The Twelfth Insight: The Hour Of Decision Part 8

As the sun rose higher in the sky, we quickened our pace until we couldn't see them anymore and then pushed forward into the early afternoon, when we virtually collapsed from exhaustion. We set up camp on a rise of rock surrounded by thick bushes except on one side, which allowed us a view down the ridge.

For the rest of the day, we ate camp stew and took turns keeping watch and sleeping. Finally, we all gathered on the edge of the rocks to watch the sunset. Rachel sat down beside me, and Hira sat a few paces away, watching for movement and still appearing very nervous. As the sunset unfolded, swirling cirrus clouds picked up the last of the light and began to look like little pink Angels.

"I guess they were protecting us back there," Rachel said.

I nodded.

"You're still going to need them!" Hira suddenly shouted.

A hundred yards away, a group of seven extremists were jogging up the hill toward us. Some of them had a.s.sault weapons on their shoulders.

"Come on," I said. "We have to get out of here."

In minutes we had grabbed everything and were running up the slope toward the top of the mountain, scaling rocky outcroppings and making our way through thick clumps of trees. Hira had moved in front of us and was directing the route.

"Let her lead," Rachel said to me. "She used to be in the Israeli military."

We were making our way around one of the tight ledges when my foot suddenly slipped and I felt myself toppling off the edge toward another spire of rock twenty feet below. At the last second I leaped to a boulder about ten feet down and slid to a p.r.o.ne position, sc.r.a.ping my arm on the jagged rocks.

"Are you all right?" Rachel was whispering from above.

I could see there was no way back up to her.

"Yeah," I said, "but I'll have to find another way up. I'll meet you ahead somewhere."

She nodded, and I took off. Glancing behind me in the descending darkness, I could see the flashlights of the Apocalyptics flickering on again and bobbing up and down as they closed in on us. Suddenly, a single shot rang out, reverberating against the mountain in a series of echoes that chilled my soul.

Despite everything I could do, my energy began to fade even more. I sought to bolster my consciousness by telling myself how important it was to make it through this, to find the remaining Integrations. I even tried to expect Synchronicity again and to somehow seek Protection, but I knew full well that there was no one out here in this wilderness to come to our aid.

I was running through the darkness now, jumping from boulder to boulder. At one point, to my horror, I found I had no way forward without moving back down the slope in a direction closer to the bobbing lights. Worst of all, up ahead, the slope ended in a sheer rock face. I would have to climb virtually straight up the rocks to get away.

Another gunshot rang out, which threw me completely into panic. It all seemed meaningless now. Now there was only fear, and the desperate desire to get away.

When I reached the rock face, I chose the best way I could see and climbed for my life. At each ledge of rock reached, the lights flickered erratically over me, telling me the men were climbing as well. Were they already sighting in on me with their weapons? The thought sent me into ever larger waves of panic until the level was simply unbearable. At that moment, I began to feel the resignation of imminent death descending on me like a wet blanket, sapping my remaining energy. My legs began to feel like lead.

Then suddenly, I was buoyed by a memory. This exact circ.u.mstance had happened to me before, years ago, during the search for the Prophecy in Peru. I was in the exact same situation, giving in to death as a respite from terror. Back then, I had opened up to a consciousness I hadn't experienced before or since.

With that thought in mind, I regained some of my balance and climbed to the top of the rock face. Then I squeezed through a narrow opening between two large outcroppings, attempting to find a way up to my right. To my shock, I found myself totally blocked off and stymied by a sheer drop-off ahead of me. Again, just as in Peru.

Rocks sliding down the slope behind me told me the extremists were close. My rubbery legs began to fail again, and I slumped to the rocks. Again the blanket of surrender began to cover me-only this time I didn't fully let go. A part of me, the part that remembered the experience in Peru, didn't give in. I moved into a zone where I was the pure observer, the detached witness, there only to watch the unfolding drama that would determine my fate.

Taking a breath, I looked out at my surroundings, waiting, and then, just as in Peru, something began to change. Without investment, I watched as my consciousness suddenly enlarged and reached out to everything around me, giving me an odd feeling of familiarity, as though I was recapturing a natural part of myself that had been lost.

Instantly, my perception was filled with everything I hadn't noticed before: Small moths and flying insects circled around my head. Crickets, or perhaps gra.s.shoppers, sang their song from the trees and rocks. I became aware of a large bird, perhaps a hawk or owl, awakened by my rude intrusion, which cried out and flew away. I could hear each thump of the wings, as if it was flying off in slow motion.

Above me, the sliver of moon that had guided my way was now hanging lower in the sky. As I looked at it, I felt another expansion of my being, one I also remembered from before. No longer was it merely an artifact in the sky, two-dimensional in its appearance, like something seen on television.

This sliver was now perceived by the observing part of myself in a larger way, so that I knew in my perception that the phases of the moon are really a change in the way the sun's light reflects off the moon's round, three-dimensional shape, hanging there in s.p.a.ce.

The perception stretched my awareness even more to include not just the moon but the sun as well, hanging, as it was, underneath Earth's western horizon and s.h.i.+ning upon the moon. The effect was to extend my sense of s.p.a.ce past the local area around the ledge I was sitting on, out to the larger cosmos in all directions-and not just over my head and to each side. I felt it under my feet on the other side of Earth as well.

With that, everything was suddenly thrown into greater relief, a kind of super three-dimensionality that enhanced the presence and realness of everything in my perceptual field, from the small insects close to my face all the way to the galaxy of stars behind the moon. I was looking at everything from the larger perspective of the entire Universe.

Everything around me came alive with an overwhelming beauty and majesty. The rocks and trees virtually glowed with color as every reflection of light outlined their contours and crevices with multicolored reflections. The large pine tree that bordered the ledge to my right seemed to explode with a thousand variations of red and blue highlights.

As if pulled on by my growing sense of beauty, I then felt myself expand at the emotional level into a profound feeling of love and Connection with everything around me. Something in the area of my heart burst outward, and I knew without a doubt that I was now home and cared for, and absolutely- I couldn't believe it- Protected.

For a while I merely soaked up the emotion, but then my image of myself as a person began to s.h.i.+ft. Somehow, in this moment of euphoria, the witness part of myself could now see all the events of my life as one long movie. I could see all the Synchronicities, all the thoughts and ideas that had come to me at just the right moment in my past to guide my life forward-revealing now a hidden purpose behind it all. I could see that all I had done came from a truth I had come into the world to tell. But I could also see that my truth was part of a larger, hidden truth, a Plan for all of creation.

This recognition lifted me into still another, even larger emotional opening. The love, the euphoric sense of being at home, of being involved in a Universe of higher purpose, were all still there. But along with it was rising a profound sense of appreciation for this Connection and support. It was like suddenly realizing that some Divine force had been behind me all along, without my fully knowing it-and now was suddenly jumping from behind the curtain, yelling "Surprise!"

Only it was more deeply heartfelt than that. To understand, at this level of illumination, that I was part of something larger and older and longer was almost overwhelming in its impact.

And here, in this moment of appreciation, something else also seemed to be occurring. I was sensing some personal point of Connection from which this love and belonging emanated. What was this? When I tried to a.n.a.lyze it, it simply disappeared altogether. Yet when I concentrated on feeling the love and well-being and appreciation, there it was again. It was as if appreciation completed a circuit of Connection somehow and brought the point of contact closer.

For a very long time, I just sat there, somehow feeling everything at once, the heightened perception, the love and well-being, the sense that there's a Plan toward which we are all being guided, and finally, this elusive point of Connection I couldn't understand. I didn't want to move.

The night sky had vanished in the first light of dawn, and everything around me was standing out even more in vivid color and distinctiveness. Suddenly, I felt my attention being pulled down the slope. Gradually, I realized I was hearing human voices. I leaped to my feet so effortlessly it amazed me. My body was moving differently, not just with more energy, though that was true, but also with more coordination and precision. Squeezing through the boulders again, I quietly moved back down through the rocks, realizing the voices were coming from a point a hundred feet or so to my right, behind some trees. When I came close I could hear the accents and knew it was the Apocalyptics.

Without fear, I moved slowly to my right so that I could look down on them. Anish and the tall bearded man were talking loudly. Behind them were Rachel and Hira, and a larger man sitting on the other side. When he turned, I realized it was Coleman, and he looked terrified. Anish and the bearded man were arguing over what should be done with the three prisoners.

"They know what we're going to do," the bearded man said. "To release them would threaten our project."

"What do they know?" Anish said, glancing at Rachel. "Nothing that can hurt us. The end is approaching and no one can stop it."

The bearded man looked angered. "We can't keep taking chances like this. What are we doing here on this mountain, anyway? This idiot Doc.u.ment means nothing. Why are we looking for more of it? We have to get to Egypt."

Anish turned his back.

"I have to insist," the bearded man said forcefully, "or we must go our own way." Several armed men stepped forward from behind him.

"No, no," Anish said. "Our coalition is too important for that." He looked over at Rachel with a hint of pity.

"You don't want to do this," Rachel said. "The Doc.u.ment will explain the end times, what all the Prophecies really mean. I know it. We can all find the truth together. It could bring peace."

At this moment, I understood in a flash that all of us- Rachel, Adjar, Hira, Coleman, myself, and Wil, wherever he was-were here for a reason. We were part of the Plan. We were in the right place to intercede with these extremists somehow. We could learn to reach them, as the Fourth Integration said. But how?

The idea suddenly came to me to move farther to the right and try to create a rock slide that wouldn't hit anyone but might create enough of a disturbance to allow our group to escape. I was about to do just that when I caught sight of someone else in the exact area I had in mind. Suddenly, a huge rock cascaded down toward the pines, jarring other rocks loose, including one the size of a bathtub. As the roar started, the Apocalyptics began running in the opposite direction.

I knew I somehow had to get Rachel and the others to run toward me, and I felt myself spontaneously go into a state of intention, akin to prayer, only it wasn't just me. I could somehow feel a Connection to many others who were helping. Who were they?

Almost on cue, Rachel grabbed Hira and ran through some rocks in my direction. As our eyes met, Rachel slowed for a moment and seemed to stagger. Hira saw me, too, and grabbed Rachel's arm to keep from stumbling. Last to see me was Coleman, who held on to to a rock for balance. I could tell they were being lifted into the same consciousness I was in.

Rus.h.i.+ng through the blinding dust and confusion, I grabbed Rachel and Hira and led them back the way I'd come. Coleman was right behind us. Rocks were continuing to crash down the slope, and as we ran I looked up toward the source of the landslide and noticed movement again. I pulled all of them behind another outcropping near a large tree, where we couldn't be seen. They were smiling up at me, feeling no concern about the dangers.

Abruptly, someone peeked around the tree and looked at us- Wil. The sight of him lifted my awareness even higher, and when he looked at me, I knew he was also in the same consciousness as the rest of us.

"Follow me," I said spontaneously. "I know where we can go."

I quickly led them back up to the outcropping where I was earlier and through the narrow pa.s.sageway onto the ledge. Rachel, Hira, and Coleman still seemed to be consumed by their state of consciousness and found separate places to sit down.

Wil and I walked back outside to keep watch.

"You started that rock slide, didn't you?" I asked.

Wil nodded.

I laughed. "I thought about causing a rock slide myself, but you thought of it first."

He looked at me and said, "Who knows? Maybe you thought of it first, and I heard you. Or perhaps we thought of it at the same time. That's my guess."

I knew he was referring to the Connection we now all seemed to have with one another.

I took a step toward him. "Do you think these extremists will ...?"

Wil completed the rest of my thought before I could get it out: "Follow us? I wouldn't be surprised."

He made the comment without alarm, as though he hadn't a care in the world. Which seemed odd given our circ.u.mstances, until I realized I felt exactly the same way. We were thinking and acting in hyper-speed, doing what we had to do. But part of what we were feeling-the love, being home, guided by some mysterious intuition-was definitely the constant sense of being invulnerable, as though nothing could happen that we wouldn't be able to handle or be guided through.

I looked at him. "You feel the Protection, too, don't you?"

At this moment, I suddenly thought to look down the hill. Wil was already moving past me to do the same thing, climbing higher on the outcropping to get a good view. I was right behind him. When we got in place, we could see movement. A small group of men were heading up toward us, weapons in hand.

"I knew it," he said, rus.h.i.+ng back to the ledge.

So did I, I thought, trying to keep up with him.

As we moved through the opening, something else came to mind. When I was out on the ledge the night before, it was dark. Maybe there was a way off the ledge and down the hill in that direction after all. When we arrived, Rachel was already looking over the ledge with Coleman, searching for that exact thing: an escape route. All of our minds seemed to be working together in some kind of super Connection.

Coleman was now totally in sync.

"What is happening to us?" he asked, smiling. "I knew the Fifth was about having a Breakthrough, but I never expected-"

"Just concentrate on the sense of Protection," I said instinctively.

His face told me he understood.

"There's the way," Hira said abruptly. She was looking over the right side of the ledge. "We can drop down to the next rock and move along the slope to the right."

I moved over and looked. "That's a fifteen-foot drop!"

"You can do it," she said.

Turning around, I could see everyone getting their gear ready. Wil gave me a "let's go" look.

Hira was first, dropping her pack and then jumping beside it like it was nothing. Coleman dropped his belongings to Hira and then crept out to the end of the ledge and hung momentarily by his arms before dropping. Wil did the same thing. Then Rachel walked over to me and I took her by the arms and held her over the ledge. As I did so, our eyes locked into the deepest Connection I'd ever experienced, as though our souls touched.

I held her there for a long moment and then dropped her easily to the others, before jumping down as well. As I dropped, I thought of something I'd long forgotten. All my life, since I was very small, I'd fallen periodically, sometimes from great heights. Once, when only three, I thought I could fly and, with an ap.r.o.n tied around my neck like a Superman cape, had swan dived off an eight-foot retaining wall, landing unhurt.

Later, as a youth, I had climbed a twenty-five-foot extension ladder over a concrete floor to help put up a light. The foot of the ladder suddenly kicked out and I fell the entire distance to the floor, landing on the ladder precisely, with my hip and shoulder each hitting a rung in the ladder so as to break my fall-the only way possible to have kept from being seriously injured. I walked away unharmed.

And finally, I'd fallen in college. While working as an electrician, I fell from the attic of a shopping center through the ceiling of a jewelry shop below, landing squarely on top of an eight-foot gla.s.s display case and shattering my way through four gla.s.s shelves until I bounced to the floor. When I landed, I carefully removed dozens of swordlike gla.s.s shards lying all across my body and got up-again, without a scratch.

During every one of these falls, time had slowed down and a sense of certainty had swept over me that everything would be all right, the same feeling I was having now as my feet landed on the rock below. I wondered if I had tuned in back then, somehow unconsciously, to this same sense of Protection.

Hira led the way and we found a route that took us around a large ravine and back down the eastern side of Secret Mountain. As Hira kept up a good pace ahead of us, I noticed she was rock hard and muscular, like a gymnast, and now bursting with enthusiasm.

"Don't fall behind," she said at one point, but even before she spoke, every one of us had instinctively begun to pick up the pace.

After about a half mile, we had come down to the flats northeast of Boynton Canyon. There I began to get tired, and the euphoria and clarity seemed to be wearing off. Hira stopped for a minute, allowing us to catch our breath. As she looked at me, her face was different, as if she was suddenly worried again. I looked at the others and was met by newfound expressions of concern. Clearly, everyone was coming back to normal again. I looked back up toward the mountain.

Without warning, another gunshot echoed across the desert, throwing all of us into panic again. We were in the last of a group of small outcroppings before the terrain opened into a large, flat area of mostly desert. We huddled low in the rocks, facing a dilemma.

Behind us somewhere were the Apocalyptics, and ahead of us were two hundred yards of open ground before we reached a stand of junipers that would provide some cover. We could either run straight across or go to the right, where thicker pines and rocks offered more cover.

Wil was up ahead, crawling back to me.

"Are you holding your centeredness?" he asked.

I looked at him and shook my head. "Just barely."

"Remember," he said, "that what just occurred was a Breakthrough, a glimpse of a consciousness that we now know is possible. But we'll have to work our way back to it."

Just then, several more shots rang out, striking the rocks fifty feet away. The Apocalyptics didn't know exactly where we were, but they were still behind us. Everyone was crawling over to Wil and me.

"They're shooting from the ledge where we were," Hira said, her voice shaking slightly now.

"What are we waiting for?" Rachel said. "We should just run straight across to the next hill."

"Are you crazy?" Coleman said. He was looking up at the ledge. "I can see two or three of them. All with weapons. There's more cover to the right. Use your logic."

As he talked, an image of us running to the right crossed my mind, and then my level of energy seemed to crash even more. I looked at the route straight ahead and it seemed better for some reason. I was certain that going in that direction was the right option.

"What do you all think?" Wil asked.

"I think we should go forward," I said.

"What?" Coleman said. "Not me. They'll cut us down."

Everyone looked at Rachel.

"I think forward," she said.

Coleman shook his head, then took off to the right, running through the junipers and darting from one spot of cover to another. Seconds later, the rest of us began running straight across the open s.p.a.ce, spreading out the best we could as we zigzagged.

Suddenly, a hail of bullets rang out in the direction of Coleman. Looking back, I could see that some of the Apocalyptics had taken a position on the hill directly above him and were pouring fire straight down in his direction. Everyone was slowing down, looking back in his direction.

"Go! Go!" Wil shouted, just as the gunmen on the cliff opened up on us. Bullets began to kick up soil to our left and work their way toward us. At that moment, I caught Wil's eye, and for the first time ever saw a look of resignation on his face that we might not make it. And then I felt again that same feeling while falling as a youth, that everything would be okay.