BOOK OF SAGES
A path is a way especially designed for
a particular use … it is also a course of conduct.
When
in doubt, act. Action frequently leads to decision.
Beware
the honeyed tongue of rulers too long in power. Listen to the words behind
words and choose then your own path. Beware, however, of sedition, hold your tongue.
Fortitude
is the most terrible of all virtues.
Tell
the truth, traveller, or you create issues hard to overcome later.
Words
of power should never be underestimated.
What
is fair? Answer that, and you solve the riddle of universes.
News of
arrival, when wished for and hoped for, spreads swiftly and requires no magic.
A young
soul cannot distinguish between a lesson and an insult.
The most
beautiful is also the most intangible. Often true beauty resides only in
memory.
Even
in utter darkness is the path present.
Freedom is more a state of mind than a condition of
circumstances. Of course there are factors that need be in place to ensure the
process, whether physical or emotional, and yet freedom is of and for the soul
first before all else. In darkness and confinement a soul can yet experience
freedom, although few will know ... and few will agree. There is another type
of freedom and it is flight. Free of gravity a soul is also free of cares.
Even after
all has changed, time has a way of bringing forth the familiar. One day you
look around you and remark, “Nothing has changed.”
Trust your
mind to reveal the truth. See it, feel it.
Every desert
is special, for in its lifelessness it contains the secrets to life.
The
wise tell us home is where one’s heart is. This, I believe, is to still the
longing when one is in an unfamiliar port. Home is home, is it not? The stone,
the earth, the sky above, the rustling tree of our first steps, of growing up
... of leaving. If one is blessed, one may return ... if only for a moment.
The
surprise of fresh surroundings engenders insight.
Every
plan feels like the best strategy, but every plan has an alternative and each
can twist out of control. The best-laid plans refer to those sketched in brief,
ever allowing for the unforeseen.
Do not attempt to inhabit another’s
skin.
When a team functions in tandem, it is
an effective tool.
Nothing exists in a vacuum. What this
statement means has little to do with the likelihood of life in an airless
space. It means all is connected, that function results from mutual reliance.
One cannot wander old paths without
finding them altered.
Subterfuge, whether a small lie or a
large manipulation, eventually turns back on the wielder.
What is true justice? If
sentience is subjective, how does one measure true justice?
Every journey is different.
Choose wisely before you embark.
Profess a willingness to
change … and discover it is not as easy as belief engenders.
Thought is matter. A void,
therefore, cannot ever be empty.
Magic in the
most unlikely places has the power to astonish.
We are made for
opposites. We are part of the multiverse, after all, and it cannot function
without action and reaction.
Listen to the
old and wise. They have experience youth cannot fathom.
The best
advice anyone is able to share, when advice is sincere and may be regarded as
less than criticism, is to be yourself always. On the other hand, to follow it,
you have to know yourself.
Memory is
subjective, personal, misleading, encompassing, and is the stuff of life. We
are because we think, yes, but we are also the result of the years, events and
experiences residing in memory. Without it we are born anew, and it is hard to
start building a personality again … can one ever be the same?
Friendship
is first in the call to duty. Aiding a friend is aiding yourself.
Catharsis
is an intangible gift, and yet is a gift, a healing of the soul.
Same sex partners are
as ancient as time. Many frown upon this and others are not affected. The truth
is no one has the right to judge and there is no wrong where love is supreme.
And now the codicil, reader. High rank sorcery is dangerous to wielder and
bystander, and should thus ever be contained. But who are we to judge? Step
forward, however, when two powers seek to meld, whatever the ideal or purpose,
for then the danger is manifold. Unfortunately, for manipulators of the realms
of sorcery, this means keeping same sex partners apart.
The past is
with us always. We are the product of experience.
Oblivion takes many
forms, although one can say only a minority attains it consciously. Sleep is a
form of oblivion, but is regarded as imperfect, for the unconscious is more
active during that period. When drugs are used, the user claims oblivion, and
yet this cannot be. Too much changes within for that to be true. Death is not
oblivion, for new journeys begin. What, then, are the forms of oblivion?
Coma can mimic
oblivion, but this is rare. Degeneration of brain tissue heralds oblivion, a
physical enforcing. Forgetting is oblivion.
Not knowing
something is oblivion. Unawareness of truth is also regarded as oblivion.
Freedom must be paid
for, whether by blood or terrible understanding. Freedom, true freedom, cannot
be borne by weaklings.
How do you grapple
with slippery nuances and then hold onto a facet long enough to affect the
change required to alter a situation or perception? Faith, reader, and
self-belief.
Delirium isn’t
oblivion, but it can feel that way to the healthy mind.
To forget is sometimes the easier
option. This is akin to stating ‘ignorance is bliss’.
Forgetting is also difficult to
overcome. A state not only physical, but emotional, and it is emotion that
creates the greatest obstacle.
A dual nature is of no use when evil is
paramount. Duality, then, sickens the vessel.
Everything is
relative, given sufficient distance, whether of actual miles or the march of
time. Hark to that, friend, because something hurtful this day may become
something else along your road.
Listen with ears and heart and then
take the time to dissect the new information. Do this whether confronted by a
family secret, a friend’s confidence, a stranger’s unwitting slip. Do this
especially thoroughly when you are surrounded by your enemies. All has meaning;
your task is to find the straight in the twist. Only then might you act in a
manner to solve an issue.
If you would be counted, by others, by
history, by yourself, place your mark where it is ever visible.
Abandonment teaches hard
lessons.
Connections between us are
imperative for sentience to function. Not all connections are benign, however.
Heat is able to arise from
a mere thought. The chill of fear comes from a heart beating out of rhythm.
Memories are never what you
expect when you examine them dispassionately.
Grief creates currents hard
to swim from.
Love is a choice, as choice is part of love.
A simple touch is able to alter time.
Turn your back on the past if you wish for a joyful future.
Ignorance is bliss, some preach, and prefer a life of stasis
to maintain such a state of ‘bliss’.
Knowledge is bliss also, the informed reveal, and seek to know
ever more, thereby discovering chaos.
As in all, balance is key.
Tread lightly, seeker.
Wake up, lazybones.
No one needs more gods. You
are, each of you, a god.
Love is a precious gift.
Thought is matter. A void,
therefore, cannot ever be empty.
New paths are determined by new choices.
Rocks tend to keep secrets.
Turn the tables on others at your peril.
The winds of change are not always benevolent, but they
should be welcomed, no matter the state, for it is in change that we discover renewal
and purpose.
When you read your future, know that there will be both
great moments … and heartache.
Available in print only: My Wishing Well
