It was a prevailing gestalt of peace, a sense of being safe and nurtured, the feeling of being at home. In retrospect, I would say that the whole place was blessed beyond belief by a true channel to the spirit, and still is. But I would also say that this channel has been established in large part by the consciousness and vision of its minister. J erry and his wife Jane set what I would now call a constant prayer field - a huge, surrounding glow of energy that establishes this mood of peace, and uplifts everyone and everything who gets close. Strangers drop in without knowing why.
Animals congregate in the garden next door.
You feel this energy when you drive by, or when you fly into the airport, for that matter, ten miles away. He knew that this experience often came from the subtleties of preparation, breaking old patterns, even diet. T hat's why life at Jerry's Unity has always been filled with exciting and progressive ideas, biofeedback machines, sensory deprivation tanks, therapy, psychodrama in the guise of May Day theatrical plays, and, above all, meditation - the discipline of moving past our distractions and opening up to the actual experience of the divine within. For him there is only one God, one positive force in the universe. Everything else is merely the gyrations of human lostness and separation.