A proposed way of life by which we mean to discover harmony with nature and god and to evolve spiritually through the creative expression of human energies.
Beings myth-oriented at birth and given to fancy, one of the current myths that have arisen among us out of the history of this continent into the dread circumstances of this world assumes the shape of beauty in embrace of continents and men, telescoping time and wedding space to space. Transcendent merger of Hindustani mysticism and Amerind spirituality, suspending the one word INDIAN in the fact of two peoples, disparate in place, time's aliens, no one imagination sired, woman-borne up from the flood streaming from a borrowed sea inscribing continents of history in the dread circumstances inked in the fossil blood of time; naming two peoples, seeming to make one, vast Deccan and wide prairie, Himalayas and Rockies where races of men assume a oneness as well.
Still others stand in awe of what they consider the epitome of American Indian spirituality, embodied as they believe it to be in the essential nature of a tribe we call the Hopi, a people as few in number as others seem many. The Hopi peace is their due for their reverence of belief, and it is contained in the character of their traditional rituals, where it has survived exposure to an everywhere rampant aggression, untroubled by visions of a continental destruction that is to end the historic America of the white people and their peculiar relation to the land. These people venerating and venerated by the stars, beloved of the earth which they love, are devotees of peace serving its shrine, and they are sacred to man.
City people in the Haight-Ashbury are seeking ways and means to bring into existence a communal center for the tribes that will provide, within a building, space for teaching skills related to personal growth; facilities for the production of art and publications; a meeting place for the promulgation of activities and services, leaders and groups; a library; a safe storage for members' valuables; a children's school; a center for self-supporting rural communities.
Intuitionally drawn to the idea by happenstance, blundering upon the word 'Hogan' as a possible name for the center, these people came upon the thinking of the Hopi Indians, within whose concept of the Kiva one realizes a most peaceful and enduring form of collective will to serve the self and god.
A Kiva is more than a meeting hall, a building, or a function. It is a broad, all-inclusive matrix for liberation. As Bufano told us: "It is a temple," and he has offered a piece of statuary, a monolith of beauty valued at several thousand dollars, to be used in the furtherance of the idea.
It has been variously estimated that from ten to two hundred thousand young people will come to the Haight-Ashbury this summer, fleeing answers that compose burning questions, seeking answers to questions that compel them, wanting of enlightenment, and ecstatic. If so, they will be the most beatific crusade since the middle ages.
It is possible that such a Kiva could become one more of the positive elements in a Haight-Ashbury self-renewal that is already one of the spectacularly non-government supported neighborhood improvements in existence. By practical statement to our visitors, illustrating ideas of a positive nature that they could take into themselves and so equipped, return to their cities and towns, their homes.
The Kiva could be a means of rapport with these voyagers that would make possible the provision of some degree of care, interest, advice, and assistance to them. It could endeavor to relate to as many as ten thousand transient youth.
The wonderful thing about the Kiva is the effective way such things work. At the Be-In when a poet asked the assembled crowd to practice Kitchen Yoga the people picked up the litter, and where they did, flowers seemed to grow-in at the Polo Grounds after over twenty-five thousand had maintained an atmosphere of calm and beauty all throughout a long day of love. The Kiva could be similarly maintained.
As money is donated to the Kiva in excess of its needs, large areas of land could be purchased for the founding of schools, places of worship, natural human involvement, etc., thereby moving the Kiva and its people to the country.
The Kiva could be a first model for new approaches to living in country and city alike, inspiring many of the young people who arrive here this summer by creating an inclusive and permissive environment so that when they return to their homes they may establish other centers of energy in halls, warehouses, old churches, stables, and ferryboats.
Funds used in a community have a total as well as a compartmentalized meaning. It seems reasonable to use monies that are to be spent to experiment with new rituals, particularly when the new rituals lead away from destruction and friction and the old, all too often, lead to these very things. Even government machinery can find a way to do this if it chooses. Certainly, private enterprise can.
The Indian tribal model of existence suggests a direction (motion) that human beings might refer to for a beginning form. Thus the proposed form for bringing human energies together is the creation of the Kiva. The assumption is that new tribal forms are evolving and that this may be the time to venture a concrete manifestation of tribal existence.
Pursuant to thinking embodied in the Kiva proposal, its basic premise and ultimate assumption, a decision has been taken to create: I) a board of directors to incorporate and hold legal responsibility: II) a tribal council consisting of twelve guides to serve the Kiva in whatever way the best interest of the Kiva required it. The participants to operate on a principle of self-responsibility for their words and actions; III) a depository or organization to hold monies until the Kiva gains tax exempt status; IV) the sponsorship by the Kiva of a series of meetings in the Haight -Ashbury district for community expression to discover the proper evolution and growth, both in vision and numbers, that will assure a healthy life cycle for the Kiva.
Now the realms of dream and speculation are approaching reality. The Kiva has secured a large vacant lot on Hayes St., near Golden Gate Park. The area with its shrubs and trees will be improved and utilized to its fullest practical extent...Cleaning and building projects are already starting.
Everyone is invited to contribute and become a living part of the Kiva. A temporary office has been established at 715 Ashbury St., Telephone number (415) 661-7204, to handle inquiries and contributions of resources, love and money. Correspondence and monetary contributions will be attended to at the above address (checks should be made out to the Kiva). The Kiva and its surrounding spiritually oriented community will grow and function in the limitless directions of its diverse people; it's yours, come and do it.
The following have been asked to serve on the tribal council: Chester Anderson, Michael Bowen, Don Cochrane, Peter Cohan, Allen Cohen, Jerry Garcia, Chet Helms, Ambrose Hollingsworth, Steve Hughes, Arthur Lisch, Tony Price, Hillel Rosner, Travis Rivers, Tsvi Strauch, Emmett Grogan, Richard Honigman.
A board of directors is required by law in order that an organization may be incorporated as a non-profit organization. The directors are: Bert Kanegson, Harry Monroe, Ron Thelin. They are to function as the instrument of the tribal council.
