Education and the WSM

[Steve Anthony]

So, I was thinking that it is always the next generations that benefit from the hard work of the present.

I had an idea to write a children's book, or some short stories, that emphasize the philosophy involved in a pre-understanding of WSM; a kind of 'setting-up' of the idea of how reality 'works', so that the WSM itself is easier to grasp as a 'science' in later life...



When a Trickle is a Bubble


The stream was no more than around ten inches wide. It cut between rock, earth and plants, slowly but surely making its way to the lake, a mile or so away to the south.

Perched on a rock, and tapping the surface of the stream with a stick, was a boy of maybe six or seven years old, looking contemplative and far away in his mind. At the place he had chosen to sit, the stream took a short dive from a precipice and continued onwards from there. This intermission in its flow produced a pleasant sound in the boy’s ear and had subconsciously drawn him to the spot, along with the warm spring sunshine that promised the continuation of life and filled the air with the scent of warm pine.
As the boy stared at the deeply bronzed waters that had seeped through the peaty soil and spruce roots, to merge with its greater self, he noticed that bubbles were being formed where the stream poured over the small precipice and re-entered itself in a pool. Each bubble then floated along the stream for a short while before inevitably bursting.
[It became apparent to the boy that the stream was just like all of existence, which formed bubbles of ‘life’, and which in turn would once again find their original form when their short existence as a bubble was over.] Likewise, as the waters flowed to the stream, the stream to the lake, the lake would condense and rise through the air to form clouds, which would burst over the hills, seep into the ground, and re-emerge as part of the stream from which they came. This is existence; and the boy, who was called Trickle, understood that he was really just a bubble; A Human bubble of life, in a continuous stream of existence.

Trickle listened to the beauty of new bubbles being born. The first screams were deep and harmonious cries of joy. The bubbles flowed effortlessly with the rest of existence, and in so doing were free to enjoy their brief lives as bubbles. After a short while, and with a tiny ‘pop’, it was all over, and there remained only the flow of existence.

Then, Trickle discovered that he had the power to ‘pop’ the bubbles himself, before the Nature of existence popped them anyway. He sat popping bubbles for a while, but all-of-a-sudden it dawned on him that if he were also a bubble, someone could come along with a big stick and ‘pop’ him just as easily, before his natural existence were over, also. This was a rather frightening thought, for back in the world of men it could indeed be seen that much premature ‘popping’ was happening all the time!
His thought returned to the stream, and this time he just watched the bubbles happily flowing along. Indeed, he began to wish that the bubbles could last longer, and maybe make it to the great lake to the south, or even exist forever as happy bubbles! However, he soon realised that it was the happiness itself that he wanted to last, and not the bubbles in themselves. The bubbles were just carriers of happiness, like the stream was the carrier of bubbles.
He realised that the bubbles made no sound of their own, but that it was the flow of existence, the stream itself, that cried with joy; the joy of being another thing; of always changing, so that it could laugh in so many different ways. When you have an eternity to laugh in, you will find an infinite number of ways to laugh!
Well, it was indeed a wonderful thing to be a bubble. As wonderful, in fact, as any other form that existence took, on that most wonderful of days.

Then, Trickle stood up. In the distance he could hear existence crying with joy once again. This time its bubble was Nightingale-shaped.

~End~



I realise it needs work! - Just an idea at the moment. My second eldest step-daughter is quite an artist, she is going to art college next Autumn, so I'm thinking about turning it into an illustrated kids book. Things such as this could also endorse the WSM, or it is even possible to set up a WSM-publishing company, and self-publish all kinds of WSM-relevant material.


steve.