The Best Dancer I Have Met |
| Once, when I was quite a young and wandering man, still in the stage
of the Seeker, when walking in the mountains, I crossed over a green ridge
and came upon a huge, rolling and round valley. In the valley bottom
there were some thousands of people, all dressed nobly, and dancing in
concentric circles. This was the first time I had witnessed Sacred
Circle Dance. The people and their sacred movement was so beautiful,
my heart leapt alive to witness it and I said to myself: ÏI have finally
discovered it. This is what I must aspire to. This is the way
to worship God.Ó
Then I noticed circles groups of people on the rolling hills around the deep mountain valley. These people were also dancing, but they were also singing. And singing so beautifully! ÏAh!Ó I said to my self, ÏNo ... this - this is the way I must aspire to become. This is truly the best way to worship God. But then I heard sweet chorales and melodies and there, higher up, on the mountainsides, I saw circles of beings singing, swaying and playing such sacred music upon their instruments that it inspired the people below to dance the Sacred Dances. ÏAh, Ï I said to my self, Ïhow wonderful it is that I have found this for this is the way I must aspire to be. This is truly the best way to worship God. Ah, but then my heart stirred, for upon the mountain tops I saw the most wondrous of beings. I was sure they were angels. And the rivers of music and blessings which flowed from them as they glorified their Lord was the source and inspiration of all that went on the hillsides and in the valley below. ÏAh,Ó I said to my self, ÏI am lost, for this, which I can never hope to become as in my lifetime, must truly be the way to worship God and to serve the clans of all beings.Ó But then my eyes roamed into the heavens and there, floating above the mountains and the valley, there in a sweetness and purity so bright it seemed to nearly blinded my heart and eyes, there were beings of power and light whose essence was pure music, pure dance, pure service of all beings and pure devotion to the Lord. My soul was filled with hopelessness and hope all at the same moment for I knew that, even though I could never equal the ability of these archangels to serve the clans of life and to glorify God, still this was what I must aspire to become like to fulfill my highest purpose on earth. Then I heard a sound just below me. A whimper, in fact, is what I heard. And a sniffle. I looked down and there beside me on the dirt crouched a small girl. I believe she was about four years old. She had snot on her the cuff of her sleeve from wiping her nose. She was fairly smudged with dirt and grime. Her clothes were old. ill-fitting and tattered. And she was lame. She could not dance at all. Upon her face were soft tears which came from her heart as she witnessed the beauty of the souls dancing below. I knew then and have remembered ever after that here was the being I must aspire to be like, for there was no higher way to worship than this. There could never be a truer or more authentic dance.. |