Seventh Insight

"As he uttered the last few words, the little boy approached the dragon’s eyes and placed the bowl in front of her."

“For years you’ve burned our crops and we’ve had hardly enough food. Life has been very hard for us. Then you burnt our homes and all our possessions. We were angry and desperate. You were destroying us, so we thought we ought to destroy you.” He paused, then uttered very quietly, “Sorry,” and fell silent.

The lights went out once more and in the darkness there was a whisper of the saddest sigh as though the mountain was weeping. The people felt a strong breeze pulsing around them; their bodies began to heave with the rhythm of the breeze, and their tears flowed. The cavern lit up again, dimly this time, the two lights wavering before them.

“We are truly sorry if we’ve upset you,” it was the boy speaking again. “We forgive you for burning everything down, we want to be friends now and live in peace with you,” he paused. Then, “We’ve brought some presents. Here,” and he held out his precious speaking bowl. “this is our is our speaking bowl; I rescued it when our house burnt down and we use it whenever we need to discuss something. It’s very special but I’d like you to have it now. I want to give it to you as a peace offering.” As he uttered the last few words, the little boy approached the dragon’s eyes and placed the bowl in front of her. As he did so he looked up at the soft glowing lights and felt the tenderness of a mother’s love flowing through him like warm wax.

“Is it my turn to speak now?” a gentle, melodious voice sounded. The child nodded. The dragon stroked the rough wooden bowl in front of her. “Thank you,” she said, “it’s a lovely bowl. I shall treasure it. Look,” she continued, and drew out from beneath her a golden bowl encrusted with jewels. It gleamed and glittered in the dim light. “This is for you, a new speaking bowl, please accept this as my peace offering to you all.”

The boy took it up. He had never seen such a beautiful object in his life, and he turned it round and round in his hands, admiring its exquisite craftsmanship. “Thank you,” he said, “we shall all treasure this.” Then he
announced, “We’ve all brought you peace offerings, we thought you might be hungry,” and he gestured to all his friends to come forward.

One by one, heads bowed, they came before the dragon and laid their offerings at her feet. Finally, one child, who was just about to place her offering, stopped and said to the dragon, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know why. What did we do wrong? Why were you so cross with us?” The dragon’s eyes glowed tenderly and her warm voice resonated soothingly as she explained.

“Long ago we were all friends, living and working happily together. Sadly, as time passed, people began to ignore me until eventually they forgot about me completely. In order to do my work I need your love and attention. You see, my job is to bring the light of the world into the heart of the earth and to guard that light and keep it glowing. I fly up to the sun and bring back light and place it in the earth’s heart. I breathe on the heart, so that the light gradually disperses.

Slowly it makes its way out through the surface of the earth and returns to the sun, encouraging all the plants to grow as it does so. Yet it is not just light from the sun that the earth needs.“The earth also needs the light of her fruits, but, most important of all, she needs the light of her children’s hearts.” Flamauria paused as her mind turned to a time in the distant past.“There was a time when people would bring these fruits to me with love and we would celebrate together. Therefore the earth’s heart was rich with light, and she was able to bring forth abundant crops year after year.

Sadly, over time people gradually forgot how the crops grew and began to ignore me and just took from the earth without ever giving anything back. Thus year by year the crops grew weaker and weaker and the land turned to desert.

“Eventually there was not enough food to go round, and people began to fight amongst themselves. Meanwhile the earth is dying. She needs the light desperately, so I had to go out and devour the crops myself. The crops I devoured were mean and bitter tasting because they were cultivated without love and because I had to take them by force. Eventually there was nothing left to take, so I burned your homes, hoping that you would take notice of me and respond.” Flamauria’s voice faltered as she continued with her painful story.

“It worked, you did take notice of me and you did respond; you came and attacked me. You did not hurt my body, but you wounded my heart. It grieved me deeply that we were now fighting each other, when we had once been loving towards one another.“It was Solera who gave me hope. He knows the secret of how to live in harmony, and he told me that some of you had tasted the sweet fruits of co-creation. He also said that the water of the lake had cleansed you of your old ways, and that you would soon wake up and take notice of me. Good Solera, how right he was, here you are at last and you have brought me what I need, with love. Thank you.” Flamauria glowed with pleasure and her body lit up the cavern and her audience basked in the warmth of her presence.