Footprints
In the middle of the night, a demon appeared to a man and said, “Come! I will show you the greatest weight!” The demon took him out of time, and together they traveled the entirety of his path through life, and saw that path as a whole.
The demon said, “Behold!” The man could see his own footsteps through life, glowing red, blue, purple, pink . . . everycolor footprints illuminating a Way.
The demon dragged him up close to the footprints, and the man could see that each was unique yet expressed a general character: Some were muddled, mindless, hurried, clumsy . . . others expressed clarity, attention, grace, and presence.
The demon forced him closer still, and the man could see that, whatever its character, each footprint refracted all the other footprints, so that all those coming before and all those coming after were bound up in it, affected by it intimately. As he began to feel amazed, the demon forced him even closer, and the man could see everything refracted through each footprint—the entire Cosmos emerging from each step.
The man began to feel wonder to the point of swooning, and suddenly the demon grabbed him forcefully again, pulling him back to see that in fact there were sometimes two sets of footprints along his way through life. In times of distress and dis-ease, in times of trouble and strife, he always saw two sets of footprints. Even in many of his happiest moments, he saw two sets of footprints. But in times of profound insight, joy, and exuberance, in moments of great love and intimacy with life and its beings, he saw only one set of footprints, and among them he found the clearest, most graceful and attentive steps.
“I can see that one set of footprints is mine, and clearly I walked through my whole life—life is indeed a Way-making! But whose footprints are these others?”
The demon laughed.
The man demanded, “Tell me!”
The demon laughed harder, saying, “Are you not a philosopher? Who is your Beloved?”
“What?” said the man. “Are you saying that these footprints belong to Sophia?”
Suddenly the demon disappeared. The man awoke from his dream, deeply disturbed, and he thought all that day about its meaning. No insight came. Day after day he grappled with this dream.
Then one night another dream emerged. He stood in an abyss and became terrified. He looked in every direction and saw nothing, and he realized this nothing stared back into him, and its gaze found only an abyss as well. Terror began to overtake the man, and he wondered about that other set of footprints.
“Where are you?” he asked.
The voice of Sophia came, “Yes?”
The man began to feel relieved. But then he heard nothing further, and fear began to return. “Are you still there?”
“Yes?” came the reply.
Again he felt relieved, but continued silence brought the fear back. “I don’t understand. Why is it that you are beside me in times of difficulty, but in times of peace or joy you vanish?”
Silence.
His fear rose up, building and building. But he held fast to his question, and a voice came, “During those moments you saw only one set of footprints, during those times in your life when you moved with lightness and grace, at those times you carried Me—indeed, you danced with Me . . . so that dancer and dance became not-two. Why do you keep insisting on these fears that force Me to stand so far away?”
Everything went dark. Ethereal music began to play as a strange purple-white light emerged in the blackness, revealing a woman in a shimmering violet-black dress, standing in mist and smoke that obscured her face. She began to sing:
You’re not alone
And don’t forget it
It’s just some vivid karma
You’re sorting through
When I call you
You run away
You get distracted
You’re too scared to stay
You’re not alone,
oh no
(a mysterious chorus of voices: all these thoughts)
You try to see Me
But I’m not there
The place you’d find Me
Is not anywhere
Next time I call you,
Can you be still?
Stop trying to do your life
Transform your will
You’re not alone,
oh no
(it can’t be caused)
Be quiet, let go for once
Vast as space
Vast as space
Vast as space
You keep My picture
Inside a locket
Of golden concepts
That keep Me away
You run around
Telling everyone
How much you love Me
But we’ve never met
You’re not alone
oh no
(endless cause)
Oooo, you’re seeking in time for Me
Oooo, you do it dualistically
Oooo, you’re seeking in time for Me
Oooo, you’re still seeking
You’re not alone
And don’t forget it
It’s fiercesome karma
You’re still sorting through
And when I call you
Don’t run away
Don’t get distracted
Just let go and stay
You’re not alone,
You’re not alone . . .