Part 10 (1/2)
As he talked, I could feel Adjar softening. He, too, knew none of us had a choice. If there was a way to gain some kind of influence over people stuck in this kind of ideology, who were capable of doing such incredible damage, we had to at least try.
”I once believed,” Adjar continued, ”that this world was doomed, and I, too, wished for the coming of the Divine so as to bring about an ideal world to replace it. So I joined the Apocalyptics. But this group has now decided to use all violence necessary to protect their plan and provoke a total war, and that is why I had to leave them. When I escaped from them, I also experienced a Breakthrough that changed everything for me.”
He looked openly at Hira for the first time, and I could sense her recalling more of her Breakthrough experience as well.
”It is the same with me,” she said. ”The coming of the Divine must happen. And humans must help somehow. But the end times should not be pushed to occur through violence. I had to reject the way of the Apocalyptics as well.”
Suddenly, I remembered something. For some reason, the talk about G.o.d intervening to save the world brought back the mysterious point of Connection I had experienced on Secret Mountain. The memory flooded back into my mind. During the inflow of love and euphoria, I had experienced a point, or source, from which the love seemed to be flowing. I had even experienced a flash of knowing that the end times Prophecies had another meaning, not yet understood.
”The Doc.u.ment says,” Wil offered, ”that a template group can't go forward unless all the members realize it is their true mission to be involved.”
There was silence as we looked at one another, or, as was the case in the low light, at one another's forms-and maybe at one another's spirits. Slowly, I realized we were all beginning to come together again. I could feel it in the exact same way I could feel it on Secret Mountain. And Tommy and Adjar were natural additions.
I looked over at Wolf. Were these Hopis so smart they knew how to help move us back toward Connection ... with a fire?
What ensued was a round of mutual self-revealing, where each of us described how our spiritual journey had brought us to this moment, and to our preferred religious tradition. Adjar told us he was schooled as a Muslim and in the past few years had become interested in the Prophecy of the Islamic Messiah figure, the Twelfth Imam. And Hira, who had lived all her life in Israel, said she was most interested in the Jewish utopia that would be created after the arrival of their expected Messiah.
Then came Rachel, who said she was Christian in her belief, but she had studied end times prophecies as well, especially the Rapture-the idea that all believers would be lifted up in a spiritual body and protected from Armageddon. She found it meaningful that most traditions have some ideal of a Rapture-like event in their own Prophecies.
Tommy spoke up next, looking slightly nervous. He glanced at Grandmother and then said he represented the Native peoples' tradition, as he had studied the Mayan Prophecy and grew up with both Hopi and Yaqui influences. During his vision quest last year, he, too, had been given a Breakthrough experience. Now he was most fascinated by the Mayan Calendar. This Calendar could also be described, he told us, as itself an end-times prophecy, because it called for an end of a stage in creation and the beginning of something more ideal.
”According to the Maya,” he said, ”we will enter a time when enlightenment is more readily available, but it will not be imposed. We must realize that the quest shared by all those alive today is to access the unknown part of ourselves from which this consciousness springs.”
I couldn't believe my ears. I, like so many others, had intuited that the Calendar was pointing to something new in history. And here was a young man professing to understand it who was saying the same thing. As he talked, I began to feel that understanding the Calendar would be a big part of the coming Integrations, especially the Twelfth.
With Tommy, all the major traditions were covered, except for Eastern religions. Everyone looked around.
”I've always leaned toward the Eastern path,” Wil abruptly said. He then gave us a clear summary of his life, one of a driven search for a practical understanding of spiritual consciousness.
Now there was silence again as all eyes moved to Coleman. He told us generally about his life and his movement from spiritual skeptic to explorer of our deeper nature. But when it came to religion, he just shrugged his shoulders. Everyone seemed to accept that, but I still felt he was thinking about something he didn't want to mention yet.
When I focused again on the group, I could feel all eyes were on me.
”I love parts of all of the religions,” I blurted.
Wil laughed, but the others were quiet at first, and then they began chuckling, too, until we were all laughing out loud. In that moment we came together even more. We were moving toward that peak Connection we had experienced on the mountain-with almost the same ease of interaction and speaking.
”The Doc.u.ment states,” Wil finally added, ”that once the members of a group experience the reality of a Divine Connection, they understand that it is the same for everyone, regardless of religious background. And they can see one other thing as well: that each religion in the world emphasizes only a few aspects of this experience. Other elements are minimized, and still others are left out altogether.
”Think about what this means!” he continued. ”Among all the religions, the experience is adequately covered. But taken alone, each religion is incomplete. Therefore, what is needed is for each religion to teach what it has correct about Divine Connection to all the others, and then learn from the others what is missing in its own teachings.
”This is the only way the whole experience can be understood and ultimately made part of humanity's everyday reality. This is the purpose of the template groups-to reach a consensus concerning this natural reconciliation of the religions, for all to see.
”And remember, there are many groups of this kind coming together out there. Some will have it more right than others. But over time, through Conscious Conversation, the most truthful reconciliations will evolve in the public mind and become more powerful in their influence on human culture as we all move through the remaining Integrations.”
We were all following him completely, maintaining and even building on the energy level. Now we were no longer just members of various religions. We were a group of souls who had decided to help make history.
When I awakened the next morning, my head was still buzzing from the experience of the night before-especially the revelation that the extremist group already had a plan to start Armageddon. How many template groups, I wondered, would it take to reach these Apocalyptics and others like them? A thousand? Ten thousand?
As I pushed my way out of the tent, I saw that the others were already drinking coffee and watching a colorful dawn dance across a dark blue sky. I walked toward them, and when Coleman saw me, he dashed over, holding several pages of the Doc.u.ment.
”There's something else in the Sixth Integration,” he said, pointing toward a particular pa.s.sage. ”Right here it says another tradition should be part of the reconciliation of religion as well-one that would engage in exploring spirituality through a lens that strives to be as objective as possible.”
”Whom are you talking about?” I asked sleepily.
”Us scientists!” he replied. ”I can bring the viewpoint of the scientific tradition to our template group!”
Many of the others had heard what he said and all, including Wil, were nodding their heads in agreement. Coleman looked at me.
”Yeah,” I said, ”of course.”
By midmorning, we had eaten breakfast and headed back to the circle again. Wolf had rebuilt the fire, but smaller now, just enough to break the morning chill.
For a long time, we stared at one another, embracing the feeling we'd reached the night before. Then Wil began.
”The Doc.u.ment discusses,” he said, ”a few basic agreements that have to be reached before a template group can move forward, agreements that are key for this process to be effective. One is this: in no way should we think that the adherents of any one tradition should have to give up belief in the validity of their chosen way-only that they must seek to integrate the best of the rest.
”And the other agreement is that no one should think of their path as the only way to Divine Connection. Remember, we all experienced this Breakthrough despite the different religious perspectives we brought with us. The Connection occurred because we were in the same place of willingness and need to open up to a greater Divine Consciousness.”
What Wil had expressed was undeniable fact; we had all experienced the same breakthrough, and it meant that there were many paths, but only one direct experience. For a long moment, we all looked at one another again, the antic.i.p.ation palpable. Then Wil smiled and looked down at the Doc.u.ment.
”It says to begin,” he stated, ”with a focus on the element of the G.o.d Experience that has most remained in memory.”
We all just waited to see who would speak first. Then everyone's eyes seem to fall on Coleman.
”As a scientist,” Coleman finally said, ”the first element for me of this Connection was a sense of overriding well-being and love, the feeling of having rejoined a lost part of myself, and of being cared for and protected.”
Everyone was nodding in agreement.
”How, then,” Wil said, ”would the rest of you describe this love and belonging element of the G.o.d Connection?”
”The Holy Spirit filled us,” Rachel replied.
”Allah gave us his guidance,” Adjar commented.
”G.o.d rewarded our work,” said Hira.
Everyone looked at Tommy.
”Spirit filled the world and it came alive!” he said with a power that surprised everyone.
Coleman seemed to be thinking again. ”Wait a minute. Those are religious descriptions. We need to speak more precisely about the actual experience of coming home to love, and discern which tradition emphasizes this the most.”
Rachel was about ready to burst.
”There is only one tradition,” she said, ”that especially emphasizes Divine Love: Christianity. I know that the word love often sounds hollow, and we fall short in always expressing love. But we do believe that, if we humbly seek this experience, we can move into and feel what we felt on the mountain. We are lifted above our old lives, and all the mistakes we've made are transcended. We are made new and more whole.