On my way to a job interview this morning, I saw three snakes: The small and medium sized ones were dead, ran over by some passing cars, while the longest was alive. About a metre long, it was crossing the empty street where we passed by on the motorbike, the driver in the front slowing down when seeing it, and I in the back looking in amazement at the shape of it. It was black, sleek and long. When younger, I’ve had two unexpected encounters with snakes which grew a fear of them in me, sometimes even projecting them in my dreams. But this time I had no fear. I was not avoiding the snake. This time I was looking directly at it, as the roles were now reversed, and it began to fear us, feeling us riding towards it. It then crawled back into the green grass on the side of the asphalt road and disappeared out of sight.
At that moment, in my mind, I got the glimpse of a thought which, as soon as it arose, died, and faded away. The thought was whether seeing these snakes was a bad sign to start my day. A much stronger thought rather floated now, which overwhelmed that fleeting fearful thought, and I felt instantly empowered: Snakes were God’s creation. They are part of me as I am a part of them. Fear is only an illusion, a creation of the accumulation of the weak collective mind. Nature is not to be feared, but respected. God is not to be feared, but respected. God is to be admired, marvelled at. This God, in this picture on the road, presented itself as the fearful one in the body shape of the driver, presented itself in the one caught off guard in the shape of the snake, presented itself in the observant who is writing this narration. And so, it did in the trees, in the asphalt road, it represented itself in the clouds, in the breeze, in the shining sun, in the motorcycle parts, in our clothes, shoes…
By afternoon, I was celebrating the offer I got for that job - which I happily accepted. I sat alone on the shore, in my underwear, letting the waves crash right in front of me and run towards me, racing each other like some kind of a game they played, drenching me with their fresh mists, making me laugh, making me look up and give thanks.
