Why We Travel

Synchronicity: Allowing Hawai’i to Magically Reveal Itself

We travel to experience the magic of “effortless awareness” in the world around us.

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This story started about a month ago. It is about how a self-realized state of consciousness can create a more meaningful travel experience.

Around June 20, 2021, I was listening to an interview on ConsciousTV (YouTube) with David Bingham about “Self-Realization”. He may be best known as someone who became self-realized after listening to a podcast. He described how he works with people, which is a fairly simple process he calls “effortless awareness” (see also this other interview).

It was not something new to me, but somehow his description struck a chord. The following two weeks after listening to him, I found myself in a clear state of witnessing my physical, emotional, and mental self. I was witnessing my world unfold “effortlessly” before my awareness.

I was in awe and non-judgment of everything as it was “delivered” to my physical self. But I was not that physical self. I was the awareness beyond my physical self.

Many (most?) spiritual teachers talk about this state of consciousness. I have been guided into this state by Lincoln Gergar in his weekly “Inner Circle” channeling meetings since April 2020. It is also a goal of Transcendental Meditation (TM), which I have practiced for over 45 years (on and off). Maharishi Mahesh Yogi called it “cosmic consciousness”.

Both these prepared me for this experience. But neither brought me over the edge, as did that simple interview with David Bingham.

I did not, however, experience witnessing while asleep, which Maharishi said was a key indicator of “cosmic consciousness” (others disagree). So, as awesome as it was, I had some doubts about what was happening.

I also did not tell anyone about this because (1) it was subtle and hard to describe, (2) it was new and I wanted to understand more what was going on, and (3) I was afraid it would go away if I spoke about it — I just wanted to “be” it.

I especially thought it would not survive the disruption caused by my upcoming trip to Hawai’i.

The Magic of the Big Island

On July 6th, I flew to the Big Island of Hawai’i for a 2-week trip to tour the island and then attend a nephew’s wedding in Kona. I know the Big Island well, having received my B.A. from the University of Hawai’i at Hilo many years ago.

Everything about this trip, especially the first week while touring the island, was an amazing and magical sequence of synchronicities. It was as if the universe was giving me the best possible experience I could have — with almost no effort on my part.

I sometimes wondered if the universe is doing its best to get me to start traveling again. I had gotten used to staying home and enjoying it during the pandemic. I had no desire to go to Hawai’i or anywhere else for that matter. (They call this “cave syndrome”.)

In the story below, [synchronicity] could be changed to [magic] with pretty much the same meaning.

For more on synchronicity, see:

The trip started when our 6 am flight was delayed by 6 hours after we had already checked-in online. Concerned because we would not make our connecting flight to Kona and would arrive a day later than planned, I called the airline. I was able to get on a different flight that had a better schedule (we could sleep in) than our original flight. The airline also upgraded us to First Class for the first leg of our trip. [synchronicity]

The flight was smooth and uneventful, and we breezed through arrival and picking up our car. Because our first leg was First Class, our bags came out first and we were first in line at the car-rental desk. [synchronicity]

We stopped at COSTCO and bought some poke for our dinner, eating it when we arrived at our Airbnb in Waimea about 45 minutes later. (I am vegan/vegetarian at home but am flexible when I travel.)

Our Waimea place was a tiny house built in the owner’s backyard. It was gorgeous, offering privacy and quiet. It had an extra-large shower room attached to one side of the house and a full deck on the other side — making it feel much larger than it was.

Bananas hung over the side of the deck, and goats roamed the neighbor’s yard. The owner had also welcomed us with freshly baked banana bread, apple bananas from her tree, and fresh eggs from her chickens. It was the best Airbnb-type experience we have ever had! [synchronicity]

The next day, benefiting from the Pacific Time Zone time difference, we got up early and drove to the Pololu Valley. This valley is smaller and more remote than the famous Waipio Valley on the same Kohala Coast. We arrived early enough (8am) to get a parking space [synchronicity] and hiked down the steep .9-mile trail.

Only a few other people were there, and we spent the morning meditating and basking in the sun. I did a meditation based on a channeled message I received that last time I was in Hawai’i before the pandemic. I was connecting to the spirit of the land, sea, and sky before me.

As I connected to the sky, I watched the rain clouds over the ocean heading our way but then veering off to either the north or south of us — leaving us to enjoy the sun. [synchronicity]

After almost 2 hours, a large rain cloud seemed to be headed straight toward us. So, we gathered our things and hiked back up the trail. By now, more people were arriving, and we passed many coming down as we were going up. It was drizzling most of the way up and we were eager to beat the rain. The heavy rain started when we got to the parking lot (which was now overflowing with cars lined up on the roadway). But we made it. [synchronicity]

It was kind of getting close to lunchtime. My wife had been following the popular “Island Style Grindz” food truck on Instagram to see if we could try their food. They are one of the most popular food trucks on the Big Island and are in a different place each day. As it turned out, they were in Kapaau today, which is their home base and is very close to Pololu Valley. [synchronicity]

It took us a while to find them because Google did not know about the place they parked. But that was OK because by the time we did find them the rains were over and the sun was out. [synchronicity]

We were the first in line to order our food when they opened at 10:30 am. [synchronicity] (They completely sold out of food a couple of hours later.) It was as if the rains at the black sand beach had delivered us to Island Style Grindz to ensure we got to taste their food!

We found a park and sat in our car under a monkeypod tree to have our perfect lunch. We then made our way back to Waimea along the coast road, stopping along the way at a much dryer lava rock beach with some fascinating trees. (In the morning we drove the mountain route to get to Pololu Valley).

It was raining in Waimea when we got there but stopped in time for our next gift from the universe — Waimea’s weekly Farmers Market. We thought we would miss it because of our morning outing. [synchronicity]

At the market, we sampled Akaka Falls Farm’s incredible array of jams and butters. The passion fruit, in particular, tasted like real passion fruit, which is one of our favorites. [synchronicity] So we bought some to take home with us.

Back at our tiny house, we did our afternoon meditation and hung out, eating a light dinner, chatting with our hostess, and going to sleep early. (We were feeling jet-lagged by now.)

Synchronicity & Magic is Why We Travel

That first day on the Big Island was like the best Christmas present one could receive. Everything was smooth and perfect as we flowed effortlessly from one experience to the next. With each new experience, I was thinking to myself that this could not be more perfect.

So, the question is: — Was I manifesting all this? or… — Was my higher consciousness (or higher self) orchestrating all this? or… — Was my state of effortless witnessing simply allowing me to see how everything is always magical and perfect?

As for manifesting, I did not have any strong desires. My intentions were simple. I have lived on the Big Island and have visited many times. Pololu Valley was a new experience, but everything else was new because it had changed. My primary goal was to hang out and take in the energy of Hawai’i (which I love).

As for my higher consciousness bringing all this to me, that is what it felt like. I was feeling gratitude for who or what was creating one synchronicity after another.

As for my effortless witnessing, I think this was happening. I was allowing the universe to unfold, with only the smallest intention on my part. All life is synchronicity and magical, if we allow it. It is like my favorite page in Be Here Now by Ram Dass:

You’re standing on a bridge watching yourself go by … “Wow! Look at that!”

That is why we travel.

Travel takes us out of our normal, taken-for-granted life experience. New places heighten our awareness of the world. Our monkey mind is less noisy as a constant stream of fresh sights and sensations distracts our awareness and allows synchronicities to arise.

When we travel to new places, we enter a kind of effortless awareness state of consciousness. That is also known as the flow state, in which everything flows naturally and perfectly from one moment to the next.

“Flow is being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz.” — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who coined the ‘flow state’ concept

In that state of consciousness, we are more likely to encounter synchronicities. Those synchronicities give us those “Wow! Look at that!” magical experiences that make travel so much fun.

For most of us, such “effortless travel” is very subtle and so we are unaware of it, even as we experience it. But because I was already in a heightened state of witnessing before this trip, it became even more heightened for me once I arrived in Hawai’i.

This is a new insight for me, which I should add to my article on “why we travel”:

Here are 2 academic articles that I wrote many years ago that reflect similar themes to “effortless travel”:

• Lew, Alan A. (2011). Understanding Experiential Authenticity through the Best Tourism Places. Tourism Geographies 13(4): 570–575.
• Lew, Alan A. (2012). Tourism Incognita: Experiencing the Liminal Edge of Destination Places. Études Caribéennes (Caribbean Studies), available online, 24 November 2012.

The Rest of The Trip

Our first day in Hawai’i was so amazing because I was not expecting everything to unfold so effortlessly and perfectly. The rest of that first week touring the Big Island was also blessed with synchronicities, manifestation, magic, or whatever you might call it. For example, we drove to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park and back to Hilo in the pouring rain. But the weather was nice while we were at the park itself.

The second week was more family oriented as we hung out at my brother-in-law’s house. I got my wish to hang out in Hawai’i. We helped wherever we could as relatives arrived, and we ate a lot of food. (I skipped the Cincinnati Chili and hot dogs, but I still gained 5+ pounds!)

My effortless witnessing was still there, though not as noticeable due to all the socializing taking place. We also weren’t traveling and there were few opportunities for synchronicities to arise.

I noticed how my autopilot monkey mind was much quieter than in the past. That was the primary way that I was aware of my effortless witnessing in this part of the trip. Less mental chatter put me more at ease, resulting in the nicest experience I have had with my wife’s side of the family.

Synchronicities were not totally absent, however. On the day of our nephew’s wedding, it was pouring rain at the venue on the slopes above the Kona coast. We needed umbrellas to get from our cars to the wedding pavilion. The chairs set up in the grass for the ceremony were wet from the rain.

But then, about 5 minutes before the ceremony was to start, the rain stopped. The chairs dried off and the rest of the afternoon got better and better. The sunset on the ocean from the wedding venue was spectacular. (As was the food, which was an entire seafood buffet, catered by … “Island Style Grindz”.)

Post Trip

So did my effortless witnessing survive this 2-week trip to Hawai’i?

I have been home less than a week and am not quite over jet lag, but I think so. Synchronicities continue to happen, though at a slower pace than those early days on the Big Island. The effortless awareness is there, but the magic is not as noticeable as the two weeks before the trip, when it was very new to me.

Maybe I am integrating this level of consciousness so I can move up to the next level. “Integrating” means it is becoming part of my subconscious taken-for-granted experience. That kind of feels right to me.

I have also noticed that my monkey mind comes and goes. When it is there (like when I am writing this article), the effortless awareness is less noticeable. When it is not there, sometimes during my morning walks, the world becomes magical.

I am still reluctant to mention it to people for some of the same reasons as before: (1) it is subtle and hard to describe, (2) it comes and goes in intensity, and (3) I am afraid it will go away if I talk about it too much. I guess only time will tell on that last one.

Optional

I have been a fan of Seth (channeled by Jane Roberts) for over 45 years. I stumbled upon this quote from that is another way of understanding “effortless witnessing”.

“For I must tell you again, and I cannot tell you too often, that the inner self, acting spontaneously, automatically shows the discipline that you do not as yet understand.

You are not your physical body. You are not your emotions. You have emotions as you have bacon for breakfast. You are not the bacon — and you are not your emotions. You have thoughts as you have eggs for breakfast. You are not the eggs and you are not your thoughts. You are as independent of your thoughts and your emotions as you are of the bacon and the eggs. You use the bacon and the eggs in your physical composition; and you use your emotions and your thoughts in your mental composition.

Surely all of you consider yourselves somewhat superior to a piece of bacon, and you do not identify with it. Then, do not identify with your emotions or your thoughts. They flow through you. You attract them in the same way you go to the store to buy your bacon. But the bacon goes through your physical system and the thoughts of emotion, left alone, will pass through your psychic system. And you are independent of them. When you set up barriers and doors, then you enclose these thoughts within you — as if you stored up tons of bacon in your refrigerator and wonder why there was not enough room for anything else.

You have yet to learn to be free. You are not physical matter; you are not your thoughts; you are not your emotions. You have emotions; you have thoughts; you have a physical body — but you are far more than these. Use the thoughts. Use the emotions. Let them pass through you as the clouds pass through a summer day. But a summer day is composed of far more than the sun and the clouds in the sky.”

— Seth/Jane Roberts, The Early Class Sessions, Volume 1, ESP Class Session, April 22, 1969

Related

• This article came about because a friend kept asking me about my trip to Hawai’i. All I would say was that there were some amazing synchronicities. So, she suggested I write an article.
• For more on synchronicity, see:

• For more on Travel & Tourism Futures, see this collection of articles:

• Note that the articles in that collection are behind the Medium paywall. For paywall-free access to my articles, go to www.AlanLew.com, linked below.

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• Written in collaboration with my Energy Group/Higher Self. This is our perspective of the truth and not the whole truth of reality.

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