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FEAR distorts everything you see. Sometimes our fears arise from old long – forgotten experiences that still rule our lives in the present moment. Fears that closely examined are just old stories not supported by any clear or present danger. Here is an excerpt from Ray Dodd’s new book, “BeliefWorks” due out May 2006. Presenting, The Tale of the Mango Tree........

The Tale of the Mango Tree

I would like to tell you a very old story. It is now just a myth but if it happened, it happened before people explored all the places on the earth, before they discovered the wonders of science or began to build machines to make life seem easier. In this time people lived off the land and the sea, and they did not venture very far from where they were born.

This story begins with a clan of people living in the jungles of eastern India. They had been there as long as anyone could remember. They were hardworking and always busy - fixing this and improving that - and, oh yes, continually gathering food. There were many families in the clan – mothers, fathers, little ones, cousins, aunts and uncles. Looking out for everyone was a small group of Old Ones that provided guidance when no one else could decide exactly what to do.

One pleasant summer day, not particularly different than most of the days that summer, a group of children ventured far from the village. Their job was to look for food. But like most children they played, teased each other and only sometimes did what they were supposed to do. Quite by mistake they came upon a magnificent mango tree. It was very tall – perhaps 50 feet, or more. The mango tree was heavy with fruit dangling from long stems. Up in the highest part of the tree were the most beautiful, large and luscious mangos anyone had ever seen.

Two of the loudest and most adventurous boys climbed the tree first. They picked some of the giant mangos from the top of the tree throwing them down to their friends on the ground. Everyone was laughing, eating and having a marvelous time covered with the sticky sweet juice of the mango.

Suddenly, a large snake came out of its hiding place, coiled among the branches in the mango tree, and began to wrap around one of the boys. The other boy watched in horror as his friend began to turn red and sputter, unable to breathe. He broke off a branch and hit the snake but it did no good. The snake just squeezed tighter and tighter. Frightened, the second boy shinnied down the tree as fast as he could.

The others on the ground stopped laughing when they saw one breathless boy come down out of the tree and not two. They could hear their friend in the tree, moaning. And it was getting dark. Not knowing what else to do, they ran.

That night in the village, the Old Ones held a council to decide what to do. At first there was a lot of talk. No one in the room had seen what happened, but that didn’t stop anyone from giving their opinion about what they assumed went wrong. After a while, the talk died down and for a long time no one said much of anything at all. Finally, the Old Ones ruled that some of the men would go, as soon as it was light, to get the boy. And, the Old Ones made a law. No one was allowed to pick mangos from that tree ever again.

Several years passed and life went on in the village like it always had.

One unusually hot and sultry summer day frayed parents badly needing to find the children something to do sent them out to gather food. The children wandered through the jungle all afternoon, and just they started to head back they came across the very same mango tree. A young slender girl with a big toothy smile, after spotting the beautiful giant fruit in the top of the tree, began to climb up the trunk to pick the mangos. As she wrapped her arms and legs around the tree and started up, some of the other children grabbed stones from the ground and threw them at her yelling, “Lawbreaker! Lawbreaker!”

Crying and scared, she came down from the tree as fast as she could.

You see, the slender girl with the big smile was just a baby when the law was passed forbidding anyone to pick the magnificent mangos. As a matter of fact, several of the children that were there that day had never heard of the law. But the children who threw the rocks remembered their friend who perished by the snake and knew that they must uphold the law made by the Old Ones.

And so, many more years passed.

It was the dry season before the monsoon and it seemed to everyone that the progression of cloudless hot days, one right after another, might never come to an end. Mothers, wanting a little peace, sent the children out to look around for food. After many hours circling the village keeping out of sight, the children once again came across the magnificent mango tree. The youngest boy and his twin sister, seeing the giant fruit in the top of the tree, yelled with delight to their friends, "Look what we found!" and began to climb up the giant fruit tree. A few of the boys picked up rotten fruit from the ground and threw it at them shouting, “Lawbreakers! Lawbreakers!”

Confused and frightened, the young climbers quickly came down from the mango tree.

This time, the boy and girl who got in trouble were not even born when the law was passed. And the children who yelled, “Lawbreakers! Lawbreakers!”, and threw rotten fruit, learned about the law, not from any direct memory of the boy who perished by the snake, but from other children who were there that day.

And so, the same thing happened over and over again. And the giant fruit in the magnificent mango tree was forbidden to be picked. The snake had long since moved on and by now had died of old age. The danger was gone but the law was upheld, not by those who were there when the law was made, but by children who had learned from other children - who had learned from other children that you would be shamed and punished if you tried to climb the tree and pick any of the giant mangos. It was the law.

But after so many years no one could quite remember why.

In 1996, after a chance meeting at the pyramid ruins in Teotihuacan, Mexico, Ray Dodd embarked on a 6-year apprenticeship with don Miguel Ruiz M.D. (author of the best-selling book, The Four Agreements). Now mentor, teacher, and author of The Power of Belief, he helps both individuals and organizations forge new beliefs and agreements to affect lasting and positive change. Ray can be reached at ray@everydaywisdom.us / http://www.everydaywisdom.us/

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