Years before, on the south side of the Mountain of Mortality, Bodhi opens his eyes to find himself once again sitting under the Baobab tree staring at the small goat. She blinks and hops up the trail to catch up with her family. Bodhi sits on the large protruding root, stunned and disoriented. 

Bodhi eventually stands and makes his way to the path. Reaching the end of the compound, he turns back to see the Priest of the Earth staring back at him with a loving smile in his eyes. Bodhi walks home in a daze and collapses on the straw mat. The next morning, he sits in his mud hut and tries to make sense of what happened:

all of a sudden i awoke
under the baobab tree
my mind opened wide
to what was hidden in me

for that moment all was new
a vision dreamed
i saw the world as one
not separate as it seemed

all things interwoven

becoming with change

one current pulsating 

everything so strange

Bodhi breathes in slowly and at his chest’s peak, the crest breaks. He smiles and says: 

yet the world has returned
to shapes i used to know
but something feels different 

beneath the world’s old glow

Bodhi looks down to the framed picture on the small table next to his straw mattress and adds:

i look upon my family
and feel both joy and strain
how will i explain this

without sounding insane

Over the next several days, Bodhi experiences aftershocks from a mighty earthquake. At the end of his mission, he travels back to the Hills of Hope where he finds himself living within two different realities and neither would release him. 

The first is what he knew – family, friends, work – and the second is what he does not know, which threatens to engulf the first. He stumbles to bridge these realities by talking about the moment to family and close friends: 

then all of sudden,

upon entering the void,

i open my eyes 

and …

… Bodhi finishes his story by mumbling something unrecognizable. Loving friends share caring but puzzled eyes while answering: 

wow, that sounds intense

and filled with such fright

but no worries, you’re home

let’s go out to dinner tonight

A decade later Bodhi works for Mountain Aid, a non-governmental humanitarian assistance organization.  Although Bodhi loves his family and job, his mind often is occupied trying to understand what happened to him under the Baobab tree and what it means. 

He spends countless nights and weekends alone, studying and writing a book. But these hours come at the expense of his family. After long writing sessions, his wife says: 

bodhi this obsession

is leading you astray

you are scaring me

kids ask if you are ok

you retreat into your room

searching for the holy grail

why are you doing this

our relationship feels frail

Bodhi apologizes and commits to spend more time with his family, which he does, for a while, but he cannot close the other part of his mind, now turned on and questioning, everything. As he struggles to align his realities through a middle way, deep doubt sets in:

what am i doing

who do i think i am

that i could write words

that give a damn

yes everything is new

as i look around

but no one is beside me 

to share common ground 

perhaps zarathustra is right

my time has not come

i am just a family mule 

far removed from the sun

But on other days, magical moments arrive without notice or pattern, while looking at anything that is alive – amazement of life itself: 

it’s like i am opening

my eyes for the first time

upon another world

that speaks softly in rhyme  

i must find a middle way

for both realities to exist 

i cannot retreat into either

or see through the mist

These aftershocks and his desperation drive Bodhi him to keep reading, thinking, writing on a very long intellectual, emotional, and lonely rollercoaster. Finally, he finishes his book and sends it to a few close friends. Kind words of support follow, but one cares or has time to explore given life’s steady beat. Bodhi’s worlds do not converge and he feels lost. 

Doubts return and he questions himself:

this is so embarrassing

how naïve i am

why can’t i let it go

maybe i am a scam

i want to be done

i want it to go away 

this is a weight, not a gift 

that returns with each day

Although Bodhi tries to hide from the moment, he cannot. Bodhi has more important responsibilities than exploring his mind. He must take care of his family and focus on his job.