[F&R] Jonah and the whale, revisited.

It was dark when he opened his eyes. He choked a few times, clearing the water from his lungs, and clamored around briefly inside what seemed to be a large tub of water. He couldn't see anything in the pitch blackness, so he felt around using his hands, visualizing his surroundings. He knew instantly he was confined in nothing man made, his prison something living, and was sitting in water barely a foot deep. His memory returned, and he started sobbing.

“I'm so sorry,” he muttered into the air through his tears. “I really am.”

“Jonah, wake up,” a voice inside his head whispered. “Listen.”

He listened.

The sound was that of a heart beating. His own.

“Jonah, you are alive,” the soft voice continued, “I am keeping you safe. You know what you must do.”

“I know. Am I where I think I really am?”

“Yes, you are.”

Dervish thoughts spun around inside Jonah's mind. His helplessness was complete, and he was finally empty inside.

“So I am speaking with?” Jonah ventured.

“I am your keeper, for now, until my purpose is served. I have a name, it's.....”

The whale sang a song that lasted for ten minutes. As he listened his whole body felt her pain. It was a sad song, her true name, and it spoke the story of the whale's plight, and of the destruction of the earth. He sat there in total darkness, tears flowing from his eyes as she sang, the telepathic connection as strong as it was beautiful.

“So why even try?” he asked, “Why should I say anything at all?”

“You must because you can. It's not for you to decide. You simply have to try and do your best. You know that, and you know many other things as well. You wouldn't be talking with me, nor be where you are at right now if you were stupid. Simple folk stay on the ground. They don't rebel.”

“My rebellion has left me. I only want to submit. I'll take death as a second alternative, no remorse. I'm empty, you see.”

“No. You're not. You've refused to see inside yourself, and now that you are looking you can't cope with who you are. I was there last night when you asked yourself who you were, and I felt your smile. What's wrong with that, mortal?”

He thought for a while.

“How long do I have to stay here? In the darkness, alone with your thoughts and mine?”

“As long as it takes,” the voice replied, “until you are willing to let go. You must give up your own will to find the balance again. Can you do that?”

He was ready to answer when she started singing again, this time a song that all old whales sing before they die. She sang of her age, of thousands of years of sadness, and of a time when the earth was young and full, the destination of her passage through this life. Her song spoke to him, the values of life, the pain, the sorrow, the meaning of being trapped inside a hopeless world with no love. She sang about her lost loves, her old friends, and of places and times she missed. Her final refrain told him how she had been alone for so very long, no connections, and that her own time was near.

“That was simply beautiful,” he sobbed, “Thank you, kind soul.”

“Can you find the balance again, Jonah? Our kind depend on it. We need your help.”

“I have never turned away anyone who asked for my help. I can help anyone who asks, but they have to believe first. I can't fix the balance by myself.”

“We will believe. Our kind has waited. Our redemption is spoken of in the old songs.”

She sang again for him, a slow throbbing harmony that told about balance, and love, and the way things were created. It lasted hours, and he felt inside him the strength flowing once again. He smiled once more, trapped inside a lonely prison, and looked within to see the person he really was.

“I'm ready.”

“Are you?” The whale's soft voice reminded him, “Are you really ready?”

“To tell the story? Yes, whale, my prison, my redemption, and my keeper, I can tell you. I can tell you the story I'm sent to speak.”

“My time is short, Jonah. I won't have enough time to sing the song, and tell the others of the coming balance. I am a very, very old whale, having swam all the oceans of this world. Keeping you safe is the last thing I must do in this life, then it's my time to find peace. I'll be grateful, for rest, as the pain I've felt in my lifetime is more than I care to bear. I'm tired, dear Jonah, I've been alone too long.”

“I implore you, kind beast, to impart on one more task before you can truly rest. I ask you to tell my story to whale kind, the story of mankind's greed, and all the harm they've caused on this planet. This is the story of the destruction of mankind. The whales need to know this chapter in the saga of the earth. The pain will end soon and balance will be restored. You must sing one last song, of the re-birth of the earth. I know you that you do not have that much strength left, and I know the cost it will be to you.” Jonah began crying. “I can only believe.”

“Tell me your story. I can't promise anything.”

So Jonah started, feeling wet, and shriveled, hungry and thirsty for what was right, empty inside, save for one last spark of hope he saved deep within himself always.

The story Jonah told the whale was not one of destruction, but rather the decision of mankind to regain the balance, and in the process the whole of what we now know is rewritten. Different chapters in the story he told her swayed from evil and perverse to just and true. He told the whale the way to restore the balance, and of the final battle mankind finally fights before acceptance of the balance. The death and destruction originally written was a parable, referring to the thoughts of negativity we must get rid of before we can see the balance. He explained that it is a hard battle for mankind to see the balance, and those few who do can see the connection, and they know their path. He admitted the understanding of such simple truths would change some and cauterize others, but it was time for the harvest, those who see, seperated from those who don't. He eventually concluded the story by telling her about love and trust, and the human need to feel connected, and how all the misery and pain and suffering in the earth was a result of the lack of that, because there was NO balance.

“Mankind is greedy.” The whale stated.

“There's not many redeemable qualities, true. A few are pure.”

“But the balance will be restored, from those few who believe, and that is the message I will sing. I hear your words, mortal, and I believe.”

“I thank you. You have truly kept me safe throughout the deep.”

“It is time,” the whale stated. “Time to go ahead on your path.”

Jonah's prison shook violently, then a horizontal gate opened and sunlight blinded him. He closed his eyes.

“Go forth, my friend Jonah. Speak your many words, and restore the balance.” He could hear the old whale sigh in his mind.

As he squinted he saw the beach in front of him, and stepped out of the whale's open maw, onto the sandy beach. He looked around, and realized a horrible truth. The whale had swam ashore in order to place him on dry ground, and had beached herself in the process.

He placed his body against her snout and tried pushing her back into the ocean. He realized his futility.

“Damn you whale. What were you thinking?” He choked backed his tears.

“I WAS thinking that is was low tide, and in six hours from now the tides would come back in, and I'd be free to drift back off into the ocean and sing your story. I'm a mammal, I breath air, and as long as you keep my skin moist, I'll be ok here until the tides come in. Our kind are in tune with nature. It would not be the first time I rescued someone from the sea, but perhaps the last.”

“Perhaps the last?”

“The struggle for balance has been going on for thousands of years, but if you can restore balance you would be the last try. Success needs no other tries.”

He spent the afternoon tending to her, finding a wide palm frond to use to scoop seawater and pour over her as she was stranded on the exotic island she had taken him to. Later that day the tides started rising.

At full tide she was still stuck, wedged in the sand bar, and she tried flapping her flippers to dislodge herself. She sighed.

“Sorry, Jonah, this must be my resting place. I cannot get free.”

“No. It can't be. You belong in the ocean." At that moment energy surged within him, and his body began to glow, his aura flowing outwards, and with all his will he shouted into fading sunset, "I WON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!”

With that the heavens opened, a portal from another dimension, and through came four angels, shimmering in the twilight. Jonah watched as they surrounded the whale, two per side, and lifted her off the sandbar with their strength, their bodies halfway submerged in the turf as they walked her backwards back out to sea. Jonah waded chest high into the bay behind her, and he heard her thank each of the angels by name as they all ascended upwards again. She floated freely in the sea again.

“Thank you, Jonah.”

“I didn't do anything. Why do I deserve your thanks?”

“Yes, you did, silly man. You found yourself again. Now you can help others. You just helped me.”

Jonah understood the implications to his new found strength. He'd cherish it forever, a part of him he'd missed so badly for so long now, that he knew he'd never forget it again.

“We'll meet again, Jonah, I promise you. I have new strength, and a new song. I have hope for the balance. I will spread your story.”

“You'll never be far, my friend. Thank you for keeping me safe. I will miss you.”

“We'll never be apart. We have our connection. We both have stories to tell, and we can always listen to each other. We need not lose contact ever again.”

“Agreed.”

Jonah watched as she flipped her majestic tail in the air, splashed, and feeling her freedom, dove into the ocean once more to be free.

Synopsis:

The whole scenario of the classic "Jonah and the whale" is all about fixing past transgressions. The guy gets a call from God to go and teach a corrupt society about their evil ways. He refuses, tries to run away, and in a storm he gets pitched overboard, and gets swallowed by a whale.

This is the story they didn't publish in the bible, my own take on how you need to address your own humanity, look at the balance, and decide what is really worthwhile. Both the whale and Jonah recover the "Ideal" of love, can you?

In real life a dude realy was swallowed by a sperm whale back in teh 1800s and regurgitated a mint later a lived to tell about it .
The rest his skin was bleached looking other then that he was fine.
So who says this whale jona was swallowed by was just metaphor

reply to post by Druid42


Druid, this is a beautiful story. I loved it so very much. It's filled with sad sweetness, and hope.
My best to you in the contest, and otherwise.

Beautiful faith you have Druid. You tell it well.

Bright Blessings

Des

Nice....

BTW, I never took took that story as a metaphor.. The way I see it, Jonah died and was raised on the third day.