Pure Generous Heart: you may be thinking, “Now that’s an odd name.” Well, I must admit it is, but in these stories you will see his big heart, which is beautiful, pristine, generous, compassionate and loving.
It is our heart that is our best friend. In times of sorrow it comforts us, in times of joy it radiates love, and when it comes to making a decision it guides us in the right direction. The stories of Pure Generous Heart resonate with our deepest feelings of love, compassion and purity. The adventures of Pure Generous Heart are never boring, as you will find out for yourself. Happy reading!
SEEKING HEART LEARNS ABOUT LIFE
Seeking Heart is tireless, insatiable, and indefatigable. Even though very young, he has seen many moons, experienced and lived through many things, impulsively yet wholeheartedly. He feels on top of the world! Seeking Heart is an expert in extremes; for him to lose himself, to forget himself in his passion is to find himself, it is like an intuition burgeoning from the core.
First there was sailing the seas with its winds, its heaving swells, and its intense fears; then there was diving, preferably in apnea; then snorkeling in underwater caves and chasms in the deep darks of the earth; then the great vertigo of the jumps, soaring high and free as the bird, to name a few. Yes, Seeking Heart seeks, without respite, without moderation and without ceasing.
One fine day he meets Pure Generous Heart. Here is how this unusual encounter takes place.
It is the end of a fine afternoon and in the final light of the day, the sky turns a deep ochre, shaded with veils of the growing shadows. But Seeking Heart is not a poet. He grips with his fingers, secures his foot, extends his thighs to the extreme, pulls, pushes, hoists, sweats, puffs and spits.
Hooked, hanging between air and rock, he climbs. It is his new passion, his new challenge, his imperious overtaking, in which he becomes so absorbed. He does not need to think, not suffer, especially not pause.
Another hold, there, under this notch. A support, a little risky it is true, on this tiny bump. Do not look down, feel the rock, with the back of the hand wipe the sweat, puff one last time and pull, yes with all his strength – pull!
“Good evening, Seeking Heart. I was waiting for you. You look exhausted. Here, have some
water.” Seeking Heart resumes his thoughts, settles himself at the edge of the cliff, acknowledges the height (not
without pride), wipes his forehead and takes a sip.
“But, who are you?”
“A friend. Rest, then we will talk for a while. Magnificent, this sunset, isn’t it?”
Still wrapped up in his own thoughts, Seeking Heart muses, “Next time, I will do it faster!”
“Have you seen these colors, this gold, this purple on the horizon?” Pure Generous asks, admiring the view.
“And without drinking too!”
“Why do you do this, Seeking Heart?”
Seeking Heart turns his attention towards Pure Generous Heart momentarily, and finds him extraordinarily quiet,
singularly beautiful, and very friendly, for sure.
“To live, Mr Stranger. To live, that’s why!”
“Do you think that it is necessary for you to push your body to the extreme and make it suffer to have this
‘feeling’ of living?”
“Pretty much. Otherwise, I’m bored.”
“You who fear not the heights and depths of the Earth, you are afraid of boredom? Afraid of the void the boredom might create in your life? You know, there is a void, a nothingness full of Light that exists in your heart. Right now, after your exertions, you are relaxing, right? So, here is what I propose. Close your eyes gently, relax yourself and sense in your heart this Light that lives inside of you, this life of life itself. For what you seek so eagerly outside is actually in you. Come on, let us meditate for a moment.”
Amused, Seeking Heart thinks, “To close my eyes, to pause for a moment, and meditate? Well, why not? I have had so many adventures in life, I might as well try this one!”
As Pure Generous Heart warns him, nothing much seems to happen at first.
“Relaxing is nice in any case. But wait, what is this whirl of ideas, interloping, fleeting, this succession of
emotions unrelated to each other? Then this vertigo, that mind suspended up there, far away, while something digs
into the depths of my heart. Wait, my cheeks are wet. Is it raining? Tears? No, I am not going to cry! I don’t want
to cry, I am perfectly happy. Where are they coming from? These tears, reminiscent of a time long ago I don’t
recognize … I do not even know why.
“It is not sadness. Perhaps it is more like nostalgia. No, not quite … I do not know any more. Oh, but this feels so good, like letting go, leaving myself loose, giving in, plunging deeper, and then calm, something soft, tender, fresh, and warm. Maybe that’s the Light this fellow is talking about. Okay, stop thinking, just be there, feel, eyes are closed, relish this presence, feel, be in the moment, ah bliss…”
Sitting side by side at the top of the mountain, the two meditators gaze at the horizon. They are still and quiet. The sun is setting, the day is receding and the shadows are lengthening. The darkness of the night descends upon them, but in their hearts the Light is still shining.
Story by YVES BENHAMOU
Illustrations by THOMAS KLEIN
