Don't you think you're overstating things Merry?
Merry says nothing. Looks calmly, impassively at Zie.
I mean, who are you to think it's your responsibility to retune the entire universe?
Merry continues peeling the potatoes, apparently unperturbed.
The universe! Get a sense of perspective Merry. Come down to Earth for a moment... Think about it - the vastness of space... billions of galaxies... and you - a barely noticeable dot on an insignificant planet, somewhere in the Milky Way.
Zie grows somewhat impatient. He feels it's his responsibility to bring Merry's ego back to manageable proportions... but Merry seems to be impervious to his attentions.
Actually it's hundreds of billions.
Hundreds of billions?
Of galaxies.
Well there you go... oughten you to focus on something a little more... realistic.
Yes, I see what you mean, the universe is rather extreme, but I noticed things slipping out of balance recently.
You did?
Yes. At first I thought it was me. I noticed that the world didn't quite seem to be right. Too much fighting, killing, too much anger... I felt I must have gone wrong somewhere. You know the way children blame themselves for the mistakes of others - like if their parents split up.
So you were blaming yourself for the troubles in this world?
Oh yes. Lots of people do that. It's quite normal in fact.
It is?
Oh yes... but then I realised that, though I'm partially to blame...
Wait a second - how can you be partially to blame - if you're miniscule and the universe is endlessly vast?
Because it's all fractal Zie. Whatever I am extends out beyond my personal space, to the very edge of the universe and back. It's a kind of feedback loop.
But how can it be, if there are billions of other individuals on the planet?
Well firstly we are not as individual as we seem to be, and secondly, the universe is not quite as physical as it appears, more of a hologram really.
And, what does that signify?
Well, it means that my universe is really just my extended allness, my extended space, my personal or, dare I say it, personalised reality.
But if that's the case, then your universe could be completely different from mine.
Precisely... and you'd never know it.
Yes I would.
How?
Because I know you. If your universe was radically different you'd say something...
And you'd not believe me. For example, in my universe there are elves, gnomiki, unicorns and other magic creatures.
Yes, but that's just your vivid imagination, isn't it?
And in my universe, it is - I am: One, meaning there's an infinite relationship between the whole and the I am that I am, strange though it may seem.
Yes, but that's just your, dare I say it, delusion.
Precisely! You see, even if it's true what I'm saying - if my reality is different from yours, then so is my universe. You wouldn't be able to accept it because it isn't true in yours.
But you're not going to tell me the planets and stars are different in your universe?
Well, they might be - for in mine they're all conscious, and there's life everywhere you turn. It's teeming with life and consciousness, positively overflowing with it.
I see - Zie looks perturbed. Sometimes I worry about you Merry. Your ideas are so... out of step with scientific empiricism.
Yes, quite different, but that's ok. Diversity's a wonderful thing.
If you say so...
Zie now spends a moment or two lost in thought, then continues...
But if your universe is truly what you say it is, and you're in fact able to re-tune it, then shouldn't that affect everyone and everything?
Of course it does.
But then why don't things suddenly improve, if you're able to re-tune the universe?
Well, as you yourself said, I'm not the only one... but who says they don't improve?
Well there are still wars being fought, aren't there?
Yes, but if I achieve what I call "grand cosmic resonance" then one of two things will happen...
Yes?
Either the wars will cease, or I'll shift into a different version of reality in which they no longer happen.
Oh. Like quitting, is it? Fleeing the sinking vessel?
No Zie, it's like either-or. Ultimately, it's always a case of what's meant to be. Bear in mind that when we act with gentleness and love, we do so in harmony with the whole.
What hole are you referring to?
The "whole"! The entire universe... the allness... the isness of be... all different ways of saying the same thing.
Sounds a bit like God, to me.
Well yes, you can call it God - nothing wrong with that - just some people freak out when you talk about God - because of all the religious conflict we've experienced in times past.
Ok... so your aim is either to sort out the universe, or leave it altogether if it can't be reformed... is that right?
Oh Zie... if I had an aim I would be striving for something based on my ego... What would that achieve? It would just be more of the same. More temporary respites. Band-aids on the suppurating flesh wound of our tortured humanity.
So what then?
I'm not aiming. I'm being.
Being what?
Being free. Being true to myself. Being, magically.
Magically? Like this is a magic trick you're trying to pull off?
No. Like "being" is the most natural, noble, wonderful way I can experience what is... and engage with all that is - with the entire universe.
But we're all being, aren't we.
Yes. We are. But very often we trying to be "something" or someone - not necessarily being our true self, our highest self. Sometimes we're afraid to be magically.
Well I'm not surprised - I mean magic's just an illusion. A trick for gullible children. It's hard work that counts, not magic.
Yes, hard work counts, but life itself is magical beyond words.
Well of course it is, if you look at the beauty of nature, or the magic of a child being born...
No Zie, I'm talking about everyday life... every moment... everything that life is.
So sitting on a train going to work in the morning is magical, you're saying?
It can be. It is, if you're willing to experience the magic of life, if you're willing to reconnect with the whole...
With the entire universe? Don't you think that's a bit much as you travel from Farnham to Waterloo at 7.30 am?
Yes, of course it's a bit much, if you've chosen to live a life devoid of magic. It's a free choice and no one can say it's wrong, but if, on the contrary, you've chosen to experience the magic of life, if you've chosen the grand adventure of Is - and you're willing to experience your connectedness to the entire universe at any moment in time, then no thing can be ordinary, for in every little thing is a microcosm of the entirety... every moment is a crystallisation of eternity.
Oh God Merry, you're a hopeless romantic.
Yes, aren't I just? But I also have to be ruthlessly pragmatic and down to earth.
You do?
Oh yes... How else could I re-tune the universe?
Well, I hate to say it, Merry, but I suspect you're being delusional.
That's a reasonable suspicion, I agree.
There you go! Even you admit I'm right.
No, I admit it's a reasonable suspicion, without any evidence to invalidate it.
And what? You have evidence that proves me wrong?
I wouldn't say it proves you wrong... I'd say that what seems to be reasonable can still be utterly wrong, and inevitably is so, if and when the magic of life has been brought into play.
There you go again, talking about the magic of life. It's a metaphor Merry. It doesn't prevent the laws of reason from operating.
Of course it doesn't, if you've chosen to live in a world where the laws of reason are inviolable... but that's the same as saying you've chosen to live in a world where the magic of life's been excluded... or where it's been relegated to some secondary level - nothing more than a metaphor.
Well if you're so insistent, why not show me what you can do? Why not go ahead and re-tune the damn universe and give me a glimpse of your magic?
Oh Zie! It isn't my magic. It has to be universal. Of course I'll show you, but it won't be much fun if you ask me to do it for you.
Whyever not?
Because that's like trying to mix water and oil. You see, you have enormous power over your own consciousness, and if you've chosen to live within tight and fixed boundaries, it's not for me or anyone else to challenge them. We have to respect your decision and honour your territorial integrity.
Oh, that's nice to know.
But if you're willing to lower your usual defences and come for a walk in a forest, so to speak, where the usual rules do not necessarily apply, then you might be pleasantly surprised to discover things...
What kind of things?
Things that are waiting to be discovered... Things that lie outside the magic-less reality we have created for ourselves.
Like what?
Like anything... whatever takes your fancy, just don't ask me to invent anything - these things need to be experienced rather than discussed.
So you're asking me to come to cuckoo land with you?
No, Zie, I'm not asking. I'm merely suggesting that there's more than the strict letter of the law we've been living under. The law of reason has been a useful tool, but it's spawned a somewhat grim and mechanistic reality in which matter seems to matter.
Of course matter matters... but so does love, and imagination, sport and play... not only matter.
Excellent. Well love and imagination and play are in a sense, exactly what I'm talking about.
They are?
Yes, they help us loosen the grip of matter, to reconnect with something bigger and more beautiful... to bring a little magic into our lives... and you can see how our lives have been enriched by theatre...
And movies...
And sport and so many other forms of recreation, which are not strictly utilitarian in the sense of reason and pragmatism, but which, with time, have come to be seen as life enhancing.
Fair enough, Merry, but you can understand why I baulk at "magic" and weird stuff like "tuning the universe".
Yes, it's a bit far from what you're comfortable with, and so I don't ask you to join in. But I won't lie to you if you ask me a direct question, as you did, and I won't refuse, if you ask to come along and join me on one of my magical journeys, if I feel you're open to share in my experience.
And if I'm not?
Then I'll respect your "not". No one has the right to push you beyond what you choose to experience.
But you're making it sound like I'm backward looking or reactionary.
No Zie, I'm being practical. Each has his own world, his own reality. They intersect with others - like a Venn diagram, and we can share the experience of others if the intersect allows it.
And if it doesn't?
Then we move on - and accept the disconnect.
But that's like an admission of failure.
Is it?
Yes. Don't you care?
Should I?
Well yes.
But why? If the universe is nearly infinite, and I'm a tiny, insignificant part of it, then I have to accept my limitations. All I can do is tune myself to its vastness... When I do so, when I tune in to the infinite around me, I discover that it's not the same as the 3D reality I appear to be living in - that there's more to it all than initially meets the eye, and this I refer to as magic. The allness or the whole you see, confound the limited picture that reason and our five senses weave around us. I'm not saying they're wrong, not at all. They are right, and the picture is true in the limited sense, but once I go beyond the limited, reconnecting with all that is... no, they fail me, I have to loosen the grip of reason and venture beyond into the forest of dreams, or what the aborigines call "dreamtime".
Well, I can vaguely follow that - but then it's something shamanic. Why do you have to cheapen it by saying it's magic - that's just plain childish.
And what are children?
They're full of magic, which is fine for a child, but you're an adult.
And yet a child... Believe me Zie, when I tell you, that unless we keep alive the inner child, and continue to play and dance throughout the day, we grow old and die.
And what? You're saying it's possible not to grow old and die?
Of course, it's more than possible.
But that's just plain ridiculous.
Yes.
Then you're being ridiculous.
Not so. I'm saying something you happen to find ridiculous, if you have it within you to ridicule me or dismiss outright what I believe is true.
Well you're entitled to your beliefs Merry, and I've no intention of ridiculing you or anyone else, but if what you're saying is absurd, then it's not only me who'll say you're being ridiculous - almost everyone will.
Yes, more's the pity, which is why so few of us fail to grow old and die.
No it's not, Merry. Stop twisting things round. We don't "fail to grow old and die!" We grow old and die for biological reasons, because our cells decay with the passage of time.
Which doesn't prevent them from being replaced, does it?
But that doesn't happen. We're not supposed to live forever.
No, not until we're ready to live in harmony with the inner child, otherwise we'd go insane.
Speaking of which... Zie finds himself needing to take a break from Merry's apparent intransigence. The circle has been circumferenced two or three times and neither side seems willing to relent.
Merry spends a moment processing the matter of Zie's departure. At first he seems crestfallen, like he's failed in some way. Then, something happens, though it's difficult to say what... Merry reverts to his natural state - which he refers to as "cuckoo la la".
Cuckoo la la! What's that?
Oh - you know - the wonder of it all!
You mean the magic?
Precisely - or the "magik" if you prefer.
And why not? We can change the spelling to suit our mood, can we not, like Shakespeare did. Far too many rules and regulations I feel. Then magik it is!
Then magik indeed. So Merry, as you can see if you care to look, is now busy doing a kind of dance as he weaves among the trees...
And little would you suspect, if you chose not to see beyond the confines of 3 dimensional reality, how Merry's dance is connecting him with distant stars and galaxies...
Not to mention the energies of Mother Earth...
And how this connection is bringing about a balancing...
A harmonisation...
A healing of sorts...
And if you have eyes to see, then you notice strange lights and orbs appearing...
As Merry's heart opens wide
And he feels the dance of life within
Connecting him with all that is...
Revealing another chapter of reality within reality...
And Merry's peace and Merry's joy is felt throughout the universe
And brings about a change of heart here on Earth
As people put down their swords and once again recall
The magik of life, the isness of Be.
The End
Merry says nothing. Looks calmly, impassively at Zie.
I mean, who are you to think it's your responsibility to retune the entire universe?
Merry continues peeling the potatoes, apparently unperturbed.
The universe! Get a sense of perspective Merry. Come down to Earth for a moment... Think about it - the vastness of space... billions of galaxies... and you - a barely noticeable dot on an insignificant planet, somewhere in the Milky Way.
Zie grows somewhat impatient. He feels it's his responsibility to bring Merry's ego back to manageable proportions... but Merry seems to be impervious to his attentions.
Actually it's hundreds of billions.
Hundreds of billions?
Of galaxies.
Well there you go... oughten you to focus on something a little more... realistic.
Yes, I see what you mean, the universe is rather extreme, but I noticed things slipping out of balance recently.
You did?
Yes. At first I thought it was me. I noticed that the world didn't quite seem to be right. Too much fighting, killing, too much anger... I felt I must have gone wrong somewhere. You know the way children blame themselves for the mistakes of others - like if their parents split up.
So you were blaming yourself for the troubles in this world?
Oh yes. Lots of people do that. It's quite normal in fact.
It is?
Oh yes... but then I realised that, though I'm partially to blame...
Wait a second - how can you be partially to blame - if you're miniscule and the universe is endlessly vast?
Because it's all fractal Zie. Whatever I am extends out beyond my personal space, to the very edge of the universe and back. It's a kind of feedback loop.
But how can it be, if there are billions of other individuals on the planet?
Well firstly we are not as individual as we seem to be, and secondly, the universe is not quite as physical as it appears, more of a hologram really.
And, what does that signify?
Well, it means that my universe is really just my extended allness, my extended space, my personal or, dare I say it, personalised reality.
But if that's the case, then your universe could be completely different from mine.
Precisely... and you'd never know it.
Yes I would.
How?
Because I know you. If your universe was radically different you'd say something...
And you'd not believe me. For example, in my universe there are elves, gnomiki, unicorns and other magic creatures.
Yes, but that's just your vivid imagination, isn't it?
And in my universe, it is - I am: One, meaning there's an infinite relationship between the whole and the I am that I am, strange though it may seem.
Yes, but that's just your, dare I say it, delusion.
Precisely! You see, even if it's true what I'm saying - if my reality is different from yours, then so is my universe. You wouldn't be able to accept it because it isn't true in yours.
But you're not going to tell me the planets and stars are different in your universe?
Well, they might be - for in mine they're all conscious, and there's life everywhere you turn. It's teeming with life and consciousness, positively overflowing with it.
I see - Zie looks perturbed. Sometimes I worry about you Merry. Your ideas are so... out of step with scientific empiricism.
Yes, quite different, but that's ok. Diversity's a wonderful thing.
If you say so...
Zie now spends a moment or two lost in thought, then continues...
But if your universe is truly what you say it is, and you're in fact able to re-tune it, then shouldn't that affect everyone and everything?
Of course it does.
But then why don't things suddenly improve, if you're able to re-tune the universe?
Well, as you yourself said, I'm not the only one... but who says they don't improve?
Well there are still wars being fought, aren't there?
Yes, but if I achieve what I call "grand cosmic resonance" then one of two things will happen...
Yes?
Either the wars will cease, or I'll shift into a different version of reality in which they no longer happen.
Oh. Like quitting, is it? Fleeing the sinking vessel?
No Zie, it's like either-or. Ultimately, it's always a case of what's meant to be. Bear in mind that when we act with gentleness and love, we do so in harmony with the whole.
What hole are you referring to?
The "whole"! The entire universe... the allness... the isness of be... all different ways of saying the same thing.
Sounds a bit like God, to me.
Well yes, you can call it God - nothing wrong with that - just some people freak out when you talk about God - because of all the religious conflict we've experienced in times past.
Ok... so your aim is either to sort out the universe, or leave it altogether if it can't be reformed... is that right?
Oh Zie... if I had an aim I would be striving for something based on my ego... What would that achieve? It would just be more of the same. More temporary respites. Band-aids on the suppurating flesh wound of our tortured humanity.
So what then?
I'm not aiming. I'm being.
Being what?
Being free. Being true to myself. Being, magically.
Magically? Like this is a magic trick you're trying to pull off?
No. Like "being" is the most natural, noble, wonderful way I can experience what is... and engage with all that is - with the entire universe.
But we're all being, aren't we.
Yes. We are. But very often we trying to be "something" or someone - not necessarily being our true self, our highest self. Sometimes we're afraid to be magically.
Well I'm not surprised - I mean magic's just an illusion. A trick for gullible children. It's hard work that counts, not magic.
Yes, hard work counts, but life itself is magical beyond words.
Well of course it is, if you look at the beauty of nature, or the magic of a child being born...
No Zie, I'm talking about everyday life... every moment... everything that life is.
So sitting on a train going to work in the morning is magical, you're saying?
It can be. It is, if you're willing to experience the magic of life, if you're willing to reconnect with the whole...
With the entire universe? Don't you think that's a bit much as you travel from Farnham to Waterloo at 7.30 am?
Yes, of course it's a bit much, if you've chosen to live a life devoid of magic. It's a free choice and no one can say it's wrong, but if, on the contrary, you've chosen to experience the magic of life, if you've chosen the grand adventure of Is - and you're willing to experience your connectedness to the entire universe at any moment in time, then no thing can be ordinary, for in every little thing is a microcosm of the entirety... every moment is a crystallisation of eternity.
Oh God Merry, you're a hopeless romantic.
Yes, aren't I just? But I also have to be ruthlessly pragmatic and down to earth.
You do?
Oh yes... How else could I re-tune the universe?
Well, I hate to say it, Merry, but I suspect you're being delusional.
That's a reasonable suspicion, I agree.
There you go! Even you admit I'm right.
No, I admit it's a reasonable suspicion, without any evidence to invalidate it.
And what? You have evidence that proves me wrong?
I wouldn't say it proves you wrong... I'd say that what seems to be reasonable can still be utterly wrong, and inevitably is so, if and when the magic of life has been brought into play.
There you go again, talking about the magic of life. It's a metaphor Merry. It doesn't prevent the laws of reason from operating.
Of course it doesn't, if you've chosen to live in a world where the laws of reason are inviolable... but that's the same as saying you've chosen to live in a world where the magic of life's been excluded... or where it's been relegated to some secondary level - nothing more than a metaphor.
Well if you're so insistent, why not show me what you can do? Why not go ahead and re-tune the damn universe and give me a glimpse of your magic?
Oh Zie! It isn't my magic. It has to be universal. Of course I'll show you, but it won't be much fun if you ask me to do it for you.
Whyever not?
Because that's like trying to mix water and oil. You see, you have enormous power over your own consciousness, and if you've chosen to live within tight and fixed boundaries, it's not for me or anyone else to challenge them. We have to respect your decision and honour your territorial integrity.
Oh, that's nice to know.
But if you're willing to lower your usual defences and come for a walk in a forest, so to speak, where the usual rules do not necessarily apply, then you might be pleasantly surprised to discover things...
What kind of things?
Things that are waiting to be discovered... Things that lie outside the magic-less reality we have created for ourselves.
Like what?
Like anything... whatever takes your fancy, just don't ask me to invent anything - these things need to be experienced rather than discussed.
So you're asking me to come to cuckoo land with you?
No, Zie, I'm not asking. I'm merely suggesting that there's more than the strict letter of the law we've been living under. The law of reason has been a useful tool, but it's spawned a somewhat grim and mechanistic reality in which matter seems to matter.
Of course matter matters... but so does love, and imagination, sport and play... not only matter.
Excellent. Well love and imagination and play are in a sense, exactly what I'm talking about.
They are?
Yes, they help us loosen the grip of matter, to reconnect with something bigger and more beautiful... to bring a little magic into our lives... and you can see how our lives have been enriched by theatre...
And movies...
And sport and so many other forms of recreation, which are not strictly utilitarian in the sense of reason and pragmatism, but which, with time, have come to be seen as life enhancing.
Fair enough, Merry, but you can understand why I baulk at "magic" and weird stuff like "tuning the universe".
Yes, it's a bit far from what you're comfortable with, and so I don't ask you to join in. But I won't lie to you if you ask me a direct question, as you did, and I won't refuse, if you ask to come along and join me on one of my magical journeys, if I feel you're open to share in my experience.
And if I'm not?
Then I'll respect your "not". No one has the right to push you beyond what you choose to experience.
But you're making it sound like I'm backward looking or reactionary.
No Zie, I'm being practical. Each has his own world, his own reality. They intersect with others - like a Venn diagram, and we can share the experience of others if the intersect allows it.
And if it doesn't?
Then we move on - and accept the disconnect.
But that's like an admission of failure.
Is it?
Yes. Don't you care?
Should I?
Well yes.
But why? If the universe is nearly infinite, and I'm a tiny, insignificant part of it, then I have to accept my limitations. All I can do is tune myself to its vastness... When I do so, when I tune in to the infinite around me, I discover that it's not the same as the 3D reality I appear to be living in - that there's more to it all than initially meets the eye, and this I refer to as magic. The allness or the whole you see, confound the limited picture that reason and our five senses weave around us. I'm not saying they're wrong, not at all. They are right, and the picture is true in the limited sense, but once I go beyond the limited, reconnecting with all that is... no, they fail me, I have to loosen the grip of reason and venture beyond into the forest of dreams, or what the aborigines call "dreamtime".
Well, I can vaguely follow that - but then it's something shamanic. Why do you have to cheapen it by saying it's magic - that's just plain childish.
And what are children?
They're full of magic, which is fine for a child, but you're an adult.
And yet a child... Believe me Zie, when I tell you, that unless we keep alive the inner child, and continue to play and dance throughout the day, we grow old and die.
And what? You're saying it's possible not to grow old and die?
Of course, it's more than possible.
But that's just plain ridiculous.
Yes.
Then you're being ridiculous.
Not so. I'm saying something you happen to find ridiculous, if you have it within you to ridicule me or dismiss outright what I believe is true.
Well you're entitled to your beliefs Merry, and I've no intention of ridiculing you or anyone else, but if what you're saying is absurd, then it's not only me who'll say you're being ridiculous - almost everyone will.
Yes, more's the pity, which is why so few of us fail to grow old and die.
No it's not, Merry. Stop twisting things round. We don't "fail to grow old and die!" We grow old and die for biological reasons, because our cells decay with the passage of time.
Which doesn't prevent them from being replaced, does it?
But that doesn't happen. We're not supposed to live forever.
No, not until we're ready to live in harmony with the inner child, otherwise we'd go insane.
Speaking of which... Zie finds himself needing to take a break from Merry's apparent intransigence. The circle has been circumferenced two or three times and neither side seems willing to relent.
Merry spends a moment processing the matter of Zie's departure. At first he seems crestfallen, like he's failed in some way. Then, something happens, though it's difficult to say what... Merry reverts to his natural state - which he refers to as "cuckoo la la".
Cuckoo la la! What's that?
Oh - you know - the wonder of it all!
You mean the magic?
Precisely - or the "magik" if you prefer.
And why not? We can change the spelling to suit our mood, can we not, like Shakespeare did. Far too many rules and regulations I feel. Then magik it is!
Then magik indeed. So Merry, as you can see if you care to look, is now busy doing a kind of dance as he weaves among the trees...
And little would you suspect, if you chose not to see beyond the confines of 3 dimensional reality, how Merry's dance is connecting him with distant stars and galaxies...
Not to mention the energies of Mother Earth...
And how this connection is bringing about a balancing...
A harmonisation...
A healing of sorts...
And if you have eyes to see, then you notice strange lights and orbs appearing...
As Merry's heart opens wide
And he feels the dance of life within
Connecting him with all that is...
Revealing another chapter of reality within reality...
And Merry's peace and Merry's joy is felt throughout the universe
And brings about a change of heart here on Earth
As people put down their swords and once again recall
The magik of life, the isness of Be.
The End
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