“Awakening”

Above the highest peak of the highest range of mountains in the world, somewhere beyond Heaven and Earth, dusk falls and a lone star appears in an amethyst sky. This peak is not known to many and has been climbed by fewer still. Yet here, somewhere beyond Heaven and Earth, is a State called Perfect Peace. Here, beyond the seasons and the tides, young souls slumber and sing to the stars. You may sometimes hear their distant song.

Now and again a visitor called Time enters the remote State of Perfect Peace and awakens one from his dreams. He is looking for those who will travel with him into the Dark Unknown that stretches far below Perfect Peace. Now and again, and not realizing the sacrifice he is about to make, a young soul offers himself and, carrying only a bright lamp in his heart, he leaves the State of Perfect Peace to journey with Time into the Dark Unknown…

‘Young Soul,’ Time announces, ‘always remember who you are! Your mission is this: to bring Light to the world below us.’

 

The way down is long but, guided by the light in the young soul’s heart, they come at last to a high peak of great beauty and peace and capped with snow. The young soul hesitates here for a while, reminded suddenly of home. Then, surveying the valleys and river beds below them, all shrouded in mist, he and Time make their final descent. At last, after many miles, they reach their journey’s end and unaccustomed to the darkness, the young soul blinks and rubs his eyes. He gazes, intrigued by his new surroundings.

A great hooting and clanging echoes around them and he winces, covering his ears. How strange is this noisy world with its curious forms and slanting shadows, and so far from Perfect Peace. Already the snow covered peak is a distant dream.

‘Where shall I take my light first?’ he says, playing his lamp on rocky outcrops and tunnelling the crystal depths. He rides the wind on eagles’ wings and sails to the silent waters of ocean caves. At night he sleeps beneath the desert sand and watches sunrise through the eye of a jungle cat. Deeper and deeper into the World of Shadow and Form the young soul casts his light until ….

Time passes by one night and whispers into his dreams: ‘Young Soul, always remember who you are!’ But, so happy to play in Shadow and Form, Soul is already forgetting who he is. ‘I am the dragonfly,’ he cries, ‘I am the snowflake, the mountain and the fire!’ He leaps from one form to the next, dancing in the light of his heart, dancing in his own shadow, until finally he announces: ‘I am Man!’ And, as night falls once more in the World of Shadow and Form, the young soul’s light slips deep into the heart of Man.

Aeons pass in the World of Shadow and Form and the soul grows weary as one mortal lifetime ends and another begins. ‘Where has Time gone?’ he will sometimes say as a great longing for something half-remembered stirs in his heart. ‘Where can I find Peace, Perfect Peace?’

But, as the longing grows, so does his light, still buried deep in the heart of form.

 

One day his longing leads him to a place high above the World of Shadow and Form, where he can just make out the distant peaks of somewhere long forgotten. From his high place it is as though he sees, through the mists, his own Life unfold, lifetime after lifetime, and following comes a procession of memories, of pleasures and pain walking as partners, side by side in the valley below. But although he recognizes these memories as his own they now seem to be no longer part of him. He watches for a long time as thoughts come and thoughts go until finally echoes of a distant song appear. And suddenly, from his high place he sees the peaks of that somewhere long forgotten, and there is one final thought. Peace! The procession has halted now. Then sighing, he knows at once that Peace, Perfect Peace really is only a thought away.

 

He continues to climb until, as dusk falls, the distant song grows louder and the first star appears in an amethyst sky. Lifting his gaze, the mountains are no longer so far away. ‘Is it Time?’ he wonders and the light in his heart flickers and flares as, slowly, he begins to remember who he is. And at once a thousand other lights wink back – and more – until the whole World of Shadow and Form is ablaze with light. Then, hearing a familiar voice on the breeze, the old soul smiles as Time draws near.

‘Are you ready for the journey, old Soul?’ Time asks.

But ahead of Time Soul has begun to sing to the stars once more and, carried on a dream, he is already home.

 

 

Audio of Moyra Irving reading “Awakening”. Musical accompaniment: David Jimenez-Hughes

 

 

© Moyra Irving 2006