The Magic Mirror

The day everything was allowed to be as it is

…

The other day, something quite out of the ordinary happened.

Two boys, Stanley and Edward, and a girl by the name of Alice had gone astray from the village and were heading for the old mill. The three children all had their cell- phones with them, but there was no coverage that far away. Which was probably just as well. They were not as concerned and anxious as their mothers. They were exploring the area, with open minds and a happy curiosity, and this is a good thing when your mind is growing up and you need to gain insight.

Up at the old mill they stopped a while, looking in through the doorway. ”Hello! Anybody there?” Stanley cried through the doorway. Nobody answered.

”Hello! Come on out and play!” Edward cried.

”Don’t just stand there yelling, go inside,” Alice said, being first to go inside through the doorway. It was a bit dark and gloomy, but her eyes soon got used to the dim light.

And there, on a quilt, lay Bliss.

”Hey—look! There’s a cat,” Alice exclaimed. She went over to the cat straight away. Aware of his worth, Bliss sat up at once, preparing himself for sweet caresses.

It really was long ago, he thought, purring very loudly as if to say that Alice's hands should just keep on caressing him. For it was so nice being stroked and having his fur scratched.

”I wonder what it feels like for a cat to be stroked?” And she stroked her arm. ”Not bad. But people don't often do that kind of thing anymore,” she thought.

”Isn't it foolish?” she said to Stanley and Edward.

”What is foolish?” Edward asked. ”Well—that people don't let other people stroke their arms or backs when it's such a nice feeling,” she said slowly.

The boys did not think much about that. They did not care for somebody stroking them. Yuk! But they liked stroking the cat.

Bliss understood everything they said for he was indeed a very special cat. He walked back and forth between the children, letting all three of them stroke him. ”Wonderful,” he thought, ”a little to the right—yes, ah, and a little on my shoulders. Ah.”

”But I should teach them something while they are here.”

Bliss suddenly walked over to a box below a window. He jumped up on the box and up in the window where he turned around as if to say: ”Follow me.” Then he jumped out behind the mill.

The children hurried out and around the mill to follow the cat.

Bliss lay down on a sunny spot in the grass, purring as loud as he could. This was his attempt to tell the children to do the same.

Alice and Edward lay down in the grass right away, stretching themselves to their fullest. Stanley, on the other hand, was a little restless and could not relax. He was used to his mother calling him or texting him at least every 10 minutes. Now he worried that something might have happened.

”Come and lie down!” Edward said. ”There just isn't any coverage here. So for once we are off.”

”Oh, come on!” Stanley answered. He was afraid that his mum and dad would be concerned when he did not answer. And they could not track him by his cell-phone using GPS.

But Alice and Edward were having a wonderful time, and without saying it aloud, they had agreed on staying there on the grass by the mill until they had to go home to eat. So Stanley had to just learn it; learn how to relax and do nothing.

Bliss was lying between the two lazybones, enjoying the company. Stanley had sat down on a rock.

”Come and lie down in the grass,” Alice asked. ”It's completely quiet here. And we are not used to that.” ”That's right,” Edward said, ”for once we are not doing anything. Did you hear: A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Do we have to spell it out to you?”

Maybe 10 minutes had passed—which is a long time when you do not know what to do—before Stanley finally lay down on his knees between the two others.

”Look up at the clouds,” Edward said.

Lying on the grass, Edward had picked a cloud he thought looked like a car. He kept watching it while it slowly changed its appearance in the sky and slowly disintegrated.

He felt perfectly calm within. He relaxed completely.

”Well, well!” Alice said. ”You certainly took your time.”

”Your mother is all right! - You and she only need to learn to have faith in the world,” she continued.

”I think Bliss wants to teach us to allow everything to be as it is and not wait for anything or want to change things or modify anything, but just lie here and BE. To just notice how everything around us is filled with sounds and colours, feelings and scents and so on.” Alice was thinking aloud.

Bliss purred louder, uttering peculiar, faint growling sounds.

He thought that Alice had finally got it.

For the rest of that afternoon, Stanley, Edward and Alice just lay watching clouds; grass; small beetles passing by; butterflies; shadows cast by the sun with the mill as silhouette.

It was a magnificent day. A day where everything was simply allowed to be as it is. And the old mill winked its eye.