Arkashean Q&A Session -- 100

MISSION

BLAKE: Yes?

PIPPA: Yeah, I have a question. Uhmm, what is the current or the immediate vision of Arkashea? Rather than, you know, sometimes I think about, well, when we look ahead, we talk about, you the Ark of Fire and we talk about future plans and orphanages and homes for the aged...I'm just, I'm just kind of curious how you would, specifically maybe Tim would condense what are immediate goals are now and how you see us, like a mission statement perhaps or an overall ...our mission. Just something we could keep in our minds that we could focus on.

BLAKE: Okay, our mission is on several levels as usual. There's not never just a single thread when we work with anything. On the Monastery level, when you say immediate, are we talking within the next year or two years? Are you talking about...how many years are you talking about?

PIPPA: I'm just talking about just current, if I was to ask you now...what's happening now.

BLAKE: Our vision...our mission statement for the Monastery is for us to create as much unity and love and togetherness as possible.

LENA: Oh my God!

BLAKE: That is our ultimate present goal, future goal and past goal.

LEWIS: Where?

BLAKE: Right here around this table.

LEWIS: Not that, I mean in the world or in the Monastery.

BLAKE: In the Monastery. We've got to start with ourselves first. We've got to love ourselves, like ourselves and be able to take others criticism well and give out well, etc. We need to be all well rounded and balanced on many different levels individually. And as everyone knows, we are all mirrors for each other, so we either take the opportunity to learn when things come your way that aren't pleasant or are pleasant or you take umbrage with them or take issue with them or defend them and you don't take the opportunity for learning. So our mission within the Monastery spiritually is just that. That right there is enough for all of us to work on collectively and obviously we each have individual things we're always trying to work on, so that can't be part of the mission statement per se. But the collective mission statement is as a collective group is to be able to continue striving for the highest level of unity and love and togetherness. Everything under that umbrella, there's lots of sub-categories under that, so that would be the Monastery Mission. The only other mission we have is the outside world mission, which is the Magic Circle and helping to sustain the Monastery so that we all have a place to come back to at the end of the day, at the end of our lives and next life hopefully, which where the Ark of Fire comes in. We want to, obviously, get to a degree of success whereby in our next reincarnation we hope to come back here and for all of us to come back here comes back to creating that collective unity we're talking about...wanting to have this experience again...hopefully better than this time around.

BUDDY: When you say come back here, do you mean just the physical house or Arkashea?

PIPPA: This house?! [Laugh]

BLAKE: No, Arkashea, a property wherever it may be...So that's the kind of things that might be helpful to keep in your mind's eye as looking forward to where we want to go ourselves in the Monastery. Yes, if the Monastery doesn't serve all the purposes or needs of the individual, obviously they're not going to have a high degree of interest in wanting that experience in the future of this life as well as future lives. But that's an individual decision that we all have to make.

TWIX: If we don't achieve uhhm the necessary unity, what does that mean for the future of Arkashea?

BLAKE: It will be disbanded and just...won't be...there won't be a facility for us to come back to, we'll have to start all over again.

TWIX: Oh really?

BLAKE: If we can keep this going throughout the many future lives, it will be here. Otherwise, we'll have to start from scratch all over again. On the Magic Circle side, our mission is to maintain a degree of stability in the outside world with our business efforts to not go bankrupt and survive the economics of the day, whether they're good or bad at the moment, they're somewhat bad and to get to a point where we can sustain ourselves through our own efforts through the Magic Circle financially. Now that takes different forms and different uhh feeding mechanisms...financial feeding mechanisms to make that to happen. At the moment, our prime focus is obviously the restaurant. We have the most personnel committed to that, we have the most energy going to that, we have the most expenses going to that...until something else comes along that is a...more of an opportunity where a door can open, like a computer software team or any other new ideas, that's what we've got. So, it would be important not to throw away things that we already have to try to make it the best that we can and work through the lean years and hope for us to have some really great years financially.

GAVIN: It's funny, sometimes perception, like what you just said, sometimes it seems like we're failing in the unity factor or not everyone gets along every single day, but if you really look what's going on, it's phenomenal. You have...you can look around this table, any of us and there's ten people that will come to your aid like that if you need it, without questioning..."Hey, my car broke down on the other side of the Universe"...people would be there. A lot of times you don't get that on the outside. Sometimes you have friends...I know people have relationships and their mate won't go pick them up, as weird as that may sound. I mean there are things also to remember that, we're not supposed to all be sitting here in bliss, like everyone is getting along every second with each other. Part of what we're learning is to teach people how to deal with high levels of stress, high levels of conflict. How do you deal with somebody when they're a complete ass-hole, royal ass-hole? How do you still deal with them, when Therry has his demands? Do you go negative, do you go neutral, do you try and grow and handle everything that's thrown your way in the most positive fashion? Uhm, when you really look at it, we do a pretty darn good job. The fact that we don't slice each other's throats at night is better than most people's...you know...

[Laughter]

GAVIN: So it's really easy to say we're not doing good and I agree sometimes it does look like we're not...but give you guys some credit. I mean, you got to put up with a lot of crap here...

BLAKE: Especially with such varied backgrounds. I mean you know.

LAUREN: And in this society, it's really not conducive to this sort of lifestyle. In the past where there've been Monasteries or any kind of communal living it's because the social structure around the people...the life was so negative that people would make all sort of trade-offs just to be able to be under the same roof and not be killed by the outside forces. But they're so many toys out now, it's not as appealing for most people to want to live in a communal setting.

BUDDY: Well, usually it gets a sort of negative stigma if it's not a major religion. People just say, "Oh, you're a cult!" People are weird.

GAVIN: Not only that. Each and every one of you have sacrificed a lot to be here and we know that. Your privacy, your comfort and just getting relaxation when you want it. But almost everyone can say here that you get a lot of skills here, a lot of support when you need it, that we really do have something special. It's really hard to forget [sic remember] that sometimes, especially when things are going bad.

TWIX: So are we doing okay?

GAVIN: Overall we're doing...

TWIX: I mean, I mean in other words, are we doing well enough that we can have the sufficient unity to save the planet or whatever? I mean I...

GAVIN: No-one can answer that. The best you can do is try to support each other, not be as harsh with each other. You know, what the planet requires none of us is individually going to do, but yet, each one of you has an affect individually on a grander scale. The more you can stay positive under trying circumstances. I mean I'm always amazed, all of us will fight and scream...and I don't like this one and she don't like that one, this one, yet when Arkashea is really attacked, if the cafe needs more people or we have a wedding or the IRS is coming after us or whatever it may be or we need to move something because it's in the way, in the driveway or something, there's no doubt in my mind that I can depend on each and every one of you. I just know it, without really having to question that. And it's the same thing, if any of you really have a problem, you know that you can grab anyone at any time, and they're going to drop what they're doing when it really matters so that...

BUDDY: Unless it's an official task for Pharaoh.

GAVIN: Yeah right...and even that, you know, it's pretty neat when you really think what we've got here.

GAVIN: I mean we're a strange paradox, dichotomy here, because you must learn to walk the Path of Self first and Therry gives a lot of rope for each person to find their own path here in Arkashea. My path is not your path, yours is not her path. And yet within that framework of allowing people to go whacko-roo in their own lifestyles, we still keep enough tug on each of you that you still serve the Universe, you still serve the group even under while trying to maintain your own life. So there's a lot going on here, it's not easy. That's the weird part. We all take for granted that this is kind of a normal life what we're living. It's strange but it's normal. You don't get that on the outside. People live according to what they want to live and nothing much is expected of them, you know, a lot of times. So each one of you works really hard whether you even notice it anymore. It's just something you do for granted...for granted.

BLAKE: Yeah, let me expand on the unity part of it. There's different levels of unity. There's the grand unity as he was referring to when the chips are down, we can count on everybody to come...to come to the forefront and help. But that kind of unity needs to filter down into the lower levels of the mundane, daily life and that's where the unity starts breaking down and we become selfish when we feel our tasks are more important than another person's tasks when they come to us for help. Uhm, there's no problem at a deep-seated level, for the most part, but when it starts, you know, filtering down into the mundane activities of life, that's when it starts slowly breaking down here and there and those are the hardest areas to deal with, because it's A Happening for the moment and you have to get...reach deep down into your own core and be able to sacrifice your moments of time for someone else and that's where unity gets cemented really...really tough and that's where we're lacking a lot of times. So if there's something to hold your mind as a mantra or concentrate on when those opportunities arise, try to think about that and...and be willing to sacrifice your moment of time for someone else if they need it. And if it's important to them, it may not be important to you, but its important to them. And because it's important for them, then that's the focal point for unity right there. That's the decision, that's the happening moment, that's the vortex of whether you're going to be more unified or not. And we all do that on individual levels, all day long, week after week.

BUDDY: You know that adds something...if I want to chime in for a second, because I want to clarify something...does that adds subtly to your overall spiritual development?

BLAKE: Absolutely!

GAVIN: I was going to say...

BLAKE: Not even subtly.

GAVIN: Like a Moody Blues song that says, "All the love that you've been giving was really meant for you."

BLAKE: Yes.

GAVIN: Although there's two ways of interpreting that, but everything you put out, comes back ten-fold so...

LAUREN: And one of the difficulties especially when Therry's operating on such a higher level and gets information and then people get assignments and they make no sense. And you think, "I'm just hitting myself against the wall, you know, I'm peeling the five thousandth potato and we're not making a dime! Or where we just spent tons of money on a particular project and now it's sitting in the backyard rusting, any number of things like that. But Therry will do something that seems completely crazy because it's going to change possibly a course of events which could affect the planet or an individual for who knows how long. But we don't see that because we're so in the mundane and we don't see how it affects a much bigger picture.

BUDDY: And we may never.

TWIX: Well, can he explain it to us?

LAUREN: A lot of times he can't. I've tried.

BLAKE: Or he won't.

LEWIS: Or a lot of times he doesn't know.

BLAKE: That's true.

LEWIS: He's just told...he's just told...

LAUREN: He's given information, right.

LEWIS: Yeah.

GAVIN: It's was just on the Joan of Arcadia...

PIPPA: It's like Joan of Arcadia, yeah right...

GAVIN: ...we saw the other day. He said, "You know, I didn't help that person. Sometimes the best you can do is plant a seed ..."

BLAKE: ...and walk away...

GAVIN: "...and walk away."

PIPPA: Uh hmmm.

LAUREN: He did tell me that we had a little over a hundred years to get the Ark of Fire ready. He told me that once.

BLAKE: You think we'll be dead. We're going to keep you alive. [Laugh]

BUDDY: To build it myself!

GAVIN: Yeah, the other thing is, you look at small little things, even that cafe, most of the people out there are fairly mundane, they're just trying to get by, have a good time. Yet they do acts of kindness, like someone paid for the ad for us. Other people are putting up our musicians. They know we're a whacko cult, most of them, but yet, it's the bridge between the absurd and the strange and people actually have taken that chance to get a little closer to us.

LAUREN: I've had a lot of people say that they feel the energy in the place.

TWIX: Oh they do?

LAUREN: They say it doesn't feel like any other place I've been. Not everybody.

LEWIS: That happens nearly every single week with me that somebody says something like that or I hear somebody say it to somebody else.

PIPPA: Uh-hmmm.

GAVIN: You just never know. Those people in the future.

LAUREN: And yet those people are not knocking down the door to get in here, but that's not our purpose.

GAVIN: And yet, one of the biggest things that makes even Jesus' time, those who were considered friends of Jesus or friends of Arkashea, they weren't necessarily the complete followers, but they did things in that link to match us up or to help us out with society, to talk to a public official who...these are nice people. That can save Arkashea's skin in the future like you wouldn't...more than any of us could do, even though we sit here and work everyday for Arkashea and you never know where that's going to come from. So you always have to...

BUDDY: Yeah like...I just thought, sorry, wasn't there like a Roman soldier...back in Jesus' time there was a high Roman soldier that had Caesar's ear and he was given the task to watch Jesus' sermon at...was it Galilee...?

PIPPA: Sermon on the Mount?

BUDDY: Yeah, yeah and he came back moved by it and everything and he was talking very favorably about Jesus...so you can get people even from the other side to...

BLAKE: Yeah...

GAVIN: And that's where the real change in the world takes place. When you get somebody who doesn't believe the way you believe, but to still stand up and support you, you've done something good in the world.

TWIX: So but how does that fit like Glo was saying that, you know, we're not making money, but then you said we're supposed to be making money. Is it really...

BLAKE: No, I didn't say I was supposed to. I said we need to be out there to financially support our future.

TWIX: Oh okay.

BLAKE: And it ties in...a lot of things we do to reach that goal. That's independent of what we're talking about right now.

GAVIN: Not only that. You got to realize that when Therry and Tim started this, they had a one-bedroom piece of shit they lived in, it was the size of this. It was dirty carpet, it was dirty furniture...

[Laughter]

GAVIN: Tim used to vacuum and Therry used to eat some toast and brush the crumbs all over the floor and Tim would go, "I just vacuumed under your feet."

BLAKE: Yeah, that he did.

GAVIN: I mean the thing is, not only have we given you a safe haven for you, you, you, you, you. Dav always worked and stuff but in the sense that you guys came from other countries, you learn and have a place to stay...you pay your own way, true, but not as if you were paying out in the world. You've got support, you've got friends, so Arkashea had nothing. I mean, literally, when we started the farm, we had $800.00 in the bank. So in twenty years, we've managed to build not only this but...

BLAKE: An empire!

[Laughter]

GAVIN: Well, no, a little bit of security...I mean each of us has meals every single day, we have relatively good air conditioning sometimes. [Laugh]

BLAKE: It should be better.

GAVIN: Your cars work. Your health insurance is...we try and pay for it as best we can so we try to give people a quality of life, that you know, didn't exist...none of us had insurance for years and years. We just didn't have it because we couldn't afford it, so more and more we are trying to provide a firm basis. We sell this building, we sell this house, we get over a million dollars from zero. I mean Tim tried but he wasn't uhh, the best electronics guy in the world.

BLAKE: What you mean?

GAVIN: We had zero money basically. So with $800.00 we've turned into at least a place where people can go. When a Nick shows up, we can kinda help him out for a little while or somebody else....Sometimes they never come back. So, you know, when we talk about how bad the finances are...yeah, but you know, we do what's right, something's always worked out. We got this one from New York. We were living off of coffee grinds. We'd have to reuse our coffee grinds...

[Laughter]

GAVIN: Glo brings Folgers! We didn't have coffee before Glo came!

[Laughter]

GAVIN: No, serious!

LAUREN: I said, we've got to get a lot more done. New York's very efficient...These guys are really lying around really slow!

[Laughter]

GAVIN: While it looks like...we talk about the fear...and you also have to recognize accountants are paid to fear. They don't have vision, they have numbers.

[Laughter]

GAVIN: Some people are more risk adverse and some people are risk takers. Therry will risk everything within reason with a safety net. Tim, me, we're a little bit...look, I mean, we can live in a stinking cave, as long as we have a little bit of food, everything is going to be fine. Some people get a little bit more scared, we're going to run out of money, we're going to die. No, we're, something's going to happen. E'ebare's parents will leave us a million dollars, I mean, whatever. Even this place, the kindness of other people helped support this or finance this when the banks wouldn't. So things happen for us.

BUDDY: The Universe returns.

GAVIN: So, just...I mean, don't lose faith in other words. I mean, we've got to do the work, but just when things get bad, let's not get scared to the point of negativity where we're... "Oh, we're doomed! Why bother! Oh..." You just got to say...

BLAKE: And there's a lot of potential here in the future for our financial stability. We just have to work through the lean years as a...as a...and the lean years could be two, three, four, it could be ten. But uh, I mean, we have a lot there, you know, to capitalize on if we keep our attitudes right.

GAVIN: You know what got us here? A hurricane! Therry said, "Homestead!"

BUDDY: We saw Forrest Gump and then that happened right?

GAVIN: I mean, we had zip when we started here. What did Homestead do? Wipe us out! Made us buy insurance money, made us buy this place. Made us do things we'd never be able to do. So we play along, we try to do what the Universe wants us to do, we try to be unified, we stick together and don't be afraid all the time, amazing shit can happen! Ooops, that's an unofficial word...amazing poop can happen!

[Laughter]

GAVIN: I'm going to get sappy...you guys are good.

BLAKE: You also gotta remember if worse comes to worse, four, five years, six years, whatever amount of years, from this point forward that we find out the cafe is a bust and we can never get off the ground and we have no pot to piss in...we all can go out and work, get jobs.

PIPPA: Uh-hmmm, uh-hmmm.

BLAKE: We're all capable, intelligent people you know, mostly everybody.

[Laughter]

LAUREN: Degrees can give you know...

BLAKE: So we got...we're no going to die, we're not going to lose it all, we're not going to be ...

TWIX: We are going to die, but not...[Laugh]

BLAKE: Yeah, I know...

GAVIN: Look at the investment part. I mean that building cost us $80,000. It's worth double, probably triple that in the future. I mean it's already double.

PIPPA: What building? The cafe?

GAVIN: The cafe itself. So, there's capital...

BLAKE: The first building was not much money.

GAVIN: I mean we put in hard work...we may not be pulling paychecks but our capital improvements are increasing, the area's improving, our investments are sound. Blake's been an animal trying to get these grants...

BLAKE: Briony!!!

LENA: Briony!!!

GAVIN: Briony, sorry about that. Absolutely.

[Laughter]

GAVIN: Judy came to us years ago. I'm tired of making money for other people. I want to do something for the Monastery. She's gotten grants for us. So a little bit of initiative may play out well in the future. It may not be as dim as you may hear from the numbers point of view.

BLAKE: I mean it brought a lot of trouble, these grants, but a lot of learning through it. It's all pain, it's just a matter of managing it and keeping it within a particular zone so it doesn't make you dysfunctional. So far, we're not dysfunctional.

GAVIN: And look at Buddy. Last time, when I first got here, he saw somebody stealing shirts from us and he told Tim, I don't feel like pressuring the guy.

[Laughter]

GAVIN: Now someone steps outta line and Buddy is like, "Hey, I have to ...

BLAKE: That's my fish!

GAVIN: I mean he's come a long way. He's a manager right now. I mean you can trust to handle all kinds of things that a few short years ago you couldn't.

BLAKE: Yeah, because he didn't know the rules of business and how to think in business which is different than being a bleeding heart, basically. We're all bleeding hearts to a point, but you have to know where the threshold is or you'd be cutting your own throat.

GAVIN: Look at Phoebe...a lot of change in a few years. Lena, unbelievable. Martin, come on...The only one who hasn't changed around here is probably me. [Laugh]

BLAKE: We'll work on you.

GAVIN: Lauren's a beast. She hated business, the woman's running a major talent agency.

[Laughter]

GAVIN: Serious. To do what you do, to be honest, that place is stamped with your personality. You can't run it by yourself, but that place has your...

LAUREN: Well, no, everybody here...I mean people...very helpful. And what Del's doing for these employees, these kids that come through and they can't even complete ...They can't even form complete sentences. They've never...they don't even know how to walk and talk and she starts saying, "Okay." And of course, they go off and get a job because of all the training she's given them.

GAVIN: As a matter of fact I talked about Gerrie at the Empowerment Zone the other day. I said, you know, we have a person who just doesn't train them to do the job, she spends hours with them, teaching them how to dress, to talk, to look. And they were impressed by that.

LAUREN: They've learnt skills that they're going to take with them the rest of their life. And are they going to look back and say, it was that woman at Main Street Cafe? Probably not because that's not human nature, but it'll still its stamp on them.

TWIX: They do! They always come back. Look at ah God, that Nicaraguan guy. But he came back several times.

LAUREN: She really helped this young woman named Jackie. Jackie who could not speak.

GAVIN: What about Perez?

LAUREN: Oh Miguel. Michael.

GAVIN: Here's a guy who's about to go, kill his girlfriend and commit suicide. He was on the phone here. That was his plan, the only way he could handle the situation. I talked to him for hours. Therry talked to him for hours. His life is together now. He's got a sales job, he's a decent...This man was going down and he was taking people with him. And it was all from the cafe. Just somewhere where he knew he could call when things really got bad. And each one of you has a part in this. I mean, it seems small...taking care of Therry, the medicines, the dogs. There's a lot of work...the kitchen.

LAUREN: "And the amount of people that come in there and say, everybody is so nice here. We don't go in other places where people are nice." And it's true. Most places are just...I mean nobody's really giving people much consideration because they're too caught up in their own problems.

TWIX: Are we supposed to be counseling people? I mean, I know people do it because out of the goodness of their heart, but is that part of our role?

BLAKE: If it warrants and someone approaches you...yeah. But you don't want to go to them...

TWIX: Force it...

BLAKE: ...and say, "Hey, I got something to teach you."

[Laughter]

GAVIN: That is actually one area where we have been bad lately. Oftentimes, we've been having guests come here and more than used to be, sometimes they feel like the people here are ignoring them and not everyone, but to different degrees, at different times, with different guests. We got to be careful with that fine line. We're not supposed to override someone's free will but at the same time...

BLAKE: You're talking about stranger type guests?

GAVIN: Strangers or friends of friends, if Lauren brings someone or I bring someone or you know, if anyone brings someone. Occasionally, a little bit...we've been getting...uhmm, people are getting wrapped in their own world here and they'll make nasty comments to a guest, first time here. The guy said, "The person made me feel like shit. I didn't feel welcome there." I've had it on two different occasions. When people come here, this is their first shot at coming into the Monastery. You guys got to be on better behavior, take that extra minute to leave your world back and at least put on a happy face for a...not happy face...a welcoming vibe for a few minutes.

BUDDY: Just remember how you felt when you came.

PIPPA: Uh-hmmm.

GAVIN: I mean that's...

LAUREN: They had me carrying buckets the first day.

LEWIS: [Laugh]

BUDDY: That's because you needed to...you felt guilt. You needed it ...

LAUREN: Buckets with Louie!

BUDDY: Oh, we know about that. We heard about that!

DAV: Welcome home, this where you left off!

[Laughter]

LEWIS: Do you know how to cook?

BUDDY: Ah! You want me in the kitchen? What are you silly? I'm going to school for...!

[Laughter]

TWIX: So Gavin, did you say that we didn't talk to them enough or...?

GAVIN: It wasn't talking...There were two occasions, one especially...the person was downright nasty...

TWIX: Oh...

GAVIN: ...and afterwards when ahh I questioned. I said...I told out the person that I found out that they thought you were the electrician and the guy said to me, "Even if I was, the comment was so nasty, even if I was an electrician in your place, who's this person going to talk to me like that?" And they got a very bad feeling right away.

TWIX: Oh, okay.

GAVIN: It happens, people have very bad days, but I can tell you that's one area collectively all us need to be a little bit more aware...

TWIX: Yeah.

GAVIN: When a person comes in, we're not trying to occultize or be overly friendly. I don't usually talk to someone until the second time they come here a lot of times. But you got to be...it's a vibe that we got to put out.

BUDDY: At the very least, it's like someone coming in the cafe, you just say, "Hi," you know, at the very least.

GAVIN: Yeah. You know, Jim had a great story, the parable of...there was a failing monastery. There were like three (3) monks left and it was starting to fall apart because they were all at each other's throats. And one day there was a visiting sage who came by and they said, Master, you know, how can we keep our monastery together. And he said, "One of you is going to be a great teacher." He didn't tell them which one and because of that, they all started treating each other with the dignity and respect that we all deserve. And as a result of that, people would go there and they'd say, "These people like each other!" and the vibe went out and the positiveness went out and the people started coming back. They were supporting them and they were saying, "When you go there, it's a great place!" That's somewhat, like Tim said, that's where we're failing. There's too many wars going on here, too often, there's too many little camps, there's too many petty little things going on, and we all got them. I got 'em, you got 'em, you got 'em, you got 'em, you got 'em...

BLAKE: Don't point fingers! [Laugh]

TWIX: How about me? I'm an angel!

GAVIN: I was going to say, we all got 'em, you got 'em, you got 'em...not so much...

GAVIN: But the thing is that we all got a lot of work to do. None of us is perfect in that area. And because of that, a lot of times, people get here and...hmmm, the vibe is better at the cafe sometimes than it is here.

BUDDY: Yeah, the cafe rocks!

GAVIN: Yeah, the cafe is a hot spot. And the point is this is our home, you're right, when I have to be on stage, and be pretending all this stuff, all the time, it's difficult. We got to let our hair down too from some stress. But it also makes a big difference how we treat each other, what's going to happen here. And the truth is, we all got to live here. We can all be miserable together and fail or we can try to give each other a little bit more slack and...Alright, the guys an idiot, but I'll listen to him a lot closer or whatever it is.

TWIX: There're going to be two great wise people...

GAVIN: Each other...

TWIX:...we should probably say six.

GAVIN: No, it was a friend of mine.

TWIX: They're going to be six great wise people here.

[Laughter]

GAVIN: Yeah, right! There's always...So, one of you!

BLAKE: But I think, you know, if looking back over the past two, three, four years, we've been a lot better off than we have been.

GAVIN: Yeah.

TWIX: We're what, sorry?

BLAKE: We're a lot better off than...on all the different levels we've been talking about all night than three, four years ago.

GAVIN: I don't know if you guys recall, there was actually a point where we were somewhat in danger of falling apart. Things were getting really...

LENA: Even Therry said that the unity was bad and that we had to do something extra especially...

BLAKE: And we did. We went through that barrier and we're now on the other side of it.

GAVIN: But it does arise from time to time.

DAV: Can you speak of how you...or what?

BLAKE: It was a combination of a lot of things, but it mostly centered around attitudes.

GAVIN: Sacrificing goats!

TWIX: Sacrificing what?

GAVIN: Joking!

TWIX: I didn't hear that.

LEWIS: Goats.

BLAKE: Self-centered things, selfishness, you know, being concerned about oneself as opposed to other people, your basic humanity of things.

TWIX: So poker night did it all?

BLAKE: Overnight? No, it took a little while.

TWIX: It was poker night?

LEWIS: No, poker night.

BLAKE: What do you mean it was poker night?

PIPPA: That changed...

TWIX: Poker night that transformed us?

BLAKE: Well, that helped.

BUDDY: Poker night, that's absurd.

[Laughter]

GAVIN: You should hear, when I talk to people when I say, "I can't it's mandatory poker night at the monastery."

DUNCAN: You shouldn't say that.

GAVIN: What?

DUNCAN: That's it's mandatory poker night.

GAVIN: Yeah.

BLAKE: Who says that?

DUNCAN: Him.

BLAKE: Who'd you...who'd you say that to?

GAVIN: I said it on the phone, "I can't, I gotta go, it's mandatory poker night." It's people I know but...

PIPPA: Well, I know...

DUNCAN: Well, still you shouldn't say that, because as someone pointed out to me, and it's true, people get the impression of this group that we're weird when you tell them, when they ask you to do something and you say, "I can't BECAUSE...

GAVIN: Right...

DUNCAN: Because they get the impression that you're doing it against your will. It's a lot different if you say, "Look I'm busy, I playing poker..."

BLAKE: Yeah.

DUNCAN:... than if you say it's mandatory poker night...

PIPPA: Yeah right

BLAKE: Yeah, that's true it sounds...

DUNCAN: It's a very insightful thing.

GAVIN: Yeah, sure thing.

BLAKE: Sounds funny but it has ...

DUNCAN: Yeah, well if a girl wants to go out with you, "I can't because I live in a monastery or whatever." It's a lot better off saying, "Well, I have other things going on in my life and I don't want to." Than saying I can't.

GAVIN: I always say, my guru won't let me. [Laugh]

DUNCAN: Well, that's basically...if people know you live in a monastery, that's the impression they get.

GAVIN: Sure, no, you're right.

PIPPA: Look at Jordan.

GAVIN: Oh, Jordan! I can go out with you, but you're going to have to live in my monastery. Right, that does freak people out.

LAUREN: When people have spoken, the rumors have flown down at the cafe, it is...for instance, I know Mina was saying, "Martin's not allowed" When she was pursuing you. Well, she can twist anything.

LEWIS: Yeah, exactly, with someone like Mina, you can say anything and she'll change it. She hears what she wants to hear.

GAVIN: Right.

TWIX: Oh, not that he doesn't like you...it's he's not allowed. [Laugh]

GAVIN: Duncan's right, though, you're right, I should be more careful with that.

DUNCAN: It's basically that's not true. Anybody can basically do anything whatever they want.

GAVIN: Yeah.

DUNCAN: If it's because they can't. It's we who can't because we don't want to.

LENA: I want poker night!

DUNCAN: What?

LENA: Nothing.

GAVIN: Yeah, now you long for poker night!

BUDDY: Yeah, in the same token, we can't just do whatever we want here.

TWIX: Yeah, but you don't want to tell everyone our business.

DUNCAN: The restrictions are self-imposed.

TWIX: Yeah.

LENA: Yeah...

GAVIN: Also, you gotta remember, there's...you gotta realize you're dealing with the prejudices of the way people see things. When you know what you're doing here and why, how much free-will you have and how much you've given up, to an outside person who, does not have the slightest concept of doing anything else except having their own free will and doing what they want, when they want...

PIPPA: No limits.

GAVIN: ...within reason, that concept of, "I can't because they won't let me," that's cult behavior and next thing we'd be eating acid and kool-aid and dying, you know, like some cult-head. Not they're bad, they just don't have the reference points. "What do you mean, you can't do that?" And if they have the slightest bit of prejudice, like Duncan said, they'll capitalize on that. They'll say, they control their minds over there. No, we all kinda do what we want.

BLAKE: We do eat a lot of chicken.

[Laughter]

LAUREN: Speak for yourself!

GAVIN: That's the thing, if anyone really knew us, we're all probably the hardest- headed people, you've heard of, you know, we don't...normally none of us do whatever someone tells us to do, ever. I mean, we're all pretty strong-willed. But the whole concept of people thinking that we even live together...first off, you can't live on your own, you're not strong enough, you're a crutch and you're being brainwashed. So usually with that their focus point, when they hear key phrases like, "I can't do that, they won't let me," they're going to run with it.

PIPPA: Yeah, if you say it that way, people get actually pretty angry almost... You notice, "What do you mean, you can't do that?" They get sorta defensive for you. They try to help you.

LAUREN: Yeah, I had numerous people...they were shocked about you guys getting married, they said "I thought you guys couldn't!" I said, "Everybody's working on different things. There's all different levels there, it's not one way or..." They have this preconceived idea...

BUDDY: Everybody has a preconceived notion, yeah...

LAUREN: None of us have sex, they'll never be any couples, you know, they have this...that's how they see it.

TWIX: Well, by the way, are people supposed to know about that? I mean, I don't really talk to anybody anyway.

GAVIN: If somebody asks you, there's no reason to hide it, but it's not something we go broadcasting it.

LAUREN: It's not like we broadcast it.

BUDDY: Yeah, we don't want to make it beyond [...] if someone's just asks us.

LENA: Yeah, we're not going to lie.

BLAKE: So, there we have it. Mission statement for one, mission statement for the other. Does that answer your question?

PIPPA: Yeah, excellent!