Traveling Thoughts

This is a rather famous photo that you might not recognize. It was taken in 1937 by Frank Smythe, a world-famous mountaineer. It is purported to show the footprints of a Yeti. Normally, I would discount something like this, but Frank Smythe was a well-respected climber. He made three attempts to ascend to the summit of Mt. Everest. He took hundreds of photographs of flora and fauna in the Himalayas. He has written dozens of books. When a man as accomplished as Frank Smythe makes a claim, I take it seriously.

Those who have read my past blog entries know that I don’t believe in legendary creatures of any type. When I examine this photo, all I can really conclude is that, yes, those are footprints in the snow. There’s no way to determine what actually made those footprints. If you research Frank Smythe, you’ll find that he did think these were Yeti prints. When the photo was published in a magazine, experts determined these were bear prints. Frank Smythe accepted their judgment. But a lot of other people did not.

The abominable snowman became popular in modern culture. Sightings began to increase. Some individuals started going to the Himalayas to find the Yeti instead of to climb Everest. Eric Shipton and Dr. Michael Ward were surveying the Himalaya area to find possible routes up to the summit of Mt. Everest. They came across some intriguing prints.

These prints still remain unidentified. Many claim the prints are a hoax. There’s really no way to prove it one way or the other. Sadly, there have been many people who have tried to fake Yeti and Sasquatch footprints. All I can say for a fact is that people are seeing a creature that they know isn’t a bear. Or seeing unusual footprints that sometimes can’t be identified. The creatures could be out there. I try to keep an open mind although I’m extremely skeptical.

There is one yeti that I love, though.

In the country of Lithuania, you can find the Hill of Crosses. It’s currently a well-traveled pilgrimage site containing at least 100,000 crosses as of 2006. Probably a lot more now, but people keep adding crosses so quickly it’s difficult for the country to keep track. Lithuanian cross crafting is so popular that UNESCO has placed it in its lists of good safeguarding practices and intangible cultural heritage. I didn’t even know UNESCO had such lists.

The hill had its first crosses place after an unsuccessful attempt to break free from Russian rule back in 1831 (yes, almost 200 years ago). As the story goes, many families could not locate the bodies of fallen rebels. In order to remember them, they put up crosses on the hill. Over the years, more crosses continued to appear. Then things changed in 1944. The Soviet Union began occupying Lithuania at that time.

The Soviet Union was fanatically atheistic. They began oppressing the clergy and banning all religious publications. The hill became symbolic of faith to the Lithuanian people and the number of crosses skyrocketed. The Soviet Union eventually caught on to the significance of the hill and destroyed it. But people kept coming and placing new crosses. Three times, the hill was bulldozed and destroyed. People caught bringing crosses were arrested and punished. Yet the people kept coming with crosses. Every night they came. For decades they came. Then things changed again. The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1990. The Hill of Crosses still stands, larger than ever before.

I have to ask myself if I would have had the courage to stand up against religious persecution and carry a cross to that hill. The Gospel of Matthew quotes Jesus as saying, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” The passage goes on, emphasizing that in trying to save our lives we can inadvertently risk our souls. The cross of Christ is symbolic of the sacrifice Jesus made on his cross. We all have our own crosses to bear. Can we do so even unto death?

My journeys have taken me to some strange places. The Sasquatch Outpost is one of my favorite strange places. Mostly because I went there with a friend. I told him there was someplace in Bailey, Colorado I wanted to see and would he come. He responded, “What the %$#$ is in Bailey, that place is in the middle of nowhere.” I laughed and said, “Just someplace I want to visit.” To which he replied, “This better not be some bull$#$@.” But he agreed to drive us in his truck.

It was a nice drive that meandered slowly upwards until it plateaued around 8,000 feet. We came to a sign that announced we were entering Bailey, after which we promptly exited Bailey. “You missed the turnoff,” I complained and my friend grumbled, “There’s nothing $%#@ing here, dude.” Yes, my buddy likes to swear. Anyway, he U-turned in someone’s parking lot and we headed back. Slowly. Until I pointed a driveway and pointed at it. He pulled up, looked at Sasquatch and the sign, looked back at me, and swore some more. But then he laughed.

The outpost is small but contains two parts. The front half is a store dedicated to selling all things Sasquatch. Pretty much anything comes with Sasquatch prominently featured. Hats. Shirts. Mugs. Keychains. Underwear. If they don’t have it they can find it or make it! The back half is a Sasquatch immersion experience. If you dare. Hundreds of documented sightings are displayed. Footprint casts are shown. Even Sasquatch poop is preserved for you to study. And no back room Sasquatch experience is complete without replicas of the creature.

It’s a fun place to visit even if you’re only moderately interested in the Bigfoot phenomenon. But what about the Yeti and the Skunk Ape? Next time.

Let me say right here at the beginning that I don’t believe in Extraterrestrial beings. Nor do I believe in Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Mothman, or any of those types of legends. However, I have watched all those movies and every variation of them. And I will watch all the new ones as well. Even more, I love to stop at off the wall places dedicated to all those creatures. So when I ended up in Roswell for a day, I was thrilled to visit the UFO museum.

This place walks you through the complete history of the Roswell incident. Reproductions of news articles, government documents, and photos are prominently displayed. There are full scale models of flying saucers and the infamous grey aliens. I had lots of pictures of these, which I would share if I hadn’t lost them in the Gulf of Mexico when my phone went overboard. But I’ll provide an example here.

Strangely enough, the city of Roswell appears normal in almost every respect. Just a small part of old downtown reflects the UFO phenomenon. In that area, there are street lamps in the shape of aliens. Alien themed shops are around, but they can be as hard to find as the actual grey aliens themselves. But I did find them and I did buy alien souvenirs. I posed for many alien themed pictures as well. Sadly, they are also at the bottom of the Gulf.

In conversations about extra terrestrials, I’ve found a lot of my Christian friends have strong feelings about their existence. Some feel that the existence of aliens is impossible because God created humans; the Bible says nothing about aliens being created. Other friends are ambivalent about the possibility of aliens; if they exist, God created them and they’re part of His purpose. Another small group believes that aliens are demonic beings and UFO sightings are the work of the devil. As I said at the top, I don’t believe in aliens. But I also don’t know the truth about aliens and UFOs. I could be wrong.

Now excuse me while I go watch Sigourney Weaver kill a bunch of aliens!

When I think of Romania, I immediately think of Transylvania and vampires. It’s probably not that strange to think that way. Transylvania is a region in Romania. Books, movies, and TV have made Transylvania famous for Dracula and vampires in general. Hence, Romania equals vampires. However, one thing I have never associated with Romania is the presence of monasteries. Yet there are some famous, and extremely beautiful, painted monasteries in the Bucovina region of Romania. For the moment, I’ll just focus on one of them. Sucevita.

The monastery at Sucevita was founded in the 1580s and the extensive paintings were completed in 1601. The architecture of the building is a combination of Byzantine and Gothic style, neither of which I can describe without extensive research. So I’m not going to try. You can look those up yourself. The paintings themselves are considered masterpieces of Byzantine art.

The various paintings of monasteries portray Biblical episodes. Sucevita boasts a magnificent depiction of the Ladder to Paradise. This was a popular concept and image taken from the account of Jacob’s vision in Genesis 28. Over time, the ladder to heaven developed into a complex depiction of salvation and condemnation. In the Sucevita depiction, red-winged angels in orderly rows attend the righteous on a slanting ladder to the heavens, each rung inscribed with one of the monastic virtues. Sinners fall through the rungs and are driven by grinning devils to the chaos of hell.

In the last ten years, Romania has created the Via Transilvanica. It’s an 800 mile hiking trail that crosses the Transylvania, Bukovina, and Banat regions of Romania. When I came across this fact, I realized that these painted monasteries are relatively close to the fictional location of Dracula’s Castle. In the future, I’m going to alter my self-thought. Romania equals vampires equals painted monasteries. That’s a better thought to end on.

This is the outside of the Abby of San Galgano. It once had great vaulted ceilings and a fairly high bell tower. I wanted to say towering, but ‘towering bell tower’ just seemed to be a redundant phrase. Over its centuries of existence, it rose to power in the area of Siena. As political power shifted, its somewhat isolated location made it a target for bandits and raiders. The correct term in this situation would be condottieri, Italian mercenaries, but I didn’t want anyone to have to look it up. Eventually, the towering bell tower came down, taking most of the vaulted ceiling with it. Yes, I used that phrase anyway. This aerial view of the abbey gives some perspective on the size of that roof that collapsed.

Previously, I told the story of why San Galgano put his sword into the stone. There is another story about that, one involving a mythical king. No, it’s not King Arthur, although it really should be. In any case, this mythical king was fed up with all the battles occurring throughout Italy. During a meeting with several of the Italian leaders, he drove his sword into stone as a symbolic act of peace. Whether he was echoing the prophet Isaiah and the imagery of turning swords into plowshares is unknown. But the comparison is quite clear.

The first five verses of Isaiah 2 give a picture of a time when peace would reign. Swords would be transformed into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. Instead of instruments of war, the people would have instruments for peaceful agriculture. The Abbey of Galgano became a place dedicated to agriculture. As I noted previously, we still use agricultural techniques developed there.

The Abbey represents mankind. We desire peace. We proclaim that desire loudly and demonstrably. Yet the world around us is not peaceful. The raiders and bandits are lying in wait outside the abbey, hoping for a weakness they can exploit. But we have weaknesses within as well. The rest of Isaiah 2, plus Isaiah 3, illustrate these. Greed. Social injustice. Pride. Idolatry. Despite our deep wish for peace and justice, we’ll end up like the ruins of San Galgano if we don’t drive our swords into the stone. Or at least turn them into plowshares.

If you’re ever in the region of Siena, Italy, you can visit an actual sword in the stone (but you can’t try to pull it out, sorry).

The Abbey of San Galgano is tucked away in a river valley, situated between two Tuscan towns. Founded by Galgano Guidotti, it was built in the 13th century as a Cistercian monastery. I could try to explain the Cistercian religious order, but that would involve a semester class in the history of Catholic monasticism. To put it simply, the Cistercians were a group of monks and nuns that believed current monastic practices had gotten too liberal. They restored what they believed was the original intent of the Rule of Saint Benedict (a 500 year old book of monastic precepts).

The Cistercians followed the Rule of Saint Benedict literally, and sometimes in a strict austerity that went beyond the Rule. Their practices involved a simple life of work, love, prayer and self-denial. Manual labor was particularly important, especially working out in the fields. The Cistercians became incredibly good at hydraulic engineering (water flow, sewage, dams, and such). The systems they developed are still in use today. Whenever you turn on your water faucet, be sure to thank the Cistercians.

What does this have to do with a sword in the stone? There are two stories. The first is that Galgano was guided by an angel to a rugged hill. Once there, he had a vision of a temple on the hill. The angel urged Galgano to repent of his sins, but Galgano complained that it would be an impossible task as hard as driving a sword into a stony outcropping. To prove his point to the angel, he thrust his own sword at a large chunk of stone. The sword slid smoothly into the stone, where it still remains to this day (as the story goes). Galgano founded a church there and became one more person who learned the lesson that you shouldn’t argue with angels.

The second story? Next time. Next time.

I’ll end my religious journey of Ethiopia here, at Tigray. Specifically at a church called Abuna Yemata Guh. This friendly Christian church was hewn out of solid rock in the 5th century and sits at an altitude of over 8000 feet high. It’s accessible only by a rock trail that even Indiana Jones would hesitate to walk on. There are stone and wooden footbridges with 850 foot drops on both sides. There’s a vertical rock wall to be climbed. The final approach to the church is a 19 inch cliff ledge. And you thought the church parking lot was harrowing.

You might be thinking, as I was, that this is no longer a functioning church. You would be wrong, as I was. Services are held throughout the week. They are attended regularly by all types of people including old people like me, children, and even pregnant women. Fortunately, there are guides along the route helping people choose the correct hand and foot holds. Now those are what I might call critical church staff! According to church records, no one has ever been killed on the way to church.

The inside of the church is filled with painted images of the 12 Apostles and the 9 Saints (early Ethiopian missionaries) as well as Old testament figures and parables. There are a set of sacred scrolls stored there. The cave church is illuminated only by candles. There’s no restroom. The next time I’m feeling a little too lazy to go to church, I’ll just think about this place. Hopefully, I’ll be grateful for my local churches and get myself moving.

Near the ruins of Aksum is another interesting place, known as the Church of Our Lady, Mary of Zion. Ethiopia claims that the Ark of the Covenant is inside this church, resting in a small chapel. The problem is, only one person is allowed to see the ark. A guardian monk. That sounds like my kind of job. This guardian monk serves for life and is sequestered in the church. He never leaves. He never visits Disney World. He’s allowed outside in a small garden like area, but that’s it. Occasionally, he will talk with people on the other side of the fenced in garden. Okay. Maybe not my kind of job.

Is the Ark of the Covenant really there? It’s possible. The story is that Solomon and the queen of Sheba had a child together named Menelik. This royal young man is thought to have taken the Ark from Israel to Ethiopia (Sheba) after meeting and visiting his father. Some say Solomon gave him the ark. Some say he absconded with the ark. In any case, he returned home and founded the Solomonic Dynasty of Ethiopian rulers that lasted some three thousand years. Until 1974, to be specific. The last Solomonic king was believed by many to be the Returned Jesus. Until he was strangled in his bed by disillusioned members of the military. I hate when that happens.

As far as I can tell, besides Ethiopia, there are only a few viable places for the Ark to be hidden. One would be Babylon; the ark would have been a great war trophy for Nebuchadnezzar. Another would be right there in Jerusalem, somewhere deep beneath the Temple; a few attempts to look for it there have been made but you can’t exactly do excavations on a sacred Muslim area (that’s where the Dome of the Rock is). It’s also possible the ark was just melted down for its gold. That’s not a very satisfying explanation. I would expect some Indiana Jones style pyrotechnics if anyone actually tried to destroy the ark.

I would really like to take a peek in that chapel of the ark!

The ruins of Aksum are impressive from the outside, but there’s much more to see if you find your way inside. It’s got underground tunnels and chambers that were used for various purposes, one of those being solitude and prayer. We Christians have found solitude in many ways. Going out into the deserts. Going underground in natural or manmade caves. Going up to elevated platforms and praying. Personally, I prefer sitting on the beach when it isn’t crowded.

Christianity in general needs more solitude and prayer. Our world is too noisy. Wherever you go, some kind of noise is there. Music. Arguing. Tik Tok videos. Sports broadcasts. Superficial conversation. Aksum is a reminder that sometimes we need to get away from all the noise and just be alone with ourselves and God. If you do this, two things will start to happen.

First, if you isolate yourself completely, meaning no phones, books, or any other distraction, you will quickly become uncomfortable. All the negative things that you’re suppressing and being distracted from will quickly rise to the surface. This is not a pleasant experience. You will quickly want your distractions back. However, in time, you’ll become comfortable with those thoughts and feelings welling up. Comfortable might be overstating it.

Secondly, over time, you’ll become more sensitive to the presence of God. As the outside world of distractions is eliminated, the voice of God becomes easier to hear. The ancient monks understood this and have much to teach us about solitude. If we’re wise, we’ll learn what we can from them and prepare ourselves for looking past the distractions that serve as walls to protect us from our own depths. I think we all need this kind of experience occasionally so we can go deeper in our spirituality.