The Darkest Journey

A man's notions come to life when he makes the arduous journey into the deepest of realms.

“Why have you come here?” the thing asked sternly.  

“I am here to learn,” I answered.

“Is that so? I’m surprised you made it this far.”

“Well I don’t think many others even knew you existed, or if they did, made no legitimate attempt to find you.”

“Boast by your own achievements and not by the condemnation of others.”

“Well it is not condemnation if the statement is true.”

“The fact that they are not here, and you are, leads them to the conclusion of your earlier statement; reinforcing their lack of will over your presence here lets me know you still carry fear.  And fear leads to judgment.”

I stood firm in the tall grass, with my hands interlocked behind me. My spine was straight as an arrow. Punches of wind lurched the willow trees  in the distance nearly parallel to the ground, while the entity looked down upon me.  

“So, I should eradicate fear?” 

“You know the answer to that, and you have known for a while.”

“I was certain I had destroyed it, and that’s how I’d made it here.”

“Often your inner fear is unconscious, and often it manifests itself on the outside for others to see. However, if they too are afraid, it is no different than normal behavior to them.”

“So then, I guess my question to you, and the reason I decided to make this journey, is how should I learn to eliminate fear in all cases?”

“You must drink from my stream, which in it flows the Elixir of Life. Take two cups, one for your mind and one for your body, and our separate existence will transform into a whole. Then, the trees will grow stronger, the sun will shine brighter, and fear will no longer haunt you.”

Author's Note

This is a short flash fiction piece I wrote and submitted for a contest on another site, so I figured I would upload it on here as well.

Reviews

[John the Baptist]

This piece comes across as a spiritual, maybe mystical experience. the speaker finds himself in the presence of a powerful entity who is not named. In the interaction between them, we find that the speaker's intent is to learn how to eradicate fear. The entity advises him that his fear is an unconscious one and says he must drink from it's stream, the elixir of life, which will eradicate his fear. The message here is the same as in all the great spiritual traditions. Fear comes from a sense of separation from Higher Being. The sequel to this one should be interesting.

[Noah Youngson]

I appreciate the feedback. I originally got the idea for the style from Plato's dialogues, in the sense of the dialectic, where both parties come to a mutual synthesis through discussion. The idea for the content, however, came from Carl Jung, who likely encountered some of Plato's work. Jung designed the model of the psyche, which outlines the structure of the mind in a very human and psychoanalytical way.