The Pilgrimage Read Online Free PDF

uplands of one of the peaks,
     some goats were grazing. One of them, more daring than the others, stood on an outcropping
     of a high boulder, and I could not figure out how he had reached that spot or how he would
     get down. But as I was thinking this, the goat leapt and, alighting in a place I couldnt
     even see, rejoined his companions. Everything in our surrounds reflected an uneasy peace,
     the peace of a world that was still in the process of growing and being created a world
     that seemed to know that, in order to grow, it had to continue moving along, always moving
     along. Great earthquakes and killer storms might make nature seem cruel, but I could see
     that these were just the vicissitudes of being on the road. Nature itself journeyed,
     seeking illumination.
    I am very glad to be here, said Petrus, because the work I did not finish is not important
     and the work I will be able to do after I get back will be so much better.
    When I had read the works of Carlos Castaneda, I had wanted very much to meet the old
     medicine man, Don Juan. Watching Petrus look at the mountain, I felt that I was with
     someone very much like him.
    On the afternoon of the seventh day, after having passed through some pine woods, we
     reached the top of a mountain. There, Charlemagne had said his prayers for the first time
     on Spanish soil, and now an ancient monument urged in Latin that all who passed by should
     say a Salve Regina. We both did as the
    monument asked. Then Petrus had me do the Seed Exercise for the last time.
    There was a strong wind, and it was cold, I argued that it was still early at the latest,
     it was only three in the afternoon but he told me not to talk about it, just do exactly
     as he ordered.
    I knelt on the ground and began to perform the exercise. Everything went as usual until
     the moment when I extended my arms and began to imagine the sun. When I reached that
     point, with the gigantic sun shining there in front of me, I felt myself entering into a
     state of ecstasy. My memories of human life began slowly to dim, and I was no longer doing
     an exercise: I had become a tree. I was happy about this. The sun shone and revolved,
     which had never happened before. I remained there, my branches extended, my leaves
     trembling in the wind, not wanting ever to change my position until something touched me,
     and everything went dark for a fraction of a second.
    I immediately opened my eyes. Petrus had slapped me across the face and was holding me by
     the shoulders. Dont lose sight of your objective! he said, enraged. Dont forget that you
     still have a great deal to learn
    before you find your sword! I sat down on the ground, shivering in the cold wind. Does
     that always happen? I asked. Almost always, he said. Mainly with people like
    you, who are fascinated by details and forget what they are after.
    Petrus took a sweater from his knapsack and put it on. I put my overshirt on, covering my
     I LOVE NY T- shirt. I would never have imagined that in the hottest summer of the decade,
     according to the newspapers, it could be so cold. The two shirts helped to cut the wind,
     but I asked Petrus if we couldnt move along more quickly so that I could warm up.
    The Road now made for an easy descent. I thought that the extreme cold I had experienced
     was due to the fact that we had eaten very frugally, just fish and the fruits of the
     forest.*
    Petrus said that it wasnt the lack of food and explained that it was cold because we had
     reached the highest point in the range of mountains.
    We had not gone more than five hundred meters when, at a curve in the Road, the scene
     changed com- pletely. A tremendous, rolling plain extended into the distance. And to the
     left, on the Road down, less than two hundred meters away, a beautiful little village
     awaited us with its chimneys smoking.
    I began to walk faster, but Petrus held me back.
    I think that this is a good time to teach