2018-02-23 18:58:03 +00:00
|
|
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
|
created_at: '2009-07-11T04:51:23.000Z'
|
|
|
|
|
title: The Spiritual Center Of the Earth (1999)
|
|
|
|
|
url: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/11/23/DD78283.DTL
|
|
|
|
|
author: mariorz
|
|
|
|
|
points: 42
|
|
|
|
|
story_text: ''
|
|
|
|
|
comment_text:
|
|
|
|
|
num_comments: 26
|
|
|
|
|
story_id:
|
|
|
|
|
story_title:
|
|
|
|
|
story_url:
|
|
|
|
|
parent_id:
|
|
|
|
|
created_at_i: 1247287883
|
|
|
|
|
_tags:
|
|
|
|
|
- story
|
|
|
|
|
- author_mariorz
|
|
|
|
|
- story_698823
|
|
|
|
|
objectID: '698823'
|
2018-06-08 12:05:27 +00:00
|
|
|
|
year: 1999
|
2018-02-23 18:58:03 +00:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
---
|
2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
|
|
|
|
# The Spiritual Center Of the Earth
|
2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
|
|
|
|
|
2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
|
|
|
|
ONE MORNING SEVERAL years ago, at a bus stop in front of the [American
|
|
|
|
|
Embassy](/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22American+Embassy%22)
|
|
|
|
|
in New Delhi, an Indian man wearing a turban and rubber flip-flops (plus
|
|
|
|
|
what might once have been someone's draperies) asked me where I was
|
|
|
|
|
from.
|
2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
|
|
|
|
|
2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
|
|
|
|
"Oh, how lucky you are\!" he fairly sang, when I told him I was from San
|
|
|
|
|
Francisco. "Everyone knows that San Francisco is the spiritual center of
|
|
|
|
|
the world."
|
2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
|
|
|
|
|
2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
|
|
|
|
Really? This assertion would jolt any American who'd drifted to India
|
|
|
|
|
seeking, well -- something better.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Oh, yes-yes," the Indian man said. "The earth's spiritual center shifts
|
|
|
|
|
every few hundred years or thousand, maybe. It used to be in India, but
|
|
|
|
|
now it is San Francisco. All our gurus are moving there to open
|
|
|
|
|
ashrams."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Latest entertainment videos
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Now
|
|
|
|
|
Playing:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- [](/news/media/Justin-Theroux-Breaks-His-Social-Media-Silence-1204152.php)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Now Playing
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Justin Theroux Breaks His Social Media Silence After Announcing His
|
|
|
|
|
Split From Jennifer Aniston, And More
|
|
|
|
|
News
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MarieClaire
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- [](/news/media/Jeff-Daniels-stars-in-new-Hulu-series-about-1205375.php)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeff Daniels stars in new 'Hulu' series about events leading up to
|
|
|
|
|
9/11
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Associated
|
|
|
|
|
Press
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- [](/news/media/How-Jimmi-Simpson-Accidentally-Discovered-the-1204142.php)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
How Jimmi Simpson Accidentally Discovered the Fate of His
|
|
|
|
|
'Westworld' Character
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Entertainment Weekly
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- [](/news/media/Vikander-Angelina-Jolie-is-inspiring-1203017.php)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vikander: 'Angelina Jolie is inspiring'
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Associated
|
|
|
|
|
Press
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- [](/news/media/Ta-Nehisi-Coates-Writing-New-Captain-America-1203593.php)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ta-Nehisi Coates Writing New Captain America Comic for
|
|
|
|
|
Marvel
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wibbitz
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- [](/news/media/Jennifer-Lawrence-Officially-Denies-Having-An-1204150.php)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jennifer Lawrence Officially Denies Having An Affair With Chris
|
|
|
|
|
Pratt On The Set Of ‘Passengers’, And More
|
|
|
|
|
News
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MarieClaire
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- [](/news/media/Kim-Kardashian-Shuts-Down-Fans-Who-Accused-Her-Of-1204316.php)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kim Kardashian Shuts Down Fans Who Accused Her Of Lying About Her
|
|
|
|
|
Pink Hair, And More
|
|
|
|
|
News
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MarieClaire
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- [](/news/media/Emma-Thompson-says-Kenneth-Branagh-s-Infidelity-1203215.php)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Emma Thompson says Kenneth Branagh’s Infidelity Fueled 'Love
|
|
|
|
|
Actually' Performance
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Entertainment
|
|
|
|
|
Weekly
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- [](/news/media/Once-Upon-a-Time-Bosses-Drop-Major-Detail-About-1205286.php)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
'Once Upon a Time' Bosses Drop Major Detail About Series Finale
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Entertainment
|
|
|
|
|
Weekly
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- [](/news/media/Barbra-Streisand-admits-to-cloning-her-dog-twice-1203634.php)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Barbra Streisand admits to cloning her dog twice
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fox5DC
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The arrival of my bus cut short our talk, but during the next couple of
|
|
|
|
|
months I ran the man's thesis past several other Indians I met.
|
|
|
|
|
Surprisingly, every one of them regarded my conversational tidbit as old
|
|
|
|
|
news. All unquestioningly accepted San Francisco -- not India, not
|
|
|
|
|
Tibet, not Mecca or Jerusalem or Rome -- as humankind's new spiritual
|
|
|
|
|
center.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You are scoffing right now, of course, and so did I -- initially. But
|
|
|
|
|
that first night, when I asked the desk clerk at my hotel in New Delhi
|
|
|
|
|
to define "spiritual center of the world," his response wiped the smirk
|
|
|
|
|
right off my face.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Oh," he said, as matter of factly as if I'd asked directions to a chai
|
|
|
|
|
shop, "that is simply the place where new ideas meet the least amount of
|
|
|
|
|
resistance."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Voila\! I have circled the globe four times, and if there is some place
|
|
|
|
|
where new ideas meet less resistance than they do in San Francisco, I
|
|
|
|
|
have neither seen nor heard of it. If you can't be what you want in San
|
|
|
|
|
Francisco, you don't have a chance elsewhere.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MY INDIAN FRIENDS had differing ideas on the boundaries of the earth's
|
|
|
|
|
spiritual center. Some said it was limited to the area burned by the
|
|
|
|
|
post-quake fire of 1906 -- the purifying flames having left behind an
|
|
|
|
|
environment as fertile as the field in which Jack grew beanstalks. Most,
|
|
|
|
|
however, included the entire Bay Area in their spiritual maps --
|
|
|
|
|
although one woman in Calcutta drew hers from the tip of Baja to the tip
|
|
|
|
|
of the Aleutians. Regardless, all agreed that spiritual San Francisco
|
|
|
|
|
did not follow trends, but -- like the San Andreas Fault -- unleashed
|
|
|
|
|
movements. Harry Bridges seized the waterfront and galvanized the labor
|
|
|
|
|
movement. The first television was invented at the base of Telegraph
|
|
|
|
|
Hill, unleashing whatever you call that. The United Nations convention
|
|
|
|
|
was held and its charter was signed in [Herbst
|
|
|
|
|
Theatre](/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Herbst+Theatre%22).
|
|
|
|
|
The beats, the hippies and the Free Speech Movement burst from the hills
|
|
|
|
|
and the bay as though they couldn't help themselves. When [Jack
|
|
|
|
|
Kerouac](/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Jack+Kerouac%22)
|
|
|
|
|
hit the road, a nation of readers took it as a given that he would wind
|
|
|
|
|
up in North Beach.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE MUSIC BLASTING out of San Francisco -- the Jefferson Airplane, the
|
|
|
|
|
[Grateful
|
|
|
|
|
Dead](/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Grateful+Dead%22),
|
|
|
|
|
[Janis
|
|
|
|
|
Joplin](/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Janis+Joplin%22)
|
|
|
|
|
-- forever changed the world -- with help from Owsley's LSD. Harvey
|
|
|
|
|
Milk, the "Mayor of Castro Street," became America's first openly gay
|
|
|
|
|
elected official. The American Indians scored their biggest victory
|
|
|
|
|
(since Custer, and before casinos) on Alcatraz. Oakland's [Black
|
|
|
|
|
Panthers](/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Black+Panthers%22)
|
|
|
|
|
awoke a complacent nation -- some say two. And the human potential
|
|
|
|
|
movement leaped naked and quivering from the hot tubs at Esalen. Now the
|
|
|
|
|
world's economic engine throbs in Silicon Valley, while the creative
|
|
|
|
|
heart of the Internet beats south of Market Street. North of Market,
|
|
|
|
|
Charles Schwab leads a brokerage assault that rocks Wall Street and
|
|
|
|
|
mints millionaires at a rate not seen since the first Gold Rush.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
India had its run -- giving civilization the zero, infinity and the [Taj
|
|
|
|
|
Mahal](/search/?action=search&channel=entertainment&inlineLink=1&searchindex=solr&query=%22Taj+Mahal%22).
|
|
|
|
|
Now it's San Francisco's turn. That shaky ground under your feet may be
|
|
|
|
|
as good as ground gets. Throw down the best you've got, and stand back\!
|