The Twelfth Insight: The Hour Of Decision Part 13

"It's an old Doc.u.ment about human spirituality that people are studying right now."

"What's it about?"

I struggled to put it simply. "Well, it's about how humans are waking up to the fact that we're all spiritually connected."

She looked down as if thinking, then said: "I've heard something about this. My sister's husband is studying some writings like that. There's a whole group of them."

Leaning in and speaking lower, she added, "You know he usually is shy and reserved, but since he's been meeting with this group, he's really become quite talkative and obsessed with telling the truth."

"That's the same Doc.u.ment," I said, somewhat surprised by the familiarity with which she was speaking to me, as if she was talking to her close friend. I couldn't wait for the answer to my next question.

"Where does your sister live?" I asked.

"In a small town out in the desert, called St. Katherine."

I had already known what she was going to say, but the Synchronicity still shocked me.

"You won't believe this," I said. "That's where we're going after Cairo."

Her eyes lit up. "Really? I should give you his number. His name is Joseph." She opened a drawer and pulled out some paper and scribbled down his complete name and telephone number.

"You know," she continued, "I haven't talked to him in quite a while. I'm going to call him and ask more about this Doc.u.ment. I'll tell him we met on a plane."

"Thanks," I said, then gave her my name and number as well.

The other attendant came up at this point, so I walked back to my seat and immediately woke up Coleman and told him what happened.

"You should be used to this kind of Synchronicity by now," he said.

"N-n-no," I stammered. "It usually doesn't go this fast with a stranger. A Synchronicity this on target usually takes quite a bit of time to come out in conversation, if it happens at all. Sometimes you feel led to someone, but when you try to talk, the conversation goes nowhere. Two strangers usually have to build up trust."

Suddenly wide awake, he looked at me hard. "You did what I said, didn't you? You tried that Oneness principle."

I gave him an exaggerated nod yes. Coleman pulled the copy of the Doc.u.ment out of my hand. "Let me read this for a while."

Which was fine with me. I wanted to spend some more time thinking. Maybe I was making too much out of the woman's openness, but I didn't think so. What struck me as important wasn't so much meeting a friendly person who had a brother-in-law in the city of our destination. That wasn't crazy unlikely. The noteworthy thing was the quality of the conversation itself: there was an immediate closeness and rapport and, in fact, honesty. At this level of Connection, I didn't have to remember to be direct and honest. My words just came out that way naturally.

When I woke up, Coleman was already awake and arranging his things. He leaned over when he saw me stirring.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Two A.M.," he said. "We'll be landing in Cairo in twenty minutes."

He looked sleepy, as though the crowded seats had further fatigued him during the night. And I felt the same way. I couldn't have slept more than a few hours.

Once on the ground, we hurried to pick up our luggage and find our ride to St. Katherine. When it arrived, we were pleased that it was a large van and we were the only pa.s.sengers. The vehicle had two long bench seats so that we both could lie down. We slept the whole way there, rolling in about eleven that morning.

The town was basically a collection of cross streets filled with tourist service buildings and small lodges, all built in the bottom of a bowl-shaped valley. On all sides were huge, towering red mountain peaks, including, toward the southeast, the Sinai range.

We called around on a pay phone until we found a small lodge nearest to Mount Sinai, and by the time we walked into the tiny office to check in, the pace of travel had taken its toll. My energy had fallen substantially, so I went though my mental checklist of Integrations to get centered: expect intuition and Synchronicity, stay in Alignment, and come back to a love Connection. Now, I added one more: intend Oneness.

When we rang the bell on the attendant's desk, we were greeted by a distinguished-looking older gentleman with gray hair. He spoke perfect English but at first seemed extremely cautious, asking us many questions about our travel plans and pa.s.sports. Yet by the time we finished checking in, he was smiling and extremely friendly.

He gave us our keys, and then, as we were walking away, he looked thoughtful for a moment.

"If you care for a hike," he said, "there is a trail just outside that leads to a nearby hill. It provides a splendid view of the town and the Mountain of Moses."

We thanked him and headed down the long hall to our rooms, which we found perfectly placed directly across from each other. Even better, my room had an outside door, which opened on to a small patio. We could see the walkway to the hill across the street.

"This is great," Coleman said.

After showers, we walked next door and had a great meal in a little restaurant. When we finished, I asked, "What do you get when you tune in to whether we should contact the flight attendant's brother, Joseph?"

He thought for moment. "I get the feeling we should do it. It's logical and also feels right."

I grabbed my phone and texted Joseph that we had met his sister-in-law and asked if we could talk to him about the Doc.u.ment. I left the phone on so we'd hear the reply if one came in.

"Okay," Coleman said. "Let's hike this hill."

The day was beautiful. The sun shone brightly, with small puffs of white clouds dotting a crisp blue sky. As we walked, we gazed out at the red mountains rising all around us.

"Wow," Coleman said. "This looks a lot like Sedona."

We followed the trail over to the hill and started up, truly amazed by the colors in the rocks themselves. Along with the red were streaks of gray and gold. With every step I began to feel better.

"This hill feels like Sedona, too," Coleman said.

At a certain point, the path meandered by a flat ledge that over-hung the city, so we stopped and looked down at the town. Just as I was immersing myself in the vista, I noticed Coleman nodding toward something up ahead.

On the other side of the overhang was a rounded protrusion of rock, and on top, a man was kneeling alone on a prayer cloth. He had long dark hair and a short beard and was looking out into the distance toward the southeast. Without seeing us, he turned to a seated position, pulled out a cell phone, and entered in a number.

Suddenly, my text ring went off on my phone. When the man heard it, he whirled around and saw us, a puzzled look on his face. The text read: My sister already informed me of your arrival. I would love to speak with you. Please call.

I looked back at him. He was smiling broadly. Coleman laughed out loud. It was Joseph.

Immediately, the man jumped up and walked over to us.

"Quite good timing," he said with a thick Egyptian accent. "I'm Joseph. Glad to meet you."

Coleman gave me a look to remind me to practice Oneness, and I immediately held that intention, introducing both of us and telling Joseph that we were looking for some of our friends who had joined a group studying the Doc.u.ment here in St. Katherine.

"I know one group here," he said. "But tell me, how far along are you with the Integrations?"

"We've formed a template group," I said, "and are tuning in to our Guidance. We've just begun Oneness."

"So you've just begun the Eighth step," he said, as though more was coming.

"That's right," Coleman replied.

Joseph asked me to describe Tommy and Rachel to him and when I did, he looked surprised.

"I think I know who your friends are," he said. "I haven't met them yet, but they are here. I will take you to them."

He took one last look out toward the mountains.

"Which peak is Sinai?" I asked.

He pointed farther toward the southeast. "Jebel Musa? That's it right there. Just to the right of St. Katherine's Cathedral."

We stared at it for a long time, and as I tuned in, I thought I felt a calming, welcoming sensation. A flash of memory suddenly broke through, and I realized I was getting a hint, once again, of that mysterious point of Connection I had experienced on Secret Mountain.

"I noticed," I said to Joseph, "that you were kneeling toward Mount Sinai when we walked up."

He smiled. "Oh, no. I was looking toward Mecca. From here, Mecca is almost exactly on the other side of Jebel Musa. But when I'm in prayer, the two places feel aligned inside me."

He looked closely at Mount Sinai again. "It is said that Moses looked upon the face of G.o.d there. Wouldn't you love to experience that?"

In just thirty minutes, we were pulling through the gate of a large gray stone house about a mile away from the hotel. Joseph had driven us in his Toyota SUV.

At that moment, I was. .h.i.t by a stark realization. I was about to see Rachel again. Would I be able to open up to her in Oneness? Or would I feel the same old hesitation? I knew we had connected spontaneously on Secret Mountain, but since then, for some reason I had still resisted opening up to her. The Connection seemed too deep, or would lead to complications or something.

As we got out of the vehicle, the door of the house flung open and Rachel and Tommy rushed out to greet us. I rubbed Tommy's head and embraced Rachel, but I cut it short and again avoided prolonged eye contact with her.

Coleman came along and swept Rachel into a big hug. He among everyone seemed to be the most excited about the reunion, and as we walked toward the house, he confided in me about his feelings.

"I grew up with cold scientists as parents, bless their hearts," he said. "I've never had a real family before."

Inside, we walked into a great room that was filled with nice leather furniture and Persian rugs. A dozen more people were waiting for us, all of them looking toward me intensely, and I looked away from them as well.

Tommy was suddenly tugging me by the arm, taking me over to meet his mother. When we were close enough, I introduced myself and Tommy said her name was Love of Mountain.

"Tommy has told me about all of you," she said, her arm around her son. "Now I know why he didn't want to come with me originally. He must have known he was going to meet you."

"Why did you come to St. Katherine?" I asked her.

She looked at me proudly. "To visit my namesake," she said. "Sister Mountain. My father, who was a trader, brought me here when I was young, and it was love at first sight. Secret Mountain and Jebel Musa have the same energy. They both open you up." Tommy was nodding.

A question came to my mind then with such force that I just blurted it out. "Why doesn't Tommy have a Native American name, like you?"

She smiled at Tommy. "Because he is stubborn."

"They have tried to give me names," Tommy reacted, "but none of the names have been right. When I do something important, I will know my tribal name."

Then, as though suddenly thinking of something to do, Love of Mountain rushed out of the room, leaving Tommy and me alone. He looked at me as though he had something to say. I beat him to it.

"Tommy, I have to know how all this relates to the Mayan Calendar. You know, don't you?"

"Yes," he said. "We need to hurry."

He led me through an open entrance into a large sunroom of solid gla.s.s walls, and we sat down at a table. I could see Coleman in the other room talking with Rachel and several of the new people. For an instant my eyes met Rachel's again. The room was busy behind them, as everyone seemed to be packing for a trip.

"It is the mythology of my tribe," Tommy began, "that the mountains of the Red Rock area of Arizona and the Red Mountains here are all connected.

"Native peoples have always seen mountains as sacred places that lift us above the common awareness to glimpse the sacred spirit. This spirit is now seeking to come closer. The Maya knew this and came to this world to bring the message of the Calendar to us."

"But what is the message, Tommy?" I asked. "The media has twisted it into predicting doomsday. It's difficult to decide whose interpretation to believe."

At this moment, Coleman strode into the room, obviously sensing that we were talking about something important. I saw a flash of impatience on Tommy's small face, which brought up a smile I tried to hide.

"I'm certain I need to hear this," Coleman said urgently.

Tommy and I both gestured for him to sit down.

"The truth of the Calendar is simple," Tommy continued. "It has nothing to do with doomsday. It spells out a timeline for the entire Cosmos, and the true purpose of human history. The Maya conceive the Universe as being created approximately sixteen billion years ago, but according to them, the creation didn't happen all at once. Their Calendar gives the dates of nine Steps of Creation that will have occurred from the beginning until the Calendar ends by 2012."

He paused and looked at me as if the beginning date of the Calendar was important. I knew why. Only recently have scientists agreed on a date for the beginning of the Universe at the time of the Big Bang, and that date is very close to the one the Maya chose-begging the question: how could the Maya have known the date of the beginning this accurately, centuries ago? Is the rest of the Calendar just as accurate?

"One scholar in particular," Tommy continued, "has spelled out the dates the Calendar has a.s.signed to each step of creation with great clarity. As I said, the first Step of Creation began about sixteen billion years ago, and included the formation of the Universe and the coalescence of matter into galaxies, stars, and planets, and the beginning of life and its development into the first cells and then into more complex organisms. The Second through the Fourth Steps of Creation brought us mammals, anthropoids, and finally, two million years ago, humans.

"At this point, the remaining Steps of Creation focused on the expanding reach of human consciousness, beginning with a tribal awareness and reaching, about 103 thousand years ago, a regional awareness, where humans developed language and began to become conscious of other human groups in a larger geographical area.

"Next in the Calendar came a national awareness, beginning around 3115 B.C.E., where humans organized first into empires and finally into nations.

"Then on July 24, 1755, another step in creation began, yielding a planetary awareness. This was when we first realized we shared a finite planet and began to interact economically across the globe."

Tommy paused to emphasize something.

"It's important," he continued, "to remember that these steps are not just symbolic. They entail an actual shift in our consciousness. When we reached the planetary step, for instance, we gained the ability to tune in to a consciousness that transcended a flat Earth perception. We literally could more readily feel that we were all together on a round Earth, floating through s.p.a.ce.

"And the next surge in creation, occurring on January 5, 1999-the galactic awareness-gave us the ability to stretch our consciousness even farther. It lifted us beyond the planet and gave us even more ability to sense the larger Cosmos. This accelerated the shift from a material and secular outlook to a more awakened spiritual state. We more readily knew we were floating around in s.p.a.ce with no real understanding of why. We wanted the real truth of our existence. Religion itself came under question because we wanted more complete answers to our inquiries.

"It was this questioning that led to ideological fanatics thinking they had to defend their doctrines and even force them on people, sometimes violently. This galactic perspective began only two years before 2001, when the wars began over whose religion was best."

I just looked at him, having had no idea the Mayan Calendar was so specific in its dating.

"Scholars are still arguing over the dates somewhat," Tommy continued, "but the general outline of creation is most important. They predicted this sequence of human progress centuries ago."

I recalled then that Tommy had mentioned that the Calendar had predicted nine Steps of Creation. He had mentioned only eight. I asked him about it.

"The Calendar predicts another Step of Creation," the young man continued, "one that is already coming and can be felt. It is intended to bring in an ideal world."

I perked up, remembering that Tommy had told the group that the Calendar was itself a prophecy similar to the end-times visions of many religions. Most of these scriptural Prophecies talked about a coming Messiah figure who would usher in an ideal world, and now he was talking about the Calendar also pointing to an ideal world.

"Tell me more about what the Calendar predicts," I said.

He waved me off with a flip of his hand, obviously wanting to make another point.

"My tribe believes," he pressed, "that this last step will not be imposed on us. Enough of us must learn how to tune in to the next level of creation. And to do that, we must first receive the consciousness the Integrations speak of, beginning with the Integration we're working on now, the Eighth." He was looking at me as though I particularly had to "get it."