True Tales

We’ve experimented with different approaches to writing our stories. We’ve found that writing a story in the present tense is an effective way to go back to the feelings and perceptions that we had at the time, how ever long ago. It’s easier to remember dialog, sights, smells, sounds, the environment, and other details that bring a story to life. Sometimes the writing is done from the perspective that we had at that time. For instance, Siri Atma’s story about KWTC Drill Team in 1978, when she was 12 years old, and my story about serving Yogiji at the Phyllis house in 1971 when I was barely 19, were both written in this way. We have tried to give a real picture of what it was like for us at that time. We could have written the same stories filled with our current opinions and wisdom. Instead, we want to present it as we experienced it, and let you come to your own opinion and feelings about what occurred.

Whether we’re telling it from the present tense or from the perspective of looking back in time, we also must deal with and contemplate: what is truth for the purpose of the story? We want to write an engaging story, and of course not all of the dialog and details are exactly remembered. Sometimes memories of different events that occurred around the same period of time start blending together. Maybe someone else who was there will disagree with the chronology, or remember the event differently. All the more reason for more people to write their stories… so we can have a more well-rounded view!

We have had an incredible journey all these years. We’ve all had our ups and downs, individually and collectively. We want to give the full picture and show the highs and the lows, and the thread of Guru’s Grace that has brought us through everything along the way. Some stories are incredibly powerful and personal and we’ve shared these in our group. But sometimes the subject matter is so personal that the writer may not really wish to publish it here. While we’ve learned from these difficult experiences (and this includes things like divorce, relationships, challenges with other people, and other traumas) and the lessons are clear in the stories, we’re not necessarily inclined to hang out our dirty laundry in a public blog (even if we’ve cleaned up our act now). We want to avoid sugar coating anything, and at the same time do this without venting or being mean spirited.

This is all to say that we hope that the stories here will be engaging, fun, inspiring, thought provoking, and not be embarrassing to anyone.