Why I am one of the greatest putters...still.

[GordonJ]

Maybe not. Could be a couple of sidebars and some wandering down a tangent path or two. This part picks up, after a quick review.

At 10, I discovered THE POWER OF WORDS, Snakes, Spiders and Mice OH MY...Elmers...salesmanship.

I was "healed" by Rev.Earnest Angley, and had my first Out of Body (OBE) experience, which I now attribute to a high fever, but at the time I swore I had flown.

Moved four times, four different grade schools.

In small town Tallmadge I was an outgoing, well liked kid who everyone knew as the barber's kid who was always trying to sell you something...

I had the speech impediment, but so did a lot of kids...no one ever said a thing about any of us taking speech therapy. I was also a case study at Kent State University speech program. Today, regarded as one of the best anywhere.

But then, landing back in urban Akron, OH from a failed move to Phoenix, and being way behind in classes, I was the new weird kid, with the funny sounding speech.

It only got worse with each new school and by the time I ended up at Preston Elementary, I had become a self-conscious and angry young man...and the urban experience I brought to Cuyahoga Falls manifested in a lot of fist fights and black eyes.

Enter Rusty Sheehan and Judo at the YMCA. When I wasn't working, I was at the Y practicing and waiting for Rusty to teach me the real stuff, the streetstuff. But as far as HS went, no one even remembers me going there.

To this day, there is only one person from my high school class who I stay in touch with, out of a 1000 kids in my class and 3000 in the 3 grade high school...ONE.

Tom and I took speech therapy together from the time I landed there, until we both said enough in the 10th grade. I didn't have a stutter before then, but I had one by the time I got to Preston...a new kid with a speech impediment, a stutter and a changing voice, which got me kicked out of music class, the one thing I actually looked forward too.

I was "ruining" the music teacher's chorus, so the principal made me a patrol boy, the only one from the 5th grade.

I became invisible. And some think almost actually invisible, I don't have a picture in the high school yearbook the year I graduated.

I got a full time job at 15 and worked 30-50 hours a week in a pizza shop and I barely made it out of high school, actually tried to drop out but a Navy recruiter made me see the error of my thinking. I did not participate in anything in high school. Never dated, didn't attend dances, went to school, tried to disappear into the woodwork (pretty successfully) and couldn't wait for the bell to ring so I could go to work or the Y.

OK, that plays a part in the rest of the story, but let me give you a timeline of some important events which were critical in my development, and some of which, eventually, will find their way to the end of the story and may be of some value to you...maybe...

At 10 I had the Big Three. Astral Flight. Selling. Moving with Humiliation.

At 15 I met the incredible Fran Renner, a hypnotherapist who got me started in the studies of psychology, hypnotism and in fact, all things mysterious.

At 18, in basic training, in San Diego, I discovered I wasn't near the idiot everyone thought I was back in Cuyahoga Falls...in fact, I saw what real idiots looked like...it was a real confidence boost. We had a guy from CA in my company who practiced martial arts movement at the end of the day...and he was the most feared guy, even though we had (by their own accounts) 3 Golden Gloves champs in the company.

The first few days, the CA Hippie challenged the Company Commander, supposedly the toughest guy ever in Detroit and just by taking a stance and making some moves...Big Dog backed down...as did everyone else.

I quickly befriended the guy...who took about a month to confide in me that he didn't know jack squat about any martial art...he was half Chinese (I think) and his grandfather practiced Tai Chi and he was just trying to mimick him. He was scared to death and devised a plan to keep from being picked on and beat up in basic training.

By that time, I had been practicing these moves for couple of weeks and couldn't wait to get to the good stuff...remember, if you've been around, my nickname was Judo Jay until I was 16 and actually learned a few tricks. In high school, I didn't do much, but I had established a reputation as someone who would go to the alley and word got around.

It didn't hurt my older brother and his best friend were real tough guys and that shadow didn't bother me. And I wasn't afraid to get my AZZ kicked now and then too, until Rusty refused to work with me unless I quit fighting. So I quit.

So here I am in basic training finding out my best new bud is a total fraud but a magnificent actor...and was amazed at how he was able to SELL his story to 60 guys, any one of which may have been able to kick both our arses, totally left us alone, and if fact, respected and tried to ingratiate their sorry selves to us.

It was quite the revelation.

He never hit or fought anyone, he just PRESENTED himself to a bunch of strangers as THE GUY in the company you don't want to frick around with ...while a few used bravado and braggadocio to project their image, he simply ACTED the part. And the non verbal communication was staggering in it's effectiveness.

In 1969, I was stationed at Newport News, VA and spent almost every weekend at Virginia Beach, Friday and Saturday night at the Jolly Roger dancing up a storm (like my boot camp buddy, I just acted the part) and all day Saturday at the Edgar Cayce center and most of Sunday at a metaphysical work shop and book store.

In 1970, I took classes at the U. of Hawaii in Folk Lore and learned of Huna Magic. The next two years after transferring to a different kind of sub, I studied in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bankok, the Philipine Islands, Okinowa and Guam.

My interest was in all things magical, folk medicine and spirituality.

I feel as if I got a pretty good education in these "foreign" cultures. The martial arts were one area I looked at...and found the mental thoughts behind each were where the real power lies.

Upon discharge in July 1972, I retired.

And didn't work any job of any significance other than to have a social life and meet some ladies. I traveled the country, worked for Amtrak for a short while, to get the railroad ID which permitted me to ride the rails for free for about a year...that and a 60 day Greyhound Bus pass, got me around.

I spent large blocks of time in San Francisco, although I couldn't tell you where Golden Gate park is...I spent time there...but mostly I was a student studying with Russell Thomas, the owner of a metaphysical book store.

I studied cults, and there were plenty of them in SF in the early 70s...l was recently surprised to learn how many people are still a part of these cults, after 40 years. Many cults changed their names and reincarnated themselves...they somehow managed to remove the giant elephant behind the plate glass windows and replace it with a gentle lamb...amazing stuff. Anyhow,

Russel Thomas had the greatest collection of arcane, esoteric, mysterious books I've ever seen anywhere. He was friends with a couple of the Beat Poets and we spent some time at the City Lights Bookstore, where, by then, most of the real Beats were gone, old and/or assumed an Emeritus status. Still I was star struck by a few. We went to LA to catch a reading of Charles Bukowski. I was like a 13 year old girl around Kim Kardashian. Anyhow,

In 1975, while a student at Golden West Community College I bumped into Joe Karbo, and we had several meetings and discussions and talked mostly about chatteling, boats and the "special" powers of the mind...don't forget, his famous book The Lazy Man's Way to Riches had that part about Dyna-Psych, which was lifted from several of the New Age people, mostly from Robert Collier.

OK. Between 1965 and 1983, I read and studied thousands of books and took many courses, many inservices because by then I was working as a social worker at a group home, actually a house parent, the social work came later. But, it was totally different than either business or mystical or golf experience..

And that is when Synergy took place