Yesterday I went to a spiritual advisor, an intuitive. Her name is Phyllis. She lives on the fourth floor of a medium-rise apartment building on a trying-to-comeback stretch of Central Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis. She gave me two images to contemplate and strengthen me.
The first was an apple, a big, red, beautiful juicy, apple with just a few streaks of green flaring up from the bottom to know that it has the right tartness. An apple huh? Didn't the serpent glide around Adam's and then Eve's neck, hissing into their ears to take a bite and they would be just like God. Is this the same apple that Eve eventually couldn't resist and served up to Adam, sealing the deal between humans and the devil?
The apple that bobbed invisibly between Phyllis and me was the symbol of my wisdom, my happiness, my dharmic self she said. All I have to do is grasp it and take a bite. Tempting.
The second image I almost missed. Just as my thirty minutes ran out I said, "What else have you got for me? Anything?"
"Oh," she said reverently, then leaned far forward in her chair and lightly placed her face in her hands. When she came up her eyes were closed and she said, "I see two beautiful curtains and they part like this." She held the edges of the curtains between her forefinger and thumb and delicately pulled each side diagonally upward. Then she opened her eyes, glistening with tears and told me about a pool of water. It is still, very still, and filled with peace and calm.
"It's a real place, a place you know on earth. You've seen it in some lifetime. All you need to do is close your eyes and go there and you will find deep peace and calm." She was so moved by the image that she repeated the description, once again opening the little tableau curtain. She and I sat there for a sweet, delicate moment, both imagining that still, calm place.
"Oh for Pete's sake," you say. Apples and still pools? Both symbols are prominent in the mythology and religions of all peoples the world over. True. Don't you think there's a reason for that? I'm thinking I should take a bite and go for a swim.
The first was an apple, a big, red, beautiful juicy, apple with just a few streaks of green flaring up from the bottom to know that it has the right tartness. An apple huh? Didn't the serpent glide around Adam's and then Eve's neck, hissing into their ears to take a bite and they would be just like God. Is this the same apple that Eve eventually couldn't resist and served up to Adam, sealing the deal between humans and the devil?
The apple that bobbed invisibly between Phyllis and me was the symbol of my wisdom, my happiness, my dharmic self she said. All I have to do is grasp it and take a bite. Tempting.
The second image I almost missed. Just as my thirty minutes ran out I said, "What else have you got for me? Anything?"
"Oh," she said reverently, then leaned far forward in her chair and lightly placed her face in her hands. When she came up her eyes were closed and she said, "I see two beautiful curtains and they part like this." She held the edges of the curtains between her forefinger and thumb and delicately pulled each side diagonally upward. Then she opened her eyes, glistening with tears and told me about a pool of water. It is still, very still, and filled with peace and calm.
"It's a real place, a place you know on earth. You've seen it in some lifetime. All you need to do is close your eyes and go there and you will find deep peace and calm." She was so moved by the image that she repeated the description, once again opening the little tableau curtain. She and I sat there for a sweet, delicate moment, both imagining that still, calm place.
"Oh for Pete's sake," you say. Apples and still pools? Both symbols are prominent in the mythology and religions of all peoples the world over. True. Don't you think there's a reason for that? I'm thinking I should take a bite and go for a swim.
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