Once, long ago, in an innermost forest just outside the innermost village of the innermost land where life was once full and free, there stood a well. The well was deep within the innermost forest. The walk to the well took a long time. Since it took such a long time, all the people could do on their way was enjoy the trees and the birds and the fresh, always blooming forest flowers. The journey to the well was easy and enjoyable, as long as you didn't hurry or try too hard to get there. All the people of the village went to the well daily for fellowship with their neighbors, for nourishment and support from those who loved them, always enjoying the conversations and sharing of life as they gathered at the well. Each would finally draw water from the well and return to their homes.
One day, as the villagers were visiting beside the well, a stranger appeared. The stranger told them something at the same time interesting and yet very peculiar. The stranger reported that another well had been dug on the edge of the forest. Somehow the water of this well was equally as life giving as the innermost well, if fact, it was actually the same water, just emerging from a different well. "Come", he said, "and drink freely from the other well with me."
And then…it came to pass, quietly and almost without noticing, that people tired of all their bickering about all their different wells. One by one they began to return to the innermost well in the innermost forest. It was like they were so thirsty for the water they once knew, they became more and more dissatisfied with the water they had to work so hard to get. And as they returned to the innermost well in the innermost forest, they discovered something very wonderful and nice. To get to the well, everybody was free to use their own path. Nobody was required to go a certain way. The forest was the same, always the way to the well. But the pathways differed, each in its own way. Some wound through the glade of flowers, some through the meadows rich with green grass. Some wound along the forest stream, others over the small hills of fern and evergreen. Each path had its own beauty and its own gifts. They discovered something else very wonderful, something they had not really noticed before. As they stopped along the way to enjoy the forest, they realized that the water was somehow seeping from below the ground into everything in the forest and giving it all a very real life and beauty. The life of the water was not just in the well. It was in the lovely moisture present in every living thing, even the rocks!
The water from the well was fresh and vibrant. It had special qualities that made it always faithful to the needs of those who benefited from its life giving properties. It was always thirst quenching, even on the warmest of days. It always stayed cool, in spite of the often intense heat. It washed clean the most stubborn of stains and the most stubborn of dirty children! When used for cooking the water always made the food taste better. It had healing energy when used to wash wounds or to calm a restless spirit. The water was a true source of life and strength and energy and calm for all who enjoyed its abundant gifts.
Soon, many wells were springing up all around the forest. And while many people still visited the innermost well which they knew provided life giving water, others went to the different wells for water they were told was better. The owner of one well required the people to dress a certain way before they could draw water. Another made sure that the people were tall enough, another short enough. One well owner even required the people to pay for the water, saying that if he was generous enough and worked hard enough to drill the well, then he surely deserved some compensation for sharing the water. The problem was that he kept building larger well houses and bigger storage rooms and asking for more money.
Before long, the water situation got very confusing. People began to fight about which well they would use. Families split up over one member using one well and another using another. Some people even tried to poison other’s wells, or destroy their well houses so they couldn't use them. Things were very sad in the innermost village of the innermost land where life at one time was full and free—sad indeed.
Many people decided to go to the other well just to try it out. When they arrived there, to their surprise they learned that they had to do certain things before they could draw from the well. The stranger who now seemed to “own” the well explained that the innermost well was too easy to get to, and certainly too enjoyable. Anything as good as this great water needed to be difficult to reach. There were stones in a pattern leading to the well, and they were required to step on the stones a certain way, in a certain order, and without slipping off, before they could draw from the well. The stranger who seemed to "own" the well explained that the water was so valuable that those who drew it must always prove themselves worthy of this fine water. Many were able to navigate the stones, and they felt really good about themselves. Others slipped and were not allowed to draw freely from the well. Sadly they went away without any water.
As time went by peace and harmony returned to the innermost village of the innermost land. And the innermost well, with its life and love and strength and power and solace and all that each person needed--flowed up through the innermost part of every living thing...forever.
