Irsha introduced a wonderful metaphor to help us understand who we truly are. When I first met Elmarilla and first spoke with Irsha, I was a wide-eyed seeker who was questioning everything that he knew to be true. I had been brought up with a very clear set of beliefs. My family, my religion and my environment had consistently reinforced my ideas about life, God and mankind. But a tragic event and a powerful compulsion led me onto a magical journey of discovery.

I began to question everything that I had been brought up to believe. Everything that I did believe.

And one afternoon while enjoying a bowl of Elmarilla’s wonderful cheddar corn chowder, she explained to me the truth of who we are. “Imagine yourself as a beautiful, massive, crystalline pyramid. The many different aspects that make up the totality of your being are contained within this design. You are much, much more than you think yourself to be. Consider that your present experience as Shams-Tabriz is one block within your pyramid. In this moment you still experience yourself as distinct, as unique, as individual. In fact you are not. You are all of the different blocks within your pyramid. You have a breadth of experience that encompasses all that is within the realm of experience. We are all saints and sinners. Peasants and princes. Tyrants and victims. While we experience ourselves in time and space, in truth the pyramid contains all that we are in the Now. Also within your pyramid are realms of consciousness that are angelic, that originate from other places, that would be deemed to be of a much more enlightened state than humankind.

We are all saints and sinners. Peasants and princes. Tyrants and victims.

Now at the very top of your pyramid is your capstone. This is the part of you that knows the totality and wholeness of your pyramid. That is intimately connected with the source of all that is. That is equally connected with the capstone of all pyramids. We can call this the King and Queen of your pyramid. It recognizes the wholeness of all the blocks and acts as the master of the kingdom. It loves without judgment. Without condition. It knows all experience. It embraces all experience. And it rules its kingdom with wisdom and justice. Since it recognizes the multiplicity of experiences as part of its magnificent totality, it does not judge. It loves. And just as it experiences this beneficence and mercy for its own kingdom, it naturally experiences this same compassion and kindness for the kingdoms of all others.”

I remember my fascination with these images. Elmarilla had gifted me a great understanding. I asked her many questions and interrupted her often. But she treated me as her son, patiently and wisely explaining until I understood. I still remember the warmth of that afternoon. Sitting inside her home with the most vivid colors about us. The fall leaves outside. The prismic brilliance inside – her home was full of crystals that played with light. As I reflect upon it now, the setting was impeccable. It was as if we were seated within an actual crystalline pyramid. How funny that I didn’t realize it until this moment!

I have repeated Elmarilla’s words often to myself and to others over the years. It is a great wisdom that offers us an insight into the reality of that which we are. It has been more than fifteen years since I first found friendship with Elmarilla. And only this year have I truly acknowledged that - as Shams-Tabriz - I am consciously entering my capstone. Only now have I embraced the understanding that I will reside consciously in my capstone. It has not been like flipping a switch from off to on. It has been like the breaking of dawn with clouds and trees to the east. In one moment the sun has arrived, visible and brilliant in its fresh radiance. In the next a low-lying cloud has hidden the light. Then again the sun emerges, casting only warmth. The next, a leafy tree obscures the vista. So I run out from behind the tree in my wish to see the sun. And so it has been for me. But the course has been set. My choice is firm and resolute. And my sun continues to break free of its occlusions, revealing to me a greater and greater experience of my wholeness. I look upon myself with compassion and patience in this moment and can envision me wearing my robe, donning my crown, sitting upon my throne - the King and Queen of my pyramid. With praise, gratitude and love.