After moving to New Mexico, Rudhyar joined an art group located between Taos and Santa Fe. He continued painting his semi-abstract works, which Jose found as beautiful as a melodious piece of music. His unique piano playing style broke traditional chords in unusual ways, creating a nostalgic poetic style.
In the early 70s, during a concert in Berkeley, much to Jose's surprise, Rudhyar's punch-the-keys style of piano playing was not only noisy but almost like harsh noise. Rudhyar believed that music should return to its raw, primal state. He explained that such performances were meant to break old patterns, even though his music had yet to reach the harmony achieved in his paintings. His artwork was symbolic, abstracting the essence of things, full of warmth and aftertaste, with radiant colors expressing unseen harmonious beauty.
Rudhyar's major philosophical, metaphysical, and psychological work from 1970, "The Galactic Revelation," was just published in the Netherlands. This book deeply influenced Jose, moved by Rudhyar's proposed themes, such as the idea that evolution truly begins when consciousness becomes a universal phenomenon across the cosmos. He described the significant impact of the sun on the entire galaxy. Rudhyar's research spanned broad fields, primarily focusing on complete astrological theories under high-dimensional perspectives, including stellar scales within the galaxy, life existence, and civilizations within the galaxy. These contents resonated strongly with Jose.
Rudhyar likened galactic evolution to a grand ritual. He believed that in the next stage of evolution, consciousness would become a universal phenomenon across the cosmos, encompassing human spirit. However, this ritual showcased an unstoppable great trend of human rebirth, akin to the universe's time inevitably reaching fulfillment. By year's end, Rudhyar dedicated his newly written book, "A Guide to New Life," to Jose and Miriam. Some chapters in this book discussed the "re-evaluation of the relationship between humans and Earth." Jose's initial motivation for founding Planetart Network (in 1983) largely came from Rudhyar's assessment of the role of art in the coming new era. Ten years later, Jose wrote "Planetary Art Report for Desperate Earthlings of the Past" (published as an appendix to the 1984 book "Landing on Earth"), detailing this theme. After spending a summer with Rudhyar in Palo Alto, Jose, Miriam, and Josh drove to the foundation located 20 miles north of Taos in New Mexico. They planned to return to Washington State and stay there for two weeks. The foundation, established in 1968, covered about 50 hectares, surrounded by Carson National Forest to its north, east, and south. At that time, the foundation was praised as a place most devoted to the hippie commune spirit and one of the earliest places to accommodate retreatants of different beliefs.
"A Guide to New Life" would become a spiritual classic due to teaching many Westerners Eastern doctrines. In the evening, everyone at the foundation worked busily on this book. Jose always looked forward to the evenings, which excited him immensely. He also willingly drew black-and-white illustrations for the book. The first edition of "A Guide to New Life" was bound with hemp rope and printed manually, inspiring Jose and Miriam to make "Mandala" into a handmade, family-produced book.
One day, Jose accidentally heard Das and Deji enjoying what seemed to be a very engaging piano piece inside. He later learned that they were listening to original records of G.I. Gurdjieff, the Russian mystic, playing the foot-pump organ (a few years later, jazz pianist Keith Jarrett also recorded these pieces). Although Jose had met Ram Dass, it wasn't until 32 years later in 2003, at the 33rd Global Campus Bazaar.