Who Goes There?
There was a woman who had a great spiritual thirst and who had
spent most of her life in search of mystical knowledge. She had
traveled all over the world in her quest – visiting holy shrines,
ferreting out rare books of esoteric understanding, as well as
spending considerable time with a variety of renowned spiritual
guides.
Without doubt she was a person of great spiritual capacity. Her
mystical knowledge was considerable and constantly growing.
She was quite content to continue on as she had been, secure in
the feeling that she was, after all, constantly learning, developing,
and directing all her efforts toward becoming a better person.
Everywhere she went she was always welcome for not only was she
a devoted student of mysticism, but she put into practice, as best she
could, whatever she learned.
One day, while visiting with a certain spiritual master in a
nearby city, there was another, younger woman, also in attendance,
who, at one point in the discussion, spoke of a mystical practice about
which the younger woman had heard of in her own journeys. This
woman said she had never been able to learn more about the practice
than what little she knew, but she had been told this practice was the
ultimate key to unlock the essential secret of the mystical path.
The spiritual guide who was present confirmed the woman’s
story and indicated that, indeed, there was such a practice but there
was only one place he knew of where the practice was still taught.
This place was located in a very distant land, high in the mountains
which ran along the northern border of that country.
The teacher had forgotten the actual name of the location, but he
remembered the name, when translated into English, meant: the
place where earth and sky meet. The teacher added a few more
pieces of information concerning the place, and, then, the
conversation moved on to other topics.
From the very first seconds when the older woman heard of the
foregoing practice, she was consumed with a desire to journey to this
distant land, find the indicated location, and do whatever was
necessary to be permitted to learn this secret of secrets. While the
others around her continued to speak, she began to make plans for
setting off, the very next day, to the far off country.
The trip took more than a month. Although the first part of the
journey had been fairly straightforward, when she reached the
mountains, the going got somewhat rough and bogged down at a
number of junctures.
In addition, she had lost some time pursuing false leads. Finally,
however, she had acquired the correct information and from that
point on had made constant progress, and, eventually, she found
herself at the doors of a rather medieval-looking castle, complete
with moat.
She used the large knocker on the door to announce her presence
and waited for the door to be opened. When, after some time had
passed, no one came, she tried the knocker again.
Again, time passed, and there was no response. She was about to
use the knocker a third time, when a voice, from the other side of the
door, inquired: “Who is there?”
The woman, relieved that someone was in the building and that
she had not been wasting her time, replied: “My name is Belinda, and
I have come to learn from you, if you will permit this.”
There was silence for a moment, and, then, the voice said:
“Please, go away.” No further sounds came from within.
The woman waited for something further from within, but all
remained quiet. The woman stood at the huge doors for some time
considering all manner of possibilities about why she was being
refused entrance.
Although, initially, she was depressed about the turn of events,
she was a determined individual. She decided that the reason why she
had been turned away was because she needed to become a better
person and spiritually purify herself more.
She resolved to go away and intensify all of her practices and
efforts. She would return one day when she felt that, perhaps, she
might be ready for whatever the truth of the matter was on the other
side of the door.
Several years later, after many spiritual struggles had been
endured, the woman returned to the great door where she previously
had stood. Once again, the woman used the large knocker to inform
those within about her presence.
As had been the case a number of years before, a voice replied
from within: “Who is there?”
The woman responded with: “It is me, Belinda. I have been here
before, and I am seeking permission to enter and learn from you.”
The voice from within replied with a simple but emphatic:
“Please, go away.”
The woman was somewhat heartbroken. She really had tried
very hard to become a better person during the last few years. She
had worked extremely diligently to spiritually purify herself,
employing everything she knew, in order to, hopefully, accomplish
what needed to be done in order to gain entrance, but, once more, she
was being turned away in precisely the same manner.
Although despondent, the woman was not ready to give up. She
would continue on with her program of spiritual purification, in fact,
she would re-double all her efforts.
For the next ten years, the woman devoted herself to serving
others and to working on eliminating whatever faults she came to
realize she had. Night and day she sacrificed herself with one goal in
mind and heart – to have the great doors opened to her when she
returned and to be given permission to enter.
After a decade had passed, the woman returned to the same
doors where she had stood, on several occasions, many years before.
She hesitated, for a moment, and, then, lifted the knocker and let it
fall, as its thunderous echo reverberated from within.
A voice from within asked: “Who goes there?”
The woman said: “It is me, Belinda. I am requesting that you
grant me permission to enter.”
The answer came quickly and hardly seemed to be worth the
years of struggle which she had endured – “Please, go away.”
The woman was not angry with this response, just puzzled. She
had tried everything she could think of and, yet, the doors had not
been opened to her.
Maybe, she just didn’t have what it took to be granted
admission. Maybe, she hadn’t tried hard enough. Maybe, there was
some defect of character she was overlooking. Maybe, her quest
wasn’t meant to be realized, and she would just have to accept this.
Sadly, the woman retreated from the door. During the next
decade, she wandered about the world, still trying to learn, and still
trying to become a better person.
For a time, she almost forgot about the distant location and its
protected secret. In her heart, however, there was a yearning to
return to that place, and she consoled herself with the idea that,
perhaps, one day she would go back, one last time.
As the woman got older, she knew her traveling days were fast
coming to an end. She decided she would make a final pilgrimage to
the distant land, with its mountains and those doors which hid a
spiritual secret.
Once again, she found herself before the great doors. She went
straight to the heavy knocker, lifted it, and let it fall.
A voice said: “Who is there?”
The woman answered: “Thee,” and the response came: “Please,
enter.”
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