The Parable of the Bird Pt. 1: The Mountain

One day, children were born. It was much like any other day, and they were much like any other children; full of wonder, adventure and a longing for glory. From the time they became their own beings, they began creating castles, forts and battles in their minds, constructing walls and defeating imaginary enemies. Their friends joined in the elaborate plays, choosing to be the cops or the robbers, the cowboys or the Indians, the good guys or the bad guys. Good or evil.

As they grew, they built bigger walls. Some being those of their own houses. Some the streets that divided their town. Some the names on sports jerseys. Some the grades on tests. People told them of the “Others”, and the “Them” that they must sacrifice to help. And they learned of the real enemies, those they must keep behind Their walls, and outside of their own.

Soon they started to mark off hills, wishing to stand above the hundreds and thousands of other fences and walls around them. Then looking around one day, they realized there were bigger houses on bigger hills, and they set out to find higher ground and greater glory. Soon their walls grew and grew until they touched Other walls. Other fences threatened to converge onto their own. Some of the Others took up arms to protect their walls from Them. Some of Them banded together to stake the largest claim they could, and basked in the vast expanse of what was theirs. Were Their walls not the grandest, the strongest and the largest?

Some people sought a higher ground, and began to ascend mountains. From even a few hundred feet up, they began to see beyond the walls they once defended and marveled at the truth they had found. Some descended the mountain and tried to tell the Others. Some saw no greater call than to continue climbing the mountain and never look back, never let their eyes falter from the road ahead of them.

From the peak of the mountain, they looked over the lands below them and rejoiced with each other that they had seen the truth. Some spoke proudly of having found their place at the top of the mountain, and others felt a deep gratefulness for being led to the peak. Some returned down the mountain to share what they found. Others couldn’t be troubled to do anything more than talk about the mountain, about its soil, its wonder and how it was most certainly the highest mountain they had ever seen. They looked across the horizon onto other mountains, and felt genuine sorrow for those who were on lesser mountains, hoping that They would someday find their way onto The Mountain. The one they had been led to climb.

Before long, people came from other mountains, and told tales of how their mountain was surely the highest and the biggest, and how they hoped to share that great news with everyone on the lesser mountains. Some were simply ignored. Some were opposed, debated using most logical and reasonable arguments their mountain had to offer. Others were violently rejected, as no one dared speak lesser of The Mountain.

To be continued…