When the world was young and life resounded throughout the mountain valleys, there lived a family in a little house in a village.  Every day, the parents was up at the crack of dawn.  The mother tended to the children before taking them to school; the father maintained the house before journeying off to work in a large town. 

There were two sons who shone like the sun.  As the elder got older, he began to journey more and more.  He discovered the town.  He ventured forth, meeting strange and unusual people.  Slowly, he decided he should attend school in the town.  While the parents thought it a hardship, they supported him in what he did.  Every day, he too woke up at dawn, making the quest into the town with his father. 

Slowly but surely, the town had its effects upon him.  The people in the town did not love life, they loved but the manifestations of the elements.  Slowly, he too loved the manifestation, not the life itself.  The sun left the eldest son.  His hair darkened, his face became gaunt.  Little by little, he sunk into a dark spot.  Everyone assumed he was just growing up, becoming an adult. 

The boy grew older; he met many fine people but he lost the joy of his childhood.  One day, in the town, he met a strange man, playing music in a way he had never heard before.  That is what I want to do, he thought to himself.  Again, sharing the tale with his parents, they agreed.  They saw the spirit in him and allowed him to do as he wished. 

After a few years, he took his instrument and his bag and walked far away from his home.  He walked to a great village with many powerful musicians.  He walked for many days, never tiring.  He walked through swamps, mountains, rivers, but nothing deterred him.  He walked through the gates of the great village and found musicians everywhere.

But none of them had any life left in them.  The sun and moon had left all of these people, too.  The little sun in the boy, so close to being extinguished, cried out in anguish as the world slowly closed it in.  If music was not the key to the soul of humans, what was?  The boy stayed, playing music for a great many weeks, hoping to find the answer to his questions. 

Just before the light of the sun was extinguished, he met a girl unlike the others he had met.  She shone so powerfully of one with the sun inside, just as the people in his valley at home did.  He had forgotten what the power of the sun was after so many days in the dark town in his homeland and in the new village.  The sun shone bright, and he knew he was in the right place.  The sun inside him began to burn again, just a bit at first, before growing.  Before he knew what was happening, it was Autumn and his family needed him.  He went back to his home, mourning the loss of such a great friend. 

So he went home.  He wrote to the girl, sending the letter off with a merchant who travelled to the far East.  The light inside him shone bright and he sought ever to grow with that light.  He did not go to the town again; he wanted to shine with the light of the sun once more. 

Soon, it was time for him to leave home.  He set off to find his way, and once more, the girl passed into his life.  Ever closer they came, one step at a time.  While they rarely encountered one another, for they were too distant, they left little things for the world to carry to the other.  Little by little, the world drew them together.  Soon, they could feel the tug of their souls across the vast world.  Little by little, the signs from the world brought them together, and they glowed with the brilliance of a thousand suns. 

Other people questioned the strange light and power.  Others chose to try to block the light.  The boy and girl wondered and were afraid of the ever growing power of their souls.  One, then the other slowly fell into the well of life.  The deep, electric blue waters engulfed them, the sun glittering from the splashes like it was a cache of diamonds.  The world lit up with the glory of life.  They were together, united in soul.  Even when distance drew them apart, the eternal bond of their spirits, of their dreams, kept them together.  The boy released himself from expectations, travelling instead into the realm of dreams. 

The boy was happy.  He found the answer to his question.  Instead of seeking a way to live, he sought life itself in the form that it would take.  The only way to live with spirit, to fill the world with colours of the divine paintbrush, is to dream and to follow those dreams.  To live means to love life. 

Being raised in New Mexico, I had the opportunity to get in touch with the all powerful desert from a very young age.  Only having left the desert to attend college did I realise how vital the desert was to my very being, the very state of who I am.  Yet, having gone home to the desert since, I've come to understand that the desert is a mindset as well.  The watermelon coloured mountains I grew up with exist very deeply in my spirit.  The sunsets are embedded forever and I can still see the spilled paints of some divine artist streaking and glowing across the western sky.  The cottonwood and Ponderosa trees still give me chills as I smell them inside of my own self.  The desert never really leaves me. 

Above all, I am myself.  There are a lot of people who understand this, in various ways.  I love having the opportunity to exist, to touch, to feel, to grow to learn.  Just as the desert is a part of me, I take with me little things from everyone I know.  I love to talk with friends, I love to delve into the human spirit, that very thing that makes us all our unique selves.  But most of all, I love to love.  Love makes us so vitally human.  It is the very root of the music of the ear, as well as the music of the spirit. 

There is no greater calling in life than compassion and love for our fellow humans.  How much better would the world be if everyone took ten minutes a day to help another?  The fresh perspective, the little bit of help, the added skills... They add up.  By acting out of compassion, we can help bring about a new era in human history.

As for me, I'm just a dreamer.  I love and love a lot.  I explore, I venture, I care, I am me.  You want to know about me?  Let's talk.

Isn't it funny how people never seem to believe you when you actually tell them the truth?  It seems that every time I tell someone the truth around here, they question what I'm saying because it seems far too simple, instead of some ridiculous lie.