To: K-list
Recieved: 2002/06/05 17:21
Subject: [K-list] The Journey
From: Christopher Wynter
On 2002/06/05 17:21, Christopher Wynter posted thus to the K-list:
We've all seen them .. the glossy brochures in the travel agents
windows, all promising the delights of some far off destination ..
and the spectacular view from the top of some mountain or other.
So, we go into the travel agent and ask about some particular
destination that appeals to us - for some reason or other ..
The travel agent bring out heaps more glossy photographs and
itineries .. maybe, if we are lucky, we can get an even better idea
from the Video. If we are really lucky, we might even find a travel
agent who has been to the destination we have in mind .. and can
get an idea of that special place that we want to visit through a
set of human eyes -
a first hand account .. not in the words of someone who has been
to a seminar, but the life experience of someone who has been
to that place that draws us, spoken in their own words, of what
they saw through their own eyes .. what they felt .. how the
experience moved them.
Have you ever noticed how the expression of the person who has
really been to a destination and returned contains none of the
superlatives or "sales pitch" of the brochures - or of the people
who became instant experts by reading books and attending the
travel seminars ..
I was lucky .. I had one who had been there, done that .. [ I've
written about Paul in the past .. and probably will some more ] ..
and one day, I confronted him and said .. "If things are really
like that, what are you doing here, working in the travel agency
.."
"Well Christopher .. the view from the top of the mountain in nice
but you can't live all alone at the top of the mountain .. unless
you want to be a hermit .. but you can come back down off the
top of the mountain and, if you are so moved, you can tell people
of your own journey, your own experiences, and what you saw
and experienced from the top of the mountain .. and as you have
discovered, your words will have an aliveness and a humanness
that is not apparent in either the travel books - or in the words
of those that just make something up from what they have read .."
Kundalini, Compassion, Unconditional Love, the Transpersonal are
just like that .. there is nothing in the guide books or in the
videos that can replace the personal experience of climbing that
mountain, having a look at the view, feeling the ambience .. and
coming back down.
I have found that there is usually more than one track up to the
top of the mountain .. the scenery and sights can be very
different. I have always been attracted to mountains too, perhaps
because it is somewhere in the blood of my ancestors who used to
live high in the Tyrols a long time ago..
The mountains in Australia are not that high .. but with what my
friend Paul had told me, I decided to go visit one .. and the
journey was a bit like the metaphor for my life ..
Up on the North West of NSW, there is a place called the
Warrumbungles .. an ancient landscape rich with Aboriginal History
and surface land formations containing remnants and relics of
several Glacial periods in our history .. somewhere that is endowed
with many rare gemstones which cannot be mined because it is Sacred
Land to the Aborigine and the Government has seen fit to protect
the area as a National Park ..
According to the travel brochures, there was some sort of beauty
about the place, brilliant vivid colours, lots of wild life .. you
know, the usual "spiel" that they usually make up on the second
hand account of somebody else ..
When I drove in through the portal, it was nothing like I imagined
... a harsh brown landscape contained within the canyon walls ..
the occasional kangaroo ducking and weaving to avoid the thousands
of campers and day trippers who had come for a look ..
I wandered over to the ranger station, looked at the display .. and
I must have said something different to the Ranger because he took
me aside and handed me a set of typed notes ..
" These are some of my observations .. but you cannot see all of
the scenery by hanging round the valley floor - or by looking at
our photographs .. I've been all over these mountains, and if you
really want the experience, I'll offer you a track that not too
many seem to want to take ..
Its the quickest way up the mountain, goes straight up ..
its a little more difficult than the tourist route.. but its
funny, not too many tourists seem to be able to get to the top -
even by the easy track ..
So, I scribbled a few notes on what he told me .. and with thanks,
I parked the car and started to walk .. I must admit that I felt a
little bit uneasy ..
anyway, I found the start of the track .. a bit suspicious because
it didn't look like it had many people walk it .. not like all of
the other tracks in the area ..
and so, I started my journey up the mountain .. pausing a while at
the little creek to sit and listen to the water as it babbled
happily over the rocks, splitting into smaller streams only to come
together again a little further on .. .. and to talk to the spirits
that looked out at me from under the native vegetation .. even
spoke to the snake that was placidly sunning itself on a rock in
the middle of the path (until I realised what sort of snake it was
.. and then I had to resist the temptation to turn tail and run in
the opposite direction ) .. but it was only the guardian .. and the
guide .. the angle of its body pointed down the faint track that I
was to follow ..
Upward .. the trees closed in over the ever narrowing track
producing an umbrella that blocked out the sun .. or was it the
threatening thunder clouds .. somewhere off in the distance a
Kookaburra cackled hilariously .. was he laughing at me .. faces
peered out at me through the shrubbery .. or were they the
nightmares of my mind ..
It started to rain .. the glossy brochures didn't ever talk about
the rain .. a few large spots started to splatter and erase the
dusty footprints that my feet had left .. then the rain got heavier
..
I'm turning back, I thought out loud .. it's not that far back to
the car. "No you're not" said a voice inside my head .. I looked
around for the source of the voice - and off the track to the left,
spotted a small cave in the side of the cliff face ..
The rain got heavier as I sheltered from the thunder and lightening
.. some of the bush creatures, seemingly fearless joined me in my
shelter .. a mother wallaby and her young nuzzled into my hand and
took a bite from the sandwich that I was eating whilst the beady
eyes of a large lizard looked down from the rock ledge above my
head ..
I was shaking pretty well by the time the rain stopped .. I stepped
out of the cave and started back down the track .. taking all of
two steps before some unseen force grabbed hold of me and turned me
round to face up the track which was, now running with water ..
the sun came out and a strange mist enveloped the world around me
.. the trees took on a ghost like appearance. In the silence after
the storm, the pounding of my own heart was even louder that I
imagined it could be.
It seemed like I had to go on .. over the fallen logs - picking my
way carefully through the mud holes. The Track got much steeper and
the seat of my pants took on a decidedly wet, brown appearance as I
picked myself up after losing my footing ..
and the sun disappeared again. The wind started to blow and my wet
coat started to get very cold. Now .. this was the middle of summer
in Norther NSW .. but it started to snow .. not normal snow but
grains of fine ice driven by the wind started to sting my face.
Left foot .. right foot .. one in front of the other .. head down
.. and then, a sign post - another track .. a shortcut back down to
the carpark. Well, there was no point in even trying that one -
the wind and something else pushed me and stopped me from going
anywhere else but up (and the voices in my head were very
insistent) ..
to the point where the track disappeared and the only markers were
arrows chisled into the rock face ..
How much further .. one hand in front of the other - blinded by a
brilliant sunlight burning its way through the mist ..
There were no more markers. Before the shivering could overtake my
whole body uncontrollably, the mist cleared. Had I been dreaming?
There was not a cloud in the sky, but the little banks of snow and
the water running over the rock that I had just climbed told me
that the dream was very real. I couldn't find any difference
between the tears streaming down my face and the water that was
left from the drenching I had just been through ..
But .. I saw the view .. for miles around .. and nothing .. no
photograph that I had ever seen from that point could convey the
panorama that opened in all directions.
and, yes .. in that moment, I was alone .. except for the bird that
landed beside me .. looking at me first with one eye and then the
other. I don't know if you can imagine what it is like to stroke
the glistening, silky feathers of a wild black crow while it sits
quite happily on your shaking knee ..
How long had I sat there, burning up from the inside and soaking
wet on the outside? But the sun was starting to disappear over an
adjacent mountain. From the opposite direction a full moon was
starting to rise .. I started back down the mountain .. but by a
different path .. the one many of the other tourists had taken over
the years .. never in my life had I seen so much wildlife - animals
coming out in the moist fresh air ..
I never saw another human being - it had been as though I was
totally alone with my experience. From some of the trees, the large
eyes of the owls watched my passing in the moonlight that
illuminated my path ..
Later that night in the Bar that all of the tourists were gathered
in, loudly discussing the pictures and the displays - complaining
about the primitive facilities and the rain and flies - how they
never saw any wildlife and how their children screamed and fought -
that it was nothing like they imagined ..
The old Ranger - an Aboriginal Elder caught my eye, raised his
glass to me, then bent over and drew a circle in the dust
on the dirt floor ..
yes, I nodded .. I understood -
and without any words passing between us, we both knew ...
Christopher Wynter
Copyright and all rights reserved
Transpersonal LifeStreams - Hobart Tasmania
http://www.anunda.com
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/lifestreams
christopherATnospamlifestreams.com.au
http://www.kundalini-gateway.org
http://www.domin8rex.com/serpent/spirit/kindex.htm
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