Spiritual Story - The Map

November 17, 2007

The MapOne day, a man travelingon an old dirt road surroundedby colorful flowersand beautiful scenery cameupon a rather ordinarylooking cafe. It was astrange site to see on such aroad as he was traveling.And in fact it seemed as though it didn't even belong.The man stopped at the cafe's entrance, which waslittle more than an old wooden door. And after amoment's thought, and some hesitation, he decidedto go in.Inside, the cafe looked rather ordinary as well. Itwas filled with ordinary people, and in fact seemedrather dull and mundane. The man was alreadymissing the many wonders outside the cafe, but he wasfeeling a little thirsty so he ordered something and satdown at a worn out looking table in the corner. Thelight above shined down upon the man showing hisfeatures in greater detail. He was an old man, welldressed, yet

rugged in appearance. Upon closerobservation it seemed as though life itself had etchedthe collective struggles of humanity upon his physicalframe, beyond even what one might expect fromsomeone as old as he. It was not easy to tell if the scarson his face were from some unsavory employment,general hardships, or some internal struggles thatcould no longer be kept at bay.Upon shifting one's perspective just a littlebeyond these tell tale signs of hardship and struggle,something else could also be seen. Subtly hiddenwithin the hard callouses that surrounded his eyes,like the sparkle of a diamond in the midst of crumblingrocks, one could see a hint of youthful andexcited energy that was slowly growing brighter andbrighter.After several minutes of sitting quietly withouttouching his drink, other than to move it around thetable, the man began to look around nervously at theother people in the cafe. He

noticed that they alllooked rather ordinary as well, and seemed to bequietly engaged in the cafe's general peacefulness.While observing this, he was somewhat surprised tosee a dragonfly buzzing quit freely around the cafe.No one else seemed to notice or at least pay it muchattention.After the moment had passed and the old manhad moved his drink back and forth a few more timeswithout taking a sip, it became quite obvious that hecould no longer contain the youthful and excitedenergy, which had now built up to such an extent thatit seemed to fill his entire body. A decision wasformed, and he stood up moving with unbridledpurpose towards the center of the cafe.”“The cafe itself seemed to absorb the man's nowoverflowing mixture of excitement and nervousness,as if the subtle silence and peacefulness had itsown energy beyond what the old man could muster.But slowly the cafe seemed to change by some

willof it's own, and all eyes turned to look upon the oldman."Do you people know what I have discovered?!"he said. "It is the greatest discovery in humanhistory! And I have decided to share this with youhere today, because others must know of thiswonder." He then reached into one of the pockets inthe expensive looking coat he was wearing, andslowly, with the reverence of a priest who had in hispossession the holy grail, he pulled out what seemed tobe a map.Again he spoke "Here in my hand is a map ofReality! Not an ordinary map, oh no, but one whichallows me to go anywhere and do anything in Realitythat I want, anything I can imagine!" The man'sexcitement itself now seemed to take him into anotherreality, one in which his youthfulness turned tolonging. "This world can no longer hinder me fromdoing whatever I want. I will no longer be lookeddown upon as a poor old man. I can be richer

thanKings! I can have all the beautiful women I want! I cantravel to other dimensions! I can even rule the world,the universe!" While he continued talking about all thethings he could do, and how much power he now had,another man, who had been sitting silently with hisdrink at another table across the cafe stood up andwalked over to the old man.As as this strange, but rather ordinary looking man,came before him, the old man suddenly stoppedtalking. Then, for reasons he couldn't seem to fathom,he was drawn to look into the strange man's eyes. Fornearly a minute they just stared at each other. Then,without warning, the strange man grabbed the mapfrom the old man's hand, and tore it into several pieces.After a moment, the old man, realizing what hadhappened, began to scream. "What have you done!You fool! Why would you do such a thing? Youignorant fool, do you know what you have done!"The strange man

remained silent, as the peacefulnessof the cafe again seemed to absorb the angry criesof the old man.When the strange man finally spoke, it was in avoice that seemed to echo the same silent peacefulnessof the cafe.“I have given you a new map, one which does notrequire paper. It starts here, in this very moment, andyou will create it as you travel. You will discoverplaces which were not even printed on your old map,and journey to worlds yet unexplored and uncreated.All you need to do is open your eyes and your heartto see the wonders before you, and go where youwill" said the strange man.After hearing this, the old man said "I think yourall crazy! And want nothing to do but sit here andwaste your lives away. So I will leave you here toyour quite boring lives, and hope to never see youagain!" On saying this, he walked out of the cafe ingreat despair, and back onto the road.Though he hadn't been

in the cafe for very long,as he stepped out onto the road he noticed that itseemed darker than before, and colder. The sun nolonger brightened the colors of the plants andflowers, and the wind seemed to blow with a subtleharshness. "Fools...I could have changed the world"said the man to himself, as he continued his journeydown the old road, now lost in thoughts of dreamsdeferred.After he had walked for awhile muttering tohimself and to anyone else within hearing distancewho might sympathize with his great loss, he beganto notice that the old road he was walking on wasbeginning to lose its distinction and was fading intothe landscape. "What's this?! Ack! If I only had mymap... Now I'm just an old man who has reached theend of the road." said the old man in a tired voicefilled with exhaustion and despair.He sat down barely able to stand anymore, anddecided to sleep, not caring what manner of beasts

orman might be about. He decided that this might aswell be the end of his life too if God or anyone elsewanted it more than he. Dreams came to him filledwith wondrous exotic places and mighty oceans thatechoed the voices of creation, the most marvelousdreams he had ever had that filled his heart withlonging.When he awoke, he found himself lying in themiddle of a grassy field surrounded by flowers of suchvibrant colors and sweet scents that he almost cried atthe beauty of it. "How did I get here? This can't be thesame place where I went to sleep last night... Howcould I have not seen such beauty as this?" said the oldman now feeling a youthful and excited energy risinginto him once more. As he looked in wonder at thesights around him, feeling the warm breeze blowingsoftly through his thin hair, he noticed something thatlooked like a path just beyond the other side of thefield.He slowly walked

over to the path across the field,enjoying the beauty that surrounded him, and began totravel once again. As he walked he began to hearsounds that he hadn't heard before...sounds of movingwater rushing back and forth.He noticed the path had turned to sand, and all sortsof exotic trees and plants now surrounded him oneither side, but what really caught his attention was thewondrous ocean that lay before him that seemed sovast he couldn't even imagine an end to it. As he tookin the scenery before him he began to realize something.The man in the cafe had been right after all. Hereally didn't need a map of Reality, because Realitywas all around him, and inside him, and nothing wasreally ordinary. He only needed to open himself to thewonders before him.He smiled as he walked along the beach knowingthere was much to learn and discover.© , all rights reserved. Alex N.

Moyerwww.yourspiritualrevolution.orgFree International Spirituality EZine(Nov-07 Issue)

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