“Business is business.” Said the old man, “If I sold everything at market value I wouldn’t make a dime.” The old man pulled out a roll of money, and placed $300 on the counter. “That’s your commission for selling the item.” He said as he plopped another $100 on the counter, “And here is your day’s pay.” 

The boy looked at the clock, “It’s only 3pm.” The boy said. 

“I know.” Said the old man, “Looks like 2 hours left for you.” He started laughing again, walking towards the back room. “Wait here.”

The old man returned with two cups of steaming hot green tea that smelled like mint and roses.

“To your first official sale!” He said. The boy took a sip of the tea, and while it tasted very good, he burned his tongue. 

“Ahh!” He exclaimed, “I’ll wait till it cools off.” 

The old man laughed as he sipped his tea. 

“How can you even drink that right now?” The boy asked in disbelief as he watched the old man.

“ I guess it’s the same way feet become stronger after walking on lava stone enough times.” Said the old man, blowing merrily against the steam that rose from his cup, before taking another sip. 

“What chakra is after the root?” The boy asked as he blew on his hot tea.

“The sacral.” The old man pointed his hand towards his stomach right below his navel like a sword as he began to explain. 

“Your root is located at your areas of excretion. The sacral deals with pleasure, sexual or not, and is blocked by guilt. Next is the solar plexus,” 

He pointed to the middle of his torso, “which controls your willpower and is blocked by shame. After is the heart, which as you can guess controls your love and is blocked by...”

“Hatred?” Asked the boy. 

“Close, grief.” Replied the old man, “Which can lead to fear, then hatred, and then anger. Your anger will cause you much pain, which will lead to your suffering. If you suffer, everything else around you suffers as well. The next is your throat chakra, which is your truth and is blocked by lies.” 

He went from pointing at his throat to pointing at the middle of his forehead, “This is your third eye. It marks your wisdom and intuition, and is blocked by illusions.”

“What do you mean illusion?” Asked the boy.

“In Hinduism it’s known as maya, which is the misconception that one is separate from his creator. Basically, it is the false realities and perceptions of others that you have come to accept are truth. Lies and illusion go hand in hand. People will tell you lies to create an illusion, of which you knowingly take part in. This method of falsehood has been used to control the minds and voices of entire nations. To keep a people’s chakras sealed, is to keep them from themselves. The last...”

The old man patted the top of his head with his palm, “...is the crown. The crown connects you to cosmic energy, and is blocked by your own ego. It is, in a way, your aura. The glow of light that you emit from your body. Imagine the culmination of all of the other pools of energy shooting out from the top of your head like a beacon of light, connecting you to the entirety of the universe. Only true kings of wisdom are able to wear their crowns, so to speak.”

“What is the ego?” Asked the boy, sipping his tea slowly, “this is good tea.” The boy took another, longer sip.

The old man laughed, “Thank you, I make it with fresh herbs, it’s always better that way. Many people associate the ego with what is one’s character, the image they portray. To become enamored by not only who you are, but what you are, is the ego. The mistake is letting the ego determine too much of our self. By reveling in our own image rather than focusing on the continuous transformation of ourselves, we become stagnant.”

“To focus too much of your energy on your appearance, physical or non physical, is the egotistical self. The self being the God that breathes the wind of life within you. The ego can be used, to accurately reflect the self, by embodiment or manifestation. The physical display that is one’s ‘style’.”

“The ego is the magnified persona that displays your self. In other words, it’s your self esteem or your self importance. People love to think very highly of themselves, or not highly enough. To attain your crown, you must flush these ideas away and let go of your attachments.”

The boy stared at his cup of tea, and realized the old man was right. He had a lot to learn. “How can someone let go of the people they love?”

The old man frowned, “Perhaps these things will become clear once your third eye has been open long enough to see the light. It is possible for one chakra to be more overactive or underactive than the rest. Without all around balance, chakras that are too open while others are too underdeveloped can lead to mental, physical, and emotional problems. This is why we have mental patients in hospitals, or serial killers, or addicts. Their chakras are how you would say, out of whack.”

“Yours are just now beginning to open up, but it is very rare for a boy to attain full enlightenment. You must gain experience, and then wisdom. Scientifically, your cerebral cortex in your brain isn’t fully developed to determine right from wrong until you’re at least 25. Even then, some people never develop it at all. Common sense isn’t all that common.”

“Ahhh.” The old man sighed as he finished his tea, “That was a good batch wasn’t it?”

The boys tea had grown cold now, he had been intensely focused on what the old man was telling him.

“I want to help heal people.” Said the boy. 

“Then you must first learn how to heal yourself.” Said the old man. 

“There is a divine spirit within you. We were made from the same hand that created the universe. We have been created by god so god can be us. To experience you, and me, everyone. When we pray, we are really practicing manifestation. We control our breathing in order to manifest our truth, our realities. I and I don’t pray to no mystery god in the sky, or fear some mystery hell slave masters have created. I and I know that hell and heaven are states of mind, are vibrations that we experience. Only through our connection and union with the god inside ourselves can we truly realize who we are as people.”

The boy’s eyes were wide, he had completely lost himself in where he was, swimming in the words of the old man feeling as if he would be swept away by them and drown. 

“Are you saying we are gods?” The boy asked.

“Yes.” Said the old man. “That is the meaning to self realization, enlightenment, manifestation. We are creators and destroyers at the same time. Yin and yang. I and I. We are god, allah, jah, 99 names of god plus your own. Some are asleep and have yet to wake up, others are dead and need to be resurrected. It is the way of the Buddha’s, the ones who are awake, to guide the way out of the darkness and back into the light. So while mushrooms may be your be all to end all, I merely know them as a catalyst to open our mind to the way we are supposed to be; awake, aware, and alert.”

The boy’s beliefs had been shattered. All his life, his grandmother would pray to Jesus, pray to God, for answers and solutions. He realized then that her hope was the same as her fear.

“This is a lot to take in, I know.” Said the old man, putting his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “To find out everything you know is a lie, that they were fabricated in order to control you, to keep your mind enslaved, is a hard thing indeed to accept. There are a few who know the truth, but keep feeding you the lies in order for them to profit.”

“These are the false prophets, the ones who mislead the flock called humanity to eat out of their hands, go where they tell them to go, think what they tell them to think. You are the only one who can truly explore and explain yourself. The purpose of life is to recognize the essential oneness of existence, the higher aspect of the individual self, by adhering to the personal duties of one’s life.”

The boy felt as if he was indeed drowning. All the tidings his grandmother had given to the church, always looking towards the sky hoping some outside force would manipulate the world in her favor. When in reality, she should be looking internally for change, and then maybe her external world would change as well.

The boy began to cry uncontrollably, placing his face in his hands he sobbed and couldn’t help to wail.

“Beautiful words aren’t always the truth, and the truth aren’t always beautiful words. But now you know, and you can begin to realize who you are in this world. Once you do that, then you can begin to show truth to others. But you cannot teach others to swim if you have never been in the water.” Said the old man in a calm and caring tone.

Next Chapter: The Crown