D, you skipped a week, what happened? Um, Staff Week happened, and as usual, that which happens outside of the public eye, stays out of the public eye, and I shall honor that tradition. Suffice it to say, the accumulated stress of a chaotic years work for the Esalen crew was released, relieved and exorcised in various ways, friendships and working relationships were forged and or strengthened, beef was squashed and minds temporarily lost in the process. I enjoyed myself very much and learned who was who in the company, who was where, and for some, why they were who they were. Staff week is a very special time for the Esalen employees, having only worked here a few weeks and still being in the honeymoon phase, I can hardly imagine just how special, and how needed of a release it is for the veterans among us. Seeing as I plan on spending at least a year here, I can look forward to understanding that need better upon my next Staff Week.Now that we’ve covered the missing week, I’d like to talk about an experience I’ve had ever since I first set foot on Esalen as a member of its crew. At some point in our lives we get the feeling that we've been where we’re at before, done exactly what we’re doing at that moment in a dream or in another dimension. We know this phenomenon as Deja Vu, but that fancy name doesn't answer the big questions that go along with it, such as where do these thoughts come from, How do we make sense of simultaneously remembering and experiencing the same thing happening in the now?I could list off a number of theories, but I won't because that's not what I'm talking about here. What I'm talking about is Vuja De, the intense feeling that you've definitely never been to or done what you're doing, but is exactly where you are supposed to be. The sensation is just like it's much more famous cousin, but more rare, because people are far less likely to know they are in the right place, doing exactly what they should be doing, than they are capable of remembering their futures via the usual astral projection done during sleep. It sounds crazy, because it is, but I remember a ton of people talking about Deja Vu moments but hardly if ever talking about the same feeling associated with where they should be but never were before.Some kinds of Deja Vu aren't at all pleasant, just the other day during my 6am dish washing shift, the OG kitchen hand Eric, who has been at Esalen much longer than me and knows the job so well he can do it blindfolded said, rather lamentingly, that no matter what day it was, or what he's doing is in the kitchen, its Déjà vu six ways to Monday, “The dishes are endless bro, fucking endless. Soon as you think you’re done, you go take a piss, and when you come back it’s another heap of dirty dishes staring you down with more coming in, 900 plates of food a day man! You learn to be Zen real quick in the pong bro, that or you don’t make it”Eric’s words were prolific, my first two weeks here I was one of two temporary full time shoe inns, the other guy just couldn’t hang, pond had him surrounded on all sides by his insecurities and negative self-talk, he was gone before anyone got to know him, not that anyone really wanted to, sadly. Esalen is a wondrous place, but it’s a cruel mistress to those that have yet to fully commit to their shadows and to serve the light, especially when you’re trying to work here, being a student is one thing, but living and working here is another bag of marbles entirely. The Kitchen is ground zero for the whole community and if you’re not jiving with the rest of the crew in the pond, then you get axed and that’s a wrap for your Esalen journey. Call it harsh, yeah, but that’s the way of things here, and personally I think it serves a greater purpose than just keeping people fed.You might be wondering why they call my part of the kitchen the pond, well I can tell you it’s not just for shits and giggles, or because were getting wet most of the day, or even because there are over 20 rubber ducky’s of unique design there with which we can choose to represent ourselves while we work, no, they call it the pond, and we, the ducks who work in it, because some lost soul who had an epiphany a few years back while doing the dishes received instructions from on high and wrote up a manifesto, laying out the whole great mission of the pond and its ducklings. Being the inspired piece that it was, it came with its own gave bad ass acronym as well, “Dishwashers United Cleansing Karma Syndicate.”Pretty cool huh? You should see this manifesto too, it’s a real piece of work, it would even give Karl Marx a run for his daily government dole. Here at Esalen we may work like socialists, for the good of the community and all, but we get paid in more than just monopoly money (federal reserve notes), we get karma cleansing tokens from the beyond, staking racks in our astral bank accounts for use in later experiences in the timeless continuum, and that kind of reward is worth more than you can know.#Esalen #BigSur #spiritpath #VujaDe