‘Why are humans finite? Why are we confined to the world?’ my thoughts often stray to these very basic questions many people ask throughout their life. But it is difficult to fully grasp the answer. It circles on the tip of my tongue, just there, yet still elusive.
But when I recall this question from a story I’ve read long ago the answer is clear and sharp.
“I wish I could fly like you Solomon.”
When I just moved to America, my mother gave me a book by one of her favorite authors Esther Hicks and Jerry Hicks. I was instantly drawn in by the title
Sara Learns the Secret about the Law of Attraction. I gently held the book and started to read it in my bed, determined to get through it by the end of the week.
Why, Sara? Why would you like to fly?
“Oh, Solomon, it’s so boring to have to walk around down here on the ground all the time. It’s so slow. It just takes forever to get places, and you can’t see much ether. Only stuff that’s down here on the ground with you. Boring stuff.”
The book was about a girl named Sara communicating with an owl named Solomon through thoughts and discovering astounding wisdom. On their fourth meeting, Sara expresses her desire to fly and Solomon asks her why. I was instantly enraptured by their conversation.
Well, Sara, it seems like you haven’t really answered my question.
“Yes, I did, Solomon. I said I want to fly because…”
Because you don’t like to walk around down here on the boring ground. You see, Sara, you didn’t tell me why you want to fly. You told me why you don’t want not to fly.
“There’s a difference?”
Oh yes, Sara. A big difference. Try again.
I was just an eleven-year-old child, but I fully understood what Solomon meant. As a child, I loved sitting among adults, listening to their conversation. Adults would frequently respond to a question without really answering it. Why? Even I, a child, knew that that wasn’t the answer. However, it never crossed my mind that I should ask them why they weren’t really answering the question.
Now, Sara, tell me why you want to fly. What would that be like? How would it feel? Make it feel real to me, Sara. Describe to me, what does flying feel like? I don’t want you to tell me what it’s like down on the ground, or what it is like not to fly. I want you to tell me what it’s like to fly.
This sequence of questions made me think of how often we forget that it is sometimes important to just imagine. When we want something, we often just complain that we can’t get what we want or just repeat out loud that we want it without really trying to imagine the joy when we do have it. It seems obvious that we desire something because we imagine we will feel good when we have it, yet we often concentrated on the negative thoughts of “we can’t.”
How does flying feel, Sara? Describe what it feels like to fly.
“It would be so much fun, Solomon! Flying just has to be so much fun. I could soar as fast as the wind It would feel to free. It feels so good, Solomon!”
As Sara goes on to describe the feeling of being able to fly, she actually finds herself in the air, flying with Solomon. While being absorbed in her vision, she achieved something she never thought she could!
Like Sara, Saints, prophets, famous people, and even Jesus Christ achieved great and splendid things through powerful imagination, stemmed from a strong belief that it will happen. Christ placed faith in himself and God, talking of things that will happen, how they will happen, and why they will happen. His miracles were results of his absolute faith in God and belief that he can do it. And his belief could only be manifested through his imagination.
This sudden realization allowed me to ponder on the restrictions we placed upon ourselves. I don’t have money. I can’t do what she can do. I can’t become a doctor. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t… No wonder we can’t do anything!
Sara, did you notice, that as long as you were talking about what you didn’t want, that you couldn’t get what you did want? But when you began talking about what you did want—even more important, when you were able to begin feeling what you did want—then it came instantly?
Sara was quiet, trying to remember back. But it wasn’t easy to think about anything that she was thinking or feeling before she was flying. She would much rather think about the flying part.
Not just flying, Sara. I want you to practice thinking about what you do want, and thinking about why you want what you want—until you’re able to really feel it. That is the most important thing you’ll learn from me, Sara. Have fun with thins.
I was stricken to the core by the lightening knowledge. I trembled in my bed and realized how stupid people are. How stupid we all are for being blinded by our negative mind and thoughts. This is what it meant when Christ said that our hearts are hardened. This is what it meant when Christ said to be like him.
Of course, the leap of connection I made from Solomon’s statement is a personal revelation, not something everyone can understand. But I’m certain many other people had similar experience through other texts.
Few years ago, I wrote a paper reflecting on my thoughts upon this:
Ask, and it shall be given. Believe, for you will attain it. Acknowledge, for you have it already. This is my philosophy, a belief that resounds in my heart. Looking into the mirror allows me to contemplate what I truly desire. And when I find it, I adhere to the first step - asking.
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (KJV Matthew 7:7). I realized I was almost quoting the Bible, and I didn’t even know it! I’ve read Sara years before I actually read Bible, and this philosophy was already a part of me.
Throughout nineteen years of my life, I’ve witnessed various miracles, just as spectacular as Sara’s. I will not say them now because I still have difficulty trying to wrap my mind around it—yes, I’m still befuddled by what I’ve seen and experienced. I’m still young, inexperienced, and at times foolish, unable to adhere to my philosophy and Christ’s doctrine, yet I know there will come a time I will be no longer be bound to the laws of the world, free to make my desire a reality.
I attended the three o'clock session Milton: Paradise, Politics, and Catharsis, overseen by Professor Burton. I attended this specific session because I had personal interest in finding out how Milton's Paradise Lost and religious writings influenced Christianity since their publication. I've never been able to wrap my head around Paradise Lost, even though I greatly enjoyed his poem "Il Penseroso" and "L'Allegro", because biblical figures were so... human. There is great freedom in the portrayal of each character, but I still couldn't help but think the book a little ridiculous. From what I know, many people from this period were significantly influenced by Milton's writings... and I couldn't understand why.
I've currently got feedback from my friend, but I haven't received any feedbacks from my family. According to what my friend says, she says it will be great if I focus not just on the characters, but the setting and the background of the each novel. In Sara, the setting is often in the woods or secluded place where there isn't people around. In Alice, the setting is Wonderland, where strange citizens of Wonderland is present, yet there is no normal people. Both Alice and Sara have something to do with dream as well. I'm trying to wrap my head around these ideas and connecting these two characters. Michelle was a great help.
My family is one. My mother and my sister are the most straight-forward, honest people in the world, unlike me. They are wonderful, but they can be harsh, make no mistake. I got to say, feedback from them will be another roller coaster. But they are very much like me, spiritual, and a little quirky. They also read Sara, so I'm looking forward to what they've got to say about my writing.
