One day the sun admitted,
I am just a shadow.
I wish I could show you
The infinite incandescence
that has cast my brilliant image!
I wish I could show you
when you are lonely or in darkness
The astonishing light
of your own being.
-Hafiz
The Atlas of Curiosities: Part 9
Though he did not reveal by what craft he had captured the birds, or in what environment he kept them, the boy indicated that he renewed his attempt at flight each morning. Though it was unclear how he had secured the yarn around them, or by what magic they were uninjured and unescaped, he nodded solemnly when we inquired into these details, ensuring us that he had taken the birds welfare into consideration. The cold winter’s morning brought that strange feeling to our noses, and our breath was visible as he trudged out into the field. Looking around, he seemed satisfied that there was plenty of space for an attempt.
He gazed quietly up at the clouds, perhaps judging windspeed, or contemplating the conditions of Michigan’s upper atmosphere. Then, he looked down, holding his chin against his chest, and with a flourish he extended his arms, allowing the birds to extend their wings. They surged upwards and for a moment the silence was broken by their squawking, struggling attempts at liftoff.
The boy did not look up, but after several seconds had passed and his feet had not left the ground, he sighed and lowered his arms. Pulling on the lines of yarn one by one, he brought the birds back into his arms and covered them with his jacket. Black feathers floated down around him, landing one by one in the snow.
“I try,” he said quietly. “Everyday I try.”
He began walking quietly back to his home, where his mother, and perhaps his daily chores, were waiting. While our boots crunched the snow, he paused, and we caught up to him, and he looked up at the sky again.
In which Tim Treadwell is kidnapped by rabbit scientists, turned into a bear, cloned, put in a rocket ship, flown into outer space, landed on an alien planet and subseqeuntly consumed by a ferocious alien.
I experienced a roller coaster of emotions.
According to the The Guardian, a Spanish teenager who was recognized by Tibetan Buddhists as a Lama (reincarnated spiritual leader) has denounced his Buddhism and returned to Spain.
As a toddler, he was put on a throne and worshipped as by monks who treated him like a god. But the boy chosen by the Dalai Lama as a reincarnation of a spiritual leader has caused consternation – and some embarrassment – for Tibetan Buddhists by turning his back on the order that had such high hopes for him.
Instead of leading a monastic life, Osel Hita Torres now sports baggy trousers and long hair, and is more likely to quote Jimi Hendrix than Buddha.
...blah blah blah…
According to the foundation biography, another leader suspected Torres was the reincarnation of the recently deceased Lama Yeshe when he was only five months old. In 1986, at 14 months, his parents took him to see the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. The toddler was chosen out of nine other candidates and eventually “enthroned”.
At six, he was allowed to socialise only with other reincarnated souls – though for a time he said he lived next to the actor Richard Gere’s cabin.
By 18, he had never seen couples kiss. His first disco experience was a shock. “I was amazed to watch everyone dance. What were all those people doing, bouncing, stuck to one another, enclosed in a box full of smoke?”
It is only a matter of time before he reaches enlightenment. The original story of the Buddha, of course, is one of a rich prince, Siddhartha, who is not allowed to leave the palace until he reaches adulthood. Feeling rebellious, he convinces a servant to bring him into the surrounding town. Once there, he witnesses sickness, old age, and death, things that were hidden from him throughout his early life. Confronted with the reality of the world in which he lives, Siddhartha embarks on a life of harsh monasticism, nearly starving himself to death. Later, realizing that neither hedonism nor deprivation is productive, he finds the Middle Path, and becomes the Buddha, the awakened one.
This is the same story, it is just happening in a slightly rearranged order. The kid will be under a Bodhi tree intercessing for all beings in short order.