Richard Lee's Letter Dated June 10, 1986

"No longer in orange" at Joshua Tree

excerpt from a letter postmarked June 10, 1986

...with a page of calligraphy

...This desert is so spectacularly perfect for us that
I wonder how we ever managed to be so lucky--huge
expanse of sky that I can always see. I don't have to climb
a tree to get a glimpse or wait for the smog to clear.
Thousands and thousands of acres all around us. And
even in the hottest summer months we are cooled by
evaporative coolers in our house so that we are
actually more comfortable than we were in Long Beach.
Oh well what can I say? I go around drawing rocks and trees
and brush. Little or no TV because we only receive two
channels (4 and 7) and sometimes even they do not come through
clearly. We go to bed early. But I also get up early, four
AM usually....

I still teach, but only in the fall. That will be
coming up in a couple of months. Have to rent a cheap
apartment down there somewhere near the campus. This
year my wife [Savya] will stay up here and I shall do the traveling
down and back twice a week. I do not mind the drive, rather
like it in fact.

I am happy you shared with me that you had become a [born-again]
Christian. I was raised one, even studied to be a priest,
and here I am! I am no longer in orange, rarely use my
Veerendra name, but that time with Bhagwan [Rajneesh] was the most
important time of my life. I do not regret a moment of
it. I even wish I could still be a sannyasin ["one who...is
dedicated to the life of spiritual values, and to their teaching to others."
(from Serving Humanity, Alice Bailey)], but the time
has come for me to move on. I have been trained to do
Shamanic work now, and in the process of that I discovered that
I am my own teacher, not a very pleasant fact but nonetheless
true for me at this stage of my development. We have met
many people up here who share our views. I have even
started a Shamanic drumming group that meets every other
week. Very instructive, very valuable work is being done
and will be done....

...I am also sending along [a photocopy of my calligraphy of] the
Ten Commandments that Dr. Frederick Franck wrote out for
people who draw....

calligraphy by Richard Lee