The Sequoia Retreat Center is a place where the deepest meaning of life may be explored in an atmosphere of quiet and beauty. May you add to the spirit of love that builds and nourishes this sacred place, and return to your daily life renewed. The history of Sequoia is a history of seasons, beauty, spirit, and truth. This can never be communicated by facts or descriptions; it must be experienced first-hand. The origins of this place trace back more than eighty years to a search for unity of the disciplines of science and religion in the belief that each sought universal truths about reality. The Jesus as Teacher studies were brought to the west in the 1930's by Dr. Harry Rathbun of Stanford University and his wife Emilia. Seminars were held at Asilomar and other locations. By the 1940's it was clear that a permanent facility was needed. Early meetings were held in a cottage and participants stayed in tents during the two and three week summer seminars. Sequoia Seminar was incorporated in 1949 and the building of the lodges and cabins you will find here today began. The first lodge was built on land at the Quaker Center in Ben Lomond. Here the tradition of working together was begun and the goal of blending buildings with the land was met in "Casa de Luz", House of Light. This first lodge was given to the Quaker Center in 1973.