Category: The Retelling of an Old Tale

The Price of Delusion

November 19, 2020

Continued from Walking Amongst the Clouds.

The sign over the entrance read:

“Getting clear of

The confusion that

Rattled my soul; the dark-

Myst of delusion took it’s fare toll.

And settled

Into

An even darker

Tunnel…

There is only

One way through—

All the way

To

It’s

Own

End–which is

Of course just

The Beginning…”

–Unknown

“My dear Arielle, before I continue with my dream let me share with you something I learned from the ants: Our mother may reject us. Friends may leave us. Always there is this possibility so look within your own self and—“

“—remember who loves you?”

“Exactly! Throughout this life we must take care of ourselves and—“

“—each other!”

“Yes. And each other.”

At this point, the two shook hands in agreement and made a vow to always care for one another.

“When I realized my anger was irrational, my thoughts turned around, looked me straight in the eyes and asked, ‘Is it true?’ But where did you go? I had to find you. So I left the garden and the ants to their work in search of you. Along the way, I met a couple who told me their names were Trust and Surrender. I asked them if they had seen you, but they just smiled and asked me, ‘What is it that covers the eyes so that the heart cannot be seen?’”

“Shame.” Arielle answered. “It makes me want to hide.”

“Yes.” Chaitan replied. “Me too.”

“So what did you do?”

“I repeated the names of the couple over and over until tears flowed washing my eyes clean.”

“Really, Chai? As simple as that?”

“As simple as that, Ariellah.”

“But why then, Chaitan were you so surprised to see me alive? What happened to me?”

To be continued…

NZain 😊

Thank you for reading.

All Was Emptiness, Except For My Own Self.

November 17, 2020

Continued from The Retelling of an Old Tale.

“All was emptiness, except for my own self, save for the memory of you which seemingly remained only to remind me that I was completely alone.”

“Oh Chaitanya! How frightened you must have been!”

“Even the ground beneath my feet no longer could I feel and for a moment not knowing which way was up—I was afraid…” Chaitanya bowed his head in thoughtful reflection and then looking up into Arielle’s own crystalline eyes, “For fear of losing all that mattered, I was afraid. And for fear I became angry at myself—angry at you—then did I feel shame…

…and in the next moment, I fell to my knees, but do you know what, Arielle? The ground was soft and smelled of fresh cut grass! I was in a garden and ants were busy collecting bits and pieces—“

“Hold on a minute, Chaitan. You were angry at me? But why?”

“All the while, ants going to and fro, without a single care except to do what needed to be done—I wondered the exact same question as it made no sense to me. What was the source of my fear and why was I angry? I quietly watched as the ants worked together, each one carrying his own weight for the benefit of all the ants, when the idea came to me—what if for some reason the ants abandoned their work? What if they abandoned one another?”

“I suppose they would die.” Answered Arielle.

“Yes, I suppose they would. And what if a mother abandons her infant—“

“Oh Chai! I don’t even want to think of it!”

“My dear Ariellah, let me persuade you to think about this harsh reality: some infants are abandoned. We are all born with this innate fear deep inside each one of us and yet it is this fear which keeps us alive.”

“You mean to say ‘our fear of death is what keeps us alive’?”

“And the infant knows this from birth…”

“…and this is why the infant cries!”

“Yes! And coos!”

“This makes perfect sense however, I still don’t understand, Chai–why you were angry with me?”

“In the moment of my disorientation when all was emptiness except for my own self, I felt the deep despair of separation. I felt you, my dear friend Arielle, had abandoned me. I felt loneliness.”

With a look of compassion Arielle replied, “I think I now understand your anger.”

“My anger,” Chaitan shook his head, “was irrational when I remembered your love for me–”

“You remembered me!” Delighted, Arielle flung her tiny arms around Chaitanya’s neck and kissed him affectionately on his cheek.”Then what happened?”

To be continued…

NZain💓

Thank you for reading.

The Retelling of an Old Tale.

November 14, 2020

“Chai?” The girl whispered with tender affection to the boy still asleep.

No reply.

“Chaitan?” She lovingly called out his name once again.

Silence.

“CHAITANYA WAKE UP!” And with a heart-full-of-a-mighty-lion’s-roar

The girl pounced on the sleeping boy just as he–

“ARIELLE!” (Chaitanya’s eyes now wide awake) “You’re alive! I dreamt of you and…”

His voice, anxious, trailing off with…a sigh of relief.

Arielle, quite satisfied she had now fully awakened the boy, settled back onto her elbows and with one eyebrow encouragingly raised, “Go on, Chai. Tell me about your dream.”

“You and I, Arielle, walked amongst the clouds, as we so often do, but

A strange dark-mist arose obscuring the entire world from view—“

“Chai?” Arielle interrupts with a purr and gazes deeply into Chaitan’s watery eyes, “Tell me in plain English.”

The two laugh heartily,

Embrace one another tenderly—and

Now–

Relaxing into a comfortable state of ease,

Chaitanya continues:

“I lost all sense of you…”

Thank you for reading. To be continued.

NZain💓