Where the Wisdom Lies
B Y   H O P E   I V E S   M A U R A N

Foreword

THIS IS A CHRONICLE of an experience I had in the woods in the spring of 2005; I have not written this book in the traditional sense. I was leaning against a tree that I often visit - when a door opened up within my mind, leading me to a place called 'the Underworld'. Over a period of several weeks, I took my laptop computer into the woods, sat by the tree and visited the Underworld. The small creatures of this place have an urgent message they wish to share with you.

Chapter 1
Natural Time vs. Artificial Time

Sunny my dog and I walk in the woods almost every day. It feels good, clears my mind, and Sunny loves it. Sometimes the birds and the trees talk to me, so I guess I wasn't as surprised as you might think, when ...

On May 17th, of last year, I was sitting, leaning against a special tree and meditating, when right behind me a door opened up. I stood up and turned around. A gnome was standing there. He was short, stocky, red haired with a thick beard and twinkling eyes. He motioned for me to follow him.

The gnome hurried along, so quickly that I didn't have the chance to ask any questions. I felt safe so I followed him through the open doorway in the tree. The entrance was low, and I had to bend down to fit. He lead me downward into a dark tunnel; the floor was dirt; the walls were made of stone, roots and earth. We came to a wooden door at the end of the underground corridor that led into a brightly lit chamber. The gnome showed me into the room and left. As my eyes adjusted, I beheld a huge, fat-looking toad sitting there majestically with a crown upon his head.

"Welcome," he said in a baritone voice, with his long tongue shooting out.

"Hello," I replied, as I stood up straight in the chamber. Even then, the giant toad towered over me. We looked each other over: I, the thin, fair-haired human; he, the rotund, speckled grey toad. His huge brown eyes seemed to look into my very soul.

"Who are you? What is this place?" I asked as I looked around.

"One question at a time, please," the toad said slowly. "This place is called the Underworld, it is where the wisdom lies. I am the lord of this place."

"Oh," I said, not sure how to respond.

The Toad smiled. "You have come here to learn, and to bring this wisdom out to the world." He certainly seemed sure of himself.

"Yes," I said, surprising myself.

"Then we shall begin with an explanation as to why this must be done now," the toad nodded. "There is no longer time to play around, to dally. The Earth, the fragile pearl and treasure, is failing. She needs to be held in the light by man before it is too late. This earth is a place of great complexity, yet humanity has no knowledge of why or how she operates. This is what I would like to help you understand so that you may bring this knowing to the Earth's surface and to the places where it may be heard and seen by man.

"It began long ago and the origins may seem unimportant, but there is a wisdom that comes from knowing the beginning." The toad settled himself and continued. "This beginning was an influx or contraction followed by a large explosion. This rhythmic pulsation caused this creation to be born. This spark of life, or Earth, was formed as it gathered the debris of the explosion and still gathers the dust from the cosmos.

"What this means is that we here at the Earth are not an isolated system. We are not immune to what goes on beyond what we see."

The toad rested for a moment, licked his lips, and continued, "When the time came for the formation of the material Earth, the forces in action in the universe focused upon her as a place to create and play with creation. This is what has been going on here since the beginning of time. This Earth was created as a playground both for creators and the created. All that we have here now is the result of much trial and error. Much time has been spent balancing and blending energies and this has created a delicate web of life and mass that we call the Earth. Are you with me?" The massive toad looked down directly at me.

"Yes, I think so," I answered.

"The start of all this creation and this intermingling of life and matter was a celebration or a playground ... a let's see what will happen if ... kind of place. This is what has been going on here, and you, humanity, are the latest on the list of beings that have been living here as creators.

"You are coming to the sorry end that many systems of humanity have come to before ... all for the same foolish, short-sighted reasons. The reasons are greed, lust and competition. These things have been the downfall of civilization after civilization. They will be your downfall as well, if you don't figure out how to curb them."

I felt a little uncomfortable as he continued. The toad shook his head sadly, "We often sit in council and wonder how best to help you all. We sit and think, Shall we help? Is it futile? Is there any point? And, those of an optimistic bent fight for your cause with great vehemence. So here you sit, lured to this chamber to receive the wisdom of the Underworld, exploring possibilities for ways in which we might work together to create a transformational shift that brings healing forth, for all our sakes. Let us get on with it.

"Do you want a chair?" He asked, "This may take awhile ..."

"No, thank you," I replied.

The great toad shifted his weight to get more comfortable. "Once, time was very different from the way that you experience it now on Earth. Your ancestors held a sense of time within themselves that worked in correlation and harmony with nature and the Earth. It was what was, there was no sense of any other way. The rising of the sun, the setting of the sun, the coming of the seasons, and the cycles of the moon. This was how it was ... and is. It is just that man has separated from this natural time and has created artificial time, so that his trains and planes might move on 'schedule.' This is what is causing the downfall of all the Earth systems. This simple and seemingly innocuous shift to artificial time is causing the whole Earth system to fall apart. Never before has this been the reason for the downfall, never before has there been such a time of remorse and yet so much potential for positive change. Those members of humanity who see this inconsistency - and understand the reason for it - will see clearly what has been done to the earth and will see clearly that there is no choice but to shift back to natural time."

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"Don't rush me. I will get there," he said, steadily. Gazing off into the distance he continued, "As I was saying, never before has this difficulty arisen. The problem has become worse in the past one hundred to one hundred and fifty years. It is hard to imagine how the time machine - the clock that man has chosen - is the reason for the downfall of a civilization that is thousands of years old! It is difficult to comprehend that the power of a system devised to document the passage of time could be so detrimental.

"Let me explain.

"The Earth is a clock herself; she ticks like a heart. The heartbeat of the Earth holds a steady rhythm that is the harmony of all life at the deepest level. It is what beats in your veins, in your heart, and in your meridians. This natural rhythm is the essence of the Earth and it flows through all that is created of the Earth.

"Well, this is where humanity took a wrong turn. They said, We will walk to a different time clock now. This has created a dissonance that is powerful ... and growing. This has created a distance from the Earth herself for those who wear the watch. You see, when one wears the watch, he declares allegiance to the man-made time system, and separates himself from his own, inherent time system. This has repercussions on many, many levels."

I discreetly checked my wrist to see if I was wearing my watch as he continued.

"For example, those who wear the watch are declaring that time is of greater import that the rhythm of life. Life does not flow with time; it flows with nature's rhythm. There is winter, the time of quiet regeneration and rest. This is the time when all beings hunker down, examine what is in their lives and slow down to a crawl - find a cozy warm place and be still, as though in hibernation.

"The spring comes and those wearing a watch hardly notice for the schedule is the same. The spring brings renewal, energy, rebirth and growth, bright new shoots of green spring forth. Eighty percent of plants growth happens at this time. This brings fresh perspective, ideas, expansion and opportunity to nature and all of life.

"Summer follows, the time of strengthening, of weathering and practice - the time to use energy wisely as it becomes hot and muggy. This is a time of rest, for being together as groups, for travel and communication - for creation together as one.

"The fall is a time for shedding what is unnecessary and of gathering the harvest of that which has grown. This harvest can yield abundance forever, but is dwindling because of the ignorance of humanity in the methods used and the ways of creating food and bringing it to market.

"So, you see, my dear," the toad peered down at me, "Natural time is the essence of wisdom. Artificial time is short sighted, damaging, and foolhardy. The Earth is in a dire situation now, because of the dissonance humanity creates as it rushes around without rhythms of the Earth and the seasons. These disparate energies are damaging and fragmenting the Earth mother, causing systems to fall apart.

"What we see for humanity is one of two things: either the dissonance will continue, ultimately destroying the Earth, or we will see a shift in humanity and its willingness to harmonize with the rhythms of nature and life.

"Now, what does this mean? You humans have to decide."

Suddenly the wall behind the toad seemed to dissolve and I was able to make out a large gallery of animals and insects all seated as a council. They were a diverse lot of underworld dwellers; little furry snout-nosed animals, insects with antennae, lizards, snakes and more.

"From here, we, the Council of the Underworld, are asking for your help."

I thought to myself, What can I do? I am just one person.

The toad cleared his sizable throat. "We wish for your help and assistance in bringing this message to humanity. We ask you who dwell in the halls of man to bring this dissonance to the attention of those who might make the switch. Of course, this requires the complete reworking of time as man sees it ... but there really is no choice. Humanity must shift to a natural clock to head off the dissonant fragmentation of the Earth herself. This is really so simple and clear there is not much more to say on it.

"You may ask questions if you wish."

I looked at the assembled council and asked, "What are we not getting or giving by using the clock we have now?"

"When systems work together, it is like all the clock pendulums in a room are entrained and swinging together," the toad explained. "If one huge clock's pendulum swings in the opposite direction and is completely out of beat with all the others, eventually the room falls apart, because neither is capable or willing to surrender to the opposing beat."

"What would it look like for humanity to live by the natural clock?" I inquired.

"The natural clock is the clock of the sun, the moon, the stars and the year. It is the harmony of the fresh breeze and the present moment. It is the choice to stay home and not go to school, to cocoon or to play, instead of following the schedule." The toad seemed to smile. "It is the movement with the energies of delight and joy that can come when a set schedule is not imposed by government rule. In fact, it is this system that is government ruled that is causing difficulty. Even if one chooses the natural clock, one is called to task for artificial time posts that come each year. They come not on a set day, but a set date. The stars are not aligned for tax day. Holidays are imposed and artificial." All the animals nodded their agreement.

"This is the crux of the issue; this is the dissonance that is damaging. When the systems cross and don't fully harmonize, it is an irritant. If the heart of a baby had two beats that were not synchronized, the baby could not grow. It would just exist. We are now in just that same place here on Earth thanks to humanity," the toad looked deeply in my eyes, as if pleading with me for understanding. "Your generations have caused a discord of magnificent proportions. This shift must come in order for all life forms to grow and to evolve. We offer you this information so that we might not all be held back from the evolutionary growth that has brought us all to this point in time. Why let one silly misstep ruin the whole creative experiment? Why?" The great toad sighed heavily. "'Why not?' you will say. Agh ... "

The toad blinked a few times, and then continued, more optimistically, "When humans see this, there will be fabulous shifts that bring a whole new level of life and harmony to the entire Earth." He folded his hands in front of himself. "With that, enough has been said today. We ask you to return here again for additional information that will assist you in your task. You may go now."

I cleared my throat, trying to find my voice. "Thank you," I said, and backed out of the chamber.

The gnome was waiting patiently and walked me back up towards the surface. I could see the light of a brilliant sunset in the distance. The gnome glanced back, smiling, and there was a mischievous glint in his eyes. He started to say something, then seemed to think better of it, turned and scurried up the path to the light. He left me outside the tree, nodded in farewell and was gone.

I stood there for a moment and thought to myself, Did that really just happen? Yet the message made sense. I walked through the woods feeling a bit lightheaded. Sunny was racing back and forth, happy to be moving again.

© 2007 Hope Ives Mauran, All Rights Reserved