Following Her Bliss - Sallie Hanna-Rhyne

Following My Bliss: A Memoir by Sallie Hanna Rhyne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

January 26, 2023, first published as "Ethical Evolutions" in Knox Book Beat, The Berkeley Times, Wyndy Knox Carr.
Following My Bliss: a memoir, by Sallie Hanna-Rhyne, published by Regent Press, describes a Berkeley pianist and teacher who’s been in Ways of Meringue and EBMUD bands playing at The Starry Plough, La Peña and Ashkenaz. Bliss’s events and style depict A Life. 

After a “wonderful” childhood and youth in Brooklyn, Hanna-Rhyne describes a European tour with friends “living in the present moment.” Her girlfriends return to the States, she meets Ron and spends five years with him in Morocco, London and then San Francisco through 1965. A descent into a heavenly hell of romantic eroticism becomes abusive, soft and hard drugs, exciting and terrifying characters and experiences ensue. “It was my choice to follow along, and follow I did.” 

Neal Cassidy, Timothy Leary, Wavy Gravy, Allen Ginsberg, Suzuki Roshi, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), Fritz Perls and Gestalt fly by. “Once I made the final decision to break away for good and forge my own life it was a steady stream of successes.” Settling in Berkeley, caring for kids at a Summerhill-style school, and selling pot out of her closet for a decade; excellent neighbors, pets and friends; finally getting a grip on music, identifying mentors and her father’s alcoholism heal her. 

Her matter-of-fact style belies self-distancing. I question her lack of awareness when a 3-year-old charge of hers wanders off and is traumatized and seriously injured while the parents are at work. This kind of “hippie slippage” was rampant in those days. Where WERE thOur BRAINS at the time? 

“”Wake up” was the call of Buddhists to become aware of our true existence outside the ordinary workaday world,” Hanna-Rhyne says, “We could find fulfillment and bliss if we meditated, chanted for world peace, and pursued the road to self-awareness and deep consciousness…My unconscious spirit guides were at work too.” “I recognized the wisdom of my mother’s early childhood training: unconditional love and positive discipline.” 

Going back to rewrite history? Maybe not. All in all, a solid memoir, definitely Berkeley!

https://www.regentpress.net/catalog/f...


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