influences

As a college student, I read the book "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Yogananda. This book gave me the first indication that
there might be more to life than meets the eye. Yogananda had a lifetime full of miraculous events which he described in his
book. founded the "Self Realization Center" in this country. The Self Realization Center maintains 2 beautiful centers
inSouthern California with great parks opon to the public, for cooling out. One is in Encinitas and the other is in Pacific
Palisades.

Edgar Cayce was the "sleeping prophet". He had an omnicient ability to go into a trance/sleep state and come up with the
most incredible information. He did over 14,000 documented readings for people and could diagnose health, prescribe
remedies that were not yet discovered, and tell people about their past lives. He could do this just by knowing someone's
name and location. Many journalists, who originally tried to discredit him, wrote books endorsing him. If you've never been
exposed to Edgar Cayce, there are a vast number of books available. Reading Edgar Cayce comvinced me, at least
intellectually, that I had lived before, and my essence was eternal. It took me a lot of years to internalize this and perhaps I still
am.

As a kid in Philadelphia, I was alienated, misunderstood, confused, and uptight. But I didn't know it until I listened to Bob Dylan
who seemed to understand everything I was going through. During a cross country trip on the way to college (Berkeley), I
actually visited Bob Dylan's parents in Hibbing, Minn. Later on, when I was travelling around the country with Gillian (Gillian has
a section below.) in a VW bus, we ended up in Woodstock, New York and I decided to try and find Bob and sing for him. We
drove into the general vicinity where the townfolk said he lived, and sat in the car for a few minutes and there he came, walking
down the road with his horse. He allowed me to sing a song for him. Thanks Bob.

Gillian was my first major girlfriend. I met her on the Berkeley campus when I was a nerd, majoring in physics. I had made a
few attempts at writing songs, having been inspired by Bob Dylan, but I never took it seriously. Gillian was an artistic,
metaphysical type and when she heard me try to sing, it was love at first yodel. I was really a bad singer so I taught Gillian
one of my songs. She had a great voice so we decided to start a band. I thank Gillian for giving me the support during that
period She was the first person to really acknowedge my talent. She contributed a huge amount to my life, both in personal
support and exposing me to all kinds of spiritual higher consciousness stuff. Because of her interest in astrology, I learned
how to do charts and ended up proving to myself that astrology actually worked which absolutely broke me out of all the
rational linear paradigms which I was brought up with. (Remember I was a physics major). Gillian lives in Encinitas and we are
still great friends.She does astrology and astrological counselings for people. If you're interested in a reading, her email
follows:

When I was in high school, I worked part time at an electronics store in downtown Philadelphia. Charles
was one of the owners and he was the first person that I ever met, up to that point in my life, that lived
outside of consensus reality. He consistently did
unpredictable things. He and I were great friends. He had a collection of metaphysical and philosophical
books which he let me browse through. He told me I would make a great lawyer.