Toroidal vision

Don't you mean television Zie?

No Pi.

But this "toridal vision"...

Toroidal - as in the torus.

What torris? I've never seen a torris. I can't for the life of me imagine what a torris is.

Ok Pi... let me present you with not one, but seven. You can scroll down to see the others, if you like.

Oh - so that's what you meant... A kind of doughnutty thing.

Correct. 

Well why didn't you say so?

Er... I think I did. Torus... they're you go - I've said it again.

No, doughnutty thing - that would have been much easier to understand.

Ok Pi, I can see I have my work cut out for me. Surely it wasn't this difficult when Merry was instructing me.

Merry? Who's that?

Oh, just a friend of mine.

Just a friend or an instructor? Make up your mind. What was he teaching you?

Nothing that I didn't already know.

How bizarre. 

Yes, it gets more bizarre the more you think about it.

About what?

That we basically know everything - except for the fact that we know everything.

Well if we basically know everything - then what's the problem - why do we need instruction?

Because we're convinced that we don't - that we can't possibly know everything - and so we tend to persuade ourselves that we know next to nothing - and live accordingly.

How pessimistic. I don't know where you get that idea from Zie.

Pessimistic? Surely the opposite!

What? The opposite of pessimistic?

Affirmative.

You mean optimistic?

I guess so.

How can the opposite be true? How can it be optimistic to live with the idea that we've persuaded ourselves that we know next to nothing. I mean, it's all very well being ignorant if that's your natural state - if that's what you really are - but imagine being ignorant if in fact you're chock-full of knowledge, bulging at the seams with it. That would be like a billionaire living in poverty just because he'd forgotten he had all that money. It's depressing.

Or the opposite.

There you go again - playing at being contrary. How can it fail to be depressing if someone's living as a lesser version of what he-she really is. The trapped and wasted potential - it makes me feel quite sad you know.

Yes, I do, and I think I know why.

What do you mean Zie?

You seem to be having an emotional reaction - like I've hit a nerve or something.

What? You don't mean this applies to me?

Of course it does. You're no different from anyone else. We're all using just a few percent of our real cognitive powers - like an engine running on it's emergency supply system in survival regime.

Oh Zie, stop. You're upsetting me.

Pi has an intense emotional response. For four or five minutes he sinks into a place of sadness and sobs away, like he's the last survivor of a plane crash, all alone on a deserted mountainside - not sure whether to be thankful or regret his close escape from near-certain death.

So what do you in fact mean by toroidal vision? - asks Pi out of the blue, apparently recovered.

For a moment Zie looks vague as he comes out of meditation. Then his mind snaps back into place.

Oh that... well Pi, what do you think it means? You've seen one of the illustrations. Here's another to refresh you. 

Oh - that's so beautiful.

Isn't it. I'm deeply appreciative towards this and all the artists who provide these amazing images. It's a great service to humanity.

Mmm! - Looking at this - it's somehow uplifting - I can't think why.

Yes. So simple and yet so profound, like the yin-yang symbol, only three dimensional, showing the relationship between the whole, the all, the field - choose whichever term you prefer, and the zero point, the absence, the dark side, the nought.

Oh dear Zie... you do like to inundate me with variants of a theme, don't you.

Yes, it's one of my foibles, and an unavoidable part of my job.

What job?

Chatting about things.

That's your job? Just chatting about things? Are you paid to do so?

In a manner of speaking, yes.

Not with money then. So it isn't really a job.

There are more ways of being paid than money, Pi.

There are?

Yes, of course.

Like what?

Like payment in kind, or favours, or information.

What? Information can be a payment too?

Of course - information can be infinitely more valuable than money.

You do say the strangest things Zie... but anyway, we were discussing why you like to complicate things by offering multiple terms for every thing you/re discussing, no matter what.

Oh that... Yes.

Yes what?

Yes. I do.

Well obviously you do. I've already worked that one out. But why?

Why what?

Why do you need to complicate everything with multiple terms. I mean... it's unnecessary. It's confusing, and quite frankly, somewhat annoying.

Ah - annoying is it?

Well yes. Somewhat.

And how much is "somewhat" on a scale of 6 to 13.

6 to 13 - I've never heard of that scale before.

That's because it's never existed before.

Are you sure of that?

Yes. Quite sure. 

Well - not 6, and not 13 - somewhere in the middle, a little below halfway - unless it's a logarithmic scale.

A what?

Logarithmic.

You mean the one that progresses exponentially.

Yes, that one.

No, I don't think it is.

Don't think or don't know?

Look Pi, I know you like maths and all, but there's no need to complicate matters with needless erudition.

Oh - I just wanted to be clear. In that case 9.75

9.75? How did you arrive at that particular answer.

Don't ask Zie. I thought you said you didn't want me to complicate things.

You mean you just ran a whole sequence of calculations in your head and arrived at that number as a result.

More or less. But to all intents and purposes it matters not. As I said at the outset - it annoys me a bit more than a third and less than a half. Happy now?

Delighted, I am.

So what are you going to do with my number?

Feed it into the torus.

You're what?

I'm feeding it into the torus.

But how.

It's done instantaneously - the moment I intend it.

But how? How do you intend it. Where's your uplink, your interface. How do you enter the data?

By mere intention. In the same way you basically know everything - you just don't remember the fact that you do, similarly you're always connected to everything, you just don't remember it, or can't believe it.

Well? If I don't remember or believe it then that's stalemate. I can do nothing.

So it would seem, thinking logically.

And how else would I think?

Well you're more than a computer, more than a robot.

Naturally.

Then think naturally.

That's what I'm doing by being logical.

No, that's not what you're doing.

?!

By being logical you're being logical - not natural. You're running a programme that treats all this as matter of fact, rather than...

Rather than what?

Life stream.

Don't you mean live stream.

No. Life stream. 

Which is?

The flow of life itself - which is biological. There's a different kind of logic which involves parallel processing.

What - as in quantum computing?

Precisely.

And, what do you call this other kind of logic?

Bio-logic.

Er... Zie I think you're mistaken. Biologic's just a name describing organic life processes. 

Of which thought, analysis, reason, understanding, dreaming and intuition are all a part.

?!?! How can you say thought processes are "biologic". They're separate. They're electrical signals in the brain. The brain itself may be biological, but thought and thinking - these are part of consciousness, which is a different thing altogether.

Oh good - I'm glad we've cleared that up, and yet, I still choose to use the term biologic to describe a different kind of logic - one which flows both ways.

How so? Logic has to flow downstream from cause to effect... from problem to solution.

Whereas bio-logic does no such thing. For in consciousness - time ceases to be a factor, as does space. In consciousness the matter-of-fact is neither here nor there... 

Neither then nor when, if you're to have it your way.

Precisely. 

Then where is it? It has to be somewhere!

In the isness.

The what?

The isness of be - which is non-local - which is why we need to look at the torus to better understand what this means.

Go on then, upload another jpeg if you would.

Oh - how pretty. It looks like a psychedelic galaxy. 

Yes, Pi, I'm glad you like it. It's nice to be appreciated.

So, what are you saying?

Well, imagine a point anywhere on the surface of the torus.

How can I do that? The surface is to all appearances both inside and out, and appears to connect infinitely throughout - like a superconductor.

Ah, that's good Pi, very good. It does indeed. It's like the surface of a bubble, in a way.

How so?

Either it's wholly whole - in which case any point is any other point because the data or electrical flow throughout is infinite - or it pops - in which case it's nothing at all.

Which is also true - for it certainly incorporates nothing - rather like yin-yang incorporating the dark side within the light...

And the light within the dark... 

Pi sinks to the floor as his mind leaps into the toroidal field and starts calculating the infinite possibilities now unfolding before him...

Yes - you're right - time and space cease to matter - or exist - for that matter.

Ah ha...

And there's no way cause and effect can be linear as in our 3D model of reality.

Ah ha...

It's like chicken and egg. The paradox ceases to be a paradox in the toridal field.

Toroidal.

What? Oh yeah, toroidal. 

So now you can see what I mean by bio-logic. 

Pi continues to travel through the quantum field of is - his mind shifting this way and that through myriad permutations, variations, dancing nimbly through the various densities and harmonics of Is. Suddenly, for the first time he's really aware of what mind is capable of - the depth, the range... 

This goes beyond mind, Zie. 

Yes, it does. 

I'm experiencing interference patterns - like I running up against matter itself.

Or thought, or emotions... yes - with the quantum stream, you cannot separate your self from the equation... you have to coax your way past blockages that may have been concealed deep within your past, or your sub-consciousness. You can see how this process necessarily results in clearing and streamlining of old inconsistencies, redundancies and products of fear, anger and other emotions.

My God. So the torus really brings us back to... er... God.

Yes.

But not God as we knew it.

No. 

Because that was a version of God that corresponded with the matter-of-fact mind, riddled with inconsistencies.

Precisely.

So toroidal vision - it doesn't look forward at all - does it?

Nope.

Then where?

Why where? 

Well it has to look somewhere doesn't it?

Where is there to look? There's only the torus, or a double torus if one is insufficient.

A double torus. Wow! Let me see.

Oh my God! Suddenly watching paint dry becomes the most exciting thing imaginable!

You like it?

Like it? I love it. Give me more. I need more data.

You're not going to blow your mind, Pi?

Blow my mind? The only thing that's been blowing my mind is how mind-numbing the data sets I've been brought up on have been. I don't know how I survived.

Actually you didn't. You've been in a near catatonic state for years Pi. It's taken me a huge effort to revive you.

Oh - yes. So my mind adjusted to the data stream available. It just switched off rather than going mad with impatience.

That's right. But remember - you're more than a computer - more than just a mind.

I am?

Er... yes.

What? What could be more than mind.

Not what.

Er?

Not what. Not thing. Nought, in fact.

You mean imagination.

Wow! That was fast - breathtakingly fast Pi! There really is no holding you back.

So let me see - where is imagination in the toroidal field?

Ah... I'll give you some time to think it through, and while you're having a think I'll post another pretty image to spur you on.

God - they're so beautiful. Why wasn't I even taught this at school?

There's nothing really to teach, is there? There's absolutely nothing to it. You simply have to tune in and feel it - the oneness, the connectedness, the beauty, the subtle dance, the loving relationship between the finite that we know as form, and the infinite hiding within, behind, or throughout form.

Hidden in plain sight! Yes, that's always the best way to do it. So the architect of all this really concealed nothing for those who are willing to see...

For those who are willing to See, as opposed to seeing.

Yes, but what't the difference?

You tell me Pi, I'm pretty sure your mind has the answer.

Pi allows his face to relax, stepping back as it were from his ego's noisy self, and waits patiently as the silence creates an opening for answer to come forth.

Well, whenever we see something it's always directional, and somewhere over there apart, removed from ourself. 

Good.

To See, on the other hand, is to Know. It's toroidal vision, to answer my own question. It's every direction simultaneously - but how is that possible?

How indeed?

The mind - how could it process every direction simultaneously - that would be infinite.

Naturally. Let me present you with one more image which, while not answering the question directly, will at least provide you with food for thought.

Oh it's too much! I've been living in a desert all my life, and suddenly it rains and the desert floor is transformed into a lily leven. 

Yes, indeed Pi. Welcome to paradise.

Don't joke.

Pi grows emotional again - his eyes fill with tears and he starts to cry - overcome by the sense of beauty, the mathematical perfection of Is... Zie steps aside, and in his place stands someone Pi's never met before - who puts an arm round him. 

Welcome home Pi - he murmurs quietly. Welcome home!

Tick, tick, tock...

There's really no difference, is there, between the Earth and me - Pi continues - as if nothing untoward has happened, or interrupted his flow of thought.

Correct - Zie replies.

It's just a question of scale.

Correct. 

As the scale changes, the zero point shifts through whatever form is most appropriate - Earth, galaxy, human, cell, atom... like in cymatics.

Yes. Change the sound frequency and the sand or water pattern alters accordingly. 

So what... what gives us form, what gives us matter?

What makes matter matter?

Yes, what makes matter... Oh, I don't know - it's all too much.

It looks, for a moment, like Pi's about to sink back down into self-pity and melancholy, but something changes all that. He remembers.

Who was that, Zie?

Who was what?

Who just came in a moment ago, and comforted me when I was feeling upset?

Oh, you remember do you?

Yes of course I do. Why shouldn't I?

No reason - only you didn't remember a moment ago.

Actually, now that I think about it you're right - I didn't remember. Why is that?

Good question. We seem to have quanta - bunchings or groupings where things take form, become clear, and spaces between, where there seems to be nothing - but in fact there is... no less.

Yes, but what is there... no less? That's the million dollar question.

The rational mind insists it must be a what not... something or someone, but the answer is evidently of a different nature - one which brings form and the formless into proximity or resonance - thus generating a third - a harmonic of the two.

Three! It's the number three - isn't it.

It might be Pi, if the number three enables you to See toroidally.

Ah... 

And I know who it was.

Yes, of course you do. You know, ultimately...

Everything. So that's why you always give three variants of a word...

Yes.

To keep the answer in the flow, the stream, as opposed to the form or thing of a single, seemingly fixed word or idea.

Mmm - like music ot my ears.

So where is he then?

Where is who?

Your instructor, the one who came to me, Merry.

Right here, in the toroidal field. Are you ready to go?

Ready. 0 - 1 - 3

and to the casual observer - the room was suddenly vacant, apart from a few small dust motes and minor temporal vortices.

What was evil now makes sense

Short and to the point.

Finally!

A stadium full of people, sitting in silence, focussed intently on the figure beneath them. In the very centre of the stadium he places a crystal ball on a small stand. To the people at the top it's barely visible but they know it's there which is enough. You have a point of reference, there is the stadium itself, the many thousand sitting in it, peacefully, calmly entering into the consciousness of One, and of course, there is the universe, the galaxy around. Universe, stadium, crystal ball, and somewhere deep, deep within it the zero point - so far within the crystal that to all intents and purposes it is equally within the heart space of every person sitting and observing - it is  I am  One.

And what? What happens?

Nothing much.

Uh?! All that... tens of thousands of people assemble together for "nothing much"?

You asked "what". In terms of what - nothing much happens - for "what" is connected with matter - ideas, things, events that seem to matter - that are observed by a certain part of the mind - the i-mind//what-matters mind, as opposed to the universal mind of conscious awareness.

Ok - so you're saying I can't see what's really happening.

Yes.

Well go on then, tell me what's really happening.

Not-what.

Not what? What do you mean?

Well, the many thousand observers are united in a single wave of is.

A wave of is? What's that supposed to be?

Again, Pi, it isn't supposed to be "what" in any shape or form. It's not-what.

Ok, ok, stop splitting hairs! Not-what's that supposed to be? Happy now?

Pi finds himself gazing at nothing. At first this panics him and he starts hyperventilating. Then he feels something, some kind of presence adding assurances that all is well. and he let's go of whatever it was that was causing the panic attack.

Ah - there you are Zie. I thought I'd lost you.

You had, for a moment. You could only find me if you passed through.

Passed through what?

Not-what.

Oh that again...

So you had a panic attack as I led you through the edge of your matrix - the reality you're normally confined to.

You did?

Yes. Don't worry - it was consensual. I didn't force you in any way - I simply presented the opening, and you yourself stepped through.

Er... but how? I've been sitting here all along.

You passed through energetically - when you stopped fighting the frequency shift and allowed yourself to join the people in the stadium.

My God! You mean I'm with them now?

Yes. You're now shifted into the same frequency band.

I have? But I can't see them.

No, but you're ready to start exploring their reality. Think of it like a novel. When you start reading a good novel you join the author and all the other readers in a certain other-dimensional story-space. The same is true when we go beyond what, when we discover that not-what is not in fact a negative at all, though that's how it seems at first from our 3D perspective.

Well if it's not a negative - why don't you give it a more positive sounding name?

No reason. We're essentially dealing with the zero point. Any name, any idea or thing, for that matter, gets in the way of it. Even people following a spiritual path run into this problem. Their beliefs, their rituals, sacred objects or daily practices - no matter what - can ultimately prevent them from reaching the zero point.

Why's that?

Because they grow attached to them, to the paraphernalia, whereas the zero point seems to be nothing at all - until you take the plunge, until you let go, freeing your mind to arrive unencumbered.

Arrive where?

No-where.

Then what?

Not-what... conscious awareness. The infinite waiting within. The presence. The isness of be.

All very vague sounding.

Until you're experiencing it. Then nothing could be more real.

Nothing could be more real - why's that?

Because things are derivatives, spun from the essence, and their very structure keeps us from the allness, the oneness - from dissolving into the ocean of conscious awareness.

Yes Zie, but it still sounds terribly vague.

Which is why we have the universe and millions of civilisations on other planets engaged in the same...

The same?

0=1. All people are ultimately engaged in the same

Which is?

Which is    You see, as soon as I specify "what", or even punctuate the above, I create a degree of separation, a seeming certainty which engenders what-not, a some-thing derived from the isness.

So you can't say "what" because that pops the bubble?

Not exactly. Saying what involves thinking and thinging, both of which activate the i-mind//what matters, so then you're back at the start, no closer to your goal.

Er... so how do we get closer if we're not allowed any pointers?

You don't rely on pointers because the goal is not a particular place or thing. It's the state of conscious awareness. It's absolutely simple to attain - truly - nothing could be simpler.

Well it doesn't sound at all simple.

Ok - there's a stadium and all the people sitting therein are aware that the stadium is, to all intents and purposes, the centre of the universe.

How is that possible? I thought there was a black hole at the centre of the universe?

"Black hole" - it's still just a thing, a name, an it - let it go. Once we've embarked on the cosmic journey, the quest for the holy grail - the isness waiting to be discovered within each one of us, and together as a community - then we realise that we cannot help being at the centre of the universe, no matter what the i-mind//what-matters might think...

So we just ignore empirical evidence and treat our rational mind as an irrelevance?

No, we do not.

Then what?

Not-what. We cannot help feeling the simple, joyful, magical truth as we follow our heart back towards the One, back to conscious awareness.

So we follow our heart and to hell with our mind?

Actually, when you follow the heart the mind doesn't go to hell. Quite the contrary - the mind starts to shine, vibrating at ever higher frequency: it starts to tune into the cosmic mind, and realises that space is not quite what it seems. So, there's no great struggle. Feeling what is doesn't involve denying the material universe. Feeling what is involves coming into a state of knowing.

Knowing what?

Knowing that the material universe is a representation in space and time of that which truly is, beyond even space or time. That is why it's perfectly reasonable for our assembled seekers to know that they are, as a result of their intention, the very centre of the universe, and furthermore they know that as they are the centre of the universe, so the crystal ball has become the centre, the focal point of their collective consciousness.

It has? What does that achieve?

Well, you watch football in your reality. Why do you think?

Because it's fun to watch a ball flying around, being propelled by men's feet... er, kind of. I don't know really. I never gave it much thought.

Yes, strange isn't it? but in terms of your evolution, football is a major step towards what I'm now describing. It is, in a sense, the child's version. The book with pictures. Later, you'll no longer need to have players kicking the ball, and instead of an inflated ball you'll decide a simple crystal ball is better. Eventually you'll go beyond even that, but one thing at a time.

Ok - so you guys are staring at a crystal ball. That's kind of dumb if you ask me - unless it's some kind of powerful trance-like meditation, but you see, even meditation, interesting though it may be, doesn't satisfy the people's need for entertainment, emotional drama and competition. We're all at heart Colosseum-goers, enjoying watching gladiators fight to the death.

Yes, so you yourself recognise how football is a more evolved form of gladiators. Well the crystal stadium is the next step up.

But what happens? Where's the drama?

Imagine I'd tried to explain football to the Roman people. The stomach of a pig, filled with air, kicked around by men who are supposed to propel it through two gates using only their feet. What do you think the Roman plebeian would have said to that?

Point taken. But you can still try me. What do they do in your crystal ball stadium?

Well, they've all agreed collectively and individually to open up this shared space - the conscious awareness. It's a matter of trust, and love. Once you start trusting one another and open this space, then love pours in.

Sounds boring. You can hardly be in love with an entire stadium.

Right. It's love with a capital L, more akin to cosmic light - the golden light of consciousness.

And what? It's too vague. There's nothing interesting in what you're telling me.

Well, your reality, your society becomes increasingly sterile, boring, repetitive because you're not engaging the universe - interacting with it and with one another, as long as you're following the gladiator model of existence. Until you start doing so, until you reconnect to the allness, you have to get your kicks, as they say, by kicking one another - by trying to take from another by guile, deceit, strength or artistry.

Yes, survival of the fittest we call it.

Except it isn't. The fittest are approaching a mass planetary extinction event along with the weaker and more vulnerable - because you're undermining your very planetary base.

Don't tell me, I know.

So, knowing this, you - individually - and equally importantly through the collective consciousness - now agree to shift into a modus operandi that no longer fails to take account of the whole. You start, without really needing to think long and hard about it, acting in accordance with the so-called law of One.

Which is?

Which is not in itself a law at all, but which involves shifting into the next level of consciousness - what I call the conscious awareness.

Which is?

Which is the consciousness that enables you to thrive on this planet - to discover the light, the power,the magic within and all around, to spin on a dime, leaving behind the old failed path of i-mind//what-matters by opening up and engaging the conscious awareness.

You still haven't really told me what it is!

No, I don't need to, because you already know.

I do?

Yes. You're already tuned in to it. You can already sense what the crowd are doing at the stadium. Why don't you just imagine that you know - that you can see. Make it up - tell me the story. It's just a game, you know.

Er... Ok. I'll give it a go.

Pi looks serious for a moment, then closes his eyes - takes a few deep breaths, relaxes and tunes in...

Oh my God - it's so amazing. There are all these golden lines - well - mostly golden - and they're moving around, through the stadium. The energy is so intense - but beautiful and soft at the same time. There's one man - or woman - I'm not sure...

It can be either - don't worry about gender.

And he or she...

Say he-see - that's simpler.

He-see is moving around - dancing - oh my God - at times flying...

Flying - but you can see, can you not, that at times he-see even flies down below the level of the ground.

Yes, that's bizarre. So, this stadium is outside our normal 3D space-time reality - and these lines of energy connecting the universe, the stadium with the people in it and the crystal are infinitely more powerful than the weak bonds of matter.

Precisely. Now, how does the game end.

Well, it doesn't really seem to be like a game - it's not like there are two sides, is it?

Correct.

There are people who can be on one side, then on another - and no one really identifies with one or the other - they just adjust in accordance with the flow of the game, to ensure beauty and harmony.

Yes.

And it's like they're making music as they connect to these lines - like drawing the violin's bow across a string.

Yes.

And these bows create powerful resonance that is felt within the stadium, that moves the single player around, and is felt beyond - throughout the universe - for the game goes through the zero point - meaning that 0=1 - there is no separation between the levels - the finite and the infinite interact like the breath blowing across the mouthpiece of a flute, inducing sound.

Correct. But the game has an end, does it not?

Oh yes. One of the sides grabs the crystal.

Grabs it?

No, not exactly grabs it, but one of the sides guides the player through the many interweaving lines of force and energy until he-see arrives at the crystal and places a hand close enough to it to complete the circuit. It's like a spark of pure delight, of oneness flows through, between the centre of the universe here in the crystal and the all-that-is within each person and entire universe.

Correct. Even the losers partake of this?

Yes, for they are not losers in the usual sense.

No?

No. They are dance partners, and in any case, there are no fixed sides as such.

So one side completes the equation...

Oh - yes - it is like an equation - there's this astonishing symmetry and balance - but at the same time...

Something else - or other you might call it.

Oh. That's what it is. It troubles me.

Yes. It feels like disharmony until you learn to use it, to play with it creatively. In your old reality it would be referred to as "evil" because that's what it generally led to.

It did? Why?

You can see for yourself, can't you, when you tune in and feel it - how it seems to be disruptive, pulling from centre disturbingly - out of harmony and symmetry.

Yes, I feel it. Ouch. Not nice.

So people in your age and further back tried to resist, contain or fight it - but to no avail - it is fundamental and cannot be defeated.

And you no longer fight it?

No need. It is   I am

You mean 0=1?

That too. All pretty ways of saying nothing much.

Nothing much - oh - I think I see what you mean. So this game is a kind of ritual, a dance in which you're able to embrace and harness this once destructive force. to achieve harmony... and oneness because no one takes sides? Is that it?

Chicken or egg... yes and no - like any explanation using words... No one takes sides because we have already accepted the isness of be, and gone beyond the duality of i-mind//what-matters, because fundamentally, like it or not, 0=1, so "evil" has to be a vital and integral part of the oneness. Instead of fearing the wind that might blow us out of the nest, we now fly with it and know what words cannot express.

Ah, yes, I see. So you've now incorporated what was the destructive power of evil into the very heart of your community and your civilisation, a vast power that enables you to connect viscerally - physically - with the entire universe, the allness.

Yes, and more than that - to open up the connection within our self which is no less, and to start creating rather than merely manipulating old forms.

So when do I get to play?

You've already started, as have all your friends who now read this.

What friends?

It matters not. Anyone reading this, sharing this energy is your friend, whether they know it or not, and are already playing - for the game starts with a story, with a few words, and then expands into the conscious awareness, and finally we come together physically in a circle, or even a stadium and the Berlin Wall of i-mind//what matters comes tumbling down in a wave of gay, magical oneness. Cuckoo la la :-)

Tell out my soul! Cuckoo la la :-)

Star in a jar

Er - Merry, what are you doing?

Merry is standing next to a table with a large jar of water on it. He seems to be interacting with it in some way - waving his arms around unpredictably.

I'm playing around.

Yeah, I can see that Merry. Perhaps you could elucidate?

Merry continues what he's doing. For a moment Zie feels annoyed that he's being ignored, but then something happens internally - he relaxes, observes impassively, starts feeling what Merry is doing rather than trying to understand - tunes in...

Wow - I can actually feel how you're connecting with the water in the jar. How is that? - Zie asks automatically, hardly expecting an answer.

Why don't you join in? Come over here. Just allow yourself to feel with your hands a connection with the presence of the water.

The presence of the water? Does water have a presence?

It does if you allow it to - if you suspend for a few moments your belief that it does not.

Ok, why not, I'm game - and Zie joins Merry, holding his hands up towards the jar.

Take it easy - don't try to do anything - just allow yourself to feel the connection that already exists.

Already exists? - I'm thinking to myself - how can it already exist. I've only just decided to connect.

Merry seems to read my mind - In fact you're connected to everything - always.

To everything? - I'm thinking to myself - but that's absurd. I can't be connected to the entire universe!

Can't be, I agree, and yet at the same time you can't not be.

All this, while I'm so focussed on feeling with my hands the water in the jar that I pay little or no attention to the fact that Merry seems to know exactly what I'm thinking... or perhaps it just doesn't seem to matter - there are more important wheels in motion at this precise moment. "Can't not be connected to the entire universe - that's er..." not really knowing what to say.

You're absolutely right. It is most definitely er... Obviously it looks like a contradiction, or a paradox. Don't ask me which of the two, I'm not a great philologist.

So, you're saying I'm connected to the entire universe at all times... so I don't actually have to do anything in particular to connect right now with you or this jar, or a distant galaxy.

Precisely. In fact, you have to simply feel what is... as you're already doing.

But what does that achieve?

Well what do you feel as you stand here with this water?

I... and for a moment I think about what I'm feeling... I feel er... connected, and saying this - something shifts in my whole world-view. I don't just feel connected - I feel deeply, magically, beautifully connected.

Merry can feel it - he knows exactly where I'm coming from. You see, an observer might not have got it... might have missed the energy, the spark, the resonance in the word "connected" - but Merry - it's like he's feeling me from within.

Yes you do. Beautiful isn't it!

Beautiful's hardly sufficient to express this feeling. The words we use have been ravaged by the inflation of constant exaggeration - the apparent need to photoshop our thoughts and feelings, but here, standing next to this plain jar of water, simply feeling the connection - you'll find this hard to believe I know, but my eyes fill with tears and I'm crying - it's so beautiful, so perfect, so...

Look more closely Zie... what do you see?

Merry has this extraordinary ability to shift my focus from one emotion, one frame to another, quite unexpectedly... so in an instant I'm back in the scientific observer state of mind - looking with absolutely calm detachment at the jar of water - and I notice that my eyes are having some trouble focussing.

What is it? - I'm thinking, when a tiny adjustment resolves the conflict of perception - I'm now seeing something completely different - still looking at the same jar.

There's a star, pulsating, shining brilliantly suspended in the water in the jar. Bizarrely I know, with absolute certainty, that it was there a moment before - that I was seeing it - but unable to reconcile what I was seeing with my usual perception - thus seeing it not.

My mind is somewhere else. Seeing the star in the jar has shifted me into another dimension. I don't mean that I'm floating in space or anything like that - but these nebulous filaments or neural pathways in what we like to think is the brain - the whole of reality hangs on them, and when they shift, re-pattern, realign as they just have - reality is no longer the same. 

How are they different? Merry invites me to go further - observing the very nature of my conscious awareness.

As long as I gaze at the star shining, pulsating, spinning in the jar - I have no difficulty holding the state of mind in which all things seem to become apparent. It's like an anchor point that prevents me from drifting out of focus. 

Correct! - I sense it communicating with me directly. Gazing at my light which is, in fact, your light, you are able to freely navigate the waters of your conscious awareness without losing your way.

Now I'm seeing how my mind has gone from it's usual state of disconnect, in which it sees itself as separate from everything else, to a more crystalline state - in which these filaments or neural pathways appear to be elegantly aligned - as if there's some kind of magnetic field holding them in place.

Which there is, of course - some kind of resonant field... not necessarily magnetic.

There is? How can a resonant field hold my mind's circuitry in perfect alignment with the entire universe?

Well, you might ask the opposite - how is it possible for me to exist in a unaligned state. Just look at your usual state of mind - those ugly criss-crossing lines with jagged edges and broken threads...

Looking at it from this perspective - it's truly beyond belief. I can't for the life of me understand how I'm able to survive in such a state of habitual disharmony and mal-alignment. It looks, and feels excruciating. 

That's exactly the word I'd use... excruciating as in "cruci-fiction".

Shouldn't that be "crucifixion"? -  I ask the star.

It can be, but my choice of spelling has a slightly different meaning.

Yes?

In which your life story is at cross-purposes, at odds with your true story.

Ouch! I must be mad to live like that.

Mad, or very brave.

But why would I do so? Do I have any choice in the matter?

Oh yes, you chose to come into this reality, this particular state of mind - to experience disconnect and discord.

I... and gazing at the star in the jar I'm able to feel both sides of the story, both sides simultaneously without drifting out of focus. I feel the natural state of being, my true self, my inner nature where I continue to exist in perfect harmony, perfect fractal alignment with all that is, and this aberration... I almost want to say "abomination" but you know, gazing at the star before me, I realise that it isn't in fact an abomination.

Then what?

It's... I... and again I go through a shift into a deeper state of consciousness. The answer, if you can call it "an answer", makes perfect sense when I allow the seemingly irreconcilable contradiction of what I'm seeing - the disharmony of mal-alignment and the perfection of my inner-nature to move through the infinite permutations, infinite iterations of the allness... the omniverse. The entire universe is party to this? I gasp in shock and disbelief - and yet - as I gaze at the star before me I know it and accept it...

Yes.

The entire universe, the allness is party to my incoherence?! It's...

Of course it is an awareness that comes only when you feel it and know it, as you do now, gazing at my light. You feel and know the simple truth, that mind cannot itself grasp - not for want of trying - but because mind is by it's very nature...

Is what?

Precisely! Is what, focussing on things as opposed to feeling and knowing that which simply is. As long as mind is looking out at the universe, imagining reality is happening around you, it creates the very barrier, the very disconnect that enables you to continue experiencing what you yourself chose to experience.

Chose to experience crucifixion? - I think to myself, perplexed.

No. You never chose anything that you might refer to as "negative". There is no "negative" outside the limited state of mind in a box.

Then what?

Not "what". There is... and what am I feeling right now as I gaze at this light, knowing that the light is not really inside the jar at all... knowing that the light is, in a sense, my own inner light but also the light of light itself... because I'm definitely feeling something - something that first soothes and calms my agitation, and then takes me deeper, deeper, deeper into is - the isness of be - a place where all contradictions, all paradox finds resolution within what? Within what?

Within what? I hear myself thinking aloud - asking the very question I now have the answer to. For here at the very heart of all that is I feel only love, nothing more, nothing less, simply love, a oneness so deep, so vast, so complete, so perfect, so magical, so absurd, so wonderful, terrible, delightful, impossible, so far and above the words that love itself has imbued with meaning, that I completely let go of my struggle to quantify... Ah, I encounter a different level of mathematics - the mathematics of Is - at which 0=1 - and as soon as the mind tries to object, to differentiate, to consider, calculate and quantify what matters, I'm once again swept up in the infinite field of love - a field so vast, so compelling, so magnetic and radiant that I...

You've remembered at last! - Merry interrupts my reveries.

I open my mouth two or three times but not a sound comes out. 

Merry laughs gaily, a tinkling bell. 

Try as I might I cannot say a word. I have no great need to do so. I'm comfortable for the first time in my life with the infinite... the silence welling up within, and as I look away from the jar, I'm able to see the star wherever I choose to. 

Welcome back home Zie. You're simply amazing! Doing nothing whatsoever, you've completed the loop.

All it took was nothing - I'm thinking - allowing space for the infinite, the song of life and all that is to well up within, spreading coherence throughout and beyond. Any thing else would have been noise, would have perpetuated the tyranny of mind grappling with matter, of something less than Is.

Yes. Anything else would come between you and the simple truth...

It is I am - One

Zero equals One

It is    I am

And Zie is filled... filled with a kind of fire, a light, and experiencing the magic of star within, dances, dances around, and dare I say it, dances into air, through walls of his room and beyond, on a magical impulse of seemingly impossible, limitless, all-embracing love, Love, LOVE 

brighter and brighter Zie's newly born star shines

feeding on the paradox of all that is and what-is-not

the name of which be      L       O       V       E 

In which Zie encounters a reptilian

As for dragons... Merry believes they are singing creatures. I can't say I agree with that. As far as I'm concerned they're big lizards with wings, and lizards, as you well know, don't sing.

Oh, there you are Zie. I've been looking everywhere for you.

You have? - Zie looks genuinely surprised. I er... I thought you're telepathic Merry? Surely you can find me whenever you want to.

The glint in Merry's eye raises the suspicion that perhaps he's not being entirely honest.

Oh, it's a bad day for telepathy today. My powers are at a low ebb. What was that about dragons you were saying Zie?

Oh... nothing, really. I was talking to my online community - you know I have several thousand followers on youtube.

Ah, congratulations Zie. I'm glad you're achieving fame and recognition. It looks like you'll have defeated the New World Order, the arcons and Ted Langley's One World Government before too long... Merry smiles archly.

Do you think so? I'm certainly doing my best, but to be honest everything seems to be happening synchronistically, under its own momentum. I personally think g-nome portal is the key factor in all this.

You do?

Well yes. It seems to be able to tune into the collective consciousness of humanity at large on our planet. It's helping people to remember their dreams - quite literally. It's helping people to remember their multi-dimensionality. The gnomiki are doing sterling work!

They are indeed, but I feel you're overlooking the real hero.

Oh?! - Zie flushes pink. Like so many of us he's not immune to vestigial vanity.

But I'm not referring to any single individual...

Oh? Who then?

The real hero is without doubt the one within each of us - the one who is ready to stand up and be counted - who's ready to act in spite of being afraid, who is ready to blow the whistle, to overcome generations of prejudice and programming to start seeing the wood from the trees, and to re-release from captivity into the wild the delicate bird of freedom, the dragon whose delicate song sings of joy and magic, carried aloft on the fluttering wings of poesy.

Wings of poesy? - don't go too far Merry. No one's really interested in poetry these days.

Poesy, I said "poesy", not poetry.

Er... what's the difference?

You have to sing it, dance it and feel it to know it. If you do, then you'll know what I'm talking about, and there's a good chance you'll meet a dragon out there, or hear its song.

But really Merry - dragons don't sing. They're just oversized lizards.

Yes, that's true, until they're not.

Not?

Until your prosaic world rediscovers the magic concealed within - in every raindrop, sunray, every little bug - wherever you turn. You can't miss it once you find it. It's all around.

Yes, I'm well aware that there's magik all around... Zie sanctimonifies.

Good, then come and meet the dragon.

But I... suddenly, Zie to his own surprise starts trembling at the knees, his mouth dry, a cold sweat breaking out on his brow.

There's an ancient fear - don't worry Zie, it's normal. This goes back millennia. The fear... it's like a wave - don't fight it - you cannot win - do not fear it either, simply let it be - it'll wash through you in no time.

Zie is almost paralysed, though he listens to Merry. He really has no idea what's caused this huge allergic reaction.

You see, the dragon comes from "other".

Other? - Zie barely croaks.

The other side of consciousness. Time-space you might call it - as opposed to our space-time, but there's no need to label it - the adjective "other" will suffice.

Merry lies Zie down on the ground and starts massaging his shoulders and back, bringing him back to his senses, smoothing his breathing too.

So meeting a dragon - Merry continues - involves shifting into the other side of our reality - which is why you had a seemingly anaphylactic allergic reaction. But you're ready, in fact, Zie.

How do you know I'm ready? Zie groans, trembling up and down his spine.

Oh dragon, your dragon, said so.

At this point Zie almost loses consciousness, so Merry covers him with a blanket and starts playing on a pipe. The melody is soft and haunting, then becomes increasingly playful and jovial. Suddenly, to Zie's own surprise he's on his feet and dancing. Dancing! Can you believe it - when  a moment or two ago he was nearly paralysed with bodily fear.

Welcome to poesy! Zie hears a warm, warm, gentle, gentle, magical, magical voice.

The music continues and now a voice, the same voice starts singing an accompaniment to Merry's tune. Zie's a little confused for two reasons - firstly he can't see who's singing though he can hear the voice nearby. And secondly, because he's aware the words are in a foreign tongue, yet he understands perfectly the words of the song. It's like one of the songs in the Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings... with dwarfs and elves and adventures in far-off lands.

Zie continues - dancing - dancing - dancing, feeling lighter - lighter - lighter... He wants to ask Merry who's the person singing but he can't. He's too absorbed by the dancing, and now what-is-more he's also strangely aware that he's no longer dancing on the ground - that he seems to be up in the air - or the ground seems to have risen up under his feet, lifting him to a higher vantage point - at which point...

At which point you suddenly see who's singing - says the huge, beautiful dragon, gazing into Zie's eyes with an expression of deep, deep, soulful love.

And instead of screaming, Zie's eyes fill with tears and he throws his arms around the face of the dragon, like he's finally found his father and mother rolled into one, sobbing his heart out with... is it joy or pain - I can hardly say.

So let's allow them some time together in peace, and find out for once and for all if you too are ready to step into poesy, to have an encounter of your own with dragony dragon...

The dragon

A dragon was flying and singing a song,

For dragons love singing, you may think I’m wrong,

But you’ll have to believe me. Although it seems strange

That a fire breathing creature can sing, I’ll arrange

A tour of the places where dragons are found

And you’ll hear for yourself their unusual sound,

The flapping of wings and the snorting of fire,

The puffing of smoke as dragon climbs higher,

But there in the midst of this noise, I’m no liar,

You’ll notice the magical song of the flier,

Which keeps it afloat in the sky, you’ll admire

Its soft haunting notes, the elegant rhyme

Of its words, which though foreign, you’ll understand fine,

For all of us humans have dragon inside,

You’ll feel that you too can leap into the sky.

If you learn how to sing like a dragon you’ll fly.

A dragon was flying and singing a song,

You’ve heard this already, it’s time to move on,

When there in the distance it spied a brave knight

Riding up on a horse, desiring a fight.

Poor dragon, it had such a terrible fright,

For this one was peaceful, it couldn’t stand fighting,

It only did battle with thunder and lightening,

So dragon, our dragon, its name can’t be said,

Was huffing and puffing and scratching its head

When up flew an arrow which dented its wing in

And dragon fell downwards, for dragon stopped singing.

It landed and checked that its wing wasn’t broken,

Then turned to the knight, and magic was spoken,

The deepest of words, which all creatures know,

Which come from the heart when the heart is aglow,

“Knight you would kill me. I’ve done you no harm.

This game is unworthy. Dismount and disarm.”

The knight felt ashamed. He obeyed the instructions,

His sword and his armour met fiery destruction

When dragon breathed on them the whitest of flames,

Then turned to the knight with its dragony gaze.

Though fearing the worst, the knight was amazed

For there in the eyes of the dragon was laughter,

The bright smile of friendship, not death or disaster,

And that’s when knight knew that his life would be spent

In pursuit of the wisdom he saw in this friend,

In learning the secrets of dragons and men,

How though we are different we share one beginning,

How life is for living, not hating and killing,

How losing his fight with the dragon meant winning.

The knight though defeated turned into a wizard,

And dragon transformed itself into a lizard,

For lizards can hide themselves under a stone,

But that’s where this ends, and begins the next poem.