The Visadors

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The Visadors – Keys to Understanding Ourselves?
Lynda Jacobs
The huge sprawling Nevada sky turned gray as the growing thunderhead clouds moved quickly together blocking out the bright, warm, sun. Far away, thunder rumbled -- a little louder with each flash of lightning. Ricky and Tracy sat on Grandma’s porch swing.
“One . . .two! Boy, that one was close!” Ricky shuddered, scooting a little closer to Grandma.
Thunder exploded at the very second the lightning flashed, and all the lights on the street went out.
Knowing they were safe with Grandma, both children remained relaxed. There was an exciting feeling that came with the thunderstorm. Enjoying this pleasant closeness to Grandma, neither Traci nor Ricky made a move to go inside.
“Grandma did you have electricity when you were a little girl?”
“Oh, yes, we had everything electric that we could imagine when we were here at home. But sometimes during vacations, our family drove to the mountains. We enjoyed staying in a tent and working on our cabin that we go now to in the forest. We didn’t have electricity there until after the cabin was built. Those were some of the best times I remember. There was no T.V. or video games, so we read. Sometimes we played Monopoly, Risk, or card games. But sometimes my daddy, your great-grandfather, would just tell us stories about the Vizadors.
“Visitors? People that came to see you?”
“Well, more than that. The Vizadors were very special. When we drove through the clouds on the tops of the mountains or walked into a rainbow, or looked out on the mist on a green meadow in the Springtime – or just before sunset, when the world took on that shaded look, not quite dark but still not light – those were the times we began to think we could see the Vizadors. Through the years we all added our own experiences to those Daddy told us around the fireside, and later in the cabin in the forest.
“What were the Vizadors like?”
“Where did they come from?”
“Did you see them a lot?”
“What did they do?”
“Where did they live?” The two children peppered Grandma with a barrage of questions.





-2-

“Well,” paused Grandma, “This would be a good night to introduce you to the Vizadors. A night like this is perfect because we are feeling pleasantly warm and safe, protected from the storm outside. We can listen to the wind and the thunder as it booms and bangs and rumbles, knowing it will soon pass and leave the air clean and cool. The change in the temperature and the feeling in the air bring back the memories of the stories. Yes, this is a perfect time.”
Ricky and Traci snuggled closer on each side of their grandmother and began to listen very quietly to what she would tell them.
“When the clouds and mist are touching the earth, the way you see them now, there is a change in the air, and if you look closely, things look very different from the way they do in daylight. It is then, if you are very quiet and listen very closely that you might begin to see the Vizadors. You can see them in the aura of light, the halo, that peeks around a tree as the sunbeams stream on past. Or you might catch a glimpse in the slashing rays of light that stream from behind the vanishing rain clouds high on the horizon.
“Sometimes you might see a movement or hear a sound. Then you might begin to feel a pleasant special feeling. That is when you can be sure that the Vizadors are nearby.
“They seem to come from another place, perhaps high in the mountains, in a hidden village. They look very much like you and me. They act and speak in much the same way. But they have many powers and abilities that would amaze you.”
Grandma hugged Traci and Ricky lovingly as she began to tell of her first experience with the Vizadors.
“The first time I learned about the Vizadors, I was just about your age. I was watching the clouds float by. I began to think about the pictures I could see in the clouds, amazed at the way they were changing shapes so quickly. Then I saw the full moon in the sky. Suddenly it seemed as if the clouds were standing still, and the moon was hurrying across the sky. I thought I was seeing the earth turn under the blue patches of sky. I felt a little dizzy; light headed. I thought I was beginning to float up to be a part of the clouds.
“Right then I began to hear the most pleasant sound I have ever heard. It was a soft comfortable sound that fell upon my ears giving me a feeling of church bells, or the sound of birds or a soft rainfall. Zhaaah -- the sound came softly. I wasn’t at all sure I was hearing it. Zhaaah -- it came again. Never loudly nor in an unpleasant way. The first Vizador I ever met came in that way. Each time I heard the sound after that I knew I could choose to have a new experience learning things that would help me all of my life.






-3-

CHAPTER II

“I walked out toward the mist, searching for the source of that wonderful sound. Just a few feet in front of me, gradually appeared three Vizadors. They were sitting on the ground in a circle playing a game like marbles, in a large circle drawn in the dirt, several brightly colored marbles lay scattered around.
“Jashon, what are you holding?” Verimin asked as he picked up a shimmering silver marble.
“I hold happiness.” The light from the orb shimmered and grew as Jashon held it up for the others to see. “I want to carry this happiness with me all of my life.” He pushed the sphere deep into the pocket of his overalls. The light from the sphere was hidden from the fabric, but still glowed through the pocket for a moment. Then it began to fade and darken. The three Vizadors were silent.
I watched for what seemed to be several minutes.
“Jashon, what has happened to your happiness?” Knychol whispered, breaking the silence.
“I don’t know, Knychol. I wanted to keep it forever, but when I put it in my pocket, it dimmed and vanished. It’s not even there anymore.”
“What are you holding, Kynchol?”
Verimin turned toward Jashon.
“I hold anger.” Kynchol nearly shouted, startling all of us. “I am going to stuff it in my pocket to make it go away. She pushed the brightly glowing orb deeply into her pocket to hide. Rather than dimming, it began to grow larger and brighter.
“It’s getting hot!” Kynchol yelped, and grabbed it out of her pocket. She tossed it into the forest rocks where it still continued glowing and growing.
They both looked at Verimin. “Why didn’t it just go away?”
Verimin looked back, her legs extended forward, her arms braced her from behind, waiting. “You tell me,” she said.
I sat down very still on a nearby rock to listen, puzzled by what I had seen, anxious to hear what they would discover.
Jashon felt the place in his pocket where the marble had been. He held his hand over that empty spot as if waiting for it to reappear. “I think happiness must be shared and passed around for hit to be genuine. When we find real happiness that will last and bring us real joy, it is because we are sharing our life with others. I think that this is why my happiness just faded away. I tried to hide it and keep it to myself. Let me find another happiness orb and I will treat it differently.”
Knychol looked as puzzled as I felt. “I don’t understand, then, why the anger grew larger and brighter when I tried to hide it. I thought hiding it would make it disappear. How is it different?”




-4-


Verimin seemed in no hurry to explain. I continued to sit and wait, wondering what Knychol might have done differently.
Knychol pondered silently, “You know, if I had held the anger out to examine it, I might have begun to understand what was causing it, or even what kind of anger it was. But because I don’t even know where it came from, I didn’t know how to deal with it.
Knychol began searching through the rocks to find the marble he had thrown away. He returned to the circle with the still glowing orb. As he placed it carefully on a nearby stump, it began to project his actions earlier in the day. Kynchol curiously watched himself from the stump. The projected Kynchol played a running game with many other Vizadors. He made a poor choice, running the wrong way. His thoughts were projected in slow motion. He thought the choice he made was stupid. He looked around, feeling embarrassed.
When the others continued to play, Kynchol thought they were mad at him. He began to think about himself:
“I don’t think I’m a good player.”
“I should have made a different choice on that play.”
“The others must think I’m really stupid.”
“They probably don’t want me on their team.”
“Well, if they don’t want me on their team, I must not be worth much.”
“I’m stupid and not worth much.”
“They don’t want me around, so I’ll just go away.”
“I don’t have any place to go because I am so stupid.”
“I don’t have any friends.”
The more thoughts he had, the more angry he became. He watched the friends playing and thought they didn’t even care that he felt so badly. He tried to hide his anger, but he became more clumsy in his play. That made him even more angry. Finally, he began shouting and shoving everyone who got in his way. When anyone tried to stop him, he became more angry.
Kynchol was sitting on a rock, shaking his head in disbelief. Then he said aloud, “Did all that anger come from just making a mistake?”
Verimin answered, “No, all that anger came from the thoughts you had following the mistake. Had you watched others play, you might have seen them making mistakes, but each one had different thoughts. Some thought, “I need to practice that.” Others thought, “Well, it’s just a game for fun, and I’m having fun.” Some of the others might have had many different thoughts. It was your thoughts, not what happened, that made you angry,” Verimin explained.
“So why wouldn’t the anger just go away when I tried to hide it from others?”
“You continued thinking the thoughts that kept you angry.”



-5-


“Where could I have changed my thoughts?”
They projected the few seconds again for Kynchol to analyze. “There,” he pointed, and the projection paused near the end.
“I could have told everyone how angry I was for thinking I was so stupid, and made them stop bugging me.”
“Can you really change how others think and act, Kynchol?”
“Oh, O.K. I would be better off trying to change how I think. Let me watch again.”
They watch. “There! Right at the start, when I felt embarrassed. Feeling embarrassed turned into feeling angry because I thought everyone was upset with me.”
Jashon pointed out, “Maybe even the embarrassed feeling was because of what you were thinking. Did you think you had to be perfect when you played with us?”
“Yeah, I guess I did feel embarrassed because I made a bad choice. That made two bad choices. First, I ran the wrong way, then I thought in a way that upset myself.”
Verimin nodded wisely as the mist thickened and the three Vizadors began to fade away.
* * *
Grandma said that at this point she began to shout, “No! Don’t go away!” She told the children she remembered running, waving her arms frantically and shouting at the top of her lungs, “I need to understand more! I want to learn more things!”
“But they were suddenly gone! I stood up from the rock, rubbed the toe of my shoe across the outline of the circle and bent to pick up a shiny silver marble. I held it tightly in my hand as I looked up the mountain and into the sky. I walked slowly back to the cabin, wondering about what I had seen and heard.”