Javani Va Piri
Setting: A forest set on high, overlooking a metropolitan city from a cliff.
"Balance," a raspy voice whispered amid the pre-dawn silence of morning. As the new day's first light bathed the tree tops, they danced almost rhythmically with the wind's lead. "Balance is the way, and it is what you must learn before anything else."
A small figure slowly rose and stood tall behind another sitting infront of it. The figure was short and bald. Silhouettes danced rhythmically to the lead of the wind and in harmony with the sway of the trees. Their movements remained smooth, strong and fluid. Both figures wore loosely fitting cloth that seemed to wrap itself around their strong limbs and torsos, supporting each of their deliberate movements. With arms spread horizontally, revealing an impressive wingspan, the small figure remained rigid below the neck, while slowly moving his neck and head in a tranquil and circular motion. The seated silhouette did the same, while keeping its body in full Lotus position. Long hair hung from the seated figure's head, lighly falling upon a more slender frame. The circular motions were in perfect synchronicity.
"Balance," the voice began once again in an almost entranced manner. "Balance is what sustains existence. Hot to cold; hard to soft; water to fire; wind to earth. Balance is not merely learned, it is felt. Do you feel any balance at all?" Suddenly, the standing figure hurled itself upward over the seated body, landing infront of it and spinning around. At once, the seated body threw itself upward into a defensive stance, legs spread apart, with one fist raised infront of its face and an arm oustretched holding its open palm facing outward. A sharp jab was thrown by the smaller figure and the slender silhouette met this with a block by its forearm. Three more vicious jabs to the head were fired as the small figure deliberately stomped foward, propelling itself several feet with each coordinated thrust. The slender figure met each jab with careful, fluid forearm blocks as its feet slid backward and backward, kicking up the leaves and pine needles that had restfully lined the forest floor. With a snap of the hip, the smaller figure sent itself into a pivot, which seemed to conjure some sort of miniature whirlwind. In a blur of color, it was over as the small figure's leg remained outstretched, and its foot flatly pressed against the chest of the slender figure. Realizing defeat in combat, the slender figure's head was slowly lowered.
As the small figure's leg lowered itself to the ground, dawn had finally commenced.
"If I am to finish teaching you," the old man began, as the sun tore through the shadow veiling his face. He was old, but his stance and movements contained an unrivaled strength and vitality for his age. "There are things you must come to grasp, not only in a mental sense but in a physical one as well. You must at all times represent the balance, for the balance is the Way. If you lose the Way, you die young. It is the same for all things."
The slender figure was obviously much younger, but lacking absolutely none of the strength or vitality of its older victor. Long, damp, brown hair hung from the slender figure's head, as it remained bowed while being spoken to.
"The sun rises on this morning, and there is so much left undone." The older figure said this as he peered out detachedly over a cliff at the forest's edge to a large, industrial city below. Slowly walking towards it and the rising sun, he beckoned his slender student to follow. "The sun completes its job every day, does it not? And it does this because it knows nothing-- it just is. In this way too, we must come to know life. For only then will we maintain a sense of presence and of balance. Make no mistake, I speak not of living as a drone, only as one in harmony with one million other things. In this sense, can we iron flat the confusion and desires that this world has presented us with, letting the higher-self continue unimpeded on its course to shine outward and into the living world."
The older figure turned to face the slender figure, whose head remained bowed. His voice was no longer raspy, but firm and solid and passionate. He began, "It is through ACTION that we may inspire others. Children do not listen to the words of their parents, but they shall always emulate their ACTIONS, whether it be unconscious or not. Listen to me, young one. There is much work to be done, but no work can be seen to its fruition without first mastering what is left untamed inside." Reaching out with one hand, he affectionately stroked the slender figure's head. "I know that the world around you has left many things in you broken. I know that they confuse you at every chance they can, for a benefit no larger than their own, weak desires. But listen to what lies on the whispering wind, young one. What does your mother earth tell you? It is what is in HERE that you must always follow." He pressed his open palm against the slender figure's chest. "To open your heart, while opening your ears to hear and feel what it has to say, this is the beginning of knowing the Way. At all times, we are at a crossroads. Only WE can CHOOSE what course of action to take in response to what obstacles have been strewn along our path. Do not become those that hurt you, rather fight to free them from the path that they chose that made them the same. Now, look up young one. The world awaits you."
Slowly, the slender figure's head rose to glance out over the cliff at the modern world below. A world it had left behind so long ago. And for the first time in longer than the figure could remember, its eyes saw truth. Dark green eyes and porcelain skin peered out from behind thick brown hair, kissed by the sun in all its glory. The figure was a woman. She slowly knelt and so did the old man, at the cliff's edge.
"What a world," she said. "What a terrible, beautiful world."
Leave the cave.
"Balance," a raspy voice whispered amid the pre-dawn silence of morning. As the new day's first light bathed the tree tops, they danced almost rhythmically with the wind's lead. "Balance is the way, and it is what you must learn before anything else."
A small figure slowly rose and stood tall behind another sitting infront of it. The figure was short and bald. Silhouettes danced rhythmically to the lead of the wind and in harmony with the sway of the trees. Their movements remained smooth, strong and fluid. Both figures wore loosely fitting cloth that seemed to wrap itself around their strong limbs and torsos, supporting each of their deliberate movements. With arms spread horizontally, revealing an impressive wingspan, the small figure remained rigid below the neck, while slowly moving his neck and head in a tranquil and circular motion. The seated silhouette did the same, while keeping its body in full Lotus position. Long hair hung from the seated figure's head, lighly falling upon a more slender frame. The circular motions were in perfect synchronicity.
"Balance," the voice began once again in an almost entranced manner. "Balance is what sustains existence. Hot to cold; hard to soft; water to fire; wind to earth. Balance is not merely learned, it is felt. Do you feel any balance at all?" Suddenly, the standing figure hurled itself upward over the seated body, landing infront of it and spinning around. At once, the seated body threw itself upward into a defensive stance, legs spread apart, with one fist raised infront of its face and an arm oustretched holding its open palm facing outward. A sharp jab was thrown by the smaller figure and the slender silhouette met this with a block by its forearm. Three more vicious jabs to the head were fired as the small figure deliberately stomped foward, propelling itself several feet with each coordinated thrust. The slender figure met each jab with careful, fluid forearm blocks as its feet slid backward and backward, kicking up the leaves and pine needles that had restfully lined the forest floor. With a snap of the hip, the smaller figure sent itself into a pivot, which seemed to conjure some sort of miniature whirlwind. In a blur of color, it was over as the small figure's leg remained outstretched, and its foot flatly pressed against the chest of the slender figure. Realizing defeat in combat, the slender figure's head was slowly lowered.
As the small figure's leg lowered itself to the ground, dawn had finally commenced.
"If I am to finish teaching you," the old man began, as the sun tore through the shadow veiling his face. He was old, but his stance and movements contained an unrivaled strength and vitality for his age. "There are things you must come to grasp, not only in a mental sense but in a physical one as well. You must at all times represent the balance, for the balance is the Way. If you lose the Way, you die young. It is the same for all things."
The slender figure was obviously much younger, but lacking absolutely none of the strength or vitality of its older victor. Long, damp, brown hair hung from the slender figure's head, as it remained bowed while being spoken to.
"The sun rises on this morning, and there is so much left undone." The older figure said this as he peered out detachedly over a cliff at the forest's edge to a large, industrial city below. Slowly walking towards it and the rising sun, he beckoned his slender student to follow. "The sun completes its job every day, does it not? And it does this because it knows nothing-- it just is. In this way too, we must come to know life. For only then will we maintain a sense of presence and of balance. Make no mistake, I speak not of living as a drone, only as one in harmony with one million other things. In this sense, can we iron flat the confusion and desires that this world has presented us with, letting the higher-self continue unimpeded on its course to shine outward and into the living world."
The older figure turned to face the slender figure, whose head remained bowed. His voice was no longer raspy, but firm and solid and passionate. He began, "It is through ACTION that we may inspire others. Children do not listen to the words of their parents, but they shall always emulate their ACTIONS, whether it be unconscious or not. Listen to me, young one. There is much work to be done, but no work can be seen to its fruition without first mastering what is left untamed inside." Reaching out with one hand, he affectionately stroked the slender figure's head. "I know that the world around you has left many things in you broken. I know that they confuse you at every chance they can, for a benefit no larger than their own, weak desires. But listen to what lies on the whispering wind, young one. What does your mother earth tell you? It is what is in HERE that you must always follow." He pressed his open palm against the slender figure's chest. "To open your heart, while opening your ears to hear and feel what it has to say, this is the beginning of knowing the Way. At all times, we are at a crossroads. Only WE can CHOOSE what course of action to take in response to what obstacles have been strewn along our path. Do not become those that hurt you, rather fight to free them from the path that they chose that made them the same. Now, look up young one. The world awaits you."
Slowly, the slender figure's head rose to glance out over the cliff at the modern world below. A world it had left behind so long ago. And for the first time in longer than the figure could remember, its eyes saw truth. Dark green eyes and porcelain skin peered out from behind thick brown hair, kissed by the sun in all its glory. The figure was a woman. She slowly knelt and so did the old man, at the cliff's edge.
"What a world," she said. "What a terrible, beautiful world."
Leave the cave.
posted by Peter at 9:12 PM
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