Giza On The Hudson

It was an August night, the night after I got back from my whirlwind trip to Switzerland before heading off to Egypt. Admittedly it was a highly unlikely combination. Switzerland was squeaky clean, incredibly vegetated and scenic like no other place on Earth. Egypt was quite the opposite, hot, sand, sand and more sand. The only place to escape sand was in the incomparable museums which were like none other on Earth. It was 1987 and the dates for my trip had been predetermined long before my awareness of a phenomena known as The Harmonic Convergence. This event had the Pyramids of Giza listed as being one its key sites. Gatherers at Giza and other sacred sites worldwide believed that a rare planetary alignment was occurring that would amplify spiritual energy and usher in a new era of global consciousness and harmony. Once in Egypt, hearing about it sent a wave of inter-planetary excitement through me. That wave was instantly flattened when I noticed that my plane back to the States departed on the day that the said event was set to occur. Oops!--just another unparalleled life experience missed by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin! Dang!

Back in Riverdale, N.Y., I was bedded down for the night in my apartment on the 16th fl. that overlooked the fabulous Hudson River. My main objective that evening was to level out some of the jet-lag and rid myself of stomach flutters that might have been something left over from the not-so-fabulous Egyptian cuisine. Thoughts of missing out on The Harmonic Convergence vexed me. I should have picked up on that. I should have been made aware of it through the grapevine of the holistic community that I ran with. Oh well. Time for sleep. Sweet, sweet sleep—it's my favorite.

Suddenly something strange—what was this—a lucid dream? What was this feeling? What, what was going on? I felt like I was floating, lifting up and out. Out where? Oh God, out of my body! POP! It was an audible sound, sort of like the opening of a champagne bottle—but slightly muted. Was it true, was I out? “Don't look down at your body!” A voice inside my head, or brain, or consciousness—what ever-- was shouting

orders. “Don't do it. You'll go right back down into it if you do.” “Now,” the voice continued. “Let's go for a little spin. Let's try out your new disembodied consciousness. Let's see. Let's try going through the wall to pay a little visit to the next door neighbor. Come on, let's give it a try.” My consciousness moved toward the wall-touching the wall. The wall stretched like a rubber mat-moving, moving through-- then---I thought. Oh maybe it isn't such a good idea to spy like this on Mr. Jessup. I sure wouldn't like it if somebody did that to me. S-N-A-P! Like an over stretched rubber band, the wall snapped shut, leaving my disembodied consciousness squarely back where it started. “You can't think things like that,” railed the voice. “You can't be passing judgement on the moment. You have to determine what you want to do and move forward. No intruding thoughts allowed! Understand?” The voice where ever it was coming from was getting so bossy.

“OK,” the voice invited. “Let's do something fun. It's late Friday night, let's go outside, see what's shakin' out in the neighborhood. First you gotta make it through your wall. Just go through the door,”coached the voice. “You just walk right through it like it isn't there. Start walking, walking—go go feel your most basic molecular level. Feel your atoms meshing first with and then passing through the atoms of the door. Keep going, don't think—do!”

There was that muted “pop” again, there I was disembodied and all outside in the hall. Everything was vibrating at a higher frequency. The lights in the hallway made the walls and all solid objects appear translucent. There was a sound to the whole scene, a sound that resembled the buzz that surrounds high power grids. Things were different-but the same, just a readjusted configuration of energies. I surmised that I had somehow hopped up into the astral plane. I knew from studying various texts on the subject that the astral plane is where consciousness, thought and emotions shape reality. What that means is, even though I'm still alive, I am invisible to everyone around me who is on the physical plane. I could be considered a warm blooded ghost, if you will. “All right self,” I said.

“Lets go have some fun!” I floated to the elevator door and was about the push the button when I realized that I didn't need to push no stinking button. I walked right through the sucker, no hitches! And who was in the elevator looking like they had somewhere to go? It was Mr. and Mrs Gerber from the 18th floor with their little scotty dog, Granger. I guessed they were taking Granger for a walk before going out. Man they were dressed to the nines. My God, they absolutely did not see me. Granger did though. He was barking like crazy at me. They couldn't figure out what he was barking at. They were trying to hush him up. Poor Granger, I didn't want to get him into trouble. I split the scene by taking a dive through the floor, and down the shaft. I beat that buggy down to the ground floor. Bye-bye Granger! POP! Well there I was in the lobby. That was slick! There was Sydney doing his doorman gig. I just whisked right on by as he helped Mrs. Greenburg with her luggage. Ta-Ta Sidney, catch ya later.

Outside everything was the same but different. I saw all the familiar buildings on the physical plane. Also there was, what can best be described as super-imposed on the buildings of the physical plane, a whole arrangement of buildings that I had never seen before. These buildings were translucent and vibrating with that same power grid sound. I could see them now because I was on the astral plane. I was vibrating at the same frequency. WOW! I had to take a look at what was going on. I saw through the windows of one particular building, something that appeared to be a fitness center. There was a different definition of fitness going on behind those walls. I could see beings in various stages of levitation. I also saw beings doing something that made them appear and then disappear. That must have been some form of rearranging anatomical atomic structure. Then there was something else going on in a space right next to the fitness center. It said it was an Art Institute. I HAD to see this! I breezed through the glass doors, at least that's what I wanted to do. Boink! Sifting through glass was not the same! Wow---it stretched around my consciousness like a plastic bag. Punch-Punch—it was like punching through an elastic diaphragm. “Yes, a diaphragm-breath with your mind,” said

bossy voice. “Quicken your frequency,” it commanded. Yes, I could only obey. I melded, mixed, merged, and...emerged...and...POP----I was in!

What went on is this place? The students were painting with light! Oh My God! They had quivers of rainbows at their fingertips. Incredible! Oh-Oh---they could see me!!! And I didn't have any clothes on! That's what I got for always sleeping in the nude! Oh, so embarrassing, what could I do? I desperately hunted for some form of camouflage. Oh look, what was this? It looked like electric ink. It looked like liquid neon for painting a neon sign that doesn't need electricity. There had to be some way to apply this so as to cover my nakedness! Ahh, there was something that looked like a brush of some sort. What did I want to paint? After some artistic consideration, I painted myself full of vines. I painted myself full of lots and lots of pretty green vines just like the ones I saw in Switzerland. Wow! I looked at myself in the magic mirror mirror that was hanging on the astral wall. I was glowing! All of this was absolutely fantastic! I couldn't keep this to myself. I had to go visit my buddy Robert, he wouldn't believe it unless he could see it. This would blow his mind! OK, Robert here I ccc--ooo--mmm--eee---------- WWWWOOOOOSSSSHHHH---dark dark dark-bang! I shot bolt upright in my bed, fully back in my body, fully back on the 16th floor of my apartment building that overlooked the fabulous Hudson River. The bedroom was pitch black. What just happened? I was sweating profusely? Man that jet lag really had me riddled. Then that bossy voice clamored inside my head. “No astral plane planning for you. Not yet, you're not at that level. You're not ready to go gallivanting through those territories to visit Robert or anyone else! Don't be greedy. Be happy and thankful to Egypt for sending you The Harmonic Convergence------------- take-out-style.”