November 30, 1973, I graduated from RCA Institute in New York City and went looking for a job. I didn't try very hard. My attitude was to draw within myself because I had been reading some of the Yoga philosophies which I interpreted to mean total withdrawal and cessation from functioning within society. I stopped reading the newspaper, watching TV, and attending family social functions. I was becoming a hermit - taking lonely walks, meditating, and reading spiritual material from all sources.

In my quest of truth, I left no stone unturned. I took courses from Self Realization Fellowship and the Rosicrucians. I even read the Satanic Bible, which of course, had nothing of value for me. As I continued to meditate, I began to realize that I was becoming more intuitive. I could see my family and relatives getting into problems of their own making. I realized that if I was to have peace and be more relaxed in the world, I would have to learn how to change my thinking and develop more positive attitudes about life.

In July of 74, I felt very strongly that I should move away from my family. But where was I to go? A couple of weeks later, my sister, Camille, said that she had been shopping in New Jersey and had spotted a sign advertising land in Florida. When she said that, a light lit up my mind and I knew that I was going to Florida! I located the land sales Firm and did some minor checking into the company, after which, I put my finger on a map and purchased one and a half acres from an aerial photograph. My family must have thought I really went off the deep end with that act, but after they did some checking, they ended up purchasing land about one fourth mile from mine. Then they tried to convince me I should move next to them on a lake. I did this reluctantly, but within a week, I went back to my earlier choice because I felt very uncomfortable about the change.

A few months later, I won a $1,000 raffle ticket from the 101st Airborne Division Association of which I was a member. That initiated a consolidation of my resources, and I quickly sold and gave away much that I owned. I began phoning Florida to have a home built on my land. That unusual action must have started my parents worrying again because I still had not seen the land except from the aerial photo. Within a very short time, I arranged to have a Contractor build a very small two bedroom C.B. home.

In April of that year, my parents announced that they were taking a vacation. You guessed it! They were going to Disney World and on to Inverness to check their land purchase. I felt sure that their curiosity had gotten the best of them, and they wanted to find out what I had purchased. To their great surprise, they found that the lot they had chosen was a small pond full of weeds and tall grass. When they arrived home, they said I made a better selection then they did, and my father commented that my house was being built well from what he could see. (He was a Contractor at one time.) Their information verified the good feeling I has having about what I was doing, and certainly my parents were relieved to discover that I had made a good decision.

The house was completed in June, and I arrived July 8, with no furniture and all I owned in my B210 Datsun. I was totally alone in my new environment - no family, relatives, or friends that I knew of.

In the next issue, I'll describe how I wandered into the Alexandrian Center and wound up being its President.

Sal Cacciola
Part VI
Part VII
Part VII
Part IX

© 1978