Jules Visits the Bio-Ark of the North

Douglas’ fairy tale of the bio-ark of the north can lead you to an imagination of the Temple of Wisdom.

There it was in front of him, the Ferryman’s humble hut at the edge of this world and the next. It had to be the place, for it fit the description perfectly. From the outside it looked like a small wooden house on the shore of a river emptying into the ocean. Jules could not believe that he had finally reached the home of the Wise One of the North. He had so many questions that he wanted answered and he longed to meet this mystery man that his father had told him so much about. The first question would be, “How and why does the Ferryman live here in this tiny hut in the cold and desolate northland?”

Jules knocked on the door but there was no answer. The cold bitter wind was blasting his face so he decided to try the door. It was open, so he stepped through the doorway and the hut disappeared completely as he found himself standing in what appeared to be something like a round, translucent jelly-fish that floated on the surface of the ocean growing multi-colored algae in veins throughout its body. The walls appeared crystal-clear and rounded on every corner with layers insulating the circulating colored fluids that glowed and lit up this living bio-sphere. Upon closer examination, he saw six chambers surrounding a central chamber where all the flowing liquids and colors interpenetrated each other and combined to make a glowing rose-colored atmosphere. The outer chambers were the source of each individual color and sound. Each of the onion-like layers wound their way through complicated veins circulating throughout the entire sphere. An unearthly sound was coming from the central chamber that seemed to make the entire bio-sphere hum and vibrate. The music was created by the combined sounds of the individual chambers joining together to make a chorus of harmonics that made Julian wobble a bit until he found his center again. The bio-sphere seemed stationary but he could see the ocean and river below the transparent floor of the sphere.

Julian reached out and touched the walls and they felt alive. They pulsed with warmth, light, and sound as well as some kind of life energy that he was unfamiliar with. He stepped forward a few more paces and entered the central chamber where an altar-like structure was in the middle. He could see that the altar covered a tube-like cylinder with a narwhal tusk inside suspended in some type of liquid. On top of the altar appeared to be some type of controls. Over his head he saw cloud-like formations that appeared to be on fire or illuminated with iridescent clouds emitting charged particles. Periodic pulses of blue lightning-like discharges sparked throughout the chambers. From the central chamber, he could see many layers throughout the sphere filled with glowing light that here and there generated bright flashes, arcs of light, and veils of color like the aurora borealis above.

The central chamber had internal structures that resembled the limbs of the human mid-brain with its ventricles and hollows. A globe-like structure on the table seemed to be a living model of the whole bio-sphere with its seven chambers and layers all rhythmically sounding together in a cosmic melody. It pulsed and breathed in rhythm with the whole sphere and simultaneously sensed and responded to the spectacular auroral display that could be seen overhead through the clearer parts of the sphere. As the aurora got brighter, so did the sphere, resonating with the light show going on above.

Upon closer scrutiny, he could see that the larger end of the altar’s cylinder was connected to a metallic device that rotated the tusk and Julian could hear sound coming from it that was deep and pulsing like a heart-beat. He touched the cylinder and a familiar resonant vibration filled his body and made him feel as if he were directly connected to the rotation of the earth and its axis. The narwhal tusk inside the cylinder was slightly tilted and rotated slowing creating a conical projection above its tip in the liquid, like a small tornado-like vortex.

Above the cylinder was an altar where there was a sphere with a cube on top. The cube was partitioned into four sections and had a brightly colored pyramid sitting on top of it. The light from the dome of the central chamber focused through the pyramid and then passed down through the cube and into the sphere refracting the brilliant light downwards into the cylinder with the tusk. The brilliant light transformed into subtle colors that lit up bundles of nerve-like webs that rotated independently and cast light and colors against the inner chamber’s walls.

The light projected onto the walls of the chambers created strange images, geometric shapes and symbols that reminded him of Norse runes or some secret language wrought with meaning. The projection of the light from above that reached to the walls of all seven chambers provided energy and life throughout the bio-sphere. The light images projected throughout the sphere were enhanced by bursts of light that the tusk itself emitted. Each chamber lit up in resonance with the light and sound coming from the central chamber and responded with a resounding tone and color of its own that blended together into heavenly colors and weaving light.

After looking at the individual chambers, Jules could see that each one responded in kind to the charged ion particles coming from the Northern Lights above the bio-sphere. Looking below, he could see ocean water being taken into the outer skin of the sphere and then separated into different minerals and metals of different colors and viscosities. Multiple spiraling vortices divided the water into six types of colored water that flowed to the outside chambers providing fresh materials to mix with the ionized substances from above. Once the light and color mixed in the separate chambers, wonderful fragrances arose that smelled as tangible as food and drink. Individualized geometric patterns grew in each chamber in plant-like translucent vines growing up from below reaching for nourishment from above, like the sun offering food to plants rising upwards.

Each of the six chambers in the bio-sphere was completely different and the individual effects were distinct and unique but seemed to unite into one whole being. Once the effects of the six chambers filtered into the central chamber, they became a synthesis of the individual parts. A symphony of sound, color, shapes, smell and taste comingled in the central chamber into physical, soul, and spiritual nourishment. Jules sat in the central chamber for a long time breathing in this nourishment and thinking about this wondrous sphere and trying to comprehend how such a thing could exist in two places at once, in two different forms – a humble hut or a luminous bio-sphere created out of the conscious alchemy of the environment.

Jules realized that this small sphere floating in the northern sea was echoing the balance of the living earth in its response to the tides of magnetic solar wind flowing into earth’s atmosphere through the polar cap. These powerful solar winds interact with the forces of nature that are also active in the aurora borealis. The bio-sphere was a resonating chamber that echoed the forces of nature found in the rotating earth below and the breath of the sun from above. It was a miniature replica of the entire earth, a little microcosm of Mother Gaia responding to Her love, the Sun.

Jules listened to the interweaving sounds of the bio-sphere and wondered about the wise person who brought this creation into existence. Who could understand and harness these cosmic forces into a living home for a human in such an inhospitable, frozen landscape? Truly the great Kalevala hero of the Northland, Vainamoinen, who sung the world into being with his magic spells and conjuring songs had such powers, but very few others. Jules thought that this wondrous bio-sphere might truly be the mythical mill that the Kalevala, called the “Sampo.” Vainamoinen’s brother Ilmarinen, the great smithy, forged for the Old Woman of the Northland this magic mill to win the Rainbow Maiden’s hand in marriage. The Old Woman’s daughters rode upon the rainbow-bridge of the Northland, the aurora borealis. This bio-sphere, like the magic mill of the Sampo, also feeds from the energy of the aurora and utilizes the rainbow-bridge of ionized elements to create light, sound, and life.

The forces working in the bio-sphere perfectly reflected the environment where it was created. This biological “ark” created a home where a human can live comfortably in the frozen northland. Its structure, created from sea-water, ionized particles, air and light brings an organic bio-sphere to life by tuning seven narwhal tusks to planetary and solar resonances found in the metals and minerals of ocean water. Jules couldn’t help but wonder why anyone with the wisdom to create this bio-sphere would not share this technology with the world and replicate many bio-spheres.

After a short time in the bio-sphere, the freshness of the air and the living qualities of the atmosphere took away any desire for food or water and Jules no longer felt his own weight or fatigue and all his worries and fears seemed to vanish. What was this magical effect of the sphere? It reminded him of the stories of finding the holy grail in some ancient temple where the initiated are fed and nourished through some mysterious means.

Every question that arose in Jules’ mind seemed gently answered through a luminous, resonant response of images, moving colors, and geometric shapes on the dome above him or on the walls around him. The entire sphere was responding to his thoughts. Every interaction with the bio-sphere drew his attention to some new inspiration that was trying to tell him a story or teach him a new song filled with wisdom. When he asked about who created the sphere, mystical forms appeared upon the walls as each archetypal symbol created a sound or vibration accompanied by letters of some long forgotten language that he half remembered. These magically conjured forms appeared to be mobile organisms accompanied by images and harmonic music simultaneously filled with the power of wisdom, truth, and meaning. Surely, whoever the maker was, this sphere was reminiscent of Noah’s ark which was a bulwark against the storm and a wondrous refuge floating upon the waters.

As soon as this thought of the bio-sphere as an ark came into Jules’ mind, he was beckoned to stand and walk through each chamber individually. He was amazed to find that each outer chamber was also centered around an altar which also held a narwhal tusk in a cylinder much like the central chamber. Each outer chamber emitted a distinct tone, color, taste and metallic smell. A slight vapor filled the chamber and passed into a system of veins and capillaries that dispersed the substances to all parts of the bio-sphere. Each chamber had an intensely powerful atmosphere that made it hard to remain standing upright. As he passed from chamber to chamber, he could feel specific parts of his spine light up and become incredibly stimulated by the individual tones, colors, shapes and substances. After walking through each of the outer chambers, he felt renewed and more conversant with all that was going on around him in this bio-ark, his refuge against the storm on the threshold of the spiritual world. He began to feel the very nature and meaning of the bio-ark as if it were a being communicating with him. He felt that he was back in his mother’s womb surrounded by her love and gentle voice singing a lullaby.

After experiencing and understanding the distinctiveness of each of the outer chambers, Jules could now hear the harmonizing of the seven chambers blending their sounds together. The sounds coming from the outer chambers, which were also in the shape of a sphere, made a combined symphony that sounded like angels singing or a loud waterfall. When he closed his eyes, he felt the music resonating in his head and heart while moving throughout his body. If he tried to isolate any one song, it sounded like the babbling of a brook, or the voice of an old wise woman chanting, or the cherished lullaby of his mother ringing in his heart. It was then that he noticed that the combined sounds of the six narwhal tusks in the outer chambers were communicating with the central tusk, each sounding its note like an instrument in a dialogue of tones and intervals. The central tusk responded to the outer ones with harmonic answers that created vowels and consonants that formed into words.

He was beginning to understand that the sphere created a “living space” that can communicate with its environment and he was learning to comprehend its language. He realized that he could simply ask any question in his heart of hearts and then he would see, feel, and know the answer through witnessing the living response of the sphere.

After a long life of searching, Jules had finally discovered this amazing biological ark of consciousness that could be used as a vehicle for beginning a direct dialogue with Mother Nature. It was obvious that Mother Nature allowed this sacred vessel to be created so that it might assist aspirants in finding the living being of Wisdom who uses the vessel as a mirror that can resonate with the cosmos and respond to the thoughts, feelings and deeds of an aspirant. This “ark of consciousness” is a chariot of life that helps the aspirant contact the Being of Wisdom who is Mother Nature. This Being of Wisdom is often called Sophia. She has been sought by aspirants on every spiritual path throughout history. She has the wisdom, power, and love to communicate with the awakened aspirant and provide all that is needed to weather the storms that arise during the spiritual quest. Sophia can communicate through the “harmony of the spheres” and illuminate the spirit of the aspirant who attunes to Her. Sophia, the Being of Wisdom, can bring to the aspirant all that he needs to spiritually live and grow, just as the “bio-ark” provides all that the human body needs for sustenance.

As Jules became more aware of the different smells and fragrances in the bio-ark, he was again overwhelmed. Any fragrance that he thought about, immediately filled the air but in a more rarified and potent fashion. As each fragrance entered him, it lit up parts of the sphere in radiant patterns displaying the component elements that are drawn together from the different chambers needed to create it. Any smell of food or drink that he imagined became tangible and entered his being bringing substantive nourishment, as if in an enchanted dream. He smelled and tasted the food or drink that he imagined and it left him full and satiated. Nourishment helped him realize that his skin itself could also light up and expand or contract his body to any size. The greatest height or deepest depth became easily traversed with full awareness of the space in between. He found that he was no longer limited by the outer shell of the sphere or his body. He was learning to transcend space and time through interaction with the bio-ark.

Jules’ consciousness rose up above the bio-ark and saw through the eyes of a great eagle looking down from above. His consciousness was also able to dive down into the ocean and hear narwhals calling in the depths as they sing together with the tune of the rotating earth. Jules turned his consciousness towards his heart and found all of the love others had ever given him still sounding together there as a symphony. No matter where he focused his consciousness, the bio-ark brought him deep wisdom and profound insight.

After some time, Jules could not take the powerful vibrations anymore, so he closed his eyes but still saw in the purity of the effervescent light that was surging through the inner chamber. He realized that he was not alone in this magical cave of marvels but was surrounded by the Being of Wisdom, Sophia, and Her many helpers who wish to support his evolution into his higher self. The bio-ark became for Jules an organ of spiritual perception that could see into the world of living wisdom, the realm of Sophia.

As Jules looked more closely at the central altar he could see that transparent threads formed an inverted cone at the tip of the sounding tusk and that the luminous threads reached to the outer chambers and then folded back upon themselves. The central chamber created a torus field in the shape of a donut that had an opening at the top through which he could see the sky above that twinkled with the light of the starry heavens. He felt beckoned to step closer to the central altar and look up. As he did, he could see bright Polaris directly above and a host of other polar stars. As he continued to look up, he became aware that he was being overwhelmed again, this time by a variety of types of vertigo. Not only was the sphere spinning, but he was spinning, and the axis of the earth was spinning around the pole star. Time and space became distorted and the sound of the rotating earth roared in his head and was wrenching and twisting his insides into a knot. Each different part of his body seemed to spin around its own axis in contradistinction to all others. He felt that he was falling uncontrollably while spinning backwards in time to his youth when he learned to stand erect for the first time.

What began as a horrible feeling of falling eventually transformed into a capacity to navigate time and space, moving backward and forward at will by learning to fly and control gravity and levity. After some practice, all he had to do was decide where he wished to go and when he wished to arrive there. Soon, he became comfortable at moving through time and space without limits using his consciousness as his vehicle. With complete clarity he could re-witness any event in history, whether he had been present at the event originally or not. Once he had learned to travel through time and space, he called himself back home to his heart in the present moment and then the whirling and vertigo stopped. He understood that having such transcendent capacities would bring great power and would require even greater wisdom and responsibility to use properly.

Jules wondered again about the person who could fashion such a living temple of wisdom as this bio-ark that holds such tremendous power. And yet, no one was here guarding the bio-ark and Jules was allowed to enter and interact with this wondrous vessel of wisdom. He continued to be filled with reverence for what the bio-ark was able to show him and awaken in his being and he wondered why he was allowed to witness this marvel.

Just at that moment, the great eagle flew directly above the sphere and called out the loudest cry Julian had ever heard. Its resounding caused the sphere to spark and shoot golden lightning bolts into the sky and the water all about the sphere. He looked beneath the bio-ark and heard the call of the narwhals rumble the sphere from deep below. The echoes of these calls from above and below continued for a long while reverberating through the air and the water for miles around. From above, the master of air and light, from below, the master of water and sound — and in between stood Jules.

Suddenly, he understood why his father had given him an ivory narwhal flute so many years ago and told him he would one day learn to play it beautifully. For the first time since he came upon the Ferryman’s hut, he felt his narwhal flute pulsating in his pack. He quickly reached for it and was amazed to see that it was glowing in resonance with all that was sounding in the atmosphere around it. Its spiraling ridges contracted and expanded to the breathing pulse of the bio-ark and the echoing songs of the eagle and the narwhals. The ivory flute was vibrating through resonance and the harmonics where sounding through the flute. Individual tones of resonance began to become more articulated as the flute vibrated in response. Jules could see each interval of the scale appear in its proper place in sequence and in size. He realized that his dream of an ivory flute that had haunted him all of his life was now in his hands and that the wisdom to use this flute was filling his heart. Like the eagle’s cry or the sounding of the narwhal, he too had a gift to bring – his individual song, his call to wisdom, his echo of creation, his gift of harmony.

Jules felt overwhelming gratitude to the narwhal whose tusk was given to create this ivory flute whose powers are now being revealed. Then, he knew what he should do in this holy place, but part of him couldn’t believe he was having this experience and he kept thinking it might not be real or that he was imagining the whole thing or that it was a dream. He thought that if all that he had witnessed were true, then the ivory flute would demonstrate its creative powers if he played it. He put the flute to his lips and it began to draw the tones out of him from a place so deep in his heart that he had forgotten it existed, the home of a primal fountain of wisdom flowing with life. At that moment, Jules understood what his father had said about the ivory flute when he first gave it to him: “It will play you when the time is right.”

Jules took a deep breath and blew into the flute, and for the first time it sounded forth conscious human wisdom and creative power joined as one. He was amazed as the flute produced not only sound but also a symphony of light, color, forms and life. He knew that the song of flute matched the combined harmonics that had created the bio-ark. The resonance of the song was alive and filled with harmonious wisdom. The enchanted tune that Jules played on the flute brought forth living images that told the story of the Ferryman and how he came to live in the far distance northland as a witness to all of the mysteries that dwell upon the threshold between earth and heaven.

The song’s melancholic melodies brought forth pictures and words that described what the Ferryman’s mission on the Blessed Isle is all about. It unfolded the insight that the Ferryman is the ever vigilant watcher who is always ready to bare the aspirant across the etheric waters to the realm where Wisdom dwells as Queen. The song caused the sphere to respond and reveal its true nature and the secrets of creation that were used to shape the earth and humanity. His song caused life to dance and death to hold still while new life burgeoned like springtime.

After Jules’ wonderings through many lands and all of the suffering he had endured, he finally learned to let the flute play him. The song that now played through him brought beautiful resonance and harmony into the world that healed all those wakeful souls who seek the Temple of Wisdom each night. The song of the ivory flute now became the answer to his every question and the true meaning of his spiritual quest.

All along, the ivory flute had been with Jules and he did not see it for what it truly was, a tool that mirrors the “word” of creation and can sing form and function into being from harmonies aligned with our planets, our sun and the starry forces of the cosmos. As the song ended, Jules lowered the flute and held it at his heart for he finally knew that he had come home to the Temple of Wisdom that he had been searching for throughout his entire life. He understood that now, he was a new Ferryman who was growing into another Wise One of the Northland.