Forgotten Ages Research

Lightening Up the Light - Stories From the Left Side of Heaven

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The Great Discovery

Long ago, in the middle of the ocean, a particular school of fish developed a grand culture, and many experts flourished among them, expounding on all the wonders about their world.

One day one fish, not very studious but very perceptive nonetheless, stumbled upon a great discovery. This discovery was so tremendous yet so simple and basic that the newly enlightened fish immediately swam to his fellow colleagues to inform them of what he had found

. However, though having received his vision in a flash of inspiration, the excited fish soon realized that his discovery was of such a fundamental nature that there was no way he could prove it empirically without disturbing so-called established concepts about the world around him.

The fish’s colleagues, comfortable in their acquired wealth of knowledge, were steadfastly opposed to his findings, and dismissed them as the activities of an overactive imagination.

And so the fish civilization continued on, yet in ignorance of one of the basic elements of their existence.

And what had our fish visionary discovered that was so important?

You guessed it. Water.

The True Meaning of Timelessness

In a land far away there is a certain village, and above it, on top of a hill, is a great fortress.

Once a visitor came to see the fort and while sightseeing the ramparts noted that at exactly twelve noon the captain of the fort fired a cannon to mark the time.

The visitor, curious, asked the captain how he knew when to discharge his duty. The captain answered that down in the village was an inn where the owner possessed a great clock which kept very accurate time, and he always timed his firing by that clock.

The visitor, wanting to see the clock, traveled down to the village and finally arrived at the inn. Indeed there it was, a magnificent mechanical clock, of which the owner was very proud. But then the visitor asked him, how did he know the right time by which to set the clock?

That’s simple, the owner answered. Every day at noon, up at the fort, the captain fires a cannon, and I always set my clock to when he sets it off.

In the Land of the Blind the One- (or Third-) Eyed is King

Once there was a man very much like you and me who was shipwrecked on an island. This island was completely cut off from the rest of the world, and about which the rest of the world had no inkling of its location.

The island was inhabited by a people who were totally blind. They had no eyes, and had no idea or concept of what sight was.

Yet nevertheless they had built a great civilization and science based on what they could perceive with their remaining four senses.

Now our shipwrecked hero, upon first contacting the island people, was eager to tell them that he had eyes, and tried to convey to them what sight was all about. The island scientists were at first very skeptical as they listened to him. But our hero was able to amaze them with his miraculous feats (to them) of being able to know about and forecast events long before anyone else could smell, taste, touch or hear them.

Unfortunately, our hero did not stop there. He began describing to the island people the starry heavens, the colors of the rainbow, and the gorgeous spectacle of a sunrise and sunset.

This for the blind scientists was too much. There was no way for them by their methods to prove or even comprehend such obvious nonsense. They thereupon condemned our hero as a madman and a lunatic.

Considered dangerous, our hero became an outcast. Eventually he escaped the island people’s persecution by building a raft and returning to the world you live in - the world of everyday seeing.

Just before he left them, however, the blind scientists labeled our hero with a name which for them was their ultimate derision.

They called him PSYCHIC.

Finding Necessary Balance

One of the major challenges for any seeker after truth is to find perfect balance between left and right brain information - between the scientific, historical, rational on one side and the intuitive, psychic, esoteric on the other. If you get too much into one or the other, then you lose perspective as to how things really are.

If one focuses just on the scientific, historical, rational left brain information, then you are left only with the form, and lose sight of the spirit behind the form.

It is just like the Zen Buddhist story of the Teacher who points up to heaven - and all his disciples wind up worshipping his finger.

Yet, likewise, if you dwell exclusively in the intuitive, psychic, esoteric realms, then you can become what might be called a meta-fuzzy, a bliss-ninny, and an advanced guard for the ozone rangers. The gate is down, the lights are flashing, but there’s no train coming.

It is important, if you hold your head high up among the inter-dimensional clouds, to still keep your feet firmly planted on solid earth - to have a balance in wholeness, and thus give some understandable framework to the psychic information which comes through.

Keep both in balance - or you could become the punch-line for the Universe.

The True Magic of Findhorn

One of my favorite stories took place in Findhorn in Scotland several years ago. An elderly woman living in the community was having problems with the plumbing in her trailer, and there being no local plumber at the time, she had to call for one from a neighboring village.

Now other people inhabiting the area round about have always been wary about the folks at Findhorn, for they were aware of all the tales about their dancing and singing with the fairies, and had seen the world-famous eight-foot cabbages and winter-blooming roses their gardens miraculously produced.

Despite all this, a plumber ventured out to the community anyway.

After the elderly woman showed him the problem and the plumber began working on it, he eventually got his nerve up enough to ask her about what kind of strange things went on at Findhorn. The woman, being open and honest, told him and confirmed all the rumors he had heard.

He listened very politely to all this, but when he was finished with his job, he turned to the woman and said, Mum, I think you’re a wee bit cracked.

To which she smiled and responded, Well, a wee crack lets in a wee bit of light. The Window and the Mirror

Once there was an environmentalist who sought to raise money to help save a local forest from being sold to a housing development. He solicited several local business people, and to one particularly wealthy merchant he gave his simple pitch.

But the merchant was unresponsive, and finally told him that if the forest was worth saving, then someone else could spend their money to do it, not him.

The solicitor kindly acknowledged his words, and then asked the merchant to stand in front of his store window and look through the glass.

What do you see?

The merchant replied, Well, I see people. I see the world. I see the planet.

Good, said the solicitor. And now come over here and look into the mirror. What do you see in this piece of glass?

Why, I see me. I see my own image.

Isn’t that interesting, observed the solicitor. The window and the mirror are both made of glass. Yet if you add just a little silver to one, all you see is yourself.

The Master and the Feather

Once a Master asked his multitude of disciples if there was any among them who would be willing to give up their heart, should his own heart fail and need replacing.

Immediately all the Master’s disciples declared their undying loyalty, and yes, how they would certainly give up their heart for their beloved Master.

Then the Master very somberly spoke. What I have stated is not hypothetical. I am in truth at this very moment dying, and my heart needs to be replaced by one of yours from among my faithful followers.

But I cannot choose. It is not for me to point to one of you and ask you for your heart. I shall let Divine Spirit decide instead.

At that instant the Master produced a small feather and held it up for all to see. I shall now release this feather into the gentle breeze, and whosever head it shall fall upon, that person is the chosen one, to give up their heart to me.

There followed a great hush among the students as the feather was released.

For the longest time afterward, the only sounds that could be heard were those coming from all the anxious upturned faces and puffed cheeks, blowing furiously at the feather whenever it passed over them.

Eventually the feather floated out of sight and was gone.

And by that time also the Master, unnoticed, had walked away and disappeared.

Letting Go of Old Truths

Once there was a great Teacher whose life-long quest was to walk in the direction of the rising Sun, daily keeping his sparkling eyes fixed upon the distant goal. His disciples followed him faithfully upon the same quest, traveling with him wherever he went.

Then one day the sparkle went out of the Teacher's eyes. He laid down and died upon the desert sands.

Greatly distraught his disciples mourned for him. In honor of his greatness they fashioned a huge statue of him on the spot where he died, in a standing pose facing into the rising Sun.

With this labor accomplished, however, the disciples were at a loss of what to do next.

Many decided to build their homes around the statue and were satisfied to live out their lives in the shadow of the Teacher's image.

Other disciples decided to collect and codify all the sayings and words of the Teacher they could remember, and carved them in big letters upon the statue's surface. But this tended to only distort the Teacher's original image.

Still other disciples began worshipping the statue image itself by taking chunks out of it, carrying them home and setting them up as their own private idols. Yet this damage too also greatly altered the statue's figure, and the total image was slowly being lost.

There were those other disciples, few in number, who admired the Teacher for what he had envisioned. They sought to emulate his quest by climbing atop the statue, standing upon its shoulders and gazing out toward where the statue's eyes were still transfixed - into the rising Sun.

Yet after all this arduous effort all they could see was no farther than what the Teacher himself saw upon his last day, and nothing more.

Finally there were those disciples who realized that to be true to the Teacher's life purpose as well as to their own, it was now time to leave his crumbling statue and walk beyond, where the Teacher would have walked and would have wanted them all to walk.

So they left the statue behind, continually seeking, continually striding forward, always moving into the light of the rising Sun.

Spirituality and its Appearances

There once was a fisherman who lived alone on a remote little island. He was not very educated, but had a sincere heart-felt desire to be as spiritual a person as he could possibly be.

He had heard that there was an important Teacher who was coming to his area, and let it be known in the nearby village that he wanted to learn what spiritual truths he could from the Teacher, if only he would come out to his island to instruct him.

The Teacher - a self-important man who thought greatly about himself because he could successfully recite all the spiritual sayings of the Masters - spent his time traveling here and there across the countryside and taught others to memorize the spiritual sayings as well. He eventually heard about the fisherman and his desire to learn from him, and not wanting to give up the prospects of an audience of even one, decided to row out to the fisherman’s island to meet him.

Upon the Teacher’s arrival, the fisherman was overjoyed and humbled by his great presence, promising him to be as diligent a student as possible.

But even though the Teacher was pleased by having so much admiration given to him, he soon found his task of getting the fisherman to memorize even the simplest of the sayings of the Masters very difficult and frustrating.

Finally, after a long month of repeated instruction, the fisherman managed to be able to recite a few key phrases, and the Teacher, having had enough, announced that he was satisfied with the fisherman’s progress, and prepared to leave.

The grateful fisherman thanked the Teacher for his time and patience, and promised he would faithfully say the words given to him over and over every day. The Teacher then hastily said his goodbyes and departed, rowing away from the island as fast as he could.

But then, as he got halfway across, the Teacher heard a voice calling him. He looked back in the direction of the island and was utterly amazed to see the fisherman coming toward him, walking on the surface of the water.

The fisherman then stood next to the Teacher’s boat and asked him to repeat one phrase he had already forgotten, so that he could get it right. The astonished Teacher slowly spoke the words, the fisherman recited them over and over, and then, thanking him once more, turned around and walked on the water back to his island.

The Two Banquet Halls

Somewhere way out in the universe, in a far dimension of space, exists a magnificent banquet hall having a long table stocked with a never-ending supply of food.

All around this table is a great crowd of people who are like you and me except for one thing - their arms are locked straight so they cannot bend their elbows. Their hands are never able to reach their mouths.

These people are always hungry because they try to feed themselves by tossing the food in the air and catching it with their teeth before it hits the ground, or letting it dribble down their arms and shoulders in the hopes that a little of it will reach their gaping mouths.

This exercise in futility, as can be imagined, creates an atmosphere of constant frustration, frenzy and chaos - not to mention one large mess.

On another parallel dimension of space is a second banquet hall identical to the first. It too has a table that is perpetually filled with food. And likewise this table is also surrounded by a large multitude of people whose arms are locked, whose elbows cannot be bent.

But the major difference is that here no frenzy or mess exists. These folk all act calmly, remain at peace, and are well-fed. The reason for this is very simple, for they have found the answer to their predicament by applying their common sense coupled with their inner wisdom.

They have learned to reach out and feed each other.

Accepting New Truths

In Greek legend, the god Hermes is not only the deity of inspiration, the Divine Messenger, but sometimes he also acts as the Game Player, giving us important lessons to learn.

What truths Hermes offers us are like a deck of cards. Each card is filled with esoteric symbols, and as we work with these we begin connecting certain symbols with others, placing one card with another, eventually building a wonderful edifice - a house of cards which defines truth in a framework we can understand.

But just at the moment of self satisfaction, when we think we have neatly categorized everything, Hermes comes flying through and drops a whole new set of cards on top of our carefully constructed reality. Our house of cards tumbles down and we are left sitting amid the ruins, with Hermes' laughter ringing in our ears.

However, looking around us, we discover the new cards left by Hermes, with their new symbols. WE begin seeing interconnections with the symbols on the old cards - and soon we are once again building a structure, another house of cards, only this one bigger and more complex than before.

The moral of the story is, it is good to create a framework with the truths that are given us, for it helps us to better understand the reality we live in at the moment. But we must always make sure our framework is flexible, remembering that it may need to be completely altered as we learn more truths.

In the last analysis, as Hermes keeps reminding us, no one is ever playing with a full deck of cards.

[Copyright 2009. Joseph Robert Jochmans. All Rights Reserved].