Part 12 (1/2)

”Grandmother,” I replied, reaching for the tea, ”you helped us get started with your dance.”

She didn't answer but nodded out toward the distant horizon. I followed her eyes to see a larger sliver of moon hovering in the late afternoon sky.

Just then a crow cawed loudly down by the big tree, which made me flinch for some reason.

”You have a good guide, too,” she said. ”You will enjoy your visit to Sister Mountain.”

She was still looking into the distance.

”Are you talking about Mount Sinai?” I asked.

She was walking away. ”It is red, too, like the hills of Sedona.”

”You live in an interesting world, Grandmother,” I called out.

She stopped walking for an instant, not looking back, then smiled and continued on her way.

I was leaning back against a small tree near my tent wondering why Grandmother called Mount Sinai ”Sister Mountain,” when Coleman walked up.

”I wondered where you got off to,” I said.

”I just took a walk,” he replied, smiling. ”I needed some time to reflect on everything you've gotten me into on this trip. I never dreamed I'd have these experiences, much less have to keep a scientific perspective on it all.”

I nodded. ”No kidding. A lot has happened. It's forcing us to put our spirituality into practice, and it's all been building on itself.”

Coleman nodded as though he wanted me to elaborate, so I just let it come intuitively.

”The First Integration,” I said, ”sustaining Synchronistic flow, got us going. That's what was so hard to do before. All we have to do is expect it, and it happens. After that it's a matter of staying in that 'star of your own movie' centeredness by telling others the truth about your path and how it is unfolding. That's when each Synchronicity begins to lead to another one.

”Then we were shown how the Second Integration works. And how we should try to find a higher truth with others, even in uncomfortable encounters.”

I nodded toward him, remembering our first conversation in which I'd written him off as a skeptic. He knew what I was thinking and laughed out loud.

”We were being shown,” I went on, ”that if we partic.i.p.ate in Conscious Conversation, we can always receive a larger truth about how spirituality works. And thus we contribute to the building of an ever more complete, spiritual worldview.

”The Third Integration gave us an even larger picture of what happens when we stay in this centered truth, showing us that if we operate in truth, we fall into Alignment with the Law of Truth and can see the other laws that support this flow: Connection, Karma, and Service.

”If we hold to our truth as it evolves with others, and never lie or manipulate but strive to be of service, then we fall in harmony with the Law of Karma, avoiding its corrections, and naturally attract those who are there to be of service to us, so that we rapidly flow forward into a higher Connection with each other and the Divine.

”The Fourth Integration showed us the stakes involved in our quest to reach this deeper spiritual Connection. Those stuck in secular obsession are building ever more polarized systems of untruth and becoming more extreme in their dehumanization of each other, endangering everything.

”Thankfully, the Fifth and Sixth showed us a glimpse of how deep our Connection with the Divine could become, where we find love and, most important, Protection, and an awareness of mission. We realized we have a part in helping one another move through the rest of the Integrations. Now we have to figure out how to Rise to Influence and create this Template of Agreement that, supposedly, will reach those in fear.”

I took a breath. ”Which brings us to the present. The Seventh Integration showed us how to step up the Synchronicity even more by following the guidance that comes to us if we tune in.”

I paused and looked at him, somewhat surprised that I had been able to voice the Integrations so quickly.

”You were right,” Coleman said. ”It's all a consciousness that builds on itself.”

I looked at him a moment, then said, ”It reminds me of a verse I learned as a child. Something like, 'If you are honorable over little you are given much.' I guess it turned out to be true.”

”So what do you think is going to happen now?” Coleman asked.

”Hopefully,” I said, ”Synchronicity will continue to lead us through the remaining steps, and we'll continue to integrate more of the Connection we reached on the mountain ... until we remember it all. That's when, I guess, we'll reach our strongest influence.”

For a long moment we were both lost in thought.

Finally, Coleman said, ”I just wish I could understand one thing I glimpsed up there. It was like a Connection point with all that I was feeling.”

”What? Are you kidding me?”

”No, I really felt something. It was elusive and seemed to come and go.”

I jumped to my feet. ”I experienced the same thing!”

He looked amazed.

”Yeah,” I repeated, ”almost exactly as you described it!”

The next morning we were up early and, by first light, heading back toward Sedona. Wolf had returned late the night before, just in time to grab a few hours of sleep and to help us load our gear. Now, as we rode along in the early light of dawn, he looked tired but was still full of mischief.

”I have a surprise,” he said.

”What is it?” I asked. Coleman was smiling from the backseat.

”Don't ask,” he said. ”You'll get it later.”

We tried to pry it out of him, but he wouldn't budge and eventually all of us fell into a lengthy silence. Then, as we entered the city limits, we were treated to a beautiful Sedona sunrise, and as usual, people were pulled over on the side of the road and standing on some of the hills, ushering in the day. I wondered if the sunrise was Wolf's surprise, but I could tell from his face that it wasn't.

The sunrise invigorated each of us. We were all completely centered and setting a tone of expectant waiting without even talking about it. And we were alert, not just for a Synchronicity, but for the guidance that preceded it.

Suddenly, Wolf pulled into a side street and stopped, a worried look on his face.

”There's something wrong,” he said to me. ”My friends who were keeping your car were supposed to meet us back at that gas station we pa.s.sed. They weren't there.”

Coleman and I looked at each other.

Wolf thought for a moment, then said, ”I believe I should take you straight to the Phoenix airport, right now, as fast as we can get there.”

”Wait a minute,” Coleman said. ”My car is at my hotel. I can't just leave it. And what about the rest of my clothes?”

As he spoke, I tried to visualize us driving directly to the airport, easily seeing us arriving there and boarding the plane. Then I tried to picture us going to get the cars instead, and immediately had difficulty. In fact, I couldn't picture us getting to Coleman's hotel at all.

”I agree with Wolf,” I said. ”I think we should go now.”

Coleman seemed unconvinced, but not overridingly so.