The young man had been trapped on this tiny little island for nearly 2 days now, at least as far as he could tell. Let it be known however that this was not your typical case of a castaway; the man trapped on the island waiting to send smoke signals to a passing plane. No… Bo, our hero, didn’t know how he had gotten to this “island” (yeah, I think we’ll just have to put quotes on it from here on), what dimension he was in (if he was in one), and what had sent him on this sudden, somewhat frightening and seemingly hopeless journey to a new place. He couldn’t even remember where he had come from, when he considered the thought in detail, but he knew he had come from somewhere. Most importantly, he could picture the place he had come from, and that was his sense of home; the home we all must wonder at but undeniably can feel, was certainly where he had been and not where he was. Regardless, Bo had done his best to think himself back into his former reality, because he had trouble believing that he had gotten to this island by any other mode than pure thought.
“Well Jeez”, thought Bo as he sat on a jagged rock at the edge of this mysterious “island”, “I had no idea that the mind was so powerful”. At that very moment, it seemed to Bo that someone, somewhere spoke to him. This was certainly not the almighty God shouting down to him from the heavens, but once again a figment of his own imagination. The voice within him seemed to say, “You, and only you, have brought yourself here. Now it is up to you to get yourself back… And furthermore, if you don’t want to go back, you don’t have to! You can stay here for as long as you like.” The voice continued, “Also, this whole notion that this place is an ‘island’… you might want to reconsider that. Remember, this is all you my friend..” And just like that, the voice was gone. At that point Bo realized that he needed to explore the perimeters of this supposed “island” because now he wasn’t so sure that he was trapped on all sides, and Bo certainly didn’t want to stay here forever. How would he find food? He’d never be able to survive. He’d never see his parents, his girlfriend or his friends again.. NO, Bo did not want that, so Bo began to explore.
Over the next several hours, Bo discovered plants, fruits and animals of kinds that he had never seen or heard of before. It occurred to him, although not seriously, that maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to be stuck here. Maybe he wouldn’t be stuck here at all, perhaps “stuck” was just the word he chose to describe it. He had found water, food, and companionship; what else could he possibly need? But Bo still wanted to go home, because home was a sanctuary for Bo, one that he had never had to consider before in such great detail, but one that meant so much to him that he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving it for good. Again, that was up to Bo to decide. Someone else may have been happy to stay here, but that was not Bo.. Bo was a homebody.
This whole time, Bo was in a bit of a panic… Can you blame him? He’s found himself on some random island, virtually alone and with no known resources to get him back home. That’s why he was overcome with delight when he found a bridge, after at least 6 hours of searching. At this point, Bo had experienced almost every emotion imaginable. He had cried, he had laughed, he had lied down on the sand and almost completely given up. He had also forgotten to drink water in his desperate search to find a way out. The bridge that Bo found was only visible for about 10 or so feet until it became smothered with fog, but Bo swore he could see the faint outline of a city deep in the background, or was that the dehydration?… the city he had come from! He briskly set off on the bridge and as he reached the fog, a familiar voice called to him, this time clearer than the last… “Bo, you’re okay man, you’re good..” Bo knew this person, Bo wanted desperately to get back to this person, because this person was someone from Bo’s home. Bo started to run. He ran as fast as he possibly could, and the force of the fog against him seemed almost unbearable, but he’d do anything to get through it so that he could locate that voice.
The next thing Bo knew, he was standing in the center of the living room of his apartment in Boston, MA. His two best friends were holding him up, looking at him like he was insane. He realized now that the voice he had heard as he was crossing the bridge was that of one of his best friends. It all made sense now… the three of them had been meditating routinely for months now, and this was the first time that Bo achieved such a high state of meditation. It was scary, but somehow it was also incredibly beautiful. As Bo settled down into the couch with his two buddies, he wished he had just enjoyed the ride more.
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