Parable of the Garden

Allow me to tell you a story about The Garden.

Imagine a garden unlike any garden you have ever seen on this earth.

Imagine a garden full of flowers and trees, of brilliant sights and sounds, of sparkling diamond water, and clear emerald forests.

Imagine a garden of unbelievable fertility, variety, and bounty.

Imagine a garden where life flourishes in peace, love, and joy.

Imagine a garden where the only emotions are contentment, bliss, happiness, and love.

Imagine a garden where only beauty exists.

Call this garden The Garden of Eden, Shambhala, or even Heaven if you like, for indeed it was all these and more.

Imagine, and when you can imagine all these things at once, put them together and multiply them a million times and you will have The Garden.

A place of unimaginable splendor and glory.

…

Now let me be crystal clear here.

In The Garden there is no pain and no suffering.

In The Garden, there is no sadness.

There is no war.

There is no hatred.

There is no “sin.”

The Garden is perfect in every way and will always remain so for this is the way The Lightwalkers, the beings of pure love and light who inhabit The Garden, want it.

Ah, The Lightwalkers.

Shining, glorious suns of creation.

Brilliant and blinding to behold.

When they created The Garden, they created it as a reflection of their perfect, Light-filled, love filled nature.

Each heart’s desire fulfilled.

Perfection in every way and a mighty great place to live, let me tell you.

But you know, things get boring and so one day a few of the Lightwalkers (let us call them The Explorers) thought to themselves that maybe, just maybe, a change was needed.

“Maybe things could be better?” they said.

“Maybe we could have more beautiful flowers and trees, more brilliant sights and sounds.”

“Maybe we could have more love and more light and more glory.”

“Maybe!”

So, they put a plan together and submitted it to The Elders, and they said with great excitement…

“Look at our plan.”

“Isn’t it cool?”

“Isn’t it wonderful?”

“Isn’t it amazing?”

And of course, The Elders had to agree for The Plan was beautiful and amazing and glorious and if it worked…

“If the thing could be done…” the thought.

“It would be something completely different.”

“It would mean more of everything that The Lightwalkers loved so much.”

“Of course, The Plan would require a lot of work and effort,” The Elders thought.

“The Plan would require mucking around in the darkness outside The Garden and that was cause for pause,” said The Elders.

“It would be no picnic,” The Elders said.

“There would be no partying.”

“It would not be a holiday in paradise.”

“You are,” after all, “descending into darkness” The Elders said.

“It’s not going to be fun.”

“There is nothing in darkness,” the elders warned.

“There is no love.”

“There is no light.”

“There is no power.”

Ah but the pups who brought The Plan didn’t seem to mind so much the sacrifice and so the Elders said, why not?

And besides, if The Explorers could pull it off, what a “wow” that would be…

And so the explorers packed their bags, bid their tearful goodbyes, walked the long walk out past The Garden Gate and into the darkness, and disappeared from view.

* poof *

Which worried The Lightwalkers who stayed back more than a little bit.

It was kinda dramatic, after all.

It was kinda abrubt.

It was like being suddenly cut off from a part of yourself.

And it was without precedent.

It was disturbing.

But they trusted, and tried not to worry.

They waited and they watched.

They watched and waited, and when they had waited and watched to the limit of their patience, they started to talk about sending out a search party.

What else was there to do?

Something had to be done.

What if something had, inconceivably, gone wrong?

But, just as they were about to form the search party “It” happened.

All of a sudden, the silence and the blackness of the darkness was broken by a flash and a sound.

Then, there was another flash and another sound.

Then another.

And another and pretty soon the flashes were like lightning and the sound was like thunder.

And the Lightwalkers breathed a sigh of relief.

The Work had begun.

And thus did the work go on.

While the Lightwalkers continued to exist in Joy and Bliss, the Explorers worked hard in the darkness. There were flashes and there was thunder, there were crashes and there was rumble and every once in a while a crackle of fire danced across the skin of the darkness.

It was an exciting light-and-sound show like never before seen.

The raw energy of it was contagious and soon, many of those who had stayed behind just couldn’t stand by watching anymore.

They packed their bags and ran off into the dark to help.

And that fed the fire. And the lighting flashed brighter, and the thunder crashed louder, and a fire crackled over the skin of the dark until…

All of a sudden…

Nothing.

Suddenly…

All the flashing and all the thunder just stopped, just like that.

One moment chaos and the next, nothing.

At that point the Lightwalkers who had stayed behind looked at each other.

They were puzzled.

They waited, but the silence continued.

“What could have happened?” they asked themselves.

“Has something gone wrong?” they wondered.

They waited, and they waited, and they waited to the limits of their worry and when they surpassed their limit, they formed a search party.

After all, this was highly irregular, unusual, and worrisome.

This was without precedent.

Something could be wrong.

But then, just as the search party was getting ready to leave The Garden, with a flash of lightning and a sound of thunder, the chaos began anew.

Just like before, lightning, thunder and fire crackled over the dark.

The work had begun once again.

And thus did the work go on.

There were flashes and thunder and fire and the Lightwalkers gazed in fascination and amazement.

It was a show unlike any other.

And much more exciting than before.

More energy.

More power.

More vibration.

It was a pulsating energy ball…

Like an oscillating star going Nova…

And it was very exciting.

In fact, it was so exciting that wave after wave of Lightwalker, overcome by a childlike exuberance, jumped into the darkness without even bothering to pack. As they did that, they fed the fire. And lightning flashed and thunder rolled and fire crackled and then, all of a sudden…

*FLASH*

…and then…

…DARKNESS…

…and then…

…SILENCE…

…and then…

NOTHING…

The Lightwalkers were startled by this.

They looked at each other, they were puzzled.

They waited and wondered and worried only this time…

This time it was obvious.

Something had gone wrong.

So, they called for volunteers and sent a search party out into the darkness and just as the Searchers disappeared from view, the Explorers came screaming out of the darkness.

“Did you see that?” they said breathless.

“Wasn’t it awesome?” they exclaimed with excitement.

“Did you see that?” they said over and over again, shaking all over.

“DID YOU SEE THAT?”

“We almost did it,” they laughed.

“We almost had it.”

“But we need your help,” they said, shaking shoulders.

“There was too much,” they gasped.

“There was too many,” they exclaimed.

“And it was too soon!”

“WE NEED YOUR HELP!”

And of course the Lightwalkers who remained in The Garden agreed.

What else could they do?

The Explorers were obviously onto something big and exciting.

So they said, “How can we help?”

And at that the explorers paused and thought about it for a few moments and then said, “Well, let’s see.”

“As you can see,” said the Explorers, “it is extremely black down there and we have a hard time seeing.”

“Sometimes we get lost in the darkness.”

“Sometimes we get confused.”

“So it would be great,” said the Explorers, if some of you could act as guides for us.”

“You know, point us in the right direction if we seem to be stumbling around too much.”

Now at hearing that, hands shot up everywhere.

Volunteers, let us call them The Guides, jumped at the chance.

After all, who wouldn’t?

Who wouldn’t want a special role in this divinely inspired plan?

“We will help,” said The Guides.

“We will provide assistance as required and we will walk with you in the shadows and the valleys.”

Hearing this, the Explorers smiled and nodded.

Then they turned and paused and scratched their chins and after a few moments they said, “there is something else.”

“As you know, there is so no light down there in the dark and it is really hard to see what we are doing.”

“What is worse, when things start to get real crazy, we start to forget what we’re doing and get all turned around in the chaos.”

“So it would be great,” said the Explorers, “if some of you could hold a light for us.

And of course, hands shot up everywhere.

Volunteers, let us call them The Lightholders, jumped at the opportunity.

Seeing the enthusiasm, the Explorers smiled and thanked them.

Then, they turned and paused and scratched their chins and after a few moments they said, “there is one final thing.”

“As we keep saying, its awfully dark down there, and there are so many working on The Plan now, and the energy levels are at such fantastic levels, that it can easily get out of control.”

“We have to prevent that from happening,” said the Explorers, “until everything’s ready.

“What we need,” they said, “is someone to keep the lid on until its time.”

And of course, there was no shortage of volunteers despite the difficulty of this particular job.

And so, the Explorers, the Guides, the Lightholders, and the new Energy Keepers went out into the darkness to work.

Those who stayed behind watched and waited and for a long time they saw nothing move but this time, they didn’t get worried.

They knew everything was under control and so they waited, without a limit to their patience, until a shout sprang up.

“THERE!” someone screamed.

“THERE in the darkness.”

“Did you see that?”

“Did you see that?”

“SPARKS!!!!!”

Everybody looked and sure enough, they could see sparks in the darkness.

To no one’s surprise, these sparks quickly grew and soon, lightning, thunder, and fire crackled.

The light and the energy were intense.

The power expanded and grew and then, just when it seemed like the energy and fire had reached their ultimate, the energy started to hum and pulse, expanding and contracting like some giant cosmic egg.

The energy would expand outward, reaching a raging crescendo of intense flame.

Then it would back off from the peak.

Then, another cycle with a higher peak.

And then another cycle, a higher peak.

And then another.

And then another.

It was like a giant pulsating balloon of energy being puffed up and then deflated, puffed up and deflated, each time the balloon straining against some unseen barrier that kept it contained within its own boundaries.

The Lightwalkers watched the undulation in fascination.

Wide-eyed.

Awe filled.

Never growing tired of the spectacle.

But then…

After what seemed like an eternity (but was really only a few moments in the creative consideration of Spirit),

“It” happened.

Just as the crackling ball of fire was at its most intense ever, just as it seemed as if the heat from this “forge of creation” could not get any more intense, “It” happened.

The Lightwalkers saw it happen.

There…

In the heat of an already intense fire…

In the cracking of an engorged cellular balloon,

There….

A single brilliant explosion of light…

And then, another.

And then, another.

And then ten more,

And then a thousand more.

And then ten thousand.

And then a million.

And then six billion.

And then…

A crack on the surface….

Then, tendrils of fire racing over the skin of the darkness.

Then, an explosion.

Then, eyes widening.

Light. Love. Wonder.

Beauty. Glory. Power.

Happiness. Joy. Bliss.

Glorious.

No words.

Weeping.

And then, just as it seemed the Lightwalkers would be overcome by the glory, The Procession began.

Amongst cheering and laughter and celebration and glory, those who had entered into the darkness began to emerge.

The Explorers…

The Energy Keepers…

The Lightholders…

The Guides….

Even The Search Party…

Even though they had gone in only a moment before it happened.

They all started to return and they did so in chariots of magnificent, brilliant gold, like angels of fire in an undefeatable Army of Light.

And with them, with us, comes The Fire and the transformation and, in fulfillment of The Plan, a new Garden more glorious than anything we have ever imagined before.

Copyright 2007 Michael Sharp
All Rights Reserved

http://www.michaelsharp.org/