Excerpt from the Vision Tale, The House of Prayer
A simple, unmarked door remained my only barrier to the interior of the building. A turn of the knob and I would be through. My hand neither trembled nor faltered; but instead, firmly gripped the knob and with a turn of my wrist the knob gave way to my urging and turned, releasing the door from its latched closure. I pulled the door open and without hesitation entered the building, closing the door behind me. Once inside the dark space, a sudden fear overwhelmed me and I sought to escape. In some uncomfortable way I felt myself laid bare before God and in embarrassment and shame reached for the door knob to make my exit. To my amazement I found on the inside of the door there was no knob. The door was sealed, there was no escape. I shuddered, a brief quivering of the body; closed my eyes, breathed a deep cleansing breath and determined that given no choice, I had to explore the building, if for no other reason than to find if there was a way to leave. In that instance between what was and what might be, a moment of indecision, I realized how lacking in strength I was.
Opening my eyes, I looked around for the first time; my eyes having adjusted to the dimly lighted surroundings. No longer held captive to my fears, I could see that I was in a place very much like my own home. All was familiar: the colors, the smells, the furniture, the games, even the accessories around the room....A new energy fueled me, and I rose from the chair where I had been sitting and began to search out a way to ascend to the second floor to see what I might find there. I would leave the solace of this lower floor and seek out what was still above me.
I quickly found a stairway and began my ascent. I looked back on all that I could see....Temptation is not always an outside force, but a weakness within, and regardless of the barriers constructed, temptation still persists; invading every corner of the world. I had not been immune. Only now did I realize that for prayer to be reality, I had to recognize the ebb and flow of good and evil in my life, and face it. Only then would prayer be a genuine expression of my true self, and I could commune with God.
What I was to discover on that second floor was in stark contrast to the surroundings I had just left. Here was no comfortable, familiar space, but one that in its starkness, evoked a sense of awe. Unlike the floor below where there were many rooms, this second floor was one large, rectangular room. The floor was covered with a layer of gray sand, and in the center of the room rose a great pillar, gnarled like the trunk of an aged tree. At its top, ten great beams, like branches reaching outward from the center, spread across the ceiling to the outer wooden walls. I could not see where the light was coming from that lit the room, but all around me seemed bathed in a soft glow. As I approached the pillar, I realized it was indeed a tree, composed of three sections, grown together to form one great, massive trunk. I walked around it, and as I did faces appeared in the bark of the tree; silent, motionless sentinels. Walking around and around, I realized that each face appeared only once in its place and on the next journey around the tree, a new face would appear in about the same place. Round after round revealed face after face; young and old, men and women, all races; dozens, hundreds of faces. At some faces I stopped to stare into the eyes, looking for some hidden wisdom from within them that would unlock just one truth to tell me who they were.
What was the meaning of the tree?... The mysteries of the first floor had been easily solved, but now I felt discouraged. Was I looking for something that wasnt there, hoping beyond hope that I could solve the mystery set before me without seriously searching for answers?
I stood and walked over to the tree. Stretching forth my right hand I laid it carefully upon the bark of the tree. From the tree I felt a warmth; a stark contrast to the cool of the sand I had just wiped off of my hands. I felt no great surge of strength from the tree, but rather a pulse. My heart began to beat as did the pulse of the tree. I reached out my other hand and pressed it against the bark, closed my eyes and tilted my head back. I could no longer feel myself breathe, but was suspended between breaths, my heart beating as did the tree. My life now came from the tree. Time stood still, but simultaneously seemed to speed across eternity.
I felt the pain and suffering, the joys and ecstasies, the struggles and victories of all humanity. My soul was brought to the deepest depths of horrifying anguish and lifted to the heights of immeasurable pleasure. At length I gasped for a breath of air, released my caress of the tree and fell to my knees. My hands dropped to the sand. The cool of the sand made me realize how feverish I had become and I sank down and lay on the sand like a child. The sands cooled my fever and soon my breathing returned to normal. When I had recovered, I sat up and stared at the tree. The faces were gone. Now I understood!
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