1.  There was a Master come unto the earth,
    born in the holy land of Indiana, raised 
    in the mystical hills east of Fort Wayne.

2.  The Master learned of this world in the 
    public schools of Indiana and he grew, 
    in his trade as a mechanic of automobiles.

3.  But the Master had learnings from other
    lands and other schools, from other lives 
    that he had lived.  He remembered these,
    and remembering became wise and strong, so
    that others saw his strength and came to him
    for counsel.

4.  He believed that he had power to help himself
    and all mankind, and as he believed so it was 
    for him, so that others saw his power and came
    to him to be healed of their troubles and their
    many diseases.

5.  The Master believed that it is well for any man 
    to think upon himself as a son of God, and as 
    he believed, so it was, and the shops and garages
    where he worked became crowded and jammed with 
    those who sought his learning and his touch, and
    the streets outside with those who longed only
    that the shadow of his passing might fall upon 
    them, and change their lives.

6.  It came to pass, because of the crowds, that the
    several foremen and shop managers bid the Master
    leave his tools and go his way, for so tightly was
    he thronged that neither he nor other mechanics
    had room to work upon the automobiles.

7.  So it was that he went into the countryside, and
    people following began to call him Messiah, and 
    worker of miracles; and as they believed, it was
    so.

8.  If a storm passed as he spoke, not a raindrop 
    touched a listener's head; the last of the multitude
    heard his words as clearly as the first, no matter
    lightening nor thunder in the sky about.  And always
    he spoke to them in parables.

9.  And he said unto them, "Within each of us lies the 
    power of our consent to health and to sickness, to
    riches and to poverty, to freedom and to slavery.  
    It is we who control these, and not another."

10. A mill-man spoke and said, "Easy words for you, 
    Master, for you are guided as we are not, and need
    not toil as we toil.  A man has to work for his 
    living in this world."

11. The Master answered and said, "Once there lived a 
    villiage along the bottom of a great crystal river.

12. "The current of the river swept silently over them
    all - young and old, rich and poor, good and evil,
    the current going its own way, knowing its own 
    crystal self.

13. "Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to
    the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging
    was their way of life, and resisting the current 
    what each had learned from birth.

14. "But one creature said at last, 'I am tired of 
    clinging.  Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I
    trust that the current knows where it is going.  I
    shall let go and let it take me where it will.
    Clinging, I shall die of boredom.'

15. "The other creatures laughed and said, 'Fool! Let 
    go, and that current that you worship will throw
    you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you
    will die quicker than boredom!'

16. "But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath
    did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by
    the current across the rocks.

17. "Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again,
    the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he 
    was bruised and hurt no more.

18. "And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a 
    stranger, cried, 'See a miracle!  A creature like
    ourselves, yet he flies!  See the Messiah, come to
    save us all!'

19. "And the one carried in the current said, 'I am no 
    more Messiah than you.  The river delights to lift
    us free, if only we dare let go.  Our true work is
    this voyage, this adventure.'

20. "But they cried the more, 'Savior!' all the while
    clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again
    he was gone, and they were left alone making legends
    of a Savior."

21. And it came to pass when he saw that the multitude
    thronged him the more day on day, tighter and closer
    and fiercer than ever they had, when he saw that they 
    pressed him to heal them without rest, and feed them
    always with his miracles, to learn for them, to live
    their lives, he went alone that day unto a hilltop
    apart, and there he prayed.

22. And he said in his heart, Infinite Radiant Is, if it
    be thy will, let this cup pass from me, let me lay
    aside this impossible task.  I cannot live the life
    of one other soul, yet ten thousand cry to me for 
    life.  I'm sorry I allowed it all to happen.  If it 
    be thy will, let me go back to my engines and my 
    tools and let me live as other men.

23. And a voice spoke to him on the hilltop, a voice 
    neither male or female, loud nor soft, a voice
    infinitely kind.  And the voice said unto him, "Not
    my will, but thine be done.  For what is thy will 
    is mine for thee.  Go thy way as other men, and be
    thou happy on the earth."

24. And hearing, the Master was glad, and gave thanks
    and came down from the hilltop humming a little
    mechanic's song.  And when the throng pressed him
    with its woes, beseeching him to heal for it and
    learn for it and feed it nonstop from his understanding
    and to entertain it with his wonders, he smiled upon 
    the multitude and said pleasantly unto them, "I quit."

25. For a moment the multitude was stricken dumb with
    astonishment.

26. And he said unto them, "If a man told God that he
    wanted most of all to help the suffering world, no
    matter the price to himself, and God answered and 
    told him what he must do, should the man do as he
    is told?"

27. "Of course, Master!" cried the many.  "It should
    be pleasure for him to suffer the tortures of hell
    itself, should God ask it!"

28. "No matter what those tortures, nor how difficult
    the task?"

29. "Honor to be hanged, glory to be nailed to a tree
    and burned, if so be that God has asked," said they.

30. "And what would you do," the Master said unto the 
    multitude, "if God spoke directly to your face and
    said, 'I command that you be happy in the world, as
    long as you live.' what would you do then?"

31. And the multitude was silent, not a voice, not a 
    sound was heard upon the hillsides, across the 
    valleys where they stood.

32. And the Master said unto the silence, "In the path
    of our happiness shall we find the learning for 
    which we have chosen this lifetime.  So it is that
    I have learned this day, and choose to leave you 
    now to walk your own path, as you please."

33. And he went his way through the crowds and left
    them, and he returned to the everyday world of
    men and machines.



 

Richard Bach
Illusions
Delacorte Press, New York, 1977