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Jane
Stork's
Breaking
the
Spell
THE
STORY
COMMENTS
LINKS
GALLERY
JANE
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``And
the question whether we are to judge the act by the result and
approve the bad act because it was needed for the good result - that is
life too. Life puts such questions as these and they cannot be answered
with a long face. Only in lightness can the spirit of man rise above
them: with a laugh at being faced with the unanswerable, perhaps he can
make even God Himself, the great Unanswering, to laugh.''
Thomas Mann (1875-1955), Joseph
and his Brothers
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My life as
a Rajneeshee,
and
the long journey
back
to freedom
An
apparition in white came through the door. Hands joined in greeting, a
soft smile playing on his lips, he moved towards the chair placed there
for him. He seemed to float towards it. Silent tears of joy filled my
eyes as I gazed on the vision of celestial beauty. I was sure I was in
heaven and God had come to speak to the assembly. Bursting with pious
devotion and honoured to be among the chosen few, it was inconceivable
to me that everything I felt and saw was simply a projection onto the
pristine white screen standing before me.
If
someone told you that they would willingly give away their freedom, you
would shake your head in disbelief. But that is exactly what I did. As
a young Australian wife and mother of two small children, I happily
handed over my freedom to someone else. In doing so, I entered into a
prison of my own making in which I was both guard and prisoner and all
the while the deception was so complete that I thought myself to be an
independent and free individual making wise decisions for myself and my
family, and for the good of mankind. It was not until I was locked into
a physical prison with high stone walls and metal doors that clanged
when they were shut that the extent of my self-deception slowly began
to dawn on me.
This is the story of how I came to relinquish my
freedom, of what it took before I realised what I had done, and of the
years that followed as I faced the devastating consequences and
struggled to win back the priceless treasure I had recklessly thrown
away.
Decades have passed since the story began. I am a
grandmother now who keeps house, tends the garden and bakes with her
grandchildren when they come to visit. All stories have a timing of
their own and mine has taken long. It spanned many continents. There
were no short cuts and it was necessary that I walk each and every step
of the way.
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Meet Jane
in "Wild, Wild
Country", a "jaw-dropping" (The Atlantic) 6-part documentary
on the
rise and fall of the "City of Rajneeshpuram".
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