"Footprints on the Soul" - Stories of Keeping Meher Mount for Meher Baba from Ray Johnston
Ray Johnston
“Footprints Deep in Our Soul”
“Meher Mount is an incredibly difficult, as well as rewarding, place to be involved with. The experience one has here is not just fleeting. It leaves something behind, footprints deep in our soul.” - Ray Johnston
Former caretaker Ray Johnston shares his stories of keeping Meher Mount for Avatar Meher Baba through “hell, fire and damnation.” He spoke at the 2022 Anniversary Sahavas commemorating Meher Baba’s visit on August 2, 1956.
Take a moment now to watch this video of Ray’s experiences told with humor, insight, and deep affection for Meher Mount.
Introduction to Ray Johnston
By Margaret Magnus
Ray Johnston was a caretaker at Meher Mount from to 2002 to 2010, with a year’s sabbatical when he and Elizabeth Arnold managed a very remote eco-lodge in Northern Kenya.
Before coming to Meher Mount, Ray was a North Carolina State Park Superintendent. He brought those practical lessons and experiences in balancing land management, guest management, facilities management, and staff to Meher Mount.
The board and other volunteers all learned from Ray. One of the first lessons occurred around the water treatment system. There wasn’t one. And there was no money to get one. Ray wasn’t satisfied. That’s when he said, “It’s time to move beyond the consciousness of poverty” and get Meher Mount the resources it needs. Those words still ring true today. And, yes, Meher Mount did install that new water treatment system in 2003.
Ideas about what to do and what to build at Meher Mount are plentiful and ever present. Then, we hear Ray saying, “But it all has to be managed. You have to build long-term management into the plan.” He brought a definite practicality to planning and building at Meher Mount that influences the board and volunteers today.
Ray’s deep love for Meher Mount is embodied in nature. He always stressed the need to keep and preserve the natural environment at Meher Mount — as it is part of what makes this place special. So, when people visit and want to have this and that at Meher Mount, it is important to remember the delicate balance that Ray stressed. You can always have buildings and infrastructure. You can’t always have a semi-wilderness area.
Ray has returned many times since 2010 to visit and help care for the property, including helping with the 2017 Thomas Fire recovery.
After leaving Meher Mount, Ray continued traveling internationally as a healer and teacher conducting public presentations and private healing sessions. He recently built a home on Isla Mujeres in Mexico.
Explaining why he continues to be drawn to Meher Mount, Ray said:
“I've been away from Meher Mount for quite a few years now, but it still acts as a beacon for me. I have places all around the planet that are places I plug into to recharge, to re-center, to reconfigure my life. But, there's no place like Meher Mount that provides that kind of transformational opportunity."