The Mystery

The ideal of a caring community found its realization in Eau Vive. Thompson felt it as

He plunged into this “laboratory of love” heart and soul, sustaining the community and caring for the distressed. Here the anxious individual found therapy and an antidote for a sick century. Ill and thirsting souls found sweetness and light. Eau Vive dispensed meditative spiritual balm.

Documentation on Eau Vive's activities remains sparse and even suppressed. Officially it was an international center of spirituality and Christian culture, a community of Catholic students. Thompson's presence gave it a dual role as a place of study and healing for mentally distressed adolescents. Eau Vive was a quietist, bonded community, infused with ardent philosophical concern for the whole person.

The question, Well, what went on there? elicits varying responses. Thompson had a retreat from the stress of UNESCO's bureaucracy and a place to sooth anxious spirits. His wards Sebastian and Wolfgang Littmann found amusement. Natasha Spender and her companions were fascinated by the disturbed young spirits. Thompson's godson, Michael Rosenbaum, found “it's a place where you hung out.” Michael's psychiatrist father, Milton, recollected how people wandered around and did not know what to do with their lives.