The Tibetan Drum is a spiritual adventure tale about an inquisitive young man who wonders at the meanings and patterns of life as his journeys take him from California through Central America and across the oceans to Asia and beyond, where he finds the voices in his soul and discovers the truth from within.
Excerpt:
The Handmade Car
Waking up on the beach, the first thing that came to the boys mind was the power of belief. A belief that dreams in true origin, program the waking reality of life for all living things. A super sub-conscious state where dreams and higher powers manifest into realistic desires and aspirations. Driving the consciousness to motivate the self, creating a life of necessity, satisfaction and evolution.
The sun that summer morning brought with it a wind filled with the warmth and energy to lift William to his feet and begin down the beach in search of those dreams. As he walked along by the sea he noticed a shiny metal object lodged amongst rocks and shells, and the inquisitive boy bent down to retrieve it for closer inspection. It appeared to be a finely made handcrafted thumbnail with a small engraving, perhaps used to press something into its rightful place. Lifting his head high and looking deep into the sky, he placed the object in his pocket thinking of the small metal box he kept under his bed.
Destiny worked in intricately organised ways for evolution and existence to curve his life in a direction that would open the eternal quest wide enough to be answered by the inner knowledge known by all... Asking questions that eventually led him to the brink all the while striving to seek more fulfilment and complexity. Life for this young man would turn out to be one of ordered chaos, impossibly perfect questions to be answered only by the lessons learned as the universe wove its great and mysterious web.
Lying in bed listening to his thoughts and pondering the finely made thumbnail he noticed the small engraving was identical to some of the gold symbols on the old Tibetan dresser in his room. A warm intuitive wind blew by the side of the house and brought with it thoughts and feelings that true appreciation given to simple things can be fulfilling in every way. Feeling a current of connection to the hand made nail, he placed it in a small box with his Fathers watch that no longer ticked and other meaningful things that had struck a chord within him.
*
The next day he decided to go over to the neighbour’s house and borrow a welder. Tom was in his late sixties and had told young William he could lend his tools if ever he needed.
“What do you want to do with a welder?” groaned the old man.
“I am going to build a car,” replied William.
Tom chuckled, closing his eyes briefly.
“No good is a car to a boy as young as you”, waving towards the back shed.
“I have a dream, travelling through Mexico”.
“You won’t find your dreams in Mexico, or anywhere else as a matter of fact”, the old man stated while unlocking the door to the rickety shed.
The young boy politely nodded his head but he did not agree at all.
“I will teach you to weld, but you won’t be driving to Mexico any time soon!” and they both laughed.
As positive and negative emotions circle within his imagination, he wonders at how they can transport a person to their highest high or their lowest low in equal measure. Why each side without the balance of the other could not reflect its power and find balanced harmony.
“Ah, there it is” said Tom as he carefully extracted the welder from beneath a box filled with dusty relics.
A shaft of sunlight slanted through the room illuminating the cloud of dust created as he blew across the welders’ surface.
“I had a dream once, that I owned an antique shop”, sighed the old man.
“Did you open the shop?” with the fire of youth in his voice.
“Well I tried a few times...I approached store owners...but they always said that there was no money in antiques and that I would not be successful. I must have believed them.”
They cleared some space and the wind whisked by the shed whispering when someone can’t do something, maybe its because fear is stopping them. While setting up the welder, William imagined a far distant place, away from the hustle and bustle of California.
“The first and most important part of welding is to have a clean surface for the metal to amalgamate between”, explained Tom.
“The second is to make sure the negative terminal makes a strong contact with the metal your welding, any rust or dirt will inhibit this contact, so start by sanding these”, handing the boy some coarse sand paper and two plates of scrap metal.
So as he carefully sanded the metal plates clean of paint and rust, he envisioned travelling through an unfamiliar countryside with a compassionate wind in his hair. His imaginations were imbued with vivid colour and surreal images of unknown buildings and peoples. He marvelled at how important it is to believe in your self and not to dismiss any dream in order to achieve the desires aspired in life? It was not long before a satisfying gleam of silver was exposed with a crisp shine. William smiled to himself.
“Now, place the negative terminal on a clean surface of metal, the positive side being the welding stick will bridge the electricity when contact occurs”, Tom instructed.
“Once the circuit is complete, the welding rod will burn at temperatures hot enough to melt and fuse together the metal”. The old man placed the tip of the welding rod on the join where the two kissing plates touched and slowly wavered in a practiced oscillating motion.
After a short while he took a step back and lifted his mask. Using a small chipping hammer he began gently knocking away the flux, exposing the neat fusion slightly more gold in colour and swirled with the strength and promise of possibility.
“If you cool the join it will be a stronger weld, you can use a cloth soaked in water like the one in that bucket”, Tom said as he motioned to the boy to fetch one from underneath the tool bench.
William thought about the strength created in the balance of heat and coolness, while running the wet cloth along the join releasing steam with a dissipating hiss.
“Now its your turn”, Tom said, passing the boy the blackened mask and the power of light contained so miraculously within the welder.
That night young William saw himself travelling through Mexico, with the different possibilities of a dream becoming a seamless reality. Seeing his dreams so clearly, he knew that in some way they must be real.
