Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren

We were appalled, where is the love and peace, we had expected to find in the flower power communities that we had heard so much about? We were beginning to experience, that the hippie´s dream of utopia, had already come to an end. And with it, our dream, was collapsing right in front of us. Thomas had already visited a few communes, asking if we could live on their land, and everyone had said no....

Thomas had a wonderful explanation for my dad, when he asked us why we wanted to live in a tipi;  His answer to my father was because, it is a sacred round structure. It symbolizes life and warmth, and harmony with mother nature and the spirits in the sky! This was a beautiful description of exactly what we believed at the time. And this ideal, was our motivation for deciding to make our own...

Our journey into finding purpose, seemed to be taking us onward and upward, and discovering new goals for ourselves every day. We were excited about what we were learning, particularly about home births, and preparing for the arrival of our first child. Especially for Thomas, he was hoping that he would measure up, to his new responsibility in becoming a father. Then one night, Thomas had that pro...

In the last episode, I read the beautiful and sweet letter, that Thomas had written for me. He wrote that he hoped our journey would be swift from now on and that soon, we would walk bathed in clear light. And in expressing his deep love to me, and our little one that was on the way, he wished for all the blessings in the universe to come down and rest upon us. The first big blessing came at the e...

Thomas and I, were on a heavenly high, as we walked hand and hand, wearing our Indian rings, down the halls of the Marin Civic Center, where we had just gotten married. We went floating out on cloud nine, into the warm California sunshine. It was like an invisible hand, had picked us up out of our own little world, and placed us on a new path. We knew we were soul mates since the summer of 1970, w...

We couldn’t shake off these deep impressions. We knew we wanted to live in the mountains where we could be in tune with mother nature! ... I can imagine my folks drove home, with dad fuming about how dumb and irresponsible we were. There was no way he could understand how their oldest daughter had gone from being a good girl, to a real hippie who had dropped out, and was doing dangerous, illegal t...

Thomas and I were both happy, to be leaving West Berlin, and heading out for our new hippie life in sunny California. I believed that our lives would change now, because Thomas and I, were both on the search for truth and spiritual enlightenment. We were in love, and were confident, that our relationship would blossom, once we were in California. The flight from Berlin, took us first to London for...

So on with the story, which picks up after my sister returned to California. Now I was alone in London, and had a couple of days for myself, before flying back to West Berlin. I couldn’t wait to see Thomas again but I was nervous about how things would work out. The first few days back in Berlin with Thomas were exciting and romantic, but soon reality hit. I had a talk with my parents on the phone...

In the midst of the difficult circumstances that my sister and I were experiencing, Thomas and I were becoming friends. We were just taking one day at a time, visiting my sister in the clinic every day, and then going off on long walks before returning to his home. We had been brought together, because of the dramatic things that happened in the past couple of weeks. We were caught up in a challen...

It was the summer month of July, 1970. We were sitting with our new German friends, listening to live music at the Go- In club, in downtown West Berlin. It was an uneventful evening, until Thomas reached out and took my hand. In true hippie fashion, influenced by the Zen philosophy of “living in the moment,” I decided to just “go with the flow” that night.

Welcome back friends! Just at the time the song, California Dreamin was going around the world, this Calfiornina girl was dreaming about going off to Europe for the summer. I had soaked up the love, peace and happiness message the rock and folk musicians were singing about. I kept thinking, that “I better take the chance now, to go travel before college starts”.

1967 and the Summer of Love was in full swing; music and hippies, and their quest for freedom was underway. By that time I was driving over to San Francisco on Friday nights with my friends to the rock concerts at the Fillmore West. 

My love for art, turned to the art of photography, so Dad set me up with a darkroom for black and white printing. The combination of capturing beauty, or a mood on film, and then developing that through the processes available in the darkroom, was really fascinating!  

My high school in the 60s was a typical suburban school with all of the American traditions like sports, school dances, music programs and beauty contests. Any classes that had to do with art and dance is where you would find me. Then came the Beatles! I think they had more influence on me than the school´s four year education program.

Growing up in the 1950s and 60s in California was a privilege. Most people around the world tend to think of California as a vacation paradise with beautiful beaches and lots of sunshine, which it is of course. My parents chose the San Francisco Bay Area, near Hayward, to build a house, and raise their three daughters. This was home for me, with lots of fun memories and experiences, that set me on...

Welcome to my channel! Looking forward to telling you my story...