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Renewal in Athens

A month ago, I sat in my home outside of San Francisco and contemplated the significance of the places I had been and the people I had met in my recent travels. That previous month had been a whirlwind journey around the globe. Jason warned me that there would be a lot of travel, yet I did not anticipate the extraordinary experiences that would accompany it.

When I first arrived back from Egypt, I was a confused mess. I was all at once overtired, excited, and stunned. I wondered what in the world all of these experiences meant. Where was the pattern? Most importantly, I wondered what should I do next?

 

Over the next few days, I began to sort out my experiences. Working my way backwards in time, I came up with a few observations, which I wrote down as follows:

-In Paris I met Jason, my old college friend, who brought me there so that I could participate in marketing a web site to broadcast information about a mysterious new program his company was developing. He also explained to me how many years ago he had a mystical experience watching The Wizard of Oz in which he realized God. Most startling of all was the fact that when I mentioned the Growth Online web -- which I learned about from a mysterious woman I met earlier in San Francisco -- he told me that he was the owner and developer of that very site. This was a coincidence beyond belief.

-In Bangalore, Satish brought me to the bank of programmers who were working on Excalibur, OzCom’s personal growth application that morphed itself into a program that showed an innate ability to evoke sudden good fortune from the surroundings -- a capacity previously thought only possible by humans.

-At the pyramids, I met a woman named Francine, who was a tour guide and belonged to a sisterhood who were attempting a form of physical transformation. When I told her about Jason’s personal growth program Excalibur, she was eager for members to use it so that they could develop the right consciousness that would serve as the foundation for their attempt at the physical change. She was also interested in the many consciousness-changing articles that were offered at the Growth Online web site.

As I reviewed these events, I tried to find a common thread, but alas, I came up with nothing. After considering the matter from several angles, I finally threw up my arms and allowed things to take their own course. With the limited information I had at my disposal, it just seemed impossible at this point to make sense of it all.

 

A day after jotting down these thoughts on a yellow legal pad and then typing it into my computer, I decided to take some time off. Since it was the Christmas/New Year holiday season, I decided to go into the city, look at the holiday storefronts, and do some shopping.

When I arrived, I realized that I missed the magical-like displays that used to adorn the windows at Gumps near Union Square -- though I had found a lovely one that had a miniature town of little houses, people and other figurines in the lobby of the vast, hallowed out, ultra-modern Hyatt Regency.

And so Sushan and I wandered though the huge, dense crowds in Union Square, and saw the big Christmas tree and Chanukah menorah in the center of the square. We also enjoyed the large choir that gathered ever year amidst the palm trees in the refurbished quad, where they sang Handel’s Messiah, as well as librettos and arias from a variety of Italian operas.

 

At one point, we walked into a charming little shop that had many of the same winter-scene figurines we saw earlier at the hotel. Then something interesting happened. When I reached out to touch one of them, I felt a thump from behind, and went sprawling forward, nearly knocking over the delicate display.

"What the hell...." I shouted out. Then I turned around, and found myself face to face with a woman who was desperately apologizing for what had just occurred.

As I muttered, "That's ok, that's ok" I suddenly realized who this person was: it was the the wise woman I met months earlier at the Embarcadero who gave me the card for Growth Online!

She gave me an ironic smile, and then let out a hearty laugh.

"Well, well, we meet again!"

 

A few moments later, we all sat together in silence in a little coffee shop between Neiman Marcus and Macy's.

Then I looked at the woman with the weather-beaten, yet serene face and spoke. The first thing I mentioned was that I had so many things to say, and didn't know where to begin: that ever since our first meeting, so many fantastic things had occurred.

I then settled down and began my narrative describing in detail recent events. Throughout my statement, she remained silent -- fully absorbed in what I had to say. I don’t think she looked askance even once.

When I finished with my experiences at the pyramids -- including the meeting with Francine, and her description of the Sisterhood -- there was another pregnant silence. Then this woman with the compassionate face looked down, shook her head, took a deep breath, and smiled mischievously at me. It was the same look she gave me just before she hurried off to the Ferry building to head out across the bay.

"Your experiences are really astonishing. It is so wonderful that ..."

Suddenly her voice trailed off in mid-sentence.

"What is it? Is something the matter," I said.

"Well I have something to tell you. I'm not sure you are going to believe this."

"What is it?"

“I have a daughter. She is half-American, half Chinese. She is a member of the Sisterhood you have just described.”

 

Six weeks later, I found myself sitting in a cramped hotel room in Athens recalling those startling words.

As I gazed out of my hotel window, I saw the Acropolis in the distance. As I watched it float blue-like atop the beautiful hill it sat upon, I still could not make sense of it all. The endless procession of coincidences and events. The startling connections and associations. The purpose of Excalibur. What my role was in the project. And on and on.

Feeling more confused than ever, yet at the same time elated at these unprecedented events in my life, I turned away from the window, and let out another deep sigh. I then looked down and noticed the mess of papers strewn across my bureau. I picked up one of the short reports that I had written, and then half-consciously flipped through the sheets, before returning to the bay window. There I looked out at the Grecian islands in the far distance, now bathed in a misty pale blue light. I then turned back again, and all at once remembered why I was in Athens.

 

In turns out that Jason has arranged for all of us to meet at the Acropolis that very afternoon at 1 PM.

I looked at my watch and my heart started racing. It was now 12:30. I only had a half hour to get up the hill.

I then hurriedly showered and got dressed. When I looked in the mirror, I thought to myself that I did not know what to expect from the meeting. All I knew was that Satish and Francine would be there, and that Jason would be demonstrating our mysterious program -- a preview of the big public presentation that would follow in the US.