title: Luminous Heart of Inner Radiance: Drawings of the Togal Visions
author:  Robert and Rachel Olds 
description: Artists Robert and Rachel Olds spent nine years in spiritual retreat together in the mountains of northern California integrating Earth living and the practices of the heart essence of Dzogchen. They came to their retreat after years of spiritual inquiry through their artwork and years of letting go and simplifying their lives to connect more fully with the natural world. They share the unique perspective that their completion of the path of Togal brings to encourage recognition that this Earth, this vision we call life, is a sacred offering. Their other books include Luminous Heart of the Earth and Water Drawn Before Sunrise.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](../Images/00001.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter One
  
  
  
  
  
  At first she wasn't sure he was real.
  
  
  
  
  
  She had been dozing. Her head rested on her bent arm, which had gone to sleep
  and had started to tingle. She woke up and opened her eyes, then stretched
  languorously and turned her head. That's when she saw him. She immediately
  forgot her discomfort.
  
  
  
  
  
  She thought he was a trick of her unfocused eyes or a product of late
  afternoon drowsiness and midsummer ennui. She blinked several times. The image
  remained.
  
  
  
  
  
  The outline of his body was as detailed as a silhouette cut out of black
  construction paper with tiny manicure scissors. It was cast against a showoff
  sun that was making one hell of an exit. The horizon was as gaudily striped as
  a sultan's turban. It boasted every vibrant hue ranging from vermilion to
  gold.
  
  
  
  
  
  Like the pines, he was motionless. The trees stood as majestic and tall as
  sentinels. Their spiky branches were still. There wasn't a breath of breeze.
  Ab