Mystical Conversation

On one of my travels in the deep forests of Caledonia I came across a young Child sitting at a fire. The evening was upon us, and I was curious to why this Child was alone at this mysterious place.

As I approched the Child, she suddenly looked up at me; smiling. "Come", she said, "sit with me." There was something in her eyes that told me that this was not an ordinary child, so my concerns about the whole thing was laid to rest. I sat down at the fire, and we both looked at the flames.

With a voice flowing with innocence the Child asked "Why is the sky blue?" I gave the standard scientific answer about absorption of certain wavelengths of light in the atmosphere by gas molecules; and after hearing this the Child said "I thought the color blue was in my head."

In my mind I rushed through the physics and tried to find a good evidence for that the color blue exists outside of our heads, but I could not. All the models of matter, the photons and the electromagnetic waves, nothing really in itself can be proven to be blue! I came to the conclusion that the Child had given me a very insightful answer on a trivial question. I thought that I would ask some questions of my own, and since I was on a pilgrimage the subject was obvious.

I said "What will happen when I die? Will I go to Heaven; will I be saved?"

"There is no death as you think of it; what is saved is saved, and what is lost is lost. That which is not saved in life will surely be lost in death. All things carry on, you see." The Child replied.

I was confused and startled. The whole situation felt surreal; the old trees with their long, bent branches; the fire that never seemed to consume the wood, and the Child with her otherworldly ideas. "But if I'm not saved in this life will I then be lost forever?"

The Child smiled at me and said "Know your Self. What do you speak of when you say 'I'; do you mean your body - are you your arms, your feet perhaps?" The Child laughed. "Your body consists of billions of cells, and one cell consists of billions of atoms; and the atom is nothing else than condensed energy - strange energy. Truly, you do not mean your body for it is strange to you. It is as old as time it self and it will be in the world for all eternity. There is no death for your body, only change."

The Child laughed again "The atoms in your body is as old as time." She shook her head and continued "Know your Self. If you do not mean your body, then what do you mean; your thoughts? Thoughts that are here one second and gone the next; then surely you don't need to concern yourself with death."

I did not know what to think or say. "Maybe I am my memories..." I finally said. The Child looked into the fire between us "Memories are shadows of things that you have experienced; things that are in them self no longer real. And if you were your principles, convictions or values you would be diluted indeed, since many people share the same values - then you would all share the same heart, and there would be no individual 'I' that could die."

 The Child pointed to the trees and up to the stars "You see! There is no death as you think of it - all things carry on. Know your Self!"

I was amazed. "Who are you?" I said. "I am You." The Child said. "I am the new You to come."