Lesson from the Spirit

I see a forge. They blow the fire in the furnace, and the ringing of metal reaches me as it is struck with a sledgehammer.

“This is about tempering the spirit.
With each blow your spirit is tempered, becomes firmer.

The smith has forged a key, but it is an unusual key, with many teeth. They show that it opens several doors, and each time a door is opened, some of those teeth fall away, like stages of a rocket. Like seven stages, seven doors.

“You came here for practice, for answers?”
“What is this lesson about?”
“It is about tempering, about shaping your soul, about how from coarse, unworked material one can make a work of art, giving that piece of metal certain features, strokes, marks unique to it. And on each finished piece, like a stamp, your own imprint, which is proof of the authenticity of your thoughts, your convictions, your spirituality.
Why is it hard for you to go forward? Because you are that unworked piece of material, in which not everyone can see the future work of art—the potential contained within it. Because of that you do not begin the work—shaping yourself. After a couple of blows you look without seeing the final result and become disappointed, despairing, and abandon the undertaking. That is why it is so important to move forward in trust, without thinking, without looking back. Only in this way can you arrive at a completed result.

It is hard without a sketch, without a clear idea of what you will get in the end. It is hard to go into knowing, but this is your path, a path that cannot be judged as near or far, long or short. Everyone has their own path.”