Keep the Fire Low - A Story

​A man was ​lost in the forest for days until he found the guru he was looking for. Overcome with exhaustion and hunger, he collapsed at her feet. She promptly gave him food from her campfire, then waited patiently until he could speak.  

 

“You expected me?” he asked, referring to the prepared food. 

“Is that what you came to ask?” 

“No. I am seeking answers to life​, which has become so difficult."​

​She smiled and seemed to look through him.

“You searched for me a long time. How did you find me?”

​“For years I heard stories about your wisdom. I decided to seek you out by asking others.” ​He showed her some worn maps. “They gave me directions which didn't work very well. I almost starved to death.”

She took the maps and glanced at them. “These are from someone else’s journey.” She tossed them into the fire.

“What else did you do to find me?” she asked gently.

​

“I prayed.” 

“Did that help?”

“No, but I heard that's because some prayers aren’t answered. So then I used my mind to conjure food and water.” 

“Did you succeed?”

“No, but I almost became food for a bear.”

She laughed. “Maybe his conjuring abilities are better than yours.”

​He frowned. “Usually I can make things happen in my life, but the old ways don’t seem to work as well. I just want answers.” 

Her eyes grew brighter. “I’m prepared to give them to you.”

He sat up in anticipation. 

“You probably noticed that you only found me when you’d given up the other's maps.”

“Yes.”

“You also had to give up your usual tricks of attracting and creating because they were running counter to another force at work.”

“How do you know this?” 

“Because you still had something deep inside you giving you direction. You did find me, after all.”

He became very excited. “Yes, I did! Can you help me get access to that all the time?”

“You do not need a guru for this. Meditation alone allows you to touch the divine inside you for all the answers, any time.” 

“The kingdom of God is within you,” he recited.

“Yes.”

“Is that it?”

“Tell me what else you want.”

He looked embarrassed. “Well, sometimes I want… things. Nice things. Maybe some comfortable things, too.”

“That is very honest. You can pray for things. You can attract things to you.”

“That's okay?”

“It is, and you will continue to do that until you are less interested in those things, and more interested in what your true self wants. I'm talking about the part of you that is connected to the divine, your soul… It’s always been there, gently guiding you to your bliss, and now you’re hearing it come through more clearly, even as you try to deny it or silence it.”

“If it’s my soul speaking, as you say, wouldn’t I want to hear it?”

The guru tossed another stick on the fire.

“You would think, but people have many habits accumulated over a lifetime that distract them from hearing it. It is easier to watch one hour of T.V. than spend two minutes listening to that voice, your own true voice.”

He struggled with this. “If it’s really my voice, why am I such a stranger to it?”

“Because your ego has been running the show, protecting you from harm, but also keeping you from your own deepest self. Which is love, by the way.”

“So my ego’s the bad guy?” 

“No, it’s a useful tool, like fire on a stove. Use it carefully to cook food, just don’t let it burn down the kitchen.” 

“So you’re saying it’s okay to ask for material things…”

“Or you can let the ego fall away and see the God in you and go from there.”

He was awestruck. “Why would I do one when the other is so available to me?”

“Because the Ego is fierce. It fights for relevance and control every second.”

The man thought for a moment. “So how do I keep the "fire on the stove" low?”

A piece of wood suddenly shifts in the campfire, and the flames rise higher. The guru sees this and hands a cup of water to the man. 

He nods, and tosses the water on the fire. The flames recede and become manageable. 

“Meditation,” he says.

The guru nods.