The Secret of Shambhala: In Search of the Eleventh Insight by James Redfield Page B

soldiers.”
    “That was quite a risk,” I said.
    He nodded as he put the vegetables in a heavy boiler filled with several inches of water and hung it on the metal hook over
     the fire to steam. Yak dung flames lapped at the bottom of the pan.
    Seeing Yin again seemed to take much of my fear away, and as we sat down in old dusty chairs by the fire, I said, “I have
     to admit that I did try to get away. I thought it was my only chance to survive.”
    I went on to tell him everything that had happened—everything, that is, except the experience of the light around the house.
     When I got to the part where I was in the mounds and the van came by, he sat up in his chair.
    “You are sure it was the same van we saw at the roadblock?” he asked pointedly.
    “Yes, it was them,” I replied.
    He looked totally exasperated. “You saw the people we had seen before and you didn’t speak with them?” His face had an edge
     of anger. “Don’t you remember me telling you about my dream, about us meeting someone who could help us find the gateway?”
    “I didn’t want to take a chance that they would report me,” I protested.
    “What?” He stared at me, then leaned over and held his face in his hands for a moment.
    “I was petrified,” I said. “I can’t believe I’ve gotten myself in this situation. I wanted out. I wanted to survive.”
    “Listen to me closely,” Yin said. “The chances of your getting out of Tibet now by fleeing are very slim. Your only chance
     of surviving is to go forward, and to do that, you have to use the synchronicity.”
    I looked away, knowing he was probably right.
    “Tell me what happened when the van approached,” Yin said. “Every thought. Every detail.”
    I told him the van had stopped, and when it did, I immediately grew afraid. I described how the woman acted as if she wanted
     to get out, but changed her mind and they left.
    He shook his head again. “You killed the synchronicity with a misuse of your prayer-field. You set your field with fearful
     expectations and it stopped everything.”
    I looked away.
    “Think about what was happening,” Yin continued, “when you heard the van approaching. You had two choices: You could have
     thought about that occurrence as a threat or as a potential aid. Certainly you have to consider both. But once you recognized
     the van, that should have told you something. The fact that it was the same van that we had seen earlier at the crossroads
     is meaningful, especially since these same people created the diversion that allowed us to go by without being seen. From
     that point of view, they had already helped you and now were there to possibly help you again.”
    I nodded. He was right. Clearly I had blown it.
    Yin looked away, distracted by his own thoughts, then said, “You completely lost your energy and positive expectation. Remember
     what I told you at the restaurant? Setting a field for synchronicity is a matter of putting yourself in a particular state
     of mind. It is easy to think about synchronicity intellectually, but unless you enter the state of mind where your prayer-field
     will help, all you will do is glimpse the coincidences every once in a while. In some situations that is enough and you will
     be led forward for a time, but eventually you will lose your direction. The only way to establish a constant flow of synchronicity
     is to stay in a state where your prayer field keeps this flow moving toward you—a state of conscious alertness.”
    “I’m still not sure how to get into this state of mind.”
    “One must stop and remind oneself to assume an attitude of alertness every moment. One must visualize that one’s energy is
     going out and bringing just the right hunches to you, the right events. You have to expect them to occur at any moment. We
     set our fields to bring us synchronicity by being ever vigilant, always expecting the next encounter. Every time you forget
     to keep yourself in this state of