Zon Björn

What is the true nature of reality

Created on Midjourney

Earth inhabitants provided many names for their gods. They also grossly misunderstood their nature. They called the sun god Helios, Ra, Sol, Inti, Arinna, and so many more appellations, assigning it either male or female status, always in their own image.

What they didn’t understand was that the gods—the true gods—were nothing like they imagined. Sexless, timeless, ageless, and formless, they simply were.

The name the sun god liked best was  Zon Björn—Sun Bear. When it deigned to take physical form, it roamed the universe as a great bear, its light burning brightly from within with the power of a thousand suns.

It might spend aeons in that form or sometimes its sojourn in the physical realm would pass in the blink of a mortal eye. It was all one to a being unaffected by the passage of time. Zon Björn simply was wherever it was in any moment. Today it was in the home of a simple monk.

The monk had lived a good life, serving the gods faithfully, never assuming he knew or understood them. He had simplified his life many times over, always seeking less and finding more in the fullness of his heart.

Today, this monk lay on his deathbed at the end of an exceptionally long life as mortals counted it. Surrounded by fellow monks and acolytes, he asked, “Do you see it?”

“See what?” they asked, looking around the room clearly unaware of Zon Björn.

The bear ignored them, intent on the dying monk. “But you see me, my child. You alone of all within this monastery have seen into the truth of existence.”

“Surely not, master,” the monk answered, aware that to the others he seemed to be speaking to empty air. And, in a way, he was.

“Truly, my child. Others have seen before you. More will follow after. But you have found the true path. It lies not in the display of abstinence but within your heart.”

A smile of bliss settled onto the old monk’s face as he drew his last breath, relinquishing the body that had served him for a lifetime. His true essence returned to the universe from which it had sprung, freed of the shackles of physical form.

Zon Björn gathered that essence to himself, rebirthing it into the cosmos as a new galaxy in which the inhabitants would begin their trek toward awareness, following the path all of existence trod toward the final awakening.

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For some reason I no longer recall, I decided to create images of sun bears. Each of the images glowed red and gold within, just begging for some type of mythological story. The one I ended up writing is very much influenced by the Buddhist concept of our being at once nothing and everything.

The name I gave the bear is Norse with Zon meaning sun and Björn meaning bear. Not terribly inventive, but I loved the sounds of the words and the way they run together, tripping off the tongue.

If you were to write a story suggested by this image, what would it be? How would the glowing bear feature in your tale?