Spiritual Forum

Uru, who in the rest of the world
is known as the Awakener,
has a different name in the Valley of Sleepers,
and this is how he came to have it.

 

One day on his journey Uru came to a strange land where no one saw, no one spoke, no one heard, no one made, and no one thought. It was known to its neighbors as the Valley of Sleepers for this reason. Uru, who in the rest of the world is known as the Awakener, has a different name in the Valley of Sleepers, and this is how he came to have it.

Uru met a man who called out to him, "Uru, Uru! Please help me! My eyes are asleep, so I cannot see." Uru awakened the man's eyes and turned to continue his journey, but the man stopped him, saying, "I thank you, Uru, for awakening my eyes, but before you leave you must finish the task and tell me what to look at."

After a moment's thought, Uru said, "Look at what's around you. Look at what interests you. Look at what needs to be seen. Use all your faculties to awaken others as I've awakened you." "Yes," the man said, "but can't you be more specific than that?"

"How can I know what's around you to look at? How can I know what interests you? How can I know what you need to see?" The man was unsatisfied by this answer, but Uru had no other for him and so continued his journey.

Soon he was stopped by a woman who, through gestures, gave him to understand that her voice was asleep. Uru awakened the woman's voice and turned to continue his journey, but the woman stopped him, saying, "I thank you, Uru, for awakening my voice, but before you leave you must finish the task and tell me who to talk to and what to say."

After a moment's thought, Uru said, "Speak to the people around you, and say what needs to be said in order to awaken them as I've awakened you."  "Yes," the woman said, "but can't you be more specific than that?"

"How can I know who is around you to speak to? How can I know what needs to be said them?" The woman was unsatisfied by this answer, but Uru had no other for her and so continued his journey.

Soon he was stopped by a man who called out to him, "Uru, Uru! Please help me! My ears are asleep, so I cannot hear." Uru awakened the man's ears and turned to continue his journey, but the man stopped him, saying, "I thank you, Uru, for awakening my ears, but before you leave you must finish the task and tell me what to listen to."

After a moment's thought, Uru said, "Listen to what seems relevant to you. Listen to what you need to hear. Listen to what pleases you and excites you. Use all your faculties to awaken others as I've awakened you."  "Yes," the man said, "But can't you be more specific than that?"

"How can I know what seems relevant to you? How can I know what you need to hear? How can I know what pleases and excites you?" The man was unsatisfied by this answer, but Uru had no other for him and so continued his journey.

Soon he was stopped by a woman who called out to him, "Uru, Uru! Please help me! My hands are asleep, so I cannot make anything. Uru awakened the woman's hands and turned to continue his journey, but the woman stopped him, saying, "I thank you, Uru, for awakening my hands, but before you leave you must finish the task and tell me what to make."

After a moment's thought, Uru said, "Make what's needed around you. Make what you make best. Make what others cannot make. Use all your faculties to awaken others as I've awakened you." "Yes," the woman said, "But can't you be more specific than that?"

"How can I know what is needed around you? How can I know what you make best?

How can I know what you make that others cannot make?" The woman was unsatisfied by this answer, but Uru had no other answer for her and so continued his journey.

Soon he was stopped by a man who called out to him, "Uru, Uru! Please help me! My mind is asleep, so I cannot think." Uru awakened the man's mind and turned to continue his journey, but the man stopped him, saying, "I thank you, Uru, for awakening my mind, but before you leave you must finish the task and tell me how I should use it."

After a moment's thought, Uru said, "Use it to think about what's going on around you. Use it to solve the problems you and your neighbors face, and especially use it to awaken others as I've awakened you."

"Yes," the man said, "But can't you be more specific than that?"

"How can I know what's going around you that you need to think about? How can I know what problems you and your neighbors face?" The man was unsatisfied by this answer, but Uru had no other answer for him and so continued his journey, at last passing out of the Valley of Sleepers and leaving it behind.

Despite Uru's visit, however, this land continued to be known as the Valley of Sleepers, because nothing changed there. All its faculties---eyes, voices, ears, hands, and minds---were now awake, but it was still a land where no one saw, no one spoke, no one heard, no one made, and no one thought.

But one day a young woman who used the valley as an occasional shortcut noticed something new---a statue, easily recognized as a likeness of Uru. When a valley resident trudged by, she stopped him to enquire about it.

"Elsewhere in the world," she said, "Uru is known as the Awakener. But I see from the nameplate on this statue that you call him something else. Why is that?"

"Oh, Uru created quite a commotion," said the somnambulist, "He woke us up and got us all excited for a while. But then he just turned his back on us and walked away. We don't know If he ever had a plan, but if he did, he refused to share it with us. He just got us stirred up, then left us in the lurch, and that's a fact. And this is why, among us, Uru the Awakener is known as Uru the Disappointer."

So, who is the awakener?

A few days after "Uru in the Valley of Sleepers", a reader responded by asking, "Does 'U-R-U' equal 'You-Are-You'?"

"YOU ARE YOU" is of course the Awakener. As I never get finished saying (because readers never get finished asking), only YOU can know what YOUR resources are. Only YOU can know what YOU can achieve where YOU are and in YOUR situation.

When everyone wakes up to this fact, then we will at last be free of Mother Culture's hypnotic lullaby: "There's nothing YOU can do. You must wait for OTHERS to do something -- world leaders, industrial leaders, religious leaders, and so on. On your own, YOU are helpless, so you may just as well go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep. You are NOT Uru -- you are NOT YOU. You're not YOU, you're NO ONE, a person without resources, without influence, without a voice to speak, without ears to hear, without eyes to see, without mind or hands to bring to bear on any task. So don't listen to Ishmael, don't listen to B, don't listen to Uru. Listen to me and sleep . . . sleep . . . sleep. Because there's nothing YOU can do. You must wait for OTHERS to do something -- world leaders, industrial leaders, religious leaders, and so on. On your own, YOU are helpless, so you may just as well go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep. . . ."

The sleepers in my fable were those who didn't hear the awakening message, which is: "You are YOU!" No one but YOU can tell you what to see. No one but YOU can tell you what to say. No one but YOU can tell you what to listen to. No one but YOU can tell you what to think. No one but YOU can tell you what to make.

There was only one message that was the same for everyone Uru met in the Valley of Sleepers: AWAKEN OTHERS. This is the message of Ishmael, The Story of B, and My Ishmael, and it's the only answer that I can personally give to each and every person who says to me, "But what can someone like ME do?"

Daniel Quinn http://www.ishmael.org/Education/Parables/uru.cfm