Bioluminescent Fairy Woodland - Creation Story
The Fairy Tree - Chapter 2
For a couple of years, between the The Fairy Tree experience and writing the story, I regularly took our guests out to the lookout point and told the story. It was a sort of re-enactment. Same place, same side-by-side UTV, same time, usually at dusk. Many had their own unique experiences, discoveries and stories. The legend has taken on a life of its own and continues to grow. I’ll probably write more chapters or feature videos made by our guests.
For me, one stands out because it became a physical reality of The Fairy Tree magic. No children involved this time. Just grownups with imagination who had not outgrown their inner child. Not cynically questioning everything.
Chris and his wife accompanied me on a typical UTV tour.
I was getting used to telling the story and I think a little better at its delivery. Practice does that. Dr. Joe Dispenza frequently says, “nerves that fire together wire together”. That’s another way to say “practice makes perfect” or more accurately, “practice builds muscle memory”. But, I digress. That’s yet another bit of wisdom derived from great teachers and reinforced by experiences.
Chris, his wife and I saw the sunset. We chatted a bit. Then rolled up to the actual fairy tree as I told my practiced story. The tree was newly embellished with a door and a canopy over the door that I had built. As I finished with my usual flourish, Chris, with genuine excitement in his voice, told me that he was inspired by the story, the place and the feelings he felt inside.
Knowing that fireflies are seasonal, only appearing for a few short mid-summer months, he announced that he wanted to make this place into a year-round permanent fairy village. The symbolic nature of fireflies as fairies didn’t phase him. He was on fire and he wanted to make it even better.
To say I was startled and confused is an understatement. I didn’t know this man.
“That would be nice. But what your are saying?” I asked incredulously.
A creator emerged from this unassuming young man.
“I’m the master prop builder for full-length feature films and I’m inspired by your story.”
OK, said I. But what do you have in mind? I’m not interested in turning this place into Universal Studios or Disney World with their hot, sweaty crowds lined up for 2-minute rides.
He patiently explained that he didn’t yet know what that meant, yet. Only that he respected the deeper meaning of the story and wanted to capture the mystical experience.
And so began a wonderful friendship with a kindred spirit.
You see, Chris is an artist at heart - a creative. I later learned, he had also been the force behind an entire season of the hit TV series, McGuyver.
There are an infinite variety of creative types: Musicians, poets, sculptors, Writers, story tellers, singers, painters, entrepreneurs, architects, builders, philosophers, teachers, physicists, mathematicians, mystics, welders and God all fit the bill. What they all have in common is not their medium of expression. It is their drive to create. Because, we are all children of God, I believe we are all born with that urge to create. With many, that urge lies dormant, often suppressed by fear. But Jesus taught, love casts out fear. When you simply love creating, the fear just evaporates. You worry less, or not at all what others think, how they might judge you. You’re all in. Focused. Living in the moment, as Eckhardt Tolle says.
We went to work together. I chipped in a few ideas from time to time. But Chris is the acknowledged master. I turned him loose. No fear, just trust and love. That’s what creatives call a state of flow. It happens when you lose all track of time. Work becomes play when you love what you’re doing. Even better when you’re doing it with someone you love. Play is what children do when they are in a deep state of intuitive, inquisitive exploration or even better, making something. They are creating their own world in their mind. Openness to learning. Trying out new things. Sometimes not working out, but then trying something else. Flow is also a state of bliss. Who doesn’t want that?
It occurred to me this is what Jesus meant when he counseled we must become as little children. All of the above and more. A passage from sacred scripture comes to mind. “Man IS that he might have JOY! Our very purpose for existence is Joy? Bliss? Flow? Yet, how many of us are living our purpose? I think failing to realize or live our purpose in life is my definition of SIN.
In my studies of scripture, one frequently confronts the word SIN. The word is tinged with shame. But many commentaries hold that the original meaning of that word in the Judeo-Christian tradition was simply “missing the mark”. When an archer misses the target, is he filled with shame? Maybe, if he is extremely competitive and that’s the mark of ego. But when an accomplished archer, enjoying the craft, misses the target, he draws another arrow and tries to shoot better. That’s IT!
So, can a creator who is in creation, in flow, like a little child, be in sin? Fear not. Draw another arrow. Enjoy learning, improving, creating, being in flow. Be as a little child.
That’s my story.
Disappointed that I didn’t reveal the process? What we learned? How we did it? Why the trees light up at night? Why they are bioluminescent?
Does a magician reveal the magic?
You will just have to chalk it all up to trade secrets. I have actually revealed my best magic secrets above. The magic is in the journey, not the product.
But you can enjoy the product in person, in creative flow, if you are creative like a child.