roosted fringe strip orb ruby beat rush shame faith peaks spot heart
The Assignment
"Everything that irritates us about others
can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”
― Carl Gustav Jung
The Scene
Two angels, roosted
Like two barn owls,
Observe the scene below them.
The Teacher
“Tell me what you see.”
The Student
“I see a globe, an orb,
A mottled blue marble
Fringed in a sky blue…”
The Teacher
“Fine. Can you go deeper?”
The Student
I see strips of land,
Mountain peaks and
Vast oceans…
The Teacher
“Yes. Good. But what else?
The Student
I see a proliferation of life:
Animals of all sorts, birds, plants, insects.
The Teacher
But these are all just things, objects.
What do you see within them?
What do you feel?
The Student
“I see…feel…that there are emotions—
Love, faith, shame, to name a few.
And I see…feel…their opposites too.
The Teacher
Good. That’s better. Go on…
The Student
“I sense many strong
negative emotions—
a dark overlay in the people:
Fear, anger, greed, a need to win,
to beat and triumph, an urge to rush
but no sense of a destination,
a needless assignment of value to
Stones—diamonds, rubies—that sparkle.
Trinkets and baubles,
That are given inexplicable value.
The Teacher
You are getting there,
Getting to the heart of the problem.
What is missing?
The Student
(thinks for a bit.)
Love. Compassion. Kindness.
It is there in spots, individuals,
But it is not universal, it is not
The herd default.
The Teacher
So, what is your assessment?
The Student
I am not optimistic,
I fear the malaise is too entrenched.
There are individuals
Who have promise
But the overall sense
Is one of fatality.
A collective fatality.
The Teacher
OK. I think you
Understand now.
For your last assignment,
A much harder assignment,
We will next assess
The planet they call Earth.
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