Heart on Lock

There was a man who did not receive enough love in his childhood. It happens: parents give the greatest gift – life – but they have neither the strength, nor the time, nor the ability to give anything else. And instead of cultivating his own love, the man became angry with his parents and resented them.

Well, as we know, angry people are difficult to please, and those who feel resentful tend to hurt others. That's what happened to this man! He decided that the world was unfair to him and that people were evil. Of course, this immediately affected his life: he was hurt again and again, and deprived again and again, time after time. He gave his whole heart, but they spat on it. It hurts! And so he locked his heart with three locks and threw away the keys. He decided that he would live like that.

But it is impossible to live without Love, for it is a source of grace, nourishment and strength. So a person lives, chews bread, earns a living, but feels no joy, because there is a complete vacuum around him and a sucking emptiness in his soul. And who would want to knock on a closed door for a long time if their heart is locked?

And so his soul began to wither away because it lacked the life-giving love. And one day, a cry of the soul escaped him:

And he heard the voice of Life, and she replied:

"An inexhaustible Source of Love resides in everyone's heart. Why don't you draw from it and nourish your soul?"

'But my heart is closed, locked with three locks.'

'Then unlock it, open it wide, and you will find happiness.'

'But how can I open it if I don't even remember where I threw the keys? Everything is rusty and covered with moss...'

'No one but you can do it.'

'But what should I do, where should I go, where can I find these keys now?'

'Seek and you shall find,' promised Life. 'Look into your soul — all the answers are there.'

The Mirror of the Soul

So the man sat there thinking, how can I look into my soul? Suddenly he remembered that they say the eyes are the mirror of the soul. He went to the mirror and looked straight into his own eyes. And he was horrified: they were empty, miserable, dull. Was he really like that? Wow, he had looked into his soul! He stared and stared, and suddenly, as if into a well, he fell into the depths and saw himself standing in the middle of a barren wasteland where nothing good grows, only weeds sprouting through the cracked earth. A little further away was a large stone with a bird on it, its eyes wise and sad.

'Wow, what a mess I'm in!' the man scratched the back of his head. 'Where should I go, which way should I go? Or will I just die in this wasteland? Where should I look?'

Then the bird spoke to him in a human voice:

'What have you lost, human? I am the Prophetic Bird. Ask me, and if I know, I will help you.'

"Hello, Prophetic Bird! Help me, and I will be grateful. I am looking for keys. I locked my heart with three locks and threw away the keys. And now I cannot draw from the Inexhaustible Source, it is inaccessible to me."

'So you've decided to find them? Did you come up with this yourself or did someone put you on the right track?'

'Life gave me the idea.'

"Well, consider yourself lucky! Because I know where to find the three keys, and I can show you the way. I'll fly, and you follow me. But watch out, don't fall behind!"

The Three Springs

And the man followed the Strange Bird. After a long or short time, she led him to a mountain, and from the mountain three springs flowed, spreading out into small lakes.

'We're here,' said the bird. 'Here they are, your keys.'

'Are you some kind of feathered miracle? I didn't mean those keys, but others, the ones that open locks!'

"That's what I mean. Keep in mind: these are not ordinary springs, but secret, primordial ones. They wash away all the filth from a person, dissolve the dirt, and cleanse the soul. And the keys to your heart — you threw them away deep down, and now they are here, in these lakes, at the very bottom. You need to dive into each lake and get the keys. Then you will unlock your heart! Unless, of course, you are afraid to jump..."

A man approached, looked closely – and indeed, these were no ordinary springs flowing from the mountain. The water in the first was cold, almost frozen; in the second, it was hot, steaming; only in the third was the water just right, neither cold nor hot.

'I'll bathe in this one,' the man decided, but the Prophetic Bird flapped its wing and stopped him.

"There is no old age before youth, and the earth will not bear fruit until the seed is sown. The Three Springs are three magical sources. The first has dead water, the second has living water, and the third has healing water. If you dip into all three in turn, then it will be useful, but if you skip any, nothing will come of it, and everything will remain as it was."

The First Spring: Dead Water

'Why should I, a living person, dip into dead water?'

"To leave all your bitter past experiences and all your absurd plans there. To bury them in the Dead Spring and put a cross on them."

'How can you bury experience? Isn't that why we gather it, to remember and use it?'

"Oh, man, you're not talking about that kind of experience. The experience that is useful to you is in your heart, it is alive. But all the resentment, sadness and grief lie like a dead weight on your heart, obscuring the light of day and dragging you down. You avoid even thinking about them because it hurts, and you can't bring yourself to let them go because you feel sorry for them. This is dead energy, and it puts you in a funeral mood. So bury it, don't feel sorry for it — otherwise these stones will bury you yourself! Clear a place in your soul for good things!"

The man crossed himself, exhaled, and threw himself into the icy spring. He was immediately frozen by the bitter cold, and he felt like a dead man. He sank to the bottom like a stone and saw his life as if from the outside: he was sitting in the middle of life, gloomy and frowning, waiting for someone to throw a stone at him. People were walking by, and some of them had stones in their pockets. So when they saw him, they were drawn to him like a magnet, quickly took out their stones and threw them at him, and he caught them and put them in his soul. There was already a whole pile there, but what a pile — a monolithic rock! And at its foundation is his very first and greatest resentment — towards his parents. He looked closely — under the rock there seemed to be a key, a beautiful, carved one. But as soon as he reached for the key, the rock began to fall on him, pressing down and pushing him to the bottom.

He coughed, struggled, kicked and flailed his arms, but the weight on his soul would not let him rise, pulling him down.

'I don't want to carry this stone on my soul anymore!' he cried with his last ounce of strength. 'Forgive me, good people, I will never hurt anyone again! Forgive me, Father and Mother, for judging you! I don't need any more resentment, I don't want to remember it! I'm putting an end to it!'

'Quiet, don't shout like that, you're already out,' he heard a voice say.

He opened his eyes and saw himself lying on the shore, unable to catch his breath, and next to him was the Prophetic Bird, looking at him mockingly.

'Oh, I thought my death had come,' he said in surprise, testing his arms and legs.

'Yes, it was so,' nodded the Bird. 'You drowned in resentment and condemnation, but you caught yourself in time, forgave everyone and let them go. You threw off your long-standing burden!'

The Second Spring: Living Water

'It's true, my soul feels lighter,' the man confirmed. 'It feels kind of empty in there, it's so unusual...'

'You must fill the emptiness with love,' said the Prophetic Bird. 'Put the key down, don't be afraid, they won't take it away...'

The man looked down and saw that he was indeed holding a stone key with a pattern on it, the one that had been crushed under a boulder. So he managed to grab it...

'I'll hang it around my neck,' the man decided. 'This is the key to my heart, I don't want to part with it anymore. I'll go get the second key. Do I have to jump into that boiling water?'

'Of course,' confirmed the Bird. 'This Key is not simple either, it will cure you of your fussiness and teach you not to get worked up over trifles.'

'But I'll get burned,' the man doubted.

'That's how you are in life,' the Bird croaked sarcastically. "Sometimes you rush around like you've been scalded, and sometimes you drag your feet like you've been boiled. So you're used to it! Jump in, it won't be any worse."

The man gathered his courage and jumped into the second spring. It burned him so much that all thoughts flew out of his head in an instant. But before his eyes, scenes from his life flashed by. He saw how, in his rush and haste, he had missed love, lost friends, and failed to notice happiness. It seemed like he was always running somewhere, doing something, striving for something, worrying about something, but what and why — no one knew. But he pushed away those who reached out to him, didn't believe those who loved him, and didn't help those who needed help. That's because he closed his heart to people. This was the sad picture he saw. And he also saw the key, a mother-of-pearl key at the bottom. It lay quietly in a pearl shell, shimmering with all the colours of the rainbow.

And the man thought: "Lord, forgive me! I didn't even notice the gifts you offered me. And what I was striving for – it seems I don't need it. It's not mine, it's someone else's! It was a delusion, a haunting. And so life passed me by. Oh, if only I could start over! I would know that my greatest treasure is hidden in my heart..."

'Then open it,' a voice whispered, 'it's not too late...'

And at that moment, he felt as if someone had placed something in his hand. The next moment, he found himself on the shore, holding a mother-of-pearl key.

'How beautiful,' he whispered.

'Just like your heart,' said the Prophetic Bird. "You wrapped it in a shell, closed the clamshell, and threw it to the bottom so you wouldn't feel the pain. And with it, you threw your pearl, which makes your soul beautiful. But there is no life without pain, human. But pain is the flip side of joy. Do not be afraid to open your heart. Then everyone will see your pearl, and people will be drawn to you."

The Third Spring: Healing Water

The man attached this key to a cord and hung it around his neck. He looked down and saw that his hands had smoothed out, his skin was new and pink, like a baby's.

'Your old, calloused skin has come off, and new skin has grown,' the bird explained to him. "It is thin and sensitive. It feels other people's pain as if it were its own, but it also accepts other people's joy as if it were its own. You will have an incentive to give joy to those around you, so that you yourself will feel good."

'I understand, O Prophetic Bird. I will now live differently, to the fullest extent of my soul, and I will not be afraid of pain. And the third key, it seems, is in this spring?'

'It seems so.'

'Well, it's simple here,' the man rejoiced. 'The water here is neither cold nor hot — just right. I'll gladly jump in myself!'

'Don't rush to conclusions,' said the Prophetic Bird. 'This key is not simple — it is called the Healing Key. It is the most important one. But you must dip into it after the first two, then it will be useful.'

'Well, with God's help!' And the man dived into the third spring.

Although the water in it was neither cold nor hot, it immediately took his breath away, because it spun him around, whirled him around, darkness fell from all sides, and he felt that he was drowning, falling apart in this pitch darkness. He could no longer tell which way was up or down, or where he himself was — he became tiny, like a molecule in the universe, spinning around, floating into nowhere... And suddenly his vision seemed to switch — he saw that there were many, many molecules like him all around, each flying along its own trajectory, connecting, scattering again... And together it was so beautiful! It was like a music box in front of him, where all the little cogs and gears, individually, were just small parts, but together they made wonderful music. And in the middle of it all, he saw a key. A big, golden key. It seems like this key is the most important one here, it starts all the music. He rushed towards the key — and suddenly felt himself part of the Whole, where everything is connected, everything seems to be on its own, but at the same time together, because everyone has their own task, and as a whole — harmony and divine perfection.

And suddenly the man felt himself to be that very Golden Key, and for a moment all the secrets of the Universe, all its mechanisms and interconnections, were revealed to him, and he understood that each person is the centre of their own Universe, and at the same time each person is the key that starts it...

The man surfaced, gasping for air, remembering how to breathe, because he had touched the secrets of existence that he had not known before and had not even thought about.

'Well, man, are you healed?' asked the Prophetic Bird.

'I don't understand,' admitted the man. 'I thought healing was when you recover from an illness.'

'So you have recovered,' consoled the Bird. 'To be healed, you must feel wholeness. When you defend yourself against the whole world, where is there enough health? But when you become part of the world and feel yourself as one with it, then you will have complete and whole happiness.'

The Awakening

'Thank you, Bird of Prophecy,' bowed the man. 'You have taught me wisdom. Thank you for showing me the three Keys to healing!'

'And where is the last key, the golden one?' asked the Bird. 'Didn't you take it?'

'I did,' laughed the man. 'It's here, in my heart. I opened my heart. Now I will keep the three keys there so that I don't forget or lose them.'

'Well, then look around!'

The man looked back, and the waterless desert was no more: green grass was sprouting everywhere, flowers were blooming. And a new spring was gushing from the rock, sparkling, murmuring, scattering splashes.

'The spring of Life-Giving Love!' the man understood immediately. 'So this is what nourishes the soul! Lord, how beautiful it is!'

'Of course, when the soul blossoms, it is always like this. Grace! Look how beautiful you have become,' suggested the Bird.

The man looked into the water and saw himself standing there, truly beautiful, like a hero from a legend: his gaze was direct, his shoulders straight, his smile broad, his eyes sparkling, and his lips smiling. He looked and looked, and suddenly realised that he was standing at home, in front of the mirror, looking into his own eyes. Only before, he had seen himself in the mirror as tormented and unhappy, but now he was standing there as a happy man, strong and joyful.

— M. A. L.