Crystal Mind and the Awakening

“Love is the answer.” My Father whispered.

It was his answer, what he wished he said, on the day he became an adult. And now, today, it was my turn. At the far remote part of my village there is a doorway, a crystal gate, that the elders say leads to other dimensions. The crystalline gate is fully aware, they say. It is a great secret in our village, and unknown to the rest of the world. Only once in your lifetime may you attempt to enter into the Crystal Mind, as we call it, but only if the Crystal Mind accepts your answer. Your answer, to the question, What is your highest truth?

It has become a ritual in my village that when a child turns 18, they take the trek to the crystal. Today is my birthday, and the day of my choosing.

Many rehearse for months or years even, what they will say on the day of their choosing. I do not know what I will say. Only that my truth is not my fathers, or my grandfathers.

No one in my village has ever entered into the Crystal Mind. After centuries of secrecy in my remote village there are talks of awakening the rest of the world to the Crystal, in hopes that there will be one who may enter. One who may see.

Many are opposed to this idea, fearing it will overrun our village with seekers.

My name is Anifa, and this is my story.

“Father, that is your answer.”

My father looked at me, eyes wide. “Then go. Now. To the Crystal. Speak only your highest truth.”

My mother was there too, and my cousins, and my uncles and aunts. The entire village lined up to see you off, often whispering their own best and highest truths into your ear as you go, things they learned much too late, things they wish they had said.

I wanted no one else’s truth. I was desperate to find my own. I hugged each of my relatives and waved goodbye to my village. Tradition had one spending the night outside, under the stars, before speaking to the Crystal.

It is often said in my village that a night underneath the stars can awaken your perspective.

I wasn’t sure it could tonight. I had slept outside most nights, pondering the depth and beauty of space, getting lost in the infinite sea of starlight.

Still, it was tradition, and so I would take the time today to gather firewood, build a fire, and pitch my tent under the stars.

First, I had to cross the narrow brook that lead into the valley.

The entire village would enter fervent prayer all of today and tomorrow for me, believing together they could aid me on my personal journey to find my deepest and highest truth.

I wanted to bring my dog Fijo, but my Father refused, saying it was an insult to the Crystal Mind. I however, disagreed. What if the Crystal Mind enjoyed dogs? And Fijo, he was the best dog. My constant companion. We always slept together when I camped under the stars. As I crossed the stream, I thought of Fijo. What was his highest truth? Love. Loyalty. Surrender.

Same as my Father’s.

But when I looked out at the world, I didn’t always see Love as the highest truth. And I didn’t believe life were that simple. For Fijo maybe, but not for me.

I dipped my feet into the shallow stream of the brook. Water glided over my boots. I remembered advice my teacher had given me as a youth, to move around obstacles like water. Bending over, I dipped my hands in the stream. What could water teach me about life? It was simple, unassuming. Water never boasted, yet was the backbone of life on this planet.

Meekness. Humility. Strength.

Smiling, I continued on. The sky had turned grey. There were vultures flying high in the air, circling carrion off in the distance. Life and death are intimately connected. Death for one creature meant life for another. It had always been this way in my village. Everyone knows it, accepts it. What did the Crystal want?

I hiked several hundred yards away from where the large birds were circling overhead and set down my pack. It was time to collect firewood. Fortunately, there were many trees around, and a previous storm had created lots of debris. There was plenty of wood to collect. As I gathered the wood, I thought about Life and Death once again. The death of a tree branch, combusting, becoming fire, and ash. It is transformed into something so ephemeral. And all from a seed. A seed that has to be watered, and receive oxygen, and sunlight. Ultimately becoming what it was to begin with, a vapor, a dream.

Fire. Flexibility. Consciousness. Transformation.

The wood was damp, but using the lessons in fire starting my grandfather had given me from a youth, I could create both heat and light. Pleased, I took a seat on a log and watched the smoke billow upwards into the sky. The stars had begun to dot the horizon. From my village you could see millions, and millions more. As a child I often tried to count them, to impress my grandfather. He only laughed, saying there were many more, many more.

Tonight, I did not even want to look. The enormity of the Universe only exasperated me further. How was I expected to know anything, about anything?

Off in the distance, a lone wolf howled. I was not afraid, though I thought about the wolf, and of Fijo. One wild. One domesticated. Both canines. Which was better? Could one even say?

I never set up my tent. Instead, I laid vulnerable, out beneath the night sky. I closed my eyes, and opening them, awoke the next day.

There was a tiny bird perched on a tree limb above me. Oh, what would it be like to fly! To soar through the air and ride the crests of the wind. That tiny bird must know things about life I will never understand. If we could communicate, what would it teach me? And what could I teach it? The complexity of human emotions. The longing for understanding and connection within the human heart.

I would tell it we humans often wish we could fly. That many of us, most of us, envision it being the ultimate freedom. And what a disappointment it would be, to hear flying was in fact, like walking on two feet, commonplace, and that the birds often wished they could run like humans.

My feathered friend drifted off as I sat there and thought, and I realized for the first time that today was the day I would meet the Crystal Mind. It was just past that hill, off and in the distance. The entrance to the cave, and the gateway to another dimension.

Not everyone even wanted to embark on the ultimate journey through time and space. I heard of many who gave answers they knew would not be accepted by the Crystal Mind. Timid and fearful souls. I would consider it a great honor to leave this village behind and step beyond into the great unknown.

I gathered my sack and put out my fire. I had known of this day since I was a little child. Often, I had considered what I might say, knowing it would change. There’s no point in rehearsing, my grandfather would say, you will say what you will say. It could change at the last moment, he often said. You never know until you see the Crystal.

As I entered the cave, I found the markings of the ones who had come before me. Many had inscribed their sayings, upon returning from the Crystal. I dared not look, lest they alter my truth. I closed my eyes and gripped against the dark wall. I did not wish to stare at the failures and shortcomings of others. Besides, it was known in my village that every tunnel in the cave eventually led to the Crystal Mind. Some paths just took longer than others. Go until you can go no more, my grandfather said. Do not stop, said my father.

Twice, I fell. But I was not dismayed. I finally stopped when a brilliant glow pierced my eyelids. The glint of the Crystal. It was remarkable. Shades of pink, and emerald, and violet were protruding from a Crystalline Wall. My father had said one had to speak to the Crystal with one’s eyes closed and he was right. The light was too brilliant to see face to face.

Shades of blue and purple emanated from the stone. Speak.

I heard in the deep recesses of my mind. The voice was soft, but clear.

“Speak what?”

Humbly, I fell to my knees. I hoped that was not counted as my response. I would go down as the village idiot.

They would write stories about me.

But then I heard it. Speak your highest truth.

This was it. I did not know what I would say. With my hands I gripped the dust that rested on the floor.

“I know nothing.” I said.

A pause. And then an explosion of light and sound. I was being carried downstream in a river of pure consciousness.

“Where are you taking me?” I shouted, believing I was being pulled light years away and into some unknown galaxy. This couldn’t be happening. I had to see my father and mother again. I loved them too much to never see them again. “Take me home!”

The flood ceased, and I felt myself being pulled through an open doorway. I could feel my body again. The lights emanating from the stone diminished as I heard my father speak.

“Anifa!”

“Father, how did you get here? How did I get here?” I was laying beside the brook by my village.

“Fijo found you. You were lying unconscious.”

How was this possible?

“For how long father?”

My father and grandfather were there, along with my mother, aunts, uncles, and all my cousins.

“We don’t know. Did you make it to the Crystal Mind?”

“Yes, father. That is the last thing I remember.”

“Then something must have happened. Something sacred. Perhaps you were trans located, but to this brook? For what purpose?”

My father scratched his beard while my mother dripped water on my forehead with a wet rag. I saw my cousins Giula, and Tonyfi standing beside my mother smiling. And then it hit me. I knew why I was here.

I pulled my father and grandfather down to where I sat and whispered in both of their ears.

“Papa, Grandfather, Love Is the Answer.”