The Youth Mystery School
In July 2005, a group of ten young people (aged 16-20) met for the first time in a forest canyon near Medford, Oregon. They were from all over the country, and they were scared. They had signed up for something that hadn't been done before, and for which they had no road map. A couple of them had been through such rough patches in their lives that facing death would not have daunted them. They had considered it before. But in a way this was more terrifying. They were going to meet themselves, and there would be no hiding. As they took a first look at their faculty, the people seemed to be a collection of older and young people who looked kind enough, quite ordinary. However, when you look at people with all your imagination fired into a frenzy, they can seem possessed of supernatural powers and ominous intentions. They were told their first meeting time, and lingered over dinner in the mess hall, putting on a good appearance of being relaxed and at ease.
They were not in a Marine boot camp. It was a spiritual training. Most of them had taken a look at the short duration of the training and assumed it would be over before they reached their limits. Three days. Anyone could manage that. They went to their first session, a ritual that seemed very Native American which started with drumming and prayer, with the scent of herbs and smoke and chanting. And for the rest of the time, as they were to see, the program would be increasingly in their hands.