Piko. Piko. Piko.

There is no future. There is no past. I live this moment as my last.
Lyrics from “Rent” by Jonathan Larsen

At last night’s bonfire on the beach (an annual tradition for the sacred journey) we journeyers reflected on the events and exploration of the past week. The reflection time is the last evening event of the sacred journey. We will close with a morning event today… and gratefully I know little about the event this morning, except that it is on the beach and involves sandcastles. I’ve been experiencing the journey in this way. Simply allowing myself to go from one event to another without expectation.

Back to the bonfire…

We also expressed the significance of items we collected this week. At the opening ceremony we were given small bags, and told to collect items as little children do. The items would have significance to us. I had gathered many items by the time of the bonfire, but the ones I wanted to talk about were three little tree seeds. They were about a half inch in diameter and had a loose, fibrous husk. It looked like one could fit right in the navel. I picked these three up when we were visiting the heiau last Saturday.

Kumu Sabra Kauka spoke while we were at the birthing stone of the concept of piko. Piko means navel. Yet it means so much more. As the navel is the point of nourishment for the fetus, it is recognized as the spiritual tie to the present on this plane of action. There are two other piko points as well… the crown of the head (the spiritual tie to ancestors and the past) as well as that place Kumu Sabra described as “below the waist and above the knee” (the spiritual tie to the future generations… get it?).

Here’s the idea I chose to represent with my three seeds and the piko points… it’s all in balance. In Science of Mind we do not believe in the concept of space and time in the causative infinite mind, those things are experienced only at the level of matter and form. Absent considerations of time and space there is a deeper interconnectedness that can be palpable for some. This very concept is one of the focal points for my spiritual connection. I felt strongly that the new idea I had learned about piko was in alignment with this. The three piko points represent our potential to connect with the infinite, all are valid, and all are balanced. Past, present, and future all exist now.

I chose those seeds to represent this for me on this trip.

There were other things in my bag, but I allowed those to remain private. I placed the items on the makeshift altar where other journeyers placed their items, but at the end of the night I felt compelled to empty the contents of my bag into the fire. “Piko” seeds, rudrashka seed, red leaves, flowers, shells… all into the fire allowing them to be released into the nothingness from which they came.

Everyone has a different connection to the Spiritual aspects of life. While I love and connect with Science of Mind as a base, I am always interested in the varying ways we can connect to and as Spirit. What is Spiritual practice? Anything that allows us to recognize that we are connected to something beyond the sense of the physical self. The practice is active… and it is personal. What it feels like, and how it is experienced is as unique as every individual that exists. The sacred journey is an important time for me each year to settle into the reminder of who I am. I am that I am.