Once Upon A Time

September, 2002

Once upon a time, in a far away country, there lived a soul. She was a young, naïve and cheerful creature and everybody called her simply Little Soul. One day, she decided to build a house and so she did, all by herself. The house she built was so small that she couldn’t even invite anybody over, for there was just enough room for her alone. There was no entry, no corridors, no bedroom, not even walls there. Sun easily filled up the whole place with light and warmth. It was always quiet, safe and peaceful. It was like a tiny bright spot in the darkness of a night. For you see, this peaceful place was surrounded by a stormy sea of cruelty and unjustness, in the middle of a vast land of suffering and disappointment, a place where it always rained pain and sorrows. Her Majesty Loneliness and His Majesty Indifference ruled over the land they conquered with an army of mistrust and narrowness.

Though the house always seemed to be nearby, the road to it was long and painful to walk for in order to get there, one had to go through the pain and sorrows of life itself. And this was the road Little Soul walked so many times to be in her safe harbor in the midst of the stormy see. In her house, she laughed, smiled, behaved silly; she enjoyed a privilege which was not allowed her on the outside for she enjoyed simply being what she was. She loved it in the house so much that she didn’t want to leave it and go back to the world outside the non-existing walls. In fact, she felt she didn’t belong there any more. She learned to leave a body, which she was assigned to, in the dark and unfriendly place and stayed in the house for as longed as she wanted.

One day, when three faithful friends- misunderstanding, unjustness and cruelty- hurt her more than ever, she ran back to the house, all in tears, and locked the door behind her. She looked around, took off her coat and wiped off her tears. She poured herself a cup of tea. Its sweet taste of honey and cinnamon relaxed her body and soothed her pain. She sat down on a non-existing chair in a non-existing corner and leaned her head against a wall that wasn’t there. It felt so good, so warm, and so safe here. She thought, “Actually, there is no need to go back over there, to the place where everybody hurts me. I can stay here, I can live here and I will be just fine!” She liked this idea and smiled to herself. She relaxed, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. But a smiley sunbeam, jumping from one place to another, landed on her hand, ran to her cheek and tickled her nose. He told her, “Hey, listen to me, Little Soul. You cannot stay here for there are people in the world outside who love you dearly. If you stay here, you will hurt them and give a great pain to the ones who care for you. Their grief will destroy this place, which is here to calm and nourish but not to hurt. We will be glad if you stop by from time to time, but not too often for we will know that you are happy there, in the world outside. So, take your time and rest, but not make it too long, and then, get ready to go.”

And Little Soul thought of what the sunbeam told her. She remembered all the people she loved and who loved her; she remembered smiles and laughs; morning walks and bedtime reading. She sat there for a while and then got up, put her coat back on and went out.