The Center of It All

No matter whom the apprentice talked to, if she listened close enough and long enough, the words all went back to the same source, as if there were only one large thing speaking.

No matter how many eyes she looked deeply into, they all eventually revealed the same shimmer, as if there were only one large thing seeing.

No matter how many pains she soothed, the cries all sounded from the same human hurt, as if there were only one large thing feeling.

When she brought all of this to her teacher, they walked in silence through the woods to a clearing, where they sat on a fallen tree. The light was flooding through, covering everything.

The teacher placed a stone in her one hand and a small flower in her other hand, and said, “Feel the warmth from both stone and flower. See how both are covered differently with the same light. Now trace the light of each back to the sun.”