Said the teacher to the student, "
Student: Who am I? What kind of question is that?
Teacher: Shut up and answer. Who are you?
Student: I'm Voshkof.
Teacher: No. Don't give me some nickname you picked from a book to represent you. Who are you?
Student: No. You don't understand. I am, I AM, Voshkof. It is a name that represents my being, this phase in my life, my finding Raven.
Teacher: Bullshit. It's a name you picked from a book. It wasn't even your first choice. I've seen you change nicknames often enough to know that it's only sentimental value and ease of conversation that makes you continue its use.
Student: I am Raven.
Teacher: Oh really? Do you fly among the clouds, do you sit high in the treetops watching the quadrupeds play?
Student: Well, no. But in my dreams...
Teacher: Dreams? Do you shift in your Dreams? Do you pick at the bones of the fallen, do you herald doom to the weary? I didn't think so. And even if you did, would that be enough to make you Raven in the waking world? Would those fleeting tasts of paradise be enought for you to live on? Is it living, to only experience freedom in Dreams? Are you Raven because of a Dream?
Student: But i can spiritually shift, while dancing, the lights flashing, the rythym the currents i fly upon. Then i am Raven! Raven flows through me, around me, it is me. I AM.
Teacher: Is it now? As you recall, you once called this experience "flexing". This started years before you supposedly were found be Raven. And what about "acceleration"? Is that due to Raven as well? What makes you think it is Raven that flows through you? Maybe it is a Kamikaze with a Shiner Bock chaser?
Student: NO! It is Raven. I know this because i have looked at what happens. I fly through the harmonies like Raven through the forest. Before, even though i experienced the same sensation, I simply didn't know what Raven was to me. I wasn't ready to know then. The mechanism was in place, but my spirit couldn't handle knowing at that time. I hadn't experienced enought to accept Raven.
Teacher: Oh. So maybe in a year it will be some vodoun Loa, or the avatar of some Aeon, depending on where your path takes you? Did you ever stop to think that this may be the proverbial side road on the path of life? Even if this is your nature, is Raven so much a part of you that the human has been eclipsed? Does Raven hold philosophical discussions on the nature of self between road-kill buffets? Does Raven lament over the fact that the rent is due? Raven is what you aspire to be. Raven is the lock in the door leading to the mysteries you seek. Raven is a representation of the freedom you can never have if you remain as you are now. Now tell me, who are you?
Student: You said it yourself, I am a seeker. I quest for what I dont know. I seek answers AND the questions.
Teacher: You DARE place yourself among those seekers of knowledge who aspire for greater things? BAH! You don't even know what you are looking for. This "quest" of yours has changed like the changing of the seasons. Is your self defined by what you do? All seek, in one form or another, just like we all breathe. But we do no define ourselves as "oxygen consumers" except in jest. While calling yourself a seeker is correct, it is inadequate. Ir represents a facet present in all of us to some degree. Who are you?
Student: I am a man who follows the wisdom of Raven. My dreams led me to Raven, finding AHWW reinforced that bond. I seek to understand the nature of the soul, and with that, myself. I am a brother, a son, and a friend.
Teacher: You are a child looking out at the world through two windows called eyes. You define yourself in the only way you know how. Do ties of blood and acquaintance define you? You go on and on about Raven, but i look in your soul, and i can see doubt. Yet you call yourself one with Raven? You call yourself Raven because you don't know what you would be with out him. Now, who are you?
Student: I don't know.
Teacher: Good.