Seekers of Understanding make pilgrimages to sites that hold special meaning for them. This is true for those observing the urgings of their religion, those hoping for a miraculous cure, brain-dead Elvis fans that visit Graceland in hopes of communicating with The King, and people who want to reach a higher plane of existence. I fall into the last category.

The plateau of sandstone fins above Negro Bill Canyon is a sacred place where I can seek Oneness with the rock in an attempt to express my submission to the Great Wonder. On my early 2007 trip to Moab I was called once again to this temple of nature. But this visit was special in that it exposed me to something I thought I would never see in my physical lifetime: an aura center. As I wandered through the fins I became attracted by an unseen force; that force led me to this spot atop a huge sandstone fin.

Those In The Know will instantly realize that this is an aura center, a rare place subject to intermittent beaming of sandstone auras into the Magnificent Ether. Sandstone is unique in that it beams auras without provocation, but it does so in very few places. The process of beaming releases energy at the rock-air interface, causing microscopic erosion of the sandstone surface. Over eons, this produces depressions in the rock called aura cavities. Every cavity represents a unique beaming event. (WARNING: Drinking rainwater found in an aura cavity water will cause a change to your physical shell that your spouse or significant other will not appreciate.)

My prone position was an attempt to maximize my chances of channeling some of the aura through my body. By doing so I hoped to transform myself from a somewhat wordy person to one who speaks or writes with a reasonable level of output, and thereby perhaps wins an award for conciseness.

Capturing the beam of sandstone aura is a daunting task of chance, akin to trying to cross the Pacific Ocean on a raft made of water-soluble reeds. I was unsuccessful with the channeling (was my hat's chin strap at fault?). Brevity still eludes me.

To fulfill his support role here, Joe Tripod straddled four aura cavities but did not stand in any of them.

Another hike exposed me to the largest aura cavity on record.