The Castle Lake Mirror

S and I just came back from meeting an amazing group of people in Shasta. These people that we met for the first time connected with us on a deep level weaving invisible threads straight into our core. On Castle Lake, with a slight breeze and the sound of the lake caressing the shore, surrounded by mountains everyone spoke from the heart. You could feel something really special in the air. People including me were sharing their deepest fears, their strongest love, eyes were sparkling and tearing up. Everyone was revealing a part of their wonderful being.

We talked about oneness. About love. About hardship. About dreams of making this world a better place. Everyone had a take on it. Some perspective were different, maybe bordering on the surreal, but it did not matter. This was the time of unleashing, of exploring each other psyche. The time of convergence would come later.

AN who has the surreal ability to listen and marvel so deeply that everyone just loves to share with him, came with the concept of L.O.V.E. Love, Oneness, Value and Energy as a guiding principle after spending time with a corkscrew oak tree. C who is travelling all over while living in his car was thinking deeply about the concept of oneness and how to bring it to billions of people by starting with a unifying "attitude". CH was the glue bringing together people and instilling in them a burning desire to create their heaven on Earth. S who is an accomplished oncologist with a radiating smile that could light the world, spoke about her deep love for everyone, about the strength needed to heal people. BR with a silent calm presence punctuated by re-assuring "ahummm" shared ideas about the wise self, his vision of pure Aloha and love shared with the whole world. I talked about the magic of feeling the wind, getting back to the kid in us and expressed my struggles in bringing love into every moment of the daily grind of life.

"When aren't we looking in the mirror". C replied to AN during a discussion. Everyone felt silent for an eternity pondering on the deep significance of the moments we are living finally captured in fleeting words. It felt like a Zen koan finally cracked raising everyone's awareness to the true nature of being.

And just like that the sun set on Castle Lake, darkness took over and mosquitoes went back to hunting humans. However as the discussions lingered into the night, with no one wanting to leave the magical mirror of Castle Lake, the group finally dispersed back into their daily life routine. But this time, their life took on a slightly different light because they have seen what could be on the other side of the mirror.