Parents (and teens with parental permission),..

You HAVE to watch Wild Wild Country on Netflix. It's a multipart documentary regarding an Indian Buddhist leader named Baghwan Rajneesh, whose (largely American) followers planned and (literally) built an Ashram city (for upwards of 10,000 people) on 60,000 acres of ranch land they purchased in a tiny town in the middle of Oregon. (Sounds a bit like Disney World, don't you think?)

The 40(!) residents of Antelope, Oregon, and then the entire nation freaked out at the sheer numbers of Baghwan's followers (it doesn't help that all the "Rajneeshee's" dressed in orange/maroon). Then everyone found out about the free sex culture espoused by the commune, which is apparently more scary than an alien takeover to us Americans. Then came the Jones cult massacre-suicide, Charles Manson, etc., adding more fear to the fire...

The story told by Wild Wild Country is absolutely unbelievable. Last night, I actually spent an hour researching the history of the Rajneeshpuram Ashram, so suspicious was I that Wild Wild Country was a "Mockumentary". I'm on part 3 now, and I'm trying not to read anymore about it so I don't ruin my suspense.

If I didn't believe that life is stranger than fiction before watching Wild Wild Country, I do now. Even more enthralling (to me) is how, despite the hedonism associated with the Rajneeshees, I couldn't stop wondering if what happened to Baghwan is exactly what would happen to Jesus if he began preaching in the streets of America today.

If you just want quick proof with a reliable source that the Rajneesh and the Rajneeshpuram Ashram are 'for real', here's a good review of *Wild Wild Country* from Oregon Live: https://www.oregonlive.com/tv/2018/03/new_netflix_documentary_revisi.html

and

The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/apr/07/cult-oregon-1980s-terror-netflix-documentary-wild-country

You can find heaps more factual information online, though I recommend that you wait to do so until after you finish Wild Wild Country. It's a rare thing when you feel the need to prevent spoiling the ending of a *documentary*, which is why this is a MUST SEE for all my friends and family :-). For more of my writing/articles/thoughts, go to www.melissarooneywriting.com.

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My Favorite Words of Wisdom (so far) from Baghwan Shree Rajneesh:

“There is a story told of one old wise man, whose name was Mencius. He was a follower of Confucius and he died when he was very, very old. Somebody asked him: If you were given life again, how will you start it? Said Mencius: I will pay more attention to my needs and less attention to my desires. And this realisation will come to you also. But it always comes very late and then life is no more in your hands. If you were given life again....”

“Desires are very cunning and complex. You are frustrated, but not because of needs. You are frustrated because of desires. And if desires take too much of your energy you will be unable to fulfill your needs also, because who is there to fulfill them? You are moving into the future; you are thinking of the future; your mind is dreaming. Who is there to fulfill ordinary needs of the day? You are not there. And you would like to remain hungry but reach the horizon. You would like to postpone needs so that the whole energy moves towards the desire. But in the end, you find that the desire is not fulfilled, and because needs have been neglected, in the end you are just a ruin. And the time that is lost cannot be regained; you cannot go back.”

“Life can become a celebration if you know how to live without concern. Otherwise life becomes a long prolonged disease and illness which culminates only in death.”.―

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, from When the Shoe Fits: Stories of the Taoist Mystic Chuang Tzu.