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--- In [email protected], turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > SNIP > > Cool experience, Marek, I can't think of any desert > terrors kinda experiences, but I can think of Road > Trips (or Vision Quests) that have totally trans- > formed me. One was at a place that I have a sort of > affinity with, Chateau de Quéribus in France. Years > ago, on my first visit there, I had a serious "past > life flashback" experience. I wrote about it here: > http://www.ramalila.net/RoadTripMind/rtm46.html > > Years later, while living in Sauve, France, I noticed > that it was about to be the night of a full moon, and > on a complete whim, I decided to jump in my car, drive > a few hours, and spend the night up there. It was one > of the more amazing nights of my life. Past-life > flashbacks, forward-life flashforwards, and Unity > experiences out the wazoo. A real E-ticket ride. > > But above all there was the Silence. From the top of > this chateau one can see on a clear night (and it was > a *very* clear night) hundreds of kilometers. But after > a certain point in the evening, I could discern no sign > of human movement in any direction. No cars, no sounds > (except for the wind, which was exceptional), nothing. > There was only me, on the top of a medieval castle. > > And yet there was not a twinge of aloneness or fear or > existential angst. There was only the Silence, and the > profound awareness that I had probably enjoyed it there > before. Similarly to your story, when I walked down > the mountain the next morning, I felt as if I were > twenty pounds lighter. Something I'd been carrying > around for years -- possibly for hundreds of years -- > was gone, and I was free of it. Thanks for reminding > me of that experience. > SNIP Barry, thanks. I remember you writing about the castle experience here on FFL before, and I read the full experience at the site you included above some time ago, but what I recall even more are the desert walks you recounted that Rama used to lead. As you've written before, there is no place like the desert, daytime or night time and I agree with you on that. I've been to Death Valley a half-a-dozen times, maybe a couple more and Joshua Tree just once, but I lived for several years in and around Palm Springs and just walking away from civilization and out into the desert is one of the great, joyful experiences that I treasure in my memory.
