" Rama later depicted himself in posters
and newspaper ads as an androgynous figure.
Perhaps as part of a doubt-diffusing lesson, Rama once invited
about twenty-five inner circle disciples to see Split Image,
a movie portraying a cult in the late '70s. When the cult leader
(Peter Fonda) blatantly manipulated his followers, Rama laughed out loud.
We laughed too. It was an odd moment; our laughter had a nervous
edge to it. I laughed partly to fit in, and partly because I sensed,
but refused to confront, the absurdity of the situation.
Another time, Rama took followers to see Conan The Barbarian.
When Conan (Arnold Schwartzeneggar) observes a cult leader raise his
arms to silence throngs of "DOOM"-chanting disciples, Rama, who sat
beside me in the theatre, turned to me and said, "He doesn't have
such a bad set up." I figured Rama was only joking. I laughed,
but laughed alone.
Rama's lessons about movies often turned my topsy-turvy world
further upside down. He told me, for instance, that Star Wars
creator George Lucas was wrong to have Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
prematurely leave a mystical apprenticeship, wrong to have evil
unmasked by good, and wrong to portray Yoda as being gay.
"Yoda is gay?" I asked.
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