Marlo Morgan was, in a sense, shanghaied into a 4-month walkabout
across Australia with an aboriginal tribe, who, like the Hopi of
Four Corners and the Kogi of the Andes, are adhering to the sacred
ways of living they were taught thousands of years ago and view
themselves as one of the "stakes" that holds the world in place.
Morgan is a health professional, a chiropractor, I believe, and she
was invited to go to Australia to work on a health project. As a
side line, she got involved with a group of Aborigines and used her
business acumen to help them start a business, which they did with good
success.
One day she was in a tea shop waiting for a friend who failed to
show up. The shop happened to have fortune tellers available, in
which she was not interested, but suddenly a young man sat down at
her table and said he would read her palm and proceeded to do so
before she could say much. He told her that she had come to
Australia to fulfill an agreement with another soul made at the
highest level of her eternal self before her birth. They were born
at the same instant on opposite sides of the world. They agreed
not to seek each other out until 50 years had passed. It was now
time, and there would be instant recognition on a soul level.
He got up and walked away, leaving her speechless. She told the
friend she had planned to meet, who had been detained, and the
latter, curious, went to seek out the young man for a reading the
next day. She was told there had not been any fortune tellers on
duty the previous day, and that they had no male adepts anyway.
Not long after, Marlo received a phone call from an Aborigine tribe
on the other side of Australia requesting that she come to a
meeting there. She assumed (and she's quite humorous telling about
her assumptions) that she was being invited to an award banquet for
her good works. So she bought herself a fancy new outfit and got
on a jet. The Aboriginal who picked her up was dressed in torn
cut-offs and t-shirt and driving an open jeep - not what she had
expected, but, oh well. He wasn't too talkative, and they drove
and drove, finally leaving the city behind and heading for the
desert, then turning off the road to follow no road over bumps and
ditches. Four hours after they left, he stopped at a corrugated
tin shack where two Aboriginal women were tending a fire (in the
100o heat). She was told she must be "cleansed" and to take off
all her clothes and put on what looked like a rag. She did as she
was told (this gal gets full credit for "going with the flow"),
but then was told it wasn't enough - they meant everything -
underwear, high heels, jewelry, bobby pins. Then the women
smudged her, and she was ready to go to the ceremony. As she
started to follow the interpreter (he was the only one who spoke
English), one of the women picked up all her belongings, looked her
right in the eye, smiled, and dropped them in the fire. Marlo
somehow maintained her cool, madly figuring out that her airline
ticket and other clothes were at the hotel and she could somehow
manage to walk through the lobby in her rag.
Then she was taken around to the inside of the hut, where 62 tribe
members sat quietly. She was introduced to the chief, and had an
immediate feeling of recognition and familiarity. They then
proceeded to perform a ceremony of which she understood nothing -
just did as she was told.
Finally, it was over, and everyone started filing out into the
desert leaving her standing there. The interpreter told her to
come. She said, "where?" and he said they were going on a
walkabout; they were going to walk across Australia. She said that
was a very nice invitation, and she'd like to take him up on it
someday, but now was not convenient. He said she had passed the
test, that he was unable to express what a great honor that was,
and that she must come.
Technically, she could've gotten in the jeep, but as she had no idea
where she was, that seemed suicidal.
So she spent 4 months walking across Australia in 110-130o heat with
very little water, dining on grubs, worms, reptiles, ants, seeds, nuts and
whatever else they happened to find. And they taught her. They are the
most spiritual people *I* have heard described. They call themselves
the Real People and named her "Mutant," which is how they view
non-Aborigines, but without being judgmental. They think the mutant
way of life is crazy (and who could disagree?) but they believe
everything is for a purpose and everyone is on his own journey. She
said they were absolutely fearless because they had no fear of death, due
to their absolute certainty that death does not exist, that time spent here
is only one leg of the journey. They were also very joyful, playful and
extremely creative, awaking each day with gratitude, eating their one
meal of worms with gratitude. As everything comes from Divine
Oneness for a purpose, everything is accepted with gratitude.
They believe we are on this planet mainly to experience and master
emotion - that this is the place for that experience - and then to develop
their integrity and our talents. Parents give their child a name at birth,
but at age 7 or so, the child chooses his/her own name based on interest
or talent. And then the child chooses when to change its name based
on growth and development. For instance, a child might choose the
name "Interested in Wood," and then later on, "Woodworker," and still
later, "Master Woodworker." And then, s/he might decide he'd gone far
enough in that direction and become "Interested in Music." The idea is
to explore and develop as many talents as possible. That would seem
very difficult in such a barren environment, but they manage very well.
They don't talk much, and she discovered that is because they converse
via mental telepathy, including over distances. When she asked how
they did that, the answer was very simple - they never tell lies, so have
no need to shield their thoughts from others........ while the "civilized"
world has spent fortunes on telephones, fiber optics, printing presses,
computers, satellite dishes, etc. and still can't communicate worth a
damn!
They have refused to learn reading and writing, and each of them can
recite their 50,000 year history and know many intricate precise songs by
heart (they measure distance by singing songs very precisely as they
walk). Their minds seem to improve with age.
Not that they don't have disagreements, but they have evolved what
sounds like very sensible means of resolving them, which put our
psychologists to shame.
Naturally, they know the nature and value of everything in their sparse
environment. They eat only one meal a day, if that, and would be lucky
to drink 8 glasses of water in a week, much less a day, but they are very
healthy and the life expectancy is about 100 years. They do rather well
at healing, which Marlo was privileged to witness. A man broke his leg
- the bone was sticking out of the leg, and the healers reset it with
seemingly no pain - the man was able to walk on it the next day without
splint or any other aid. They seem to use a combination of herbs, oils
and sounds.
And finally it came out that she and the Tribal Elder shared the same
birthday - and they then told her the exact same story the fortune teller
had told her months previous, which she had forgotten. They had
agreed to be born at the same instant on opposite sides of the Earth,
opposite sex, opposite race.
What they wanted was for her to tell the world that the "stake" was
being pulled up. Like the Kogis of the Andes, they can tell that the
Earth is dying. Therefore they have decided not to have any more
children because soon there will be no more food. They go with
equanimity because they don't fear death and have few attachments.
So she has been touring to bring their message, usually at Unity
Churches if her schedule here in Oregon is typical.
This is the bare outline of the story, and I have hardly done it justice. It
made a profound impression on me. As she talked, and later, as I read
her book, I got vivid pictures of these people, and a profound sense of
peace, despite the message - but, then, the message wasn't exactly news.
Anyone interested in learning her tour schedule or getting a copy of her
book, Mutant Messenger, call or write MM Co., POB 100, Lees Summit,
MO 64063. 816-246-6365. The book is $12, and there is also a video
tape available for $18, and an audio tape for $12.
Regarding the Kogis, they too called in an outsider to take their
message to the world. It is on a videotape called "The Heart of the
World." The Hopi message has been posted on this conference.