There was a Master come unto the earth, born in the holy land of
Indiana, raised in the mystical hills east of Fort Wayne.
The master learned of this world in the public schools of Indiana,
and as he grew, in his trade as a mechanic of automobiles.
But the Master had learnings from other lands and other schools,
from other lives thathe had lived. He remembered these, and remembering
became wise and strong, so that others saw his strength and came to him
for counsel.
The master believed that he had power to help himself and all
mankind, and as he believed so it was for him, so that others saw his
power and came to him to be healed of their troubles and their many
diseases.
The master believed that it is well for any man to think upon
himself as a son of God, and as he believed, so it was, and the shops and
garages where he worked became crowded and jammed with those who sought
his learning and his touch; and the streets outside with those who longed
only that the shadow ofhis passing might fall upon them, and change their
lives.
It came to pass, because of the crowds, that the several foremen
and shop managers bid the Master leave his tools and go his way, for so
tightly was he thronged that neither he nor other mechanics had room to
work upon the automobiles.
So it was that he went into the coutryside, and people following
began to call him Messiah, and worker of miracles; and as they believed,
it was so.
If a storm passed as he spoke, not a raindrop touched a listener's
head; the last of the multitude heard his words as clearly as the first,
no matter lightning nor thunder in the sky about. And always he spoke to
them in parables.
And he said unto them, "Within each of us lies te power of our
consent to health and to sickness, to riches and to poverty, to freedom
and to slavery. It is we who control these, and not another."
A mill-man spoke and said, "Easy words for you, Master, for you
are guided as we are not, and need not toil as we toil. A man has to work
for his living in this world."
The master answered and said, "Once there lived a village of
creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river.
"The current of the river swept silently over them all -- young
and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going its own way,
knowing only its own crystal self.
"Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and
rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and
resisting the current what each had learned from birth.
"But one creature said at last, 'I am tired of clinging. Though I
cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is
going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall
die of boredom.'
"The other creatures laughed and said, 'Fool! Let go, and that
current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks,
and you will die quicker than boredom!'
"But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and
at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks.
"Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current
lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.
"And the creatures downstream, to whom he wa a stranger, cried,
'See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah,
come to save us all!'
"And the one carried in the current said, 'I am no more Messiah
than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare to let go.
Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.'
"But they cried the more, 'Saviour!' all while clinging to the
rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they were left alone
making legends of a Saviour."
And it came to pass when he saw that the multitude thronged him
the more day on day, tighter and closer and fiercer than ever they had,
when he saw that they pressed him to heal them without rest, and feed them
always with his miracles, to learn for them and to live their lives, he
went alone that day unto a hilltop apart, and there he prayed.
And he said in his heart, Infinite Radiant Is, if it be thy will,
let this cup pass from me, let me lay aside this impossible task. I cannot
live the life of one other soul, yet ten thousand cry to me for life. I'm
sorry I allowed it all to happen. If it be thy will, let me go back to my
engines and my tools and let me live as other men.
And a voice spoke to him on the hilltop, a voice neither male nor
female, loud nor soft, a voice infinitely kind. And the voice said unto
him, "Not my will, but thine be done. For what is thy will is mine for
thee. Go thy way as other men, and be thou happy on the earth."
And hearing, the Master was glad, and gave thanks and came down
from the hilltop humming a little mechanic's song. And when the throng
pressed him with its woes, beseeching him to heal for it and learn for it
and feed it nonsto from his understanding and to entertain it with his
wonders, he smiled upon the multitude and said pleasantly unto them, "I
quit."
For a moment the multitude was stricken dumb with astonishment.
And he said unto them, "If a man told God that he wanted most of
all to help the suffering world, no matter the price to himself, and God
answered and told him what he must do, should the man do as heis told?"
"Of course, Master!" cried the many. "It should be pleasure for
him to suffer the tortures of hell itself, should God ask it!"
"Honor to be hanged, glory to be nailed to a tree and burned, if
so be that God has asked," said they.
"And what would you do," the master said unto the multitude, ""if
God spoke directly to your face and said, 'I command that you be happy in
the world, as long as you live.' What would you do then?"
And the multitude was silent, not a voice, not a sound was heard
upon the hillsides, across the valleys where they stood.
And the Master said unto the silence, "In the path of our
happiness shall we find the learning for which we have chosen this
lifetime. So it is that I have learned this day, and choose to leave you
now to walk your own path, as you please."
And he went his way through the crowds all left them, and he
returned to the everyday world of men and machines.
* * *
The original sin is to limit the Is. Don't.
* * *
Learning is finding out what you already know.
Doing is demonstrating that you know it.
Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you.
You are all learners, doers, teachers.
* * *
The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in
injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world,
the master calls a butterfly.
* * *
Everything in this book may be wrong.