Undoubtedly, I would not be telling you this story about my adventures as a young adult in Nepal, if I had not had a second, most unusual dream that night, a dream that would change my life forever.

In my dream I was alone, wandering lost in a snow storm. After walking blindly through the snow for what seemed like forever, I came upon a Buddhist temple.

The door was slightly ajar. A soft yellow light came from somewhere within the temple, and spilled out through the partially open door onto the snow-covered ground that lay before me.

I opened the door the rest of the way and walked into the temple, where I found myself in a very large hall with stained glass windows and a vaulted ceiling.

The hall was lit by hundreds of small flickering candles, arranged in neat rows on iron racks attached to the walls.

At the front of the room stood a large white marble altar. Six giant red candles were arranged symmetrically upon its surface. A large colorful tapestry that had a picture of the Buddha sitting in a meditative posture on it, was hanging on the wall above the altar.

At the far end of the room, facing the altar, I saw a man sitting in a cross-legged position on a floor. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be absorbed in deep meditation.

I found myself walking over to him. As I approached, he turned his head, opened his eyes, and looked up at me.

Upon seeing his face, I immediately sensed that I knew him, although I couldn’t quite place where or when I had met him.

He beckoned to me silently, with a motion of his left hand, to come over and sit down next to him, and I did so.

We stared at each other for a long time without speaking. I saw that he was an American. He appeared to be in his late 40s. He was dressed in a black business suit, and had on a brightly colored tie.

In a commanding tone he said, “Tomorrow, you will go to the temple and visit Master Fwap. Forget about snowboarding for now. You have something much more important to do.”

I didn’t reply. I just kept staring at him, trying to figure out where I had met him before.

As if he were reading my thoughts he said, “You can’t possibly remember where you met me before. This is the first time you’ve ever run into me. Don’t you know who I am?”

I shook my head.

“Well, I would think it should be obvious. I’m you! Not yet, of course, but in the future.

“The reason I’m speaking to you in this dream tonight is because you’re about to make the biggest mistake in your thus-far uneventful life.”

“What’s that?”

“Going snowboarding tomorrow instead of seeing Master Fwap at his temple. You owe him your life, you know. And he is also destined to be your—our—master and to place us on our destined path.”

“How are we doing” I asked.

“Well, it’s certainly going to be very different from what you had imagined.

“This place is my—our—temple. Not bad, is it? We designed it ourselves. Don’t worry, our future will reveal itself to you, one day at a time, and that’s fast enough. Oh, and by the way, Master Fwap knows a lot more about snowboarding than you ever will.”

The room turned gold, faded, and dissolved, and I awoke to my second morning in Nepal.