Wizard of Baca Grande

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WEST - MAY 1990THE GLOBE AND MAIL

THE WIZARD OF BACA GRANDE

A story abo t a b r!"!# b s$% S$"r&'y Ma(La"!'% Z'! Mo!)s% a!* +yst"( (rysta&s,

A story abo t t$' b"##'st at'r *'a& '.'r,

A story o/ $o a boy /ro+ Oa) La)' Ma!"toba s't o t to ($a!#' t$' or&*,

Ma r"(' Stro!# $as #a"!'* +or' r's '(t a!* "!/& '!(' t$a! a!y ot$'r Ca!a*"a! a&".' to*ay, No

$' s r"s)"!# "t o! a bo&* '2 'r"+'!t t$at (o &* sa.' s a&& /ro+ o rs'&.'s - or 3 st b&o "! $"s/a(', By Da!"'& Woo*

These are the days of miracle and wonder and don't cry, baby, don't cry, don't cry - Paul Simon, "TheBoy in the Bubble"

Highway 17 is a blue line on the ma of southern !olorado that runs between nowhere and nowhere #tcrosses the $io %rande outside of &lamosa and cuts due north through the San uis (alley, a blea)e* anse of dust and sagebrush The surrounding flatness is bro)en by the distant Sangre de !risto -"Blood of !hrist" - +ountains, which rise in ,1 -metre cliffs along the .alley's eastern flan), /)ilometres away 0ther than that nothing & rabbit dead on the two-lane as halt & high blue s)y

There's nothing to indicate, nothing e*ce t the words of my com anion, -year-old !anadian +aurice

Strong, that u ahead a few )ilometres, ast the obscure right turn mar)ed "!restone", ast the a2y 3$anch and its yard of derelict farm e4ui ment, beyond !restone itself, o ulation , a .illage of %od-fearing Ba tists and a cou le of recently arri.ed 5ew &gers, u there in the as en-co.ered foothills

below towering +t 6it !arson, lies tangible e.idence of a great-some would say re osterous- uto iandream #ts goal is nothing less than to alter, utterly, the history of the world

The dream belongs to multi-millionaire Strong, who grew u in 0a) a)e, +anitoba, dirt- ore, eating igweed and dandelions for .egetables during the worst e ression times, and who decided one day inthe early 18/ s that he would ma)e his mar) on the world Today, his resume reads li)e the li.es of ado2en great men &t the age 9, he was .ice- resident of ome Petroleum &t :1, he became residentof the Power !or oration of !anada He went on to found and head !# & ;the !anadian #nternational

e.elo ment &ssistance rogram< and later Petro-!anada &t the global le.el, where he's better )nownthan in his own country, he is considered one of the world's leading en.ironmentalists

The dream also belongs to Strong's mystical, /=-year-old anish-born wife, Hanne, whose .isions ha.e ro elled the lan Together, they ha.e established in the !olorado desert a lace they call the Baca, aninternational s iritual community which they ho e will ser.e as a model for the way the world should

be - and, they say, must be - if human)ind is to sur.i.e

#t all started in 187= when a mysterious man .isited Hanne bearing a ro hecy of the cominga ocaly se The dream grew amid omens that defy belief #t has been nourished by the Strongs' friends,such eo le as $oc)efeller, Trudeau, the alai ama, and Shirley +ac aine &nd its future is now


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/o !* a ro+o!tory abo.' t$' Ba(a, For t$r'' *ays s$' stay'* t$'r'% /ast"!#% +'*"tat"!#%obs'r."!# t$' &a!*, It as !o (o"!("*'!('% s$' /'&t% t$at 5T$' O&* Ma!5 - as s$' (a&&s A!*'rso!!o - (a+' to $'r, H"s +'ssa#' (o &* !ot b' "#!or'*, S$' o &* - "t$ $'r $ sba!* s s ort a!*$"s "!t'r!at"o!a& (o!!'(t"o!s - try to *o $at A!*'rso! *"r'(t'*,

Ahen Strong heard this, he thought it outrageous He called the lan grandiose and im ractical Butthen, these 4ualities had always been art of his attraction to her She wasn't afraid of thin)ing big

Hanne heard her husband's doubts and )new enough about the man to )now that he, too, had hadunrealistic dreams, that he had global .isions, that he could be won o.er

Strong grew u beside the railroad trac)s that assed through 0a) a)e, a town of / eo le, 9)ilometres west of Brandon His father wor)ed for the !P$ until the e ression hit, then odd >obs untilthe war came +aurice's school-teacher mother filled his mind with stories from history and images ofthe world beyond +anitoba, and he recalls watching with a mi*ture of sadness and thrill the assingfreights co.ered with destitute eo le tra.elling He longed to see the world Ahen the Second AorldAar came - and life on the rairies gradually got better - he remembers as)ing his mother why it wasthe world wor)ed that way Ahy the suffering of the ': sC Ahy the war and economic reco.ery nowCShe told him it didn't ha.e to be that way She told him that, if he ut his mind to it, he could changethe world Dou'd be sur rised, she'd said, at how far you can go if you don't acce t the limits, if youdon't set any barriers for yourself

Hanne )new these words, for her husband occasionally re eated them She ho ed that at the Baca thetwo of them, together, might - >ust might - be able to change the world

#f a .isitor turns right at the D intersection >ust outside !restone, as # did many times during my stay,the road climbs into the forested hills o.erloo)ing the San uis (ally, where the dreams of re.iousoccu ants are turning to dust !ircles of stones mar) long-abandoned nati.e sites from which attac)son the buffalo were launched !olla sed cabins, rusting machinery, and mounded trailings ilesindicate the deserted gold mines &nd e.erywhere, s reading downhill onto the lain, an intricatenetwor) of crumbling roads attests to the scale of the retirement community's failure Scattered acrossthis landsca e is e.idence of the newest uto ian settlementE an e*4uisite !atholic monastery formembers of the monastic !armelite orderF a G179, solar- owered Hindu tem leF a strange, mustard-yellow tower called a 2igguratF a mud-caul)ed southwest #ndian hoganF a subterranean en Buddhistcentre com lete with a com uter and organic gardensF a house of thousands of crystals, anotheroccu ied by an =9-year-old nati.e shaman, This is the Baca today But today, #'m disco.ering, is onlythe beginning or the Strongs, it is a lifetime ro>ect

# find myself wondering what dedication, what idealism com els them toward such an unli)ely dream&nd the more i learn, the more aware # become that #'.e entered a world of illusions, where the sufraceconceals things unfathomable # can't belie.e - though # would li)e to - the su ernatural stories Hannetells # wonder how an aggressi.e and calculating businessman li)e Strong can also be a mystic # can'tfigure out how Shirley +ac aine will affect the Baca when she mo.es in &nd # can't get the water -the billions of dollars' worth of water - out of my mind

# )ee going o.er the con.ersation in which the Strongs described to me the .ery first words that assed between them &t the arty in 5ew Dor) !ity o.er years ago where they'd been introduced,Hanne, well aware of Strong's re utation, had said to her future husband, "Some eo le say you're agenius &nd some eo le say you're a fa)e " Hanne laughed at the memory and laughed harder at herhusband's rebuttal Strong loo)ed at me at that moment and said, "&nd she's still wonderingI"

# get the im ression that they en>oy this ambiguity, this flirtation between reality and illusion # get theim ression that the tables could ha.e been turned, that Strong could ha.e confronted HanneE geniusC or fa)eC The magus and the mystic, # tell myself #t's im ortant to figure it all out The answers matter


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or, as the Strongs mention, they see the Baca as a aradigm for the entire lanet and say that the fateof the earth is at sta)e

Ahen Strong left 0a) a)e in 18/:, ha.ing s)i ed four grades for his scholastic abilities andgraduated at age 1/, he carried with him an abiding sense of the world's in>ustices and a desire ne.eragain to be oor He bought a tic)et on a train out of town or a while, adding fi.e years to his age anddar)ening his ubescent mustache for effect, he wor)ed with the merchant marine along the B ! coast

He then became an a rentice fur trader in the High &rctic He did a little ros ecting He li.ed amongthe #nuit He wandered on day in 18/:, after a long rainy ride in an o en coal car, he found himself

bac) at 0a) a)e, cold, lonely He could see the lights in the window of his house, but something toldhim he could not go home again He rode further on, sto ing in Broad.iew, Sas)atchewan &s he sat

beside the trac)s, a news a er blew ast He caught it 0n the front age he read that !hurchill and$oose.elt had agreed that they would, after the war, form a new international organi2ation dedicated toworld >ustice and eace #t would be called the 3nited 5ations

The conce t hit him li)e a thunderbolt "# )new at that moment," Strong told me, "# wanted to be artof it "

#n the two decades that followed, he disco.ered that although his lac) of uni.ersity education re.ented

him from doing something of conse4uence at the international le.el, his shrewdness brought himsuccess in money matters He arri.ed in &lberta during the boom of the early '9 s as a young financialanalyst s eciali2ing in resource de.elo ment He befriended oil entre reneur ?ac) %allagher and later

>oined ome Petroleum as its third em loyee He met and married Pauline, his first wife, with home hehad four children By in.esting in oil and gas ro erties and founding a series of resource-basedcom anies, he earned his first million within a few years He then mo.ed on to the residency of thePower !or oration of !anada, a leading energy-in.estment firm inancial success, cor orateconnections, and ower were his - and he hadn't turned :

But inside him, still unfulfilled, lay the seed lanted by his mother - that he could do something to better the world Then, in 18 9, he was as)ed to meet Prime +inister ester Pearson The P+ wantedto )now if Strong was interested in bringing his managerial s)ills and his long-held internationalconcerns to the organi2ation now )nown as !# & Strong became director-general of @*ternal &id,which ut him in charge of all !anadian foreign aid He left, willingly, a G , -a-year >ob as acor orate e*ecuti.e for a G 7, -a-year >ob as a ci.il ser.ant #t didn't matter He )new he wouldfinally get to fulfil his dream of becoming in.ol.ed with the 3nited 5ations

rom there, though his subse4uent friendshi with Pearson's successor, Pierre Trudeau, the millionaireenergy entre reneur-turned-international do-gooder found the cause that has come to dominate the ast

years of his life Aith the su ort of the !anadian go.ernment, he has artici ated in or directed ractically e.ery ma>or en.ironmental initiati.e that has come out of the 3nited 5ations from that timeto this He organi2ed the first Aorld !onference on the @n.ironment in 187 Then he mo.ed to 6enya,where he established and headed the 3 5 @n.ironment Program &fter that, he >oined the Aorld!ommission on the @n.ironment, which roduced the e ochal 18=7 Brundtland $e ort, the incendiarythat has ignited the resent global "green" mo.ement Three months ago, $' as a o"!t'* s'(r'tary-#'!'ra& o/ t$' 4,N, s or&* (o!/'r'!(' o! t$' '!."ro!+'!t a!* *'.'&o +'!t to b' $'&* "! Bra6"&"! 1997, Fro+ s ($ &at/or+s% $' $as ro os'* a !' '(o!o+"( or*'r bas'* o! t$' r'*"str"b t"o!o/ t$' *'.'&o '* or&* s "!* str"'s a!* 'a&t$ to t$' T$"r* Wor&*, H' $as (a&&'* /or a +ass".'r'too&"!# o/ 'st'r! '(o!o+"'s a ay /ro+ s$ort-s"#$t'* (o!s + t"o! a!* to ar* &o!#-t'r+(o!s'r.at"o!, O! o((as"o!% $' $as sa"* t$at t$' o!' /a(tor t$at +ay s ar' $ +a!"ty /ro+ "ts'!."ro!+'!ta& /o&&y "s a or&* "*' s "r"t a& r'a a)'!"!#, H' $o 's t$' Ba(a (a! s'r.' as a s''*,

"# belie.e the great frontier of the future is the frontier between the indi.idual s irit and the S irit, the


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cosmos," he confides to me on one of our many dri.es through the San uis (alley "&t our highestmoments, we feel a sense of unity with the cosmos & lot of us ha.e static, though 0ur society runs on

eo le feeling unfulfilled, unconnected The rocess of atunement is the tric) #t ta)es ractice #remember as)ing a mon) in Si))im, who'd >ust come out of three years, three months, and three daysof silent meditation, how his efforts had benefitted the world He as)ed meE 'Ahy isn't it as im ortant tode.elo one's s iritual nature as, say, an athlete in the west de.elo ing his hysical rowess or an

intellectual de.elo ing his intellectual abilitiesC'"Here is a man, # tell myself, who has fulfilled many, erha s most, of his ambitions and dreams He hasmade millions He has sat at the table with many of the earth's most owerful eo le He has tried - in arational and olitical way - to change the world &nd yet, he shared with Hanne a sense of the rofoundmystical ossibilities that e*ist for those tho are re ared to retreat from the hubbub and listen to themoaning of the wind The more 4uestionable 5ew &ge ractices - belief in things li)e crystals oromens - hea.es to Hanne and her occult faith His is a more sce tical mind

5e.ertheless, he confesses that a few years ago, while wal)ing with the famed author and >ournalistBill +oyers in the desert nearby, something strange, something ine* licable ha ened &ccording toStrongE "Ae'd been wal)ing, tal)ing, heading bac) to my ar)ed car Suddenly, this bush - somesagebrush - eru ted in flames in front of usI #t >ust burst into flames # was astounded +oyers was, too& bush bursting into flamesI" He sha)es his head at the memory He )nows it sounds, well, fla)y But itdid ha en, he reassures me #t is the most im ressi.e mystical e* erience he has had

He is concerned, abo.e all, about man's e*tinction The words of Percy Shelley's ironic 18th-century oem 02ymandias - memori2ed in his youth - ha.e seemed, of late, more and more li)e the e ita h ofhuman ci.ili2ationE

# met a tra.eller from an anti4ue landAho saidE Two .ast and trun)less legs of stoneStand in the desert 5ear them, on the sand,Half sun), a shattered .isage lies, whose frown,&nd wrin)les li , and sneer of cold command,Tell that its scul tor well those assions readAhich yet sur.i.e, stam ed on the lifeless things,The hand that moc)ed them and the heart that fedE&nd on the edestal these words a ear -"+y name is 02ymandias, )ing of )ingsE

oo) on my wor)s, ye +ighty, and des airI" 5othing beside remains $ound the decay0f that colossal wrec), boundless and bareThe lone and le.el sand stretch far away

&long the way during the ast years, not unnoticed in his home country, he agreed in 187 , at PierreTrudeau's re4uest, to set u and become !@0 of Petro-!anada The country was in the midst of the0P@!-induced oil crunch Strong had energy-industry connections and well-)nown doubts aboutunfettered ca italism He too) the >ob His old &lberta 0il Patch friends were aghast Strong, ana arent free-enter rise al, was hel ing the loathed iberals nationali2e arts of the country's oil andgas industries

"#'m a ma.eric)," says Strong, e* laining his willingness to lea.e the international field forcontro.ersial cor orate >ob "#'.e always been regarded as a eculiar ty e #'.e been in it, but notnecessarily of it

This obser.ation, # soon disco.er, holds true for Strong's in.ol.ement in the Baca s iritual communityE


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he is in it, but not necessarily of it By nature, he is a hiloso hic and a little shy He stammers at times&t the Baca, he affects the loo) of a westerner - cowboy ha, string tie, ointy boots But his interestsare rimarily global He tra.els endlessly, s ea)ing on the need for en.ironmental legislation in one

lace, attending a board meeting in a second, .isiting influential friends along the way

&s Hanne says, e* laining their unusual relationshi , "+aurice is out there, trying to sa.e the worldHe's out there, s ea)ing, his di lomacy, his global .isions But you'.e got to ha.e e*am les There

ha.e to be laces where his ideas come to earth His is the macro - the world The Baca's the micro #fthere's a glimmer of ho e for the future, that's what this lace is about "

Hanne refers to remain in the cou le's new adobe house that sits on the lowest slo es of the Sangre de!risto foothills The two-bedroom building, li)e the Baca itself, is a rototy e for the futureE the

basement, a large cold cellar for storing .egetables, fruit, and Hanne's growing collection of seeds fromrare and endangered lantsF in the antry, a mulching system with its com ost-digesting earthwormsFthroughout the house, assi.e solar headings and tri le-gla2ed windows &s well, the house is crammedwith religious ob>ectsE &frican mas)s, sacred 5e alese stones, a half-do2en anti4ue Tibetan wall-hangings called tan)as #t was beneath one of these, #'m informed, that a .isiting associate of the ali

ama, the Ta ama, died nine years ago while sitting cross-legged in dee medication &ccording toTibetan custom, Hanne tells me, the dead lama was left untouched in an u right osition for four daysuntil his s irit had de arted Ahen the body was finally mo.ed, she adds, the attending doctor notedthat it didn't smell and that it heard - and she ut her fist against her chest - was still warm

rom the house and the nearby ranch head4uarters, the Strongs o.ersee the religious community'sde.elo ment, the rogress of which has not always been smooth #n 1878, at the Strong's in.itation, thefirst grou s mo.ed to the Baca - the &s en #nstitute and the indisfarne &ssociation, a humanistic&merican thin)-than) and a s iritual society, res ecti.ely ater, they withdrew in the face of the site'sremoteness Some of the locals were ha y to see them go, for they imagined - in the resence of such.isitors as Henry 6issinger, the Aorld Ban)'s $obert +c5amara, and the residents of theorgani2ations li)e #B+, Pan &m, and Har.ard 3ni.ersity - a clandestine, left-wing cons iracy toestablish the Baca as the base for a world go.ernment $umors circulated for a while that Strong had a

huge warehouse in !anada full of newly designed and minted currency, ready to issue when the"internationalist cons iracy" was initiated

The truth is less grand uring the last decade, the Strongs ha.e donated hectares and about G1million to .arious religious grou s to encourage them to settle in the Baca &s well, se.eral wealthyfriends of the Strongs, including Shirley +ac aine, lus 1 or so other ractitioners of 5ew &ge

beliefs, ha.e in the last few years urchased land or homes amid the widely scattered buildings of thetraditional religions

But it isn't until # see Hanne's ma labelled "The .alley of the $efuge of the Aorld Truths", that #glim se the Big Picture Ae unroll it on the floor of her study, directly beneath the tan)a where thelama died "Here's where the Tibetan monastery's going to go," she says, ointing "Here's where arabbi from #srael's going to do a centre for the study of ?ewish +ysticism The Taoists are coming in188 So's a Sufi leader and his grou &nd here's Shirley +ac aine's lace"

# loo) They're all there, on the ma So are the names of a score more religious grou s and humanisticassociations that are slated for 1881 and beyond "This is still an infant," she says, her .oice motherly"#t's still a seed #t's a -, : -, / - year ro>ect To bring the world's religions together - that's a .erylong road To create an e*am le of a new future - that, two ta)es time But this lace will ha.e a )eyrole in the future of man)ind "

# wan to belie.e her # )now, howe.er, that fulling her determination are terrible fears that forces beyond her control may o.erwhelm both the Baca and the lanet


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She eyes me, smiling at my sce ticism # comment on her con.iction as she begins rerolling the ma"+y only worry," she says, "is that the gurus and huc)sters will come here and it becomes a sort ofmecca That's why #'.e hesitated so long about Shirley # told her '#f you come here, it'll be o.errun withcrystal eo le ' But Shirley feels the Baca's the lace for her Her astrologer told her to mo.e hereSome eo le say it'll become a 's iritual su ermar)et' # guess it'll by my >ob to rotect it The Baca's a

lace for the contem lati.e life #t's not a lace for a 4uic) fi*"

Howe.er, # noticed, in the lower left-hand corner of the ma , one more unmentioned thingE a tiny, long,and narrow rectangle drawn in blue, and the word &ir ort The sun is almost setting #ts light bla2esabo.e the mountains of distant 5ew +e*ico and sets the rabbit brush beyond the windows aflameHanne in.ites me to >oin her in her daily ritual of singing the sun down Ae go outside and stand side

by side on the orch, facing est She chants her mantra, and ancient (edic te*t, she e* lains, that goes bac) to the dawn of ci.ili2ation # don't understand a word, but # )now that Hanne feels it aligns herwith natural forces # stand there, mirroring Hanne, my arms raised before my face, alms turned fromthe sun, listening to her chant and thin)ing thisE yes, we li.e in a self-centered and cynical age Thediseases of our times - the loneliness, the secret yearnings, the drugs, the materialism and money-hunger - are measures of the alienation we feel from the natural rhythms and the ossibility ofe i hanies that orders at other times ha.e felt &nd yet and yet, # saw the wordE &ir ort #s the Baca

really a grand s iritual e* eriment, or a cle.er real estate scheme for aging 5ew &gersC &nd what willha en with the waterC

#n the earliest stages of the Baca ro>ect, many of the local eo le .iewed the arri.al of the Strongs andtheir worldly friends much as they would an outbrea) of hoof-and-mouth disease The lace was called"!ult !ity" by )inder fol), and a centre of cannibalism, ritual deaths, and communism by those of amore fanciful mind #n time, according to !restone's grey-haired historian and lifetime resident, %ladysSisemore, most eo le ha.e come to acce t the newcomers "Dou ha.e to ta)e the bitter with thesweet," she says as she sits crocheting, describing her reaction to the strangers she occasionally meetson +ain Street But ractically no one in !restone - ractically no one, in fact across the entire San

uis (alley - has accommodated himself to lans to sell the water

&merican Aater e.elo ment associates, &labama-born Buddy Ahitloc), reminding .alleys residentshe's and en.ironmentalist, that he has his home there, that he wouldn't >eo ardi2e the region'secosystem He has reassured eo le that - if water is um ed out - its first use will be to re.itali2e the.alley But the ranchers, farmers, and local landowners remain unim ressed They don't trust him

They ha.e formed a coalition, called !iti2ens for San uis (alley Aater, under the leadershi of 9 -year-old grain and cattle farmer %reg %osar "Ae )now they'.e a lied to ut in 1 wells, um ingfrom ,9 feed dee , Ae )now they'.e already offered to sell 9, acre feet to en.er Peo le feel+aurice misled them He said the water would be used at first to benefit the .alley The eo le here areat least 88 ercent o osed to the water de.elo ment #t's an affront to us #t will de.astate the .alley #twill de o ulate it There are eo le who are narrow-minded enough to resort to .iolence "

#f the local eo le )new what was really going on behind the scenes between Strong and his financial artners, including wealthy (ancou.er in.estment financier Sam Bel2berg, they would be e.en moreworried

The fact isE Strong, as chairman of the board of &merican Aater e.elo ment, has had a series ofdisagreements o.er his management of the Baca ro erty in the last three years Se.eral other boardmembers didn't li)e the idea of the s iritual community in the first lace But Strong was the largestindi.idual in.estor He'd ca>oled them to go along with the scheme Howe.er, when word circulatedthat Shirley +ac aine might mo.e there, some of the !hristian fundamentalists on the board and thehard-headed, bottom line-oriented Bel2berg resisted Bel2berg feared that +ac aine could antagoni2e


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the locals The conflict reached a head last year when Strong, under ressure from his board, remo.ed/ hectares for the s iritual community from the larger Baca %rant $anch ro erty and handed these

to Hanne for her to control He then donated his shares in &merican Aater to a +ichigan-based bio-energy research foundation and later 4uite the board, relin4uishing any future influence o.er the waterde.elo ment lans

es ite the imbroglio within &merican Aater e.elo ment's board, the ro>ect continues The

com any is mo.ing ahead on its G1 -million ro osal to drill the wells and construct a i eline toser.e en.er The local coalition lans to fight e.ery ste along the way The irony is that Strong, as alongtime s o)esman for the water ro>ect, is till seen as a target for criticism and sus icion ocal

eo le feel he betrayed them and is now trying to sal.age things for himself and Hanne #n a oordesert region, you can - so the saying goes - mess with a man's wife erha s, but you don't mess withhis water Strong would rather not tal) - nor ha.e me tal) - about the recent death threats made againsthis friend and former business associate, Buddy Ahitloc)

#t is with this sobering ers ecti.e that # e* lore the territory of the uto ian dream, trying to weigh thesignificance of the occasional assing ic)u truc) with a rifle slung in a rac) across the rear window

# sto and climb u hill to .isit the Haida)handi 3ni.ersal &shram, a (edic tem le that sits on a high

bluff amid a inon ine forest #t's im ossible to o.erloo) the ad>acent 1/-s4uare-metre solar anel,which heads the stone floors within the ashram #n the future, says $am oti, a riestess of the tem le,there'll be hydro-electric ower from a small turbine in nearby S anish !ree), high-tech toilets, anddri -water-fed organic gardens But as of now, only three de.otees li.e here She gi.es me a glossy

brochure that tells about future lans # sto at the !armelite +onastery, where eight !atholic mon)s -women and men, all fairly young - s end half their time in total seclusion or G:9 a night, a .isitor canstay in one of the hermitage's 1 small adobe bungalows, >oining the mon)s - if he wishes - at mealsand ray and labor

# sto at the !restone +ountain en !enter, where a half-do2en students and Buddhist mon)s sit Thediscussion turns to Shirley +ac aine $andy o*, a long-time student of en, ac)nowledges that theactress is a door for millions to a more s iritual world But, he adds, "The s iritual ath ta)es the wholelife #t's not found in a wee)end "# also sto at some of the homes of the 1 or so 5ew &gers who ha.e in recent years been buying the

ro erties of the initial Baca retirees They ha.e come of their own accord, unbidden and unassisted bythe Strongs They ha.e s urned the trendiness of Taos, 5ew +e*ico, or &ri2ona's o ular sychiccentre, Sedona, where thousands arri.e daily ho ing to get their astrological charts read and to findtheir bliss 5e.ertheless, at the Baca these days, sychic awn Taylor !arlson offers in-de thinstruction in other-world communications Semu Huaute, =9, gi.es instruction in nati.e &mericanshamanism and myths &t Barbra (ail's home, # am assaulted by crystals - thousands of them Theycrowd orch railings, windowsills, shel.es, and altars They hang from (ail's nec) and ears She isthrilled to hear that +ac ains has decided to build nearby a 5ew &ge study centre where eo le canta)e short, wee)-long courses on the occult (ail ho es to sell +ac aine one of the biggest crystals

Toward e.ening, # arri.e at the base of a sand dune toward the southern end of the Baca lands &headof me, rising absurdly from the dune's crest, is the #slamic 2iggurat, built by the Strongs' friend 5a>eebHalaby, former chairman of Pan &m and the father of the Jueen of ?ordan # ascend to the tower's to ,where i notice weeds ha.e begun to s rout &round meE a .ast em tiness #n my earsE an engulfingsilence Some lace to the north, # tell myself, one of the world's most famous actresses and a leading

o ulari2er of things occult will soon settle She will, ine.itably, draw to this s ecial lace all the 5ew&ge star-chasers, Ainnebago-bound celebrity hounds, and cynical >ournalists that Hanne fears willcome To the south, # )now, another of the Strong's friends, Hisayoshi 0ta, a :/-year-old architect and


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the son of a ?a anese tycoon, li.es the li.e of an &merican cowboy, running a heard of 1,/ buffalo ona ranch ad>acent to the Baca He has decided to forsa)e the ell-mell life of 5ew Dor) to >oin theStrongs in their s iritual 4uest Below me, beneath the desert's dustE a sea of fresh water, hidden,unta ed, unfathomable

dreams and reality, dreams and reality, # thin) But where does the truth lieC # wait for an answer, a ortent, a .oice # )now Hanne would hear something But nothing ?ust the faintest whis er of wind in

the cottonwoods along the dry bed of !ottonwood !ree) far below Then, the lines from Strong'srecitation of 02ymandias come bac)E "+y name is 02ymandias, )ing of )ingsE oo) on my wor)s, ye+ighty, and des airI" # ic) at the ealing aint on the 2iggurat # wonder how long it will ta)e for theroots of the weed to widen the tower's first, tiny crac)s Ahy should the latest dream to be dreamt herefare any better than those of the retirement community's de.elo ers and the gold miners and the #ndianhunters and e.en the dreams of the wild buffalo themsel.esC

# lea.e the Baca with Strong, retracing our route of a wee) earlier Ae ass the a2y 3 $anch and turnsouth on Highway 17 The desert slides by Strong tells me he has often wished he could write He hasa no.el he'd li)e to do #t's something he has been thin)ing about for a decade #t would be a cautionarytale about the future

Ea($ y'ar% $' '2 &a"!s as a ba()#ro !* to t$' t'&&"!# o/ t$' !o.'& s &ot% t$' Wor&* E(o!o+"(For + (o!.'!'s "! Da.os% S "t6'r&a!*, O.'r a t$o sa!* CEOs% r"+' +"!"st'rs% /"!a!('+"!"st'rs% a!* &'a*"!#s a(a*'+"(s #at$'r "! F'br ary to att'!* +''t"!#s a!* s't '(o!o+"(a#'!*as /or t$' y'ar a$'a*, W"t$ t$"s as a s'tt"!#% $' t$'! says8 5W$at "/ a s+a&& #ro o/ t$'s'

or&* &'a*'rs 'r' to (o!(& *' t$at t$' r"!(" a& r"s) to t$' 'art$ (o+'s /ro+ t$' a(t"o!s o/ t$'r"($ (o !t"'s A!* "/ t$' or&* "s to s r.".'% t$os' r"($ (o !tr"'s o &* $a.' to s"#! a!a#r''+'!t r'* ("!# t$'"r "+ a(t o! t$' '!."ro!+'!t, W"&& t$'y *o "t 5 A!* Stro!#% *r"."!# as Ita)' !ot's% &oo)s at +', T$'! $"s 'y's #o ba() to t$' H"#$ ay 1:, T$' +a! $o /o !*'* t$'4!"t'* Nat"o!s E!."ro!+'!t ;ro#ra+ a!* $o rot' arts o/ t$' B r!*t&a!* R' ort a!* $o"! 1997 "&& try to #'t t$' or&* s &'a*'rs% +''t"!# "! Bra6"&% to s"#! 3 st s ($ a! a#r''+'!t%sa.ors t$' < 'st"o!s $a!#"!# "! t$' a"r, W"&& t$'y *o "t W"&& t$' r"($ (o !tr"'s a#r'' to r'* ('

t$'"r "+ a(t o! t$' '!."ro!+'!t W"&& t$'y a#r'' to sa.' t$' 'art$ Stro!# r's +'s $"s story, 5T$' #ro s (o!(& s"o! "s !o , T$' r"($ (o !tr"'s o! t *o "t, T$'y

o! t ($a!#', So% "! or*'r to sa.' t$' &a!'t% t$' #ro *'("*'s8 "s! t t$' o!&y $o ' /or t$' &a!'tt$at t$' "!* str"a&"6'* ("."&"6at"o!s (o&&a s' Is! t "t o r r's o!s"b"&"ty to br"!# t$at abo t 5

5T$"s #ro o/ or&* &'a*'rs%5 $' (o!t"! 's% 5/or+ a s'(r't so("'ty to br"!# abo t a! '(o!o+"((o&&a s', It s F'br ary, T$'y r' a&& at Da.os, T$'s' ar'! t t'rror"sts, T$'y r' or&* &'a*'rs, T$'y$a.' os"t"o!'* t$'+s'&.'s "! t$' or&* s (o++o*"ty a!* sto() +ar)'ts, T$'y .' '!#"!''r'*%

s"!# t$'"r a(('ss to sto() '2($a!#'s a!* (o+ t'rs a!* #o&* s &"'s% a a!"(, T$'!% t$'yr'.'!t t$' or&* s sto() +ar)'ts /ro+ (&os"!#, T$'y 3a+ t$' #'ars, T$'y $"r' +'r('!ar"'s $o

$o&* t$' r'st o/ t$' or&* &'a*'rs at Da.os as $osta#'s, T$' +ar)'ts (a! t (&os', T$' r"($(o !tr"'s,,,5 A!* Stro!# +a)'s a &"#$t +ot"o! "t$ $"s /"!#'rs as "/ $' 'r' /&"()"!# a ("#ar'tt'b tt o t t$' "!*o ,

# sit there s ellbound This is not any storyteller tal)ing This is +aurice Strong He )nows these worldleaders He is, in fact, co-chairman of the council of the Aorld @conomic orum He sits at the fulcrumof ower He is in a osition to do it

5I robab&y s$o &*! t b' say"!# t$"!#s &")' t$"s%5 $' says,

Highway 17 cuts straight across the desert, heading out of the land of dreams

Ahen the truth is finally told, +aurice and Hanne Strong fear the world will come to this 5o secret


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societies 5o hostage-ta)ings at a.os But it will come to the same conclusionE the global economy,sa ed by credit and debt loads and en.ironmental disasters, will sim ly come unstuc) &nd nothing -not e.en the ins iration of the Baca - can sa.e human)ind from itself They see the struggles and

roblems at the Baca as reflections of the roblems assaulting the lanet They fear the Baca will be, at best, an oasis in the desert of the future - and at worst, a lace where dreams die

Wizard of Baca Grande

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