Chapter 2: The First Day

[The following is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of The Gospel of the Stone]

Suddenly, I heard the sound of glass striking a rock. Filled with panic, I remembered the water jug. I threw myself down near the place where I had left it and released one end of the blanket, reaching out to retrieve it. But it was not there. Opening my sand-filled eyes to a squint, I could see that it had blown over and rolled several feet away. With the blanket and the pieces of rope clutched in one hand, I crawled on all fours and quickly recovered it. Luckily, it had been stopped on its journey to oblivion by a rock directly in its path.

Feeling safer on the ground, I rewrapped the blanket around me and decided to remain in that position until the wind passed. The edges of my blanket fluttered in the breeze, and I tried tucking them in underneath my body. But even the thick blanket could not filter out the dusty smell of sand or the chilling bite of the wind. For a long time, the fierce wind blew and the sound of its movement filled my ears. Sometimes it was harsh, and sometimes it whispered a series of shrill-like tones that occasionally changed unpredictably into melodious notes of exceptional beauty. Like a caterpillar in a cocoon, I could not help but wonder what kind of a world I would face when I was finally allowed to emerge from my shelter.

It seemed like hours before the wind subsided. Slowly, I uncovered my face and looked out upon the night sky. Here and there between breaks in the clouds, I could see a few stars along with the rays of a nearly full Moon desperately trying to penetrate the thick cloud blanket. The night of the first day was upon me, and with gratitude I offered up a prayer of thankfulness for the challenges I had survived....

Before me was the promise of another day of challenges. But somehow I no longer regarded myself as a stranger to the Mystery of the Unknown. I thought to myself:

"Let tomorrow come! Tonight I am like a child preparing to sleep in the arms of the Mother, and I am filled with deep contentment."

Grateful for the day and expecting no less tomorrow, sleep came easily.

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Chapter 1: The Initiation

[The following is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of The Gospel of the Stone]

"Long before there were nations, there was a People. Long before separate languages created a division among men, the People spoke openly to one another. Long before your books and written history were invented, the Record of the People was inscribed on the Land. The sound of their voices was carried on the wind, and their inner thoughts and emotions were like a fragrance that freely gives of itself when the flower of Human Expression blooms. Long before books existed, there were rocks, mountains, and canyon walls to absorb the sound of Human Love and to record the struggles of hope and pain. Great boulders captured Prayers intended for the sky. Sea pebbles heard sounds far more complex and Divine than those made by the monotonous and eternal waves of the tide."

I knew that the old Blue Bird Chief had never spent one day of his life in the White Man's Schools; but to hear him speak was like listening to a learned scientific scholar. Summing up, he said:

"The Earth is the Mother of the People, and she sustains them with her body and watches them grow. She teaches a 'Way of Life' to guide and nurture the People. She watches and listens and knows every secret; she remembers every trifling incident and keeps a record of it all."

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