Recently I was overjoyed to find a misplaced prized photo and it inspired me to write this piece.

Many years ago during the quiet bits between seminar gigs, Stuart Wilde and I were pottering about in the Taos office in New Mexico. Stuart was on the phone (a real desktop phone with chord) with cigarette in hand chatting away doing deals or whatever. He was leaning back in his office chair, which one could blatantly see as quite precarious with the chair having a set of wheels.

It was not uncommon for Stuart to do unconventional things. In fact it was an hourly occurrence, if not every 10 minutes. Hanging out with him was bathing in a sea of consciousness that was separate from our normal world. So as wheels have a propensity to turn if pressure is applied the inevitable happened and the chair slipped from underneath him and he came crashing down.

Stuart did not try and break his fall and he fell backwards almost kind of gracefully. The chair banged onto the floor which cushioned his body and miraculously he did not let go of the phone or his precious cigarette. In fact I am pretty sure he did not even break sentence except for an uneasy sounding laugh. He then quickly explained to the bloke on the other end of the line that the crash he just heard was him (Stuart) taking a tumble. Stuart carried on the conversation in a horizontal position for another 10 minutes or so until his business was completed.

That gave me time to grab my camera and take the pic. Well what can I say; never a dull moment with the Wilde man.

My stories of fallings continues. In another episode, Stuart was up on stage lecturing on money — I don’t recall what seminar. He was getting all worked up about the finance and governments and just as he had made the big point about the financial system collapsing he slipped and he himself collapsed off the edge of the stage. I was about to come to the rescue (truly I was) but I paused as Stuart aligned himself on the floor on his back and kept talking, finishing off his little lecture in the horizontal position. He gives a funny account of this in one of his audios.

In yet another falling, and it’s possible Stuart would rather forget this one, but I am going to tell it anyway (so I hope he is with us and observing it in a lighthearted way; I am sure he is). This falling was at the Warriors Wisdom seminar in Taos, New Mexico. In the early days of the Warriors, Stuart would give separate lectures on spiritual sexuality to the men and women. They were quite controversial, not the men’s lecture but the women’s.

This particular lecture generated some fiery discussion, evidently because Stuart was up on stage in drag — makeup, dress, high heels; the whole shebang. I didn’t see this women only lecture but heard the details later. Apparently many of the women were quite offended and Stuart must have realised his error and in one fell karmic swoop he fell off the stage and badly twisted his ankle. At that point the sexuality lecture was abandoned and for the rest of the seminar Stuart hobbled about. Needless to say that was the last drag lecture he ever did and I recall from thereafter the sexuality lectures at the Warriors course were held with men and women harmoniously all together.

As an aside to this story. Before the “drag” lecture, a bloke named Dashing Dave and I were in in the bar of the Sagebrush Inn where the seminar was held. Dasher was a dedicated staff member. We were having a beer and next to us was a true blue cowboy donned with his handsome hat and Taos style leather boots — obviously not part of the seminar. Stuart, dressed up in his finery, was by himself at the other end of the bar. At that moment in time I think he preferred his own space as he was probably trying to work out how to pull this lecture off without a hitch. The cowboy was clearly bemused as to why there was a guy fashioned in bright red lipstick sitting alone in such a place as the Sagebrush. Dashing Dave decided to offer some clarity and said to the cowboy: “See that guy in the dress over there. He’s our spiritual leader”.

Blessing and Peace
James Wild
“Just beyond the fall of grace, behold that ever shining place” – Far from Heaven

For your Stuart Wilde audio go to Quiet Earth