Adventure With a Purpose

February 14, 2023

When I was a boy I’d sometimes go hiking by myself or with friends in the hills above our neighborhood. I wanted to climb the oaks and explore the grassy ridges of the Contra Costa ranchlands, and maybe fly a kite or find buried treasure or at least uncover an arrowhead. Occasionally I’d exuberantly shout “adventures!” because that is what I wanted from life.

Ask and you shall receive.

Growing up, I read stories about explorers such as Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, and the vision quests of Plains Indian boys such as Crazy Horse. I also enjoyed the imaginary journeys of Dorothy Gale in her many visits to the marvelous Land of Oz. As I got older, I graduated to more sophisticated action classics such as Huckleberry Finn, Moby Dick, the Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings.

And then, at 17, I stumbled into a Japanese mass movement, and rode that social and religious roller coaster for 15 years before getting off those tracks. But I learned a lot from Nichiren Buddhism, which I still practice 53 years later, though I left the Buddhist organization decades ago. It has been a long, interesting, and stimulating journey of ups and downs, disappointment and disillusionment, and many friendships and valuable lessons.

Nowadays I partially satisfy my curiosity and need for excitement by reading, hiking, and traveling. But starting in the 1980’s I began an interior voyage of discovery, and although I haven’t had to suffer physical deprivations such as those of the Lewis and Clark expedition, I’ve certainly experienced the uncertainties, anxieties, and wonder of uncharted territory as I’ve followed invisible trails into my psyche.

Using a variety of methods such as dreams, meditation, prayer, channeling, automatic writing, journaling, marijuana and LSD, singing, and study, I have been seeking not entertainment or escapism, but awakening to who I am and who we all are. And while I have much to learn on my never-ending quest, I can share a few insights that I’m in the process of absorbing.

First of all, when Abraham Lincoln referred to “the better angels of our nature,” he was appealing to reason and to higher qualities of the mind or spirit that might enable us to avoid a civil war. Alas, his appeal was not successful, and a bloody Civil War ensued. But Lincoln was more perceptive than he may have realized himself. There really are angels and benevolent beings within us, and we can call upon them for guidance and support when we need it.

In the Nichiren tradition from which I come, the shoten zenjin are Buddhist protective gods or helpful forces in the universe, although their identities and powers are not specified. And in the Catholic religion of my childhood, there are guardian angels, as well as archangels with names like Gabriel, Uriel, Ariel, and Sandalphon, who are seen by the Church as external beings with wings but who in reality are aspects of our own inner wisdom.

Many of my friends believe that we live only in a material world, and that we meet people and stuff happens by chance. I disagree.

Intention, positive attitude, and what Nichiren Buddhists call a “high life condition” are crucial to creating and attracting good karma, or good fortune if you prefer. Through the Law of Attraction and the Law of Cause and Effect, higher vibrational frequencies attract more of the same, and we can encounter teachers from higher realms of existence. But these teachers and realms are inside us, not on a cross or a pedestal. We can activate our own Christ consciousness if we want to. We start by asking to do so.

I may not be Lewis or Clark, but I’ve crossed some of these prairies and forded some of these streams. I may not be Martin Luther King, but I too have been to the mountain top – many of them, in fact – and I can report that the view of Gaia, Planet Earth, is beautiful. The human race may be in for a rough ride in the short term, but in the long term we and Gaia will learn that we are one and the same consciousness, and we need to take care of each other.

If we are to enjoy the fruits of the New Earth that teachers such as Eckhardt Tolle and Matias De Stefano talk about, then we need to focus on the emerging human awareness of Gaia rather than the dying and chaotic human civilization of the present. We all need to become bodhisattvas of the Earth, or champions of nature and a higher calling for humanity.

As a boy, I asked for “adventures!” Little did I know that my request would be granted beyond my wildest dreams.

Tomorrow I’m going hiking with friends in the hills of Marin. And on Friday I have an appointment with the better angels of my nature. Should be a fun conversation.