Our Final Adventure ... .

I don’t know the name of this mesa, but it was absolutely stunning. Many stone chulpas, various degrees of reconstruction, sat like ancient warriors on the landscape of sage, small flowering cactus and thyme.

Primitive designs of snakes, monkeys and pumas were carved into the stones on the chulpas.

Don Americo had just finished with his final "teaching" of our 2003 Peruvian Adventure, his encouraging words still trailing inside my ears like soft baby alpaca fur ... "it’s all inside ... here," he said pointing to his heart. "You must quiet the mind ... let it be still like apu ... and then you can hear the guidance of your heart, through it’s beating, like a spirit drum." And then we were instructed to go to a place of meditation of our choosing. We were standing on top of a high, flat mesa, almost ½ mile wide, surrounded by ancient chulpas, the Incan tombs built many centuries ago. I started off heading north, asking Spirit to guide me to where it wanted me to be. Not where I thought I wanted to be, but where my Inner Guidance was directing me. I knew the answer wouldn’t be broadcast between my ears, but from deep within my heart, as a still, quiet "non-voice." No words, just forward progress until I felt moved to stop. The sun was still fairly high in the west, comforting my left side with its intense heat. I brought my attention to the sound of my sandaled feet on the dirt and gravel beneath me, lightly stepping over the rocks and around the tall native grasses. Americo’s teachings, along with Buddhists, Hindus, Sufis, and other eastern philosophies focused daily on the importance of staying present ... as often as possible, not just during meditation. Listen with your whole being, he would say, not just with your ears. See with your whole being, not just with your eyes. By the time I found my Self wanting to stop, I was nearly at the edge of the mesa, the valley floor dropping below me well over 200 feet. A thought did come up at this point: good thing I stopped.

I dropped my backpack on the flat granite surface at my feet, noticing a perfect place to rest my back was just there. So I sat down, allowing my eyes to remain open during the meditation, sweeping slowly across the Andean panorama. Suddenly the distant mountains, scattered white cumulus clouds, the bluer than blue sky, the steep granite cliffs beside, below and on both sides of me, began to sing ... literally sing. The music was ethereal, something I had never quite heard before, although when I was a child I swore the trees I hid in would emanate a similar tune after I felt very safe and invisible to the insane world below. I witnessed my mind making desperate attempts to shift my focus into a place of doubt. Relax and allow, I said to myself silently. Breathe three times deeply. Relax and allow. The mind is about resistance. Allow the thoughts to come and go, like the clouds in front of me, and relax into the spacious blue sky that holds it all ... unchanging, unmanifested stillness. The music continued. Again, as a few days before, I felt my skin; my body disappear into the air, melting into one. My eyes were seeing the panoramic images in front of me, and yet they were inside of me at the same time. The sound of an eagle’s cry shifted my attention to the west. Just a few feet below me I saw her, flying effortlessly toward me. Who are you, I heard as she cocked her head up making direct eye contact with me. I am a friend, I answered, and she flew on by. A few moments later, her mate, almost one third her size, flew from the opposite direction and asked the same question. Who are you, he asked. Again, I repeated the same answer. I am a friend. What can I do to help you? This amazing visit was such an extraordinary gift, a validation, an affirmation of what worlds await us, are always available to us when we quiet the mind, open ourselves to the present, to the Now, as Eckhart Tolle writes in his book. They, the eagles, were not done with me yet. A moment later she came back, this time hovering directly over my head, her soft white belly feathers clearly visible. You are welcome, she said, take care of Mother Earth. Take care of the animals.

I am learning, more and more, of this other silent, unchanging world, where our creativity is born, where abundance is infinite, where love is infinite, where peacefulness is infinite. I am learning to make my practice, not just during my meditation, but in my everyday life, when out picking up horse poop, or washing the dishes, or doing the laundry, or answering the phone - especially when answering the phone - to witness my mind’s thoughts and release them. They are, after all, only thoughts, not truths. Our thoughts give birth to our emotions that give birth to our reality. What would happen if we let our thoughts simply pass by - witnessed and then released? What other reality await us? Do we truly want to become more conscious?

<< Back to October 16th

Return to index

On to ???? >>