Tiger Cave Temple

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Well equipped with plenty of water, we were standing in front of the sign: “1,237 Step to Top Mountain”.  Just a few minutes prior, we said “See you on top” to Valentin, our new friend who we met just half an hour before.  Valentin intrigued us greatly. 

As we were walking through the Tiger Cave which was located on the bottom of the Temple mountain, we came across this young man who was taking a picture of a rock.  Wondering what was so special about the rock, we started a conversation and instantly grew fond of him.  Valentin, originally from Norway and an ex pro-tennis player, was studying quantum physics in Australia.  Quantum physics we thought, how serendipitous.  Talking about religion and science, we slowly made our way to The Steps, which is where my story began.

The first 100 steps we made without a huff.  Continuously staying hydrated we made small stops to take pictures and enjoy the view of the vast land that was emerging underneath us with every step.  At around 200^th step, we had to take a longer break.  Muscles started to feel the strain and we needed to catch our breath.  The air, which seemed so refreshing at the bottom, was becoming thicker and warmer.  Of course, we knew it wasn’t the air at all.  Our lungs and muscles, not used to physical stress, required more oxygen and the sweat glands started to work double shift.  At step 400, my sister started to feel nauseated.  Thanking heavens for not eating an early lunch, I offered her my bottle of water.  Her empty bottle rested peacefully at the bottom of a garbage can a few steps below.  At step 600, this quest seemed brainless and our legs refused to cooperate.  Operating on pure determination, we marched on.  At step 800, I was holding my sister’s hair who was ready to puke her guts out.  Sparing us a vivid defeat, she held back the content of her stomach.  By now, we were completely out of water.  At step 1,000, we were wondering what madman decided to build a temple on top of a mountain, cursing his parents and the whole lineage 10 generations deep through clenched teeth.  At step 1,100, we had no energy to speak, think or wonder.  The only thought in our head was: 137 left.  The last 50 steps, we crawled, if you could call our plastered bodies hugging each step, a crawl. 

 

Finish Line

Finally, we were on top.  Giving prayer to every god created by man and kissing the stone under our feet, we crawled to the only thing we saw, a bench.  Well, two things: the bench and a water fountain.  Water had never tasted so sweet.  It was cool, thirst-quenching and reviving.  15 minutes later, when our breath slowed down to normal pace, we were ready to explore. 

Valentin stood nearby, looking as good as he did at the bottom, and talking to an Indian family about Buddhism.  We decided not to interrupt.  Wondering around a huge gold Buddha statue, we walked over to the ledge.  Our breath stopped.  We were surrounded by blue mountaintops, green forests and limestone cliffs.  The view was astonishing.  Such heavenly beauty could only be appreciated from way up here.  Thanking the “madman” for deciding to build the temple on top of the mountain, we couldn’t find words to express our feelings.  We stood silently for a long time.  Contemplating life, its challenges, triumphs and defeats, we thanked Universe for giving us strength not to give up.  This was a good moment for self-reflection so we split up and each found a corner to sit and ponder.  Olga and Vira meditated, Natalie and I stared at God’s creation in front of us. 

Some time later, Valentin came over and we found a small corner next to the gold Buddha to sit and talk.  The best part of our ascend was about to begin. 

Continuing an interrupted conversation from before, we started to talk about religion.  How most of us were brought up in religious environments but found the constraints, rules and punishments of our religions unfulfilling and turned to spirituality.  Spirituality is not a religion.  It is not constrained by certain laws created by man.  It is a belief in humanity being one soul.  The whole Universe being one soul.  Each person being a God.  Believing in laws of attraction and creating our own destiny.  It is not blasphemy.  If God created us in his own image then we are Gods.  He gave us powers to think, create and fulfill.  I have met a girl in Japan who was able to see my character and soul through a Third Eye.  I met a man in Taiwan who sees future.  He read my palms and told me precisely why I was on my journey and what decisions I needed to make.  I dated a guy in college who was able to heal with his hands.  I recently found myself being able to call onto Universal powers to help me along the journey.  If God created us of himself and in his own image then we are all connected.  Valentin agreed and told us how quantum physics is proving exactly that.  That each second, particles of our physical bodies leave us and exchange particles from another body or object, which could be located anywhere in the universe.  This is a scientific proof that we are all one.  That each soul has a chance to believe, then become powerful through that belief and eventually elevate to the next level of our existence.  And then in turn, pull the rest along the way.  Because Sharing is the best and surest way to receive Universal Light. 

We sat there and talked for a long time; feeding off each others’ energies and feeling our powers.  The descent down was easy and light.  What took us over two hours on the way up, took no more than 20 minutes down.  Parting with Valentin was very upsetting.  His energies were very high and we felt physical pain due his departure.  Before taking off, he said that recently he’s been very low on his energy and beliefs and started to lose faith but meeting us completely recharged him and gave him new strength to continue on. 

It was a perfect day of Sharing.

(For anyone who is wondering what the heck is it that I am talking about in this blog watch “What the Bleep Do We Know” and/or “The Secret”).