I thought about how main character Ken Kesey convinced himself
during a drug experience that he could access god-like powers.
Kesey, writes Wolfe, was able to step back and realize that he was
only hallucinating. Rama, who often claimed that he took so much LSD
in the '60s that he never came down, also convinced himself that he
could access god-like powers. But Rama went further than Kesey.
Rama professed to be an actual incarnation of a god. Rama professed
that a few dozen disciples were causing extensive, invisible damage
to a metropolitan area. "Maybe Rama has been hallucinating since 1969,"
I thought. "Maybe, unlike Kesey, he can't step back and get
a perspective."
During the drive from Aspen to Boulder, I also realized that Kesey
never charged "tuition," never tricked followers into buying lavish
gifts for himself, and never claimed to be the anti-Christ. Kesey drove
around America with his community in an old school bus. Rama led us
separately in cars. Kesey brought diverse groups of people together.
Rama made a special effort to keep friends, lovers, and families apart.
Yet despite their differences, I sensed that Rama had been shaped
in his youth by Kesey's pioneering experiments with Eastern
culture and Western counter-culture, consciousness and drugs,
expression and art, and freedom and control.
Pages:
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208