The white priest
It was one morning after many many days of trying. The wind was light yet powerful in its own way. There was a clarity in the air. It did not seem like the rest of the towns. It was as if there was a void. A void with a contentment barely explainable. A void where there was no heaviness, no attachments, no sorrow.
He never knew a void could have something that the more 'fuller' places lack.
"How paradoxical it is!" He wondered. And that's how he stood in his tired jeans and a shirt with sleeves rolled up. Waiting, hopeful that today he will finally have his answer.
As he stood by the gate of the monastery, waiting for the white priest, he tried to look what was inside. All he could see was a jungle. A narrow path that was basically a clearing meandered through the grass going to where he believed the white priest lived.
He saw a bare boulder by the old, ornate yet simple, tall yet humble gateway and sat down. It seemed the monastery was a void within this one. He wondered what that would feel like.
Finally he saw him: a priest, young looking, clad in white, surrounded by a few disciples, clad in orange to yellow to red robes. He stood up excitedly. The group walked slowly, stopping at a bush somewhere looking at some fallen berry somewhere. Twice he looked at his watch and after what was about 15 minutes, they finally reached the gate.
"What the hell!" He wondered. Then shrugged the thought aside.
The priest looked at him. Then he looked at a man standing onto his left side. The guy nodded.
"Why are you here?"
"For you" he plainly replied.
"What do you need?"
"I want to get to the doorway"
The priest raised an eyebrow. It was difficult to tell if he was pleased or surprised. He was probably both yet neither was evident.
"Who told you about the doorway?" He finally asked.
"I know about it, priest. And I need to get to it."
"Oh do you! Well...well.." The priest seemed to be scanning him. He felt oddly uncomfortable.
"I can't tell you. Go back now lad"
The priest said and continued walking towards the temple near the gate.
The man who had introduced him to the priest glanced at him briefly and joined the rest of the monks.
He kept standing, irritated and a little confused.
Why hadn't the monk told the white priest how he met him in that very temple. The gates of the monastery were always open and he should be respected for not simply walking in, he thought.
"No one ever goes inside until the priest asks for them to." He remembered the monk telling him. "You will have to be here when the priest comes"
"And what day will that be?" He had asked
After a pause the monk had said "It was supposed to be today, but he is busy and sent me instead. It is usually on a Tuesday that he comes to address the people."
He had taken no chances and reached the gate at 6am sharp every single day. He wasn't a morning person and until now he had never seen what 6am was.
Finally the priest came and did not even spend five decent minutes listening to him!
He felt angry.
"I am so stupid!" He wondered. "I should have barged in an met him. All this is bloody nonsense anyway!"
He looked around. No body seemed to notice him. People flocked towards the temple. He turned around and walked lazily in the direction back to his guest room.
"Boss will probably fire me now. Oh this is messed up! And all of this for nothing!" He thought. His leave had been untimely, in the middle of important meetings and extended three times already!
He walked past the trees and wondered how they grow despite the tonnes of earth above them.
"This world is crapped up." He thought. People pulling down each other all the time. You give them a little power, and they exert it like they were some king!
I am done with this place.
