"The first time it happened, I was driving on a two-lane highway near the Trinity Alps in a well-wooded area of Northern California. It was a rolling, gently curving road, and there was no other traffic in either direction. All at once, I became the car. I could feel my tires rotating on the pavement and a divine sense of union with the road. There was no conscious effort to turn the wheel or press on the accelerator, because I was the road as well as the car. I was the harmony of the car and the road. I was the melody of the universe. I was bursting with joy and a feeling of oneness. My body was totally aware of everything around me; the eucalyptus trees along the roadside, the manzanita bushes, with their dusty green leaves, the tiny cloud overhead, the clicketyclack of the tires, the purr of the engine, the smell of fresh air. My body was all these and so much more. My whole body smiled in this union as we floated along together through the forest and out into the sunshine. Words are totally inadequate to describe the unbelievable happiness I felt.

"I am unable to achieve this ultimate unity when someone else is with me in the car. But when I am alone, and on a curvy road, and traffic is at a minimum, I reach Nirvana. This unbelievable feeling of compassion and acceptance and oneness is overwhelming.

"Everything is so beautiful and so simple, so refreshing and invigorating. I actually get high on this relationship between myself, the car, the road, and the universe. I become an undivided individual embedded in my environment, accepting everything, expecting nothing. This is not an adrenaline rush or even an endorphin rush. It is oneness-ism and it lingers for months and years."