The Atua Man

by John Stephenson

  “Where are you going with this, Tony?” Melanie asked.

  “The mission of our foundation,” Tony continued in his most businesslike voice, “is to teach and facilitate inspirational healing. To that end, Jason has been instrumental, and his books and courses will be studied for generations. But at this moment, with what he’s been doing, he’s no longer an asset for our work.”

  “Are you firing me?” Jason couldn’t believe he was actually enjoying this.

  “I can’t fire you, but I can prevent you from harming our foundation.”

  Tony looked around the table, assessing reactions from the others, but there was no response. “I propose the board restrict Mr. St. John in the following manner: no public engagements, no speaking to the press, and no more personal classes.”

  At that moment David barged into the boardroom with Sir William Boyd, the trust’s solicitor. “What do you want him to do, disappear?”

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Tony shouted, losing his composure. “This is a closed meeting!”

  “Nice to see you again, Tony,” said David sarcastically. “Do you think all those people are out there because of the board of directors? I bet most of them don’t even know you exist.”

  Melanie shoved her chair back, rushed into David’s arms and gave him a longer than appropriate kiss. Michael watched with an amused look. He was the newcomer here, though he’d known Melanie since Harvard Business School. She was the one who had persuaded Tony to hire Michael when Tony became CEO. He thought it funny Melanie had never mentioned David in a way that warranted such a kiss.

  Lillian smiled at David like she would to an old lover and took hold of Jason’s hand. She squeezed it and gave her husband a kiss.

  David freed himself from Melanie and gave Jason a warm hug. Jason couldn’t help enjoying Tony’s loss of composure.

  “Thank you, my friend.”

  “You could’ve called sooner.”

  Sir William addressed the board: “According to the foundation charter, David Walker has a permanent seat on the board. Nothing can change that. If he quits and wants to come back, he can do that. You should know that, Mr. Bass.”

  Barbara motioned for David and Sir William to sit. David sat next to Jason wondering why it had taken so long. Seven years meant nothing. And that it took a crisis to get the two men back together was just stupid.

  “We asked David to return and resume his seat on the board,” stated Lillian. David couldn’t help staring at her. Jason noticed, but made nothing of it.

  “Shall we continue the meeting?” Jason asked.

  “I don’t think it would be productive after such a dramatic entrance.” Tony had cooled down a bit. “Perhaps we should reschedule for…”

  “A year from now?” Jason interrupted. “I think we need to put our cards on the table. You were proposing to forbid me from appearing in public, speaking to the press, and there was one other thing I didn’t get.”

  “Teaching,” Dorothy said.

  “We’re trying to preserve the St. John name and what it stands for. I think the board has every right, no—a duty—to do all it can to maintain the credibility of the foundation. To do anything less would be a breach of our responsibility as officers of this trust. Jason, I’m sorry to say, you are longer relevant to this ministry.”

  Jason burst out laughing.

  “And how do you propose to enforce this, Tony? Lock us up in our flat?” Lillian asked.

  “It’s nice to see you participating after all these years, Mrs. St. John.” Tony’s sarcasm was softened with a genuine smile. “But this is about Jason, not about you and Alex.” Tony looked at the old group—the four people who had been through so much together, and his resolve hardened. They all had to go. He couldn’t do anything about Melanie at the moment, but he could the others. “Before we formally entertain the issues before the board, I move that Lillian St. John, Jason St. John, and David Walker be recused from this vote. They have not participated in prior discussions and are not fully informed of the issues.”

  “We’ve been living the issues.” Lillian’s anger flared.

  “Do I have a second?” Tony looked around the table. Gary seconded the motion. “All in favor?”

  Tony, Gary, and Barbara put up their hands. “All opposed.” All the others raised their hands. “I guess the measure is defeated,” Tony admitted.

  “I have a proposition for the board.” Jason nodded to Lillian who handed out written copies of what Jason was going to say. “I will resign from this Ministry if the following conditions are met: The board will transfer to me ten percent of the assets of The Foundation. If anything should happen to me it will endow Lillian and Alex a lifetime income, the amount to be decided upon when the other conditions have been met. Neither the board nor The Foundation will interfere with my work from this point forward, and any benefits from that work will be solely mine. The Foundation will provide me and my family adequate security for us to live freely wherever we choose until it is mutually agreed that the security is no longer needed. And finally, my whereabouts will be kept confidential.”

  No one said a thing. Lillian and Dorothy closed their eyes in meditation. Melanie looked around to see how her colleagues were reacting. Tony glared at Jason.

  “Otherwise,” Jason continued, “I’ll go back to my regular schedule and our Ministry work will continue as normal.”

  “As if there’s anything normal about Ministry operations after what you’ve done,” said Tony.

  “I’ll leave that up to you. I’ll recuse myself from that vote,” Jason told them.

  “I won’t,” Lillian announced.

  “It’s a long flight from Honolulu to London,” David began, “and before I left, I had Sir William fax me the charter for our little group here. Our mission statement is very clear: ‘To explore the mystical nature of reality and reveal the natural healing capacity of those in touch with their transcendent Self.’ It also states that a director can be removed by a two-thirds vote if their actions are shown to undermine the purpose of the foundation.”

  “This is ridiculous!” Tony shouted. “If you think any of us here are trying to undermine the foundation, you’re off your rocker, David! It’s Jason who’s putting the Ministry in danger; we’re trying to preserve it.”

  “I move we postpone the vote until Monday,” Melanie said. “And I’d like to say something. Jason’s work is evolving, as it should. He has always stretched the boundaries of conventional thinking, and it’s easy to ride into the future on what’s been done in the past. But you should know that’s not what Jason, or this foundation, is about. We’ve never been in the healing business. If we as an organization think we can heal, or that the world needs healing, we’ve missed the point.”

  She nodded at Jason, and he smiled. “We’re in the revealing business. Our whole mission is to reveal the spiritual nature of life. Then we let Spirit take over. I’ve seen things with Jason that none of you will ever know. In the South Pacific I told him I’m an atheist, and maybe I still am. But I’ve seen what this other dimension, this invisible reality can do if people get out of the way. Tony, you’re really getting in the way of Jason’s next step. Again, I move we postpone this vote until Monday.”

  “I second it,” Dorothy said.

  “All in favor?”

  The vote was unanimous.

  Chapter 43

  Collingham Gardens

  Sunday Morning, November 2004

  The morning was bright but cold, and the sun reflected off one of the never-ending jets that flew into Heathrow. The garden was getting ready for winter. Only a few leaves clung to the deciduous trees while the lush conifers and hollies were already bracing for the first snowfall. One last rose blossom stood tall and red in the bare garden.

  Jason, Lillian, Melanie, and Michael sat on a large blanket taking in the sun, enjoying each other. They watched David and Alex kick a soccer ball around on the lawn. Lillian leaned up against her husband who en
joyed seeing his best friend play with his son. There was so much affection between the two of them, and it made him tear up seeing Alex so happy. But he kept anxiously looking up at the leaded windows of the residence floor of Stanford House, drawing his attention away from what he loved most. “I think we’re being watched.” But nobody was at the windows.

  “I thought you’d be impervious to that kind of scrutiny by now.” Melanie had a knit cap pulled down over her ears and leaned against Michael in the same way that Lillian leaned against Jason.

  “Jason might be impervious to it, but I hate it,” said Lillian.

  “No, I feel something more than just the standard spying.”

  “Darling, this week started out malicious and has grown outright hostile.” Lillian leaned over and gave Jason a kiss on his neck.

  Jason watched Alex run under a highflying ball, stop it with his chest, and then kick it with all his might toward the rear garden wall. Alex then raced David to the ball. The two crashed into each other, got their feet entangled and fell in a heap. At first David thought he’d hurt Alex, but Alex laughed, jumped up, and continued after the ball.

  “It’s so good to have Davy back,” Jason said.

  David got up, jogged over and flopped down between Melanie and Lillian. The four original board members were back, and they were happy to together again. There was a moment of comfortable silence between them, no agenda, no demands, just the contentment of being united in The Now.

  David broke the silence. “Jason, let me see where you were shot?”

  Jason ignored him.

  “What do you think they’re doing?” Jason couldn’t help staring up at the executive apartments.

  “I could care less what they’re doing.” Melanie followed Jason’s gaze. “Tony’s all bluff and bull.

  “There’s nothing to see, Davy.”

  “This isn’t the right time, Dave. Give him a break.” Lillian kept her eye on Alex, dribbling the ball at the far end of the garden.

  “Don’t tell me Alex has never seen his father naked?” Melanie pressed.

  “Not very often.”

  David sat up. “No biggie, J.J. I’m on your side. I love you. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.” He gave Lillian a kiss and winked at Melanie. Melanie patted Michael’s leg. He’d get use to the four of them.

  Jason pulled away from Lillian and stood, still fixated on the apartments. “No wonder Dr. Green warned us all against organizing. I’m so grateful having you all here with me, but in this beautiful moment together we can’t escape those up in the tower?”

  “The tower?” Melanie mimicked. “You sound like you’re writing a horror movie.”

  “This is a horror movie. What could be more horrible than to know the truth and have the rest of the world call you crazy?”

  No one had an answer and Jason walked over to the lone rose, retreating into his contemplations. For the past decade his life had been about discipline. It had been about proving the principles of spiritual oneness and teaching those principles to the world. But it seemed the world didn’t care. People wanted to be healed, but they didn’t want to break out of their conditioning and discover their spiritual nature. That was too much work—too great a sacrifice. Jason was tired. He was fed up with being judged and vilified. He’d like to scream and cry and strip off his clothes so the world could see his marked-up body. He’d like for the world to realize that he too was a human being who could be hurt. He wanted to lash out at his enemies but knew that to join the battle was death. Evil must be seen as the Buddha saw it, attached to the opposite end of the same stick as good, where both conditions dissolved in the realization of spiritual oneness. After all, it was an invisible spirit that did everything; he just opened up to it.

  Alex came running back and collapsed onto David’s lap. He tossed his ball to his father standing at the edge of the group and Jason tossed it back. But the ball bounced off Alex’s fingers and David caught it, holding it over his head. Alex tried to knock it out of David’s hand but instead hit him in the face. David threw the ball back to Jason and shoved Alex off his lap. Jason took the ball, bouncing it on his knees and then kicked it high in the air. He pulled his son up off the blanket. “I’m better at this than your Uncle Dave, you know.”

  Jason raced after the ball with Alex in pursuit. Father and son spent a few minutes passing the ball back and forth, and when Jason had the ball, he dribbled it down the path before kicking it back to the friends on the blanket.

  “This is why we have a male dominated world.” Melanie deflected the ball to David who tossed it to Alex who fielded it with his feet and then kept it in the air by bouncing it off one foot then another.

  Jason dropped onto the blanket and let his head rest in Lillian’s lap. The tension was gone. Perhaps the anger too. “The principle behind what people think they see is basic metaphysics. It’s human conditioning. If you look through rose colored glasses, you’ll see a rose-colored world. The reality is, there is only one substance, but it appears to us through our physical senses, and our conditioned beliefs.”

  “It sounds like you’re appearing to people and it’s not just their imagination or an apparition?” Melanie said.

  “I’m not going to say one way or another. Not that I don’t want to share what I think will be the next step in the evolution of spiritual understanding. But at this time, I don’t want any of you to have to lie on my behalf.”

  “We’ve been to hell and back with you, J.J., and now at this point you’re trying to protect us?” said David.

  “Perhaps I’ve become a little more insightful and compassionate.” Jason sat up.

  “Guys, it doesn’t matter!” Lillian wanted to move forward. “We all need to put our heads together and come up with a plan.”

  “Ok. What takes place when you go into deep meditation?” Jason looked at each one of his friends, who were actually more than friends—they were his spiritual family.

  “As the old metaphysical cliché says, ‘you become absent from the body and present with the Lord.’” Lillian chuckled.

  “You mean you don’t even know what he’s doing?” Melanie looked at Lillian in disbelief.

  “I think we listen to Jason and not ask questions,” Michael said, wanting to expand his awareness of the nature of the Ministry.

  Lillian smiled a thank-you. Alex drifted back to the group, sitting between his parents.

  “What do you think happens to your body as you go into a really deep meditation?” Jason looked around waiting for anybody to answer.

  “It comes under spiritual law,” said Alex.

  “And what is the foundation of spiritual law?”

  They all answered; “Oneness.”

  “And omnipresence,” Jason added. “Transcendent consciousness exists only in the now, so when a person realizes that now principle, he or she is at once here and simultaneously everywhere or anywhere. There is no time or space. We’ve all experienced that to some degree. But there is usually such a strong coupling with the physical that we can’t get free. No matter how deeply we let go and touch our spiritual essence, our bodies keep us coupled to the physical. But what if that last limitation was dissolved? What if we became physically uncoupled? What would happen to us? Would we float around bodiless? Or would we have the form we identify with but be so loosely connected to a particular time and a particular place that we truly experience the Divine moment?”

  An aura came over Jason like the auras that appear at many of his healing rallies when he was completely in tune with the spiritual realm. Alex felt it. He loved the atmosphere when his dad was teaching or meditating. It was his conditioning. He’d seen it often at the healing rallies when he was little.

  “Humanity has always stretched the limits of what’s possible,” Jason told them. “Our bodies are the last frontier, and the limitations of time and space will be looked upon like the belief in a flat Earth. But the world will need a quantum leap in its ever-changing perception of reality befor
e that can happen. Once something has been demonstrated, once it’s been witnessed, the nature of reality changes, and then people accept the new normal. A hundred and fifty years ago it was just as bizarre to think people could fly in big silver birds. You are the only ones I trust with this knowledge, but I’m stuck. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to go with it.”

  Everyone remained quiet, lost in contemplation. “Let’s pray the board votes for Jason’s proposal,” said David.

  “And what if they don’t?” Lillian didn’t like being negative, but this was where she was at the moment.

  “Then I’ll continue my schedule and force Tony to stop me.”

  “Why are we speculating? Nothing has happened yet. The board doesn’t vote until Monday and I’ll be part of that vote. Is this what you really want, J.J.?” David asked his friend.

  “I want what I proposed.”

  David shook his head. “How much thought have you given that? What if the board releases you and you’re on your own? Do you think the world will forget about you? Is there any place to hide that you’d want to live? And what about Lillian and Alex? What about school? I don’t want to sound negative either, but are those options really that great?”

  “I just want to get out of this mess, to go back to some sort of normalcy.” Lillian’s voice cracked with emotion. “I hate the organization and their presumptions over our lives, like we’re commodities they’re selling.”

  “Unfortunately, you are,” Melanie said.

  “Then we’ll discontinue the product.” Jason looked around to see if anyone else thought that was funny.

  “What, you’ll disappear and not come back?” David didn’t realize the ramifications of that statement, given what Sir. William had told Jason and Lillian.

  Lillian gasped at the thought of it. Alex moved over to sit next to her. He was alarmed but put on a brave face.

  Lillian looked directly at Jason: “Remember what Sir William told you. If you disappear and there is no body, Tony and the board could control Alex and me for the rest of our lives.”