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By 1929, the Year of Fulfillment, the realization of the presence of the Avatar or Christos became a daily assignment for each Temple member as the Christos incarnated, heart by heart and mind by mind. The Temple was charged with preparing a place for the Avatar to stay—a magnetic field of combined hearts that would focus and radiate the Avatar’s power to the entire world. This was the true incarnation of the Christos. Temple members were constantly reminded of Hilarion’s message: You must never lose sight of one fact. The higher purpose, the aim of all those who are true Templars, was and still is the preparation of a place where it might become possible for the overshadowing Christ to enter and send forth the message which the world has waited for so long. . . . Such a place requires quiet, concentration, aspiration, unified endeavor, and faith in each other and in the common purpose. These are essentials; all else is non-essential.1 Nonetheless, members were feeling embattled, as negative publicity seemed always at their doorstep. In late 1928, Borghild Janson wrote an 217 10 the avatar arrives Spiritual Fulfillment and Scientific Advancement Dear Temple Family . . . [We] send you the forces of family love and fellowship given by the Great Lodge to us. . . . You know we as a family are commissioned and given the power and marvelous opportunity to pass this love on to all the world as the redeeming force . . . the great Christ Force for the whole world. . . . You are all wireless sub-stations and carry on the force to the extent that you keep yourselves attuned. —Family Letter, 1929 10chap10_Layout 1 2/12/2013 05:36 Page 217 essay, published in both the Herald Recorder and the San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram, telling readers that Halcyon was “a target for the shots of maliciousness , gossip, persecution, and the wildest imagination of ignorant minds” and that people had asked her questions that almost passed belief: “‘Do we believe in Christ?’ ‘Are we Mormons with many wives and many husbands?’ ‘Is Halcyon full of illegitimate children?’ ‘Are we free lovers?’ ‘Is it a love cult?’ ‘Are we crazy?’ etc., etc.” She recounted how people looked at her with “contempt and disdain” when they heard where she lived, and she received “glances of superiority and pity.” Little did they realize the gratitude and happiness that filled her heart whenever she told them that she lived in this “awful place.” She concluded: “This is Halcyon. The Sunday services are open to the public. . . . Halcyon has nothing to hide. Halcyon’s hearts and homes are open to all of humanity; and Divine Love fills the atmosphere and lends it its peace.”2 Halcyon was the subject of numerous local and regional press articles. In the late 1920s and into the 1930s, as part of his job as Temple Scribe, Ernest Harrison became a special correspondent for the San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram, writing short features on the comings and goings of Halcyon residents. He announced public worship services and lectures and noted visitors and special events. He also reported on day-to-day items such as the slowness of sales of dried fruit and how splendidly the cabbages and celery plants were doing. In addition to concerns about public perceptions, personality issues that had arisen many times before within the community continued to be a problem, and Dower consistently reminded members that the Temple was built on principles, not persons. Ever since Irene Earll publicly criticized the Temple in the Syracuse Evening Herald in 1900, members had been on watch for the “testing stones” that challenged the building of the Temple. In August and December 1929, much tension arose when two disgruntled members sued to be allowed to attend closed Temple meetings and people around the nation heard about the group. The Masons, in particular , watched the suit closely, as it looked like the case might establish whether it was “lawful or unlawful to eject from a place of worship people who attend services.”3 A Family Letter told members that “adverse forces” were in evidence. It was the Year of Fulfillment, the thirty-first year of the cycle since the inception of the work. Therefore, “destructive and disintegrating forces would try to block the way of the Great Light” coming closer to the Temple and humanity from inner planes. The convention that year 218 The Avatar Arrives 10chap10_Layout 1 2/12/2013 05:36 Page 218 [3.146.221.204...

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