A New Constituency

The Rathbuns countered the tendency of people to leave for social action by emphasizing the social implications of individual transformation. But they still had to keep people involved beyond the first round of Records study. The Records study approach was inherently self-limiting. Although some particularly dedicated individuals would come back year after year to plow the same ground, most people were satisfied with one or, at the most, two seminars and then moved on to apply what they had learned in their lives. Although some did start their own Records study groups, there was no central direction or control from Palo Alto, and most other groups appear to have been

short-lived. The high turnover had been no problem for Sharman or for the Rathbuns at first, because they saw students as their primary constituency, and every year brought a new crop of potential recruits. Records study seminars no more needed to change than did Harry's final lecture. It might be the same sermon year after year, but there was always a new congregation to hear it. However, after the collapse of Students Concerned, when the Rathbuns increasingly turned their attention to Bay Area adults, they discovered that if they wanted to keep people involved they would have to introduce not only new techniques, such as shorter summer seminars, but some entirely new course work as well.

By beginning to develop new material that went beyond the scope of Sharman's approach, the Rathbuns were taking yet another step toward the development of an independent sect. This growing proto-sect status derived in part from the philosophical content of the new courses that encouraged the development of a distinct religious ideology, and probably in part from the economic realities of the new camp at Ben Lomond. To keep Ben Lomond full, to justify its existence, to pay its bills, to develop it into the kind of facility that the Rathbuns long envisioned, it was necessary to have a lot of people making use of the facilities. One way to get more people was to develop a greater number and variety of seminars.

New advanced or "continuation" seminars were created to meet the demand for continuing study from people who were becoming permanent members of the movement. From 1951 through 1955 one continuation seminar was held each summer and, according to one participant, "the discussions ranged over Eastern religions, modern psychology with particular reference to the problems of the individuals present, and prayer and meditation."^[25] In 1953 for the first time the group held a special leadership seminar to train people who had taken the basic course and now wanted to lead study groups on their own.

With these newly trained leaders the summer seminar schedule fairly exploded in the mid-1950s. Gerald Heard, whose ideas were so influential with the Rathbuns, gave guest lectures and led seminars at Ben Lomond in 1954 and 1955, and during the summer of 1956 there were eight seminars, including two continuation groups and a leadership seminar. There were fifteen in the summer of 1958 and seventeen the next year. Six of the seminars were the basic Jesus as Teacher groups, but not one of them was led by Harry or Emilia. They had moved up to the continuation seminars that dealt with such issues as "methods and proce-

dures for implementing the way of life implicit in the teachings of Jesus," "knowing the self," and "Prayer and Meditation." Yet, the Rathbuns did not carry the full load of the continuation seminars alone. An inner circle of leaders was beginning to emerge, some of whom would remain into the Beyond War era of the 1980s.^[26]

Of particular interest was the special seminar that Emilia led in 1956 at the request of group leaders who felt the need "for renewal of fellowship and inspiration."^[27] The fact that some members of the group went to Emilia to ask her to lead this seminar indicates that, for them, Sequoia Seminar and not their churches had become their social and spiritual touchstone. They saw nothing inappropriate in requesting additional institutional support from the group. The movement was not unaware that its structure was becoming more sectlike, and they took pains to disavow any such purpose. In that same year, 1956, the Sequoia Seminar newsletter assured its readers, "we are keenly aware that it is not our chosen mission to become a new sect nor promulgate any dogma or creed."^[28]

Unlike the Jesus as Teacher groups that had their framework established by Sharman, the continuation and postseminar meetings were in a state of constant flux seeking some kind of coherent theme and methodology. The 1960 annual report acknowledged that the groups varied "considerably in content and approach." It admitted that they sometimes wished, "rather wistfully," that they could develop a uniform structure similar to the Jesus as Teacher groups, but it concluded, "to date we have not found one and we are not sure there is one."^[29] Al-though it would take ten years to develop a coherent pattern of additional courses, many of the ideas eventually used by Creative Initiative were first tried out in the continuation courses of the 1950s. In particular, they began the process of what would later be called "deconditioning," that is having people examine their lives to see what forces had shaped them, and then freeing themselves of those chains to the past so that they could move forward in their commitment to God.^[30]

The shift from students to more mature members and the introduction of the continuation seminars were organizational changes that significantly altered the nature of the movement. The postseminar groups both provided more activity for existing participants and more opportunity to expand the membership base. Toward the end of the Sequoia Seminar era, in 1957, both Harry and Emilia began giving public lecture series outside the churches in an attempt to attract more people into the work. The Rathbuns shifted Sharman's clientele and,

while they did not change his message, they augmented it. From being the end, Jesus as Teacher became the beginning. Where Sharman had left it to the individual to determine how to implement the teachings of Jesus, the Sequoia Seminar movement sought to become a vehicle not only through which individuals could change their lives but through which they could live them as well.