Wow. When you get 80 or so initiates together, it\u2019s powerful. I got blasted by the energy when I entered the room where we had our group orientation meeting to kick off the Italy trip.<\/p>\n
The spiritual filling-up that I experienced before the trip started\u2014getting on the plane and traveling through Europe to get here\u2014are like the revving up of a car engine before the acceleration. The seminars in England and Madrid seem like they were a pit stop for this. All my travels on my own through the Italian Alps are a distant memory of another world.<\/p>\n
J-R is here. It\u2019s like the car hasn\u2019t just accelerated, it has exploded. I recognize that energy as a directionless, uncontrollable detonation. It\u2019s not quiet, serious, restrained, contained, limited or placid. It\u2019s fun to be propelled through the air without a car, or a space capsule, or any kind of container, at the forefront of an explosion. It\u2019s exhilarating. It takes a little getting used to because the energy kicks up everything that was on the ground\u2014all the dust and debris (the karma). But I wouldn\u2019t trade it for all the cars, rockets, nuclear bombs or alien spaceships in the world.<\/p>\n
We gather giddily in a hotel meeting room for some orientation, introduction to tour guides, testing of the radio system so we can hear whoever is flying through the stars along with us, etc. Then dinner. Food looks like the remnants of some primitive system of propulsion from another era, like horse manure. I just want dessert, because it\u2019s Christmas and my birthday and the fourth of July all at the same time. I have a whole bunch of custard with some apple strudel and go back to my room to travel.<\/p>\n
There are photos of preparatory staff meeting in the hotel lobby, and the group orientation.<\/p>\n