On the North Shore of Kauai, where the road ends, Ke’e beach is on the right, and the Kalaulau Trail is on the left. Getting to the northern most point overwhelms my senses. I watch the rainforest as my red Escape, (great name for the car), carries 4 of us along the windy road. Lush green stretches skyward, while giant vines tumble downward waving gently in the breezes. We cross several one lane bridges, waiting for oncoming cars, taking our turns without lights or laws. The Island Way.
We are warriors today, walking the Napali Coast Trail, step after step focused on the stones and roots that make the trail an adventure. Each careful step takes us upward as we pass amazing hues of green trees, vines, and ferns. We stop to look at the fantastic vistas along the trail. The higher we climb we get bird’s eye views of Ke’e Beach, and the amazing azure waters painted with coral reefs. We have to remind each other to look at the mountains that are on the other side of the trail.
At the trail peak, large boulders great us, and give us something solid to lean into as the powerful blasts of wind push our bodies and pass through our subtle physical energy. We sit or stand with the boulders as our support, and let go. As mystics we know that nature is tending us, pushing the winds of change through us, lighting our burden and our pathway home.
This trail has been walked by ancient kahunas. To seekers of enlightenment, this trail is known as a bridge between dimensions, a place where the veil of maya is thin and it is easy to have a foot in the physical realm and the mystical realm. Kauai, the monk’s island, offers ano ano oi, seedlings of truth to anyone who makes a gesture towards awakening.
We go around the peak where breath taking views greet us. It rains on the North Shore of Kauai, a lot. It is said to rain on the interior of the island between 400 and 600 inches per year. Plants look like they come from another world, and as we step carefully on the often muddy trail, we know that we are on the edge of a cliff – between dimensions.
Kauai, and her Goddess energy pushes us sometimes gently, sometimes with insistence, into the space in-between worlds. Stepping each step with precision, embracing the power of the edges that merge the physical and the divine, we sojourn along the Napali Coast.
We are warriors today, stepping up, stepping into the nagual, making a gesture to power, and trusting that the seedlings of truth, which are within us, will grow rapidly in this powerful vortex along the edge of the worlds.
Coming Down
We warriors have stepped beyond the peak, gone into the winds both ways, as we descend the mountain. Many students of awakening do not know, or have not yet met the descendent pathway. It is the advanced path. Going down the pathway, takes us to mature spiritual awakening. Still we must make each step count, using different muscles, using a new rhythm.
The pathway down provides new vistas and awakenings, and a sense of’ knowing’ that can only be experienced after the journey up.
The downward path is built out of the hard work of the ascending pathway. Each step down the mountain is full of sage wisdom, the understanding that you are that. The ego, cleansed by the strong winds, is irrelevant. Mystic knowings are melting into awareness, and life’s drama is replaced by peace and acceptance. The mind/body/spirit have merged into a team that is at one. The pathway up is filled with ego, drama, lessons of magic and dissolution, it is the flashy journey.
Coming down the mountain you notice a shift in attention. While the work is still there one step at a time, there is a stillness that has replaced the ‘doings’ of the journey up. You are at peace, you are at om, and those who are traveling the descendent pathway in their life are often quiet, and content. They may choose to be of service, but they may simply enjoy life.
The descending pathway accepts that eternity will take care of the journey. Doing is replaced by listening to the stillness.