Surrender and Sacrifice
The Buddha and St. Francis of Assisi The story of The Buddha Gautama as it was told to me: Some 2,500 years ago in the area we now call Nepal, there lived a pampered prince. The child of royal parents, he lived in a great palace and was lavished upon by luxury, comfort, and pleasures. After a drama-free, problem-free youth, however, the prince—named Siddhartha—grew bored. Well, perhaps less bored and more curious. See, he lived only within the palace and palace walls. His father kept him cloistered and away from the rest of the kingdom where his father ruled. Siddhartha had no idea what lie beyond the palace gates and sought to petition his father to venture out. His father, at first, denied him but after much pestering from his son, acquiesced. The king then hurried to build what we call today a Potemkin village. Outside the palace gates, he had his subjects paint the main avenue with bright colors. The people were then ordered to dress in their finest and to don gold and flowers. Walt Disney couldn't have done a better job at this, for once Siddhartha was allowed to leave the palace grounds, there was a great parade. Upon an elephant, the prince rode down the avenue and watched his father's people sing and dance. They were alive and well, youthful and happy. It was far more beautiful than the prince could have ever imagined. Like all illusions, however, this facade would fail. Across the way, either down the street, or perhaps around a corner, Siddhartha spotted two old men in rags. Amidst all the feasting and festivities, the prince would steal away to follow them, past the colorfully-painted walls, past the lavish display of faux prosperity. Siddhartha would find himself in the real world, in the slums of his father's kingdom where sickness, hunger, aging, suffering, and death resided. Shocked and incensed by what he saw, he returned to his father, who was quite flippant about the prince's discovery. Disgusted by his father's complacence, he prepared to leave the palace once again. Enraged, his father would deny his freedom. The king would even set guards upon the prince to ensure the prince could never leave the palace again, but that night a strange fog descended upon the kingdom, putting everyone into a deep slumber. Well, everyone except Siddhartha, who then took the opportunity to escape the confines of the palace. "It's as if the whole world is asleep," he noted as he tiptoed past guards, servants. He made his way out into the city to see the kingdom's subjects, who were once celebrating him, now splayed out in the streets as if they had dropped right where they stood. Realizing his father would be even angrier when the world awoke, Siddhartha then and there renounced his royal birthright, renounced his family, and went out into the world to become an ascetic. That's to say, he gave up everything and chose a life void of material wealth and pleasure in search of spiritual fulfillment. After many years of extreme abstinence and discipline--akin to eating a single grain of rice a day or only taking mere sips of water or sitting in a single pose without moving for months on end, Siddhartha finally arrived at the conclusion that the Middle Path was the way to spiritual enlightenment, that the paths of extremes only led to more suffering and sorrow. About 1,800 years later, St. Francis of Assisi also took this route to illumination. Born the son of a wealthy silk merchant, Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone also lived a privileged life. He had throngs of well-off friends, and he desired to be a performer. Little Giovanni wanted to be on the stage! His abusive and controlling father had other plans, however, and he was dragged along to tend to his father's market stalls, becoming an apprentice in textile sales. Or cheap labor, depending on how you viewed it. One day while selling to a customer, Giovanni was approached by a beggar asking for alms. The appearance of this haggard, old man tugged on the heart of the young merchant, and Giovanni would chase him down to give him everything in his pocket. Upon hearing the recounting of the encounter, his friends ridiculed him. He was severely admonished by his father, who was furious. It wouldn't take long for Giovanni to realize something was very askew in his world. He would set out in search of answers, turning deeper into his faith and seeking out The Church. There were several missteps in Giovanni's journey--stealing his father's inventory to donate to a church after hearing a divine voice commanding him to help fix said church, for example. After the church's rebuke, he remained undaunted, but he would find himself homeless and living in the countryside, in caves, hungry and exposed to the elements. After a severe beating from his father, being locked in a closet, and being dragged into trial for the theft where he was to relinquish his inheritance as repayment to his father, he stripped himself naked before everyone, renouncing his father and the life he once had. Born into wealth, Giovanni had now lost everything. Like Siddhartha, Giovanni would also turn to a life of asceticism in search of spiritual enrichment. Like Siddhartha, he would make it his life's goal to help alleviate as much suffering in the world as he could by leading others to enlightenment, illumination. When thinking on these two historical figures, I can't help but remember Matthew 19:16-24 (KJV, edited).
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 Around 2PM Eastern today, the sun and moon will hit the heavenly dancefloor and show off in a stunning, astronomical exhibition. A swath across parts of Mexico, the Midwest, and eastern United States will be treated to a total solar eclipse, a tango in the sky, where the moon will temporarily block out the sun and thrust us into midday darkness. It's not the first time humanity has witnessed such a sublime wonder--one that evokes exhilaration, curiosity, awe, and woe--and it definitely won't be the last. Although, one should note that this is a particularly spectacular eclipse for those in the USA because it will cover numerous states. While another total eclipse is due in 2044, it's only going to cover a fraction of the states in the US--about three. The country won't see another total eclipse comparable to today until 2045, cutting a swath along the southern US, and then 2078 and 2099. So, for many of us up in years, this may very well be the last total solar eclipse we witness. If you can pull away from work for a few minutes, you might want to join the millions whom already have bought lawn chairs and specially-made glasses for viewing eclipses. Grab your lunch or some popcorn and enjoy the afternoon for the last total solar eclipse of a lifetime for many. I'm sorry, did that sound morbid or nihilistic? "Last total solar eclipse of a lifetime?" Well, unless you're a healthy Millennial, Gen Z or Gen Alpha (or a vampire planning to travel the world in search of one), this is it. And maybe, just maybe, that's a cause for pause, Boomers and Gen X (of which I'm a member of the latter). How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless. The above quote, made popular by actor Brandon Lee--son of martial artist Bruce Lee, has been a particular favorite of mine. It's so easy for many of us to assume tomorrow will come, to assume someone--or some thing--will always be in our lives. This eclipse is a reminder that for as plentiful as these encounters and experiences seem, they are--indeed--finite. In that, I hope Heaven has an end-of-life summary, like Spotify or Twitch's year-end summary, that tells you how many times you listened to a particular song. How many times did you watch your favorite film, how many ice cream cones did you eat, or how many miles did you walk in your favorite park? As someone with a rigorous--yet monotonous--routine, I think about such things all the time. Up at 6AM, check the day's schedule, read and answer emails, doom-scroll Reddit, wash dishes, eat breakfast, work on projects, annoy the angels, eat lunch, do chores, work on projects, eat dinner, bug the angels s'more, watch something on Kanopy or listen to a book on Libby, doom-scroll Reddit once again for good measure, sleep. That's it, that's the routine, but for how much longer? Thirty more years? Ten? Three months? Two days? Hold tight. I'm going to circle back around to this thought in a bit. For now, let's move on.
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AuthorChantel Lysette, International Author and Psychic Medium Archives
August 2026
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Some angelic images may be AI enhanced/assisted and will be indicated.
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