Oregon daily emerald., May 02, 1977, Page 8, Image 8

Personal selfishness emphasized at retreat
Constant persuasion almost wins recruit
Editor’s note: This is the last in a
series of articles about the Unifi
cation Church, its leaders and the
people it affects.
By LARRY JAFFE
and JANIE NAFSINGER
Of the Emerald
Peter Dean (not his real name),
22, is a quiet, waifish-looking
young man who was born and
raised in Santa Rosa, Calif. He
moved to Eugene last year where
he now shares a basement
apartment with his girlfriend Vicki
and several other friends.
On Friday, March 25, he was
accosted on the mall by two young
men. The pair identified them
selves as David and Eric, mem
bers of the Unification Church.
They explained the church was
trying to unite the religions and na
tions of the world. Peter was in
vited to learn more over lunch at
the church, located on West
Broadway.
At the church he was treated to
cream cheese and jelly sand
wiches and a vague orientation
lecture. He was then encouraged
to attend a weekend workshop at
the group’s retreat in Seattle.
“The thing that led me on to the
weekend was that I wanted him
(the lecturer) to explain exactly
what they were, and he wasn't giv
ing me that,” Peter said.
Peter agreed to attend the
workshop and returned home to
pack and leave a short note for
Vicki.
After working eight hours, Peter
met David and Eric on 1-5 about
1:30 a.m. Saturday. Exhausted,
he tossed his backpack into the
back seat of their blue Nova and
almost immediatley fell asleep.
Shortly after 6 a.m. he awoke at
the Unification Church in Seattle.
There they were greeted by Yuc
cam, a German youth in his mid
twenties with black hair and black
r-r
eyes. Yuccam and his partner
Tom are directors of the Seattle
church.
Still tired, Peter was told he
could catch some sleep in the
attic. Fifteen minutes later he was
awakened by Yuccam's “Rise and
shine. Good morning, brother.”
A quick breakfast was shared
by the approximately 20 church
members and four recruits. Then
the entire group left to catch a ferry
for Vashon Island in Puget Sound,
where the church rents two cab
ins.
On the island, Yuccam led the
group to a grassy area between
the two cabins. “We did some ex
ercises, kind of like group
therapy,” Peter said. “We grab
bed hands in a big circle and all
ran into the middle saying hello,
good morning.”’
After the exercise period, Tom
gave the first in a series of lectures
spread over the two days. Peter
later recalled that many of the lec
tures included themes of personal
selfishness and the guilt we must
all assume for Jesus’ failure.
There was never any mention of
Rev. Sun Moon.
“I was told you were not to
ask any questions at all during the
lecture," Peter said. “You were to
save them for the end.”
The members and recruits were
then broken down into groups of
six or seven which remained con
stant the entire weekend. The
groups ate together, sang to
gether and listened to lectures to
gether.
In the afternoon there were
more exercises and a game of vol
leyball. About 1:30 p.m. the entire
group dined on instant soup,
sandwiches and fruit. Then came
the usual post-meal singing ses
sion followed by another lecture
— and more singing.
EM U Cultural Forum presents
The Annual
Undergraduate Art
Show
May 16, 17, 18
12-4 pm 167 EMU
The Following Guidelines Should Be Followed
When Submitting A Work:
1. Each artist may submit a total of
two works. They may be drawings, photo
graphs, paintings or self-standing sculp
ture. All pieces must be properly mounted,
and 2-dimensional works no larger than 4’ x
4’.
2. Each en try must have an en try card
and jury card filled out; the entry card must
be returned to the Forum by May 13 (Fri
day). Jury cards should be attached to the
works. Cards are available in Suite 2, EMU.
3. Pieces must be brought to Room
167 EMU between 12 & 1 pm Sunday, May
15. The works will be juried and rejected
works should be picked up between 5 & 6
pm Sunday.
4. The pieces may be picked up after
the show on Thursday morning, May 19,
between 10 & 12 p.m.
Page 8
Following the lecture Saturday
night each of the small groups per
formed a skit. Peter's group did a
skit on the spiritual world.
‘‘All day I was trying to get them
to explain the spiritual world to
me,” he said. ‘‘So four of us sat in
chairs while our group leader was
the lecturer on the spiritual world,
trying to explain it and show us it
does exist. But to me they were
mocking it, as though it didn't
exist.”
As he got into his sleeping bag
that night Peter couldn’t re
member any time during the day
he had spent alone. And he could
recall only five minutes of relaxa
tion from the structured activities.
unification
principle
Sunday morning Peter arose to
Yuccam's guitar playing. ‘I mean
here he was, in a full suit and tie
singing “Here Comes the Sun” at
6 in the morning.”
Sunday was a continuing col
lage of lectures, singing and exer
cise which began drawing conflict
ing reactions from Peter.
“The thing I was really down
about was they looked on Jesus
crucifixion as nothing. He didn t
accomplish anything according to
the church. He was a failure. I’ve
thought about that a lot and he
was no failure.”
“But by Sunday I had a lot of
negative feelings about the out
side world. Here you are on an
island in Puget Sound, the
weather's beautiful, the boats are
sailing...I needed a lot of time to
think.’’
The weekend culminated with a
special lecture by Yuccam Sun
day night. He told how silly it was
to expect Jesus to appear out of
the sky in a chariot when he was
already walking among us. He
also dealt with the spread of
communism.
“George Washington had a
vivid dream of dark clouds over
Europe representing com
munism. And all of a sudden he
saw a beaming light and that was
America. God has chosen
America to rise up and conquer
communism," Peter remembers
him saying.
By Sunday night Peter had a
greed to attend a five-day work
shop in Eugene. The entire group
returned to Seattle where Peter,
David and Eric spent the night at
the church.
The next morning the trio drove
back to Eugene. Peter, after some
misgivings, had decided not to re
turn to work.
Back in Eugene. David and Eric
avoided Peter's queries about the
workshop. Finally he was told
there wouldn’t be a workshop in
Eugene and was asked to attend
instead a 21 -day workshop in Los
Angeles.
When he mentioned he wished
to return to his apartment and talk
to Vicki he was reminded Satan
was out there working. When he
told them he had to get his bank
book to pay for the trip, David
drove him back.
While Peter packed, Vicki tried
to understand what was going on.
"He d/d seem different," she said
"I kept asking him, couldn t he
spend the night here. And he d
say no, he had to go."
PRESIDENTIAL
DEBATE
TODAY 12:15
EMU TERRACE
GARY FELDMAN
&
DAVE TYLER
Music at 11:45 & 1:15
ROBERT BAILEY,
Pianist & Sinj«cr for Shinola
When their friend and neighbor
Maggie came downstairs, Vicki
handed her a booklet Peter had
left behind. "Oh my God!” she ex
claimed. “This is the Unification
Church, the followers of Moon. If
they've got Peter, we ll never get
him out.”
Vicki and Maggie quickly drove
to the church where Peter was
spending the night before leaving
for Los Angeles They were kept
waiting downstaris for half an hour
while Peter was awakened and
warned that his friends would try
to draw him away from his mis
sion.
Maggie also sensed a change
in Peter when she saw him. "It
wasn't Peter at all. It was weird,"
she said.
While David, Eric and other
members gathered round, Maggie
and Vicki tned to persuade Peter
to return home
"He started telling us were were
selfish," Maggie recalled “I felt if
wed had longer with him, we
might have gotten through. But all
they had to do was say one word
and his mind would dick. I just
knew there was no way we could
get to him. We finally said We re
leaving, you can do what you want
with your life.
Though Peter said later he was
beginning to entertain some
doubts, he refused to be dis
suaded and left the next morning
with David for Los Angeles. But he
did demand they stop in Ashland
so he could phone his former
teacher and close friend, Mr Dar
row. whom Peter claims has
psychic powers.
Darrow requested that Peter
come to his welding shop.
"Peter, I'vegot something really
important to teH you; you d better
come out here. But ricjit now I feel
it's something negative, he said
"Right then,” Peter recalled, "I
knew something was wrong The
fog was clearing "
Darrow, who objects to the term
“psychic" (I'm no more psychic
than anyone else), said he had
had a vision "Just the night be
fore, I d seen the moon through
the trees," he said, "and was
wondering what it was about."
Darrow and Peter talked in the
shop while David waited impa
tiently outside “I convinced Peter
to give it time,' Darrow said. “I told
mm to go back and get an objec
tive view of it."
Their talk was interrupted by
David's knock, which Peter an
swered. "David," he said. “I'm
sorry but you’ll have to wait out
side. But I II tell you right now I’m
not going with you."
Peter remembers clearly his
final conversation with David
“I said David, you're negative.
You believe in something I knew
was wrong from the beginning.
You believe Satan.. .he kept say
ing Well I'm sorry, I’m really
sorry.’ And I said David, I'm sorry
too."
In a final, ironic twist, Maggie,
one of the most vociferous critics
of the Unification Church, de
cided to attend a weekend work
shop in Seattle. She left a note
stating that the weekend was
merely to satisfy her curiosity
about the church 's methods of in
doctrination, and she had no in
tention of staying more than two
days. Sunday night she called
Father Kent Burtner at the New
man Center, and explained why
she had been wrong about the
church and that she was palnning
to attend a five-day workshop.
Monday, May 2, 1977