The Barren Valley

Among the green hills, there is a barren valley. Once this place was thriving and beautiful, fruitful and fertile. Farms and small villages dotted it, and it's reputation for fertile soil spread.  War, for generations, marched back and froth across this valley.  Livestock were killed or escaped.  Crops alternately burned or rotted in the feild.  Homes blazed.  Now this place is an unmarked graveyard for those who coveted it.  Broken weapons and armor, bleached bones and broken objects mark where soldiers fell.

In this place, you can respectfully look around trying to recognize messages about your destructve or covetous tendencies.  Does a broken cottage remind you of something? Or maybe it's the tarnished and damaged heraldry on a shield.  Are you a survivor of wanton and nonsensical warring?

This barren, war torn valley is a place to mourn, to listen to the messages of the past.  Cry your tears, feed the land, and one day, it will return to it's former glory or be overtaken by nature.  The sorrow and anger of the place will diminish and it will hold other lessons for us to learn.

The Village

There is a village near the sea that is an interesting place to visit.  It is busy and filled with people, animals and activity.  Of all the places I have led you so far, this place is the most densely populated.  You will not be able to walk around withour brushing shoulders with the inhabitants.

Look around and notice the sheer number of people, animals and buildings surrounding you.  Everywhere, people are attending to their business. Items and services are being bartered; children play among the adults, and animals add their sounds to the noisy atmosphere.  people will bump into you here, often.  Strangely, no one will acknowledge your presence.  They are too wrapped up in their own affairs to care about who you are and why you are here.

What pieces of your life are here in this village?  Do you recognize people or situations?  Is there a message for you here?  This is the Village of the Invisible.  Each person is invisible to most of the others.  They stick to their own cliques and circles, never venturing out.  They are trapped by their refusal to see others.  Their lives never change because they see no other way of being.  Among the lessons to be learned here are those pertaining to our individual blind spots.  Do you see yourself in this village?  Do you recognize when and where you refuse to see possibilities?

Explore this village carefully.  Lessons and discoveries are everywhere, should you choose to see them.  When you have had your fill of this place, feel free to take your leave; do not linger here to long, so that you do not become lost.