This is the first part of a series describing the author's spiritual evolution throughout the course of his life. This is Volume 1. It document's his childhood in New Mexico, his move to California and his gradual involvement with the counterculture. This involvement fully blossoms when he accompanies his family to Germany. In his high school there, he enters his own adolescent tribe of fellow aspiring intellectuals and the pace of his discoveries increases exponentially. Jon has had intense spiritual realizations since his early childhood and follows his inner voice. He knows early on that he will be spending his life working with India and exploring Indian spirituality. But in 1960's America India is uncharted territory. He travels throughout Europe and the United States, and finally arrives in India. This experience confirms the rightness of his intentions, and he maps out a course that will take him into formal academic study of South Asia and a move to Tucson, Arizona.