Beyond the Seen

Hi Steph, my name is Steve Terjak. I am from Boulder, and I have seen your slide show at Neptunes’. I must comment that I don’t believe i have seen a standing ovation after a show — much less before it, so kudos to you, we here in Boulder obviously feel like you have earned them.

On your blog, in the book excerpt “Running Around”, you write “…and above all, climbing has shown me the existence of forces beyond the seen world.”

Selfishly, i would love to hear from you specifically what you mean by this. Do you have an example(s)?

Quickly I will share my experience. Hopefully it will show you that I am not a kook or a deity worshipper. Just a normal (I think) guy with a desire to learn about the spiritual from people who have had life-affirming experiences.

I was on a river trip on the Colorado River south of Moab. Stopped at Big Bottom, which is the largest river bottom between Moab and the confluence with the Green River. This is a known ancient native-american habitation site. Early in the morning, alone, after ferrying across in my sea-kayak, I walked the path from the river up to dwellings and pictographs. There are hand outlines chalked onto the wall — two sets, an adults and a childs. I respectfully approached, placed my right hand lightly over the adults (illegally), and then felt a shock originate in my hand and spread through my body. Then the words “an adult and a child, this is the meaning of life, an adult and a child”, came to me as if someone was immediately behind me and speaking firmly into my ear. I remember slowly turning around to see if anyone was there. No-one was.

Thats my little experience….., if you have one to share about your “forces beyond the seen world”, I would love to hear it.

Sincerely, Steve

PS “wonderings.org”, if you would like a bit more of the story and a photo.

Dear Steve,
Thanks for writing, and sharing that story. I think this kind of experience is if not common, certainly normal. I have heard many stories of people being alone and hearing a distinct voice. Most people say it’s only happened to them once. I have never heard a voice in that way. But I notice that connection seems to happen a lot, especially if I’m able to take notice.

My connections seem to be more related to people and animals, most frequently just the simplest experience of thinking of someone just before they call, and often feeling some kind of pain or ailment that an animal close to me turns out to be experiencing. I might describe that as more empathic than anything, and it’s probably just a result of paying attention.

When I talked in my book about feeling the existence of forces beyond the seen, it’s because I feel a sense of a powerful spiritual energy, all the time in the natural world. Thinking about it, I first learned about this through the wind in Patagonia. When I first started going there, I was totally overwhelmed by the wind, and I found it scary, maddening and negative. I was always mad at it, scared of it and fighting it.

It took me a long time to learn that fighting the wind is about the stupidest thing a person can do. Basically, it’s just a big waste of energy, and the fighting itself is a big part of the danger. Once I finally understood that, the wind became really different for me. I won’t say it’s not frightening, but I no longer felt that same panic-inducing terror. I learned to stay calm, and endure the wind with patience and what I would call a lack of emotion, rather than allowing it to goad me into a weaker state. Eventually, I came to see that external negativity as well as strong internal emotions are very similar to wind, and this taught me a lot about how to deal with them. The lesson there is not that the big universe is using the wind to teach me a lesson, but rather that the big universe is so wild, powerful and indifferent to me that I need to learn how to flow within it. Then I can be a part of that wild energy, instead of the tiny ant trying to struggle against it Or at least that’s what it seems like right now.

Thanks again Steve!
Steph