The Secret of the Monastery

One night, a young man got lost in the woods while out hunting. As he walked to and fro to find a familiar landmark, he stumbled upon a very old and dreary looking building. He banged at the wooden double doors and called out, "Help please! I am lost! Could you help me?"

The door opened with an eerie creaking sound, and a hooded man whose face could not be seen peeked out, "Are you alone?"

The young man nodded, positively creeped out but desperate nonetheless. "I am John and I got lost in the woods. Do you have a phone I could use to call for help?"

The hooded man responded, "We do not have a phone in the monastery, but you may stay here if you like and leave in the morning."

Hesitating for a bit, John resigned himself to the situation. "Yes," he finally said, "that would be helpful. Thank you."

The hooded man let John in, and he was surprised to see the interior of the monastery to be well-lit and cheerful looking, as opposed to the dreary exterior. The hooded man, raising his hood for a bit, was an elderly monk, or so he said, and the monastery housed about fifty of them. The monk led the young man to the kitchen, where another hooded monk was cooking dinner.

John joined with the entire monk congregation and ate with them. The elderly monk who met him at the door, whose name was Philip, introduced him to the others. After dinner, Philip ushered John to the second floor quarters, where he could stay at a vacant room.

Along the way, John encountered a room whose door was different from the rest. It was ornate, carved with various designs that looked like waves, and he could resist to ask, "Why is this room different from the rest?"

Philip responded, "That room houses the monastery's secret. It is something we have kept hidden and only the monks of this monastery may know of it."

They have reached the room and John was under the blankets in no time, being tired and all from his long walks. In the middle of the night, he was suddenly brought awake by a very strange scraping sound coming from the other room. As he was a hunter and keen of hearing, he judged that the sound came from about three rooms far; precisely where the secret room was. He decided to let it go, when he was awoken yet again by it after some time. When the sound repeated for three more times, he decided to ask the monk what it was in the morning.

Come morning, John immediately asked Philip about the room. Philip replied, "It is something only the monks of this monastery may know of. I cannot tell you more."

Possessed of a very sudden curiosity, John asked, "How could I be a monk in this monastery?"

At length and to much amusement, Philip explained the process to John. After sometime and having finished, Philip asked John, "Do you understand?"

Thinking for a few minutes, John finally decided, "Yes, I would like to be a monk."

What followed was three-month's worth of disciplined training, daily devotion and everything else that was required to be a monk in the monastery. Yet, after the three months, there were a lot of other requirements, such as prolonged fasting, readings, and more disciplined training. In sum, over a year has passed, and finally, John was ordained a monk of the monastery. In all of this time, John's curiosity has not waned, and he was convinced that his unusual curiosity was because of the secret of the monastery, hidden in the unusual room.

Now that he was a monk, after the ordaining ceremony, he was led to the second floor, in front of the ornately carved door. It was Philip who accompanied him, and the elderly monk started, "Do not be surprised at what you will see inside this room. Be prepared; we have gone to great lengths to keep it and preserve it. Keep the secret to yourself, as long as you live, as would all our brothers here in the monastery."

With that, Philip opened the doors, and a blinding flash of light startled John. When he saw what was in the room, he was absolutely befuddled.

But I cannot tell you what it is, for you are not a monk of the monastery.