I’m not afraid.
No?
No, of course not. Why should I be?
Why not be afraid?
Huh?
Why not. You have good cause.
What do you mean? What are you
trying to say?
I’m not trying to say anything. I’m
stating a fact – you have good cause to be afraid.
Yes, I heard you, but it sounds ominous,
it sounds like a threat. Why would you say that?
If it happens to be true?
…
I mean, if you don’t want me to tell
the truth, of course I can zip my lips and just say whatever you want to hear.
Well, I don’t see why it has to be
true.
Ah.
Ah what?
You don’t see, do you, why it has to
be true.
Well, yes, did I not make myself
clear?
Abundantly.
And?
And what?
What did I make clear?
That you don’t see.
You’re taking me out of context.
Am I? You did say, did you not, “I
don’t see”?
Yes, but then I said something
equally important. I wasn’t saying I can’t see.
No?
No, of course not. It’s a figure of
speech, isn’t it.
It is?
Obviously. It was more a polite way
of disagreeing than actually an admission that I don’t
Or can’t
Or can’t see – exactly.
So, you were disagreeing.
Yes, I suppose I was.
You suppose?
Well, yes, if you want me to state
it in black and white, yes, I was politely disagreeing.
With my statement?
Yes.
That you have good cause to be afraid.
Yes, but is it absolutely necessary
to keep repeating it?
No, do you wish me not to?
No, it’s a free country – if you
want to keep repeating yourself you’re welcome to do so.
Actually, we kind of veered off
topic so you never got round to facing the implications of what I stated,
regarding there being good cause to fear.
Well, I rather feel I’ve already
dealt with the issue.
You do?
Well yes, I feel I’ve established the
fact that I’m on the record as being disinclined to accept the veracity of your
statement, politely.
You see me as a fearmonger?
In a manner of speaking, yes.
That I’m peddling fear for some kind
of ulterior motive? For the thrill of scaring you or some other unsuspecting
victims?
I wouldn’t presume to know your
motives. They may be noble. Your opinion may be highly qualified, yet with all
due respect, I’m disinclined to accept it.
Even if it is based on fact?
Ah, but that is precisely where I
beg to differ.
You do?
Yes.
Having reviewed the facts as I present
them?
No, I chose not to review the facts
because I do not agree with fear – I fail to accept that it’s a healthy or
constructive emotion.
You mean to say that fear, in your
opinion, is an “emotion”?
Well, yes, what else could it be?
I believe we’ve found the bone of
contention.
You do?
Yes.
In fear being an emotion?
Absolutely.
How so?
Because fear is not, in fact, an
emotion.
Huh?
Is not, in fact, an emotion.
So you say.
Yes, I like statements of fact to be
clear and categorical.
Well, yes, but I believe, with all
due respect, that fear is, in fact, an emotion – and…
I apologise profusely for interrupting
you, dear beloved interlocuter, but I feel bound to highlight a matter of semantics
which seems to be causing some confusion.
By all means, dear interlocuter.
An emotion such as anger, happiness,
surprise, disenchantment or sadness – these are moods.
Indeed.
Moods which can move us strongly
from a general state of balance and equanimity.
Indeed.
Whereas fear itself is not a mood.
No?
No, indeed.
Then what exactly might it be?
It’s a state of arousal to a
perceived or real threat.
…
It’s in fact an energy state. An
arousal, a preparedness, an alertness which prepares us for one of two responses
– fight or flight.
Yes, which is precisely what I don’t
like about it.
Understandably. One hardly likes the
idea of having a choice between a rock and a hard place – I agree. But bear in
mind that there’s always number three.
Number three?
Absolutely.
?
Whenever we see a sharp polarisation
between two possibilities, somewhere in the temporary indecision, the as yet
undecided quantum state of “what to do now – how to respond?” lurketh the third.
As in number three?
Precisely.
And what, exactly, might the third
be?
Anyone’s guess. Yes, the fight or
flight response is programmed – hardwired into our system – but our bio-physical
system is, believe it or not, part of a bigger, less binary, non-physical
system.
I’m er…
Lost?
Sceptical.
Not surprising. Most of us prefer to
adhere to the bio-physical system – which is why most people’s response is
either or.
Fight or flight.
Exactly. But that doesn’t mean it
has to be, because the third is baked into the cake.
It is? Are you sure?
Absolutely. It’s mathematically necessary.
How do you mean?
Well, when you look at the code of
creation – or delve into the code of consciousness itself – you can’t help but
notice that things cannot be ever either-or.
They can’t?
Nope.
Why not?
Because if it was only ever a case
of choosing between one of two variables, consciousness would never, simply
couldn’t have mathematically given us everything we have that distinguishes
life itself and, more to the point, humanity, from a simple binary computer
code.
Like er…
Poetry, music, laughter, happiness,
anger, confusion, inventiveness, conversation… the list is endless.
You mean to say all these require another
variable?
Absolutely.
I don’t see why.
Correct.
Huh?
You don’t see why – because you’re
currently using binary processing – which is a place you feel comfortable in,
where you feel it’s safer to operate and process data.
?
Because as long as you’re processing
at a binary level you neither need to nor are able to confront the third.
This mystical phantom.
Which we don’t even need to call the
third.
No? Then what?
Not even “what” – because the minute
we call it something – the brain starts processing it in the same way…
?
As a binary function – an either or.
Oh.
Rather than a quantum “what if”.
Huh?
A quantum “um”.
?
Because in that as yet undecided
state of, for example fear, when you ain’t decided yet whether it’s fight or
flight you’re going to choose – in that very split-second undecidedness, an
other is tenuously “present” – is always available – is lurking in the shadows
of “um-ness” or “if-ness”.
! Do you have to use such idiotic
terms?
My apologies. I tried to quarantine
them with speech marks, but evidently that wasn’t sufficient.
Hum!
The problem, as you evidently
appreciate, is that the quantum level cannot be limited to an either-or.
I don’t see why not.
Correct.
It’s just a figure of speech.
Indeed. But at the quantum level it’s
more than a figure of speech.
It is?
Yep.
?
It’s a statement of fact. It’s the
binary mind resisting the alternative which is silently present – which involves
a little shuffle into conscious-awareness.
Er…
Out of the binary thinking mind –
into the consciousness experiencing mind – the mind that is aware of itself
being not only a thought-process but also a seat of awareness.
A seat of awareness? Hum – I like
the sound of that.
Yes, you should, because without it
you’re no better than a computer or an animal.
Hey, wait a minute… You’re not
trying to say that I’m no better than an animal, are you? I happen to think
animals are highly intelligent.
So do I. We completely agree on that.
In fact, many animals appear to have transcended their animal mind and arrived
at a state of conscious-awareness in which they are better able to access the
human mind than we humans can.
Ah.
Crazy, isn’t it?
Well, yes, it would be, if it were
true.
So, we have a lot to learn from
animals who have transcended their limited animal awareness.
But how would they be able to if, as
you say, animals, like computers, are only able to process thoughts without
being self-aware.
I didn’t actually use the term “self-aware”
did I?
No, but I’m guessing that’s more or
less what you meant.
It’s close enough – so we’ll go with
it. How?
Yes.
How do you think?
I have no idea.
But if I’ve already mentioned the
third, and the quantum field which makes an other, no matter what that other
might be, possible, then surely you have everything you need to come up with
the answer.
So animals can access the quantum
field?
Possibly.
Then what other explanation could
there possibly be?
The quantum field takes us back to
pre-form.
It does?
Yep.
And?
So, at the quantum level you aren’t
yet defined in any way, shape or form.
You mean I don’t exist?
No.
You mean I don’t exist as a me, as a
person or thing, as something definable?
You’re pre-definition at the quantum
level. The minute the quantum field flips either way then you become defined.
So the quantum field is a binary
coin flipper.
It sounds like it, doesn’t it.
So you’re contradicting yourself.
It sounds like it.
But…
But you see we’re using language and
language pertains to the binary level of physical reality – so language always
takes us back to the either-or scenario, always ends tying us up in semantic
knots – which is why poetry works so hard to play around with words, using
metaphors, allusions and imagery to un-binarize language to the extent that
that is possible.
Oh.
So, the quantum field doesn’t
actually flip between two choices though that’s how we represent it here in our
physical, thought processing reality.
Ok.
In actual fact the quantum field
co-exists with any possible physicalisation or physical manifestation – no matter
what.
Way too mystical for me.
Yes. So let’s rewind.
Back to the animal becoming
conscious like a human?
Good idea.
Well?
Well, in this reality there are
animals which we processed mentally and visually, labelling and defining as
animals. This is a categorisation which works well as long as I’m holding certain
co-ordinates, as long as I’m fixed within certain parameters, ok?
Ok.
But as soon as I go back to
fundamentals, which I’m able to do in literally no time at all by accessing my
conscious-awareness – by retreating from regular binary processing…
Then you can get creative and unfix
those parameters or categorisations?
Absolutely.
And a fish can stop being a fish?
A fish doesn’t necessarily “stop
being a fish” because it simply starts being what is now a better definition or
representation of what it is given the new parameters I’m operating within.
Ah.
So, if I’ve shifted frequency from 74
Hz to 196 Hz – at this new frequency it may be meaningless to talk about fish
because there ain’t no water, for example, and we’re all floating around in a
kind of electrically conductive plasma – whatever.
So, whatever equated to fish at 74
Hz might now be another creature?
Might even be a part of me – a 74th
toe, for example, a mandible or an aspect of my consciousness which was inaccessible
at 74 Hz, which is now clear and self-evident.
Oh my God. That would be insane –
were it true.
Absolutely. It would be insane –
unless it were real – which it would be if we shifted frequency to the band
where it is.
But this is all just hypothetical,
isn’t it? I mean… we’re not really able to shift frequencies like that, are we?
No?
And the quantum field, you’re referencing
– it doesn’t really exist, does it?
No, not to the binary processing
mind, it does not exist. But then again…
What?
If it doesn’t actually exist – then you
would not be human.
I… what?
Would you?
Er…
Because, mathematically you’d be
forever caught between a rock and a hard place – forever simply choosing an “a”
or a “b” without access to a third – without the possibility of being a
thinking mind that is concurrently aware of itself, or aware of me – over and above
itself.
Hum… I
You’re experiencing that natural
state of resistance, in which the binary processor tries to prevent simple awareness
from entering and upsetting the ideal equation – but bear in mind that the
binary mind cannot be all you are – and so, should you choose to grant it
hegemony over self-awareness, you’ll merely be choosing to ignore or deny the
third, presumably because the binary thought process keeps you from having to
face what you’re secretly afraid of.
Uh oh…
The feeling of fear – the awareness
of a precipice.
Cut. I don’t want to discuss it.
The knowledge that things…
No. I said I don’t accept your fear
mongering.
Are only superficially things, and
that fear
For Christ’s sake man!
Is merely a gateway, a portal
I can’t hear you.
To the great beyond, within.
I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid. I’m
not afraid. Nah, nah, na nah nah.
.
Hey, wtf!
.
Where did he go?
.
This is getting ridiculous.
.
Merry? Where the hell?!
.
Ok, ok, you called my bluff.
.
You’ve made your point.
.
You’re freaking me out, man.
.
Oh God, I can’t breathe.
.
Panic attack.
.
Breathe. Breathe. Gotta keep
breathing.
.
[sobbing for breath] I’m not going
to be defeated by that arsehole. I’m going to stay calm.
.
[lying on the ground in agony] I’m
in control. I’m… in control!
.
[appearing to die]
.
[apparently dead]
.
[standing next to his body –
nonplussed] Ok Merry – you’ve made your point.
[smiling]
You bastard! Did you have to take it
to the limit one more time?
I simply observed the protocols.
“observed the protocols” – asshole.
I merely stepped back. No one
compelled you to melt down like that.
Oh – so how was I supposed to react
when you just vaporised?
You had a choice.
Choice?
Fight or flight.
What about you’re precious “third”.
What about it?
Well, why didn’t it materialise?
Who says it didn’t?
Look at me – there on the floor.
Where?
There?
[Merry looking theatrically at Zie
lying on the floor]
Well?
Well what?
I’m dead.
Are you? Why so sure?
I think I can tell a dead body from
someone having a nap.
Well if you’re dead then who’s
talking to me?
Duh! My soul, of course.
Your soul. Well, I for one don’t
believe in souls.
What?
Like I said, I don’t believe in
souls.
Then what the hell am I supposed to
be?
No idea. Consciousness perhaps?
Consciousness. Well, If that’s the
case…
Then you’re hardly dead, are you?
What – so I can just step back into
my body?
Do you want to?
Well, it might be a good idea.
But you don’t seem to be ready to
accept the third, do you?
Oh, I think I can manage that.
Because if you don’t, you could
hardly step back into the body. There would be too much resistance.
There would.
Yes, you’d be forced to confront
your heavily guarded, more precious than gold fear.
I would? Oh dear. Well, perhaps I’m
willing to give it a try.
Perhaps. Personally, I don’t care
either way.
You wouldn’t, mister quantum science
buff.
Got to keep neutral, haven’t i?
Give me a break – sanctimonious prig.
Harsh words – look Zie – I can take
both sides – in fact i can take all three if i decapitalise.
Oh, that again?
Well, yes, it helps. Why not give it
a try? It makes the frequency shift glissade a lot easier to handle.
Ok then, i’ll give it a try. So i
just click my heels together like Dorothy, do i – and utter – “there’s no place
like home?”
Sounds great – give it a try!
Give me a break. I was kidding.
Whatever. See you.
Wait a minute. Damn.
.
He’s left me to clean up this mess
all alone.
.
Selfish bastard.
I heard that.
Stop listening to my disembodied rantings.
.
“There’s no place like home” – I can’t
believe i is actually doing this.
.
…like home
.
..me
01010101010101010101010101 101010101010101010101010101010101010101~
0=1
