A reading sample
Discovering love for the flow of things
Preamble
Like this little story it’s always happened:
A stone detaches itself from the mountain, mostly piece by piece, but sometimes also very suddenly. It rolls down. If there is a river below then it falls into the water at some point and is carried by the river towards the sea.
In order to move forward on its way, it must become somewhat round and remain.
The stone in this story is different than we humans imagine stones to be. It experiences its way consciously. After being able to free itself from the hillside with the help of a warm breath of air- it has been lying on it for a long time- the stone strives towards the sea. Even before it began to move, it wished to reach the sea at some point. On the way to its destination it is accompanied by the warm breeze of the sea. After she (the warm breeze) has saved it from the cold, she supports it on its long way. They are very close to each other and wish to never be alone again.
Because the fewer edges the stone has the better it can move, it puts value on its rounding. To protect its rounding it is aware of the dangers of waterfalls. On the way it experiences a lot of things. On its way it also makes a friendship with a cat and learns from it how to creep up.
“A stone is an inanimate thing that can’t think. No stone can make its way or express itself.” We draw these certainties from the rules which our mind gives to the world.
Our fantasy is far less subject to these rules. If we give it freedom then we can cross all boundaries in our imagination. And then it is possible without further ado that a stone has desires and the ability to influence its way and to communicate with other parts of our world.
We experience again and again that the world is different than we think. With every invention or scientific expansion of our conscious knowledge, we open the boundaries of our understanding a little more.
There is an unconscious knowledge in us that the intellect unfortunately pays little attention to. Fantasy also uses this knowledge. Usually these are pictures through which we share something from the unconscious realms of the world with ourselves in (day and night) dreams. Creative people use such experiences to create something new and to change the world of the mind. It is new only for their conscious knowledge. Maybe all people knew about it before – but only unconsciously.
Our imagination offers our consciousness bridges into areas of knowledge that we cannot open up otherwise.
The following story is a fantasy that encourages us to playfully cross the narrow boundaries of conscious knowledge. The changes in nature can be seen as the result of a loving togetherness – at least in the imagination that is free to detach itself from realities.
…
From above on the edge, the stone on the quiet side of the river has seen the clear lake it wants to head for to do some work for its roundness. Now it knows the direction in which it wants to move. With the melt water from the mountains the dam is already flooded. Only a little more pressure is needed to allow the stone to drift comfortably into the lake.
It waits until it feels that the pressure is strong enough. Then it lets itself roll into the stream and flows with a wave of water over the dam.
The reception
Just behind the dam it sinks with its weight into a pit in which it remains lying for the time being. The soft sand picks it up and the stone looks forward to the coming time in the calm water. The lake is so well located that it can warm up in the sun and offers an ideal environment for a nice time with the breeze.
On its arrival, the stone is observed by a large old carp, well camouflaged behind a water plant, almost completely buried in the sand. The carp has already seen several stones arrive and he is always fascinated by how relaxed they can get to rest there. He hasn’t told anyone yet, because he knows that it is impossible to believe him, but when they arrive, they smile! The stones relax and smile. Since they have no face, this reaction of relaxation is not only to be seen where the face would be if they had one. The smile covers the whole surface.
The smile of a newcomer is one of the highlights of his carp life in the bay next to the waterfall. He is happy every time he sees it. That’s why he lies opposite the dam whenever he has time.
He hopes to find out at some point how he can sink as easily as only the stones can. Many carps try that. That’s why they often lie on the bottom of the lakes. They try to release as much tension as possible in order to sink to the bottom like a stone. But no one has really succeeded yet.
He particularly likes the new one. It’ s nice and bright and looks very satisfied. He decides to watch it and take care of it.
Now that it is here, the stone is looking forward to staying for a while. The peace and warmth in the soft sand do it good. It still moves a little to the side so that about a third of it is exposed to the sun, so that the breeze can cover it whenever it wants. Then it enjoys the moment.
And that one afterwards, too.
And finally all the others.
Most of the time it sleeps or dozes off.
The water wraps it up, the light streams pet it and it gets slowly rounded. The fine sand that the streams move past it looks like mild emery paper. From time to time the breeze turns it so that it is good for all its sides.
While it is lying there and letting the good things happen, it can remember many beautiful experiences and allow important and seemingly unimportant things to arrange themselves meaningfully in it. Because actually everything is important – somehow. It can rethink its plans for the future thoroughly and concentrate on the really essentials. In between, when it needs a little change, it observes the waterfall and the things that are brought from there with the water.
And again and again it thinks how it can reach its two most important goals. It wants to get into the sea and yet not lose the connection to the breeze. But how should that work? She (the breeze) told it that the sea was so deep that it was not possible for her to reach its bottom. During the winter, when she could not be with it, she was there for long weeks and observed it again and again. The sea is so big that most of the stones never surface again once they have sunk.
When it thinks of sinking forever and never feeling the soft warmth of the breeze again, it gets all hard and cold inside it. That’s why it likes to push these thoughts aside. But they don’t really let themselves be pushed away for long.
Now that it can rest, it notices that it is tired. Too often it has neglected its surface. When it was tired and actually wanted to sleep in order to recover, then it too often still wanted to cover a distance. That was especially so in the cold times. It wanted to leave the winter behind itself, in order to come closer to the warmth, so that the breeze could come again to it. It was not uncommon for it to be inattentive and to become cramped and cracked, which it could have avoided if it had only travelled on after a break.
Earlier – much earlier – it had even more goals it wanted to achieve. It should be two or three seas and a few waterfalls from which it had already heard. In the meantime it has become more modest and orients itself more at its feeling, which tells it, which is good for it. And it also knows that the less round it is, the slower and more difficult it progresses. Now it wants to be moving and enjoy a lot of time with the breeze.
It plans to stay until it has really recovered.
The process of rounding takes its course. The water has warmed up in the sun and flatters it. It absorbs the warmth and passes it on to its inside. The warmth opens it up to the changes that will do it good.
Very slowly it becomes less and less edgy – also inside itself. Stones and water work together to smoothly flatten the strongest edges.
Because it is a soft process, which at the same time changes hard stone, this process proceeds very slowly. If it went too fast, the stone would lose too much of its substance and would not be smoothed.
And the breeze also helps it to do this. She tirelessly turns it back and forth. Her touch and the barely perceptible water pressure move it very slowly inside the lake. In some places even the carp helps. If he has the impression that it needs more sanding or filling, he pushes it back with his soft mouth until he is satisfied with the result.
The more the stone moves away from the entrance of the lake, the lower the water pressure becomes and the smaller are the stones that roll over it and smooth its edges. In this way, the work becomes softer and smoother that it is rounded off.
It has plenty of time and enjoys the subtle changes. It remembers beautiful experiences from its past.
Translated (from German) by Niki Nazemi
The source: Daniel Wilk: Aus dem Leben eines Steins. Die Liebe für den Lauf der Dinge entdecken. Carl-Auer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2014, ISBN 978-3-8497-0037-9(c) Carl-Auer Verlag