The Mountain Serenade
Who doesn't love a mountain sky on a clear starry night? No honking cars, no flashing neon lights, and no police sirens - nothing interferes...
We now begin the fourth and final stage of our journey up the trail to tranquility. Now that we've made peace with God, with our fellow man, and with ourselves, we feel an invigorating sensation of emotional and spiritual freedom. We're now ready to begin the final stage of our journey up the trail to tranquility and to pave our own personal road to lasting happiness.
This chapter introduces us to the art of personal prayer – how to develop an honest, loving, and no-middleman relationship with God.
Who doesn't love a mountain sky on a clear starry night? No honking cars, no flashing neon lights, and no police sirens – nothing interferes with creation's broadcast. Up in the hills or out in the woods, things are simple – your mind just doesn't seem to focus on material demands. A few whole-wheat crackers and a can of sardines with a fresh cup of coffee brewed over the coals of a bonfire are enough to make you feel like a multimillionaire. Under an open sky, you feel a unique sense of calm and inner peace – solid proof that happiness doesn't depend on material possessions. On the contrary – all the money and frills of the material world won't buy tranquility.
The Mountain Serenade
Old Isaac and Jerry drink their coffee in silence. Their sipping seems to meld with the symphony around them. They hear a coyote singing his soulful melody. A bullfrog joins in with a bass accompaniment. The crickets provide background music, and high up in a fir tree, an owl syncopates with an occasional hoot. In the distance, they hear the percussion of thunder, while the waters of a nearby spring harmonize the overture.
In the Marines, Jerry had spent plenty of time in the outdoors at night – in deserts, in mountains, and in the woods – but was always engaged in a mission or a maneuver. With Isaac, he's at liberty to enjoy the nocturnal concert.
Isaac says that the nightly mountain serenade is none other than each creation's song of praise to the Creator. He knows; for generations, wise men with fine tuned spiritual sensitivity have been able to understand the language of birds, animals, and even plants.
Old Isaac and Jerry are sitting by the glowing embers of their waning campfire, some 7,000 feet above sea level in the vicinity of Purity Springs, and less than a mile from the top of Mount Patience. At midnight, both are still engrossed in the audible raptures of the night. Suddenly, Isaac asks, "Jerry, what do you hear?"
At midnight, humanity seems to relinquish control of the world to the plant and animal kingdom. Jerry feels an indescribable peacefulness – a rare type of simplicity – the extreme opposite from the hustle and bustle of the day. He concentrates on the sounds of the night, closes his eyes, and lets his ears predominate. He hears amazing sounds. "I hear applause – as if the trees are applauding."
"Good boy," Isaac says, "that's the wind blowing through the dry seed pods of the acacias on the ridge below. What else do you hear?"
Again, Jerry closes his eyes and concentrates on the night. He experiences a wonderful sensation, as if his entire being is in perfect fusion with the mountain environment. "I hear whispering, as if one person is whispering, and then a hundred others answer."
"Bravo!" Isaac applauded. "You are hearing the wind rustling the tallest reed by the spring, followed by the rustling of all the other reeds."
"Really?"
"Yes. Next time you see a clump of reeds, whether up here at high elevation or down in the valley, notice that the tallest reed is always in the center of the clump, surrounded by a few hundred congregant reeds. The tallest reed is the cantor – he leads the others in prayer. He sings a song of praise to the Almighty, and then congregant reeds follow suit in unison."
Isaac elaborates, "You know that the plants and the animals have spirituality on their own levels; you're hearing them. Concentrate now, and try to listen to something inanimate – minerals have spirituality, too."
Jerry is perplexed. What, rocks make noises? He puts his reservations aside, because when a person is fortunate enough to be with a spiritual master like Old Isaac, he shouldn't let his own limited thinking get in the way. So, Jerry does exactly as told, and concentrates on the inanimate. "Isaac! I hear giggling – from the north of us, about a quarter mile away!"
Isaac laughs his hearty laugh and congratulates Jerry. "Wonderful! I'm so proud of you! The giggling sounds are the waters from the underground spring that surface a quarter mile to the north of here – Purity Springs."
Old Isaac has phenomenal explanations for another dozen different sounds of the night. For each sound, he has three different legends from Talmud and Kabbala. They hear a bullfrog croaking nearby. "Are frogs mentioned in the Talmud, Isaac?" Jerry knows the obvious answer; he just wants Isaac to tell another tale.
"They certainly are," Isaac nods, and tells another one of his rich legends, that's just about as old as the foothills of Mount Patience:
King David and the Frog
When Dovid HaMelech (King David) finished composing the one hundred and fifty songs of praise that comprise the Sefer Tehillim (Book of Psalms), he looked up to the Heavens and asked, "My Lord in Heaven, do you have another being on earth who praises You as much as I do?"
Suddenly, a frog jumped onto Dovid HaMelech's hand. "Excuse me, Your Majesty," said the frog respectfully, "but please don't boast. I praise the Lord much more than you do. You have written one hundred and fifty songs of praise; I have authored three thousand – twenty times more than you. Not only that, but for each of my three thousand songs, I have three thousand proverbs which tell of the magnitude of God, and I'm only a frog…"
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We ask ourselves, if the mineral, plant, and animal beings talk to God all day long, then why don't we? We're supposed to be higher beings, yet many of us don't even talk to God once a day!
Personal Prayer – talking to God in your own language with your own words – has the power to cure one's emotional ills like no psychological or psychiatric therapy can. Those who make a daily practice of pouring their hearts to God can and have overcome alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and all forms of stress. They've saved tremendous amounts of money on analysts. Nothing is as conducive to one's physical welfare as the reduction of anxiety achieved by a daily conversational session with God.
* * *
The next portion of this chapter answers frequently asked questions about personal prayer, and gives advice how to make it work for you. The end of the chapter provides you with an emotional first-aid kit. Fear or aversions to organized religion, dogmatic doctrines, or self-serving clergyman no longer have to stand in your way to a genuine relationship with God.
To be continued . . .
(The Trail to Tranquility is available in the Breslev Store.)
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