Early one morning, while I was still half asleep, Judith Varadacher (a Dallas friend who also vaguely reminded me of my friend Eloise LaGrone) and I entered a gymnasium, which also seemed to be some kind of religious center. Suddenly I heard a gong, which helped me awaken. Other people in the room began doing exercises. Judith said something about the gong's being no louder than the one I used to hear when I lived in the Dallas Zen Center. I tried to remember exactly what a gong was, but I couldn't seem to define it in my mind. The only thing that was clear was that this one had succeeded in awakening me.

I was only wearing a pair of shorts and I stood up next to Judith, who made a comment about my stomach being fat, and added that she was as "skinny as a rail." I was somewhat offended, but I paid little attention to her. I stood in front of a mirror in the back of the room and began exercising. I began to enjoy it and I watched the perspiration forming on my body. Actually it wasn't fat around my stomach, but muscle. I had a very muscular body.