level 8: presence

For many seasons, coming on this waterfall adventure, the top of level seven was as far as I reached. And there were two reasons, really. Firstly, I was enchanted by the beauty of the waterfall there. It's so beautiful, there's really no incentive to move from that spot. And this is often the way on the spiritual journey. We have some realisation, some opening, and we find ourself in a place that is so blissful, so joyful, the feeling is, this is it, I've arrived, I need to go no further. And yet, in truth, life does have more to offer.

But the other reason I often stopped at level seven was, it seemed there was no way on. It looked impossible. And as I mentioned in one of the other episodes, sometimes the impossible becomes possible, but it needs to somehow happen in our head first. And as it was, I had been looking at the way, often. It involves swimming or wading through the deep pool, at the base of the waterfall; padding up some steepening slabs; and then making some rather delicate exposed steps up onto an upper area of the slabs, now with a lot of exposure. And there one can work one's way up, possibly using the odd handhold in a deep crack, where the slab meets an overhanging rock. Thus one reaches a small corner: vertical, but with a few holds. This time I had to pull some dry grass out of some of the holds – seems like nobody's been up here for a while. It may be that nobody else ever comes up here. I've never been up here with anyone else. And I've never seen anyone else up here.

This transition, from level seven to level eight, is one of the most difficult and dangerous sections in the whole adventure. It's no wonder it took me a long time to find the courage, and find the route. And conditions have to be just right. The rock is dry today – that at least makes it possible. Even so, I could feel that slight tremble in my being – in my legs, in my arms – and that's not good when climbing. It demanded me to bring all my awareness into the present moment. And that's why I've called this level eight presence.

Rock climbing, without ropes especially, demands this presence. It forces it upon us. But presence is also what we're looking for on the spiritual journey: to be wholly aware of the present moment, of our immediate surroundings, of the field we find ourself in right now, here. And this is what this section of rock climbing has done for me. It's brought me back into a state of presence. And even after that last difficult corner, it wasn't quite over: there are some more slabs, including one delicate step up, before one can relax a little.

And here I am now, in the beginning of level eight. It's a magical place, full of mystery. A moment ago, there was an eagle flying overhead. And as I looked at her, I felt, yes, this is your space and I am a visitor here. And in a way, on the spiritual journey, this is how we come to feel about life. We are a visitor, on this beautiful planet, in this beautiful body, with this amazing experience. And I'm thankful for it.

I've come a little further up, level eight, just another twenty metres or so. And now I'm standing on an amazing tree trunk. It's been here for years. It's quite large – it must be a Himalayan pine, I think. I can see some high on the slopes, on the side of the mountain above me. And this tree trunk, it lies across boulders, and I could clamber up the boulders. But this tree trunk offers an easier way: I can simply walk up it.

It feels like a gift, like sometimes we find ourselves with on the spiritual journey. Things have been going rather hard, it looks like we've got more difficult work ahead, and then some unexpected gift comes and makes the journey a little bit easier, for a short while at least. I don't know how many more years this tree trunk will be here. Every time I come, it's a little bit more rotten. It creaks, and pieces break off. But it's a joy to walk up it.

And now I'm more or less at the top of level eight. And this is another place where, many times, I got stuck. I tried many different routes, including a rather scrappy way off to one side, which didn't work out in the end. And eventually, one season, I managed to climb very directly, in the beautiful waterfall here. It's a cascade over some very smooth rocks, a short steep section. But that year, there was a strategically placed boulder, and I managed to find a little finger crack, to pull myself up in the water. And since then, I've not managed to repeat that.

But I have found another way, off to the side. This is just the beginning of the transition from level eight to level nine. But I think I'll give it a try today. The sun is still shining. I think I have enough energy left. Let's see what happens.

I'll include this little section in level eight of the waterfall. But really, I'm a third of the way up the transition from level eight to level nine. But this first section of the transition does feel like a warm-up, really.

I've traversed out to the left slightly from the water, crawling underneath a shrub with low hanging branches that always scratch me. And then delicately tiptoeing through some vegetation: there are stingy nettles and brambles, and bear in mind that my footwear has long since been left behind, back in level four. And actually, I've been climbing naked for quite a while now.

And then I had to work up some very steep, grassy covered rocks. Here the rocks, I think, would be unclimbable without the vegetation. But there are tufts of grass, just enough. I grab handfuls of grass, and also stand on it, and work my way up a few metres by that means. And then traverse across more sloping, grassy rock.

It has brought me to a lovely spot. It's at the top of a little cascade, a mossy cascade. And there's also a beautiful pool here – it makes me want to jump in. At the same time, I don't want to cool off too much, because I know what's coming. And that is, the rest of the transition into the next level, which I'll talk about in the next episode...if I make it up there.