Everything comes full circle

Many people focus on the sensation of fear and are unsure what to make of this. You may not realize that how you think and feel creates the life you lead.  Everything comes full circle. Consider revelations triggered insidec you by this Zen tale:

A man was running from a tiger, and he came to a cliff. He began climbing down a vine, hoping that the tiger could not follow him down and he could thereby escape. As he was on his way down, however, he spied a second tiger waiting for him at the bottom of the cliff. As he hung there on the vine, wondering what to do, he saw a rat begin to chew through the top of the vine.

Then he spied a strawberry, just in arm's reach. He reached out, plucked the berry, and ate it. It was the most sweet and succulent berry he had ever tasted. He closed his eyes and tasted the berry with his whole being, and said aloud, "what a wonderful berry this is!"

Then the rat finished chewing through the vine and the man fell to the ground, breaking his leg. With his leg broken, he could not run. The tiger on the ground came up to him and batted him around as kittens do mice, giving him one painful cut after another. One swipe tore out his left eye. Eventually the tiger tired of playing with him, and bit a large chunk out of the man's stomach for its dinner.

The man went into shock, the pain of the wound coursing through his entire body. But he did not die: he hung on to life for five more days as the two tigers (who, it turned out, were mates) used him as a source of food. His mind was dulled by shock, but not enough to keep the fear and pain from filling his world like a bright light. After five days of agony unlike any that can be described, he finally died.

His corpse continued to serve as a food source for the tigers for several more days. After that, the rat that had chewed through the vine came to gnaw on what was left of his bones.

Comments

[Karin]

Wow, that is one intense tale! As I was reading I found myself expecting the man to use the strawberry as a means of escape - to distract the mouse from chewing the rope! So, I was surprised by his eating it in the midst of a life and death circumstance. However, his enjoyment of the strawberry brought me a sense of gratitude, for an experience of pleasure at the impending end of his life. More than fear, I felt myself move into the place of resolve, and wanting to find acceptance needed when enduring pain that is inevitable. To me, death in this situation would be a relief, a release, a blessing.
Very thought provoking, Liara - thank you!

[Davina]

Liara, I'm sitting here disappointed and I honestly don't know what to make of this. I was so sure there would be a happy ending. You know, the tigers left and the man was rescued after hanging on for a day or so, appreciating the memory of that sweet strawberry he had eaten. Well, everyone in this scenario was certainly well fed.

[Liara Covert]

Karin, every human being goes through stages of fear and release of energy and beliefs that no longer seve them. As you begin to grasp the implications of the circle of life, you begin to recognize that energy is constantly expanding or shirinking and changing form. In this way, death is simply a human perception. The timeless lessons you learn throughout experience make you what you are. To sense soul-level identity is to love beyond fear and permit the heart to focus on a present stage of awakening.

[Liara Covert]

Davina, love is always presenting itself to you in different forms and formless states. You always have the choice to view conditions as the best thing that could happen or something else. Feelings of joy begin and end inside you. When you do not choose to experience joy, you selectively forget that happiness is not a destination but an experience you have the power to create at every stage of a journey. The circle of life concept is known to remind people of the Lion King story. Everyone and everything is sustaining everyone and everything. Sustenance and sources of renewal are perceived in different ways, at different levels of awareness. Ultimately, any sense of an end is an illusion. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. You are energy and love. These things shift into and out of your conscious radar. Just because you do not sense soemthing temporarily does not mean it does not exist.

[Jodi at Joy Discovered]

Hi Liara, I read this earlier this evening and was in shock and awe. I wondered why you would share something so horrifying and couldn't even put two thoughts together to leave a comment. Then as I thought about it, I realized the distinction between a "real" terrifying event (being eaten alive slowly by tigers) and a perceived terrifying event (fears), which compared to the tiger story, are just silly, made-up musings. When I realized this, the story made me laugh at myself! Also, I thought that the man enjoying the strawberry was a terrific part of the story. I guess he knew his fate and determined he might as well make the most of that one moment. So, four hours later...thank you for sharing a great, meaningful story! :) Enjoy your day! Jodi

[Mike]

When incarnated as a human, avoid situations that involve running from healthy tigers. :) Awareness has many benefits that perhaps include sensing hunger in other animals and maybe tapping into the love that tigers have for one another. Love is universal.

[Liara Covert]

Jodi, your reflections remind visitors here that raising awareness is not instantaneous. How you view a situation changes as you expand capacity to perceive in different ways. What can initially seem very scary or disheartening can seem very different as you permit yourself o step back and sense another perspective. It is also very useful to recognize what your initial reactions are and why you respond as you to. To focus on what a person appears to be losing prevents you from sensing the lessons he is learning. One point worth noting is how the protagonist learns to be present, to savor strawberries where he is, to live to the fullest now. One is never consciously certain of physical time one has left. Why not make the most of it?

[Liara Covert]

Mike, soul-level revelations like those you inspire have been known to arise duing astral and lucid dream experiences. Human beings encounter different entities on different planes, based on levels of awareness and energy vibration. Dreamers often imagine themselves being chased by something they fear. This is not nececessarily in astral realms. To learn to approach and befriend the source of the fear, that is, to figure out the motive for its very existence, is a key step in transcending fear and associated illusion. To come full circle in your own mind is life transforming. A book called Little Black Sambo is a related story about a boy initially chased by tigers. In the story, he raises himself above them to a higher vantage point and watches them transform into butter as they go faster and faster around the tree. He chooses to collect the butter for his mom to make pancakes. He realizes the tigers were not what he initially assumed.

[soulMerlin]

Dear Liara ~ It almost hurts too much today. Sometimes its better to be numb I think.

henry

[soulMerlin]

How can I complain. I consumed the strawberry and the tigers in turn consume me. Perhaps I should have planted a strawberry seed from between my teeth before I fell.

If I had ignored the strawberry, maybe I would have continued climbing down, not broken my leg and therefore escaped. The two tigers would have not had their food - and the strawberry would have withered without being eaten. But the seed of the strawberry would have probably produced another - but what is the point of existence if we do not nourish?

henry

[Liara Covert]

henry, at any given moment, no place is better than where you are. All places offer equal opportunity for learning and soul expansion. Comparisons and hierarchies are artificial concepts born of ego that does not have a soulful agenda. Regret is an emotion created as an illusion to obstruct your view of perpetual paradise. Love energy flows freely.