I showed him how writers, ideas, and art he was interested in could be found on the Internet - photos, writings, commentary, and what he liked best - videos! We started off with three gurus: 

In terms of the spiritual path, Niels is totally gaga over Papaji

and likewise digs Gangaji

and Adyashanti

[and see this on Stephan Bodian]

"Why you like them?" I asked.

" It's non dual teaching. It's called Advaita."

"Oh, so you like the sound of those words - non dual and advaita?"

"Yes. I don't know what to say, David. I've never seen any Zen teacher as clear as Papaji. He's not Hindu or Buddhist. He's transcended it all. So have all great masters. If you don't transcend Zen you stink of Zen. I can't stand this dead corpse of Zen, it's nauseating to me. Gangaji and Adyashanti are clear too."

"Adyashanti studied Zen but he seems like Advaita Zen. I see on his resume he includes Gangaji as one of his teachers."

"He's totally clear. But Papaji is the greatest. The way Papaji lived his life is so inspiring. I've met Gangaji and I like her, like her teaching, but I don't like the scene around it."

"That's how a lot of people felt about Suzuki Roshi."

"It's not a criticism. It's not that I don't think they should be like that but it's kinda like going to the city - so much hassle - parking and everything. I like seeing them on the screen here. This is the first time I have really used the Internet."

"First time's free."

Niels is also into all sorts of groovy stuff, like:

Robert A. Johnson - Wikipedia Link 

Wholeness Therapy dot com

Niels likes this guy because "basically his whole trip is balancing the feminine and masculine aspects of people of the world. He's like a modern Taoist. He talks the language of myth like Joseph Campbell. He doesn't talk theoretically. One thing I like about him is he's always pointing to a balance. He encourages us to develop our undeveloped, unexplored parts of ourselves. So if you're an introvert, go out and interview people."

He likes Ken Wilber, thinks everything he says is right on. Ken has a very cool web site.

Niels turned me on to The Alphabet vs. the Goddess: the conflict between words and images by Leonard Shlain.

Niels is a builder and designer and artist. I have lots of his art. Here are his three favorites in these fields:

Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Wikipedia

"When I was going to build my house I saw an article about him in Smithsonian and found a modern person who could really inspire me and give me permission to go into the soulfullness of it rather than make everything straight. It was fantastic, really opened up my mind. He was alive then."

***

GAUDI

"Gaudi - who inspired Hundertwasser also inspired me," he said.

 "Where'd you discover him?" I asked.

"Where'd I discover Picasso?," Niels answered. "I don't know. He's the greatest architect in modern times. Not Wright. I don't like Wright."

Gaudi's Wikipedia link.     See Gaudi's buildings   Many other links easy to find.

***

Simon Rodia's Watt's Towers - "He's one of three examples of bricoleurs, the opposite of what is normally considered modern architecture. It's soulfull architechture. These three taught me soulfulness."

Now you gotta see some photos of Niels Holm's home and cabin.

Can't leave out Nanda Town

Nanda Town - a group of four Acrobaticalists who combine Juggling, Dancing, Acrobatics, Stage Fighting, Music, & Comedy. They're friends of Niel's son Silas and Niels has known them in Port Townsend since they were kids.

One more item. I turned Niels on to Bashar, my favorite channeled extraterrestrial from the future. Bashar is channeled by Darryl Anka, cousin of Paul Anka who sang Diana back in the fifties. We went to Bashar's web site. It's such a trip. Then I wrote "bashar" on You Tube and we watched some Bashar for free. Try this one - Bashar: Finding your Highest Excitement. I don't know what the heck Bashar is - a real multi-dimensional being from the future like they say, or just an act - either way, I think he's right on about a lot of what he says - and he's often terribly entertaining. Chi-san, Priscilla Storandt, Shodo Harada Roshi's translator and disciple, turned me on to Bashar back in 1990 when I was in Japan. I spent some time reading Bashar, listening to tapes, and watching Bashar videos. I even had a face to face interview with Bashar upon returning to the US. So did Clay's mom and my wife then, Elin. Niels asked me what I got out of Bashar and I said he helped me to break up some fossilized Zen assumptions I was trapped in - my own fault. He just offered a new perspective with his own mind-only teaching. To me, if it's not mind-only, it's not on the plate. After a while I sort of got the Bashar thing down and forgot about him. It was a pleasure to revisit Bashar with Niels.