In a remote realm of perfection, there was a just monarch who had a wife and a wonderful son and daughter. They all lived together in happiness.
One day the father called his children before him and said:
"The time has come, as it does for all. You are to go down, an infinite distance, to another land. You shall seek and find and bring back a precious Jewel."
The travelers were conducted in disguise to a strange land, whose inhabitants almost all lived a dark existence. Such was the effect of this place that the two lost touch with each other, wandering as if asleep.
From time to time they saw phantoms, similitudes of their country and of the Jewel, but such was their condition that these things only increased the depth of their reveries, which they now began to take as reality.
When news of his children's plight reached the king, he sent word by a trusted servant, a wise man:
"Remember your mission, awaken from your dream, and remain together."
With this message they roused themselves, and with the help of their rescuing guide they dared the monstrous perils which surrounded the Jewel, and by its magic aid returned to their realm of light, to remain in increased happiness for evermore.
- Thinkers of the East by Idries Shah - 1971
Human beings, each one of us, catch glimmers of the Light. We feel the celestial chord. Sometimes it is a conscious, resounding flash. Often it is a whisper, a fleeting sigh in the first stirring breeze of sunrise. Maybe it comes in an dream, forgotten except for a sustained peace for a day or so. There are moments of delight with family or friends. The generous earth herself often sounds the clarion.
As beings with a vocal language, the gift we evolved into alphabets in order to share across time and distance, the written word often incandesces, illuminating another bit of the mystery.
"You are to go down, an infinite distance, to another land."
It is why we grieve when nothing is lost, when we weep in the full light of day.
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