Once upon a time there was a dashing prince who lived in the enchanted Kingdom of Self.
Once upon the same time there was a desirable princess who also lived in an enchanted kingdom called Self.
They did not live in the same kingdom, but in neighboring kingdoms of the same name, separated by the deep waters of Reality.
And so the story begins…
The prince of the Kingdom of Self believed himself to be handsome, witty, strong and noble, about as much as he believed anything. And he developed a clever yet curious way of reminding himself that this indeed, was the case. Inside his royal castle he had strategically placed mirrors in every room in such a way that he could not stand anywhere in any room without seeing some brilliant facet of himself.
In the great room, for example, where he spent much time contemplating the affairs of his kingdom, the entire ceiling as well as the floor was made of giant mirrors. This gave him the happy sense that he was somehow floating within his own greatness.
In the bedroom he had mirrors cut to the outline of his own body. Each mirror took on the form of a certain pose he could be expected to strike at any given moment. Some mirrors were flexing, some thinking, and so on… In this way he would be reminded of the glory of his flexing or thinking or pointing or jumping. And so the bedroom was a dramatic expression of the great variety of his perfect mobility and nobility of statue and figure.
The princess of the other Kingdom of Self was also very taken up with herself. She believed herself to be capable, compassionate, captivating and in control of her destiny.
She, like the prince of the other kingdom, had developed creative ways to capture her own beauty and personal greatness. In fact, if you were to visit her castle you would probably be very confused by the choice of décor or even the basic layout of the rooms. Each room was in no way related in anyway to the adjoining room. The whole castle was a web of discontinuity.
The sitting room, for example, was decorated with a Victorian lushness that made one feel as if the princess considered herself a gentle creature of feminine frailty.
The room directly adjoining the sitting room was a ballroom that was decorated like one might decorate a bat cave. The ceiling was covered with what seemed to be grayish hand carved stalactites stabbed through the ceiling like many daggers. The floor was made of some kind of metallic stone that caught the glow of the thousands of candles always lit across the whole room. When the princess would walk through this haunting ballroom, her steps would vibrate the flame of every candle in the room and the quivering light would dance off her body like magic.
The next room was a simple affair, with bookshelves full of old dusty books, a fireplace, comfortable rugs, and a few rocking chairs, so that one might forget the castle and think of a cozy cottage in some unforgotten land.
Then into the next room that looked more like a large prison cell than anything else. There were no decorations here, except curious pictures of the princess that apparently presented her life through the eyes of some fault-finding onlooker. A picture of facial blemished here, a picture of eyes wearied by tears there, a picture of her falling, or fainting or crawling. One would assume that this would be the last place the princess would spend any length of time. But, she often did spend long hours in the cell like room, observing with quiet consideration each picture - like an artist might look at a his own painting trying to make up his mind about it.
Both the prince of the Kingdom of Self and the princess of the other Kingdom of Self were too preoccupied with their kingdoms to give much thought to the neighboring kingdom across the Waters of Reality.
Until that day…that enchanted day when it happened.
The prince was very busy with all the taxing details of his personal kingdom management, (unless you’ve actually managed a kingdom like Self it would be difficult for you to understand the level of stress involved); after all, there was always so much to do in Kingdom of Self. He had the Garden of Dreams to keep up, the castle of True Desire to keep presentable, his treasures and possessions to manage, the walls of his kingdom that constantly needed tending. The Neighboring kingdoms had to be continually kept at bay or warred upon whenever his kingdom was threatened. All in all, he was very busy.
Now the prince would often take walks in the Garden of Dreams to clear his mind from all the matters of the kingdom. He loved walking among the flowering possibilities; he loved breathing in the aroma of personal legacy in bloom.
On the particular day our story takes shape the prince took a stroll on the back side of his castle overlooking the Waters of Reality. The backside of the Kingdom of Self was auspiciously positioned on a cliff that descended into the disturbing waters below. The waters always served as a discomforting reminder of the limits of his kingdom, which is why the prince rarely bothered to stroll close to the edge; and never looked down into the waters on any occasion.
Kingdom of somebody else's Self.
At about the same time the princess of the Kingdom of (her) Self
She was deep in thought when she walked out toward the stone fence that lined the rim of the cliff near her castle. And that’s when it happened...
He saw her. And she saw him.
There they stood both looking across the Waters of Reality from the security of their own kingdoms, dumbstruck by the torrent of emotion and longing they were simultaneously experiencing. It was as if time itself stood still. Though they were both rulers of neighboring kingdoms, they had never really seen each other before. But now they saw each other…And now they would never be the same.
He moved first. He lifted his hand and tried to wave; he waved as if he had just recently learned how to wave or maybe just forgot how it was done. She blushed, smiled and also tried to wave, but found her arm had gone limp.
As might be expected in a fairy tale of this sort, the prince and princess were happily engaged not long after this dramatic moment. His marriage proposal was not the height of romantic imagination that the princess had always dream of, but it was dignified, poetic and overwhelming nonetheless. He was on his knee, had taken her hand gently in his when he said these heartfelt words with trembling lips:
“Princess, I love you almost as much as I love myself, and I never thought that would be possible since there’s a lot about me I've really enjoyed loving. But from the moment I saw you I knew that you were meant to make my Kingdom of Self the greatest kingdom in the world. And I will do my best to make your Kingdom of Self the happiest kingdom in world! Will you marry me, darling? Will you be my wife so that we may live happily together forever?”
And so, they were happily married not too long after being happily engaged. And their vows were spoken to one another with breathtaking sincerity of heart!
The Prince said, “I promise to be honored, loved and cherished by you, my Princess, for as long as we both shall live.”And the Princess said, “I promise to be loved, honored and cherished by you, my Prince, for as long as we both shall live.”
Now the rest of the story is where the “disenchantment” slips in. Imagine the awakening they both experienced when exploring all those unique rooms in each other’s castles. Imagine how they dealt with the dilemma of living in two castles. Just try to imagine how two rulers, dedicated to the advancement of their own kingdoms, might work out a marriage that ends happily ever after…
But we’ll leave that for another day. For now, I’ll leave you with a truth that the Prince and Princess would have to almost drown in the Waters of Reality to discover. It goes like this: deep and strong love really only comes when castle’s crumble and kingdoms fall….
And you didn’t even have to get wet. Of course maybe you did get wet, or maybe you are…dripping wet.
To be continued...
Copyright Steven Canfield Jr., 2011
Copyright Steven Canfield Jr., 2011
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