Myswizard

My daughter Tracy and I just returned from an incredibly beautiful trip to Macchu Picchu and The Galapagos Islands. We also had the miraculous good fortune to witness the eruption of the Caldera(volcano) on the island of Isabela in the Galapagos chain, that had been dormant for over 40 years. Since all of life is an unfoldment to me, I used this an an opportunity to use the volcanic eruption as a metaphor for life.

The volcano turned from a hot charcoal ash spewing from the top of the mountain, to red hot lava shooting hundreds of feet in the air coming back down upon itself, only to burst forth with increasing vigor. It was nature in all it’s wonder, awesome and unleashed; No reason, just being what it was…a volcano, or caldera as the natives call it. There was no resistance to being. Free flowing, hot, orange, molten rock pushing upward toward the sky and flowing gracefully down the mountainside through cracks and crevices, finding it’s way to the sea.

What struck me was the phrase, “Go with the flow”. So simple a catch phrase, but with much more meaning than we give it credit for. We love to fight the flow of our lives. We resist and try to change the direction. We struggle against the events of our existance, wanting things to go our way, enlarging our struggle as we go. How are we to “go with the flow” as our lives erupt all around us?

Going with the flow…one of the hardest things for us to keep in mind on a daily or even moment to moment basis, is actually a very Zenlike state. To be one with the universe…no resistance to outcomes. Taking in everything in our lives as the way it is, and seeing the perfection of all of it. Surrendering to God and The Divine Universal flow of existance is the only way to keep mindful of the fact that life has things in store for us regardless of the plans we make. Allowing and trusting our very existance, enjoying the pleasures of life, as well as seeing the lessons and karmic theater in the pain, also. Being, without resisting, and living life as a prayer.

So it was at Macchu Picchu for me, as I stood at the ruins on top of the Andes and watched the sky clear and a ray of sunlight burst through to shine on the mountainside, flooding the site with light so clearly I could feel the Divine Presence everywhere all at once. It was like this here, and in my own life, and I wouldn’t have changed a moment of it.

I bid a bittersweet farewell on our return from the Galapagos and Macchu Picchu, to our fellow travelers from all over the world with whom we had become fast friends. I remembered the baby Orca playing peek a boo with us as we floated alongside in our small ponga (boat), and the many sea turtles, sea lions, birds of a thousand species, and the Iguanas. I thought about the bus ride up the steep mountain to Macchu Picchu and all the breathtaking sites of Peru, and the hospitality of the families that invited us to their homes for lunches and dinners.

The fiery sunset on the last flight home reminded me of the sunsets we’d seen and the ones yet to come. I said a silent thank you for the mystery of life and for the everpresent beauty of it all, and sat back, closed my eyes and fell into sleep.

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