Close Encounters with My Higher Self
A truly elevating spiritual experience
Why do we have spiritual experiences? There are often various purposes. However, one of the main reasons the Universe catalyzes these powerful experiences is to encourage us to continue on our path of awakening. By experiencing a taste of what our reality will be like when we reach the destination of our journey, we are more likely to stay the course.
Discovering Mt. Cuchama
Mt. Cuchama is a little-known power spot on the California-Baja border, on the outskirts of the town of Tecate. For ages, Cuchama has been considered a sacred mountain by the area’s Native American inhabitants. For ages, it has been the location used for their ceremonies and vision quests.
The story begins in the spring of 1986 when a friend was showing me around his gigantic library. The library filled an entire large room. As I perused his amazing collection of books, one title jumped out at me… a book on Mt. Cuchama by anthropologist and Eastern studies scholar, Dr. Walter Evans-Wentz. My friend graciously loaned me the book in which Evans-Wentz wrote of the lore and power of this mountain.
Upon reading the book, I discovered that Mt. Cuchama was not too far from the route I would be taking for a forthcoming trip. I would be driving from LA to Tempe, AZ on a journey to teach a series of workshops on meditation and spiritual awakening, and Cuchama was situated just a little ways south of the interstate I’d be taking.
The game plan
My plan was to cover most of the cities in the Southwest — Tempe, Phoenix, Tucson, Santa Fe, Austin, and San Antonio — setting up and teaching the workshops as I went. I was feeling a bit apprehensive about how this endeavor would work out, so I decided a little retreat on Mount Cuchama would be the perfect thing to get psyched up for the coming adventure.
On the road
I headed east from LA on a beautiful spring day, planning to make it to Cuchama by late afternoon. However, in my enthusiasm to get going, I had neglected to check my car’s map before leaving. This was a few years before GPS was widely available. So as I drove east, toward the general vicinity of the mountain, I discovered that there was no Mount Cuchama anywhere on my map. Uh-oh!
Driving in what seemed to be the right general direction, I picked up a hitchhiker, told him about the mountain I was looking for, and asked if he was familiar with it. “You must mean Mt. Tecate,” he said. “That’s what most of the locals call it.” And sure enough, there it was on my map.
Finding Mt. Tecate
It was very late in the afternoon when I arrived at the little border town of Tecate and went into the small post office to ask for directions to the mountain. The woman running the post office simply pointed out the front window. “What?” I asked. “It’s in that direction?” “No,” she said. “There it is.” “Where?” I asked, not seeing a mountain in the direction she was pointing. “There!” she said, with a tone that conveyed an unspoken, “Duh, gringo!” I looked again, and there was a scrub-covered hill — albeit a fairly large hill — directly across the street.
As I drove up the mountain, it proved to be quite a bit larger than it had first appeared. Still, it was hardly a Shasta or a Lassen. The terrain was mostly scattered scrub brush.
About two-thirds of the way up, I came to a locked gate and a sign saying “No driving beyond this point.” I had arrived at my camping spot. I was driving a small pickup with a camper on the back, so I simply pulled off to the side of the road and was ready to settle in for a few days.
The retreat
I spent 4 days on the mountain, meditating a little more than usual but nothing too extreme, going over my workshop notes, and just kicking back. I had no particular expectations. On the last day, I was sitting in my truck when the forest ranger — a middle-aged man who appeared to be Native American — drove up.
The shaman?
He had passed by every day, opening the gate, driving up the mountain, returning about an hour later, and driving back down. On each of the previous days, he made no visible acknowledgment of me whatsoever. But on this particular day, he stopped next to my truck for a moment, and looking at me, he smiled slightly and nodded before driving on. It might have been my imagination (having read most of Carlos Castaneda’s books about his shaman mentor), but somehow he had a slightly enigmatic, knowing look when he did this. I’ll never really know, but to this day I can’t help but wonder if it wasn’t some sort of energy he conveyed in that brief encounter that triggered what transpired next.
Lift off
I was sitting on a rock, just relaxing and enjoying the view, when all of a sudden my consciousness expanded beyond my small ego-self and its mundane concerns. It was as though I was literally larger than my body-mind in a non-physical way, and the package which I generally identify as “myself” was just a small part of me. I somehow knew that my awareness had been heightened into a union with my Higher Self.
From this elevated perspective, I felt a deep certainty that everything was unfolding with absolute perfection, and knew beyond a doubt that I would receive all the support I would need on my journey. I felt like a parent to my anxious little ego-self and kept assuring it that all was well.
As all this was occurring inwardly, outwardly I was leaping from rock to rock, laughing exuberantly from the elation I was feeling, and at the folly of my worry, doubt, and trivial concerns.
Soft landing
The union with my Higher Self lasted about an hour or two… it’s hard to say, as I had lost all sense of time. When the full intensity of the experience subsided, I still felt extremely elevated and energized, and confident that the workshops would go well. They did in fact, go well, and I sensed a strong supportive presence with me throughout the entire journey.
It can happen to you.
I hope that writing about this experience will in some way encourage you to continue on your path of awakening. Powerful spiritual experiences are unpredictable — you just never know when one will occur. So if you suddenly find yourself experiencing one, I suggest you just go with it and enjoy the high. And feel free to share any spiritual experiences you’ve had in the comments.
