There was a very wealthy, and powerful lady. She was of noble birth, and had inherited a vast wealth from her parents, and also from her deceased husband.
She had been widowed while very young, and only had one son.
She loved her son dearly, and she cultivated his mind, body, and spirit, with the tenderness and care, as if she were to tend to the most precious of gardens.
Clare forbade television, except for the National Geographic, and the History Channels. Most video games which promulgated violence, were absent from her household, because she deemed those to desensitize impressionable minds, to the anguish and horrors inflicted by wars and violence.
Even before her son’s birth, Clare listened to classical music, and read the classics novels out loud to him. And as soon as he was old enough, he was tutored in the art of music, painting, foreign languages, and a keen appreciation for classic literature.
Perhaps this woman was too preoccupied with the nurturing of her son. Yet, not needing to work for a living and a widow at the tender age of twenty-five, she devoted all of her pent up energy, on just her son.
Yet, there was an ulterior, driving force which led Clare to devote so much care, and devotion to the tutoring of her only son. Clare was highly superstitious and she consulted periodically with an old woman who read the Tarot cards to foretell the future.
On one such occasion when her son was barely two-years-old, the fortune teller had advised Clare that her son was a very important piece of a puzzle. For in the coming years, there would be escalated conflicts between the dark and light forces.
Her son needed to find his real soul mate on earth - she would be the most beautiful, and from their union, there would be borne a son.
Their son, would be a leader among men, and critical in the fight against evil, hopelessness, and human despair. He would supply the most important and elusive element of his time – hope for mankind.
-“Oh my, how on earth will Phillip be able to pick just the right woman?” Clare wondered out loud.
-“It’s fairly easy. There are no coincidences Clare. I have inherited a magical mirror, and it is meant for you. You can buy it for what you think is a fair price, for it is priceless.
The hope of mankind is on the balance. This mirror will not reflect the exterior beauty, for it is meant to reflect the vital body, and the real innate beauty, or ugliness of the person standing before it.” The old fortune teller offered.
-“I will take it! Although give me some time to place a fair price on it, as I will study its properties at my leisure. I will send my employee to fetch it.”
And so, the years passed, although not spent idly. Although Clare had plenty of suitors due to her vast wealth, youth, and good looks, she utilized well the magic mirror to see the true interior of her suitors. This deterred most of them from pursuing any further, when she told me in strict form - to leave her alone.
When her son Phillip was ten years old, Clare filled his days with studies, and for physical exercise, he was to tend the extensive gardens. His job was to water the plants, and to clear the weeds.
-“Phillip see the vast beauty in nature, God is present in every flower, every leaf, and in every miniscule insect which lives in the gardens.
Life, like the seasons, shows us that it is a continual cycle. We are born, grow, wither and our exterior perishes, and we are reborn again, though in a different form. And if you put your ear to the earth, you can hear her talk to the sun, and to the moon.”
When Phillip was fourteen-years-old, he was relieved from the gardens, and made to work each Saturday in a soup kitchen. He chopped mounds of carrots, potatoes, and celery sticks. The job was tedious, and hard, and besides cooking huge pots of food, he also had to serve food to the indigent people, who came for a hot meal to appease their hunger.
Before initiating this job, Clare said to Phillip: -“If you do a job well, no matter how menial, then you are giving the best of yourself. This will reflect on the finished product like the soup, for the people will taste in the meal the positive energy you have contributed.
And when you meet someone who may not be appealing in form or scent, please don’t show discontent; simply smile to them. You must always remember that in everybody lies a precious soul which sparkles with the intensity of the sun.”
And so, the years passed and although Phillip was utterly exhausted with the information crammed into his skull, and the voluntary labor he was involved with, his hormones were beginning to cause havoc with his developing body.
His concentration was disrupted by filtered images of girls, even though Clare had enrolled him in an all male college preparatory. He was about to graduate and to leave to higher education, when he fell deeply in love with a beautiful girl.
To be continued...
"Girl With a Mirror" by John Godward
