Outview (15 page)

“
That
would be really helpful,” I
forced a laugh. “Kyle thinks you have a plan. Is he right?”

“Thank you, Kyle, for your vote of
confidence. I do have some ideas about a plan, but it isn’t my plan per se.
It’s your plan.”

“That kind of worries me,” I said.

“It shouldn’t. Let me explain. You’re all
familiar with destiny and its meaning?” We nodded. “Now, imagine that the major
events of your life are set up before you are born. You have free will in between,
but the big stuff is preordained for your life’s plan.” More nods. “Now, the
fun part: Try to comprehend tens of thousands of these life plans for each
person overlaid on top of each other and all intersecting at various points.”

“You’re losing me,” I said.

“Yes, this is incredibly complex. No one
gets it, but try to have a sense of the setup. What it means is there was a
plan for the exact situation you find yourself in right now, but it all changes
with each decision you make or anyone else in your world makes or anyone in
theirs and so on.”

“That clears it up,” I said sarcastically.

“What I’m doing such a bad job explaining
is dynamic destiny, meaning, there
is
a plan. We just have to find it.”

“Who sets up the plans?” Linh asked.

“We each set up our own plans. This is
simple stuff for our souls. Trying to get our human personalities to understand
it is basically impossible.”

“How do we find the plan?” Kyle asked.

“I’m going to help Nate remember some
tricks so he can connect with his power.”

“Like magic?” Linh asked.

“Oh Linh, this is so much more powerful
than magic. The long-forgotten powers of the soul are the inspiration for all
the magic that has ever been.”

“I don’t think we have that kind of time,”
I said.

“First lesson: everything can change in an
instant. Truly, it is possible to learn everything that has ever been known in
just an instant.”

“That’s a trick I would like to learn,” Kyle
said.

“Me, too,” added Linh.

“Something tells me it isn’t going to be
quite that easy,” I said.

“Probably not,” Spencer said. “But you have
to know that if you can get yourself to a certain point, it could be. We’ll
settle for some fraction of that, for now anyway.”

“You’re asking an awful lot from me.”

“I’m not asking anything. I’m only here to
help. Look, Nate, I know you’re only sixteen, and an avalanche has come down
and you don’t know how to handle it. Don’t even think you can handle everything
that’s needed from you. But you can. Believe me, you have it within you.”

“I appreciate the pep talk, Spencer, but
I’m not convinced.”

“Think of it this way then. You have no
choice. There is no alternative. If you do not rise to the occasion and
remember who you are, then you will be killed. And have no doubt, Nate, you
won’t be alone.”

“Stop putting all this pressure on him,”
Linh said.

“Linh, I would much prefer to spend years
and years teaching him and showing him what he is capable of, but as Nate said,
‘we don’t have that kind of time.’ This is not a game, and there is no
guarantee the good guys will win. But I wouldn’t be here if I thought this was
hopeless. And Linh, I am willing to die in this effort. This is more important
than you can know.” The sound of the crashing waves took over for several
minutes. I knew he was right about one thing. I didn’t have a choice. If the
people who killed my dad and Lee were really after me, then it would take more
than magic to save me, to save us all.

Spencer explained that Lightyear’s director
was using the vast powers at his disposal to do everything from manipulating
food prices to starting small wars. “They are monitoring or have people in all
major law enforcement agencies and governments worldwide. Scores have been
assassinated at his direction. The stakes are enormous. It’s hard to know their
true size or how far they will go. But ironically, Lightyear is probably the
biggest force preventing a real awakening. The church isn’t helping either, but
that’s another topic.”

It was just before ten o’clock when Spencer
told us that he needed my complete attention for the next twenty hours. A crash
course, he called it. The three of us took a walk, leaving Spencer to watch
whatever it was he saw out there. None of us liked the idea of splitting up,
but he insisted there was too much to go over and so little time. Although
still anxious, we believed he could be trusted.

Kyle and Linh would go back to Amber’s
beach house and pick me up in the morning. We’d all have to miss a day of
school, but they could spend the afternoon studying and I could catch up on the
drive back. We walked them to the trail. I gave Kyle my camera. Linh hugged Spencer
and then me.

“I don’t want to let you go,” Linh said,
tearfully.

“I’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine.” I didn’t
want them to go either.

“I want to believe that,” she said.

“Then, do.”

Kyle stepped in. “Promise me you’ll keep
calm. Thich Nhat Hahn says, ‘Every time we make a step we are moving with all
the cosmos, and all our ancestors move and take steps with us.’ Think about
that. I love you, brother.”

24

I turned to Spencer, “So now what?”

“There’s so much more than seeing past
lives and hearing things. It’s overwhelming really. Let’s go through this in steps.
What you call Outviews are just a window. Imagine being able to actually walk
in the door. You can wander through past and future lifetimes, drop into any
specific time or place.”

“Not just the deaths?”

“You’ll never have to see a death again if
you don’t want to. But you must know by now that death is really just a
transformation. It’s like passing through a veil to a new experience, quite
marvelous really.”

“Yeah, well, you should have seen some of
mine. There wasn’t anything marvelous about them.”

“You’ll see what I mean later.”

“My Aunt Rose mentioned astral traveling.”

“Yes, right now you could watch your mother
at work or your brother sleeping, anything, anywhere.”

“Seriously? And you think I can learn to do
this?”

“That and so much more. You’ve already been
doing it. Outviews are just a form of astral traveling. We just need to show
you how to control it.”

“Why do you think I can do all these
things?”

“You know everything. That’s what people
forget, literally. Everyone already knows everything, it’s just a matter of
getting our personalities to remember.”

“How many years of study does it take?”

“There are many levels. There are nuances
that can take a lifetime to master, even for you.”

“What do you mean even for me?”

“See, Nate, you’re from a long line of
special
people. These abilities run in your spiritual DNA.”

“I thought you said everyone could do these
things.”

“Everyone can, like everyone can play the
piano or hit a baseball, but some people are born with a little extra talent to
do it more easily.”

“And I’m one of those people?”

“Yes.”

“And you, too?”

“Yes, but not on your level. Normally I
would want to ease you into this, but time is very short. I don’t have the
luxury of bringing you along as you become ready.”

“So I’m not ready?” A particularly large
wave crashed into one of the giant black monoliths trying to hold the sea back.

“Let’s just say this might not all go as
smoothly as it would if you were a little older and we had more time, but you
can
do this. You weren’t just born with extra talents. Every generation produces
tens of thousands of people who have heightened abilities. I call them ‘the
wave.’ But of those, there are seven who are born with a channel so open to the
universe that they can impact tremendous change, historic change.” The ocean
took his attention again. “And while it’s true that even if someone is not one
of the wave they can still develop extraordinary abilities, it takes so much
discipline that it’s extremely rare. I’m one of the wave, but
you
are
one of the seven.”

“What are the odds?” I asked, trying to
make light of something I couldn’t grasp.

“One in a billion.” His answer didn’t help
since I couldn’t really fathom a billion. I remember my history teacher saying
that a billion hours ago man was living in caves.

“I don’t care about changing the world. I
just want to get my brother out of the institution and see my dad’s killer in
jail.”

“That’s what your human personality wants,
but your soul has a different plan. Once it’s awakened you’ll find it
incredibly hard to put the genie back in the bottle, so to speak.”

“You said yourself I’m not really old
enough to do all this.”

“I need you to not be sixteen now. I need
you to be who you really are.”

“How old am I really?” I asked, repeating
the question the Old Man of the Lake didn’t answer.

“We’re all as old as the universe. For now,
just try to think like some five-hundred-year-old wizard,” he replied, very
seriously.

I thought of my father and me walking
quietly in the old growth forest of western Oregon. “I’ll try.”

“Nate, I’m going to show you some
extraordinary things that you have forgotten you can do. To any average
human
they will seem like super powers, and they are. But our souls can do them
effortlessly. The most important part is for you to believe they are possible.
So I want you to think about this: if the soul exists and it can really survive
human death and come back again in another body . . . ”

“We both know it can.”

“Exactly, but are you taking for granted
what that means? Simply put, if reincarnation is real, just imagine the power
that is required to pull it off . . . a million times, a billion times. And
you’re tapped into that.” He looked at me. “
Anything
is possible.”

“You’re saying some exciting stuff, but
these concepts are pretty tough to get my head around.”

“Maybe this will help. Watch that
driftwood.” He pointed to a log about two feet long. It began to move, spinning
in the sand and then, taking off like a rocket, soaring into the surf.

“Cool! How did you do that?” I asked
excited.

“Now, you do it.”

“Just like that, no explanation?”

“What if I told you that I didn’t really
make the driftwood fly but that you did because you expected it to?”

I concentrated on another piece, willing it
to move, but after a few minutes nothing happened. “I can’t do it.”

“Remember it’s not just Nate doing it. You’re
a channel for all the power that has ever existed. Everything is possible.”

I tried again. Nothing.

“Stop concentrating on it. It’s energy; you
are energy. You and the wood are connected. The air between you is full of
energy. The power moving that ocean is the same. Don’t think about making it
move. Just move it. This is easy for you. Make the wood fly.”

It started slowly, moving slightly. It
spun. Faster. It shot straight up in the air. I ducked so it wouldn’t hit me on
the way down. Spencer didn’t flinch. “I did it! Did you see that? I did it!”

“Now do you believe?”

“Yes. I mean I’m not sure what I believe,
but I sure believe something.” I was breathless.

Spencer laughed. “That’s a start. If
someone saw you doing that they might call it telekinesis, but you’ll learn
it’s more than just your regular ol’ telekinesis. What we’re doing is part of
one of the five great powers. Moving things is a form of ‘Gogen.’ It means to
manipulate space, in the ancient language.”

“Which ancient language?”

“One you’ve never heard of. A language that
predates all known history.”

“Why was it so easy?” I asked.

“Everyone on this planet is capable of
doing this if they would just clear themselves of all the junk and practice.”

“What junk?”

“Prescription drugs, inoculations,
chemicals, processed foods, pesticides, possessions, debt. The list is long.
But it is simple for you because you’re one of the seven. All you need to do is
believe and be shown what you’re capable of, and you can do almost anything.”

“Was my dad one of the seven of your
generation?”

“No, he wasn’t, just one of the wave.”

“What happened to those seven?”

“Earth is a minefield for these messengers.
The asylums got a couple. Three fell into drugs and alcohol. Another committed
suicide, and politics took the last one.”

“Politics?”

“His gift made it easy to rise to power,
but sadly corruption crept in on him.”