The Skull

Once, while in a journey through the desert, there was this man. He was tumbling through the desert for years, until, one day he came into the possession of a skull he found in the middle of the pitiless sand during an unforgivable storm. That night, after finding shelter, he fall a sleep using the skull as a pillow.

As he fall a sleep the skull came into the man’s dreams and said: “so you have found me”. Confused the man asked: “what are you?” “I am The Skull of Truth!” it answered.

More confused then before the man asked again: “Am I dreaming?” The Skull laughed and answered with another question: “How can you distinguish a dream from reality? What makes you think that when you are dreaming your leaving the Truth and that when you are awakened you are leaving an illusion?”

Felling uncomfortable the man said slowly: “I don’t think I have understood!” The Skull took a deep breath and said: “Think of it this way. You have two choices. You can walk way from me and return to your illusion of Truth and believe in whatever you want to believe or you can walk with me and be a god in the middle of no where and therefore leave in a world without boundaries.”

The man hesitated and took a step back. “You mean that I have to chose between leaving in a dream where nothing, no one but me exists and stay in the place where I grew a family and actually can be someone? Isn’t the choice quite obvious?!”

Outraged the Skull shouted: “You foul. I offered you freedom and that is your choice? I am sorry. It seems I was wrong about you. But remember that either here or outside you always have a choice.”

The man said nothing and so he turned his back to the Skull of Truth and as he did this he woke up. He gets up and looks down to where he had laid down and saw that the skull has turned to ashes. And that he as alone, helpless and powerless.

18th March 2009