TheBanyanTree: I was in the Garden . .

[Blue Feather]

. .  sitting, just sitting, or rather, squatting, you know the way people do
when their legs sort of fold under them . . .

. . . I was crying, sitting there crying, tears pouring down my cheeks, so
much so that I could not stop, did not want to stop, knew that the next
thing in my despair that would happen would be the wailing and gnashing of
teeth . . .

"You are troubled," the tree said, the tall evergreen tree whose leaves
always rustle in the slightest breeze, "Why are you troubled?"

"Well, of course I'm troubled!" The breath seemed to fill me to bursting and
I knew it was all going to come out - "Who wouldn't be, people killing each
other for no reason, we could have solved all this in other ways without
this horrendous loss of life, the traumas which are starting now and will go
on for generations, the broken bones and annhilated dreams and aspirations
and destruction and  . .  But you are the Great Spirit, you know all this
already, you know the whys and wherefores and hows and how nots and how the
pages will turn, so why ask, why ask? I am after all such a minute part of
it all."

The breath ran away and suddenly it was quiet, oh so quiet in the garden
with its little paths running here, there and everywhere, its colourful
flowers, the moon shining, glinting, making steely shadows of the trees and
shrubs.

The tree sighed, a deep shuddering sigh as if she were tired of bearing all
the troubles of the Earth and the universe and the cosmos.

"Yes, I know it all already . . and also that that is not the whole problem
for you . . is it?"

"Some of it, yes, some of it is a problem. I disagree totally utterly with
it all but I can handle that, can handle the opposite viewpoints, can march
and rally and write letters and send emails and try to upset the apple cart.
But the other . . the friendship thing, no, I cannot handle that at all. Not
at all. I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean by 'the friendship thing'?"

"You know already!"

"Tell me anyway."

I tried to marshal my thoughts. "I'm not sure how to begin, just do it I
guess.  I had a cousin once, high-powered navy guy, vice admiral, fought to
defend his country in the wreckage of Pearl Harbour with his flagship
sinking under him. I admire that guy, his two sons as well, one a US naval
airman killed in a flying accident, the other a subbie who went down with
his craft off Okinawa in 1944. Great people. How, then, can I not admire
William's great-grandson, Mark Pye, who flies a B52 over the skies of Iraq
even as we talk?"

I wiped away a tear. "I have relatives and friends all over the US and
Canada, the UK, Europe, the far east, oceania. Some on the one side, some on
the other. How can I keep those friendships when I cannot, can not, keep my
mouth shut about this horrible horrible thing that is going on?"

"I suppose it will do no good to say that the people and the countries of
Earth have destinies just as you do, that they are pretty well set like
yours is, only the way there can be changed?  No, I thought not. You know,
of course, that whatever you do, whatever you decide to do, I shall be
alongside you, that the devas will walk with you, to cushion you within the
cosmic framework. But the decision of what to do is yours, the 'friendship
thing' is something you have to work through yourself for it to be of any
benefit to you now or in the future."

Really, I should have expected nothing more, I had been in this position
before on many occasions, different circumstances but similar position.
Wearily, I got to my feet, turned towards the tree but all that part of the
garden had become foggy.  Then the air shimmered like the after-effect of a
thunderclap and a dozen pathways lit up radiating out from where I stood, at
the far end of each an illuminated sign - PEACE - TOLERANCE - HAPPINESS -
DEATH - REBIRTH - HONOUR - DESTRUCTION - DESTINY - VICTORY - FAILURE -
BEGINNINGS - ENDINGS

'Your destiny is set,' I remembered, 'only the way there can be changed'. I
made my decision, set a foot on that path and all the others winked out.
Barely three steps along it, a ripple of air caused me to peer upwards - and
duck as a stealth bomber swept almost silently overhead. A little further on
I heard a familiar noise, glanced down to see a tabby cat and feel it
rubbing against my legs. At a bend in the path I hadn't noticed before a
brilliantly hued butterfly wandered across in front of me, daring in its
fragility. Round the curve there stood a tree.

But a tree very different from the other. Gnarled, old and huge, its immense
canopy would have covered the whole garden and much more, had it been as
close as I had thought. It was not, it was a distance away and between us
yawned a chasm crossed by a narrow wooden bridge, flimsy by comparison and
in fact - as I watched, pieces fell into the abyss, down, down into foaming
waters far, far below.

My gaze was drawn back to the tree even as the tabby cat leaped away from my
side and scurried away, for it was covered and surrounded by people of all
sorts, all waving, beckoning. Me or the tabby cat, I wondered, as it shot
across the bridge, paws touching, clinging to the far side as the remains of
the bridge gave up the ghost and fell away.

"You are right, it is better this way for the friendships will remain whole
while the battle rages and when the turmoil is over, when the dust has
settled, you and they can all come together again to tell each other your
stories and learn from them."

I said nothing. The tears had begun again. Through misting eyes I saw a
rainbow, incredibly bright in the fading light of the waning moon, reach out
across the gap spanning the distance between I and they, between the Garden
and the Tree.

"This I give you as a sign that what I have said shall come to pass."

"Thanks," I said, and meant it with all my heart.

***************
It is always difficult to make decisions where friends are involved. My
decision was made during the night of last Monday when I experienced
something very similar to what I have written above. I was then in a motel
in Cooma and I had seen for the first time the tv coverage of the death and
destruction of Iraq, as you know, we do not have a tv at home and now I am
very thankful for that.

Everyone has a different perspective on everything, war or no war. What I
might see as harmless, someone else may regard as humiliation or worse. I am
well known for my lack of diplomacy when it comes to certain subjects.

So I have taken what some may see as the 'easy' way out though I do assure
you it is not easy at all. I have left the Tree until the time the Great
Spirit or her rainbow heralds my return. I would however like to stay in UB
if that is OK with everybody, though I may be a little quiet.

***************

Well I tried, honestly I tried to leave, i unsubscribed and all that, and
then I wrote the above and sent it to the list-owner with a request that it
be sent on to TBT.

But he said:

No.  I'm not going to forward this to the Tree.  I
didn't write it, you did.  YOU need to tell this story, not me.   The
address to
join the list is http://remsset.com/thebanyantree

And honestly, I would have to forward the entire message.
******************

And of course he's right - and there was a rainbow outside earlier . . . .
move over Sir Herman

Blue Feather

Earth Healer, Natural Therapist