Based on a true story:
One day a man was out seeking in the mountains with a companion, when he came upon this canyon. As he descended upon a pathway that lead down into the canyon, revealing an amazing waterfall and basin that twisted out into a river, he felt the attention of others who had also gathered there. Winding down, he sought out a place to sit. Noticing a grouping of flat stones near the water, he accompanied his companion to that location and could see before him three different possibilities. His companion, found a place amidst the three, leaving all options available. Though he saw the one he would probably choose, he thought he should try the worst first, and thereby save the best for last. The first one didn't take more than a few seconds to realize, "Too hard...Not for me!". The second stone also didn't feel 'quite right'. As he approached the third flat stone he could see that it had a chair-ish look about it with the surrounding stones. He sat upon it, placing one foot upon a stone that lay in front as a footrest, he stretched the other out into the water tapping on its way by and instantly felt transformed. The others who had gathered at the basin also seemed to be witnessing something, and though they were unsure of what it was exactly they were witnessing, they kept looking back with interest. To the man however, it felt as though the stones had formed a throne around him. There were stones at each side which seemed as armrests, one supporting his back at an almost vertical angle and another angled down to support his legs, complete with footrest. His world suddenly enfolded and collapsed into itself, then expanded again beyond his initial comprehension of understanding. A voice within that stillness, screamed in fearful panic to leave immediately, desperately desiring to vacate the stones. But within that cry inside was also a calm that whispered on the wind to remain. And within that calm whisper, the courage to remain. So the man remained, and the screaming voice disappeared, and the wind continued to whisper by. Scanning his surroundings with renewed vision, his attention was drawn to a tree that was at the top of a cliff. He noticed that the entire underside of the cliff was cut away by time and the tree was virtually suspended with it's roots hanging through the little earth that remained under it. "How are you still standing there and haven't fallen, how can you defy nature." he rhetorically pondered, and continued studying the tree. After a few moments he heard a voice within himself that said, "To find the right answers...you must ask the right questions." These words seemed to hang there as the man tried to figure out from where they had come and what they meant. Almost before he could even form the first question in his mind, he heard another voice saying, "It was the tree." "And who are you?" the man questioned this newest participant. "The stones upon which you are seated." he heard. This took the man back a bit. How could this be? Again, the stones replied with resounding speed, "Since you are the chosen one, you have found the ' Throne of Stones ' which formed because you are worthy, and while you sit upon it you will have certain abilities enhanced. You will not only hear, but listen. You will not only look, but see. That you may learn what you need." "Why am I the chosen one?", the man questioned almost doubtfully. "Because of your choices." was the response. "What does that mean?", he queried back. "Ask the tree, if it is wisdom and understanding you seek. Trees are wise as they have a good perspective on things above and below. However, you will also need patience when speaking with a tree, they think before they speak. Perhaps you should start with water.", was the suggestion. He was about to ask how to go about doing that when he again felt the tapping water on his outstretched foot and realized it was code. Water spoke quickly and not very complimentary when it came to man. Feeling as though God's first great warning was not taken seriously, water chastised man for his arrogance with trying to control things beyond him, instead of within him, and warned about following that destructive path. With that, water had said all that it had wanted to say, and that was that. The man took a few moments at this point to let it all sink in, and looked skyward again at the overhanging tree. With deliberation and a new found respect and humility, he addressed the tree once again, "My friend, I seek your wisdom on this matter. Why am I the chosen one?" After a moment of silence,"Because of your choices" the tree responded in kind. "Yes, that's what the stones had said.", he explained,"But what is the significance of my choices? Which choices are the important ones?" Again the question was met with a silence, which in turn was met with an answer. "They are of great significance. All of them." Feeling this wasn't getting him anywhere, he remembered the trees first response to him and paused a moment himself, to think first. To find the right answers he would indeed have to ask the right questions. Finally, he formed it,"Which choices did I make that made me worthy?" "The choice of returning, each time you've been led away." tree replied in its own time. This answer perplexed the man a moment, causing him to pause again. "How can I be considered worthy if I'm being led away, and by whom am I being led?", he finally mustered up. "It is the lord of lies who misleads all, but it is a worthy man who returns to the will of the One Spirit. Deceit is his, mistakes are human, forgiveness is divine." "Well what happens now?" The man asked, beginning to feel the weight of the world upon him suddenly. "You shall prepare to meet God.", tree said, as a matter of fact. "But who am I to meet God?", the man questioned seriously. "That is for you to find out.", tree advised. Silence resonated again as the man attempted to put this into a perspective he could understand. In the past, as he had tried to analyze problems in his life, he looked at things from several different angles to get a clearer picture of the overall. In his attempt to follow the same old routine, he discovered something different was occurring. Instead of seeing things from one side or another, he saw it all at once from every angle. It was as though he was a large ball and someone had taken a smaller ball and placed it into his centre. He could view it completely. At once. As his life flashed before his minds eye with this new perspective, he could see God's influence in his life, from before his birth, until now. He could now see what tree had been talking about. He saw his life as a thread that traveled along and cries-crossed another thread of light. He understood immediately that when his thread of life joined the thread of light, he was doing God's will. He also saw that indeed he did leave and return to this thread, as tree had said. Gazing back toward the tree, wonder returned as he again marveled at the trees existence. "How can you defy gravity and nature" he finally said. "I'm not defying nature, it is man who defies nature by their destruction." "Then how do you remain standing?", he enquired again of the tree. "Balance.", tree replied. This too took a moment to sink in as his vision saw what the tree had said. Something stuck out from those words though that brought him back, "What did you mean exactly when you said, man's defying nature by their destruction." "Exactly as I said", tree stated simply, "To be self-destructive, either directly or indirectly is in defiance with nature and life." With that, the man saw how by destroying things around us we depend on, we are only destroying ourselves. Long term murder/suicide. With that thought came a flash of overwhelming pain and torment, feeling the earth, the animals, the waters, and the air. He curled into a ball upon his throne, the breath emptied from his body. His mind flared as his soul screamed out an agonizing cry. Moments passed as the wind blew gently over him refilling his lungs and alleviating his pain with each new breath. "Breath deep...Breath slow." tree suggested. "How can I face God?" he cried. "Honestly" tree advised."And with a humble heart." he added. Sitting up, he glanced over at his companion now napping beside him. Noticing the silent witnesses all around him, who still gazed in his direction from time to time trying to decide what it was they were seeing, he realized he was as all of them and yet none of them. Everyone and no one. He looked up once more asking tree, "What am I to do?" "What you choose...So choose wisely what you do?, came the reply. Reflection...Realization...Communication...Communion...Evolution... Equalizer. His companion stirred beside him, words whispered past him, his long hair and flowing beard blowing gently in the cool breeze as he prepared for the rest of his journey.
