The Setting Sun – Phil Morimitsu

The Setting Sun – Phil Morimitsu

"Hello. Feeling sort of low?" Wah Z asked me as I sat in a quiet mood, staring out the window. Outside, I could see the pink sunset behind the tall buildings of my neighborhood. Watching the beautiful colors fade into the impending deep blue of the evening sky added to the moodiness I was experiencing.

"Yeah," I said. "Do you ever get lonely?"

"Some years back, I used to, until I understood some things about loneliness," he said.

"Oh, really?" I asked. My interest was piqued by his remark.

"Let me introduce you to a good friend of mine," he said. I turned my chair from the window and faced Wah Z, who was by the couch. In the dark shadows of my room, I could see the figure of a man — a small man — appearing ever so faintly. I noticed his hair first, as it was pure white and fuzzy. An air of extreme stillness emanated from this being, even before I could make out his form. Finally, I could see his figure. He was small, maybe five-and-a-half feet tall, and frail. He was old, maybe sixty or seventy, maybe older. His face was thin, and he wore a light beard, which, being white, showed up clearly on his deep brown skin. He wore only a white loincloth and carried a small walking stick.

"I'd like you to meet Sri Towart Managi, formerly of ancient Abyssinia, the land today known as Ethiopia, and currently of the Temple of Golden Wisdom on the Mental Plane," Wah Z said to me.

I rose from my chair to greet him and shake his hand, but he chuckled and waved me off with his hand.

"No, no, don't trouble yourself. Sit down, sit down," he said gently.
I obeyed him and watched him take a seat on the couch next to Wah Z. As he did, he embraced Wah Z affectionately.

Wah Z smiled back warmly and moved over on the couch to make room for Towart Managi to sit beside him. As he settled into his seat on the couch, Towart Managi put his walking stick aside and began to speak.

"So the subject tonight is that of understanding loneliness," he said firmly. "Wah Z, why don't you tell the young man?" he continued, chuckling to himself. Wah Z just smiled, but said nothing. Sri Towart looked at me and began.

"To understand loneliness in the true sense is to unlock one of the greatest mysteries of and keys to the heavens."

He said this in a hushed voice, as if he were telling me a great secret (which, as a matter of fact, he was).

"When loneliness strikes the heart, it is a sign that Soul is being brought to yet another test and crossroad of life. The question arises: Will the individual drop the state of consciousness that is causing his loneliness, brought by the divine ECK, allowing Its loving hand to caress the heart; or will he seek refuge and comfort from the ruthlessness of Spirit through the material worlds?"

He looked at the ground and smiled to himself, as if in a state of reverie, remembering something out of his past. Then he started again.

"Yes, I remember when I was struggling for Mastership. Everything that I held dear was placed before me, and I was given the choice: to hold the things of the world, or to go with the expanding flow of the ECK." He looked up for a second, and his smiling ceased. A seriousness came over his face as he began again.

"In ancient Abyssinia, in the city of Axum, I was a scholar for the king — a historian and keeper of records. I had influence and power with my position. My material life was an enviable one — wealth, a beautiful wife, and three young sons. I had all a man of my times could ask for. Then war came. Our country was overtaken by the rebel Agau people. My wife was taken hostage and made a slave by a rebel soldier. My three sons were slain. I was spared only because I was to be a slave in the service of a new ruler. To resist at all meant the death of my wife before my eyes. I never saw or heard of her again. I spent the rest of this incarnation in captivity and, indeed, received entrance into the Order of the Vairagi while a captive. But before I could accept Mastership, grief came to me. The loss of my sons and the torment of my missing wife cut me as a jagged knife. The loneliness was almost too much for me at times."

His eyes bore into mine for the first time, and his frail, almost skinny, appearance gave way to the immense strength of ECK that poured out from his beingness. His eyes were deep with love, but the depths were carved through human pain and suffering.

He continued, "Each time the despair came over me, Spirit was handing me a choice. I could choose to indulge myself in loneliness and wallow in it, which wouldn't have done my situation any good, or I could set my pain aside and look to what the ECK was trying to express to me."

He pointed to the window behind me. "Look!" he said. "This is the same sky that existed those many centuries ago. The sun was setting, leaving a rose-colored horizon. My captors came to me with news that I was to be moved to a city many miles from Axum.which, although it was overtaken and ruled by the rebels, nevertheless was still my homeland. I knew I'd never return. It was the last link to my past — those days that were happy and content. I remember looking to the setting sun that evening, as I was receiving this news. I felt as if my life were setting with that sun, and that it would never rise again to become the day.

"That night, I fell on the floor of my quarters, unable to hold back the tears of my grief. I beseeched the ECK, asking why It tore through me as It did. All hope of happiness seemed to be gone forever. Then I heard Its sweet melody — the sound of the flute — sharply singing in my head. It caused me to look up to see if there was music being played. I looked about the room, but found nothing. Then I went to the window and looked out to the night sky. It was a dark, deep blue sky, clear with no clouds anywhere, and for the first time, I realized that because it was so dark, I could see millions of stars shining brightly in the darkness. I looked higher into the sky and saw the brilliance of the shining moon, glowing and giving light to the night landscape. At this moment, the pain and despair left me; and in an instant, I understood loneliness. The dull pain of loneliness was caused by the tight grasp with which I held to the things of my past that had previously given me happiness. All of the things of the temporal world are subject to the tides of change, the ECK was giving me a chance for greater happiness, but my hold on the past was preventing it from coming to me — thus causing the painful loneliness.

"You see, the ECK's only purpose is to bring the individual back to his home, in SUGMAD. The way of ECK is pure love; and by following the ECK, one takes on Its characteristics of love, until one becomes wholly love, the ECK Itself. But being fluid, like water, one cannot hold the ECK in a tightened fist, as one does when holding onto things material. The hand must be cupped to accept the flow.

"True, I had lost all the material joys of that lifetime, but by accepting the greater joys of the will of Spirit, I was able to accept the universal love of life — even for those who were my captors. In doing so, the fist that held my heart loosened its grip, and I was able to become one with the ECK.

"Ultimately, we face SUGMAD alone, for it is only while alone that we empty ourselves of that which we would grasp and cling to in hopes of gaining happiness. And it is only when we are empty and alone that we can open ourselves entirely to the outpouring of Spirit. When loneliness appears in its foreboding, hooded shroud, know that with it will come a new fulfillment of love and light — just as the deep night sky reveals the happy stars and the radiant moon to show the way in the darkness."

With those last words, he looked out the window through which he had previously pointed to the setting sun. Again, I turned to see the sky. This time, it was dark — a deep, dark-blue, nighttime sky. I could see the stars twinkling, like little jewels of happiness. Off in the northern sky, I could see the half moon, glowing white. It reminded me of the Mahanta within.

I didn't look back into my room for awhile — how long, I'm not sure. I knew the two Masters had gone from my study, but that was okay. I kept staring at the moon. It had a soothing effect on me; maybe because I knew it would always be there, just as it had been those many years ago in that ancient time when Sri Towart Managi was going through his trials and troubles on the way to his acceptance of Mastership. I didn't mind the loneliness anymore. I thought about the moon — and though some day even it wouldn't be up there anymore, glowing in the sky, that didn't bother me. The ECK would always be, and I became happy, realizing that no matter how dark it got in my life, the light and love of the Mahanta would always glow in my heart to show me the way.