Herbert Thomas Potter

New Zealand idealist who formed a spiritual community named Centrepoint, near Auckland. An engineer with a high IQ, he joined the occupational forces in Japan as a young man. He learned to pilot a plane at that time. When he returned to New Zealand, he married a teacher and went into the business of farming, and of sales. He became a top sales motivational speaker. Late in 1971 he went to Esalen for three months training to become a radical therapist. The following year, he and his wife divorced. He visited the Rajneesh ashram in India in 1976. Returning to Auckland, he bought land for the community that he envisioned. The first resident arrived 1/28/1978, about 10:00 AM. The early years were difficult, learning the give and take of communal living and the issues of trust and sincerity. Potter took the role of the God/Guru, all possessions were communal and the lifestyle was so open that there were not even doors on the bathrooms. The members drawn to the cult reached up to 300 persons at one point, then dropped to half that, and more. Potter married a second time, and had twin daughters. On 9/08/1989, Potter was arrested for possession of mind-altering drugs and was given 3 1/2 years prison. Charges of child abuse were pending in 1991.