The Cave of Revelation

The carpenter hid his tools behind a thorny bush, tied a knot to hold his beard, and entered the cave. A few meters in, sunlight no longer penetrated the darkness, so he was not able to rely on his sense of sight; the only light left was the one inside his own blue-green eyes. He took off his sandals as he had done the very first day he was brought there, and every other day after that, as the Sage had instructed. The jagged stone ground was so cold that it hurt the soles of his feet; caves in the middle of the snowy mountains were nature-made freezers where the locals could usually keep uncooked meat for days. No animal flesh would be found in this particular place though. This was his Teacher’s abode, a holy shrine, a sanctum for the illumination of the soul and the evolution of humanity; only life was allowed inside.

Like a blind man without a walking cane, he put his hand to the side of the cave and followed the information he could gather through his fingers; after a while he found the damp, soft moss growth that he knew would guide him to the center of the cave. He continued moving in the dark for a while, listening to the all-encompassing silence of the tunnels, the splashing drops of water that occasionally broke against the ground, the fluttering wings and high-pitched squeaks of bats that twitched into more comfortable positions on the roof they were hanging from. He came to a slippery descent, hardly the size of a manhole, and had to crouch down to avoid falling. His once white tunic, now ochre because of all the work he had been doing in the village and the crop fields, made it even harder to become as minuscule as he needed; it wrapped around his legs tightening the squat he was in, and it made the burning pain in his thigs almost unbearable. The crawl space lead to the underground spring where his Teacher awaited. He held on to the rock protrusions and stalagmites he found along the way to keep himself from losing his footing. As he came out of the shaft, he perceived the sound of running water; it made him feel serene again so he walked on, unhesitant.

When the moss trail came to an end he simply stood in place, intently listening beyond the murmur of the flowing spring, trying to find his Teacher’s breath. He knew his efforts were in vain; the bald, extremely thin yet vigorous and strong man he had come to love and respect was beyond anyone he’d met before, he had abilities and powers that could only be described as superhuman or maybe paranormal, and if he didn’t want to be heard or found, no one in the world would have been able to do so. Never would anyone have guessed just by looking at the Sage in his usual earth-red robes or loincloth, his wrinkled face and white, bushy brows, and his almost toothless but compassionate smile that he was such a spiritual master. He had renounced every religion, sect, philosophy, and traditional teaching in his land and had traveled the mystic’s path on his own. But now the most revered spiritual leaders from all over the world were frequent visitors at his mountain. He was believed to live only with water and energy from the sun. Many said they had seen him levitate, disappear, be in more than one place at the same time, move things with his mind or even change their shape by whispering some secret word to them. He was a marvel without a doubt, but mostly he kept to himself and his practices, away from curious eyes.

The carpenter didn’t have to wait too long before his Teacher called to him softly through the darkness.

-Come child- the old man said. –I will now allow you to hear my beating heart. Follow its thump and come sit in front of me-

-How unusual- the carpenter thought. –My Master rarely speaks, especially inside his cave. To him words are but a vulgar human construct, unworthy of this natural sanctum, a waste of energy that rarely leads to fruitful conclusions. How very odd indeed…-

Then the sound of the Sage’s heart filled his ears and he moved towards its source.

-Stop there my pupil. Sit. You will find a most comfortable spot right where you are standing-

The carpenter obeyed and sat; his buttocks clenched at the touch of the freezing ground.

-Proceed now with the fire breath you have mastered- the old man said. –And soon you will not feel the cold-

He did as instructed and achieved what was expected in just a couple of minutes.

His trust in the Mystic was absolute. He had come to the snowy mountains a couple of years back, searching for someone who could explain the weird things that had been going on in his life: the voices, the visions, and even the powers he had developed when he was a child. He had left his home with the iron-clad conviction of finding answers, always followed by the lingering fear that he would be criticized, ostracized, and punished by those that did not understand his condition, just as it had happened back in his country. He had barely been walking around the shantytown at the foot of the mountain for less than a day when the old man came across his path and welcomed him as if he was an old friend, brought him into his house, and shared his tea, food, fire, and then invited him to follow his teachings. Doubt had plagued the carpenter for the first couple of weeks after their initial encounter, but before the month was over he had seen his Teacher perform such miraculous, seemingly impossible wonders, that he had given in to his will completely.

And so he sat and did his fire breath and listened to the fertile, empty space inside the cave.

-Good- the Teacher said. –Today you will receive your final lesson. This is the end of our journey together; at least as far as this incarnation is concerned. From here on you will find your own way, and after a time, you will complete the task you were put on this earth for. I am sorry that it will end in such misunderstanding and pain. Back home many of your people will still not understand you; many will envy you, fear you, and the worst of them will seek to destroy you. But your legacy will live on for thousands of years, molding the world in several ways, and those that truly come to understand your teaching will blossom into beautiful beings; they will undoubtedly help evolution move in the proper direction.

Now…

Bring your awareness to the red wheel as I taught you. Feel the energy of all creation gathering there, first like moist dew, then a running river, a churning ocean, and finally a volcano ready to erupt. Feel the heat, the power, igniting into flames, almost burning you; but do not lessen your intention for a second.

Hold it…

Hold it…

Now open up fully and let the charge flow upwards, straight into the fourth wheel; no stopping in any of the other energy centers. Feel the middle of your chest well up with cosmic energy; let it grow, expand, surround you, until it eats you completely. Give yourself fully into it. Feel the holiest of holies consume you. Offer your life up to it; hold nothing back!

The carpenter felt his body heating up, boiling, then exploding into a million pieces. He felt he was no longer there in the cave, not in his flesh, not on the snowy mountains or even the planet; he was everywhere! He had become the cave and the running spring, the snowy mountains at the end of the world, the world itself, the sun, and all the planets around it; he was every cell, every atom, every current of energy in every human being. He was life pulsing through the cosmos, vibrating existence into existence!

He could not tell if the experience lasted a couple of seconds or a couple of years. He felt he had been sitting there forever, but had just been truly born. As the explosion lessened it coalesced into what he could only perceive as a “liquid green light”. At first it colored all of the galaxy, then it condensed into the planet, and then into the cave around him. Finally, it compacted further until it came to be in the center of his chest. The green light of the fourth wheel ignited his true heart, a holy heart, a divine heart; this was the heart of All, and from it and towards it his teachings would flow. In a single instant he saw his past and his future, the people that had judged him and those that would come to do it again, the ones that would learn from him and those that would betray him… and he accepted his fate.

When he opened his eyes he could see clearly through the darkness of the cave, almost as if the top of the mountain had been blown off, like a roof from a house. The light from his eyes projected forward and filled it all. The Teacher was no longer in front of him; he had become him as well.

When he got back to his country people did not recognize him. There was a fierce yet harmonious glow in his eyes that made many shrink before his gaze; others felt attracted, magnetized by his presence, and wanted to follow him. His carpenter’s tools were forgotten behind the bush, hidden in the snowy mountains; but they no longer mattered. He would now bring the Holy Kingdom to earth, not with his hands, but as a goatherd, guiding his sheep with the light of his Sacred Heart.