The Metaphor

Religion was once a town that I walked through. It took me a long time to find my way out of the city limits since most modes of transport within the town of religion only made circles within itself.

This was a rather unique town as there were no speed limit signs; only thought limit signs. The local Library of Religion was elaborate with giant stone columns leading to the interior, where the librarians said they have the answers to everything. The only problem was they never allowed any questions to be asked.

After I had found my way out of the town, the road that lay ahead was empty; but not empty with despair. It was empty like a clean slate - with endless possibilities because nothing had been pre-written. There were no limitations pre-set by someone else; and there was no one there that was interested in scaring me into following their ways.

As I stood with one foot inside of the city limits and one on the road ahead, I wondered just how crazy I must be to turn away from all the town and its people had trained into me. There was a road sign next to me that read: Proceed With Caution.

Then, as I peered back at the long and winding road through the town of religion, a man walked up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “This road you are about to take does not lead to Heaven. If you go, you will be lost forever.”

To which I said, “In order to be lost, I would have to know where I am going, but have no idea how to get there. Yes, sir, it is true that I do not know where this road will lead; but I do know how to get to where I am going.”

The man replied, “That is impossible. How can you know where to go without God guiding you? You are a fool.”

I smiled at the man and slid my foot across the city limit line and onto the road ahead and said, “God is not contained within this town. This invisible line cannot keep God prisoner just for your use only.”

Just then, the caution sign changed before my eyes to: Proceed With Fearlessness. I asked the man if he saw the sign change and he said no. To him, the sign still reflected a warning of caution. It had only changed for me, and suddenly I knew why. Because I had dared to release my fear, the world and its messages began to mirror my new beliefs; changing my view on the world appeared to have an effect on the world itself.

The man did not understand this and backed away from me with a look of terror; he warned me over and over, but I looked out across the new landscape before me and just knew everything was going to be all right. The more steps I took away from the town, the lighter my shoulders felt; the more freely my heart beat. I began to feel all my current knowledge expand around me. I could tell I was outside of the box.

That’s when a woman appeared next to me. She was also a traveler, but had left her town many foot-steps ago. She told me of her many adventures and of all the people she had met that helped her along the way. She showed me things that my training had taught me were impossible. I discovered that the very atmosphere around me contained all of the riches and knowledge I could ever want. I found out that in order to live a life of greatness; all I had to do was know I was great.

She said, “If you chase greatness, you will not find it because you will be chasing something externally that already exists within yourself. That would be like a dog chasing its own tail.”

I understood. Nothing exists outside of me. Everything is internal. Looking outside of myself for something is like looking into a void. I am completely self-contained. I asked my new friend, “Doesn’t that seem narcissistic?”

And she said, “Only to those who believe they are less than they really are. People simply aren’t realizing the secret of all things; if a person wishes to create something, one has only to realize that creation is not required, since all of creation is finished.”

“Say again?”

“Your chosen reality is sort of like playing Grand Theft Auto, or any other game for that matter," the woman began. "The game program contains every possible move the player can make; every street, every character, ever visual effect, every sound – everything. And although the player has no idea what is around the next corner, or what curve will be thrown their way during the game, the game program already contains the answers to all of the game’s mysteries. Nothing is unknown. The game wasn’t partially completed and left for the player to finish.

"Then, when the game is inserted into the computer, the game is read from front to back. The game disc does not keep secrets from the computer. From this analogy, the computer is like the soul, the game is the reality, and the player is your body; (our body being clueless most of the time, but still having fun in the process).

"Does this help you? We are all on the one path of a finished creation, selecting different realities within it along the way. But no matter which reality is selected, the soul, which is the real you, already knows that everything will turn out okay in the end.”

I said, “That is amazing."

And she said, “If you change the way you believe, the change will be unbelievable.”

- JB Lewis