Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Field of Mines

I dreamed that it was morning and before a very large golden field stood two. The One said to the Other, "Look at this very beautiful field, will you join me in exploring it?". The Other saw the serenity of the field and so agreed to go. Hand in hand the One and the Other stepped in and began walking through the field.

The One and the Other enjoyed their walk through the golden field very much and kept wandering through it until the Other stepped on something hard and in a short moment what had been a blissful time exploded into a burst of pain and anguish. The Other had set of a mine. However the two were determined not to allow this setback to stop them and so they went on, but this time a bit slower and with a lot more caution.

They went on with their journey and they learned to watch out for the mines, but some of them were quite well hidden and so they would still run into them each one causing a great amount of hurt. So the two started to tread cautiously suspicious of every step they took, but no matter how careful they were, they still ran into those hurtful mines. They were now so wary of pain that they began to advance slower and slower till they were almost at a stop.

Once the One spotted a mine before they could step on it and upon close examination the One was shocked to discover that the mine was made by his own hands and so he shamefully hid it away and said nothing to the Other. Later on other mines were found that bore the signature of the Other and this caused the One to be suspicious of the Other. Both could not believe how each was responsible for the many pains that the two had been experiencing.

Still they resolved not to stop but to push on further. With each new step they began to notice the pattern with which the mines were appearing. They seemed to be concentrated mostly on the outer fringes of the field and the closer they got to the middle of the field the sparser the number of mines became; until they could see that right in the center of the field was a straight path that was completely free of those hurtful things. It was as if someone had already walked the same path and had cleared the way for anyone who would follow after.

And so both the One and the Other did their best to follow this cleared pathway, but every once in a while when something interesting appeared that was further from the path, curiosity would cause them to wander and run into a mine again. As soon as a hurt came, they would hastily scamper back to the center path where sure safety was to be found. And so they continued on not always seeing what was ahead for the grass was taller in many parts of the field, but always with the assurance that if they stayed their course, they would be able to avoid being hurt by the mines.

1 comment:

The White Rabbit said...

A lovely allegory...