As the summer reached its height I found that the long walks we shared together, once peppered with sporadic conversation, had become almost silent affairs. I worried that I had become complacent and that I was becomming lost in my own thoughts. So while we sat on an outcrop of stone by a small bay I turned to Him and said

"I am worried that I am not asking the right questions."
Immediately He smiled and enquired "Why is that?"
"Because I am not asking any questions" I replied, and again he smiled.
"It is time to introduce you to my first teacher, from whom I learned most of what I know about the ways. For to truly learn you must go, not to one who has learned these arts as I have, but to one who has known them from the beginning."

My mind reeled as I followed the prophet back up the tiny rabbit path and through the heart of the woods that lined the shore. I could not understand what He could possibly mean by 'one who has known them from the beginning'. After some time we came to a halt by the roots of a large oak tree where He bowed and then sat in the shade of it's twisted boughs.

"A tree!" I exclaimed

"From my esteemed teacher I learned the ways. Even now I have barely scratched the surface of this tree teaching. It is my teacher's teaching that I will pass on to you."

"But what can you learn from a tree about inner peace!" I cried in anguish

Again He smiled, then replied "When a tree sways it appears to move back and forth, but it is actually moving in circles. Its limbs cannot be taunted or provoked into movement, only in response to movement do they move."

I thought for a moment, then bowed to the tree, and joined Him in contemplation under its shade.