Questhaven... again or the Mystery of an Unassigned House

Open Sesame Trail

Well, since it was nice and cloudy day we decided to go to Questhaven to walk one of their trails. Last time it was too hot there.

Well, we walked a couple of trails. One was supposed to have "roaring waters and waterfalls". It had none since it is not winter and all the water dried out. There was a bunch of boulders though at the end of the trail where one can imagine the water flowing. Very nice.

The trails run through the chaparral hills covered with buckwheat and chamise. There was an old oak tree with a stone bench under it: a so-called meditation area.

There are a couple of trails in order to get to you should ask for a key. But they are very long and uphill and we didn't feel like walking them.

And now I am going to tell you a mystery story. Last time they gave us a map of the premises that showed different buildings marked with numbers 1,2,3, etc. Number 9 was "unassigned". So we naturally assumed that there was a house that was not assigned, in other words an empty house though it was not on the map. We wanted to see it so we asked at the office. The answer will shock you.

Well, maybe not. After all, the thing turned out to be "the thirteenth floor" type prejudice. These people just don't use number nine. The woman in the office parroted some spiel that she evidently memorized without having the least understanding of the whole matter. Pythagoras was duly mentioned of course as well as the "secret" meaning of numbers. Total BS... give me a break...

Questhaven

The church has no altar inside

Today we bring you news from Questhaven. Questhaven is non denominational Christian church founded by Flower Newhouse. They seem to run along the same lines as Yogananda's Self-Realization Fellowship in Encinitas (see my previous posts).

Well, the church and its surroundings are located in the dry hills. It was very hot today, like 100 degrees so we did not feel like walking one of their trails.

The church is executed in a typical instant American church style architecture, quite ugly. The other buildings look exactly the same. The landscaping is good though and there is a typical maze that you can walk with a great distant view.

The maze offers a wonderful distant view

They offer retreat facilities where you can rent a room for the same price as an average motel room. You must bring your own food though.

We met a couple of women there and they were very nice. They gave us a ton of literature with propaganda that overloaded my BS quotent for today so I still feel a bit weird. We mentioned pranic healing as it turned out they run a pranic healing clinic there. We might want to go but it's only once a months.

It is not a monastery like we were led to believe but a church with a staff living on site. A good place to walk.

Surprisingly they have a few Hindu style statuettes scattered in the landscape. Yet when I mentioned Deer Park Monastery (see previous posts) they pulled back and said they have never been there. They did not seem very interested. I wonder who installed the statures.