the volcano and the villager
A certain man woke up one morning and as usual, went outside to stretch. This morning, however, had something in it that this certain man had always feared – the volcano behind his village began to smolder... again.
“Oh no.” He fretted. “Could this be the one? Could this be the time when it finally blows?” The certain young man then fell to his knees, under the weight of all the things he now has to prepare for. “Oh Lord,” the man prayed, “Please stop this volcano from exploding. Please don’t let it hurt us, we are your kind and humble children.”
The volcano then let go a large burst of steam. “I must wake the others.”
Just after this man (who is normally the first one up) entered his abode and began to awaken his family, the volcano blew. It blew with such tremendous force that the wake of the blast awoke everyone else in the village. In fact, it jolted them right out of their beds.
“MY GOD!!” They all shouted, as they watched a tremendous plume of dirt and ash blast into the troposphere. “WE MUST RUN!”
Now just outside this village was a very large cave dwelling – the home of the local sage. And he wasn’t too pleased to see the entire village coming his way. “And now they come.”
As the people of the village approached the cave’s entrance, the sage raised his staff and commanded them to stop. “Why do you come here, now? What do you seek?”
“We need the shelter of the cave, oh wise sage.” The certain man spoke up. “Soon there will be fire and brimstone all around us, and your cave is the only safe means of shelter we have left. Can we please enter?”
“CAN WE ENTER?” A few men sarcastically repeated. “PLEASE?” They were quite agitated that this certain man was asking permission from another to save his own, as well as his families, lives. “Get out of the way old man, or we’ll trample you!”
“WAIT!” The certain man shouted. “This cave is this man’s abode, his home. We have no right to enter it without his permission. Would you like someone trampling you, in your own home, to get to safety? No, you wouldn’t. Do not presume to own this man, only presume to ask for his mercy.”
Having heard these words of wisdom (spoken for the first time by anyone of the village outside of himself), the sage felt his heart warm and he neighborly opened his arms and guided the village folk into his safe place.
Let me just say here, the sage, knowing that the volcano was about to blow, moved out of his straw house and into the cave a few months ago. He knew what was coming and prepared for it ahead of time. Oh he told plenty of others, but who’d listen? “It’s done this many times before old man, leave us alone to our problems.”
“Do you have any food?” A young woman kindly asked. “My children are hungry. We left so fast, we brought none with us.”
“Yes. You will find what you need over there in that corner.” The sage pointed to a bin full of food, sitting just beside a cistern full of water.
Another spoke up. “Do you have any blankets? We left home so fast that we didn’t bring any with us. And it is so damp and chilly in here.”
“Yes.” The sage replied. “There are blankets and extra clothes over there in that spot.” He pointed to a place across from the food.
“Do you have any more wood?” Another asked. “It’s getting cold and dark in here and I fear I will catch my death of cold. There is wood right outside this place, but I fear I will be injured trying to get it.”
“Yes.” The sage again replied with much compassion. “I have plenty of wood stacked in the back of my dwelling. You may go and gather more to build a bigger fire.”
After much time and observation, the certain man approached the sage when he was alone, no longer serving his fellow villagers. “You give so freely.”
“Yes.” The sage seemed rather peaceful.
“You don’t even get mad that they’re using all your stuff.” The certain man kept looking around at all the supplies getting used up, which was more than likely, not going to get replaced.
“No.” The sage was looking in the same direction, but had opposite observations.
“And you’re not upset that your life has been turned upside down.” The certain man can only relate the current moment to any moment previous to the eruption.
“No.” The sage answered quite matter-of-factly.
“You don’t even seem to care that we’re using all your rations. Soon you will have no food at all.” With each personal observation, the certain man realized that he may be standing in the same space as this man, but clearly, they exist in two separate worlds.
“Maybe.” He shoved a rock six inches closer to the opening with his sandal.
“How?”
“How what?”
“How do you do it?”
“Do what?” The sage knew what he was asking, he just wanted the certain man to express it a little more clearly.
“How do you keep so calm and peaceful in the middle of all this chaos? How do you not get angry with all that is going on? Even the volcano blowing its top has left you unaffected. How do you do it?” The certain man had reached his common sense limit and could no longer reason with the sage’s reason.
“Are you asking me something?” He just had to ask one more time.
“Yes, I am asking you how you can keep so peaceful in the middle of such mayhem. How do you stay so centered?” The certain man was shaking his head in a total lack of understanding.
“Because, I am NOT in the middle of such mayhem, as you so eloquently have assumed.” A slight twinkle came from his left eye.
“WHAT?!” The certain man was flabbergasted. “You don’t call all these people cohabitating together for the first time, chaos? You don’t call that volcano out there spewing tons of matter everywhere, mayhem?” The certain man was pointing inside, then out.
“No, at times I do consider these things chaotic, but not all the time.” The sage kept his cool.
“What do you mean not all the time? How can you see anything but misery and fear and chaos in this time, right now?” The certain man was certainly perplexed at the sage’s “non-negative” outlook.
“Good sir.” The sage began, “Look over there. Look how some of the villagers are helping the others to cope. Some are crying, while others are consoling. Some have lost faith, while others are strangely finding it. Observe in these times of strife and stress, how they bring out the best in us. Look at how this moment is empowering our people in a way that they have not ever been empowered before.”
“Wow, I never saw that.” The certain man didn’t change the direction he was looking, but certainly saw something he wasn’t seeing before.
“It is because you are not looking for it.”
“Well then, what about that damned volcano out there? Are you telling me that you’re not afraid of what it might do to you – to all of us?” The certain man was almost taking an adversarial position, due to his ignorance.
The sage smiled a beautiful smile. He saw no adversary. “Is this the only volcano to have erupted in this region?”
“No. There have been others.” The certain man responded without thought.
“How many others?”
“Lots. So many that this whole place was made by them.” That response had a little more thought to it.
The sage looked deep into the certain man’s eyes for the wisdom he knew was there.
“Oh.” The certain man had a revelation.
“So you are saying that this land, upon which we live, was created by volcanoes?” Again the sage smiled.
The certain man thought about that for a while. He suspected he knew where the sage was going.
“And what if those volcanoes did not blow? Where would we be then?” A crooked grin erupted.
“I am starting to see where you are going.” Make that two.
“Know this, my wise brother, there has never been, nor will there ever be a volcanic eruption that did not, or will not, one way or another result in NEW land to replace that which came before; NEW soil, full of nutrients from deep down within Mother Earth herself, to replace the barren soil which lay before; NEW plant life where none had existed before; NEW animal life, to feed on the NEW plants, grown from this NEWLY created fertile soil; which will inevitably support NEW people, who will come here from far away to experience this NEW land.” The sage was pointing toward the covered opening.
“I am starting to see what you see.” Through the covered opening.
“Your perspections define the world in which you live. And your beliefs create that world. If you can only see fire and brimstone and death and suffering, then you are not seeing the entire picture. For that is only one aspect, one moment in time concerning volcanoes. But if, on the other hand, you can see past the immediate sorrow and pain and come to expect the miracle of NEW GROWTH, then you will tolerate the temporary inconveniences and focus on the miracle, not the emergency.”
“So volcanoes actually seem to make things better, not worse.” A light bulb suddenly lit over this certain man’s head…
“Yes, from a certain perspection.” That the sage clearly saw.
“And thinking that they need to be stopped, or plugged somehow, is not the right thinking.” The bulb is burning brighter.
“You cannot stop nature. You cannot think that you own Her. You do not.” Then the sage looked deep within the certain man’s eyes one more time. “And you cannot pray to God expecting this event to end, before its steps of destruction and then reconstruction.”
“How did you know…?” The certain man knew the sage had somehow heard his prayer this morning.
“Tell me, look around and tell me what you see.” The sage had his arms folded and was using his chin to point.
“I see people crying and fearful. I also see people working through it, helping those who aren’t yet.” The certain man suddenly felt like he was looking at life with a brand new pair of eyes.
“How do you think those people who are working through it got to that frame of mind, to help out their brothers and sisters?” The sage new those new eyes could see more.
“I’m not following.”
“How can human beings be so much the same and yet so oppositely different? How can one be crying in sorrow and pain and another be consoling with love and compassion?” The sage was pointing to a place within his abode where a fire was burning brightly, and many villagers were huddled around it - trying to keep warm and right minded.
“Well, I know for a fact that Bob over there just lost his wife a few months ago to the illness. And Jane, the one he is consoling, has lived with her family her whole life and has never before experienced loss.” Jane’s brother didn’t make it to the cave in time. He had apparently headed out early this morning to hunt up some excellent breakfast, and well….
“So what does that tell you?”
“That Bob has experienced this so-to-speak volcano in his life before and has built up the strength to get through it. But, Jane has not ever experienced anything like this and is very scared.” The certain man’s eyes lit up to this wonderful revelation.
“It is the volcanoes in our lives that empower us to become more than we were before the eruption. NEW LAND.” He patted the certain man on his chest. “You cannot stop the eruption. You cannot think that you have power over it – you do not. Small eruptions are necessary in order for steam to be blown off. The release of steam is a natural process, not to be tampered with by the civility of mankind. Cap those small eruptions, and one day, a very large one will come that will wipe out everything… and then rebuild it.”
A number of days went by before anyone even looked outside the cave. (Oh, and if you were wondering, the sage took care of the bathroom thing ahead of time, too.) When the sage and the certain man peeked out for the first time, they noticed everything had been covered in ash. Ash so thick, that all the homes were leveled under its weight.
A few other villagers followed behind the first two and noticed the carnage. “OH MY GOD!” One of them screamed. “We have lost everything! Our homes, our lives! Woe am I.” The man looked with great sadness towards the two leaders.
“You have not lost your life.” The certain man spoke up.
The sage smiled as he saw a great light shining around this man, which was not there before the volcano erupted.
“We might just as well have.” The sad villager just stood in place, shaking his head in his hands.
Then the certain man spoke. “Everyone! Everyone, come out. Come out and witness the beginning of our NEW lives!”
After a few minutes, everyone had semi-stumbled their way out of the damp, dark cave, into the brightness of day and stood before the great site of carnage and destruction. Some fell to their knees and wept.
“Stand.” The certain man commanded. “Stand and witness what Mother Earth has blessed us with.”
“BLESSED US!” One of the villagers sneered. “She’s DESTROYED US!”
“NO.” The certain man spoke quite firmly. “We will move, but not far away. We will build new homes, better homes than we had before. We know better now and this is just a real good excuse for us to show it. This ash that you see,” the man reached down and scooped some up, “this ash will fertilize all the fields and our crops will be greater than ever. We will use this catastrophe to our benefit.” Then the certain man turned to the sage. “And we will take care of those who have taken care of us.”
Then the certain man, who just a short time ago awoke as a humble gardener, turned and led his people to a safer, better place - and used everything the volcano did, to his and his village’s advantage.
And what of the sage? He still lives in his cave. After what’s just happened, it’s gonna’ take a bit of time for him to get centered again.
