Open Or Close.

[At a mental hospital in Indonesia, Bea Wiharta]

I owe you


when
I 
don't
share

what
I
have.


*
Years back,
a group of about 12 people
I knew told me,

'Val,
we love our group 
so much,


we 
don't want
anybody else
to join us.


We 
want
 this 
for
ourselves.'

This
 appears 
to be
a mighty unity
of friends
who
love deeper than love.

They
 adored 
their
bond 
and
couldn't bear
sharing
 their bliss
with
one more person
in the circle.

Unity is power.
And this peculiar one
was powerful indeed -

their mission was
perfectly achieved,
no new person
joined the group.

But
within this tight circle,
trouble brew;

it was
 held together 
with such strength,
that
 the links between
these people

began to 
snap


one by one.

Their unity was
powerfully 
poisonous

because
their
motivation,
their
hearts' desire,

was
born out of 

Selfishness.

They received 
countless
blessings -

they knew
truths 
they never knew,

they learned
knowledge
which wealth could never buy,

they experienced
love,
in its
perfect 
form,
which this world could never offer,

and
they
cherished these treasures;

but with a
 fearful heart,
fear
blinded their understanding
and
deceived their minds.

They believed the
lie,
that
if you share,
you will
lose.

Fear
  only comes
when you are in the
dark,
where you have
no knowledge
or
understanding 
where you are going.

Anything that begins
in
fear

is
trapped
in
darkness.

And
 in darkness,
there is
always

confusion,
violence
and
every kind of
terrifying things.

These
12 people
were in darkness.

They
 embraced
 their
fear
together

but,
why wonder,

that
in darkness,
their end was hopeless,

for
their blindness
cost their treasures.

They
 lost 
their
true riches 
and
turned
from
friends to
foes.

Today,
they're no longer together

and
they remain 
in darkness.

This is the end of
those

who
are
unwilling to 
share 
what they
have and know.

For
treasures
do not stay 


in selfish hands.


You could be given
seeds 
enough to 
plant a forest.


But you will see
nothing


if
you keep the seeds
under your pillow.


You could
thank and boast 
about them,

check and count
them
before bedtime;


but
nothing will ever happen.


Very soon,
the wind will
take away
these seeds


and
bring them to people who are not in darkness,
but in the light,

where they have
 no fear 
of losing,
because they
embrace the
 truth -


to gain
 is to
lose;


they understand -

to love 
is to
give.


As they freely receive,
they freely give


and
you will see
that their treasures
unfailingly 
fills up their hands,


so much, 
so often,


they have to keep
giving them away.


*