Posts Tagged ‘archway’

In times of yore we are told from the ancient story tellers that above the doors to the great mystery schools of Old a sign hung above the archways into the courtyards beyond the portal. Upon that sign read the ancient words “Know thyself”. According to legend those that did not understand its mysteries were unable to enter within. By mysterious forces you were held outside the realm of mystery and magick because you were deemed unworthy.

You were held outside for simple reasons in their eyes; after all you were not as evolved as they were. Not as holy, not as smart.

In the beginning they wielded fire, and you huddled among the people who had gathered around that fire in order not to freeze to death. You were enthralled by not only the fire but also those who carried out the will of that flame. In the hands of those who wielded flame our collective tale was forged. The story was old even before we began to speak it aloud. The story was with us since the beginning, long long ago when we were still food. We were the hunted, the prey to all manners of nightmares, long before we were even men and women at all. There is a tiny miniscule piece of ourselves, a somewhat terrified little rodent deep deep within. It remembers those ancient serpents and beasties of long lost when… For prey knows evil, to not know it is to die.

In all that is and all that ever was Good and Evil are perspectives of those who share the story amongst themselves. Yes there are positives and negatives, but in the end of all things the story does not err from its course. No matter who tells the story, no matter where the story comes from it is always the same story, even if the story is never heard. It is about us. Where we have come from and where we are going, It has interpreted us as much as we have interpreted it in its various life forms. Whether that is hanging on a cross in your living room or sitting in your state of the art meditation room… it matters not the story is there.

No matter where you go the story is there waiting for you. It is all around you, it is in everything you do and everything you touch. It’s as much in the air we breathe as it is in the food we intake. The story shaped our very world around us, and we shaped the story into being that which we desired. Some say that the story created us; others say we created the story. I say the story is that first primordial dream… the first passion to go beyond. To be more than what we began as. In essence, it is a mobius strip… a unique partnership of symbiotic proportions. Neither is greater than the other, The story needs flesh in order to procreate itself onwards into perpetuity as much as the flesh needs the story in order to understand its own journey and share its own story procreating itself onward into perpetuity.

The story does not care how you create yourself within itself, it only cares that you experience it in the way that you desire to do so. Every thought or action creates another part of the story; we are all protagonists antagonists and scenery in the great tale that unfolds around us all. No one has choice in whether or not to participate for all actions and all thoughts lend their voice to the story. The story will continue even if you do not.

This is why the message above the door is such a mystery. To know thyself, implies that you know that you are in full knowledge of who you are and if that was the case you would have no real need of walking through the gateway ahead of you.

Instead we begin to realize upon closer inspection that a piece of the sign seems to be broken off. Tucked behind the bushes we find the missing section of the sign and it simply reads “get to”. When we look up at the old hermit who guards the entryway, he is looking away and whistling nonchalantly.

When placed together the sign now reads “Get to know thyself”

The first step is not a challenge but an invitation.