Mount Athos, A Journey of Self-Discovery

A gentle breeze was embracing me. All my senses were active and I was admiring the mountain piercing the sky. A monk came and sat by my side. “This bench is my favorite spot,” he said. “From here I have the best views of the mountain, which has a very special meaning for me.” “Why is that?” I asked. “Before being a monk, my hobby was alpinism,” he explained. “Fifteen years ago I decided to come to Athos and hike up to the mountain’s summit. Once on top of the mountain I was awe-struck. There were no clouds in the sky and I could see the whole Aegean Sea. Paradoxically in front of that vast spectacle of the outer world I switched to my inner world and I was overcome by an inexpressible longing to grasp the essence of this landscape. As Lawrence Durrell has told us in a famous passage, ‘The essential sense of landscape val-ues is there. If you just close your eyes and breathe softly through your nose, you will hear the whispered message, for all landscapes ask the same question.’ And that is what I did. Quietly within myself, I opened my ears to the whisper of the landscape and heard it saying, ‘I am watching you. Are you watching yourself in me?’ At that moment there was a fundamental turning point from the desire to see to the need to know myself. It was like the landscape was digging into my being and my soul was embracing the landscape. I realized that my place was here and I do not regret the decision I have made. For me, hiking and alpinism have always been a spiritual experience, a way of getting closer to heaven. On the summit of the Holy Mountain I felt that I was back home, to the place I had always belonged but had not understood yet.” His eyes got wet and mine too. After a long pause I wanted more, “And what do you mean by saying that alpinism is a spiritual experience?” “Oh, you are touching on my favorite topic for discussion. Moun-tains do not move; mountains do not meet other mountains. We, as human beings, are the ones who meet others and learn from the moun-tains. When you go up a mountain, you are constantly being challenged like in your daily life. But, as in your life, the risks are minimized if you plan your path carefully. Behind every challenge is the continuous learning, body conditioning, determination towards a goal, and the use of previous experiences. Life is like hiking a moun-tain. At the same time that there is a strong desire to get to the summit, you must be prepared to go up, to know when to stop for rest, how to overcome challenges, and, if necessary, go down for a while before climbing up again, instead of forcing your way straight to the top. “When you climb a mountain, the scenery changes and if you come to the same place where you had previously been, the way you look at that place may seem different than before. And that is also valid for our lives. When we climb all the mountains of our lives, frequently we find ourselves going in circles or returning to the same places. Never-theless if we appreciate the journey and learn with the experiences and challenges we face along our way, returning to the same place will have a different meaning. Dealing with change, risk, success, and fail-ure stretches our personal boundaries. After all, the risks of all journeys depend exclusively on the knowledge of what we are facing. The important thing to remember is that nobody else can choose or decide for you when to climb up a mountain; that decision is only yours. It is true that you must learn from the experiences of others, but the challenge is only yours, in your rhythm, in your own timing.” It was about time to get into the monastery before the doors closed. I thanked him for his teachings and went to bed. There are moments when you need no more reasoning, no more logic, no more talking. Just silence. Silence and surrender to the beauty of simple and touch-ing moments like the ones I was experiencing.