Chapter Two
The Old Fox crawled into his hiding place and went to sleep.
He thought he would dream again, but he did not.
2 He awoke to someone calling his name, and looked outside his
shelter to see that the sun was already setting, and a young man
awaited him. "Come, brother," he said, "we are
many a footfall from where we must be at sunrise, and along our
way you must have food and drink."
3 "Where you lead," The Old Fox answered, "I will
follow," and they started off.
4 His companion seemed strangely silent, as they journeyed on,
and The Old Fox occupied himself with studying the youth. He was
strangely familiar. As he watched the man walk, he noticed his
fotsteps lifted no dust, and he turned and looked back and saw
only his own footprints. "You seem so real," he said,
"I forgot for a moment that you are a Spirit."
5 "We are all Spirits," the young man answered,
"even you are a Spirit."
6 They journeyed on, and The Old Fox pondered this thought.
"They told me I was not dead," he said, "and I
leave tracks. How can I be a Spirit?"
7 "You ARE a Spirit," the young man answered, "in
a body. I am a Spirit outside of a body. But we are both Spirits.
Someday I will have a new body, but I will still be a Spirit.
Someday you will leave THAT body, but you will still be a
Spirit."
8 "You play games with me!" The Old Fox sighed.
"You talk in riddles."
9 "No," the young man answered, "I tell you
true."
10 "Then answer my question without riddles," The Old
Fox demanded, "are we Spirits with a body, or are we bodies
with a Spirit?"
11 The young man laughed. "Why are such foolish
questions," he asked, "always on the minds of the
wisest of men? Surely, good brother, you understand of all men,
that in the material world you are both. You are a Spirit that
has a body, and a body that has a Spirit! Without either, the
other cannot exist!
12 I can only visit this world for very short times, but you can
live in it for years and years because you are encased in a body
that feeds your Spirit, and protects it.
13 By the time the sun is an hour high, I must be back to the
place I belong, or I would perish. But you can enjoy a picnic on
a hot, summer day. Your body and your Spirit are one, from the
moment you are born, to the moment you die."
14 They had come to a small secluded valley, and The Old Fox saw
something that made his energies renew. "Tabr!" he
cried. Rushing forward he found a mature plant and quickly dug up
its roots. Peeling the skin from the fruit, he ate, while his
companion watched. 15 "You'd better dig some more," his
companion instructed, "and put them in your pockets."
The Old Fox obeyed. When he was done digging, he found the spring
that watered the plants, and quenched his thirst. Then he sat
back and looked at his companion. 16 "I think I understand
what you're saying," he began. "The whole argument, the
whole question is meaningless. It doesn't matter! The thing is,
we exist! We are here!"
17 "You do learn quickly, brother!" the other laughed.
"But come! We must journey on!"
18 "All right," The Old Fox asked, "we exist. Why
do we exist?"
19 "Some men say to please the gods," his companion
answered, "others say, to please ourselves. Still others say
for no good reason at all."
20 The Old Fox stopped. "Stop playing games with me,"
he snapped. "Answer my question!"
21 "Elder," his companion replied, "I AM answering
your question! We exist because WE EXIST. Our purpose is the
purpose of all living things....to grow, to mature, and to wither
and die. You saw one thing in The Darkness. There are many more.
Some of them will survive, some will not.
22 Our purpose is to find The Right Path, to reach for The Light,
to become one with all that lives. And then, when we are at peace
with ourselves and the universe, to make life ourselves, so that
it all continues.
23 If some of us do not reach Ultimacy, do not complete The
Circle, then, The Darkness wins. Life disappears, and there is
only nothingness. Only by existing do we keep life alive."
24 "That is the purpose of these bodies?" The Old Fox
asked.
25 "I was not speaking of the body," his companion
replied, "I was speaking of the soul. The purpose of the
body, each body; for you will have many, and have HAD many, is to
feed the soul and help it to grow, until it reaches
Ultimacy."
26 The Old Fox was getting very weary and the sky was all ready
becoming light. "You give me much to think about," he
said, "much, indeed. But tell me, why do we need bodies? Why
can't we just stay in The Spirit World and grow there?"
27 The young man stopped. "Because," he answered,
"without living things there can be no Spirit World. If all
life on this world died, every Spirit living on it would have to
leave it, and journey into The Darkness so that their energy
would not be drained away. They could not grow until they found
another world where there were living things. And their chances
of surviving until they found such a world would be next to none.
28 Many people think that the Spiritual and the material are
separate, but I tell you now, they are not. They are
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