



“Asheville”

A Conscious Love Story

By William Najger

























A story about a young man’s journey into the cultural creative world of Asheville, NC. John Craft is a middleclass community college student from the Midwest who is studying business to prepare for a career in his father’s paper company. He hears about a free spirited town in the North Carolina Mountains called Asheville. It is where the new age/indigo people of America are going and John wants to check it out before settling into a life of running the family business.





After a series of coincidental messages, John packs up and heads to this conscious town in the land of the Cherokee. When he arrives he finds himself at the Friday Night Drum Circle. A young raven haired free spirited girl name Star Seed, pulls him out on the dance floor and after some exotic inspiration, influences John to let loose and join in the tribal festivities.





John is invited by Star Seed to stay at a community house called “The Vortex”, where he meets 10 eclectic young adults and one wise elder who shows him the way of “Fully Living and Being Aware.” The house is full of unique characters who each share their passions and metaphysical/progressive beliefs.





As John meets each of the residents of The Vortex, he is taught the philosophy of living in the New Age of freedom, unity and love. The only problem is, everyone has a different path to utopia and it confuses John. While one member of the house declares it is through Dance and Movement, another claims it is through meditation. One roomie even believes it happens only during intimate love making. The house mentor, Freedom tells John that the answers are in the coincident or hidden messages.





We watch John as he is introduced to all the aspects of this cultural creative community. Ecstatic dance, meditation, waterfall yoga, tantric love, share circles, cuddle puddles, sweat lodges, chanting, green energy and raw food. So many paths but something is missing. John can’t put his finger on it so he keeps on searching.





After watching how Star Seed equally embraces all the new age philosophies with joy and unbridled curiosity, John falls for her. When he proclaims his affection for her she informs him that she does not believe in just having a single partner. Later that evening John walks in on her with someone else and in his supposed rejection, leaves for a long walk into the forest.





He comes to a retreat center where an Traditional Peruvian Ayahuasca Ceremony is beginning and John is invited to join. He goes on an incredible lucid journey where he faces his dark side (drowning in paper at his father’s company) and then discovers the answers to his search are through acceptance, freedom and joy. He has a beautiful vision of Star Seed pulling him out of the paper pile and flying with him like birds around the planet hand in hand.





When he gets back to the house to share his breakthrough he discovers Star Seed has gone away on a weekend workshop with her other lover and to add more heartbreak, Freedom, the house mentor has passed away. Just then John receives a call from his father and decides he will go home to see his family and join his dad in the business.

As he is about to leave, Star Seed finds him and tells him that she was on a Ayahuasca journey too and saw John as her lover and best friend. They unite and head back to the house for the Ceremony to honor Freedom.





During the party John reads a letter from Freedom, in it John is given his spiritual name “Seeker” and the heartfelt party turns into an ecstatic celebration of Freedom’s life. People from all over Asheville come to the celebration and we discover that Freedom is a world famous activist for peace who is loved and respected by many leaders in literature, film, politics and religion. Who would have known that this retired hippie made such a huge difference? A message about honoring our elders for their humble wisdom.





The movie ends 40 years later where Seeker and Star Seed are the Wise Elders of the Vortex House welcoming a new comer to the Asheville community.

