The Emperor and the Volcano: Viasonata Meditation #4

Adam Cockell
3 min readMar 1, 2024

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In this continuation of VS Mediations, I will show you the mystical power of (short) creative storytelling. TLDR it is a mirror for your life, and a fun path to becoming more intuitive.

Here is a story I told about the following 3 images:

Once upon a time, there was an emperor that was so in tune with everything around him. He was not technically the emperor of the land, but he was, in fact, an emperor. He would live within society, and every day, check in with his north star to decide where things need to go. And while living in society, he brought all of his beautiful nature with him.

As time went on, the emperor decided to go and explore the unknown parts of the world. The areas that were less inhabited by people, the areas that had more demons and devils. And he found this scenic area with a bunch of volcanoes that surrounded a lake. And it was scary and treacherous, but he decided to, using his key, walk right in with full confidence.

And finally, the emperor was suddenly transformed into a hero that could easily change this environment into one of such beauty and grace. He would use his bow and arrow to basically cast out new spells, new stories, every day as he woke up. And in doing so, what he was able to do was transform the land and the entire environment into one of this immense beauty. And so he woke up every day with his bow and arrow and shot it to where it needed to go.

Here’s what happens when I re-write the story in the first person:

Once upon a time, I was a brave hero that embarked on a journey to transform the world around me. At the time, I believed that my powers were limited by self-doubt and fear. But ultimately, I discovered my true strength and potential.

I’m blown away by this simple story. As I write this, I am embarking on a journey where I must step outside my comfort zone. To have the impact that I seek, I must start working with my deeper fears around self-doubt. And in terms of my life, this means that I must step outside of my safe little engineer builder box and start sharing my work with more people on social media. I absolutely detest social media, but this story reminds us that there is beauty in even volcanoes and demons. Better yet, beauty is the volcanoes and demons. And in seeing them and becoming them it pours out into our lives.

As powerful as reflection is, here’s what comes through me when I go into a meditative state and free flow write about the story:

Dance with us around the fire, and look into our eyes. For we are right here. With you. In all that you see. All that you think. All that you are. The fire connects us, as our eyes meet yours. There is great wisdom in this circle. And it is yours. We are yours. We are in the fire, we are around the circle. We are in the ground. In the trees. The sky. We are with you every day. We are with you whether you realize it or not. All that is needed is for you to dance with us, around the fire. In that you will find all things. Make eye contact with us. Dance with us. Sing with us. When you are dancing we are dancing.

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Adam Cockell

I write about the mystical power of creative storytelling. Creator of Viasonata. https://www.viasonata.com