Bird in a Tree

[Guest guest]

Hello,

 

Sharing a story:

 

"It's like the story of a bird who lived in a gigantic tree. The bird

represents most of us, and every time it would eat sweet berries on the tree

it would be cheerful and happy and sing. But when the season changed, and the

berries became sour, he would stop singing and become angry. Isn't this like

us? When things appear to be going our way we say we are happy, because we

are getting what we think we want. But when something does not go our way, we

become despondent and angry.

 

One day the bird was flying around the bottom of the tree and it looked up to

the top branches, way far up in the air. On the top branch it saw a

translucent beautiful gigantic bird, smiling and happy. And the little bird

said, "How I wish I could be like that big bird. I'm going to fly up there

and discover what makes this big bird happy.†Isn't this like most of us? We

get tired of the run around of life, and we discover some truth that we go

after. But look what happens.

 

On the way up to the big bird, when the little bird was a quarter of the way

up, flying up, it saw some delicious berries on one of the branches. It

therefore forgot all about the big bird, landed on the branch and decided to

eat the beautiful, succulent berries. When they were all finished, there was

all these sour berries left. So again it became despondent. Again it's like

us. In the beginning we go after truth, after reality. But if something

wonderful happens to us materially, or physically, we forget about it. We say

I can go after that later when things are bad. And we get caught up in our

experiences.

 

So when the little bird became despondent enough it remembered the big bird.

It looked up and there it was again, sitting so majestically on the top

branch, translucent, shining, happy. And it said, "This time I'm going to go

right up to the big bird and find out it's secrets.†Halfway up again it saw

a branch with beautiful berries and forgot about the big bird once more. Just

like we. We search for truth, we read books, we see teachers. But let's say

we win the lotto, and we have a million dollars. How many of us will continue

to search? Not too many, I'm afraid. We'll get lost in riches and what they

can buy for us, until the IRS comes knocking, or your relatives steal your

money, or the stock markets go down, and you become despondent. That's like

the little bird eating sour berries.

 

After it was despondent enough, again it remembered the big bird. That's like

us. When things get too bad, we start thinking about God. So again the little

bird started to fly up and up and up, and this happened again and again,

until when it was three quarters up and the berries became sour again, it got

completely disgusted and said to itself, "I'm tired of sweet berries, I'm

tired of sour berries. I'm tired of the whole game. I don't care about

anything I see on this tree again. No matter what I see on this tree, it

doesn't make any difference. I'm going straight to the big bird.†And that's

like some of us. When we've been kicked around by life enough we become

determined to go all the way in the pursuit of truth.

 

So the little bird started to fly closer and closer to the big bird. It

bypassed all the sweet berries and the beautiful berries that's on the tree.

And the big bird became more and more translucent and shining and beautiful

and majestic. And it finally landed right in the center of the big bird. And

when it did, it found out something very interesting. It found out that it

was the big bird all along. So it is with us. When we finally awaken we will

realize we've always been awakened. There never was a time when we were not,

and become free." Robert Adams, 1991

 

L*L*L

the leela lily or bird brained bo

 

 

 

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