Chapter 6
Greece
The train rolled into Greece around noon. I was ecstatic to get out of Bulgaria. I hooked up with a French-Canadian kid who had just gotten out of Rumania. Life seemed pretty harsh over there. Even worse than what I had found in Bulgaria. The poor kid had been robbed at the border by customs officials. It all sounded like one big lousy unwanted hassle. This was the Balkans. I had to constantly remind myself of this.
The long European marathon was coming to an end. I was completing the Amsterdam to Athens train circuit. My hosts in Athens had pretty much booted out most of the Grand Wizard’s followers and I was impressed by how dedicated the Greeks were to their practice. They reminded me of the Poles. They were independent thinkers and very vocal about it. A saucy Greek lady by the name of Electra helped me around the town but, for a price. She was convinced I was psychic and demanded constant insights and revelations. Electra was caught up in a lot of desire and obligation knots.
Electra was leaving her husband and seducing a young Lama, while also shooing away another young man she had once deeply loved. It was a mess and there wasn’t anything simple about it. Electra showed me some haunting photos of her dead parents. They were a tragic couple who had loved one another deeply. I could see this clearly. Their age difference had been wide and I started to get this creepy feeling. It didn’t help that Electra was strongly attracted to me. She was curious about Summer and demanded to see her photographs. “Oh, she’s so white and frail,” Electra shouted, almost as if threatened. “Oh, she’s so interested in you! I can see this .... and you seem to be interested in her.” Electra was examining a photo of Summer and me standing near the Hrad, our last photo as a matter of fact. “Why are you interested in this holy vampire?” Electra teased. I was shocked by Electra’s remark. I said nothing. “Oh, don’t worry, you’ll meet again,” Electra reassured me in a soothing tone. “She loves you, I can see this, and you love her.” Electra sighed with envy. I felt sad and wanted to comfort her, but didn’t know how.
There was another interesting woman at the center. She was a lay Lama of Greek-Italian origin who had completed a three-year retreat and had lived in Germany for many years. Her name was Marlena and she had quite a sense of humor. “Oh, you know those Germans .... get them excited about something and they go crazy. Hitler was a demon and he had witch-doctors as assistants. You know those Bonpos .... and all these new Nazis coming back in new bodies. You know, all those young and stupid kids. They’re just the old ones coming back in new bodies. Everybody wants to get out of Germany now.” Marlena started laughing. She was very attractive in her own way, with her dark hair, white skin and buxom features. Marlena was also a former pop singer who had cut a few records, but was now broke.
Greece, what an expensive tourist trap it was. Electra left me in front of the Acropolis. The teeming tourist hordes turned the sacred place into a zoo. I gazed down at the smog-filled streets of Athens. It was breathtaking. The poor Greeks, they were well-educated hustlers caught between two dangerous vortices. I was about to leave one and enter the other. Pujas were essential to calm this madness, but I myself was going mad now. I got lost in the labyrinthine streets of Athens. I had no money and no food, and no map. I had left everything at the center. I started losing my temper and began shouting in the streets. I was suffering from terrible WHITE STRESS. Summer’s energy started coming up. It always did when I was in trouble. I felt desperately that I needed to make a commitment to her and to let her know it. I had kissed Summer good-bye only a month ago, but it seemed like a billion years had raced by. It was time to make more offerings. The Balkans was suffering from a moral and spiritual breakdown.
I took a bus to Sunion to give offerings at the collapsed temple of Poseidon. The nagas, the local water spirits, did not resist me. Summer’s energy was particularly strong here. Alignment and release was a perpetual process here and everywhere. Constant purification was needed to transcend all this. It was unavoidable. The non-stop stress of constant pilgrimage was accelerating this process. It was important to make offerings on a regular basis and to recite long-life prayers so that the heavies would keep coming back to us in forms that we could recognize. Like in human bodies. I needed to take a rest. The Greeks were getting on my nerves. Most of them were crooks, and I was too exhausted and worn out to resist them.
Back at the center, I met a young and terribly handsome Greek botanist who was trying to learn Tibetan. This handsome young man saw a deep unity between the mind and the body it was attached to. He had studied Ayurveda and ancient Greek medicine. Now I was getting a refresher course on what really mattered as far as genuine healing was concerned. Every individual constitution was based on a unique mix of humors. Life-style, environment, and diet were pretty critical. In addressing individual balance, preparation of herbs was also important. The ancient Greeks had dream temples and highly trained priests, who were masters at interpreting dreams and giving meditation instructions to their spiritual patients. The ancient tradition was now lost. The Greek mysteries were orally transmitted and highly secret. Nothing was written down. The preparation of herbal mixes was a lost art. “Hypocrites talked only about ethics and medical theory,” the young botanist lamented. I felt sad. Holistic medicine had been big in the old days. The Second Wave had destroyed this interest like a huge truck tire trampling on a fragile and perishable flower. “It is all gone .... only scraps remain,” further volunteered the young botanist. Yet from my own experience I knew there was more to all this. How the earth and plants affected the bodymind was important. But, how mind affected itself and other minds, was really where it was at, as far as I was concerned. The young botanist was not really ready for this. You needed a spiritual practice. To the Tibetans and ancient Greeks medicine and religion were one. The gods represented cosmic energies and the mind pujas brought them out. It was all just mind energies aligning and releasing in a complex dance based on simple laws. So simple that they were difficult to master. I decided to take yet another tedious bus expedition, this time to Delphi.
I arrived in Delphi late at night and jumped over the shuttered gates to get a closer look at the ruins and do puja without fear of being disturbed by the tourist hordes and their secret eruptions. It was POWERFUL. The locals responded and Summer’s energy surged here. The stars were out in force. Goat bells twinkled in the distance. I knew this was SACRED GROUND. It was the home of Apollo. It was the home of the goddess. The energies were overwhelming and I felt squeezed like a lemon. Electra’s comment about Summer being a holy vampire haunted my every thought. Was Summer really a vampire? And was this vampire turning into a glorious angel? I pressed my body to the sacred ground and surrendered. After awhile, I got up and jumped back out of the temple enclosure. A young security guard on a motor bike caught me and threatened to take me to the police, but he let me go when he saw I was just some meditation weirdo. The lesson in all this was to respect the local protectors! This was important. It really was. I went to sleep. It had been a good night.
Delphi in the morning was magnificent. I gave multiple offerings and asked for guidance from the locals about what to do about Summer. The locals screamed their support. The clouds and sun fought for control of the sky all day. The energies seemed sinister and provocative. The Greeks were burning weeds near the temple of Athena. The acrid smoke howled at the trees and mountains. I visited the stadium and theater. Sad and nostalgic memories of Jim flooded my mind. I was lost in delusion. I dreamed about taking Summer to India. I was lost in confusion. I looked down at the glorious valley supporting the temple complex and I shuddered. I knew overwhelmingly that the gods were making some kind of momentous decision. A big sacrifice was coming. This was the price of this NEW ALIGNMENT. There would be no arguing about it and no bargaining. This was IT too. The IT that had so many faces.
Back at the center, I was finding it hard to get a ride to Pireus. Money was going fast in the Greek vortex. I yanked and slapped at myself for coming to this aggravating land. Electra had flaked out and gone North. I called the saintly and fun-loving Marlena but I just struck out here too. “I don’t know why Electra is being such a shit,” I groaned to Marlena on the phone. “Oh, she’s just jealous. All Greek women are crazy. She hates it that your friend is so much younger and so much more beautiful. It also drives her wild how deeply and selflessly you love her. THAT REALLY GETS HER!” laughed Marlena. “Look at me, I’m married and my husband is on retreat a lot. There were times when I couldn’t bear the thought of him being away from me for even ONE SECOND. Now I’m getting used to it. OUCH!” I could hear Mary Angela yelling at her brat not to pull her hair. I was touched and amused. “I’ll tell Mikis to help you find a taxi.” Mary Angela hung up.
Mikis was this runt-looking little guy with a wheezy laugh who was on bad terms with both warring camps. He seemed to be an indecisive straddler who liked people too much. This little guy had a heart of gold and often bought me food even though he was unemployed and running out of money. Mikis eased my passage to Pireus with his nervous humor and steady hand. The baby buggy with all my luggage was now starting to collapse.
I was finally leaving Europe. I said good-bye to Mikis and boarded my ship to Israel. I was escorted to my cabin and I quickly set up an altar. I asked for protection and blessings from the nagas and gurus. I asked this for Summer as well. A beautiful Israeli security guard scrutinized my passport. “Why do you have a Jordanian visa?” she barked. “I’ve got a flight to India from Amman,” I replied in HEBREW. The gorgeous blonde was startled. “Aren’t you afraid to go there?” “No,” I said. I was firm. “Have a nice trip,” she said looking at me with longing and gentle curiosity.
I lay down in my cabin and waited for the boat to set sail. I could feel the waves gently hitting and slapping the ship’s belly. I closed my eyes and dreamed about Delphi.
Jupiter as seen from Delphi:
Jupiter is a planet for abstract artists: nothing but plumes, streaks, swirls, bands, loops, spots, and patches, running from white through all browns to bright orange, all in perpetual tumult. Earth aside, it’s the liveliest place in the solar system. Jupiter is bulky, frothy, and changeable. If Earth fell into Jupiter’s red spot it would look like a baseball vanishing into a wishing well. Some could argue that Jupiter is not even a planet, but a star. Jupiter is complex enough to merit this distinction. Jupiter is a mini solar system in its own right with dozens of moons to entertain it. Jupiter generates twice as much energy than it receives from the sun. Jupiter is a near-miss, no more phrases, just cries, cries and down to BEEP! and up to “EEEEE” and down to clinkers and over sideways, echoing horizontal sounds.
The horizontal sound:
The boat finally set sail. Sea-sickness and an unknown dread plagued me. I sat on my glasses and broke an arm. I did a quick repair job with masking tape, but it didn’t look very good. I sensed Summer was in trouble, and I had a nightmare. I could see Summer, but couldn’t help her, nor could I talk to her. I was paralyzed. Worry and fatigue weighed me down. I was on a dangerous passage back to my past. I was going through this water bardo. I climbed up on deck and was temporarily healed by the intense blue surf. My money was getting tighter and tighter. I could see on the cable TV screen that Europe was getting colder and colder. I thought about Summer and imagined her freezing in the cold Czech winter. I felt her cold hands and feet. It felt horrible. Here I was enjoying warm and glorious weather. The Mediterranean was peaceful and inviting. Islands dotted its landscape like friendly sentries.
I got off at Rhodes for a few minutes to use up the last minute of my Greek telephone card. I rustled Maxim out of bed. He sounded depressed and exhausted. “Howya do’n?” I excitedly asked. I heard nothing but mumbles. “Didya get my letters?” More mumbles. “Whaddya think about Summer?” I eagerly inquired. “I think she’s tender,” Maxim commented, but in a strange kind of alien tone. “I’m gonna need more money,” I warned. “MIKE!” Maxim screamed. The phone went dead. I ran back to the ship. This was it! A new continent was waiting for me. EUR was finished and ASIA was looming. The boat stopped off at Cyprus and then arrived at Haifa in the morning.
