CHAPTER THREE
Crystal awoke the next morning to find the friends all snuggled even
closer together than usual. The early spring nights were still rather cool,
but she suspected that the closeness was due as much to scary stories as
the weather. In any case, she had to wiggle her way out of the mass of
fur that surrounded her. As she made her way out of the pile of friends,
she was careful not to wake the others. She liked having the early morning
all to herself. She did some tai chi movements and breathing exercises,
and then went for a leisurely walk along the river.
About a mile up the river, she found a perfect spot for her morning
meditation. She knelt on mother earth, and began to take long, slow, deep
breaths becoming keenly aware of the wonderful fragrances of the early
morning. She silenced her thoughts and listened. She could hear a beautiful
natural symphony; the river flowing over the rocks, early rising birds
singing their prayers of thanks for the new day, and the dance of the tree
branches with the gentle breeze.
Behind and beyond the smells and sounds, she could hear and feel a
deep peaceful silence. She began to feel the energies of the earth and
the air flow through her with each breath. She then became especially aware
of the river’s energy. She first realized her sisterhood with the river,
and then felt as though she and the river were one.
Although her eyes were closed, Crystal suddenly could see Wisdom’s
face smiling at her. It was the smile that he always gave when he saw that
she was beginning to understand something he was teaching her. This image
of Wisdom was so real that she opened her eyes to see if he were there.
What she saw was not Wisdom, but the late stages of sunrise. She was surprised
to see the sun so high. It seemed like she had only meditated for a few
minutes, but it must have been almost an hour.
Crystal bowed to mother earth, lifted her hands and face to father
sky, and gave thanks to the Great Spirit. She rose to her feet knowing
it was time to head back to camp but there was something else she wanted
to do first. She went to the edge of the river and cupped her hands in
the water. Lifting her water-filled hands skyward, she thanked the Great
Spirit for her sister, the river. Crystal then drank the water from her
hands, and thanked sister river.
The mile back to camp went quickly and effortlessly. As she walked
along the riverbank, Crystal felt as though she were flowing with the river.
She was soon sitting at the campfire sipping herbal tea with her friends.
She always liked staring at the fire, but it seemed especially nice this
morning. Beyond the fire, she could see the river. Beneath her, she could
feel the earth, and all around her she could feel the fresh morning air.
She felt as though she were sitting within two perfect circles; the circle
of friends; and the circle of earth, air, water, and fire. She knew intuitively
that the Great Spirit flowed through and connected the circles.
Suddenly, Crystal realized that Genevieve was speaking to her. The
others had finished sharing their dreams, and Gen was telling her it was
her turn. She tried, but she couldn’t remember any dreams, only her meditation.
She thought about sharing that, but decided she wouldn’t be able to explain
the feelings in words.
Finally, she just said, “I can’t remember any right now, maybe I will
later today.” Looking at the sun, she added, “We better get going now.
We have a full day ahead of us.”
Crystal didn’t realize just how full the day would be. Even with the
addition of Fenton’s great strength, moving the log was more work than
they had imagined. It was late afternoon when the seven exhausted friends
finally got the heavy log to the bank of the river. They all immediately
collapsed on the bank to rest.
Crystal was the first to crawl to the edge of the river. After a quick
“thank you” to the Great Spirit and the river, she began to drink, splash
water in her face, and pour cupped handfuls over her head. She then entered
the water, and being careful to stay out of the swift current, she dropped
completely under water. She came up dripping wet, and feeling greatly refreshed
by her sister’s renewing water.
The other six friends lay on the bank, their tired bodies feeling too
heavy to move, but their thirst urging them to join Crystal. Thirst eventually
won, and one by one, they made their way into the river.
Crystal floated on her back for a while, and watched her friends find
new life as they drank and bathed in the refreshing water. When they seemed
somewhat revived, she suggested that they get back to work and get the
bridge across the river. Her suggestion brought a chorus of moans and groans
from the others. She knew they had not completely recovered, or they would
have been playing and splashing each other, but she thought the hard part
was over. All they had left to do was shove the log across the river on
the upstream side of the rocks. She was certain that this would be easy
because sweet sister river would support more and more of the weight of
the log as they slid it into place.
With Crystal’s assurance that it would be quick and easy, the friends
went back to work, after a few minutes of grumbling. At first, it seemed
like everything would work just as Crystal had imagined. As more and more
of the log began to float, it was easier and easier to push. However, when
the leading end reached the current, it become impossible to keep the log
going straight across the river. The end in the water was forced rapidly
downstream, whipping the other end toward the water. The friends clung
tightly to the back end, and were barely able to stop it at the water’s
edge as the front crashed into the bank downstream.
With much effort, the friends were able to drag the log back to the
starting position to try again ...and again ...and again. The longer and
the harder they tried, the stronger the current seemed to be, and the more
tired and cranky they became. They were soon arguing and blaming each other
for all the problems they were having.
By the time the sun began to set, they were all wet, muddy, sore, and
angry. The wetness that felt so good when the sun was high, now added to
their discomfort as a cool evening breeze moved across their wet bodies.
The one thing they could agree on was that it was time to quit, and start
a campfire.
The tired friends hardly spoke a kind word to each other as they built
the fire and huddled around it. Everything that anyone did seemed to annoy
someone else. Only Crystal managed not to complain, and criticize everyone
else. Like the others, every little thing irritated her, but she knew it
was only because they were all tired and frustrated. Actually, in her case,
she knew it was more than that. She was very sad and hurt because it seemed
the river had turned against her. It had seemed so wonderful, and she had
loved it so much just this morning. How could it have been so mean this
afternoon?
Crystal had barely touched her supper when she realized that she needed
to get off to herself, or she would join in the arguing that was going
on all around her. She excused herself and walked deep into the woods.
The walk helped some, but her mind was still full of disturbing thoughts
about the day’s events. She knew that dwelling on negative things was harmful
and only brought more pain and trouble into one’s life. She knew her thoughts
were keeping her body tense, and that the tension in her body added to
the tension in her mind. She must break this vicious cycle. She must quiet
her mind, and relax her body.
She found a place to sit and began easing the tension in her body by
first tightening her muscles real tight, then releasing the tension completely.
She took long, slow, deep breaths, and focused her mind on the movement
of her breath. She knew that she could not quiet the thoughts by trying
to stop them from coming. She would let them come, but then let them go
just as quickly by returning her focus to her breathing.
A thought began to stick in her mind, so Crystal told herself, “Just
let it go. Let it flow on by. Let it flow by like..like..like a river.”
Normally, this would have been helpful, but in this case the thought
of a river made her want to cry, and she was choking back tears when a
voice from behind her said, “I would go ahead and cry. It’s good to get
the bad feeling out that way, then it will be easier to move into the good
feelings that your meditation will bring.”
The suggestion that she go ahead and cry was all it took. Crystal burst
into tears. The voice was right. After a few minutes of sobbing a sense
of relief swept over her. She could have gone back to her meditation, but
she began to wonder about the voice. Was it real? Had someone spoken to
her, or was it her imagination?
She turned around to see if there was anyone behind her. All she saw
was a large oak tree. She looked behind the tree, but no one was there.
Then the voice spoke again, “Feeling better, are you?”
This time she could tell that the voice was coming from high in the
tree. Her heart jumped with joy! “Of course,” she thought, “it’s Wisdom!
Who else always gives me such good advice.” Her eyes searched the high
limbs of the tree as she called out, “Wisdom, is that you? You are exactly
who I need to talk with”
The voice answered, “No, Wisdom is a shorter, feathery sort of fellow.
I am quite tall and rather barkish. Wisdom has sat in my branches many
times, and we’ve had many wonderful talks, but he’s not here now. No, there
is no owl. It’s just you and me, a raccoon and a tree, but while I’m not
exactly W.H.O., I would be happy to talk with you.”
Embarrassed that she had been looking past, around, and through what
she was looking for, Crystal stammered, “I’m sorry brother oak, I didn’t
realize..”
“You didn’t realize a tree could speak to you,” the oak interrupted.
“That’s all right, I was sort of surprised when you heard me. Most don’t,
you know. Most everyone just blocks out everything that they don’t believe
can happen, so they never find out that it can. It’s a pity too. There
are so many good things knocking on everyone’s closed doors, just waiting
to rush into their lives, if they will just open up, and ,oh my there I
go doing all the talking. I’m sorry little sister, what is it that you
want to talk about?”
The oak listened intently as Crystal told him about the events of the
day. Talking about it sort of made her feel better, but then again it sort
of made her feel bad too.
“My, you did have an interesting day,” the oak said when she had finished.
“Yes indeed, a day packed with wonderful moments and great opportunities.”
“Interesting day! Wonderful moments! Great opportunities!” Crystal
exclaimed, surprised at the tree’s lack of sympathy for her hardships.
“Weren’t you listening! It was a terrible day, packed with exasperating
moments, and great problems.”
“Oh yes, I was listening to every word. It was by far the best story
I’ve heard today,” the oak replied.
“Story!” Crystal said indignantly. “Don’t you understand? It’s not
a story! It’s what happened today!”
“Yes, I suppose it is, but it’s over now, so now it’s a story,” the
oak answered. “I dare say you’ll be telling it around a nice camp fire
someday, and enjoying the laughter of your listeners when you get to the
part where everyone is slipping and sliding and falling in the mud as the
current whips the log back against the bank.”
Crystal said, “Well, okay, so some of it might seem kind of funny someday,
maybe, but some of it will never be funny, and can’t you see it’s all a
big problem now?”
“A big problem, right now?” the oak said questioningly. “Oh goodness,
no, I can’t see a problem now. What I see now, is a chance to relax and
enjoy a beautiful starry night with a new friend. You could have stopped
struggling with the log and the river hours ago. Continuing the struggle
in your mind just keeps you from noticing all the good in the present moment.”
When the oak had not supported her in feeling sorry for her self, Crystal
had closed her mind and heart to his words, but the familiar term “present
moment” opened both. Living fully in the present moment was one of Wisdom’s
most basic teachings. How could she have forgotten? How could she have
let herself continue to dwell on events of the day instead of savoring
the wonder of talking to the majestic oak beneath a gorgeous sky?
“Of course, you’re right,” she said, now angry with herself. “I feel
really stupid.”
“Well, I really wouldn’t waste a moment doing that either,” the oak
replied.
“Doing what?” Crystal asked.
“Feeling stupid,” the oak said. “I’ve never found it to be a very good
use of my time. If I realize that I’ve been stupid, then the stupid part
is over. It’s sort of too late to feel stupid, you see, and to be upset
with myself about something that’s over, well that would be...well, I guess
you could say that would be stupid. My goodness, this really could become
quite complicated and very time consuming. Yes, indeed, you could find
yourself going in endless circles from stupid to stupid. Why, before long
it would be almost impossible to know which stupid you were feeling stupid
about.”
“Okay, okay, I get the point,” Crystal laughed, hugging the oak.
“Ah, hugging, now that’s a good way to use the moment,” the oak sighed.
“Right again,” Crystal giggled, hugging the oak even harder. “I know
that you were right in the other things you were saying too. I certainly
did have some wonderful moments today. I just somehow let the difficulties
cancel out those moments in my mind, and..”
“Difficulties?” the oak interrupted in a teasing voice.
“Okay, ‘great opportunities’,” Crystal said smiling broadly. “You see,
I even understand that part now that I think about it. I had lots of opportunities
to practice not getting upset when things seem to be going against me;
opportunities to prove to myself that things always go better when I stay
calm and peaceful. It’s like Wisdom teaches in Aikido class, when facing
an attacker, I should not see an opponent, but a teacher giving me an opportunity
to learn that the more relaxed and centered I am, the easier it is to handle
an attack, or any problem.”
Crystal continued, “Actually, I did okay for most of the day, but then
I really lost it when, when..”
“When sister river didn’t help you like you thought she would,” the
oak finished Crystal’s sentence as he saw a tear come to her eye.
“Didn’t help!” Crystal exclaimed “You mean worked against me!”
“Well, there you are, yet another wonderful opportunity,” the oak said
cheerfully.
“Okay, you got me this time, I don’t see it,” Crystal said. “Someone
was mean to me, so what is the big opportunity in that!”
“Why, the opportunity to continue to love someone who is acting like
an enemy, of course,” the oak replied. “A very advanced lesson to work
on, I must say, but a very important one. Just imagine how nice it will
be once everyone gets the hang of that one!”
“Actually, I do still love the river. I just wish she loved me back,”
Crystal said.
“Well, yes that is a nice bonus, if someone loves you back, but if
they aren’t ready to return love, they aren’t. The important thing is you
were able to see something in them that sparked the love that’s within
you. It’s loving that makes your spirit sing and puts that healthy little
tingle in every cell of your body” the oak replied.
“I guess, but isn’t being loved important too?” Crystal asked.
“Absolutely, positively, but hey, no problem there. As long as you
give love, you’ll get love. Whatever you put out into the world, good or
bad, comes back to you. It doesn’t always come right away, or from the
place where you sent it, or in the way you expected it, but it always comes,”
the oak said.
“So are you saying it doesn’t matter that the river doesn’t love me
back?” Crystal asked.
“Yes and no,” the oak replied.
“What do you mean yes and no, which is it?” Crystal protested.
“Both,” the oak answered. “Yes, I’m saying it doesn’t matter, and no,
I’m not saying the river doesn’t love you. You said that part. I’m just
going along with the way you see things tonight. Personally, I think you
may see things differently if you meditate by the river again in the morning
after a good night’s sleep.”
“Well, I don’t see how a night’s sleep will change anything, but now
that you mention it I am tired. I guess I had better be getting back to
camp,” Crystal responded.
The oak said, “Yes, I suppose it is getting rather late. It was such
a pleasure talking with you, I had hardly noticed, but now that I have,
I won’t ask for any more stories tonight. Just give me one more hug, if
you will, and then be off on your way to the land of sweet dreams. Please
do stop by again, though, when you return from your great adventure. I’m
sure you will have some more wonderful stories by then.”
Crystal gladly gave the tree another hug, and promised she would stop
and visit with him again on the return trip. As she did she couldn’t help
but be amused and amazed at how the oak seemed to view even the most difficult
aspects of her life as wonderful opportunities and interesting stories.
At the same time something deep within her, somehow, suspected he was right.
As she headed back to camp, she wasn’t sure that she had fully grasped
all the oak had said, but for some reason she felt much better for having
listened to him.
Despite her much improved mood, Crystal was saddened by what she saw
when she reached camp. She could tell that her friends had all gone to
bed still mad at each other. The night had become quite cool as the wind
brought cold air from the mountains down across the river. Normally, the
friends would be snuggled together on a night this cold, but their anger
had kept them apart, and they now lie shivering in their sleep. Crystal
added some wood to the fire, but she knew that was not the answer to the
real problem. What they needed was the warmth of being close to each other.
At first, Crystal thought that she would just lie down next to
the friend that looked the coldest, but as she tried to decide who that
was, she got a better idea. She snuggled against one after the other nudging
each one toward the others until they were all in a nice snug group. She
then found a comfortable place in the group, and drifted off to sleep with
a smile on her face as she felt the friends snuggling even closer together
in their sleep.
Crystal wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep when someone added
wood to the fire, but the bright light caused her to open her eyes. As
she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she was delighted to see that it was
Wisdom. She was always glad to see Wisdom, but especially so now. Talking
with the oak had made her feel better, but she still had the very practical
problem of getting the log across the river. She was sure Wisdom would
know what to do.
“Boy am I glad to see you!” she exclaimed as they hugged.
“It’s good see you too, but I really didn’t intend to wake you,” Wisdom
replied. “Actually, I just stopped by to make myself a cup of tea over
your fire.”
“I don’t think so,” Crystal said. “I’m sure the Great Spirit sent you
to help us with our problem.”
“Oh really!” the owl responded. “That’s funny, all Spirit said to me
was ‘Take a break, have some tea’, but since I’m here what’s the problem?”.
Wisdom started to offer Crystal a cup, but she was already too busy
explaining the problem to notice. When she had finished, she looked at
Wisdom peacefully sipping his tea, and said, “Well, what do you think?”
“Oh, I think you had a very interesting day,” Wisdom replied.
“So I’ve been told,” Crystal sneered. “An interesting day with many
wonderful opportunities.”
“Exactly, you took the words right out of my mouth,” Wisdom said.
“Actually, I took them right out of a tree’s mouth,” Crystal replied.
“The question is, what should I do?”
“Have some tea, it really hits the spot on a cool night like this.”
Accepting the tea, Crystal smiled and said, “Okay, tonight I have tea.
What do I do tomorrow to get the bridge in place? We’ve done everything
I can think of. I don’t know what more we can do.”
“Ah, you are so right,” Wisdom said, “so do less.”
“Excuse me, do less?” Crystal asked. “I’m sorry, Wis, but I don’t understand.”
“Okay, then let me put it this way, do Aikido. I know you understand
Aikido,” Wisdom replied as he rose to his feet taking the last sip of tea
from his cup.
“Well, I guess you mean I must remember to stay relaxed and centered,
while I do whatever needs to be done. I understand that, but while I’m
being relaxed and centered what is it that I should be doing?”
“Less, do less, do Aikido” the owl answered. “Have fun, you’ll be amazed
how easy it is. I’ll be looking forward to hearing all about it the next
time we meet, but now I must go.”
He then hugged Crystal and disappeared into the woods, calling back
to her. “By the way, the oak you spoke with is very wise. Remember the
things he said. The parts you didn’t understand, you will in time.”
Crystal called after him, “Okay, but wait I don’t understand what you
just told me!”
Just then Crystal felt a hand shaking her shoulder and heard Arnold’s
sleepy voice saying, “Crystal, wake up!”
When Arnold saw Crystal’s eyes open he said, “Sorry to wake you, but
you seemed to be having a bad dream.”
“A dream?” Crystal repeated. Could Wisdom’s visit have been a dream?
It still seemed so real, but she said, “Yes, I guess I was. Not really
a bad dream, but I guess I was dreaming.”
“Whatever, as long as you’re okay,” Arnold yawned, falling back to
sleep.
Crystal was now wide-awake trying to understand her dream. The only
thing she felt sure of was that she would understand everything better
if she meditated by the river. She rushed to the spot where she had meditated
the previous morning, and was greeted by another beautiful sunrise.
She knelt on the riverbank, bowed, and gave thanks to the Great Spirit.
She then began to take slow deep breaths, concentrating on her breathing,
and letting go of all thoughts. She soon became very aware of the sounds
of the river. As she went deeper into her meditation the sounds became
a voice.
“Good morning, little sister,” the river greeted her. “How do you see
me this morning? Am I the beautiful sister that you saw yesterday morning,
or the raging monster that you saw late yesterday afternoon?”
“You are the beautiful sister again,” Crystal answered “but I still
don’t understand why you changed.”
“Don’t you see, little sister, I didn’t change. The flow that swept
the end of your log downstream is the same flow that you find so beautiful
when you are not trying to shove a log through it. It is not me, but the
way you see me that changes.”
Crystal’s first impulse was to argue, but she realized that what river
was saying was true. She said “Yes, I do see that now. It’s just that...well,
when I sit peacefully on your bank I feel such love between us, and I thought
that love would cause you to help us, and ..a ..well..I felt hurt when
instead of helping you worked against us.”
“I am very pleased that you sense my love and feel love for me as you
meditate,” the river said. “Most beings seem unaware of my life, let alone
my love. Some see me only as a place to throw their waste, not caring about
me, or the beings that live in me or downstream. I just wish you could
have seen that my love continued, even as you and your friends thrust the
log into my current, and my current sent it crashing back into the bank.
Real love is not limited to peaceful pleasant moments.”
“Are you saying that you kept us from getting a bridge in place because
you love me?” Crystal asked. “Were you stopping us for our own good? Is
there some reason that we should not continue our journey?”
“No, not at all, in fact, your journey is more important than you realize,”
the river replied. “Your mistake was not in thinking I would help you,
but in your determination that I help in a certain way. You were blind
to the fact that your way was impossible for me, but that I was more than
ready to help in another way.”
“I guess I was pretty intent on trying to get things to work in a certain
way, but I’m ready to listen if you will tell me the other way,” Crystal
said.
“Actually, you know the other way, but I’ll see if I can help you remember
what you already know. Think back to a few days ago. A large bear struck
at you with all his might. What would have happened it you had tried to
resist that force with your own force.”
Crystal chuckled, “Well, for one thing I wouldn’t need a bridge because
he would have knocked me to your other bank.”
“Aha, but that didn’t happen because you knew not to fight the force
of his blow. Instead, you blended with that force and used it for your
own purposes. Am I right?” the river asked.“
”Absolutely,“ Crystal answered. That’s the way Aikido works, you see...”
Crystal stopped in mid sentence. Suddenly she understood her dream.
“Of course!” she exclaimed. “Do Aikido, do less, let your current work
for us, instead of against us.”
She thanked the river, thanked the Great Spirit, and headed back to
the campsite skipping with joy. As Crystal approached the camp she could
hear her friends and smell herbal tea. She was pleased to hear that their
voices were cheerful. Just as she had hoped, the night’s rest and snuggling
together had improved everyone’s mood.
Crystal’s own good mood added to the happiness at the camp. That is,
it did until after breakfast when she cheerfully suggested that they clean
up the campsite and get the bridge in place. The mere mention of the bridge
was enough to bring moans and groans from the friends as they remembered
yesterday’s struggle.
“It’s a new day! It will be easy today,” Crystal assured them.
“Yeah, right, easy.” Cassidy said sarcastically. “Why would it be different
today? Has your river friend changed her mind and decided to help, like
you said she would yesterday?”
“Not exactly,” Crystal smiled. “It’s more like I changed my mind, and
decided to let her help.”
“Say what?” Cassidy said.
“Never mind, you’ll see for yourself. Now let’s get the camp cleaned
up and get going.”
After the campsite was restored to the way they found it, the friends
reluctantly followed Crystal as she skipped to the river whistling a happy
tune. When they reached the river, their lack of enthusiasm changed to
confusion. Instead of pointing the log across the river, Crystal had them
lay it along side the river with one end next to the rocks and the other
end pointing upstream.
“But Crystal, we need a bridge across the river, not up and down the
river,” Gen protested.
Crystal chuckled, “Don’t worry, in just a few minutes it will be across
the river. Some of you come and help me push the upper end into the current,
and the rest of you hold the lower end against the rocks.”
“Oh, I get it, now!” Festus shouted. “This way the force of the current
will swing the end in the water across the river instead of back to this
side. Of course, yesterday we were working against the force of the current.
Today we will be working with it. That is just good Aikido!”
Crystal joined Festus in finishing his sentence as they both smiled
broadly at each other and ran for the upper end of the log.
“Aha, I get it, too!” Fenton exclaimed. “So that’s how I ended up on
the ground the other day.”
Fenton was quickly at Crystal and Festus’ side at the upper end of
the log. They didn’t have to push very far, before sister river took over,
and the log swung into place.
The seven friends all shouted hooray, hugged and congratulated each
other, and were soon dancing along the log just as they had in Crystal’s
vision. Safely on the other side of the river, six of the seven danced
on up the trail that lead to the mountains, but Crystal paused to thank
sister river and the Great Spirit.
Fenton noticed that Crystal had stopped and called to the others
to wait. When they realized what Crystal was doing, they all came back
and joined her in giving thanks, then all seven continued the dance....
Tales from the Woods of Wisdom, Book 1 copyright 2000 by Richard Tichenor
BeachHouse Books, (2000) ISBN 1-888725-37-0 5½
X 8½, 185 pp. $16.95
BeachHouse Books ~ PO Box 7151 ~ Chesterfield
MO 63006-7151 ~ (636) 394-4950
beachhousebooks.com
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