Soulwork

My husband and I along with two of our friends from the Pathways community spent four days together in Kona, Hawaii. We rented a beach house located right on the surf. Within 24 hours of arrival we'd settled into island time and motion. We would each awake every morning in our own time to dark roasted Kona coffee, a sunrise masked by clouds, the surfers' dance on the water, and the push-pull of the ocean waves on a lava shore. Without much prodding, we all seemed to know when it was time to meditate.

At times during the day we were quiet and in our separate spaces. At other times we would come together and share ourselves. This sharing would take on many different forms, listening, exposing a thought, offering an insight, giving feedback, or cooking a meal. I can not leave out the times we laughed at ourselves and each other, and I can not remember how many times at a meal I heard "and the condemned ate well." (My husband and friends were just a few days from entering their first dark side conference.)

My most memorable experience was on a Tuesday, when we left at 5:00am to drive to the volcano to meditate. Our journey started in the dark on a slow meandering highway. As we narrowed the gap between the volcano and ourselves the road became straighter, the sun started to rise, and our vision to have a spectacular meditation was clearly manifesting. At 7:00am we entered the 2-mile wide Kilauea caldera. Within the caldera is the Halemaumau crater, our meditation site. A short walk to the edge was full of discoveries: the rocks were warm; we were the only ones there; the plant life was noticeably struggling with its green stalks and brown leaves; there were numerous small openings in the earth leaking gray sulfur fumes; there was a cigarette butt. We ducked under a rope and sat in a circle at the edge of the crater. Our meditation began; an induction was not needed. During the meditation I felt like a very small part of life. It was so quiet that my ears hummed just like they do before I pass out. Sporadically, sulfur fumes filtered through my deep breathing. I felt the morning sun on my face and the earth's heat within my body. Without a word, we awoke from our altered state of consciousness at the same time.

I loved this trip to Kona and how the four of us were together. We didn't need a workshop to hold the structure for tribe. The pieces I learned in Stand & Deliver - feedback, accountability, trust, faith, service - are coming together to create a picture; I know how to fulfill my innate desire to be in tribe.

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