Excerpts from 'THE JEWEL OF PARADOX:

WELCOME TO THE VALLEY

As they sat there on a fallen tree trunk at the edge of the Valley,

the Dreamer, after a long, prayerful silence, slowly chanted these

disclosures to Jason.

"You think you have wandered, but it is not so.

Not once did you falter: No conflict was without goal,

no doubt without its revelation.

Led by the Light and driven by the Dark you come.

To find the goal that is beyond leaving.

"Of the Valley's earth, your flesh is formed,

so natural will the homecoming be.

This sacred potion is made of the Valley's vines and flowers

It will liberate your awareness

from the cage of the body,

from the tight web of time and circumstance."

The Dreamer held silence for some moments as Jason peered

questioningly into his eyes. Then the old man gave a long, gentle sigh,

nodded and continued, his chant slower, more deeply felt.

"You will be led down a waterless river."

Garuda, the Heavenly Bird, will carry you

to the mountain peak where the

Jewel of Paradox is enthroned.

Though it is guarded by a thousand headed dragon,

if you forget everything but this Treasure,

the Way will be made clear for you.

You will be shown the invisible path to the Valley,

that is filled with the splendor of First Times

and the radiant care of the Imagos.

"All things converge to and come from the Valley.

The place of origin and reconciliation.

The wondrous just beyond the darkest place.

Through the eye's blind spot all the radiance is seen.

Open fully to the fullness of the Spiral.

There is the place of stillness, of fearlessness.

Though it twist you upside down, back to front,

on the way, all will be resolved.

There your shadow is the mirror

of the Other within. Remember,

all you see is also you.

It is the place to awaken from the you

that you imagined you were. The half-truth of a lie.

There you can cross through the door in your mind

where everything flips and becomes its opposite.

And you become your Other."

"Sounds like a dying." Jason wasn't able to suppress a shudder.

"Here then is your cross over time," the Dreamer continued,

"from Now Time to First Times."

"Oh, Lord of Darkness and of Light,

I am here within Your sight.

In Your shimmering Eye, I pray,

You hold me safe and guide my way,"

the Dreamer solemnly intoned.

"Some part hears. Some part of me, of you,

hears and knows we are not trapped

in the thorned nest of memories and self-pretends.

Some part that watches itself watching,

heals the delusion that we are transitory, accidental.

Within all the questions that we ask,

this is the first, the ground question.

The infant grabbing at its toes

and the sage in a cave

are drawn and driven by this same question.

"Who is this 'I''?"

"Like the multitude of sub-selves

that are facets of our being,

so each of our hearts and minds

are facets of the Divine Heart and Mind.

Isn't this what we really mean when we say 'I'?"

When we know and experience that,

then we know what our being is all about.

Then we make choices from that place

within ourselves we really live from.

Then we recognize each other for the right reasons.

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Copyright Nathaniel Schwartz 2003