Towards the inward!

I love watching this movement of the Honey Bees towards the inward of a flower where it finds its nectar! On the days when the petals are wet with water drops, they move from the periphery towards the centre of the flower, from where it can gather its feed ! They may hover over the flower before it reaches the inward part of the flower. 

The inward journey of humans is an experience that most people seek after. The religious and spiritual rituals and routines most people follow symbolise the longing for this inward journey. 

Some people by strictly following all the traditions and rituals such as going to worship places, having prayer times at home, celebrating festivals and other special occasions associated with the religious icon they believe in, are on this inward journey. They find encouragement, comfort and fulfilment. And yet, a question remains in them: is this all that is in this religious journey. 

Some others get consumed by the idea of service while searching for the inward journey through all the traditions and rituals. They give importance to attend to care for others and stay engaged in doing good from which they find consolation and fulfilment. They too have the question, 'Is this all in spiritual journey'!

There are some others who go on a personal inward journey apart from doing what others would do as mentioned above. 

In the Book, The Alchemist , Paulo Coelho, tells tells the story of an Andalusian shepherd boy, Santiago, who  travelled from his homeland Spain to the Egyptian pyramids in search of a treasure buried in pyramids. Whenever he slept near a sycamore tree in an abandoned church, he would see a dream of this treasure. He got this dream repeatedly and was told to look for his treasure in the pyramids by a Gypsy woman and Melchizedek. He sold his flock and set off for this journey. He worked with a crystal merchant for a while, during which both Santiago and the and the merchant became wealthy. Santiago cashed his earnings to pursue his personal legend and joined a caravan crossing the Sahara desert. 

Santiago met an English man in the caravan, who being an alchemist, educated him into the secret of alchemy, the Elixir of lIfe, the Emerald tablet, the Philosopher's Stone, each with with its own significance. The caravan stopped its journey to avoid being trapped in the conflict taking between two tribes. There Santiago fell love with Fatima and  agreed to marry her after finding the treasure he was looking for. Santiago met a scholarly alchemist who having heard about the story of his dreams of a treasure, encouraged Santiago to leave Fatima and the caravan to continue his journey to the pyramids.

While the alchemist  and Santiago continued, Santiago was stolen of his money and narrowly escaped being captured by soldiers. Santiago escaped a storm and reached the other side travelling with the alchemist. On reaching the Coptic monastery, the alchemist left him. Two men seeing him dig the ground to look for his treasure thrashed him. 

Following this one of the men advised him about the worthlessness of dreams and pursing them. This man shared his own personal dream of seeing a treasure buried under a sycamore tree near a dilapidated church in Spain. The description of the place was the place when Santiago had his dream about the treasure hidden. He returned there and found a chest of jewels and gold buried under the tree. 

After this Santiago planned to return to Al-Fayoum, where he would want to unite with Fatima. 

This novel is a metaphor of a persuasive message, that there is a treasure within each of us, which we can find, but only with a journey inward traversing through the history of our lives where the eternal truth, God of our lives, has made His presence known to us through our life experiences.  Our life experiences are meant to be the journey path to find our dream of 'knowing God and being known of God'.

For me, life is an experience of this journey inward, where, by demystifying the experiences of peeks and valleys of life, find the silent presence of God. God's presence in our inner lives and the consciousness of it, are discoveries most people make by taking a journey inward. 

The Honey bees moved beyond the water drops. They were not satisfied by finding the water drops.   

Santiago's story is a vivid narration of how a person can have a dream and go after it. What Santiago encountered in that journey was a spectrum of experiences of hardship, loss, friendships, courtship and the discovery of treasure. 

The treasure that Santiago set out to find was was actually beside him. He needed his experiences and a person to finally lead him to the treasure. 

It is the inward journey that leads us to experience the presence of God. Often we continue the inward journey after detours and missed paths. The times of loosing the way and finding it again is normal for most of us in this voyage inward.

The bees moved towards the nectar; we move inward to find the treasure within us! 

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)