Hi friends and family, JP here.

There is something humbling about acknowledging that even a solitary spiritual journey requires community. Consider this my way of asking for a tangible way of saying:

I’m with you.

The thing is, I’m about to do something spiritually significant, physically and mentally difficult, and deeply personal.

Starting September 20th, I’m going to spend four days and nights on a mountain alone, with no food or water, in silence and in prayer. I will be communing with nature in order to humbly ask the great mystery for a vision for my life.

And I want your support.

Wait, what?

I’ll be participating in this year’s Vision Quest at Hayulima Spiritual Sanctuary in Mindo, Ecuador. It’s an initiatory practice found in a number of Indigenous traditions, and one that has become part of the spiritual path I am learning to walk. It’s a four-year process, with each year representing different sacred values and requiring different lengths of stay on the mountain: 4, 7, 9, and 13 days.

Why I’m going

I feel that this has become part of my spiritual path.

As some of you may know, over the past several years, my life has taken me through a lot of transformations. I’ve studied psychology, trained in different approaches to healing and human development, deepened my knowledge of psychedelics and plant medicine, explored meditation and other contemplative practices, and spent a great deal of time defining what I’m actually here to do.

I’m looking for is the space to accept and more fully embrace the path I’ve chosen. I’m beginning to put myself out into the world on my own terms, accompanying people through their own processes of healing, self-understanding, and transformation. Since 2021, I’ve retooled with a great deal of academic rigor to get here. I am also called to be a guide for others in matters of consciousness and spirituality, which is something I am taking on with the same level of commitment.

But spirituality, for me, cannot exist only in books, classrooms, workshops, or ideas. It has to be practiced. It has to be lived.

Which is why I’m going into the wilderness to step into the great mystery itself.

But I don’t want to go alone

This is the first year of my Vision Quest, the year whose guiding principle is humility, and here I am, humbly admitting that I need you, today and always. When I go up this mountain, I want to carry my community with me, and if you are seeing this, it's because you are a part of it and someone who means a lot to me.

As part of the preparation for the Vision Quest, each Quester makes 365 small prayer ties. Prayers and intentions are placed into these ties, which will then surround each person during their time on the mountain.

I will dedicate many of my prayer ties to the people I love. I would be honored if you want to be a part of this. What I’d like is to carry you in my prayers: your name, the name of someone you love, your children or parents, a hope, a question, someone who is struggling, a cause you care about, or simply a prayer of your own.

Why the fundraiser?

I've asked my brother Francisco to help me fundraise (since I don't have access to this platform from Ecuador) because, in all honesty I’m not currently in a great financial position.

The Vision Quest contribution is $350. I expect to spend another approximately $150 on medical exams, transportation, lodging, and a few other basic expenses, so I’ve set a goal of $500.

What I’m looking for is small donations as a symbolic gesture. Whether it’s $10, $20, or $50 (whatever "small donation" means to you), your contribution will help make the journey possible. And if you aren’t in a position to contribute financially, I still want you to be part of this.

Send me your prayers via this form. Send me anything you’d like me to hold in my heart while I’m up there.

Follow my journey

I’ll be sharing my journey on Instagram and Substack

English Substack: The Unreliable Narrator

Spanish Substack: El Substack de Juan Pablo

Instagram: @juanpablolaso

And when I come back, carrying whatever I find there back with me, to share with my community.

With love,

JPL