Brief Autobiography Here's my description of the significant stages in my life's journey so far. [1500 words]
Born in Perth, Western Australia, in 1938, I spent my first year in the small rural town of Carnamah before my parents moved to the WA mining town of Kalgoorlie, where I did my primary schooling. My father was the superintendent of the Vacuum Oil Company railway terminal which supplied fuel and oil to the Goldfields during and after the WW2 years. My mother played the piano for dances; she also played the piano accordion, and created advertising show-cards. As an only child, I benefited from parental influences in three main ways. more...

Impressions My first 'New-Age' style meditation and discussion group made quite an impression on me in 1990, as I commenced some of my more 'spiritual' explorations. This is something I wrote for them. [700 words]
In 1990 I went along to a New-Age weekly discussion group as I was engaged in an exploration of what might be called "spiritual" matters; not religious, but simply getting a handle on what might be regarded as transcendental experiences such as extrasensory perception (ESP), precognition and such-like matters. I wrote this essay to express the feelings I was having at that time; feelings quite common for those engaging in these explorations, and characteristic of the New-Age practices. It represents what are sometimes called an "oceanic" feeling, or "peak experiences", as described by the psychologist Abraham Maslow. Although it sounds like a religious experience, it is somewhat different. These days I call myself an atheist or rationalist, and regard my experiences as formative, but ultimately misleading. Notwithstanding that, this time was very intense for me. more...

And Then I Know 'Oceanic' feelings experienced during a group meditation. [550 words]
After I retired abruptly from my career due to illness in February 1988, I started to explore various forms of New Age spirituality. For about a year I attended a study group run by a man prominent among the Spiritualist movement in Melbourne ... This involved lectures, discussions, meditation and channeling ... During that time I had engaged in deep meditations, including one of two hours duration with the Ian Gawler Foundation, a group focussed on healing cancer through diet and meditation. As I had studied and used hypnosis extensively in my late teenage years, I knew the power of trance and meditative experiences, and had very deep experiences involving these techniques. I penned these lines after a group meditation one night; they illustrate the profound feelings of unity with the cosmos that can arise from these practices, which I can relate to my experiences in my early teens. more...

The Pagans at Carhenge Naked and wet amidst a tempest, and a stunning Pagan Parade. [1300 words]
I wrote this in 1991 after I attended an alternative lifestyle (hippy, if you like) gathering of about 9,000 people at a camping reserve near the little town of Walwa, just south of the Snowies, on the banks of the Murray River. At that time I had not long left my career as a chemistry lecturer after 25 years, having succumbed to serious depression, duodenal ulcers, etc in 1988. Feeling rather bruised by life, I was engaged in explorations in the personal growth movement as well as New Age things such as channeling, spiritualism, reincarnation, meditation, healing, rebirthing, primal scream, altered states of consciousness, and esoterica such as the Kabbala. I was there with five friends I had met in this way. At Walwa I tried wearing a sarong, and learned to go naked. I had many other new adventures, too, but they are for other essays! On New Year's Eve we experienced a fierce storm at dusk, which started a train of strange events which kept me awake all night. more...

An Account of My "Christos" Experience My meditation trip to another world, another life, another time. [2000 words]
Early in May, 1991, I spent a weekend with six others of my Cairnmillar group in a mobile home in Tocumwal, NSW. Amongst the shared events of that weekend was my experience on a Friday night of a unique procedure which the group leader, John Bevan, calls the "Christos Experience" from a book which described the altered state of consciousness which was induced in me as follows... more...

Once In a Blue Moon Pain, turmoil, learning and wisdom come to me all night on New Year's Eve, 1990. [4000 words]
New Years Eve Midnight...Expectations...Rejection...Alienation...Turmoil..."Blue Moon"...Naked heart, naked body...Friendly Wilderness...Discovering Joy...Unique Offer...Healing Begins...Light Dawns...Rejuvenation...Coming Home more...