My story has an interesting twist to it. Most of my life I had an aversion to Christianity and the Bible.

In May of 1966 I had an experience of transcendence that altered the entire course of my life. I left home 4 months

later, at age 15, seeking to connect with other people that had similar experience and conciousness. Life became a

great adventure, and I went down many paths, as many of us did in the 60's. Among other things, I became involved

with various spiritual pursuits and studies. I strongly desired to return to "source" and again experience the

omniscient state of being. I did have another "experience" on Sept. 24th 1969. But the elements were marvelously

different then anything I would have ever expected. I was filled with Love. It moved through my body like a river

and I became one with it. My heart was totally open and I completely lost body awareness. Then the love became

visible as light. Everywhere and everything was pure white radiant love. It was gorgeous. I became aware of a being

in the light. It was the most divinely beautiful thing that I had ever seen. It was light in the light, a crystal egg, a living

jewel, that shimmered with an iridescence more radiant than any known diamond. I was in complete awe. I had

never experienced so much love. I went into communion with the being....I won't go into any further detail..... I first

encountered the Order on Sept. 26th or 27th of 1969 in Chicago, and I moved in on October 1st 1969. Master

Timothy was in charge at that time. I left the Chicago center about 3 months later. I moved to San Francisco andTimothy was in charge at that time. I left the Chicago center about 3 months later. I moved to San Francisco and

rejoined the Order there around June of 1970. I permanently left the Order in Jan. or Feb. of 1971. In San

Francisco, I lived at 910 Steiner where the Reverends Denise and Martin Swanson were in charge. Among other

things, I was Mother Ruth's assistant. I sewed clerics and robes for the priests, taught astrology to individuals, and

did the original drawings under Mother's guidance for the Tarot deck that the Order eventually published. But

irregardless, I was quite the black sheep at the Order, because I didn't take the vows seriously. I only stuck around

as long as I did because of my relationship with Mother Ruth. After I first left the Order, many people who later left

were sent to stay with me intially because they had no place to go. (I think I may have been the unofficial

deprogrammer .....hahaha) I moved to Corvallis, Or in 1973. I attended OSU and I graduated Phi Kappa Phi with

a BFA in 1980. (Not bad for a street kid that never went to high school, huh?) While in Oregon I was in constant

contact with Mother Ruth. Not long after Father died, Mother reinstated the Science of Man. I still have a copy of

the document (in fact it is in my hands as I write this) with the names and signatures of the seven members of the

Board of Directors of the Science of Man, dated November 25th 1975. They were Rev. Helen Blighton, Rev.

Denise Swanson, Rev. Martin Swanson, Dr. Thomas Yancey, Mrs. Elizabeth Yancey, Ms. Cynthia Johnson (me),

and Miss Susan Harwell, R.N. Betcha didn't know that the breakaway was beginning that early on did ya? Oh, I am

just so full of information! Enough about the Order! Presently, I live in the mountains of Southern California and I

work in the Los Angeles Apparel industry. Anyone is welcome to e-mail me: RA Dance@aol.com. (you probably

better do that one in lower case) I delete all spam mail, so if you want to capture my attention, either put my name

or HOOM in the subject line. Much Love to All, Cynthia