The Mountains are Calling
View from Mt Flora - July 2019
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It was something deep within the core of his being. He could feel the pull on him deep within as if it was trying to turn him inside out. On the other side of his soul is the universe. Brilliant. Busy. A night sky, endless, infinite. If he searched far enough, eventually that little dot would grow closer with each passing light year. The pulling on his soul brings him right back to the moment he started the journey in his mind. The whole experience is only a millisecond. A thought that was so compacted with information and destiny that he can’t understand how it was so short.
He is disoriented and knows that the pulling is always there but he ignores it. He stands up and looks out over the city. The bustle of the cars below and the neighborhood coming alive in the morning sun bring him back to a world he’s been a part of for some time. The journey he took in his mind's eye was endless; floating through space he could feel the loneliness among the vast expanse but was comforted by everything around him and knew he wasn’t alone. Galaxies flew past him, everyone of them full of unique and wondrous worlds. Worlds of secret beauty that would take an eternity to explore. What if that is what he’s been doing this whole time? - exploring… and where he sits now, within the confines of this world, one more step along the way. The universe is the playground for his spirit. An interstellar cloud-child dancing from planet to galaxy over millenniums, skipping along the stars and skating across the darkness.
As he makes his way through the morning routine he finds himself a few years down the road from that third eye journey. That pull is still there, persistent. Life has been good though so it dulls the sensation. He is jolted by the smashing of glass and metal. He can feel a gust of wind as everything slows down. This life flashes before his eyes and the moments that pop up are a mix of joy and tension. They aren't’ images as much as they are memories. Each one sparking more powerful than the next. The memory freezes to two small girls. They’re faces sweet and tender, their smiles fill him with light as it shines out of his toes and fingertips. The smiles get brighter until they explode into a million stars spread out over the black void creating a new galaxy. That is only one galaxy. There are infinite galaxies, each one made up of a memory or experience that goodness and love were present.
He sees the shattered fragments of light scattered across the plane of darkness and he wants to pick them all up. They are a piece of him. He is frantic and scared. Terrified those pieces will slip away forever if he doesn’t mine them like the gold they are - he will lose himself. A tender hand lands on his shoulder. It is warm and powerful but gentle and it reminds him that it’s okay. Those moments are just being recycled to create another moment of jubilee that will soon burst like fireworks. He drops the few he has collected and sees them softly sink into black. As the hand points to where the specs once lied, he realizes they are seeds that are now blooming and growing into other worlds. Worlds of love and light. He is proud that the memory of his children built it. Their smiles created a land of radiance. Some call it heaven.
The hand lifts him up and he collects himself. Now back in the moment in his car. The vehicles in front of him are burning and flipped. So damn lucky. The adrenaline now kicks in and he is fully present in this life. He rushes to the aid along with the other people around him. They all share in a sense of concern for their common man. They rescue the needy. They help those who they don’t know but are connected to in one way or another and love conquers all.
He is exhausted and frozen in his chair, it is late in the night and the day was a lot. The experience of the accident is enough to stun his mind. He is numb except for that persistent pull inside. The feeling in his gut slowly creeps but this time he lets it flow. It feels like warm lightning and pulses through his veins. He knows what the glow is telling him.
The night air is soft and weightless. He drives west into the great unknown searching for something. He reaches the top and the air is razor thin. A cloud of microscopic ice particles burst from his throat. It stings but makes him feel alive. He is constantly fighting that battle. He wants to feel alive, the moments when he does he knows he is on the right path.
When he looks up he’s found it. The moment where that pull emerged and he was transported to infinity. He can see the pink and purple of outer space, The Milky Way. Majestic nebulas of sparkling magenta. Stars abound and cosmic traffic fills the sky. A collective buzz of energy and asteroids. There is so much more happening above him and he never takes the time to look up and dream. He is so focused on what is in front of him that he can’t see into the true beyond. This moment of chill and wonder give him the sense that he is both present in this life and still a part of whatever else is out there.
The music from his car starts to slowly fade in. There is a velvety bounce of rhythm. The tinsel-like high notes land with the bounce in double time as synthesized strings glow tenderly. The collective sounds begin to grow and grow, he can now combine the music of this life with the movement of the life happening across the sky above him.
A chorus of hope and love lay over the electric melody as if they are dancing with the instrumentation. He spins in circles with his hands in the air. Celebrating and dancing with joy and praise to the universe, God or life. His place in life is ethereal like an aurora borealis fused with cosmic harmony. Tears stream down his face, biting his checks with every inch of movement. He feels even more alive. Joy fills him and he continues his dance. Some call it a rain dance but he is summoning the cosmos. He wants more as the experience fills him with hope. He stops as an emotion hits him. A cool wind of thought. The physical air stagnant. This wind came from his soul.
The moment of joy has turned to nostalgia. A memory not like any other. Not quite happiness but not despair. Star crossed lovers connected past space and time once entwined as one and now moving parallel to each other. An emotion that balances along a tightrope, never going either direction but always teetering between the negative and positive. A memory of love now turned to pain. He can’t figure out which one it is. In the grand scheme of life; however, the amount of goodness in that moment contained more energy than what the emptiness of it now holds. He reaches out and catches a falling star. He opens his palms to see a note. Written in a gaseous fire, the word “seek” dissolves into space dust.
He has been on the mountain top for hours lost in mystery and wonder. A warm dry wind slides down the side of the mountain and hits him. The Chinook is a real wind that reminds him he is very much alive and human. Nature is warning him to be aware and that there is more to come.
As he climbs into his car the environment is transformed from pure and organic to stale and controlled. He is sober from emotion, reflecting on the experience of listening to the inner voice and where it has brought him. He can feel the thunder within him rumble like a marvelous storm.
As the moon begins to set in the west and the sun rises in the east, the newness of the day washes over him. He looks down from the mountain top into the distant horizon. There below the ball of fire is ascending from where the smiles of his children shine. He is compelled by one thing only. To see them. To look deep within their eyes and without words tell them that he loves them. To put his heart in theirs and hold them. Their soft innocence make him feel alive once again.
The moment of connection with them is as perfect and complete as he imagined. Their light bodies glide with joy and their eyes look into his with admiration and wholesomeness as he enters the room. Their excitement could bring the dead to dance and their strength a king to bow. He is home. Not physically but in his heart. He has now found another method to connect this life with the next. There is a doorway between the two and it only opens every once in a while but when it does it he must go in.
