The Wilderness of the Mind of Man Part 4

“I Am the Garden of Eternal Wisdom.”

Our seeker has not only found the way to the garden, but has gained the wisdom that allows him to be the master of the garden. The wisdom is that there is no easy, quick-fix way of obtaining truth and knowledge. You need to seek truth with a strong heart and seize knowledge with a strong hand, and when you do this you do not reach the garden: you become the garden of wisdom.

This installment of the Wilderness of the Mind of Man story brings to a conclusion my first attempt at giving you a glimpse of one aspect of ancient African history. This story has many lessons and one can draw wisdom from it. There is a lot more African history out there so go look it up. I’ll do my best to post what I find here so that we can look back at a rich heritage as we step forward into the future. Sankofa.

Transcript:

I rose up and plunged into the Pool and drank my fill of the sweet cold water; and strength returned to my body; and clean young flesh reclothed my withered limbs. Then I stood naked on the brink of the Pool, and stretched my arms towards the Sky and the Sun; and I gazed upon the trees and the flowers and the LAND like one new born to earth.

Then my eyes fell upon a vast Pillar that stood by the shores of the Pool, and gleamed like a Mountain of Silver in the light of the Morning Sun. Upon each face of the Pillar were characters graven in the stone; and I approached and scanned them, and these were the words which I read:

On the Face of the Pillar that fronts the Desert I read these words:

Without is the Wilderness of the Mind of Man.

On the Face that fronts the Fertile Land I read:

Here lies the Oasis of Knowledge.

On the Third Face that looks upon the Lake I read:

The Pool of the Waters of Truth.

I looked upon the Fourth Face of the Pillar, but my eyes failed to serve me, for that Face seemed to front all ways at once. I sought to read the words I knew were graven upon it, but could decipher none. I turned away and heard a Trumpet Voice from Earth and Water and Air speak and say:

The Kingdom is not yet won.

Then I knew that my toil was not ended, for though I was saved, yet my Brothers were lost. And I thought, I will return to the Wilderness, and lighten the lot of the Lost Ones with Water from this Pool which I have found.

I built a canal from the Pool across the Desert Land; and I dug deep wells in the cities to store the Waters of Truth. I named myself Guardian of the Waters, and called the thirsty to drink, and many came at my bidding and drank as I directed.

Then I marveled, for I saw that all who came departed unrefreshed, and I tasted the water of my own wells and found it warm and salty.

Then I planned to build a road from the cities to the Pool, to make the Way easy and smooth to the feet of my weary Brothers; but When I had made my Highway, all those that travelled by it returned again to the cities reviling me as a deceiver. At this I wondered greatly, and set forth by the Way I had fashioned; but I found that indeed there was no road, the Sands had swallowed it up.

And at last WISDOM flowered in my Heart, and I saw that Knowledge and Truth can never be reached by any easy and pleasant way: They can never be found by cunning device of the Mind of Man: TRUTH MUST BE REACHED THROUGH THE STRENGTH OF THE HEART; AND KNOWLEDGE GRASPED WITH THE POWER OF THE HAND.

I rose up and returned to the Oasis and the Pool; and the eyes of my True Being opened and looked upon the Pillar, on that face which fronts all ways at once: and these were the words I saw graven there:

I am the Garden of Eternal Wisdom.

I gazed upon the Beauty in the Golden LIGHT of WISDOM; and knew with love and rapture that I had found my kingdom: the Garden was the Home of Father, Sons, and Brothers, and I WAS NOW ITS LORD.

Consider my story, O Learners, for the story is your own. You are Sons of the Garden and dwellers in the Wilderness. You are heirs to the Garden, but not until you conquer the wilderness will you find the Lost Land and receive your heritage.

With your own courage you must brave the Desert. By your own Strength you must overcome its perils. Hunger and thirst must not daunt you. Danger and Pain and Weariness must not stay your steps. If you fall, you must rise unaided and press forward with no thought of rest. Because there is no rest nor help nor any relief from struggle in The Wilderness of the Mind of Man.

The Wilderness of the Mind of Man Part 3

Sometimes, when you start something, you ask yourself, why am I doing this? That’s what’s been happening with me and this blog. I don’t consider myself particularly Afrocentric, but I do consider myself natural. And naturally, my brown skin and tightly curled hair identify me to my ancestry. A significant part of my ancestry is African. A significant part of my history and culture lies in Africa. It does not make me any better or worse than anyone else. It is simply truth.

I am intrigued by history. It provides the context in which we live our lives today. The past, present, and future are inextricably intertwined in more ways than we can imagine. History tells the stories of our ancestors, not just blood ancestry, but national and cultural ancestry as well. Telling the stories of our past allows us to extract wisdom from those who have gone before us. The challenge was, as far as I knew for many years – before slavery, there was no history of my people and culture.

Eventually I found snippets and whispers of a history before slavery while attending a historically black university in the U.S.A. Floating around among these whispers was this text that I have been narrating on this blog: The Wilderness of the Mind of Man. It is deeply poetic and philosophical, imbued with wisdom.

It tells of a journey, out from a garden, a paradise much like Eden, in search of the understanding that would make the seeker master of himself and the garden. Along the way our wanderer encounters other wanderers who have either given up searching for paradise and are trying to make their living in the desert, search fruitlessly in the wrong places, or create their own imitations of the garden and use the guise of “authority” to mislead our wanderer.

In this third installment our wanderer encounters the most advanced of these authority figures. He also finds that what he has been searching for has come to him.

(Photo by Kelene Blake: Ogoni Mask of Nigeria)

Transcript:

Again my heart misgave me, and strength deserted my limbs; and I looked for some wise and powerful guide to aid my faltering steps. And I came to a House of Crystal shining with many jewels and begged the Man who stood by its door to help me upon my way. The man was robed in a gorgeous robe of many splendid colors; and he waved me on with a milk-white wand of the Sacred Tree, Authority: “My son, come within and rest,” he said, and took me by the hand. “I ask no service but that you should wear the garments that I shall give you.”

He clothed me in brilliant robes, and shaded my eyes with strange-hued crystals; then he led me gently forward and left me alone in a wondrous garden. The place was strange and lovely and filled with a changeful mystery: endless vistas of trees and flowers extended on every hand. Among the trees were numberless lakes shining in misty beauty; and I leaped towards one with joyful heart to slake my thirst in its waters.

Then I fell to earth, bruised and stunned; for a cold, hard barrier had risen before my feet, and stopped them in mid-jump: the glorious landscape was shattered; nothing appeared about me but a chaos of shifting colors and vast mocking forms. I arose and tore the robe from my body and cast the crystals in wrath from my eyes; and I saw that I stood in a narrow courtyard with walls all hung with mirrors. The lovely vistas of waving trees were nothing but tangled sickly weeds. The myriad shining lakes were but shallow stagnant pools.

Once again my Father’s VOICE spoke clearly in my ear: “Face the Desert with Strong Heart, my son,” it said, “Seize the Lost Kingdom with your Strong Hand, for that way and only that way will you gain Kingship.”

So I went forth into the Desert, and set my Heart to conquer it asking no longer aid from any man. I turned my face from the ways of men and my eyes from their foolish works. I traveled the Desert Sands alone until hunger had melted my flesh and thirst had dried up the springs of my life, and death walked close behind me, his hand outstretched to seize me. But his fingers failed to grasp me, though many times they touched me, for again and again, though I fainted and fell, yet again and again did I rise. Again and again in the dews of the night, in a trickle amid the burning sands, in the hollow heart of the desert flower, I found enough pure cold water to send me forward refreshed.

But I did not find that land, and that Pool which I sought, and at last my strength was spent. My garments had fallen into shreds, and my sandals had crumbled upon my feet. The night of the Desert was upon me. Darkness and Silence surrounded me. I tottered and fell to earth, thinking to myself, now I die!

For long I lay like one dead: then my hand outstretched touched soft and dewy grass. My nostrils were filled with the aroma of flowers, and my ears the pleasant murmur of waters. I opened my eyes and saw that I lay in a place of LIGHT and Beauty: jeweled lawn, fruit-hung trees extended on every side. Among the glades a deep, cool lake gleamed soft in the Gold of Sunrise; and the azure air above me thrilled with the notes of bright-winged birds.