A wise man walked upon a path; a narrow path.
As he progressed, ahead of him, he saw a man. Within his arms he held a child. He saw that the child reached out to grasp what was within the father’s empty pocket.
A sense of magic overwhelmed the seer on his path, for he saw the spirit of play within the hand of the child.
Above the father he saw appear, a menacing shadow. Upon the point of seeing this, the man’s eyes became enraged. His gesture was harsh and final; pushing the hand of the child away from the empty pocket, where the true magic of the moment resided.
The seer then, upon witnessing spirit in two aspects that defined itself through that which had been witnessed, said to the father, ‘May I sit and rest by your side for a moment? My journey has been long.’
The father smiled generously and welcomed the old man by his side.
As the seer sat down, he gently grasped the hand of the child and smiled. The man that he had sat down next to was Hindu.
By virtue of this he adapted and said to the man, ‘for your kindness, I would like to tell you a story: a story of karma; actions resulting from actions and the consequences that lay there within. ‘
‘Where does this story come from?’ he enthusiastically asked.
The wise old man said, ‘it is from my path; the path that defined my heart. My gift to you is the story of father and daughter.
‘There once was a man whose grip was tight. He saw nothing beyond what was in his grasp. Everything was bent to his will. And as he bent, the flexible reed acquiesced.
‘This man had a daughter she was soft and beautiful. Her gaze possessed the wonder of spirit. Her hands were a gesture of love that beckoned the heart of another to play within the field of that heart.
‘She reached into the pocket of her father and her father promptly parried that softness with hardness.
‘As the daughter grew this hardness defined her. When she blossomed to a beautiful young woman, she married a man that was the image of the father, for how could she marry another? He is the first male she met. She is defined by virtue of the acts upon her being, therefore she looks for these defining elements in the man she will marry
‘As this new couple grew within the bounds of their union a child was born. The father before now was the elder; the grandfather. He saw one day his son in law pushing aside the hand of his granddaughter and was struck with the fact that now he must fight the image of himself, to protect the spirit of his granddaughter.’
The seer paused and touched the hand of the man:
‘Be aware to battle yourself. Otherwise you will have to battle yourself.’
The father then realized that the story was that which the seer had witnessed on his path.
Indignantly he said to the seer, ‘Be on your way old fool.’
Beautiful…
Wonderful story…