Just a Thought

[Tamarques Porter]

Certain groups of people find most people ungrateful. Because the thought has been put into them. That they are suppose to save sand serve them.

[Aaron (Al) Lewis]

Tamarques, it's an old story that been passed along for eons now. If I am willing wait on someone or something to save me, then I need not think for myself either. So I turn all my thoughts and beliefs over to an intermediator and so he then negotiates for the battle of my soul. Since it's all a crap shoot, at least according to the intermediator, I'll just have to take my chances in the next world because all is lost in this one.

There once lived an old wise sage deep in the interior of the rain forest in what was then called The Congo, however that is not what the people indigenous to the land called it. Anyway word of this old man's wisdom reached all the way to Belgium and the King wanted to find this wise man and capture the source of his knowledge and wisdom. He commissioned a Safari to trek deep into the rain forest. They amassed food, water and porters to carry their things and guides to lead them. They set out and promptly got lost. They were lost for weeks and their provisions were running low.

Had it not been for a few of the porters they would have died of starvation, but this one little porter saw to it that they ate and found fresh water. This little fellow seemed to have the respect of the rest of the porters and the guides also. It was soon learned that he was the great grand son of the Sage they were seeking. They begged him to show them the secret passage to the last grove where the old man resided because they realized that they had been wandering in circles for the last several weeks or worse yet, been led in circles.

The lad agreed, but on one condition and that condition was that they would never share with anyone what the old man would reveal to them. The men of the Safari told the lad that upon orders of the King they were sent to find out the wisdom of the Sage and the source of his wisdom. The lad replied that was the very reason they had to agree for the wisdom they sought was so pure, so uncontaminated that the King would have them executed if they told him the truth of the wisdom.

On fire with temptation at being so close and wanting so badly to know the secret of life they capitulated and agreed to the lad's conditions. The young fellow then moved back some brush that had been hiding the sacred trail to his great grand father and the men howled in disbelief that they had been that close all the time. One finds in life sometimes that truth lies just below the surface if one only knew how to see.

Anyway after just a few miles they arrived at a clearing and there sat on a log the old wise man, with deep mahogany colored skin. His eyes were on fire for he had seen the face of God and he was pleased with that face. The men of the Safari sensed that a deep truth was about to be revealed to them, but still bits of their arrogance held. The leader approached the old man after the great grand son had whispered in the old man's ear who these men were. The leader said to the old man,"We are here due to our manifest destiny to save the unsaved. It has been said you know things we may not, but we wondered how is that so since you have not been saved?" The old man replied surprisingly in the language the leader spoke with perfect clarity, "Why would I need to be saved when I am not lost?"

The leader went on explain about their healing book to which he produced copy of the bible from his back pack and in its contents he proclaimed the proclamations of their sky God. The old man said he was familiar with the contents of the book and said, "We tell our children fairy tales like those too, that is until they reach adulthood then we tell them the truth about things". Aghast at what he thought was a blasphemous statement the leader crossed himself and said to the old man, "Certainly you are not saying you know and share with you children the meaning of life, only God can know that!" The old man replied, "You are right on both accounts."

The leader, now clearly shaken, almost pleaded with the wise old man to recant his statements or at least tone them down to something more plausible. "Wait a minute if you know the meaning of life that would mean you would have had to gotten that meaning from God, yet you are not saved so how would that be possible?" Again the old man smiled and said, "I marvel at how what is plainly visible to some is completely invisible to others; therefore I cannot explain something as simple as God to someone who cannot see what right in front of them."

The leader was now becoming livid and he drew his sword and threatened to run the man through if he said one more word. The old man showing not an iota of fear said to the leader and the others, "You have taken old stories and twisted them to mean something other than they were intended, and you did worse. You tell these stories as if they were your very own and attach curses and incantations of harm if anyone challenges them. However, I will not challenge them, but I will add to them. Tell you King this and see if he will ever figure it out, THE MEANING OF LIFE IS TO LIVE."

The whole area grew quiet, not a sound. The men of the safari seem completely deflated, unarmed and unnerved at what they had just witnessed and heard. The back off the clearing never taking their eyes off the old man or his great grand son. Their minds were overloaded with the complete simplicity and complexity of the statement. "What an utter paradox", they thought? Certainly the King would laugh at such a vain and feckless attempt at philosophy from an old man with too much time alone in the bush.

When the men of the Safari got back to the King's court months later and the King asked them what wisdoms they learned from an old African witch doctor the leader of the safari approached the King and whispered what the old man had told them. The King immediately had them all arrested and hung on the spot. A few weeks later the King went mad trying to figure out the riddle of life the old man must have sent him. he could be heard from his chambers laughing like a group of hyaenas and crying like banshees at the same time. The moral of this story is sometimes what's staring you in the face is both simple and powerful beyond measure if you know how to see.

Namaska,