“What I am saying, you silly girl, is that the part is
the same as the whole, only lesser in quantity, quality, and aspect. It is the same thing, but on a lower level,”
he said.
I pretended to understand because I did not want to make
him angry. When he gets angry, he leaves
all too soon, and there was a great deal more I wanted to know, or be reminded
of, as the case may be. Talking to me on
this plane at this time of year, however—especially this time of year—is not
something he often does.
Perhaps I should go back and explain. After all, you caught me in the thick of
it. You see, like a moth drawn to the
flame, I headed back to the deep woods.
I cannot seem to keep away, and he knows this. It is how he catches me every year and brings
me back to the deep sleep, in which I remember who I am again. Until I forget. Again.
And so it was today.
I headed off to the shade because I cannot bear the sun, the light being
too bright, the rays being too hot and burning.
It is deep in the woods under the thick canopy of trees, where I can finally
breathe a sigh of relief. I said nothing
as I walked along, which is not ordinary for me, because I usually talk out
loud to no one as I go. It is a habit of
mine. But not today.
Today there was a kind of angst. And not just today, but for quite some
time. In fact, that happens to be a
general feeling for everyone I meet these days, although admittedly, I do not
encounter many people. It is a feeling
of being on edge, of things being not quite right, of being on the brink of
something but never seeming to get there.
And foreboding. A feeling of
foreboding. Of something being terribly wrong.
I brought it with me as I headed into the deep woods,
this shadow hanging over me, this all-pervasive lie I see in everyone’s eyes
these days. “Come with me into the sanctuary,”
I said to myself, “and we will see who has stolen the light.” Because, you see, someone has stolen it, or
at least has tried to. The sun we see
today is not the same sun we used to see.
This blazing, burning, painful thing is not the same as it was.
And there I was in the deep woods. I set my pack down because I was tired and
hot, even in the coolness of the trees.
And that is when he came upon me.
I knew better than to turn around, because if I had, there would have
been no one there. My eyes cannot always
see what is before me, and today was one of those days. Ah, the wretched summer, always masking what
is right in front of us.
But I am not as brave as I would like to imagine I am,
and what I really did was sit and weep. I
do not even know why I was weeping, but once I started I could not seem to
stop. It was at some point in my pitiful
sobbing that he appeared. I stopped
crying then in a desperate show of pathetic bravado. Ah, the feeble ego. What price we pay to seem as if we are other
than we are.
We made our usual greetings—me telling him he had
frightened me out of my wits and him telling me I am still a coward. It was the familiar salutation. But I got right to it because I was not sure
how much time I had, him being in enemy territory this time of year. I told him about the burning sun, the
different sun, the one I did not like anymore.
I think at any other time, this would have been music to his ears, but this
time I could tell he hesitated.
“So you feel it too, then?” I asked. He did not answer.
“Can you tell me what is going on?” I asked again. “Something is happening in the world, and I
do not understand it.”
“There is nothing new under the sun,” he began.
“This feels new. I
do not remember this.”
“You will remember it,” he said, “And then you will
re-member it.”
This was not going to be easy, but with him, it never
is. I decided just to get straight to
the point. He always appreciates
directness.
“It is the sun. He
is like a burning cauldron, hotter and worse than he has ever been before,” I
began. “And it feels different. He
feels different.” I could feel him wince
from that. “And the light looks
different. And the people look
different. They do not talk as much as
they used to. Their eyes are glazed, as
if they are in some sort of trance.
Their words are masked and difficult to understand. And everywhere the burning continues. It is a strange summer.”
I started to weep again but tried to hide it. He does not like weakness, and for that
matter, neither do I. He was
hesitant. I waited quietly and knew
better than to interrupt him.
“There is an imposter,” he began. “As you well know, the Sun and I have always
been good enemies and always will be.
But there is an imposter, an old adversary, one who thinks he might shine
as brightly as the Sun but only delivers lies and perversion.”
“Is he the one who is burning me? Who is burning us all?” I asked.
“Aye.”
“What can we do?
How can we get past his lies, back to the natural world we all knew and
loved?” He winced again at the world ‘love.’
“You must find your own ‘Sun,’ and let it shine,” he
said, “And be guided by it alone.”
“My own sun? What are you saying??”
“My own sun? What are you saying??”
“What I am saying, you silly girl, is that the part is
the same as the whole, only lesser in quantity, quality, and aspect. It is the same thing, but on a lower level,”
he said.
I pretended to understand because I did not want to make
him angry. When he gets angry, he leaves
all too soon, and there was a great deal more I wanted to know, or be reminded
of, as the case may be. Talking to me on
this plane at this time of year, however—especially this time of year—is not
something he often does.
“You have heard the phrase, ‘as above, so below’? This always applies,” he said.
“So there is a sun in the sky and there is a sun in me?”
I asked.
“Yes. Have a care,
though. Distinguish between a ‘sun’ and
a ‘Sun.’ Be guided by your inner light, not by the
rusted tinsel of the merchant.”
“You are a piece, a fragment. But not like broken glass,” he went on, “More
like a holograph. When broken, each tiny
piece contains the entirety of the image but in a smaller, less profound size
with less effect, but effect nonetheless.”
My mind was swimming.
But I had to be brave. What else
do we have in the end but courage?
“So the piece is the same as the whole?” I asked.
“Indeed, but it is smaller and on a different level.”
“And does it have the same energy and power as the whole?”
“Your intellect is boring,” he said, “Of course it is the
same. The piece is made in the image of
the whole. But on a lower level.”
I felt shame. The
Judge in my mind demanded to know who I thought I was entertaining such highfalutin
ideas. The Judge’s words kept echoing…..
‘You are nothing. You can do
nothing. You can be nothing. It is too late for you.’ But the Judge was wrong. He echoed only the words of the imposter,
masked and darkened.
“I must take my leave in the Shadows,” he said simply and
abruptly, his voice strained and tired.
“But wait!” I blurted, “How do I contact the energy of
the Sun? Please…..” He sighed.
“You are like an outlet in the wall of your home, always
ready with energy. But unlike the one in
your home, the energy flows both ways.”
“So I can plug in?” I asked.
“Yes, and you can be plugged into. Because you cannot create without it. And without you, nothing can be created.”
There was no point in asking anything else because he was
gone, back to the Underworld, the Lord of Winter. What strength. How could I have forgotten?
It was time to go home.
I avoided the scorching sun in the sky and left the deep woods straight
away. I sought the comfort and solace of
my home, my own space. In my room, I shut
the door and drew the curtains. I laid
down comfortably and peacefully without moving, my eyes closed. I listened to the rhythm of my own
breathing. And presently, in my center,
there shown a bright and loving Sun, which radiated to my whole being, which
confirmed what I had known all along, which could only speak truth. Unmasked, He kissed me and said, “I am.”
He with ears, let him hear.