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"An ancient and obsolete instrument of torture," he said.
"But why are they here?"
"They must have been some kind of pledge. How should I know?"
We stopped in front of one of them that had toppled over.
"Maybe the wood rotted," I said.
"It's the same wood as all the others. And none of the others rotted."
"Then it must not have been sunk into the earth firmly enough."
Petrus stopped and looked around. He put his knapsack on the ground and sat down. We had stopped to rest only a few minutes before, so I couldn't understand what he was doing. Instinctively, I looked around, expecting to see the dog.
"You defeated the dog," he said, knowing what I was thinking. "Don't worry about the ghosts of the dead."
"Well, then, why are we stopping?"
Petrus made a gesture that told me to be quiet, and I did not say anything for several minutes. I felt the old fear of the dog and decided to remain standing, hoping Petrus would say something.
"What do you hear?" he asked me.
"Nothing. The silence."
"We are not smart enough to be able to listen to the silence! We are just human beings, and we don't even know how to listen to our own ramblings. You have never asked me how I knew that Legion was about to arrive. Now I will tell you how: by listening. The sound began many days before, when we were still in Astorga. Starting then, I began to move along more quickly, because all the indications were that we were going to meet up with him in Foncebadon. You heard the same sound as I, but you were not listening.
"Everything is contained in sounds--the past, the present, and the future. The person who does not know how to listen will never hear the advice that life offers us all the time. And only the person who listens to the sounds of the moment is able to make the right decisions."
Petrus bade me sit down and forget about the dog. He said that he was going to teach me one of the easiest and most important practices of the Road to Santiago.
And he explained the Listening Exercise to me.
"Do it right now," he said.
I began to perform the exercise. I heard the wind and a woman's voice far in the distance, and at one point I sensed that a branch was being broken. It was not a difficult exercise, and I was fascinated by its simplicity. I put my ear to the ground and began to listen to the muted sounds of the earth. After a few moments, I began to separate the sounds from each other: the sound of the leaves rustling, the sound of the voice in the distance, and the noise of the beating of the wings of birds. An animal grunted, but I could not identify what kind of beast it was. The fifteen minutes I spent on the exercise flew by.
The Listening Exercise
Relax. Close your eyes.
Try for several minutes to concentrate on all of the sounds you hear in your surroundings, as if you were hearing an orchestra playing its instruments.
Little by little, try to separate each sound from the others. Concentrate on each one, as if it were the only instrument playing. Try to eliminate the other sounds from your awareness.
When you do this exercise every day, you will begin to hear voices. First, you will think that they are imaginary. Later, you will discover that they are voices of people from your past, present, and future, all of them participating with you in the remembrance of time.
This exercise should be performed only when you already know the voice of your messenger.
Do this exercise for ten minutes at a time.
"After a while, you will see that this exercise will help you to make the right decision," Petrus said, without asking me what I had heard. "Agape speaks to you through the Blue Sphere Exercise, but it also speaks to you through your sight, your sense of touch, through scents, and your heart, and your hearing. A week from now, at the most, you will begin to hear voices. At first, they will be timid, but before long they are going to begin to tell you things that are important. Be careful, though, with your messenger. He is going to try to confuse you. However, you already know the sound of his voice, so he will no longer be a threat."
Petrus asked if I had heard the joyful call of an enemy, or an invitation offered by a woman, or the secret of my sword.
"I just heard the voice of a woman in the distance," I said. "But it was a farmer's wife calling to her child."
"Well, look at that cross there, and see if you can raise it with your thoughts."
