When Magellan sailed around the tip of South America, he came to a certain island, anchored his ship, and with some of his men, rowed to shore. They were met by natives and were able to communicate with them. The natives were astounded, and wondered how they had come to the island. The Captain pointed to the huge ships in the bay and said, ‘We sailed here in those great ships.’ The natives, who had good eyesight, looked long and hard, but were unable to see the ships even though they were clearly visible to the crew. Were those ships so far beyond the experience and comprehension of the natives, that their ability to see and believe was stymied?
North Cascades
In August 1988, White Medicine Crow and I hiked about nine miles up and over a high mountain pass into The Napeequa Valley of the North Cascades Washington state; truly one of the most magnificent, secluded, and rugged mountain valleys in the continental United States. First we had to wade across a rushing river. Then we hiked up an old dilapidated trail, climbing over or under fallen trees until we reached some rocky cliffs hanging over a tiny meadow developed by annual avalanches, where two years before we had seen a bear and her cub. It was here that we ate our last meal; peaches, nectarines, and liquid acidophilus (a big mistake). This was to be our last meal for 40 days, as our purpose was to fast in this mountain wilderness, drinking only fresh, living water.
From here we were met with thick brush, but in a quarter of a mile we soon passed the timberline and broke out into miles of beautiful high mountain meadows of heather, blueberries and various varieties of flower coming into bloom. Snow patches lingered here and there, and high above, just below one of my favorite campsites, was a lingering cornice built by the winter snows. Another 600 feet in elevation and we reached Little Giant Pass, one of the most impressive scenes I’ve ever experienced.
My Meeting with White Crow
Mystery oozed out of the depths of this amazingly beautiful and rugged valley. Exceptionally steep mountain slopes lined the entire valley. The upper slopes on both sides rose close to 9,000 feet in elevation and the Western ridge was jammed packed with glaciers that ran for many miles. Ten thousand five hundred foot Glacier Peak showed its peak just behind this glacier-laden ridge. The milky colored Napeequa River far below, meandered through the valley floor, was filled with white glacier silt, as the main source to this river was melting glacier ice only a few miles up the valley.
From the Little Giant the trail, which had been built by the CCC’s back in the thirties and had never been maintained. It was very steep, full of loose rock, narrow, and easy to loose because it was often hidden by groves of Buck Brush and at times high grass. In many places the trail, if you could even see it, narrowed down to about 6 inches wide. Often, it edged steep cliffs that with one slip, one could plunge down into piles of rock. Sometimes the trail vanished into a landside forcing us to make a new path across the steep slope. This trail was considered the worse and most dangerous trail in the entire state. Finally, we reached the valley floor where mountain meadows stretched for several miles.
High Mountain Pass
After a long rest, we hiked over the pass and down on to the valley floor. By the time we came to the river we were already feeling the effects of the fast, for we had been living on raw fruits with occasional salads for several months and our wise bodies had already activated a deep cleansing activity. We had just covered many rugged miles of exceptionally steep terrain, carrying full backpacks, since we intended to stay as long as five weeks I had brought a large 13 pound tent and only enough food to break our fast. The hot sweat rolled down our bodies. The combination of such a clean diet, strenuous exercise, the water fast and then the acidophilus, put us into a maximum-cleansing mode, and unexpectedly, the extreme exercise, lack of alkaline forming foods and taking too much acidophilus, caused us to become electrolyte deficient and extraordinarily acidic. This was a bad way to start a water fast. We were drained of electrolytes and energy.
The Valley
Immediately after we set up the tent we plunged into the icy cold river fed by numerous glaciers and washed off the sweat and dust. This helped us regain our strength. White Crow was a born-again cold-water plunger, and had fully convinced me of the therapeutic advantages it produced; bringing strength, stimulation, and increased circulation and healing. We had taken hundreds of icy cold plunges together, and I was quite impressed with what Mother Nature can do for us through cold water. This river was indeed cold, as its source was only a few miles upstream and was fed by some of the largest glaciers in the North Cascades. The water was, in fact, glacier-silt water. It was so clouded with silt that we couldn’t even see our hands when submerged just inches below the surface. This plunge truly had marvelous effects on us, and we immediately felt much better.
The sun had already descended behind the glacier-speckled domain, for the mountain range ascended steeply almost 5,000 feet above us. With the sunset, the temperature dropped quickly and the air, being crisp and clean, also had a sharp bite to our wet and bare skin. We were many miles from any road, so there were no other people, no noise, and no pollution. This was how we began that memorable water fast.
Three days passed, and because of the deficiency of electrolytes, we were both suffered; worse on this fast than on any other fast or cleanse we’d ever undertaken. But thank God for the cold rushing river; truly we were saved by our cold baths. We sincerely yearned to be rid of all toxins, poisons, the dark emotions, and anything else that interferes with our connection with the Great Spirit. The cleaner, the more pure we became, the more immaculate we aspired to be. We had developed a driving compulsion to become totally pure and to have the rare privilege of associating with those who have reached the ultimate purity ï€ those who became “like angels in Heaven.” Not only had we been working on purifying the physical body, but we had been striving to purify every thought, feeling, appetite, desire, and even our beliefs. We strived to eliminate all selfishness and egotism from our beings, for we recognized that a lack of humility was an automatic opposition to the great Oneness. The moment anyone thinks of himself or herself as special or unique, that person unconsciously acknowledges a separation from others and that which is often called The Oneness ï€ the Great Spirit ï€ God. We strove to be of the contamination of dogma and judgments ï€ï€ as clean mirrors that reflect the Son. Much progress had been made, and we still had a long way to go, but we hoped that this water fast in the exceptional purity of this mountain environment would speed our progress. And so it was; even beyond our expectations.
Angel of Light
It was the evening of the third day and the sun had set hours before. Though I was tired, I was also compelled to finish reading the book The Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ, by the Disciple John.1 Crow was already fast asleep, and I had to use a flashlight to complete the last few words of this highly inspiring and informative booklet. I closed the book and carefully placed in a zip lock bag and put it into my backpack, I was deeply touched and inspired by its wise words and rare wisdom. I wondered; did it really happen that way? Were those truly the words of Jesus himself? I wished fervently to know. Then I crawled into my sleeping bag, hoping that we would sleep until noon of the next day, for our bodies were so weak that it was almost unbearable to crawl out of our tent to our no-walled bathroom.
As I was lying there, my thoughts drifted into a magic place ï€ that place between sleeping and waking ï€ and I just let my imagination wander deeper and deeper into an enchanting Devachan. I was walking through beautiful, landscaped gardens, up a walkway to a pure, columnar, white temple. Appropriately, I was dressed in pure white and was preparing to enter the temple when an elderly couple, also dressed in pure white, approached. I recognized them. They had recently used my cleansing program. Their faces glowed with health and vitality, a light shining in their eyes revealed their gratitude for the benefits derived from their cleansing experience. As I looked upon their beaming faces, my love went forth with great intensity. I went up to them and put my arms around them both and unconsciously uttered these words, “Blessed art ye, for your willingness to purify yourselves.” I was truly filled with a tremendous sense of appreciation for their purifying efforts.
Tears of joy and love welled up in my eyes and then increased, until I felt embarrassed at my tear-drenched eyes caused by my intense gratitude and love. Then an unusual intensity flooded over me. I walked to the trees and my love and appreciation increased exponentially and in cyclic waves, until I awoke from ecstatic thrills of love never before experienced or imagined.
I lay there for a moment stunned by this extraordinary bliss. At first I thought I had just had a wonderful and powerful dream. Then another wave of even greater intensity flooded through me, so powerfully that I realized that I was having an ardent Divine experience. I could feel an intense vibration all through my body. I lightly placed my fingers upon my arm to see if I could feel my skin vibrating. I attempted to comprehend this powerful and unusual pulsation flowing in me. Then, somewhat disappointedly, I realized that my body was simply too impure to handle this much energy, this much love, much longer. I sensed that if this vibration continued for a few hours, my body would begin to disintegrate ï€ it simply was too weak, too impure, to handle such a potent charge. But, I did not care if my body disintegrated. If that meant I could continue being in the presence of this much love, then let it be so! I had no fear of death, none whatsoever. As I bathed in this immeasurable love and happiness, tears of gratitude and pure joy continued to stream from my eyes, dampening my sleeping bag. I just wanted to continue feeling this Divine bliss forever.
Totally unexpectedly, another even more potent wave of love shook my entire body, and with it came the most loving, sweet words: “Blessed art thou for thy willingness to purify thyself; thou shalt be rewarded openly, if thee will persevere!” My eyes flew wide open, and to my utter joy and astonishment I saw right through the tent, where directly above it hovered a massive, brilliant, star-like, white light. I intuitively knew, from the core of my being, that I was in the presence of She whom the great Master had spoken of in the Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ, the Earthly Mother. At least that is what I thought. Words cannot describe Her. She was surrounded by an aura of light so bright that I could see only brilliant light that was scintillating. Instantly I had the desire to see into this light, to see the form of its source. I struggled to see, and slowly Her form grew more and more vivid. She had long, golden hair, which fell below her shoulders in waves, and her sapphire blue eyes shone like the eyes of Divinity; unending love, infinite wisdom, understanding, and compassion. No mortal’s eyes could compare. Her Presence was beyond description, yet the feeling was calm and peaceful and I felt perfectly at ease, as though I were a young child in the arms of my mother. She floated just a few feet above the tent. Millions of tiny, quarter-inch light rays rippled out from within her in various colors ï€ blue, gold, pink, green, violet, purple, aqua, and white ï€ flowing gently, but intensely, in all directions from the sphere of Her being. I studied those wonderful light rays, trying to absorb and learn everything I could. Truly, I did not wish to miss a thing.
I knew that She knew every single thing there was to know about me, which far exceeded what I knew about myself. I felt no embarrassment for my weaknesses and impurity, for I was being embraced with a source of true love and compassion. Suddenly I was filled with new and vast information, which, a few seconds prior had not been within my awareness. With absolute certainty I understood her message, at least to the degree of my understanding and experience at the time.
She explained to me that anyone and everyone who willingly purifies their mind and emotions; even at the subconscious level, and does so persistently, always seeking greater unconditional and selfless love, would receive rewards far beyond their fondest dreams. For it is through purification that we can become vehicles of immense love and intelligence, which is the very essence of our true being. It is the impurities that contradict and block Infinite love and intelligence. And it is only through complete purification that we can know who and what we truly are.
As a soiled mirror cannot reflect the sun shining upon it, neither can we reflect omnipresent Divinity, when our subconscious mind is filled with anger, resentment and fear. Mankind has no idea as to the power of love and what it can do. With enough love, there is no poverty, no sickness, no death, and no limitation, except for what we consciously impose upon ourselves. The presence of enough love solves every problem, every hurt, every limitation, and all lack. All happiness and joy are products of love, and the more love, the greater the happiness. Enough love dissolves selfishness, greed, hate, fear, limitations, and struggle. The more we love, the more the Infinite Oneness flows though us, for God is Love.
I then understood the biblical words, “Only the pure shall see God,” and I yearned for that kind of purity. My desire was and is intense and sincere. I also realized that purification is a necessary ingredient for entrance into what is called Heaven, and that only those may enter therein who have first been purified. And that place called heaven is within.
The human ego, the part of us that wallows in selfishness, vanity, lust, anger, fear and greed, and views itself as separate from the vast Oneness that is God, enters not, for it is in direct opposition to Oneness; its very nature is duality. The Oneness is singularity. And those who postpone their purification will return to this earthly life over and over until they achieve the destined purity. I also learned that those who desire the greater purification shall have the assistance of God’s mightiest messengers and, if necessary, legions of angelic beings. I saw that the ultimate purification is the ultimate destiny of human evolution and this must be accomplished before one is conquered by the last enemy, death.1 For, after death, little progress is made, and one must come back and try again. I also knew that true purification was a great work and could take lifetimes to accomplish and I had better waste no more time. I understood the words, “That which you sow is that which you shall reap.” Life was to teach me the true meaning of those words. Later I would begin to uncover the hates and angers within me and along with it came the memories of how I created them.
Even though this knowledge of purification has been available for thousands of years, and was emphasized by Jesus Himself, only a few seem to grasp its significance. Only a few have been strong enough to make use of it, for indeed, it is in direct conflict with man’s lusts, appetites, and desires, which are all concepts of separation; the human ego, which knows only separation. That has to be conquered. The ego is death itself.
Divine Love offers divine benefits, while man’s lusts, desires, and appetites offer only temporal pleasure, well-mixed with pain and suffering. I have also learned that Love and joy are the natural antidotes that relieve the limitation associated with pain, fear, and suffering. As light dispels darkness, so does Love and joy dispel suffering. When Love and joy are expressed, there is no consciousness of suffering. I also learned that the greatest gift we can ever have is to love others, for there is no earthly pleasure that compares with true love, and the greatest gift we can give others is to love them, for love is the ultimate joy in all things and all doings. Love is also the greatest healer.
I have come to realize that the greatest gift we can ever receive is to be able to love others and the greatest gift we can give others is to love them unconditionally. We should love our so-called enemies, if for no other reason but for the pure joy of loving. And as light dispels darkness, so also does purity and love dispel evil and suffering, and purity is unconditional love for everyone and everything.
I listened to Her words and was then allowed to ask questions. My first question was: “Were the words written in this little booklet, the Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ the actual words of Jesus?” Her answer: “With the exception of a few translation errors, those words are the words of Jesus, and are true.”
About then, I strongly desired that White Crow see and experience this; though I found it difficult to move, I managed to jab him in the back with my elbow. He awoke and rolled over. I found that I couldn’t talk, and he rolled back over on his side. I jabbed him harder ï€ oops, a little too hard ï€ right on his backbone. He turned over and said, “Rich! Why did you do that?” I struggled to talk, and finally managed to utter the words: “Crow, look above the tent!” He uttered a cry of astonishment, for he also clearly saw Her wondrous presence and felt her endless love and compassion. It is always more enjoyable to share these experiences with another. For about 30 minutes we talked, and for those 30 minutes, we were filled with an essence of such love that it made all things on Earth seem small and insignificant in comparison.
When our conversation was nearly complete, She asked me to include this experience in the next publication of my book. A fear arose that this would inhibit sales of the book. I struggled with it for a moment, and then replied that I would do so. Then She said that She would come again. She then began to arise and shine. She ascended straight up, and, as She did, She grew in size and brilliancy. The higher She rose, the larger and brighter She became. By the time She reached the top of the mountain’s multiple peaks, She seemed to be over 500 feet tall. Strangely, Her pure, white light formed a golden radiance, which lit up the entire valley almost as though it were day.
There are those who walk physically on Earth and yet live in a “Heaven on Earth.” They are masters of themselves, because they conquered the human ego of selfishness and all its contaminants. They have become individualized focal points of the Oneness of all life ï€ Love. They all teach that it is not “i” ï€ the little i (the human ego) ï€ that accomplishes this exalted state of Love, but rather the Divine Self that some call Spirit ï€ that part of our inner nature which knows its Oneness with all life. True freedom is obtained only at the point where the human ego lets go. The crucifixion is but a symbol in which man’s ego surrenders and remains in a fixed state; a temple of God, and then the Divine, or Christ, takes full control.
It was made crystal clear that all the study and learning one could do amounted to nothing when compared to the need to purify the mind, feeling, habits and bodies, which are an extension of our consciousness. And it is for that reason that we cleanse our physical form, as our subconscious is constantly oozing into our so-called physical structure. This is the primary cause of so called disease. It is only through purification of our inner consciousness, the subconscious mind, that one may obtain divine wisdom and love, for how can anyone comprehend love when they are filled with anger, hate and fear? But eventually, these dark thoughts, from the pain they inflict, will eventually put us on the path of love. All these things are possible for mortal man when he purifies. The full power of love can only function efficiently through a pure temple. The full power of Christ would disintegrate an impure body. Those millions-no, billions of mortal men and women expecting to find heaven upon death are in for a rude awakening. Jesus said, “Ye must be perfect before you enter the kingdom of heaven”. Contrary to popular Christian belief, He meant exactly what He said.
It is my hope that regardless of people’s religious beliefs, that they will be encouraged by these words to strive for truth, love, and purity. I have attempted to show that it does not pay to create inharmonious thoughts and feelings, and that the only sensible use of our energy is to love. Each time we remove a dark thought or feeling, we are a little closer to greater love, better health, and achieving our greater potential. The purification that I am talking about isn’t removing mucoid plaque. My intestinal cleanse is only a tool, although a good one.
After this astounding encounter, three days went by, and it was the sixth day of our fast, when we awoke and I felt that a shift had occurred. It no longer felt right to continue fasting. I expressed my feeling to my white-bird friend, and he expressed his feelings too: “Rich, I wanted to quit on the second day and you talked me out of it. Now I want to keep going with this. I’m not stopping.”
“Crow,” I said, “it isn’t that I want to break the fast. We have gone through the worst part and the best is just ahead, but something deep inside tells me that we must stop for reasons I do not understand. Let’s go take a bath and maybe we can get some answer on this.” We crawled into the icy river, floated downstream, hiked back up and repeated the plunge again until we were so cold our bodies began to turn blue; but our energy increased and we could think more clearly. Then we waded out to the island, sat on the sand just where the water met from both sides of the island, and there we meditated and received our answer.
We hiked out the next day with great difficulty. It was a very steep climb and we had very little to eat, and in some places the slope was almost vertical. When we were about three-quarters of the way up the mountain, we stopped to rest. Crow took off his pack and balanced it upright on the edge of the trail; it was sitting in a rather precarious position. We plopped into a patch of wild currants and blueberries. Our appetites were screaming. Suddenly, Crow’s pack tilted and began to roll down the mountain. I thought, “Oh no, it will take hours to get it back, and neither one of us has the energy.” Crow quickly stood up and commanded his pack to stop. The slope was about a 60-degree angle, but to my absolute surprise, it stopped.
This experience did not come about just because we had been physically cleansing our bodies. Far more important than that was how we had been cleansing the mind, feelings and subconscious. Imperfect thoughts, feelings, habits, addictions and negative experience of the past had been in the process of being brought up from the subconscious and transformed. But there was still much work that had to be done and we were determined to persevere!
Rich Anderson