Dan Dan and the Land of Maths

The Cloud

'Where am I?' asks Daniel.

'You are in the heart of Father Sky' replies the Wise Old Bird.

'And what happens now?' he asks.

'Father Sky will show you what you need to know to help you overcome whatever is blocking you',

'Blocking me from what?'

'Whatever is stopping you from being free and finding direction in your life,'

'I think I am free,'

'Free to live in the present instead of worrying about the past or the future?' replies the bird.

'Well, I think I have a right to worry about the future, don't you? I mean I have been bought here to another world, told my own world is under attack from a dimension-travelling maniac. Unless I can figure out how to stop him, everyone I love, and everything I know will be destroyed, and I will be somewhat to blame because I wasn't able to stop him. Worthy of at least a skerrick of worry I think!'

At that moment, the Wise Old Bird vanishes and the mist clears to reveal that Daniel is high above the cloud looking down to the ground below.

The sun is shining, and the warmth on his skin is welcome in the chilly air that surrounds him. There is a kind of peace and assurance up here, and Daniel can feel it filling his whole being, from the tips of his toes to the top of his head, peaceful for the first time in a long time.

But he doesn't have time to appreciate it. Below he can see the cloud is darkening and the shadow it casts on the ground is blackening. Lights are moving in the cloud, streaking from one side to the other with a low rumbling of thunderclaps that echo around the whole sky. The Wise Old Bird is flying back and forth, beating her wings furiously together. She has changed somehow, she looks much more prominent here in the sky. More significant and more colourful. Quicker and quicker, she circles around the sky, beating her wings as the air rushes behind her. Suddenly a blinding bolt of lightning pounces from the cloud and plunges down to the ground below.

Daniel watches the lightning punch the prairie, igniting the grass in a ball of fire that spreads in every direction. A wall of wind rushes in to feed the flames, fanning them forward as the wildfire spreads like a storm of flame across the hills burning everything in sight.

Daniel yelps with horror as the flames bare down on the decision forest, consuming the parched trees with a ferocity that Daniel has never witnessed in anything before.

Black smoke fills the sky as the Quantum Birds flee their burning home. The decision forest is engulfed in flames as Daniel, paralysed with fear and trembling in helplessness. He shrieks 'Nooooooooo' at the top of his voice.

As the horror fills his whole being and half-formed anguished words stutter from his lips, Daniel is suddenly back at the foot of the decision tree. Nothing is burning.

He looks up and sees the clear blue sky between the trees, no dark clouds, no thunder or lightning. His hands are released from the bark, and he stumbles back to sit on the ground, hardly able to comprehend what he has seen or understand what has just happened.

Falling onto his back, he stares up at the canopy of the forest as the Wise Old Bird waddles up to him and stares down her glossy beak into his eyes.

'Do you understand what you have seen?' She asks in a stern tone that reminds him of unhappy Yoda.

'Not really,' he replies hesitantly.

'You are the blue sky, you are not your thoughts,' she retorts, 'you are not your feelings, you are not what you look like, you are not what you wear, you are not what you do.' Do you understand me?

'There is something beyond all those things, a place of quiet confidence that is the blue sky. Everything else, all the wild imaginations that rattle around in your mind, the fears, the anguish, they are just clouds. They come and go, they change over time. As long as you can remember the picture of blue sky. That is the real you bathed in the sunlight, high above the storm, there is always a sunny place above the clouds,'

Daniel gapes at the Wise Old Bird, stunned by her way of looking at his thoughts.

'Watch your thoughts, Daniel. Don't just wallow in them and accept them as the truth. The moment you realise that you are worrying or you are filling your mind with fear, in that very moment you can release yourself from that unhelpful thinking. You can picture yourself resting again in that place of quiet confidence, above the clouds.'

Daniel shuts his eyes and lets out a half sigh, half chuckle. He has never thought about the way he thinks. When he opens them again, the Wise Old Bird has vanished.

☁

Leaving the forest, Daniel is met by Feather Canyon who invites him to sit on a large boulder that has been warmed by the morning sun. As they sit with occasional bird song twittering from the trees behind them, Feather Canyon turns to Daniel.

His aged and experienced eyes looking deep into Daniel's young and bewildered expression. He senses that Daniel has taken the first steps in his journey.

'You are a warrior now. You entered the forest as a boy, and you leave the forest as a young man. You have completed your vision quest, and now you begin the journey of all great warriors to live as one with Mother Earth and Father Sky.'

Daniel looks up into the eyes of Feather Canyon, and understanding much more than he did just yesterday, feels the weight of the burden borne by the chief.

'At this time all warriors receive a new name to mark the time they passed from boyhood to manhood,'

'A new name?' exclaims Daniel, surprised by the thought of changing your name midway through life.

'Several warriors have reported seeing you dancing on the outskirts of the village after dark, that you dance with a shining box in your hand and twine in your ears.'

Daniel reaches into the pocket of his jeans and pulls out an iPod Classic with the headphones coiled around it.

'You mean this?' holding the object for Feather Canyon to inspect.

'Music is essential to me. I find it magical and wonderful, it centres me in times of trouble, helps me to find myself when I am lost, helps me to see life from different perspectives. This is called an iPod, it holds my favourite music, and I listen through these headphones that go in each ear...unfortunately the battery is flat now.'

Feather Canyon holds the iPod in his hands and sees in Daniel's expression that he is speaking an inner truth from deep within his being.

Returning the precious object to Daniel, he raises his hands and gathering spittle on his tongue, he licks each of his thumbs.

Taking the back of Daniel's hands and lifting them with his wisen fingertips, he places each thumb on the lifeline of Daniel's hands. Staring intently into his eyes, he says. 'Music is the harmonic connection between all living things, I see that you already hold this to be true. I see in you the makings of a great warrior and a healer, and for this reason, your new warrior name will be "Dances with iPod".

This is a name that will ground you in the truth that you already know in your heart, go forth "Dances with iPod" and fulfil your destiny as the sky people have foretold.'