Earth dance, chaos kings...

Phoenix Flame

In the tale of the Phoenix the bird gives it’s self to the flame after having sacrificed it’s self to save the prince and princess. This wondrous creature risked it’s very survival, basing it solely on trusting a boy it did not know. Why? For the sake of saving two innocents from evil. The phoenix went into the flame and was reborn greater, stronger, more vital.

I am the Phoenix, I set my self in the fires to be reborn. Always seeking the safety and joy of my brothers and sisters. I welcome the turmoil of change so that I may grow. By my growth I am better able to uplift those that I encounter.
When the Phoenix rose anew from the flames it was bedecked with new and splendid feathers. And it took wing soaring to where the golden apples of life grew. It hovered o’re the tree for a moment drawing all eyes. Then it plucked one of the golden apples and returned with it as a gift to the prince and princess.
So too would I be. One able to take flight over the confines of the world, not that I might flee from it, rather that I may draw the eyes and hearts of those that watch to take flight as well. For I will lead if you will follow me there. Yet even having reached such a vantage I would not settle there, rather would I pluck what I may from that place and rejoin the peoples of the world bearing it as a gift that they might live in joy and love together.
The Phoenix held eternal life, renewed and protected by the evil sorcerer. It’s safety and life guaranteed for all time... so long as it did not oppose him. Yet it spent it’s time seeking a way to undo the evil, even if it required that the Phoenix too be undone.
Too often I see people seeking to bring down evil (as did the prince) with out the means. While those with what means are needed sit by doing nothing for the sake of their own preservation. I strive to choose as the Phoenix did, to choose an end to evil at any cost. To choose to help those that strive for a better world. Rather than to sit in safety and watch as others fall to odds they could not surmount alone.
When I was young I watched many children treat their weaker peers with cruelty, only to have our parents, teachers, adult guardians of all sorts, fail to stop it. I did not long sit by and watch this occur. Because of that choice I spent many hours alone, and many more with people angry at me. Yet I regret the choice not at all, for I saw the looks on the faces of those kids when they started to believe that maybe the world wasn’t just a cold uncaring place. It was wrong for the bullies to gang up on smaller kids, yet wrong though that was I saw less harm done by that, than by the inaction of everyone else. I’ve had my share of cuts, bruises, and so forth. So I can tell you confidently that they heal. What often does not heal is the faith and innocence of a child. That simple certainty that bad things don’t happen to good people, or that at the very least the people who love them will always stand up for them. It has been said that which is required for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing. That is why I strive to stand like the Phoenix. Because I know that even if I can’t always stop the bullies from beating up the little kid on the play ground. I can at least show that kid that there are people who won’t stand by and let it happen. If I can shield any part of that innocence and faith it is worth any pain the fire may bring. This quote from Emerson says it well “Higher than the question of our duration is the question of our deserving. Immortality will come to such as are fit for it.” I seek to be deserving that as the Phoenix I may rise again and continue to serve.

I am the Flame, I shall burn as a beacon to those lost in the night. Shining with the warmth of old world hospitality, bidding the weary traveler take shelter from the storm. I shall warm those frozen with the chill of apathy. Reminding them of what is often over looked, how to love their brother and them self. I shall spark the fire that will burn through the forest of man ensuring that we will grow and evolve, not merely rot away in our opulence.

As the Phoenix reborn, I will not shy away from the flaws of this our world. I shall carry my flame to them, for I shall;

Burn away the weakness, for in weakness lies our self doubt and fear of service. Lies the silence of no defiant voices. In this is grown inaction, not for lack of feeling, but for lack of belief that anything can be done. “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” Shakespeare spoke truly for in this weakness lies the death of heros, not for a broken shield, or an overtaxed sword arm, rather because of those who bring others down so that perhaps they will not feel quite so low. In this lies a life devoid of dreams, or hope. A life wracked by the numbing pain of being truly alone.

Burn away the pain, for in pain we find many excuses. For it is in self pity that we author our own down fall. It is simple to create excuses for what we have not done when we can claim that our lives or ourselves are wretched and pitiable. “How can I be forced to strive for this hard thing while I am so down cast.” “How can I be asked to endure this discomfort of effort while I am in misery”. It is this pain that masks the fear hiding in the hearts of men. It is fear of making changes which causes us to flee discomfort. And in fleeing discomfort to turn our backs on life. The image of stepping into a fire, of having the tongues of flame consume what they touch. That image has evoked a shudder in many. I offer another image. The image of a lump of earth, shapeless. Being cast into this flame. Of it’s being pounded and beaten, and plunged again and again into the flame. The image of a sword flashing new and strong in the sunlight.

Burn away uncaring, the uncaring that makes us question every kind act. The uncaring that permeates our world such that feeling for the plight of another is tantamount to a crime. The uncaring that when we are given a gift causes us to ask “what are they getting out of this, where’s the catch”. Edmund Burke said “The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.” it is uncaring that feeds this danger. It is this uncaring that is expressed by Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens book “A Christmas Carol”. The same uncaring that fed the rise of the Nazis, the action of rapists, and the execution of innocent homosexuals.



These things which have left the heart of the world laid bear and bleeding are at an end.

For I am the healing Phoenix Flame.