There was once a little island in the middle of the ocean, the big, blue ocean of existence. It was surrounded by water and marvelous creatures. The sun used to caress its sandy body and fill it with life, with trees and flowers and birds. It was an easy life, just being what it was, just existing as a creation of the most beautiful kind. But the island suddenly felt lonely. It all started when messages from faraway lands arrived to its shores through the singing of the birds and through lost letters in empty glass bottles. The island suddenly realized the world it had known for such a long time was just a small part of a huge Universe, so it started to feel curious, and started to pray that somehow it could see all that, or at least, have the company of people who have been to other places so they could tell stories of faraway lands and different cultures.
One day a ship arrived to its shore. In it there was an explorer who was traveling the world, and that after a huge storm, the waves had washed the remains of the ship and herself to one of the beaches of the island. The island was so grateful that its wish was becoming true, all the trees and plants flowered as a welcome and nurturing gift for the mysterious explorer.
The island could only communicate through the universal language of Nature, and the explorer, after being in so many places, could understand perfectly every single sound of the wind and the rain, and the animals, and the waves, and the stars.
Their souls became attached quickly, as it was meant to be for them to find each other. Days, months, years went by, and the explorer became part of the island and its story. She had finally found her home.
One day, another ship arrived to the island. This time, the people in it were not in search of lasting peace, but in search of land and gold. They brought with them all the selfishness and cruelty that sometimes mankind, human beings, can bear in their hearts after losing the connection to the infinite source of life; love.
They started destroying the island, first by cutting the beautiful palm trees and building their homes, then by killing the animals of the earth, and the fish in the water. All they wanted was material possessions. The island slowly started to regret having felt lonely in the past and attracting people to itself. The island was losing against mankind, and the poor explorer couldn’t do anything to stop the situation from getting worse and worse. They both saw how these men had lost all connection to Nature, and to themselves; they couldn’t even hear the island crying and suffering, while bleeding its life away.
The explorer was also slowly dying, as her soul was forever attached to the little island, and their union could never be broken.
Everything started sinking slowly, and storms would hit the island almost every day. Trees and animals couldn’t provide food or shelter anymore and the men and women started fleeing the island full of fear that it would disappear underwater. Everyone slowly started leaving the island, after having taken with them all they could.
The island looked deserted, without life, a piece of broken heart in the middle of the deep, blue, ocean. Only the explorer remained on its deserted body. Nothing was left except sand and soul. But they were once again happy and grateful, and more full of hope than ever. They trusted the Universe would provide them sunlight and rain, and the trees would grow again slowly, and the animals and fish would return. And life would be easy again, just being, just existing. But the explorer, after many days without anything to survive with, left her body and died, leaving it behind in the sand, and uniting forever her soul to the little island. As one soul, they were eternally content in their loneliness, without anything else, as it was the completeness of themselves, and within themselves, what they had always longed for.
Now they knew the true meaning of life and existence. There was no need to find anything outside themselves, as the whole Universe was, and had always been, contained within their souls.
Journey To The Self 