Loosening Up Bk. 07 Ch. 11-15

"JR bird-dogged me the next day going over a lot of the same ground Nikky had with me at dinner. She forced me to think about the options I had in front of me and then got me talking about what choices I'd make left to my own devices, especially after the 'in my face' talks they'd delivered.

"I was having trouble answering all her questions. She gave me a scrapbook about the Circle and you Dave. My God, you have six wives and Scarlett was one of them. I was blown away; I didn't know you knew any famous people – well, other than Owen Bennett. You were my CEO. Moreover, the Circle sounded like some kind of nirvana with a heavy dose of sex. You and the place scared me; it seemed so perfect but so out of reach if I kept thinking about women and life the way I'd been raised.

"She also talked to me about you as a role model, Dave. You had six wives and I briefly figured you were just boffing them all for your own jollies. It never occurred to me that there was something deeper. Nikky and JR cured me of those misconceptions and taught me how to watch you and evaluate what your value set was. All of a sudden I saw a different you, and a different EneRG from what I thought it was.

"The old me would have leapt at the Circle as a great source of hot ass. The emerging me is more cautious and no longer has that motivation. I have new goals and desires that hadn't been with me weeks before. They even tried me out on Wendy Hayden as a test case.

"Nikky and JR both quizzed me about what I thought about the material I'd read in the scrapbook. Jenny even came and talked with me at one point, expressing her own confusions and frustrations that she had at that point. I know she's moved on in her thinking since then. We both had.

About that time, we made our first visit to the Circle for drinks and dinner. So many things including how nice everyone was to us and to each other blew me away. I'd seen other groups of friends interact, but this was different in the nicest of ways. There was an authenticity surrounding each person so different from what you find in another group or company. People allowed themselves to be vulnerable to each other, and they were loved and cared for in return for it. No one took advantage.

"JR and Nikky held more tutorial sessions with me, and then even Jenny and Deb. I could tell that deep down they liked me, but I was an errant child to them that they needed to inculcate with a new set of values and behaviors. Later, they had me come to the Circle 101 class with them. Eventually, they deigned to let me make love to them. Those were the highlights of my life." Tears welled up in Larry's eyes.

"Well, I've been trying. I've been allowed to participate with my new attitudes and response patterns the past two months, and I'm still working on it. You ask whether I want to join the Circle, and my honest answer is 'Yes, absolutely, but I'm not sure I'm experienced enough with my new values and responses to be consistent in the future. I worry I'll backslide and disappoint one of you. I want to be as good a person as the people I've met are, and that's everyone else in the Circle."

Tears floated just in front of Larry's eyes and he stopped talking and swallowed a couple of times to choke down a sob. Someone passed him a tissue and he blotted his eyes. Suddenly, he became very focused on the untouched meal in front of him. He tried to take a few bites, but everyone noticed they were small and only token at that point. He was having trouble swallowing. His whole soliloquy had been touching and emotional for him.

Dave turned to Deborah. "How're you doing in your thinking?"

She smiled. "If you'd told me four months ago that I'd be in love with ninety people I would have laughed derisively. Now, I am the butt of my own folly. I AM in love with everyone, and I'd love to be a Circle member." Even Deb got a little glassy eyed with tears.

Dave turned to Ross and asked how he'd made his transition from the outside world into the Circle. Ross knew what was happening and gladly helped shift the focus from Larry to himself. He talked about his seminary work and becoming grounded in the Bible, and then transcending that book as he learned in depth about so many other great writings until he reached the point where he realized that there was nothing particularly special about any of the 'sacred' books other than their work had been revered and studied so heavily over the centuries. They were all written, more or less, by sage men and women, and their works preserved. He confessed that he stopped referring to any of the works as 'sacred', 'God inspired', or 'holy'. They were just books or manuscripts written by human men or women.

Ross admitted, "I'd carried a vision of God over my early life of some Supreme Being or force in some obscure heaven. I anthropomorphized the concept to the one too many people have: old wise man sitting on a throne in the clouds, long white hair and beard, white robe, gold 'G' embroidered on the pocket, angels and cupids attending him as he casts judgments on people, declares who lives, suffers, and dies, and so on. I woke up one day and realized how wrong that vision was. That was part of my epiphany. I even got rid of my 'In God We Trust' license plate because it propagates that anthropomorphistic view of Source Energy.

"I started studying metaphysics and other spiritual but not religious writings and teachers. I started to chafe whenever somebody used the Bible as the supreme justification for any type of action. It's just a fucking book – like the dictionary or even some long story on the Internet. Some guy, God, didn't write it, any more than he wrote this morning's newspaper or some arbitrary blog on the Internet. People need to get over it and move on to the more important subjects about their lives. One book is not the justification for anything. Clear thinking is. I resolved to be a clear thinker, and that's when my transition really started.

"Anyway, once I opened up my thinking about religion and spirituality, I also opened myself up to unusual relationships, providing they were based on love. I had been in a couple, but then got pulled into the Circle by Cricket and some of her friends who'd been some of my students. This is what religion should be about. This is what spirituality is about. This is peace, kindness, and love in action here. This is Namasté in action."

Ty called the annual general membership meeting to order. Wendy read the minutes of the last general meeting and they were approved. Julie gave the unaudited treasurer's report for the prior year, providing some detail about the impact of the new construction on operations, operating reserves, and on general reserves. In general, finances were strong but the operating surplus the Circle had grown had nearly evaporated due to the new construction. Julie introduced a motion to rebuild the operating surplus with a quarterly addition of ten percent for above and beyond the current operating dues. The motion passed by a large majority. People saw the need to maintain a surplus despite the short-term financial burden it might impose on them. The Circle was currently about a $900,000 to $1,000,000 per year non-profit business.

Ty then introduced the current slate of potential Circle members to the group, calling each one out by name. He noted that it had been well over six months since the last membership votes. The names were:

Chris and Jessica Thomas

Nicolett Thomas (a.k.a. Nikky)

Juan and Ann Carlos

Joyce Myers

Gene Volker

Alan Lauer

Claudet Carson (a.k.a. Cookie)

Barry Sykes

Elton Cleats

Wes Madden

Cord Jenkins

Jean Randolph (a.k.a. JR)

Jennifer Harvest

Deborah McKinley

Larry Wainwright

Ty spoke for a moment about the size of the incoming 'class' of new members – nineteen. This was by far the largest group annexed into the Circle at one time. He stated his own concern when he counted, but then how he had examined the list person by person, and had no reservations for any of those on the list. He then turned the podium over to Dave.

Dave stood and said, "I have closely observed the members of this class. I believe that no other group – and that's all of you current members – have been more thoughtful and analytical about their potential membership. I cite one person as an example only. JR put herself on a sixty-day trial to see whether she could adapt and absorb all of the principles of the Circle. She underwent a major personal transformation in that time period.

"I've had a chance to observe her and the others in a similar way as they struggled with the differences between how they were raised, what society or their church or school is or was teaching, and what their peers are doing, versus how the Circle functions and what it values. We won out every time, but there were some serious evaluations going on for every person.

"I must add that we should continue the Circle 101 class we started, and I recommend we do this on an annual basis starting in the fall and continuing as long as interest in the rap sessions and classes holds up. This 'class', as Ty calls them, of people attended those sessions with few absences once they became interested in us. The discussions they participated in were rich and challenging both for me, and for some of you that helped with the class, and for the students or 'pledges' as we started to call them.

"I wholeheartedly endorse every person on the list for membership. Julie will pass out the ballots. To my knowledge, no one else is in the 'pledge' category at this time."

As in prior general membership meetings, each current member got a ballot and voted, person by person. They could vote yes, no, or N/A – the latter term meaning no opportunity to observe, so no opinion.

Thirty minutes later, after a short break, Julie and Wendy reported back to the group that everybody on the list had been voted into the Circle by a huge majority for every person. There had been no 'No' votes, only a few 'N/As', which meant no opportunity to observe or assess the person.

After the membership had been decided, Jack Anders stood in front of the group to report on the Circle construction projects. He put up a slide on the large projection screen showing the new Circle homes – the racetrack with eighteen homes enclosing a greatly enlarged core. Much of what he said was an encapsulation of previous reports, but for some it was the first time they'd heard the full description of what things would end up looking like.

Jack said, "The old core was about seven thousand square feet, broken up into various living and utility spaces. The new core space, which includes the old, under roof will now be about twenty-four thousand square feet. This includes a greatly expanded kitchen and the decommissioning of the current kitchen; a large schooling and childcare center; cabanas and restrooms with showers directly off the new patio; a second sauna and Jacuzzi; a significantly enlarged gym with much more equipment and exercise stations; two additional guest suites; an eat-in dining area that can accommodate all of us and then some; a greatly enlarged living room and media room; a pub with pool table and dart boards; and some other space our committee is still working on.

"Separately, I'm sure you are all aware of the commencement of construction for Townhouse 3 along Airport Road. That will add eight more units on Circle land.

Jack changed the slide to another overview, only this version had names attached to each of the homes on the racetrack, and to each of the three townhouses. There was a buzz of excitement and comment as people studied the slide.

Jack overrode the buzz of noise. "THESE ASSIGNMENTS ARE BY NO MEANS FINAL. THIS IS A DRAFT. I have talked to each of you about where you wanted to live, the amount of investment you were willing to expend for your living quarters, and who your housemates would be, in some cases. With the approval of the board, some situations were locked in so that construction of the new homes could commence.

"The original Circle of homes remains populated as it was, only pulled apart by the relocation of five of the homes to enlarge the circle of home and core. Those residents are Dave and five of his six wives; Owen Bennett; Ty and Dori; Dev, Wendy, and Sharon; Sean and Kat; Dale and Susan; Mike and Clarisse; Aaron, Shelby, and Amanda; Roy and Elise; and Grace and myself.

"The new homes along the racetrack will be occupied by Ken and Patti – leaving a slot in Townhouse 2; Daryl, Karen, and Candy; Jim and Lisa; Bobbie and Maddy; Adam and Jill; Juan and Ann Carlos, and Bill Lewis; Chris and Jessica Thomas; and lastly Wolf and Carolyn Carsdahl. You can imagine how I was waiting for the results of the new membership vote with baited breath. Whew!

"As for the townhouses, Alan and Cookie will take over Bobbie and Maddy's unit; JR will take over Amanda's unit; Alec, Taylor, and Gene will take over the unit previously owned by Martin and Sasha. Joyce will occupy Ken and Patti's unit. Nikky will take over Abby's unit. Martin and Sasha are here so seldom these days that they asked to sell their unit to someone. On future visits they will stay in one of our guest suites in the new core.

Jack paused for questions, but there were none. People were studying the charts.

Jack went on, "Lastly, Townhouse 3 will be occupied by Ross and Morgan; Jenny and Deb sharing a unit; Gabe; Steph; Murph and Jake sharing a unit; Ron and Cindy sharing; and Phil and Meggie also sharing a unit. There may be a few members who additionally want space, but for now I think we have most everyone assigned and happy with their future space. We only need to complete construction. As they can move into the units, the mobile homes will disappear from their temporary location."