The Twelfth Insight - James Redfield [23]
I quickly looked away just as Wil grabbed my shoulder. Many of the men in Rachel’s group had spotted us looking at them and were staring hard in our direction.
“Let’s walk on,” Wil whispered.
We headed deeper into the canyon, wanting to put some distance between the men and us. Out of the corner of my eye I could see them glaring at us as we walked. Finally, when we were out of sight completely, Wil darted off the trail to the right.
“I think we should get off this trail,” he said, and led us straight up the slope about a hundred yards, where we ducked behind a large rock outcropping. Once there, I felt more hidden, yet we could still see some of the main trail down below through the scrub pines and junipers. The eastern wall of the canyon towered behind us.
I told Wil I’d seen Rachel.
“Really,” he said. “That was her, huh? I wonder who those people are she’s with.”
“They looked none too friendly,” I remarked.
We waited there for a long time as more people came walking down the trail. There was no more noise from the helicopter, so I figured it must still be sitting where it landed. The question was, who was in it? And where are they now? Was it the same group that had been following us?
Finally, Wil said, “Look, I think you have to understand what the Hopis told me about the Law of Connection.”
“Okay.”
“You said those two guys you asked for food earlier had started to back away from you even before you began talking.”
“That’s right.”
“Do you have any idea why?”
“Not really.”
“It was because of the Connection we have with one another. It’s built into our brains. The Document says that because we’re all connected, we sense what others are feeling and thinking. As we progress through the Integrations, it says we will develop this sense even more. But everyone already has this basic perception.”
“Are you telling me they could tell I wasn’t going to give them the exact story? My intent wasn’t to harm them. I wanted to give them money for their food. I just left out some of the details.”
He shook his head. “It’s not that they knew what you were doing exactly. They could feel what you were feeling, and as the lie you were contemplating brought you down, they felt that drain themselves, and thus became more confused and unclear—which was an unconscious signal to them that something was wrong, and that you were probably up to no good. So they backed away.”
He paused a moment as if to let his words sink in.
“And this sensitivity,” Wil went on, “increases as our consciousness increases. Humanity is reaching the point where you’d better not lie, even a little bit, because if you do, there will be more people every day who will be able to sense it. Lying is just not going to work much longer.”
We were interrupted again as we noticed other groups walking by on the main trail below us.
“A lot of people are coming into the canyon,” Wil said, suddenly concerned. “And many of them are packed for long-term camping, probably all without permits. Eventually, they’re going to draw the attention of the park rangers. We’d better find out what we can before they show up. Time to move.”
He gave me a serious look. “Keep your eyes open. Watch everything that happens.”
We carefully walked down to the trail again. There was no sign of Rachel or the group she was with. As we walked slowly forward into the heart of the canyon, we began to notice people sitting around talking everywhere. We found a spot out of the way and stopped.
“Listen,” Wil said. “I feel I should walk up ahead alone and see if anyone knows what that helicopter is about. If you’ll watch the packs, I’ll go do that, and be right back.”
I nodded and sat down. Staying here was fine with me since I wanted to think more about the Law of Connection. If this was a true principle of our spirituality,