A seeker of Truth and wisdom found himself stuck in the middle of a creaky and abandoned bridge that spanned a raging river. The water was wide and the seeker was attempting to traverse to the other side.
His feet got stuck in a gaping hole unseen by his reverie walk, right in the center of the bridge. He could see on the side he came from the glittering mad-capped frenetic secular world. On the other he observed the simple woods where myriad shades of light shined through the stately trees.
He tried desperately to extricate himself. Yet the more he strenuously exerted, the deeper he sank into the opening. There was no one around, the hot sun was waning over the western skies. He was parched and losing feeling in his feet. Weariness started overpowering him, and even his chattering mind ceased its incessant activity.
Just then an apparition appeared, as a beautiful woman with a seductive look, offered her hand and demanded that he hold on with a tight grip. “I will lift you from your bondage and return you to the shining side where they party and sleep all the days and nights.”
The seeker had succumbed to this many times before as many lifetimes passed through his inner vision. “Thank you but I’d rather die right here than the death I’m bound to over there” rejoined the enervated man withdrawing his hand with every fiber of remaining strength.
She disappeared in a sudden breeze and death was approaching as he surrendered to the moment. An old soft familiar melody entered his inner right ear. It was sublime as a hushed voice sweetly sung “The water is wide and I can’t cross over.” He was comforted by that poignant folk tune and then he faintly heard” Subsume yourself in this melody and you will cross over. You as I cannot but thou can.” Mentally it made no sense but the seeker’s mind had already shut down. He awoke in the middle of the woods by a calm and pristine lake.
His strength restored, he went back to the river to see the bridge that almost consumed him. To his amazement he did not see any bridge at all; just a calm river meandering its way into a vast ocean.
