I have passed through fire and deep water since we parted. I have forgotten much that I thought I knew, and learned again much that I had forgotten. I can see many things far off, but many things that are close at hand I cannot see.
The hand of a friend did the killing, so it was unexpected. The knife entered the heart from the back and emerged near the left breast, piercing through. The Laird of the Castle turned to meet his assailant, but stumbled from the precipice and fell into a crack between two great rocks far below. Upon that point of death, just before the soul leaves the body, the Laird entered an eternal abyss and was forgotten by time. Long he fell, aware only of the pain and of dying. As he fell deeper, he passed through fire so hot that the knife in his heart glowed red. Finally, like a comet, he hit water, cold and deep. Slowly he sank to the bottom and there he remained outside of time while, in the world above, Kings rose and fell and Kings were restored again. Creation went on above him, but the Laird remained, lying upon a flat rock in the earth's deepest well.
There came a fish, searching for food. Sifting the substrate, the fish grabbed the handle of the knife and pulled it out of the Laird' s back. The fish spit the knife back upon the flat rock. The movement caused the Laird to awaken. Eventually the Laird, feeling the holy and healing effects of water, began to notice the rocks at the bottom of the well, and reached out for one to inspect it. Memory had died completely, the rock was all the Laird knew. When he knew the first rock perfectly, he reached out for another. This pleased the fish greatly, as there were often living creatures under the rocks that were of an edible size. Soon the supply of rocks close at hand was exhausted. The Laird wished to examine more rocks and eventually the idea of movement came to the Laird's mind. Thus the Laird slowly made his way out of the deep well, feeding the great fish as he went along.
Some rocks the Laird kept, because there was something in their shape that was suggestive to him. A white rock perfectly round caused a stirring in his mind, yet he could not tell if it was a memory that stirred or if it was an idea new to him. When the Laird and the great fish finally reached the shore, the Laird climbed out of the water. He saw his beloved white rock shining in the sky while he yet held it in his hand. He sat down on the rocky shore and slept. Brightness and warmth woke him in the morning. He saw a yellow rock shining in the sky. He remembered a great yellow rock he had seen during his long journey under water. He went to the shore to feed his fish. He then bid his fish to retrieve the yellow rock. When he had his yellow rock in his hand, he was glad that his yellow rock had created the sun and its warmth. He spent many days with the rocks on the shore, gathering them and examining them. The shape of one rock brought the virtue of loyalty to his mind. He was glad that his rock had created this virtue, but he felt a pain over his left breast when he looked at this rock. The rock of loyalty reminded him that he had not given his fish worms for several days. He returned to the shore and fed the fish. He then bid the fish to return to the deep well and bring back the flat rock he had laid upon for so long and the knife that the fish had pulled from out his heart. The Laird used the flat rock for his bed. The flat rock had been part of the core of the earth since the beginning of time. It remembered all that had happened. The Laird found that he had slept upon this rock so long, that it was comfortable for him. He discovered that, by putting his body in different positions upon the rock as he slept, he could see images from the beginning of time in his dreams. He especially liked seeing how his rocks, that he gathered around himself in great abundance, had come into existence.
So it was that the Laird slowly pieced together all that he had once known. He found a rock that brought the idea of love to his mind. When he placed this rock next to the rock of loyalty, the rocks fit together in a pleasing way. By contemplation of the two rocks together he could understand how loyalty and love were related. Soon he had a great garden of rocks, the most beautiful and illuminating rock garden that ever existed. He lived with his fish and sought understanding from his rocks.
One day he found a rock that especially intrigued him. He examined it very closely, it's color, shape and size became second nature to him. He carried it everywhere he went. He placed it next to every rock in his garden, but he gained no illumination as to the meaning of this rock. He talked to this rock and believed that it answered. It said, "I am here, come find me." But he did not understand the rock. It was not until he used the knife that had killed him to cut out his dead heart and put the rock inside the cavity in his chest that he began to make any progress towards understanding this rock. Now that he had a heart made of rock, the Laird was very much a part of his rock garden. Not only did he understand the meaning of all things and the relationships among them, but he himself was an integral part of these things and relationships. He had absorbed the Tao and the Tao had absorbed him. He was hungry for the first time since he had left the water. He went to his fish, who instructed him to drink water from the stream and who brought him weeds and small fish to boil and eat. The rock within his chest had changed to living flesh and warm blood. But yet it was still a rock and it needed the rock that would complement and complete the rock that was in his chest.
Next to the shore, where the Laird had made his fabulous rock garden, there was a ring of mountains. What was beyond the mountains the Laird had never cared about, for he had plenty of rocks where he was. But now the Laird was determined to find the matching rock for the rock that was in his chest. He climbed the mountain towards the sun. At the mountain top the heat in his chest was very great, just as it had been during the fall through the fire when the knife that had pierced his heart glowed red. He thought he would die from the pain. In agony, the Laird clenched his fist above his head. As he did so, a flash of lightning came out of his fist and thunder rent the sky, relieving his chest forever of this pain. He rode the lightning into the sky, above the mountains and to the end of the world.
Far away there lived a girl who was not concerned with rocks. She lived in a land as hot as the Laird's land was cold, as lush as the Laird's land was barren. There were plenty of rocks, but no one cared for them or tended them or learned from them. There was no need, for God had revealed his truth directly to the people of this land. Rock gardens were popular, but merely decorative. This girl was lovely and brown. She was as beautiful as the sun, as mysterious as the moon, and as sweet as virtue itself. She discouraged courting, but knew that one day she wanted a husband and that he would come from afar. While she was swimming with friends, she picked up a rock from the beach and put it in her pocket. When she returned home, she put the rock on a shelf in her bedroom. For many nights she dreamed of leaving her family and starting a family of her own. She felt she was ready. Eventually she noticed the rock again and took it back to the beach. She looked at its pleasing shape and color and whispered to it: "I am here, come find me." She threw the rock into the sea, and gave it no further thought. No one knows how the rock came to the Laird, but you would be disappointed unless I told you that it was carried by the great fish that the Laird tended and loved. By talking to the small rock, the Laird got to know the beautiful girl by the same way that he learned everything, by staring at rocks. The girl knew the Laird was coming, for she had prayed to God and He had given her a sign.
So it was no surprise when the Laird of the Rocks flew through the sky and came to the girl, asking her father for her hand in marriage. It was no surprise that the father said yes, saying that by your coming you show that you love my daughter and I know that she loves you because she talks of nothing else. So the wedding was celebrated and the marriage was consummated on the beach of the beautiful tropical island so gloriously that waves were made in the seas that lapped at the shores of a rock garden thousands of miles away, washing earthworms from under the rocks out to the waiting mouth of a great fish.
"But why are you always looking at rocks, my husband?," the beautiful girl asked. Then the Laird of the Rocks explained how his rocks had created the moon, the sun, and all virtue. And he explained that, by positioning the rocks together, he had created understanding. The girl laughed. "These things existed before your rocks, but I'm glad you know about them."
Copyright Peter MacHare 1991