Little Pine fell asleep with the sights and sounds of the day whirling inside him.
How magical it all had been! It was more beautiful than anything he had ever experienced.
Yet inside him, questions mixed with the images. What was it all about? What did it all really mean?
He sensed that he was right on the edge of understanding. But before he could find his answers, the dancing images of the day spun him off to the world of dreams.
The dreams finally faded to darkness as Little Pine entered a deep, peaceful sleep.
And that is when the beautiful bird appeared.
“I have heard your heart’s questions, dear Little Pine,” it cooed. “And I have come to unravel the mysteries for you.
“Everything in your world is but a reflection of something greater. Only a portion of who we are takes on earthly form.
“Think of the love that you feel in your heart. Think of the friendships that you hold dear. Think of the way that music stirs you, and of the thrill that beauty provides. These things are all a part of you. And yet you cannot see them. They do not show themselves in earthly form. They are too large, too pure, too high. And yet you know that they are more real than anything that your eyes can see or ears can hear.
“Behind the sweet earthly being who is Little Pine is a vast, magnificent Pine that you might call your soul. Only a sliver of it can become dense enough to experience this earthly adventure. And that little sliver is you.
“You know that your Festival celebrates the sun. Well, the Sun behind the sun is Love, a love so deep and vast and pure, that it causes worlds upon worlds to come into being, worlds as small as the tiniest particle and as large as all the heavens. This is the source of light, this Love, and of life itself. And the miracle is that it lives within us, and is us, and calls us by our names.
“And that is what we celebrate, Little Pine. That is the reason for our ecstatic joy.
“We forget, when we descend into the darkness of our heavy earth forms, that we are the children of this Love and its Light. We get lost in our illusions of separateness and suffering. And so, every year, just when the night is longest, Nature sings anew the eternal promise of the Light’s return. It reminds us that the Light can never die, for it springs from the Love that is everything, and beyond all things and within them.
“And that is why we dance, Little Pine. That is why we sing.”
And when it had spoken, the beautiful bird faded away, and Little Pine sank into a deep and dreamless sleep and floated in its peace.
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