Religious Experience

Standing on the edge of a midnight cliff at the sight of an ancient temple, I stopped for a few minutes to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. I could hear and feel the wind which smelled of salt and brine. The sound of the waves was drowned out by the hissing of the flow spilling into the ocean a half mile away. Now and again the flare of the fire as the water broke it apart would back-light the spit of land that was growing even as I watched. I hated to turn on the flashlight,but more fearful of losing my footing on the path. I was alone and thinking about the ancient people who walked this path before and wondered who they were. The closer I got to the path's end, the louder the hissing became. The louder the sounds of fire and water were, the more deeply the silence of being alone weighed on me. We had decided to take turns walking the path. The baby was sleeping and we didn't want to lift him out of the car in order to go together. One would stay behind and each go in turn. So here I was alone at an ancient Hawaiian temple walking to the paths end marked by sharp edges of broken lava. Now afraid and disturbed, I knew I had to let the feeling pass through me. When it did I was plunged into a peaceful silence only broken by the next wave breaking below on the rocks or the next fall of flaming lava into the cold water. The closer I got to the path's end, the more the sounds seemed to be in slow motion. Each isolated by some shroud of steam and memory. Alone on the dark cliffs of the Big Island, Hawaii, at the edge of flows form Kilauea's Kupaianaha vent, the enormity of the planet enveloped me and as I looked up at the moonless night sky, stars partially obscured by steam clouds, I saw further into the universe that I thought possible. The peace that came over me was profound. One with the universe, a religious experience, the power of entering Mahasamadhi was the reality of that moment. Lasting less than a an hour, the experience of that night has stayed with me for two decades. The memory of it is calming and deep. The path and the temple site are gone now. Pele took them both some time ago and she will keep them in her realm forever. I will have the memory of her fire with me forever. copyright 2009 vickers