In the Pools:

Foolish Fear Facilitates Fatal Fixation upon Falsity.

There was once a man who suddenly found himself adrift upon an alien shore. He knew not how, or what brought him forth, why or by what means were equally mysterious to this man.

As if we was reborn: He was once here and then he was there. No past, no future, nothing but there. The perpetual now of nothingness shattered by the crude realities of the world.

Bewildered and blinded by the light, this man was utterly, naked, ignorant, afraid and alone, but he found a cave in which to reside. As he climbed to this cave he saw more of the island, noting the oases and the plentiful food and water about them, but also noting there might be some danger about – on this his only day light trip – and these sights and sounds reenforced his deep seated fears of this new land of which he was wholly clueless.

He could not deal with the fullness of his new reality – it was beyond his depth to stand up to fear, and boldly take the course of action, and thus he retreated into the dark cave, to await the night, which was blissfully free of stimuli.

In that cave he sat fearful of all the sights and sounds around him, unsure, but he knew that fear aside he needed the water and food, this he had seen could be had only at the oases scattered about the island. He resolved to be seen by nothing and to see nothing so he only went to the pools after dark on the bright moons of each month.

The light he declared his enemy and true sight was replaced with 'sights' cast upon the dark filament of the night. He resolved that if he would, could not see it, he could deny its threat to his person.

He went down that first night and heard the nighttime noises. He went to the nearest oasis. The sounds he was certainly sure that those were demons. His ears heard things all around; Demons everywhere, as he picked the fruits and gourds he survived upon, he was this first night and every even ever after afraid of the sounds in the night, demons every one.

But it was not only fruits and gourds he needed, so then as he had his full of fruits, he approached the pool as the moon reflected its pale light across the surface, and as he leaned down to get his drink … in the depths ... He saw IT.

The horrible thing, that stared back up out of the water – this dark and foul being. It was he was absolutely convinced the Devil … the source of all evil's that afflicted him, chief of all the demons and the cause of his plight in this alien, dark, sad, land.

He recoiled noting as he reached for the water, as forward he went, so the devil reached, it came, at him. By experiment it was found the moon should be allowed to set, the light keep from behind one, and then the Devil would not see him at the water's edge.

And so it went.

The man hiding in his cave, existing but not living, only resolved to venture forth once a moon or at most two from his dark sanctuary. Always fearful of the bumps and noises in the night, his demons, keyed in terror to each and every sound in the night as he lingered about getting his provisions; but in his heart of hearts it was the Devil in all the pools of water he dreaded most – yes it had been found it was in ALL the pools as the demons were at all the oases.

He had found to his terror and dismay that in those pools, in each and every one -- there in every drop of moon lite water lurked, this horrible and evil devil that always peered back at him as he went to drink and would nearly every time ALMOST get him as he reached for the water in his thirst.

Those demons were terrible, and had to be dealt with by stealth but the Devil in all the Pools, was always waiting and keep the man from his rightful use of the water. The terrible chief of his afflictions that keep him in his cave and restricted his use of the water and food.

It was everywhere, the man went, with him at all the pools always reaching back to destroy and engulf the man least he tarry about the pools too long or at the wrong time or in the wrong way!

It came to pass that the creature became more wretched looking, more savage, more deadly, more alien, as the moons passed – the man knew not how many rapidly losing tract of such concerns. The demons they could be overcome to a point, but the Devil could not, would not be brought low. He feared it, he hated it, he clawed at and yelled into and even attacked the water furiously … and yet the Devil it was always there looking back up at him, each and every new moon, in the still of the water, did it lurk.

And so it went this terrible and disfigured existence among the dark, with its demons and Devil, until this man's life was spent in hiding from the demons and devils on the Island came to a dreadful end … This man, he died one night as he staggered to the pool, barely alive, and not quite sane he saw the Devil one last time, but this time he did not recoil but went face down in the pool to the Devil's own arms; yet NO Devil was there to meet him in death?

How Can this Be? This Devil – It was only a moon light reflection of his own fears, and weakness. It had existence only in the mental gymnastics of this man's cerebral processes. It was a nightmare given form and substance by his own faulty perceptions of reality. This man having rejected the light was subject to the falsity and errors of the darkness. Fully bound by his own foolish beliefs and actions.

That is the fact of it.

The tragedy is that he only but had to come out ONCE in the day and seen that the pools only reflect and do not now and did not then, contain a single thing except fish and clean water.

The Moral: Foolish Fear Facilitates Fatality Fixation upon Falsity.