It was right there in front of him, like it was begging him to take hold of its rungs & ascend it. Jacob's mind told him 'no', but his heart said 'yes'. Reason gave him all the excuses ( most of them pretty good ) why he shouldn't even endeavor to try; 'you'll hurt yourself', 'it won't go well for you' & 'you will lose friends over this', were several of them. He noticed, though, that most of the excuses included the personal pronoun, something Jacob had begun to notice belonged to the ego & not to the consciousness that It was bigger than he alone; It encompassed all of humanity & what was good for him was ultimately good for all humanity: conversely, what was evil for him was evil for all humanity.
Jacob Allyn was a relatively young man. I say 'relatively young', because while he was younger than some, he was older than others. When it came right down to it, Jacob knew he was an old soul; for whatever reason, he had been forced to live many lifetimes. His first experience, as far as he could remember, was waking up on a barren plain, waste & void of any vegetation. He remembered shivering as he exited that warm cocoon that had enveloped him so gloriously for so long. The Void that he thus entered, those many eons of Time ago soon became filled with Life. The One that had carried him for that relatively short period of time in Her womb, now enfolded his shivering body in her warm embrace, snuggling & suckling him with all the Life She held in Her bounteous bosom.
As Jacob grew accustomed to the hard life he had entered into, he noticed that, along with the barrenness he had noted when first becoming aware, he was surrounded by stark beauty. The lack of vegetation soon was replaced by a lush density that all but overpowered the senses. Life blossomed all around him, but Jacob had but one thought & that was how he could survive in the barrenness he chose to see in this new experience. The animal life that he had begun to take notice of in the beginning years of his journey, now began to take on a life of their own & merely presented themselves to him as substances. The lush vegetation that now surrounded him on all sides promised abundant succor, but Jacob had always fancied himself 'a meat & potatoes man'!
As that Experience drew to a close, Jacob's body was fast becoming old & decrepit; Time had surely taken its toll! While Jacob was enamored with his own individual experience, Life had persisted all around him, almost imperceptibly, it would seem, for Jacob had chosen to remain on his island, though he had taken a wife & fathered several children. The life that he had known thus far, though a hard one, had been a blessed one, but Jacob had chosen not to ascend that ever present ladder & remained in that barren wasteland he now called Home. The next time, Jacob was not so lucky..............
Jacob became aware of his surroundings at an early age. He knew that, even though things seemed strange & new, somehow he had been here before! A new body, a new experience, a new name, but something was familiar; Jacob still wanted those 'meat & potatoes' & though his 'gut' told him to be happy with the bounty that Nature provided, he felt that he needed more. Tearing through the carcasses of dead animals seemed to satisfy his own animal instinct & so Jacob continued his pursuit of mere existence, doing his absolute best, as he had been taught, to fend for himself.
Or so he thought.........
Jacob Allyn is typical of many who have lived, in Time, this experience we call Life. He had many lessons to learn, many lives to live, before he finally learned that to truly live, one must share the blessings One receives; as the old saying goes, 'no man is an island'. Although Jacob was slowly but surely learning his lesson; he still had a long way to go! Through many lives, many different experiences, Jacob would finally realize the Truth of All existence. As he lived & died in numerous different bodies, finding himself in various situations & faced with many life-altering choices, Jacob began to realize this Truth, that All are One!
When he first became aware of the ladder, Jacob would usually avoid it at all cost, not wanting to 'make waves', but through the many & varied experiences of his long Journey, this journey we call Life, Jacob finally came to the realization that we are all in It together, not one of us is alone in our struggles. The Oneness of our experience, though varied, differs only as we experience it! As we live our separate, individual lives, we will learn, as Jacob did, after his many experiences, that life is nothing if not shared!
Jacob grabbed the ladder with both hands, set his feet to the rungs & began to ascend...................
Charles Haddon Shank
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