Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Tay Zonday and the Enlightenment

This is an old story I wrote for my English class a while ago.

It was evening and dusk had begun to draw in. The warm air slowly froze as the sun hid behind the hills like a shy child, casting scorches of glistening crimson against the twilight sky. Washing over everything, this bleeding sunlight silhouetted a tall cathedral. Gorgeously crafted with exquisite architecture, the building towered above a small cliffside village, filled with cozy huts and lush farms. On top of the church was a tall tower, bearing a stained glass window on the side with a crucifix crafted into the design. The dying sunlight beat down through this window, and shines its last beam onto a kneeling figure, his head bowed and hands together, his deep black hair glistening in the velvet sunset as the aurora of colors surrounded him. Whispering a soft “Amen”, he raised his head and caught sight of the deep blur of a sunset. Intrigued, he rose to his feet and stared at it for a while, as the sun dripped over the hills and finally melted into the horizon. Sentimental thoughts would have crossed this man’s mind, if he had been thinking at all. But he was too relaxed for worries, too content for cares, too happy to be fret over any worldly stress. He was in touch with God, he felt at peace; he was at his home, the church, the only place he had ever truly known and the only haven where he felt safe. But it was growing dark, and he knew he had to leave eventually, so he turned his back on the glowing purple skyline and began to descend the long staircase to the earth. He pulled on a jacket as he reached the bottom, and flung open the door to the outside world. He walked briskly through the chilled evening breeze, with warm thoughts of his home on his mind. He imagined the warm fireplace, the friendly glow that refreshed his cold body, the cozy armchair that would wrap him in a hug upon his arrival, the joyful smiles of his family that would greet him at the door…

“Tay!”

Startled, Tay was jolted out of his daydream, and looked around wildly for anybody who might have spoken to him. His eyes quickly scanned the vicinity for any signs of movement, but he found none. Yet Tay was sure he had heard a voice, something calling his name…

“Fear not, son. It is I, your Father.”

It struck Tay that the voice he was hearing was not from around him, it was from nowhere near him at all; this voice was speaking from the heavens straight into Tay’s heart, and Tay felt a sense of honor and gratitude as he realized that he was being spoken to by God Himself. Falling to his knees as he quivered with fear and excitement, Tay looked up into the sky with an awed look in his eyes and spoke “What is it, my Lord? What does your perfect heart desire?”
God spoke back to Tay:
“Child, I have watched you and you have proven to me to be a most faithful, generous, and obedient soul. You are holy and blameless, and this is why I have chosen you to be a prophet and deliver onto your people the Message of Enlightenment”
Tears brimming in his eyes, Tay mustered up every particle of courage in his heart and spoke “Lord, your wish is my command. You put me on earth to do your bidding. Speak, and you shall receive.”
The voice was strong and authoritative, and it commanded Tay’s attention as it spoke to him:

“Your mission shall be difficult, so listen closely as your Lord speaks to you His Holy Instruction:
Your first task is to traverse the high mountains to your West; I have sent the setting sun to light your way.
Your second task, a beast of deception, that you shall encounter on the second day.
Your third, a beast of rock, to surpass you must be strong.
And at the end you shall discover….

The voice cut to silence, and Tay was left in anticipation. Expecting to hear more, Tay leaned his head back against his shoulders and stared up into the sky, expecting more instruction, but nothing came. He yelled and pleaded, but the last verse was left tantalizingly incomplete, seemingly almost on purpose. After what seemed like an eternity of kneeling on the ground in suspense, Tay realized that it was his responsibility to fulfill God’s instruction. He had been given a quest, and he was obligated to complete it. Unsure whether or not to tell anyone where he was going out of concern for waking up his fellow townspeople, Tay inscribed his instructions on a tablet of rock and left it in the town center, with the promise that he would return within seven days left beside this rock. Tay Zonday held an important position in his community as the pastor at his church, and he knew that he would have to return by Jesusday the following week. Tay had no articles or possessions to collect, for he knew the Lord would provide for him on his journey, so he bid his sleepy town a farewell and with nothing more than the clothes on his back, he embarked on a journey that would change his life.

The shadows that had been cast by the dying sunlight had already merged with the shadows cast by Tay’s tall body as he left the gates of his city and headed for the mountains. The sun was reduced to a sliver of deep orange radiance tucked behind the horizon, but Tay was still following it strong. His coat was barely enough to keep him warm, and the cold evening breeze chilled him and nipped at his extremities. Tay’s thoughts were hopeful and full of anticipation of the journey ahead of him, he was almost too excited at the thought of beings a prophet and bestowing enlightenment upon his town that he barely contemplated the instruction God had given him, and the riddle that seemed to be hiding within it. But to be chosen by God for this great quest was a true honor, and Tay was filled with gracious thoughts thanking God for choosing him for the journey.

Midnight crept up on Tay like a thief in the night, and he was taken off guard when he snapped back to reality and realized he was surrounded by near absolute darkness. The air was no longer at a breeze, but had come to an eerie standstill in the cold night. Silence had fallen on the dark mountainous path like a blanket, smothering all sound and freezing all noise solid. Tay’s forward motion came to a halt, and so did all sound. Without the steady crunching of his feet against the frosty earth, Tay was left in a consuming silence, with his breath the only audible thing. He felt like yelling, clapping, or doing anything to make noise and fill this void that seemed to be gnawing at his insides. But this urge faded as is was replaced with the realization that Tay was very sleepy, and the silence and darkness that was bothering him but moments ago now seemed comforting, as if the emptiness was welcoming him with lures of rest and sweet sleep. Tay’s eyes felt heavy, and his consciousness started to drift off, when he was startled by something cold wrapping itself around his leg. Shocked out of his sleep, Tay shook himself awake and realized he was in fact not surrounded by total darkness, but he was surrounded by shrubbery and bush, and a long and thin vine had begun coiling around his leg. Tay struggled and pulled at the vine, and the bush let out a loud shriek, startling the young victim. Coiling and wrapping its way up Tay’s body, the vine had now progressed to his chest and was slowly constricting his breathing. Wheezing and gasping, Tay’s mind raced for a solution, when he remembered a small shard of glass he had picked up off of the road the previous day. Using a free arm, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a fragment of broken glass, and struck at the vine. Another shriek followed, and Tay unraveled himself from the now lifeless vine and pulled it off of him. Green vegetation seemed to cover him in a thick mat, and Tay began slicing at the canopy of plant covering his head. Louder shrieks followed, and did not subside until Tay had sliced his way out of the underbrush and climbed out. Pushing himself off the ground, he regained his footing and came face to face with a carnivorous plant-like creature, with a torn mossy cocoon at its roots. A small trunk extended from the ground and jetting from it were two enormous ferns, covered in small spikes and teeth. Thin vines extended from the ground and reached toward Tay, but he tripped over himself backwards in a rush to distance himself. As he laid in shock on the ground, he came to his senses and realized that he was not in fact in total darkness, but that it was now early morning, and a baby sun had begun to peak it’s head over the mountains to the east. It dawned on Tay that this was the task that God had spoken of in his instructions: “Your second task, a beast of deception, that you shall encounter on the second day”. There was no doubt in Tay’s mind that this beast had lured him in with promises of sleep and comfort last night, and that as Tay slept inside it, it slowly cocooned him and was about to feast when he woke up. Thankful for the glass shard that had saved his life; Tay knelt to the ground and thanked God for his safety, and stood back up.

After hours of hiking through the rolling hills and rocky crags that jetted out from them, Tay began to feel exhausted. His legs were sore from the constant strain of pushing forward through the steep hills and rocky terrain, his feet were cut and blistered from the coarse rocks rubbing against their undersides, and his mental stamina was all but drained, and he sat down on a nearby rock to pray for strength. His arms were weak as he folded his hands and rested his head upon them, but still Tay had faith. For he knew that God had sent him on this quest for a reason, and that in the end, His will would prevail. Tay would keep pushing forward until he achieved his goal, because persevering for the Lord was all that he knew how to do.

But after days of trekking throughout the steep mountains with little to no food and minimal sleep, even Tay’s faith began to grow weary. Physical stress and fatigue began to build up inside of him, and the tension was mounting like a geyser about to burst. He was physically exhausted and emotionally beaten, and after days and nights of sleepless hiking and zero contact with his family and community, Tay began to doubt himself and God’s orders. He had received no further instruction from God, and was left to act on what he had heard back at his town alone. Clustering Tay’s mind were negative thoughts of doubt and fatigue, and he felt as though he began to lose trust in God and himself. But even though Tay felt like giving up and he wanted to rest more than anything in the world, he kept pushing forward. Tay strived to perform better and better and to live up to the high and rigid expectations that his society valued. And though jagged rocks sliced at the soles of his feet and his legs grew numb with the constant uphill climb, Tay ignored his body screaming at him to stop and kept pushing forward.

After what seemed like eons of hiking and beating his own path, Tay finally came to the place where he could travel no more. He had climbed the highest mountains, tackled the tallest trees, swam the deepest lakes and trekked the longest plains, and he had finally run out of earth to traverse. Tay had made it to the edge of the earth, and down below him was a deep ocean, running on into the horizon forever and ever. Tay had followed the setting sun westward for six days, and he could follow no more, for sun had led him to his final destination and was now dipping its crimson body into the oceanic horizon. Standing on the very edge of his earth, Tay gazed out at the ocean in a dreamy and relieved sort of way. He knew that his quest was soon to be over, and the expectation and hope of achieving enlightenment was overwhelming. On Tay’s right was a looming hill, a rough crag of rock jetting out over the edge of the earth. Its height was magnificent, at least a thousand stories tall, its tip reaching up to the heavens in a triumphant testimony of its grandiose scale. Straining his eyes to catch view of the top, Tay saw that it was surrounded in clouds, and that the rocky bluff extended far beyond view. Carved into the side of the rock was a great marble staircase, exquisitely crafted with art fit for the gods. Sitting at the bottom of this grand staircase was a large boulder, around ten feet in diameter, blocking the steep staircase at its feet. There was no way around the boulder, and it blocked the only access to this great staircase that stretched all the way into the heavens. Tay reflected on God’s words: “Your third task, a beast of rock, to surpass you must be strong” and realized that this boulder was the beast that He had spoken of. This boulder would be Tay’s last task, and was the only thing standing in between him and the Message of Enlightenment. Gathering what strength he had left after his exhausting and draining journey, Tay mustered every ounce of power in his body and gave the boulder an enormous heave. The rock was immensely heavy, and it budged but in the slightest at all of Tay’s strength. The weight of the rock would have crushed Tay right then and there, but Tay found strength he never knew he had and pushed onward, carrying this rock upward. Tay was fighting gravity, the weight of this enormous rock, his physical fatigue after an exhausting journey through the great mountains and dense forests that tolled and taxed his body, and his own mental doubt, that voice in the back of his head that gnawed at him constantly and stole all hope away from him. Nevertheless, Tay struggled onward, heaving the enormous boulder up flight after flight of stairs, never once stopping for rest. His palms were bleeding and his arms were weak and quivering, but Tay let the sweat seep down off of his forehead as he bit his tongue and pushed onward. It took every ounce of stamina inside of Tay to maintain this forward progress, but he struggled onward, denying his body that screamed out in pain and his mind that constantly doubted himself. Tay had a mission, and he would do everything in his exhausted body to finish it. He would keep pushing at that boulder until he collapsed, he would keep moving forward until his legs gave out, he would keep moving forward until his body gave way and he fell to the ground and perished .But Tay didn’t. He mustered every bit of power inside of him and kept moving forward.

At long last, Tay pushed the boulder up over the final step of the long staircase, and let his arms fall to his sides. The boulder took off on its own, and slowly rolled off the side of this plateau and fell off, careening towards whatever may lie below the heavens. Tay was now standing on a platform on top of this enormous rocky bluff, and looking around; he realized he was level with the stars, and that even the cloud and the sun were below him. Tay had climbed all the way up to the heavens, pushing a boulder the whole way. Tay fell down on his knees, broken and exhausted, his hands bloody and raw and his arms bruised and quivering. He gasped for air, and contradictory to the altitude, sweet relieving oxygen filled his lungs. Shaking and gasping, Tay pushed himself onto his feet and looked around. This platform was empty, he was standing alone atop a mountain that’s tip was bare.
“Well, where is it? Where is the enlightenment you promised me?”
But Tay received no answer, and he was only met by silence in his ringing ears.
“God! I came all this way! I did everything you asked! Where is my reward?”
But still, his demands went unanswered. Tay stood in disbelief and doubt, when he began to be filled with anger. Pain and exhaustion manifested themselves in Tay and took form in rage and fury. Tay felt betrayed, let down, and tricked. Tay had come all this way, and was met by absolutely no reward. Believing that he had been tricked, Tay felt foolish and ashamed, and began to slander and curse God in his fury.
“How could you! You lied to me! You made me suffer, and this is what I receive in return?! My hardships are unmatched by any worldly man, and yet you forsake me in my moment of victory!?”
Reflecting upon the riddle that God had given him prior to his departure, Tay thought of a line that would complete the riddle and provide explanation for his grand letdown.
“Oh, I get it now!” Tay yelled “At the end you shall discover, trusting God was wrong! I understand now! You put me through all of this pain just to show me what a fool I am!”
Tay continued to blaspheme and yell at his Lord, until finally his slander and rage was shut off by a booming thunder, and a blinding light that formed at the edge of the platform. Tay fell to his knees and stared in awe as a vortex of swirling colors and light shone forth and pierced into Tay’s soul. Staring in awe, Tay shuddered at the brilliance of the light. And then, it spoke to him, just like the words of God before, speaking out of nowhere straight into Tay’s heart:

“Child, I chose you for this quest because among others, you exhibited perseverance and faith like no other. It saddens me that you would give up hope at the end of your quest, but I see now that you still do not understand. You were never looking for enlightenment; the enlightenment was inside of you all along”

Confused and lost, Tay tried to open his mouth to speak, but no words came forth.

“Tay, the last line of the riddle was ‘At the end you shall discover, you had enlightenment all along’. What you were searching for was a personal achievement. You have learned to overcome obstacles that seem impassible. Your faith allowed you to achieve the impossible, and that is a moral that no one could ever teach, you had to learn for yourself.”

The shock of what God had said struck Tay like lightning, and understanding washed over him like a great waterfall. And in the same split second that it took Tay to realize that he had achieved enlightenment, the blinding light disappeared, leaving Tay in a world of shock and realization. He rose to his feet, and he knew what he must do. On the marble platform below his feet, Tay carved out the Message of Enlightenment with the glass shard that he carried in his jacket. Painstakingly, with every last bit of strength inside of him, Tay moved his torn and bloody hands and his arms which felt like liquid and wrote out “At the end you shall discover, you had enlightenment all along. Faith allows you to do the impossible”. And with the Message recorded, Tay’s glass shard formed into a magnificent silver sword, and with that he struck the marble staircase. The marvelous tower to the heavens shook and crumbled, and the platform fell down to the earth. Crushing the sand beneath it, the rock of gargantuan proportions impacted the earth on a beach, and fell flush with a rock bluff. This bluff became known as Macaronia, a peaceful civilization resting on a rock bluff overlooking the ocean to the west. And to this day, Macaronians follow the steps of Tay Zonday and use their faith to achieve remarkable things.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Rabbit

Rabbit?
Rabbit?
....Two rabbits?
RABBIT!!!!