Chapter Three
Without hesitation, The Old Fox quickly obeyed. Hardly had he
laid down his head, than he dreamed.
2 He dreamed of the days long ago, when his young brother had
taken a fever, and all knew he was dying. Many hours The Old Fox
had sat tending him, while his weary mother slept.
3 Late one night the young boy opened his eyes and looked at his
brother. "Do not grieve, my brother. Do not fret. I have
seen The Land where I am going, and I am not afraid. My mother's
mother has held me in her arms and told me not to be afraid. I
have no fear now, of leaving this place. I know the place I go to
is bright and new. We will meet agian, my brother. Do not
grieve." The boy closed his eyes and went to sleep, and did
not wake again.
4 The Old Fox sat up in the cave with a start. "Little
Fox!" he said, "The Spirit that guides me IS my
brother, Little Fox!"
5 A noise outside drew his attention and he crept to the opening.
There were men in the outer cave, and tents beyond the opening.
As they were dressed in many styles of clothing and carried clubs
tipped with large stones, The Old Fox knew they were bandits.
6 He crept back into his hiding place and went back to sleep, and
again he dreamed. He was in the foggy place again, and his
brother came up, and they embraced. "Come," his brother
said, "there are still questions in your mind and it is best
to answer them here."
7 The Old Fox found himself in a beautiful valley. There were
farms and villages; shepherds guided their flocks in the hills.
Farms had fine crops ready for the harvest. "Yes," The
Old Fox said, "I have many questions. I still do not
understand why we must be in the other world. This one is so
pleasant. One has everything one wants. Why can't the plants and
animals feed this world, and those like us stay here and
grow?"
8 The young man smiled. "You have answered your own
question," he explained. "There is nothing here to
challenge us. There is no strife, no discourse. Here, a person
knows instantly if another person lies to him.
9 Here, Truth is easily known....too easily. A Spirit here does
not advance. The energy here only sustains it. Oh, there is a
little growth, but not much. For one year that you live, you
would have to be one-hundred here, to gain as much. Do you
understand my words?"
10 "I think I see," The Old Fox answered. "Many
complain about adversity and challenge, but the very things they
complain about is what they need. It is adversity and challenge
that makes us grow. It is learning to control strife and conflict
that makes us advance!"
11 "You do learn, indeed, flesh of my flesh."
12 "But tell me," The Old Fox questioned, "why is
it some men are so much wiser than others? Some men are almost
like beasts, like animals, while others are mature and
wise?"
13 "Again," said his brother, "you have
unknowingly answered your own question! Come. There is something
you must see!" And he took The Old Fox through the fog into
the material world, and they stood by a small lake. "Look
here," his brother demanded, "look at the water and
concentrate."
14 The Old Fox did as he was told, and to his surprise the water
seemed to come closer to him, and within the water were tiny
creatures. There was a small fire inside them. Slowly the fire
grew. The creature split in two and became two creatures.
"You have just seen the birth of a soul," his brother
told him. "Now watch the other creatures nearby; the larger
one."
15 The Old Fox watched. Suddenly the side of the little creature
opened up, and dozens of its young poured out. Suddenly, as they
left its body, a spark of light appeared in each, and they swam
away. "The little creatures make the soul," his brother
said, "when it dies the soul goes into The Spirit World,
then is reborn again, into a larger, smarter creature. This
continues on and on. Come! There is something else you must
see."
16 They came to a farm and The Old Fox saw a man talking angrily
to a boy. "Look inside the man. Tell me what you see."
17 The Old Fox did as he was told. "I see another man,"
he explained, "but he seems more like a beast, but yet, he
is a man."
18 "Look inside the boy," said his brother.
19 When The Old Fox did, he jumped back in surprise. "There
is a cat inside of him," he said, "it is shaped like a
man, but it is still a cat!"
20 "Now do you see?" his brother asked. "If you
look back within yourself, you will see a beast, also. At one
time all of us were beasts, and that beast, at all times, wants
to rule us. It wants to be wild, free, taking what it wants. Each
lifetime we must learn to control it a little more, cast off a
little more of its primitivenes, ever-reach for The Light."
21 "I see," said The Old Fox, "I understand! Some
men act like beasts, like animals, because they ARE animals! They
have just begun to live in human bodies! They are almost all
beasts!"
22 "Come," his brother commented, "you are
learning too much too fast. You must rest now. If you do not, we
will burn you out."
23 As they journeyed back to his body The Old Fox thought of
something. "When I tell people of these things," he
said, "those that have the beasts inside of them will not
want to hear. Only those that have grown, that have
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