THE HEALER — The path within

Skyblue glanced toward the entrance.

“I’m ready to leave,” she said. “The sooner, the better. I don’t have many reasons to stay.”

She thought for a moment and corrected herself:

“I’ll miss Ernesto. And my parents. But I’m not coming back to live here.”

Evarista did not seem offended.

“I said the same thing before I set out on my journey. And yet, here I am.”

Skyblue studied her.

“That’s what I don’t understand. You’re different. I knew it the day I brought Yaseee here. They would have let him die, and you helped me heal him. How can you go on caring for them with so much love?”

“Because that is my work here. Like you, I chose to come. My path, though, is not quite the same as yours. My task is to teach them to receive, to trust that someone can help them without later demanding payment for that help.”

Skyblue looked at the jars and herbs. She thought of all the neighbors who must have come there seeking relief from their aches and pains.

“Did you suffer as much as I did when you were growing up?”

“I learned early to keep quiet and go unnoticed. It took you longer. You have a warrior’s spirit, a fiery nature.”

It took Skyblue a moment to realize this was not a reproach.

“And what is my task?”

“You’ll discover it as you go. For now, begin with yourself. Look at what you carry inside, even the things you would rather not see. When you understand how frightened the others are, you’ll be able to approach them differently. They’re afraid of being hurt, of losing what they own, of doing something different and being left without the safety they know.”

“How will I know when I’m finished?”

Evarista smiled.

“When you want to come back and help them.”

Skyblue could not imagine that moment. It was hard to accept that her stern neighbors felt a fear much like her own, though the possibility explained many things.

The healer leaned toward her a little.

“There’s something else. You won’t be traveling alone. A flame of light lives within you, the flame of the spirit. Some call it the divine spark; others, the dweller within, or the inner self. It has always been with you, even when you didn’t know how to recognize it.”

Skyblue remembered Arthyr Aurelio’s words. The teacher within. The house she had declared empty.

“That flame never goes out,” Evarista continued. “It can guide you even when you feel lost. Learn to listen to it and ask for its help. Sometimes you’ll sense it as a presence inside you; at other times you may see it outside yourself. I don’t know what form it will choose when it comes to you, but you’ll recognize it.”

“That’s what Arthyr Aurelio used to say.”

“What you learned in the Sangha will begin to make sense in its own time. You don’t have to understand everything this morning.”