Wandering.

I wanna go on an adventure. One day I will. Just like that freakin old monotonous professor, Chuck Vanpatten.

He wanted to connect spiritually with God so much that he placed himself under extreme stress in the form of the wilderness. I want to follow that. If I can't leave the comfort of my home for a week or two for God, I would consider myself a coward. Seclusion, hunger, and the merciless wrath of the elements grinding me down until I am left raw and completely bare. Exposed for God to see me, in my most basic form. And then I can truly speak to Him. I can truly be at one with God and His creations. I can realize the gifts that He's bestowed upon me since my birth and share my experience with those who haven't yet seen this beauty.

I want to achieve that. So this is my proposition.

Maybe not now, or any time soon, but I want to make a pact with a group of people who are willing to do this with me in the future, and we'll all promise, and get ready to go someday. Not anytime soon, maybe even in a few years, but we have to make this pact and when the time gets closer, we'll know where to contact each other.

I don't mean we're going to be together on this expedition, it's not a camping trip, it's not for fun. We'll all go into an area of complete wilderness, with no form of civilization whatsoever, and we'll separate from each other completely. So we'll be in the same general area, but not within sight or hearing range of each other. And during this time, probably five days to a week, we will meditate and pray, and contemplate our existence. And through all of this thinking and praying, and with the wilderness and discomfort surrounding us, we'll be able to connect with God like we never could before, sitting at home, or at YFC retreats even.

The point of this pact is to solidify determination in actually going out and having this trip. In completing this quest. I don't care if you're from a different cluster, or different area. Anyone can make this promise with me.

Just so you understand what I'm talking about, I'll repeat Vanpatten's story that he told to his World Religions class.

So basically, Vanpatten, when he was young, about nineteen or twenty, wanted to have a vision. Common sense and studies show that the people who actually have had visions were under either the influence of hallucinogens (drugs), or under extreme physical stress. For example, Moses, when he received the vision of the burning bush, he had been in the mountains searching for the lost lamb. Jesus, when he had his conversations with God on the mountain, had fasted for 40 days.

Now, of course, atheists and such would acclimate these visions to be hallucinations, due to the stress occurring physically to the body, in that it would change something in the brain chemistry, and that might be so, but it also depends on the person who actually had the vision. It's up to you if you want to believe what you saw.

Now, Vanpatten didn't want to take drugs, for fear of committing accidental suicide, whether by jumping off of a building while under the influence, or overdosing, and so instead, he spoke to a man who knew about attaining visions. The man told him exactly what he needed to do.

Vanpatten went backpacking in the summertime in a forest covered region. He fasted for two days, eating absolutely nothing. Then he went to a natural pool of glacier water, and sat cross-legged and naked in the sun on a rock. There, he meditated for hours until his body was burning from the heat of the summer sun pounding down on him, and then he jumped into the freezing cold water of the melted glacier. He repeated this process over and over until he had an out of body experience.

He sat on the rock, meditating, when his spirit was lifted out of his physical body. He watched himself sitting on the rock as he ascended into the air, weightless. He could feel the wind on his face as he soared skyward, until all that he could see of himself was a tiny speck sitting on the rock. Then he thought he should go back to his body before his spirit trailed too far away, and as soon as that thought hit him, his spirit descending back into his body and he felt himself return to his physical being.

These kinds of experiences require courage and determination. And for God, I will not be a coward, and I will not be lazy. If no one is willing to come with me, I can go alone, but it would be more fun to have others feel the same way that I do about this. I mean, it's nothing official, or whatever. It's just a little oath between friends and fellow children of God, that we're gonna do this, no matter what, even if we have to put it off for years.

And it doesn't even have to be a one time thing, we can do it more than once, and with new people each time. I just want to know if anybody is down with this idea. Just tell people about it, if you really want to do this. I know I do. And I will, some day, but it'd be nice if other people join me.

Yeah, that's it. Peace out.

-Bam.