THREE PILGRIMS THREE PILGRIMS

„I would like to tell you a story. So many stories are told to me by the souls who cross my threshold and seek rest and advice at my roots. They are stories that have become deeply engraved in their memories and have become overgrown over time. Like a wild garden, my own thoughts then intertwine with the original story, intertwine with each other like vines and grow together until a completely new memory emerges.

The story I would like to tell you is about three pilgrims who met by the fire for a night’s rest. They had come long distances and had lost themselves on them, searching for themselves in order to feel the ground beneath their own feet in the uncertainty of their next step and to recognize their true selves in their reflection on the raindrops.

All three were simply dressed and carried what little they had with them in a bundle over their shoulders. Their long hike was visible, and their weather-beaten skin showed in many tiny folds, like paths on a map, the thousand paths that had led them here.

That evening, the paths of the lonely wanderers crossed and they spent the night together by the fire before going their separate ways again in the morning.

They sat quietly by the fire and watched the play of the embers, the dance of the sparks against the dark night sky, and told each other about their journeys. And as they talked quietly, they realized that they had all come across the same question on their journey: What is it that is inherent in everything? What is the origin that runs through everything like a principle, the essence of things? Love, they had pondered, or carbon.

“It’s change,” said one of them. The others were silent and thought about it for a moment. And the longer they thought about it, the clearer it seemed to them, and they both agreed with a murmur. “It’s growth and change that keep everything alive,” the first one continued to think aloud.

“Well,” replied the second, “you speak the truth that everything is subject to change. But change brings death. The line of life is ended. The flower that blossoms in beauty and abundance withers, and the journey that brings experiences and encounters comes to an end. Change pervades us all and everything, but it means the end.“ And they watched as a piece of wood, which had just been flickering lively in the heart of the fire, fell from the hearth onto the dry ground and the flame grew smaller and smaller until it finally went out and after a while all the glow died out too. All that remained was a charred black stump.

Then the third man said: “Change is in everything.” He was silent for a moment and listened to the crackling before continuing. „The wood, when it was still dormant in the tree, had the ability to serve as a source of warmth for us tonight. All it needed was a hand to strike it and pile it up, and a spark to make it glow on its own. The glow turns the wood into black coal.“ He immersed himself in the play of colors of the embers, which painted red patterns on the logs deep inside the fire. „All change is already set in motion. It just needs to be triggered.“ And he carefully took the burnt-out piece of wood and put it back into the fire, where it immediately began to blaze again. Once again, the three lonely men were silent together.

Then the first one spoke again. “Everything is constantly changing.” He followed a spark with his eyes until it died out in front of the stars. „We are and we are not, we change with every breath. We cannot do the same thing twice, because both we and the world around us have already changed, so that what we have done becomes something new, something of our own. We are no longer the same as when we left home. And we are no longer the same people who sat down by this fire just a few hours ago. And tomorrow morning, when each of us sets off again, we will be different.“ And again some time passed in which they let the thought mature and watched the sparks fly.

“The worlds are filled with impulses,” said the third. „Every contrast drives each other on and changes. Day and night, heat and cold, winter and summer, abundance and scarcity, war and peace. Wherever we look, we see opposites. Their dynamics keep the worlds in motion, in a manifested cycle. They are the driving force behind all change and the prerequisite for the existence of life.“

“Illness is what makes health pleasant,” added the second. „Fatigue makes rest valuable.Hunger makes satiety satisfying.Without heat, no cold, and without darkness, no light.“And they listened to the echo of their words within themselves.

After a while, the first one spoke: “Life would not be precious without death.”He took a deep breath in the freshness of the night air and felt the soothing warmth of the crackling fire.“You can only live intensely if you are aware of your own transience.Only the presence of death, which can happen at any time, gives each moment a unique value.Death is not only important at the end of life, but makes the whole of life precious.“

“Change means death,” said the second again. „It means letting something go.If you were to hold on to something forever, it would mean stagnation and freezing.That is not life.It is not death either.It is nothingness.Change means transitioning into something new.The flower must fade to ripen its seed, and next spring its offspring stand in its place in all the colors of the sun.“

“Changes are small deaths,” said the First. „Something must go so that something new can come. To become new, you have to let the old kind go. Death is what makes life worth living. The knowledge of the end of the journey makes it special. And the awareness of the cold and loneliness makes the night by the fire in peace with companions worthwhile.“

And in the knowledge of the next morning, when they would all set off in different directions, they experienced the night by the fire like an eternity.“