“It’s getting dark. You’re welcome to stay the night.” Said the old wizard.
“Really? thank you.” replied the young warrior.
“It will give us more time to work on the final couple of ingredients for the Dragon Slaying Spell.” Said the wizard.
The old wizard looked at an old candle with wax dipping down the sides in an a holder sitting on the table. He snapped his fingers and suddenly the candle lit all by itself.
“Focus on the flame.” the old wizard said. “Watch it dance and flicker. Let all thoughts in your mind fade away until there is nothing but you and the candle.”
The young warrior shuffled in his chair and steeled himself. Leaning in and concentrating on the candle. His thoughts started to fade away as the wizard suggested. Then he heard ‘drip’ a few moments later, ‘drip’. Taking a breath he cleared his mind once more and redoubled his efforts. ‘DRIP, DRIP, DRIP’.
“What is making that dripping noise?’ he asked annoyed.
“Oh that’s the water barrel. The rain collects in the barrel for my drinking and washing water. Sometimes it drips. Continue on.” encouraged the wizard.
Taking a deep breath the young warrior tried again. ‘DRIP, DRIP’.
“Agghh! I can’t take it! It’s impossible!” said the exasperated young warrior. “Can’t you do some wizardly thing and fix it?”
“I guess I could.” said the old wizard. “But let’s try fixing your concentration instead. Follow me”
The wizard stood up and went out side to the covered porch in front of the cabin. He placed the candle on a small table between two chairs. “Let’s try again.” he instructed. “Sometimes we need to change our environment to change our energy. Maybe outside will be better.”
The wizard was right. The cool night air felt refreshing. The young warrior placed his hands on his knees, feeling renewed he leaned in and started to focus again on the flame. Then his mind was drawn to the sounds of the night time insects. ‘CHIRP, CHIRP, CHIP’.
“Arrgg! How can I concentrate with all these distractions?” asked the young warrior who was at his patience end.
“When something is annoying or frustrating you and you feel it building and you can’t change it, then a change of environment might help. When you can’t change either then use it to your advantage. Don’t fight it embrace it, use it.” Explained the wizard.
“I don’t understand.” said the young warrior.
“Embrace it, accept it, connect with it, instead of fighting it. Use the energy of the sounds of the insects or the dripping of the water to deepen your focus. Expand your awareness to include them while focusing on the candle.” suggested the old wizard.
The young warrior started to not just hear but listen to the insects buzzing and chirping. Then he relaxed, really relaxed and accepted it. The noise almost became a rhythm then almost a song as he stared into the candle. The sounds then started to become once again background noise, the candle flame almost seemed to grow in size. He noticed the different colors; blue, orange, yellow and white. The flame appeared to grow larger and larger until he was surrounded by white light.
It seemed to be a few moments later, then he heard the wizard say ‘The coolest part of the candle flame is the center by the wick. We too have to be calm and cool at our center to be the most effective.”
“Interesting.” replied the young warrior. He then looked up in the sky and noticed the moon moved quite a bit.
“How long have I been doing this?” he asked.
“Oh about two hours.” said the wizard as he relit the bowl of his pipe.
“TWO HOURS!” exclaimed the young warrior.
The wizard said, “One’s perception of time changes with their focus. If you are bored time seems to slow down to a crawl. When you are excited it all seems to happen so fast. You were in the zone. Time almost seems to freeze for you when you are that level of concentration.”
“How old do you think I am?” asked the wizard.
“Oh, I’d guess late sixties, early seventies.” said the young warrior.
“I’m one hundred and twenty five.” said the old wizard. He could see the young warrior was impressed. “You see..” he continued, “Negative emotions can age you faster, positive ones can keep you happy and feeling young. As I said to you earlier ‘where your mind goes your energy flows’. The E in this spell, stands for Energy, Environment, Embrace and Ego. Know your own state of energy. Know when it rises and falls, when it becomes unbalanced. Notice where you place your thoughts or what you allow to influence your thoughts and how it affects your energy. A negative Environment can have an unhealthy impact on you too.”
“What about Ego?” asked the young warrior.
“Ah, glad you’re paying attention.” said the old wizard. “Ego,” he continued, “can also effect your energy. The bigger the Ego the larger the fall and frustration and disappointment when you fail. The less open you are to learn lessons that the Universe is trying to teach you to help get you to the next level.”
The wizard continued “Everyone has an Ego. The trick is to keep it in check, stay humble and centered. The world does not revolve around us, although some big Ego’s think it does around them. We are part of this Universe. The very atoms that made the stars you see in that night sky make you. Every time you breathe you breathe in the Universe. The Ego can sometimes make you think you are separate from the Universe when you are not just part of it but are it expressing itself as you.”
The old wizard saw the young warrior struggle with his thoughts and walked over to a water barrel beside the porch. He pulled the long sleeve of his robe back and dipped a cup into the water barrel filling it up. He then sat back down and dipped his finger into the cup and a drop of water began to form at the tip of his finger.
“This drop of water is like you. It may or may not realize it is the water that came from that cup and if it does, it may not realize that it is the same water that came originally from the barrel.”
“Or the sky.” added the young warrior.
The old wizard smiled in agreement as he knew the seeds he was planting in this young warriors mind were beginning to sprout.
“See we don’t cease to exist when we die.” as the water drop fell off his finger back into the cup. “We go back to our source.” He then put two fingers into the cup and a drop of water formed at the tip of each.
“This is you and this is me.” The wizard said as he lifted his fingers with the water drops at the end. “We are both the source expressing itself as these two drops, or as me and you. But we are actually the same source.”
“Hang on a second.” said the young warrior. “You are implying then that the Dragon and I are the same too then.” said the warrior a little offended.
“Yes, and their Ego does not let them realize that. So they do bad things, hurt people etc. Their spirits are vibrating on a lower level of consciousness. They are stuck with a ‘me’ attitude not realizing they are actually part of the ‘we’ they seperate themselves from themselves. Then they go back to the source when they die.” The drips fell back off his fingers in into the cup once more. Then he dipped a single finger back in and another drop formed. “Then the cycle starts again. Hopefully the next time around they get it.” said the old wizard.
“So how do we help them?” asked the young warrior.
“Sometimes you can, sometimes you can’t.” answered the old wizard. “If they are ready to go to the next level then you can. If they are not then nothing you do can help them until they are ready. Just be the best YOU that YOU can be.” the old wizard gently put his finger to the young warriors forehead. The drop of water transferred itself, stayed for a moment and then ran down his face to the tip of the young warriors nose where it fell off and he caught it in the upturned palm of his hand.
He stared at it for a second then tipped it back into the cup.
“and maybe they will follow your example. But don’t ever let that hold you back.” continued the old wizard. He paused then followed, “We keep going around and around until we learn the great lesson. That’s the way it’s always been. The sun rises and sets, so does the moon. The seasons come and go. It’s all a cycle. Some learn to raise their spirits vibration at times sooner than others and become conscious of the cycle. Then when they return to the source they can choose to come back here and help others for a while or stay in the source.”
The young warrior was trying to absorb all this. It felt right but it was a lot to process.
‘Time to turn in.” said the old wizard with a yawn. ‘We’ll go over the final ingredients tomorrow.’
The both headed back into the cabin for the night.