Bounding bootsteps puffing pale dust on the steepening trail, dodging boulders to get to a promontory opening to an aspect to the east of the salt lake below, she stopped upon hearing a yowl, a yelp, a whoop, a holler, a yip, a yap, and turned to seek its source. Where? She swiped her forehead with her bandanna, waited for her breath to abate so she could echolocate. The sound emanated from a jumble of rocks above her. She approached as the howling got louder. It came from – a stone? About the size of a loaf of bread. Can this be? Her jaw went slack as sweat dripped off her nose. She drank a slug of water and splattered some on her face for fear of heatstroke. But as her face cooled, the joyful exaltation from the stone still resounded off the cliffs and down the desert mountain. She feared, but what was to fear? It was the sheer sound of untrammeled joy. And as she looked about, exhilarated, she shared in that joy. The stone seemed to celebrate the stupendous grandeur that surrounded her. So as the stone roared, she began to whoop along with it. It responded to her yelps with more of its own. Back and forth, in crescendo and diminuendo, in falsetto with bravado, they resonated until in exhaustion she paused, and the stone went quiet, and she asked:
“Who or what are you?”
The stone replied:
“I will answer. But first you must tell me who or what you are.”
“Dorit,” she answered, hesitantly. “My name is Dorit.”
“That’s the name to which you answer. But who are you?”
“Uhhh…. A marketing executive.”
“That’s what you do, but who are you?”
After a silence she spoke. “A human being?”
“Well, you are getting closer,” said the stone.
“Closer to what?” she asked, bewildered.
“Closer to who you really are. But let’s get closer yet. Are you only your human mind and body?”
“Well, not just…”
“So what are you? Your thoughts and feelings?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, taking off her backpack and setting it against a rock wall and wiping sweat from her face.
“You aren’t just your body nor just your mind nor just what your mind experiences. Who or what is aware of your body and your mind and your experiences?”
No one had ever asked Dorit such a question before.
She sat on a boulder in silence that the stone did not interrupt. She observed her breath, her sweat, her sore leg muscles, the aroma of her perspiration, her swirl of thoughts and her shock at having a conversation with a stone. For the first time she asked herself: who or what was doing the observing? “The universe? God? Consciousness itself?”
“Ahhh!” blurted the stone loudly. “Yesss! Waaaahooooo!” – followed by more whoops and echoing howls. Dorit could not help but howl along. As she caught her breath, she said: “It’s your turn to tell me who you are!”
“Fair enough! I am who and what you are.”
She stared at the stone in stunned silence. “But you are a stone. How can you speak?”
“How can I not speak? How can I not shout with joy, any less than you?”
And together they howled and hollered till the sun hid behind the mountain and the moon rose over the desert to the east.......
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ ” Luke 4: 1- 4
Now as he (Jesus) was approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,
“Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” Luke 19: 37 - 40