There is a secret to happiness in life and it the Talisman. Only you wield it. Its power is yours alone. No one can take it away from you. No one. And you will die with it in your hands, folded in your arms.
“What is the Talisman?”
It is a different thing for each person, but before we get to the practical discussion of this matter, let’s play with metaphor. What does every wizard possess?
“I don’t know, magic?”
Yes. That’s true, but what else?
“A tall hat with stars on it and a robe?”
Yes. But what is the symbol of his power?
“A staff!”
That’s it! Through the wizard’s staff, all his powers are manifest. The staff is the wizard’s Talisman. Though it he casts his spells, fights evil, slays dragons and witches, and makes the world a better place. Do you know what the most important thing about the wizard’s staff is?
“He has it with him all the time?”
That’s a good answer, and you have pointed out another very important thing. The staff must always be in our hands. However, I was thinking the most important thing about the wizard’s staff is that he shares it with no one.
“Isn’t that selfish?”
It may seem so, at first glance, but in movies and books, when wizards fight the powers of darkness, how often do they pass their staffs around?
“They don’t. Besides, there is usually only one wizard.”
That’s right. However, the wizard might fight the dragon or Orc horde along side an elf, dwarf, and champion, each of whom possesses his own Talisman.
“Yeah! The elf has a bow, the dwarf an axe, and the champion a sword!”
That’s exactly it! Each of them is self-defined by the Talisman he bears, and each would be absurdly reduced should he have to share his Talisman. He can share anything else, even die for the cause, and give up all he has but his Talisman. We can imagine at the funerals of our heroes, should they fail, each lies in his casket with has his arms folded over and embracing his Talisman.
“Ok. I get it now, but we can’t make our Talisman a sword or a scepter these days. How does all this fit in with us in the modern day?”
My talisman is the keyboard. I write. The words I speak are solely mine. No one can take this creative power from me, make me share it, or reduce it. The keyboard is my staff and my rod, my Talisman. When I die, I will lie in the casket with my arms folded over my keyboard. At my sides will be stuffed all the stories and novels I have written. When I am alive, as long as my scepter is in my hands, I can weather all but death, well, even death too, with a smile and a nod. The workaday money may not be enough, the women may abandon me time and time again, I may lose it all and live on the streets, be put on trial, sued for all I possess, but my Talisman gives me strength without fail. All may come and go, arrive and pass away, be born, rot and decay, but I will stand strong and proud through it all, long white hair and robe lashing in the devastating wind, but my staff I will hold strong before me. My Talisman shall light the way as the darkness descends all around me.
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