My Journey to Shambhala

This time I had no doubt.

This is the last sentence in the book The Secret of Shambhala: In Search of the Eleventh Insight by James Redfield, which I had read right before I started the first chapter. It was an eerie coincidence. Right after I bought the book, I was in doubt if it was worth my money. That last sentence was a signal to a new adventure ahead of me. But after reading it all, it was way beyond. And it really transformed my life.

A new fountain of knowledge had drowned me to infinity but unable to quench my existential thirst, which led me to begin my journey to Shambhala, the renowned eden of the Tibetan Buddhist lore. It is said to be the place where people are in harmonious co-existence, and building up the possibility of the future of humanity. Learning this, Redfield's novel became my transcendent portal to Shambhala. It tells the synchronicity-propelled adventures of a nameless character. Nameless he is, for the author wants every reader to personify oneself as the character. I became the nameless, for my spiritual understanding was still unclear at the time I read this book. My life's milestones had yet to clarify their purposes.

But the journey was not easy. Life has always challenged me. I struggled with my turbulent emotions. I once wanted to become a robot, free from all sufferings and pains. I lived in anger and fear, sharing the setbacks of the nameless protagonist. My past, present, and future concerns were badly entangled. Yet my spiritual fervor had remained. I must arrive in Shambhala, whatever obstacles may lie ahead.

Despite the perilous journey, I have learned a great deal of wisdom. Going to Shambhala taught me the power of thoughts, which when harnessed with faith, transforms into a prayer. It came to my sense the very principle that operates behind the strange prayers of different religions and traditions, the principle that designs all man-made objects, or why prophets are able to act through divine will. It shows interaction of energy systems of all livings and non-livings, harmonizing with the laws of nature and affecting existence of this reality.

Like the protagonist, I have found the utopia of Shambhala, but in the cold, highest peaks of my bewildering life questions. There lies a pristine, warm paradise of intuitive wisdom, the mysterious Divinity which I experience through the most mundane word we have ever known: Love. In the book, it is conveniently called the fields of intentions. Yes, it can be a deceptive term, yet the truth of Love exudes from any kind of experience, such as intentions. A prayer, which is always a positive thought, empowers who ever receives and gives it. This is intention, and its power is unmistakable. The Loving, intentional thought can literally transform curses into blessings. And I have seen this working in my life, and how it has permeated and unfolded in every religious tradition. It is because in a hindsight, Love not merely permeates all, for all things in its true, pure nature, are tangible Love.

Now, I have grounded my practice of calming the mind and sending intentions of Loving-kindness as the essence of prayer power. In reading books on teachings of Love, my growing awareness has elucidated the questions that confounded me for years. With newfound friends who are on the same journey, I have seen my goal the same as theirs and those in Shambhala: to integrate the spiritual truths of all religions. That is, whatever differences in doctrines or rituals, they all hold the same purpose, which is to unite with the Divine source. I have seen that this is more than just interfaith. The goal of all religion is to live out the universal virtue all humans ultimately want to achieve: Love.

These interconnections of synchronicities, prayer fields, and new spirituality are part of a never-ending journey of unfolding the secret. Life for me is no more routine and confining. Arriving in Shambhala is being in the process: to learn and to integrate Love as the deepest spiritual truth that humanity has been learning ever seen.

This time I have no more doubts.