Four young men were led to the base of a cold, gray mountain and told to take on a journey to the mountain’s peak, which was hidden above the clouds.
The first man was named Peter. He looked up and could not see this alleged “mountain peak” and so stared at the highest visible end – about 900 feet he reckoned. He figured that he’d do what he reasonably could (which seemed to be a higher aim than most other men). After much hard work, energy and sweat he hiked the distance and so succeeded to finish the intense trail of 900 feet and yet rested unsatisfied with the journey, but eventually convinced himself that this was the best any man could do or reasonably hope to do. He (fearing the possible vanity of his journey’s worth) eventually found satisfaction by comparing his achievement to the other three men and so perceived his life to be competitively the best of all three other options.
The second man, whose name was Eckhart, looked up into where the mountain entered the cloud’s covering and reveled with childlike admiration in the impossibly high feat, and overwhelmed with the immensity of the mountain’s ascension, he proceeded to write poetry and sing songs about how wonderful reaching its peak would be – yet he never left the place he stood.
He laughed at the small vision of Peter as, he claimed, Peter was unable to perceive the grandeur or imagine the beauty of the mountain’s peak, of what lies beyond the clouds. He thought: Peter is limiting his perspective to what he could see, to what was perceived as “practical” when all he has accomplished has been the vanity of 900 feet coupled with a shriveled vision of possibility.
Yet respectively, Peter laughed at Eckhart for his laziness, evidenced in his immobility, as he thought: This man is probably insecure that he isn’t capable of going as far as I’ve gone (for I am stronger than he is, and surely he is aware of this) and so he sits paralyzed in a dream-world of imagination, trying to cope with his insecurity and weakness, trying to satisfy his ego by accusing me of not having this foolish idealistic vision of a “mountain peak” that he himself can’t see and doesn’t know about and evidently isn’t foolish enough to authentically even pursue.
The third man, whose name was Richard, laughed at the foolishness of the two, speaking of the uphill journey of 900 feet as a fool’s errand of vain exhaustion and the second man’s ranting about some “mountain’s peak beyond the clouds” as pointless, ignorant and absurd. So he turned his back to the mountain and walked down into the valley for the more enjoyable path. The journey was much easier but as he soon found, this path led him to where the wolves awaited to devour him. To which both men thought: what a fool to seek the easier trail only to be devoured by wolves.
The fourth man fixed his vision toward the mountain’s top, something he could not see yet knew to be his end, whatever it was. He lowered his eyes to the visible path only to see the branches and stones which would trip him along the way, so as to walk over and around the obstacles as they appeared – but always looking into the clouds so as to stay on the path which would lead him into them. This man grew tired yet he never ceased to pursue the unknown, yet anticipated, mountain’s peak beyond the clouds. However, as he came to the clouds, he realized he could not see by himself, he needed others to walk with him through the clouds, while alone he would be lost, with many eyes the collection of limited visions could combine to see a path that leads through the fog. So he tried to convince the other two to follow him.
Peter thought of this man, as he passed into the clouds: I don’t understand where he thinks he’s going, what a fool to pursue what neither he nor anybody else knows or sees.
Eckhart thought: Ah, look at him stare down at the ground so often – his momentary glances up to the clouds are only evidence of a conflicted mind, battling between the brilliant image of the mountain’s top beyond those clouds and the corrupted obsession he has with his perception of practicality.
Yet, amidst the many criticisms, the fourth man convinced Peter to trust that there was something to be found by walking through the fog; and convinced Eckhart that steps up the hill had to be made and it wasn’t impossible to reach the summit. Together, with cooperative vision, they made their way into the fog. The journey grew so long and tiresome that there came a point where they had to make the choice to either turn around and return to the land they knew or else pursue the land they didn’t know and say, “We will walk upward, always upward, so as to either break through this fog or die trying”.
They chose the latter. Whether before or after death, they found themselves living in a place Peter had never imagined and Eckhart had only spoken of with underestimated song and prose but had never, until persuaded, moved towards. They lived above the clouds, filled with the divine warmth of the silent setting sun as it enflamed with golden hue, an earth which reflected the glory of transcendence, a sea which zealously applauded their end and a sky which welcomed them home – for such life is reserved for those who pursue with all their heart, mind and soul an end they cannot see.
One of my favorite meals is a medium-rare filet mignon with rosemary potatoes and corn on the cob – I salivate at the image in my mind. However, the way in which we treat the animals we eat, while they do live, is entirely relevant because it declares how we are representing God on this earth. 