Travel Note: It proved unexpectedly quite difficult getting internet connection while in Canada, so I was not able to send this out last week. Currently we have entered back into the States and we are pointing our noses back toward Camano Island–should be there by Monday. All through Canada we were pressing forward to meet Carla’s sister and grand nephew on time, so we are taking a few days next to the Methow River, enjoying not being in motion–it feels very restorative. We are also getting caught up on email and various tasks easily done here, but not before. So it is with great joy that I am able to connect with you once again and get caught up on our North American Pilgrimage.
Banff: Our pilgrimage has brought us west to the Canadian Rockies, rugged stones piled ten thousand plus feet high–peaks standing amongst the clouds–rivers ribboning through valleys–lakes mirroring the peaks and sky above. Banff and Lake Louise much deserve to be known as reputed beauties and the area famous for its outdoor life. We have picked up Carla’s sister and eleven year old grand-nephew flown in from Georgia for a week in these glorious mountains.
As part of nature’s outdoor cathedrals it is one thing to admire its many beauties, but what stands out to me are a couple of peaks that soar above us and shed their great presence each morning and throughout the day. It has been my experience that mountains, trees, rivers, lakes and the land itself emanates life-energy consciousness–there is no such place that is lifeless. Particular places bear greater vibrational weight, they radiate more life and have a presence that is undeniable. While out in nature a hunter will see game as something to shoot; a lumberjack will measure trees to topple; a photographer will frame an image to capture; a loner will find space to breathe; and a mystic will be receptive to the inner life of nature’s wonders. One peak I see every morning and I feel its power and majesty–it has become a friend. In the life of a mountain, measured in multi-millions of years my time with it is less than a blink, yet we sit in silent communion one with another. It is wonderful to commune with nature and not only see its beauty but sense its spirit as well: pitch dark Ravens, Black Billed Magpies with florescent green tail feathers, and Columbian Ground Squirrels come to visit daily and scamper under feet.
Throughout the world and down through time we find that every race and ethnicity has its own specialities, its particular genius. Many of the native tribes of North America have had a close relationship with nature, perceiving spirits in various animals and the overarching Great Spirit–both immanent and transcendent. To perceive the Great Spirit as all-pervasive is an astounding gift for any who knows it. Although we use the gifts of nature for our food, habitation and depend on it for life itself, it deepens our life-experience to see nature as something more than something to exploit, kill or tame. The creation of large national parks as a means for keeping portions of the earth in a more natural state is a remarkable idea that has found fruition here and many other places around the continent. After seeing so much of Europe and the East Coast lose its pristine forests and natural settings there was a determined effort to preserve a substantial amount of land in the West–keeping it fresh for future generations. We are all the beneficiaries of this marvelous idea and Banff National Park stands out as a wonderful example of this principle. May generations to come find they can rest in, enjoy and find spiritual nurturance from pristine nature–cathedrals made of stone, tall trees, flowing rivers and cool lakes.
Morning Thoughts on Pilgrimage and Choices: We will be soon making our way west and south, completing our pilgrimage of these past seven months. What will come next? God knows. Each day of this pilgrimage brings its wonders and its challenges; in that sense it is no different than any other time of life. Travel has not left the time I would like for working on Mother’s writings, and this work I feel is coming closer as we make the transition to being home-based without wheels underneath–at least for a while! Even as we have travelled this pilgrimage without an itinerary it is little different than how my journey in life has been in general. It is a matter of what God wishes from moment to moment.
You may say, “Well, I do not have that freedom.” In a sense that may be true. But in another way of thinking we are the sum total of all that we have done, and that has led to this moment in life–it is here that our choices have brought us. In that sense, you too choose to be where you are, doing what you are doing, and being who you wish to be. Some may think, “This is not the life I would like,” but is it not true that in any journey you make there are times you regret the road you are on? Deep analysis of your situation reveals that your life is the sum total of choices that you have made, perhaps some of those decisions are from a very distant past, but that ultimately this life is perfectly designed for you. Within the context of your life you may choose happiness or unhappiness, to act in harmony or disharmony, to put your mind on God or the delusion of this world. You know what I would have for you: to be happy, harmonious, and filled with the light and the bliss of God. The question always is, “What do you choose?”
Picture: Columbian Ground Squirrel who came out of his hole each morning to sit by my feet.
