Part II
“Did you ask me where am I going? Well I know nothing, sir… I don’t know. I don’t know if I could give you sufficient response. I swear in the name of Shembekuma Michael! I am on this journey for about two months without sufficient food, rest, and even sleep. I never slept well since then. How could the nightmare allow me to sleep? People don’t dare to offer me a single bite to eat. Do you know what I wish now sir? Travelling… venturing … Only venturing in accordance to the will of the wind. I want to venture towards the east. I want to forget the whole thing. I want to forget my comrades, the terrible sound of victims of the war, the whole thing as if it has never happened. People didn’t dare to come closer to me. They don’t wish me to sleep nearer to their residence either. Why do you think that sir? If it is because of this rifle, I will drop it right here and proceed bare handed. I wish to discard my soldier uniform too. Do you know, my lord? It is better to be disdained than feared.”
Every sentence, every phrase, every word what he said was like a confession. The sigh of being human, the shaky will. I can see that he is in a subtle process. I didn’t want to interfere with his pain. Interference would lead to spoiling his soul’s purification process. I just wanted to let him speak to me, befriend me.
We spoke like best friends who have known each other for ages. He told me that he came from the Gojjam Finote-salam area, studied up to fifth grade, and did not pursue it seriously. He spent three years in military duty. For the past two months, he’s been on an endless journey after receiving his sacred calling. He spent the night in the barns, stables and slept on lambskins on the floor with the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian students (የቆሎ ተማሪዎች) and shared their alms. It was a charming story to hear; yet all this made no difference.
After a few moments of silence, we exchanged another round of conversation again…
This time I became the initiator,
“As you said, it is better to be disdained than feared. But tell me, how did you dare trust the wind? Wasn’t it written in the bible, that ‘ indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind’?”
He replied to me in lower voice.
“I never know what is written, my lord. I was handled a soulful vocation in the midst of a raging war. I swear in the name of Shembekuma Michael, there is no single lie in my confession. I have no idea what has happened that night. I thought I heard a whisper. It drags me out and left me in the middle of nowhere. How? I don’t know. I really don’t know. Though it wasn’t my wish to abandon my comrades, I was obliged to obey. Two months have passed since I surrender to my destiny of following the evanescent traces of the west wind.”
“It is true that you have been summoned.” I said in an amused voice.
“Everyone has a vocation to accomplish, even though the initial revealing may not necessarily be as sudden as yours. But it seems that everybody ignores the voice and fire of his soul’s inner guide, which resonated and flamed deep in the roots of his being. And you were truly brave to trust and follow the wind. In the mystical teaching of Christianity, they say, “God made man from soil, wind, fire, and water.” It is in us. It is part of us. You did well to trust the wind. Follow it. But never forget that you can only conquer and alter yourself, not the wind. And then, are you going to follow the wind forever?”
“Ah… I already told you sir. You are the only one with whom I shared my story. My fate isn’t in my hands. I am willingly venturing towards the east following every twist and turns of the west wind.”
“Huh… You are truly dedicated man! Following the wind must be an indication of one’s sincere zeal. And of course as I have told you, you cannot chase or transform the wind, but yourself. It rather entices and immerse you into the reality. When the west wind blows, it starts as a wave from the depths of the sea. I believe the wind is pure, perfect, nourishing and destroyer, the subtle whisper, the breath of the existence. And then there will come a time when it will no longer be necessary to follow or chase the wind. The wind has no physicality to grip and arrest. When you realize it so, inevitably, surrendering will follow. Then afterwards, you will never be your prior self – you will become something greater than yourself, the wind, the holistic nature.
However, following the wind will never be easy. Someday, somewhere, following eddies of the wind you may have to climb to the summits of mountains or descend into the depths of seas. You should become Obedient to the wind until one day it blows you away like the ashes or dust everywhere, and intermingles you with everything and transform you completely. ”
Suddenly quietness engulfed us. We listened the night as classical music. There was a hymn in every murmur of the night’s wind. Even the occasional sounds of a fox, an owl, a cuckoo, a nightjar or even a hoopoe bird blended with this subtle natural rhythm. All these really made difference.
I asked the stranger if he knew about this mysterious hoopoe bird which sang repeatedly on a tree behind us.
His response was precise…
“Ah… my lord, what else does a soldier know but gunpowder? You know.”
I responded to him with a hint of irritation…
“Sorry, but I disagree with you. Rather a soldier is believed to be savvy on many things! Living and dying is hard reality for him, not a choice like most of us. Like a mite that crawls deep into the ground and wears dirt, a soldier becomes intimate with the earth, the soil and the entire nature. A soldier is like the Messiah, who dares to die for others than assassinate or subordinate them. The ultimate intent of a soldier is not to kill, but to rescue. Anyway, this one is called hoopoe bird. It has a distinctive conical beak, its neck is wrinkled, and its wings and tail feathers are black and white brown. It can be found in many places in our country.
According to the verses of the Holy Qur’an, by the order of King Suleiman (Solomon), this hoopoe bird brought a letter of invitation to the Queen of Sheba to abandon worshiping the sun god and accept the path of Allah. This bird is also mentioned in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 11, verse 19 of the Holy Bible.”
“Sir, please forgive me, but I have a single question for you. Are you mystic or an erudite?”
“That makes no difference, does it?” I said.
He had no response. He just simply kept quiet and gaze at the scenery. In fact, what response could he deliver other than silence? Now after exchanging many conversations with me, his hoarse voice seemed to get better.
After a while I said to him…
“But let me tell just this one… The acacia tree right behind us is ‘Adbar’ tree. It is believed that Noah’s wife Emete Aykel was buried under this tree. The Qemants tribe deliver scarifies to this spirit consecrated tree twice a year. We are sitting in the place where Aykel Michael church and Emete Aykel are worshiped equally. ”
“Listen sir, I don’t know what was written in the bible. I don’t even care about it. Someday I wish I could read it written on the scenery of the entire phenomenon. I just told you that I am not a literate man. I’m not an erudite or a mystic like you. I am rather a destitute. I just follow my instinct – the wind! If you ask me where I am going forth, my response will be simple. I don’t know. I really don’t know. I simply follow the west wind’s will. As of now, I know that I will follow it for perpetuity. I will ignite and illuminate as a vigil light, or as a cultural candle, until I burst and vanish”
This person was really dedicated! He had a clarity of the soul and sincerity for existence. He moves toward nothingness, by following the subtle urge of nature that cannot be expressed in words. I don’t know anything sincere more than being willing to be nothing and no one!
Again and again he looks back at the tree. I myself was contemplating Emete Aykel adbar tree like never before. Was Herman Hesse thinking of such trees as Emete Aykel while he wrote the following paragraph?
‹‹Trees have always been for me the most intense preachers. I revere them when they are alive in the forests and groves. And I revere them even more when they stand alone. They are like solitary people. They are like hermits. Who because of some kind of weakness left society, but are like a great, lonesome people, like Beethoven and Nietzsche… nothing is more sacred, more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree…. Trees are temples. Whoever knows how to talk to them will understand the truth.›› (The Seasons of the Soul: The Poetic Guidance and Spiritual Wisdom of Herman Hesse)
Ever since I was a child, I have been amazed by the state of the trees I saw around. They are pure creatures that abundantly embellish vanishing memories of nature’s evanescence. We usually mention water as holy: is there anything holier than trees? Trees are steadfast creatures that provide, contribute, shelter, nurture every being and yet expect nothing. As Ethiopian laureate Tsagaye Gebremedhen said, ‘when human beings stormed out from the depth of ignorance into consciousness, trees were the first to welcome, shelter, and feed them.’ Even today!
Gradually, as man sought a symbol that would carry his spiritual emblem, the closest he found were those sturdy trees. He worshiped them. They became his Adbar.
Trees preserve more stories than all of us. They watch over us all in silence. They listened to the cruel deliberations of mankind under their shadow for thousands of years. They observed human beings cowering and fluttering aimlessly beneath them.
BY YACOB BERHANOU
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 21 MARCH 2024
