grav-ity

Er Merry...

What is it Zie?

Why are you standing on that chair, in the middle of the room?

Can't you tell?

Well, the crash mat is a bit of a giveaway. Let me guess, you’re working on gravity?

Nice deduction Zie. My only regret being that you failed to build up to it.

Huh?

A little intrigue, a little suspense, dramatic tension… that kinda thing.

What are you on about?

The readers got the answer before they even had the chance to figure it out for themselves.

Oh that…

Want to keep them involved in the process, you know.

But Merry, aren’t you being inconsistent?

Inconsistent? How so?

Haven’t you commented in the past that we're only able to do what we are based on the fact that your “vast readership” sometime in the distant future is interacting with us at the quantum level – is somehow entangled in our content creation process?

Ah... yes, there would be some truth in that... Damn, you are sharp today Zie.

Beep beep beep!

What the hell is that?

Beep beep beep – even louder than before.

– Profanity alert. I automated it, just to be on the safe side.

Damn! No shit!

Beep beep beep – now deafeningly loud.

Ouch! Ok, ok, we got the message.

Jeez… oops, nearly forgot – that was loud.

What is it Merry – why the obsessive compulsion regarding so-called profanity? I mean – a few tepid swear words – you’d think it’s Armageddon!

Ah – nothing I can do here Zie.

Whyever not?

Because language... though it may seem trivial – merely a tool of communication – at the quantum level, however, every word carries a certain value – a certain “energy” – to use that feebly-weebly word.

And you think the occasional “damn” is going to…

Beep beep beep

Hey – I used speech marks – you can’t ping me for that!

– Make a difference – you were going to say?

Yes. I mean – it’s the intention that really matters, isn’t it?

Yes, of course, but at the same time no.

Sigh.

At the quantum level you’re dealing with islands, or packets of meaning which are surrounded by the largely invisible, dark waters of infinity.

We are?

Yep. And each so-called word is infinitely more than just a sound with a meaning attached.

It is?

Absolutely. A sound chunk with a widely accepted, pre-determined meaning ain’t going to hold water in the quantum sea of indeterminacy.

No?

Nope.

Er… why not?

Why not?... Because it needs to float – or be surrounded by something or other – a bubble or skin capable of withstanding the constant scrutiny, the relentless and persistent presence of fundamental, existential paradox 0=1 know you not? deny you me? – bearing down on anyone or anything.

Fundamental, existential paradox?

Correct.

Er… not sure I follow the logic.

You would if you were swimming around in the quantum sea of indeterminacy – surrounded by… by...

By what?

Precisely. By what. Thank you. Brain fogged over for a moment there. The indescribable, insane potentiality of “what” – questioning, challenging, probing the very nature of anything and everything to the very core, into the atomic heart, the conscious mind of matter.

Aren’t you exaggerating Merry?

I assure you not. Words, planets, things, ideas, theories, bus tickets or chicken soup – it makes no difference – everything has a point of origin there, in the 0=1 – no matter what – and that never changes – cannot change without unstitching everything else.

Ok. That sounds reasonable.

So each word has a point of origin, no less than any other concept – no matter how mundane or esoteric it might be.

Ri-ght. Me thinks he doth belabour this unto breaking point.

Ask yourself – how can any word or concept hold its own and not sink back into the fathomless waters of infinity, without a trace? A thing, no matter what, is like a tiny grain of salt. Infinity is an ultra-powerful solvent – dissolving any thing effortlessly.

Ah – is that so?

Absolutely.

Then I have no idea. You tell me. How can a word, or a concept for that matter – survive if, in fact, everything is floating in this quantum sea of infinite indeterminacy?

Good question Zie.

Thanks.

It can’t.

Huh?

Can’t.

But… surely... here we are, living proof.

Period. Everything is in the process of discharging and melting back into infinity – though this process may appear to be halted by a powerful charge separation.

Indeed? Powerful charge separation you say?

Yes.

And how would that be achieved?

Good question Zie…

Well?

Well, you can’t just create that kind of charge separation with the wave of a wand, can you?

No? I was rather thinking you might be able to do just that.

Sorry, no.

Then how?

We’re coming to it Zie. Don’t rush me.

Why do I have the distinct impression you’re again trying to build suspense, shamelessly playing to the crowd?

Moi? Ce n’est pas possible… No, I just don’t want to force-feed you Zie. Your telepathic abilities are coming along nicely now. You really don’t need me to tell you the answer. If you give yourself half a chance you’ll sense another branch in the time stream, one in which you already know the answer, as you always did.

Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening – somewhere off-stage the quantum field seems to be staging a live Queen concert.

Click. Holy moly – you’re right Merry! I do. Apparently.

Beep beep beep

Ok, ok. Can we actually switch off that beeper and get on with explaining the origins of any and every thing.

Bold, brash, but no – the beeper is a must. So out with it Zie – charge separation…

Every word – every concept – er – it’s a bit like the relationship between animal life and fungi – or bacteria for that matter too.

Yes, spot on.

There was an evolutionary fork…

A bifurcation.

You do love certain words, don’t you. Frown

Yes, my apologies, Zie.

Every word had to be fought for, and established as the product of a heroic battle. Blood and tears. Sweat.

That’s right.

Humans of the day had to persuade the infinite presence of conscious ness – that they were willing and worthy to champion that particular word, or that particular concept, to invest personally, staking their…

Yes, ok Zie – we’ve got the message. Cut to the chase, if you would be so kind.

Sorry Merry – that he or she was willing to incorporate it internally – no matter what – through thick and thin – for all time (so to speak) – so help me God – like a marriage or an unbreakable contract.

And you’re sure about that?

Well yes, reading the tea leaves now – that’s exactly what I see. It’s clear as day, isn’t it?

So every word, every concept, every thing in some way was fused with the vital essence or the person of the particular human being who extracted it out of the fathomless waters of infinity.

Absolutely.

A bit like a water molecule being the result of hydrogen and oxygen atoms fusing, so to speak, as they do.

Correct – except here we’re talking about human conscious ness and words being fused.

It’s kind of weird, isn’t it – that no word, no concept can exist unless it was personally endorsed and energetically sponsored by a human being – that things need the imprimatur of our conscious ness, our personal bond.

Yes, but not when you realise that nothing actually exists at the quantum level, and that the only thing separating our world of things from the formless ness of infinity is a charge separation somehow generated by us, even if we remain completely unaware of the fact.

And those souls – those conscious beings – are they bound in perpetuity to the words or concepts they helped to birth? That they sponsored?

Yes and

No? – are you ever going to give me a different answer Merry.

Yes and

Don’t answer. Ok – moving swiftly on. So every single idea, every single word is a record of a deal struck by human beings and something or other…

Yes

Presumably because that enabled our human-ity to evolve and develop.

Correct.

And so we have this symbiotic relationship with things – including our bodies? They seem to have power over us, to own us as much as we own them.

Yes.

And it’s still possible for us to sense, to feel, to return to the quantum waters in order to experience things in their unbound, undetermined state.

Possible – actually it’s essential if we are to remain human.

?!*!?

Otherwise, if we allow ourselves to give up on returning to our pristine state of isness – in which not a single word, concept or thing is attached to us – they – the things which have adhered to us by mutual consent, a bit like barnacles attached to the body of a whale – eventually take us over – smothering us. Robotising us.

Yikes.

Don’t worry – it’s a painless process.

Creepy.

Yes, a little bit.

So this is a bit like a salmon swimming up stream to its birthplace – where i is still completely unattached and unbound?

Exactly.

And there?

There it recalls who or what it truly is.

So, er, swearing… we seem to have lost the thread.

Well, in terms of the quantum field – every word, every thing has a very specific meaning – and great power to boot.

To boot, to boot – you do like that expression, don’t you?

Absolutely.

And that one.

Absolutely – to boot.

Ok, ok. So swear words – are we talking the broken horse – with dim hon written on it – the one magic item that Gwyn is not supposed to use in the Snowspider book?

Kind of – yes.

Sounds like morality to me – something I reject – at least while considering the quantum field.

Yes. You’re not a fan of morality, as it’s been used in 3D reality to control you – but behind every word there is a pure energy – a physical location in the space-time of conscious-ness ness.

Ah – the ness squared.

Indeed.

Bit confusing.

Not really. Only if you resist the mind flip.

Huh?

In which the mind follows the proverbial mobius strip onto the other side of one side.

Ah… and it doesn’t like to do that?

Nope. The 3D mind, as you well know – likes to position itself squarely in reality – with one side left and one side right – rather than accepting, and allowing, and incorporating paradoxality.

Because we’re bifurcated?

Yes – here in 3D – but like the letter Y – not where the rubber hits the road – where we square root our split vision of things and return to the unity of 0=1 as opposed to 2.

I’m not sure I accept your 2, you know.

Yes, I know too well Zie. Thus the 3D drama plays out, doth it not? With the mind y me here in a world of things – accepting time as everything, above board – on one side of the mobius strip – denying, rejecting other – as darkness, non-existence or untime.

A bit like all that junk DNA – you mean?

Yes. A bit like that. But it’s a perfectly natural, essentially unavoidable bias without which 3D reality would be unworkable – so no one’s complaining.

Then why comment in the first place?

Because it pleases me to float – or to fly – or to challenge the so-called laws of gravity – not by trying to overturn them – for they too are concepts – they too have earned their place in physical reality – as a marriage of mind and matter – another iteration in our Mandelbrot set. We seek to deny nothing – for we are beings of all and nought – beings only too aware of impossibility – of paradox – of outright, logical incompatibilities which go down, all the way down to the roots of the tree, and yes, extend out to the very tips of the branches where fruits, like glowing points of light – stars in the firmament – hint at the fact that there is a third which goes unseen, unnoticed throughout.

The void?

Correct.

The great unknown?

The unknowable unknown – you might call it – unless you have a better name.

The unknowable unknown – Zie shivers as his body responds to the felt presence of something so alien, so vast, so, so, so… Taking it in – the above-board time stream Zie and Merry have been conversing in – positive reality, so to speak, is suddenly no longer in phase.

No longer in phase with what?

Good question – but consider if you will that this question comes not from Merry or Zie who are not presently disposed to communicate in any way whatsoever – being out of phase.

Ah – from us – the silent witnesses?

Who else – yes – the cubed root perhaps of conscious ness.

Suddenly the silent witnesses are lost in thought – as they try to process their position, their part in this process – tautologies an’ all – gazing into the mirror of self-awareness.

Do you see Merry? Zie splutters – as he suddenly becomes aware of something he was never previously aware of.

See what Zie?

The molecules in motion.

Oh that? Yes.

It’s incredible Merry. It’s so beautiful.

Yes, isn’t it. I wonder how you managed to do it?

Do what?

Well, you must have somehow flipped the switch – presumably we’re in untime – for want of a better word – on the other side of our mobius strip.

Merry and Zie are floating – for want of a better word – amongst points of light – which their conscious awareness infallibly tells them are molecules – the building blocks of reality – yea – even words, concepts and things.

It’s incredible. I feel so light.

Naturally. The question is whether you’re able to use this untime wisely – before they focus their attention once more and mean reversion squares things up again.

Er…

Wisely – well – first of all – quit flapping your arms like that. You’re a point of light yourself right now – so learn to move like one.

It takes a while – time notwithstanding – but Zie is now able to move around rather elegantly.

Good job. Now let’s see if you can figure out how to interact with them – your family of things – your familiars – we might call ‘em.

Same again. Strange – there’s a certain amount of fear, and at the same time love – and by love I mean – love and loathing – interwoven. Once Zie has unravelled the two, or three – he’s able to connect with them – his familiars – or what elsewhere they refer to as gnomiki – such that he’s able to dance with them, and through them, and doing so experience the paradox of life and matter-fact at first hand – as poetry in motion, rather than a disjointed, unreconcilable thought process.

You seem to be having fun Zie.

There’s a grin on his face that’s in danger of splitting the milky way open, straight down the middle.

Words are unforthcoming – are they not – when in the grips of such an intense love of being ness.

Now Zie – you have to end it all – before they do.

Ouch! That’s the last thing Zie wants to do. The idea of going back down into life and bifurcation – of reexperiencing the dull ache of paradox oppressing the spirits – assailed by a heavy swarm of unresponsive thoughts, words and things… no, no, no…

Otherwise thirdly-wise – our generous host, will get wind of where we are and what we’re up to.

Oh! Zie suddenly sees, mind-eye-fully thirdly-wise – the hidden aspect of all this is unseeable and unknowable in 3D reality – and yes – without a doubt – unless he returns himself to the playpen before time mean reverts – all this will be lost in a dim and distant corner of his conscious ness – inaccessible – to all intents and purposes – completely forgotten.

That will never do – Zie mutters.

He allows his mind-y-eye to relocate – to perspectivise himself and Merry apparently floating above the chair in 3D reality – while in fact we were here – untime-y-ly – as points of light. More and more of his mind – more and more of his conscious awareness slides into the 3D equivalency of what’s been happening here – until Zie feels the weight of matter – of gravity pulling him back down onto the ground and into his body – and hears a sigh of relief as they – the silent observers wipe a tear of emotion from their eye – a moment lost – a moment of unknowing ness – a moment in which their endless quest to spot the difference – elusive – tantalising – utterly addictive – between this and other – between either side of what can and must be one – was put on hold – was untimed and unpersoned – in which God himself, perhaps – pops into the kitchen, pours himself a cuppa tea and looks fondly out the window at some pigeons flying past, randomly

 

The end

 

Er… Merry

Yes Zie

What’s going on?

Shut up, I’m trying to sleep.

It’s just, I’m finding it hard to stay in bed.

Well, go outside if you have to.

I mean – I seem to be lifting up, in the air.

Aftershocks.

Aftershocks?

You heard.

And what do I…

Thirdly-wise – he’s all yours – Merry signals silently – and smiles inwardly as Zie flips out of mind-y-ness, eye-know-not-where.

Somewhere on the far side of infinity our extra-ocular-outpost detects at first inaudibly, but then louder, ever louder Beep Beep Beep

 

Beep!

 

The end²

 

0=1

Y’see