The Mysterious Integratron, Joshua Tree & Desert Christ Park, 6
November 2010
Page 2 of 2
 I
joined in with the others, improvising music inside the Integratron with my
trusty Korg MS-20 analog synth and the Tibetan bowls, occasionally drifting
off to sleep for 30, 45 minutes, going outside to eat munchies, or just
listening. At about 4am, I feel asleep.
I woke up and saw that it was light out, and went outside. I was lucky...the sun was just rising, and it was beautiful. This is one of the many reasons I love the desert. John was already outside. He had borrowed my tripod to take a photo with his stereo camera. I stuck with my Nikon D90, a "mono" camera, and photographed the buttery warm light of the rising sun against the Integratron. |
 John
looking at the serene desertscape while standing by the Integratron in
Landers, California as the California desert sun rises. |
 One
of the things that surprised me about the Integratron was how homey it was.
This is the downstairs, which is basically like a comfortable round living
room. It has some musical instruments, couches, books about the
Integratron, UFOs, science, and spiritual places, a model of the Integratron,
photos of the Dalai Lama, and all sorts of other things of interest.
The ladder on the left is how one goes up to the sound chamber on the second
story, where we had the sound bath and played music. |
 The
box springs of an old mattress hung up on the fence as decoration on the
property of the Integraton. Desert art. |
 In
case the power went out, we had the rhino flashlight handy. |
 This
distorted mirror faced the Integratron, a curious thing because if you drive
out, back to the parking lot from the Integraton at night, it looks like
headlights are approaching you at first.After photographing the beautiful sunrise, I laid in a hammock and read a book, at breakfast, and relaxed while everyone else was sleeping in the Integratron. |
 Back
inside the Integratron while packing up. |
 Mitch's
tape loops, which he houses in a film canister. |
 Everyone
went to the Crossroads Cafe in the town of nearby Joshua Tree. I
wanted to go, but also needed to get home at a decent hour. However, a
quick detour along 3 miles of dirt roads was in order...I had to drive out
to the Giant Rock, where George Van Tassel held his UFO meetings, and where
he received his visitation: extraterrestrial visitors from Venus, who
whisked him away in the spaceship and revealed to him the techniques of
cellular rejuvenation, which prompted him to build the Integratron.Under this rock, he had a cafe, held UFO meetings and space conventions, and meditated. This rock was, at the time, whole. It split somewhere around 2000. Some say that Giant Rock is the largest free-standing boulder. It is quite large, covering 5,800 square feet and towers overhead at seven stories high. In earlier times, Native Americans considered Giant Rock sacred. Frank Critzer, a prospector, burrowed underneath, creating a large single room, where he resided in the 1930s and 40s, until he detonated a dynamite explosion, subsequently dying under circumstances that some find suspicious or mysterious, as he was being investigated by police at the time. |
 After
my detour to the Giant Rock, I cruised down the 62, past the flurry of
windmills, stopping briefly at Cabazon to visit the dinosaurs. |
Ken's photos of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung
San Suu Kyi, as well as photos of Peru, Burma, India, Morocco, China, Thailand,
Ghana, Ecuador, and elsewhere, have appeared in many books, magazines,
websites, and galleries. Visit the
Ken Lee Photography Website. Some of Ken's select photos may be
purchased through his
Imagekind Store. |
The Mysterious Integratron, Joshua Tree & Desert Christ Park, 6 November 2010
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