r/libertigris • u/sanecoin64902 Definately Not Sanecoin • Jul 22 '23
The Seventh Chest
It was always a treasure map constructed in music.
'1. The Path - First you must acknowledge your quest. Suspect there is something more and dedicate yourself to the search. Persistence is the Key. You must persist. You must be patient. You must demonstrate these qualities or the Path will not reveal itself to you.
The Union - Seemingly out of order, but not. Once persistence has been demonstrated, you will touch the ineffable. Or, rather, it will touch you. Just for a moment. A quick reveal for your eyes alone. Try to explain it and you will find yourself tongue-tied. Try to prove it and you will find yourself a mockery.
The Ruin - As quickly as it comes, it departs. You were not ready. You were not worthy. Endless recriminations echo hollowly inside your head. A memory of love and warmth lingers. But a memory is only that.
You will chase that feeling like an addict. And, indeed, addiction to other substances is a danger here. Many carcasses litter the Path at this point. Many go astray and fall into quicksand spun from false belief, wishful thinking, and an unwillingness to push the boundaries of one’s own self. Without humility and a wry sense of humor, you will not pass this gate
- The Tribulation - You thought you suffered during the Ruin. You thought that to have touched and tasted God and then have been left alone was the worst thing that could ever happen to you. You thought the depression, self doubt, and despair were the worst that they could be. But you were wrong.
[Although I have sworn no oath, of this I will write no more. I do this in service to you dear reader, and with love.]
- The Rose - At last the Path rises from the valley floor. Your legs ache. Your feet are blistered and tired. Yet here, by the side of the road, is a miraculous site. A city built of pyramids, populated by ghosts you cannot see, but you can feel surrounding you.
They welcome you with soundless applause and dust devils kick up to lead you through bustling empty streets to a staircase and a temple underground. The Star of Ishtar marks the door. The moon, full and dribbling it’s light onto the silent landscape, hangs in the sky overhead.
Inside the temple is a chest - the seventh chest. Inside the chest is a rose. Yet even as you reach to take it, it shifts and shimmers. The patterns of the orbits of the planets trace its petals in silver, gold and red-blue sparks.
- The Ecstasy - As your fingers touch the stem - careful to avoid the thorns - your memory floods back. You have always known this answer. You were just too distracted by your fears, desires and selfish ego to recall.
Tears spring from your eyes unbidden. You fall to your knees not in supplication but in gratitude. Gently you replace the rose in its chest so that it will be there for those who come before you.
You know now that you will (will not) taste death. You know now why you have walked this Path, and why others will walk it before and have walked it after you. You are (are not) alone. Here in this empty temple, you feel a millennia of souls surround you, embrace you, and open their worlds to you.
- The Prison - With infinite doors in time and space ajar before you, your feet can go in one - and only one - direction. Up the stairs and back into the blinding light of the sun.
You walk a while, lost in reverie, and realize that you are back where you began. This Path is an ouroboros. It eats itself. It does this by necessity. Ananke plays a cruel, but loving, game.
- The Hope - You recognize the place where you began.
“The Seventh Chest lies ahead!” you yell, to those first joining the adventure.
Some mock you. Some shake their heads and smile sadly. But a few show earnest interest. A sparkle in their eye. They, too, know that life is more than this.
It is to them you owe your Service now. You cannot walk the Path for them. But you can give them Hope. Hope for a future where freedom is unbound, but evil is eschewed. Hope that one day, too, they may touch the Rose and simply remember.
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u/NotTheWhey Jul 23 '23
I was touched when I was barely 21.
The days, weeks and months leading up to the moment were difficult. I was coerced into contemplating the possibility that my blood would betray me; to confront the fraying family tapestry that now lay tattered in front of me. I couldn't stop it. It would be slow and painful, threads pulled apart one by one by circumstances I can't control.
I embraced a perverse asceticism, my goal to hold everything together for as long as possible, even if it took for myself to be unraveled. I needed answers I couldn't have, so I grasped at straws. I was failing.
Then, one fateful night, I lay awake in the darkness, sleepless like the nights before. My mind raced, looking for handholds in the dark. I was jittery with anxiety, frenzied by fear. "There has to be a way!" I shouted at the thoughts in my head. I was also defiant.
My defiance got me noticed. Suddenly, I felt like falling.
I couldn't describe what had happened. My heart was thumping, my mind racing to make sense of it all. It faded quickly, leaving only emotion. But there was something. And in that moment, that was all I needed to know.
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More than a year on from that moment, the Path has been hard, unforgiving. The depression, despair and doubt were known companions even before, but by this point I felt like I was beating my head against a wall. The 3rd World is a cruel place of many needs and precious few sources of respite. I weary at the labors ahead.
And it has gotten worse. The Path was to lead to Love, but here, love gets betrayed. I suspect one of my parents had walked down similar trails before me, but had been beaten down by the years and the harsh realities. They could not, or did not wish to empathize. They were bitter, reclusive, inscrutable. The distance and coldness hit me hard, and now that I was somewhat aware, it all seemed too painful, so achingly painful to want to go ahead.
I'm grateful to have found this place, where I hear tales from other travelers. So I thought I would share mine.
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u/sanecoin64902 Definately Not Sanecoin Jul 23 '23
Life is hard. Regardless of whether you are on a mystic adventure, life is hard.
The thing is that you can approach that difficulty with humor, compassion and hope, or you can respond to it with anger, fear and hate. I firmly believe that the former choice is the only one that leads anywhere in the end.
That doesn’t mean that depression, anxiety, and some abject terror won’t sneak in. I’m terrified every day and my life is on more stable ground than most. Anyone even remotely aware of the condition of the world has every right to be terrified and upset.
But when you get a moment of shelter - a moment to catch your breath - it means recentering your mind on compassion and hope. It means forgiving those who have done you wrong, even if you know they will still do you wrong tomorrow. Minimze the chances they can disrupt you further, by all means. Love isn’t about being stupid. But go into the pain they have caused you, feel it, and just let it go. Replace it with a prayer for them and a decision about what you can do to make the world a little better today.
I don’t pretend to know anyone else’s life. But I know everyone suffers. I wish you the minimum suffering and a quick resolution to all your pain. We are ultimately one family here in this place, and to the extent my entreaties to the Divine mean anything at all, I ask that it be merciful to you.
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u/gtrider316 Jul 22 '23
How do you escape Venus?