stressful. We were all young, most in our teens (I was 17 when I
arrived in Santa Fe), and most of us were away from home for the
first time in our lives. I think most of us had experiences similar
to Rick's as we adjusted to our new lives as college freshmen. And
we each found new friends with similar interests and formed support
networks.
Since the stature of limitations has run out on this, I can admit now
that a few of us would gather two or three times a week for an
evening cocktail and to reflect on life at the College. It was great
for bonding and very supportive.
Would meditation classes have helped me adjust better during that
first year or two? Maybe. I was somewhat interested in Eastern
thought and practices then; but, would I have allowed myself to
participate enough to really get much out of it? Probably not: I
had other interests and desires more typical of teenage boys. It was
some decades before meditation found a place in my life.
Certainly the 60s were a tumultuous time that affected us in ways
we're probably still discovering, but I think young people have
always found the transition from childhood to adulthood to be
tumultuous and difficult. In some ways we were better off than many
other teens in the 60s in that we were living in a very protected,
almost cloistered, environment. And frankly, I think we LIVED in an
encounter group! At least for the first two years......
Cheers,
Carl Bostek
SF '68
1 comment:
Good point, Carl. Your first two years were a much more personal encounter in Santa Fe than mine in Annapolis, which was a much larger pool to get lost in (though still admittedly small, compared to big universities). I wanted to see how it was done, experience the tradition, before coming to Santa Fe (which I always planned to do after two years). I wonder whether I would have fared better (or worse?) in Santa Fe from the start? I almost dropped out after the first semester, but it never occurred to me to transfer to Santa Fe then, that it could be so different there.
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