WHAT DO YOU THINK A NEW AGE THINKER OUGHT TO THINK ?

Residual Problem, After Solving the "Whereases" and "Wherefores", is --

By CHARLES O. RHOADES

THE REASON I haven't written sooner is because I've been trying to determine what a
"new age thinker" is. you can't have a New
Age Center without new age thinkers, because that's what a New Age Center is for --
new age thinkers, that is.

On the surface, this doesn't appear to be
much of a problem, because there're new age
thinkers all over the place -- or so they keep
telling me. But when I get to trying to put
into words justwhat these new age thinkers are
going to do at the New Age Center, I just can't
seem to find the right words.

We've got some pieces of paper here -- and one
says: New Age Center, Certificate of Incorporation, whereas and wherefore and herewith, the
New Age Center is now a corporation under the
laws of the State of Oklahoma, and some guy -- I
think it was the Assistant Secretary of State
-- signed his name and stuck a pretty gold seal
down in one corner and the whole thing looks
all legal like.

We had a meeting of the Board of Trustees
the other night, and all voted "yea" to accept
a whole bunch of by-laws the attorney had
written up and which sounded good, with a lot
more whereases and wherefores thrown in so we
wouldn't know for sure what we were voting on.
Confidentially, I think people like being confused, because they wouldn't know what to do
with themselves if they weren't.

After the crowd had left, I was reading
thru the by-laws again to see if I could get
any of them to make any sense and a couple of
paragraphs caught my eye that might be worth
repeating. So I quote : "Article 1 -- Section
III -- The New Age Center being, in fact, a
non-profit corporation, it does not contemplate
the distribution of gains, profits, or dividends to the members thereof. That no part of
its net earnings, or the principal or income
of the said corporation, shall inure to the
benefit of, or be distributed to, any individual
member, director, or officer of the said corporation; but...." (Let me interrupt here to ask
a simple but pertinent question -- Do you think
this means I don't get any pay for the overtime I put in, because they've already made it
real plain I don't get paid anything for the
first eight hours I put in every day?)

Then there's this Article I, Section IV:
"The New Age Center will engage in scientific
and other research, study, analysis, and investigation of any and all things, and in any
and all fields, in an endeavor to obtain new,
greater, and more advanced knowledge; and will
work for the establishment and dissemination
of new-found truths, as long as they are for
the betterment, improvement, encouragement,
and advancement of mankind and its posterity."

It looks to me like the guy who wrote this
is trying to limit me in some of the pet projects I had lined up. I've got a Doctor friend
who claimed the other night he can teach almost any blind person to see perfectly thru
developing his inner sight along certain lines
he has found that work. I've had visions of
how much good we could do at the Center letting this "Doctor" teach a class in "New Sight
for the Blind". We've got another "Doc", too,
who is willing to head up a research project
in "healing thru the power of thought". This
"Doc" put on a demonstration here at the house
the other night that made my shirttail roll up
and down my back like a window shade. He can
sit right there in front of God and everybody
and analyze everything that is wrong with anybody in the room, or with anybody that any of
us happened to know about, no matter where
they were living. I would mention, too, that
he's able to do something about these things
that are wrong with other people, but won't
because the A.M.A. (American Medical Association) might look him up and slap his wrists,
or something.

There are some other people who are wanting
to organize a home and school for handicapped
children out at the Center, but this puts them
in the same boat with the group that wants to
organize a 24-hour prayer circle to be headquartered at the Center. Unless we can get a
literal interpretation of the by-laws, I don't
see how we're going to be able to do all these
things.

I had originally hoped we could find a
quarter section of land just outside the City
limits somewhere and build a sort of spiritual
retreat, where people of like minds and hearts
could get together for classes or lectures in
spiritual and physical development, and where
they could even build homes and live if they
felt inclined to; but here again we've been
sort of crossed up by the City because they've
expanded the City limits in all directions and
the last I heard, Oklahoma City was larger than
Los Angeles (area wisel and still growing.

To me, this could indicate one of two
things : Either Oklahoma City is a heck of a
fine place for people to live, or some of the
City Dads had one too many and went overboard
on this annexation thing. I'm kinda inclined
to think the first reason is the right one. At
least, I hope so.

Getting back to the question at hand as to
the present status of the Oklahoma City New
Age Center, just as soon as I can find some
new age thinkers and find out from them what
they think a New Age Center should incorporate
in its activities, we're going to be ready to
start looking for a location and for people
who want to join us in this venture.

I don't suppose there would be any new age
thinkers among the readers of The ABERREE, but
just in case there are, we would sure like to
hear from them concerning any ideas they might
have regarding what a new age center is or
ideas they would incorporate into a new age
center if they were building one.

They can either send their ideas to you
there in Enid and we'll be up and get them
after the spring thaw, or they can write me
here in Oklahoma City -- Charles O. Rhoades,
2856 Northwest 18th Street.