritual lovingness and reflected this off each other. For me initially the hugging after every seminar was difficult, but like everything I got used to it and learned to enjoy the process.

You have to remember we were all seekers, but some were more enlightened than others. The group living was new to most of us, but nobody forced us to do this, we all stepped forward of our own volition. Also J-R would often say in a seminar, “The door wasn’t locked when you came in, and it isn’t locked now.” Freedom of choice.

I had to learn a lot at Prana about myself and others there. I enjoyed the dharma on Saturdays.  The first day I was there for Saturday dharma I got my job, but when I walked out into the foyer there was a line of people outside the Prana office. What are they doing I asked somebody?  “Oh, they are there for clearings with Kathy Jeffaries.”

Now Kathy was a tough cookie and would rub some of the more sensitive folks the wrong way. Personally I got on great with Kathy, maybe we were the same people back then. So the clearings were I believe something initiated by J-R to talk things out and not talk behind people’s backs. It was tough at first, but it became easier with time.

Eventually I became the person who was running the dharma meeting and assigning the work jobs. I can see now how tough I was because I wouldn’t let anybody flake off from working and would confront them. It worked, but probably didn’t endear me to anybody. This was evidenced by me getting some hate mail in the Prana office mail box…this is the reception phone room now.

Prana overall was a fun learning experience with lots of good people living there. Many are still friends of mine today. Laughter became the order of the day, especially when Paul Kaye moved in. He would helm the weekly House Meetings and after the business stuff we would initiate things like “The Newly Wed Game” stolen from television. The laughter was endemic for us all, to the point that I looked forward to the meetings.

Of course the highlight was J-R’s seminars. The foyer would be packed with people, and up the stairs. In those days there would be contributions, mostly of the musical type. Some were pretty awful, but J-R would smile through them all. Taras Lumiere, father of Eric, would perform and would be extremely entertaining. Many others have continued on their journeys in this world or the next.

My favourite J-R seminars were his funny ones. He could have the place in laughter until tears were streaming down your face. I wasn’t a fan when he proceeded to chastise us, but I suppose we all needed it at that time.

We would do fundraising dinners and shows to help pay off Prana. It was paid off in a pretty short amount of time, something like six years.…Paul Kaye would know the time line. People like Greg Smith would do magic. David Giorgio would entertain with his comedy, and he and I did some fun acting stuff together. J-R would be sitting there through all of these things.

Many members of the public came to these dinner/shows, probably friends of many of us living there. Five dollars seemed like a big ask in those days, but the food was good and folks seemed to enjoy it all. It was probably pretty crude compared to the sophisticated food presented these days at events.

We all took turns in the kitchen as part of our dharma. Many of us didn’t have a clue how to cook. I did a wonderful dinner one night which was enough food for maybe ten people, when there was actually probably fifty…Oops! Randy would handle his cooking duties by having a kitchen disaster and immediately order pizza for everybody which was popular especially as Randy was paying. I would make buckwheat pancakes from scratch for breakfast, and love them to this day. I don’t believe we ate meat in those days, and no tea or coffee. We were into good food before most of the country had got there.

On one night of the week dinner was silent, no talking at all. Personally I found this to be a form of torture. I would come barreling into the dining room for dinner after being out in the city working, and immediately start talking having forgot it was torture night. I would hear “Shhh” from many corners.

One of the highlights would be J-R just showing up at Prana, and an impromptu Q and A just for the folks living there. He would answer pretty much everything asked of him. It felt like a family gathering and sharing.

Herbert Holmes basically ran Prana in those days. One day he called myself, Lori Matson and a few others together, and he told us J-R had said some of the folks living at Prana were not participating on the level they should be. We of course knew this by our own experiences. Herbert gave us a list of names of all the residents. He told us to go away, call in the Light, and then go down the list marking each name with either Leave…Stay…Probation. We immediately asked where was J-R? Herbert told us he was out of town and couldn’t be reached…..no cell phones in those days.

When we returned the next day it was impressive how close our lists were to each other. The sum result was many folks were asked to leave, and they seemed fine with that. Others had a probation period, which for most worked out fine. An interesting experience for us though.

Q: Did you have any experiences around Spirit?

David: I was living early on slightly west and north of downtown LA. I was lying in bed one day and out of nowhere the brightest light filled my room and stayed around the ceiling. No, it wasn’t a police helicopter searchlight. It filled the room and, it seemed, my consciousness. I had been asking for, I guess, a sign that all the things I was hearing from J-R were true. I do not know what this light was, but for me I actually thought it was a God presence…in reality, probably an angel. With hindsight, I find it hard to believe that God has the time to respond personally to each individual request for validation…..but who knows?

Q: When did you become a minister?

David: While at Prana I got ordained as a minister in 1980. This act changed my life. I became a Big Brother to Jon, a boy of around nine years old. I eventually became the coach to his soccer team which resulted in weekly visits to a chiropractor from being kicked by the boys when I played with them.

I continued with this as a weekly ministry for about two years until his mother remarried, and there wasn’t a need for me anymore in that role. But I became friends with her new husband Jim, and I am still a part of their family to this day.

Fast forward around twenty years, and Jon contacted me and asked if I would be the minister for he and his fiancé’s wedding. So Holly and I helped them both to write their wedding, and then we performed the wedding together, which was somewhat confusing for some of the guests having two ministers. Now they have three children and adopted her sister’s daughter. I am very proud of any contribution I made to Jon’s life and the lovely young man he has become.

After that at a Heartfelt evening at 2101, I met David Richard who created Wheels for Humanity, an organisation that supplied free wheelchairs and equipment for poor disabled people around the world. This lead me on a ten year journey to Central America, Africa, and Asia leading or participating in teams helping these many disabled folks. A blessing for me, and a blessing for them. This included a wheelchair trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan with John Morton right after the Taliban were defeated. But that is another story.

So my life changed in so many ways the day I got involved in MSIA, and met John-Roger. Truly it’s been a privilege and blessing with my prayers answered way beyond my dreams. My spiritual journey continues….or as J-R used to say, “Etcetera.”