A tale told by an idiot - otherwise known as number three - the beast and me

Do you remember those story books for children that were popular for a while back in the 80s I guess, or early 90s - you got to choose what happened next. If you want the character to take the proferred gift of Turkish delight - turn to page 84, if you don't then go to page 17 - that kind of thing.

They were fun for a while, and they obviously taught us a valuable lesson - that there can be more than one outcome.

Now
everyone on the planet at the moment, or most of us, assume that there's only one possible outcome for the planet as a whole. Either we get our act together and somehow pull out of the death spiral we're currently in, or we go the way of other great civilisations such as Mars, and destroy ourselves by toasting the biosphere. And looking at the situation objectively, and from a more or less materialist perspective - there's almost no chance of achieving the former, human nature being what it is.

But I'm not telling you to panic, or to go back into that oh so familiar "nothing I can do about it" - sort of helpless-shrug mode of passive acceptance or resignation. Oh no!

No?

No, I assure you, I'm not.

Then what?

Well there's number 3, isn't there?

Number 3?

Yes, there's always a third option.

There is?

Yep. It's a mathematical certainty, though our bipolar minds always overlook it.

They do?

Of course, like Sirius Black's house 12 Grimmauld Place, that muggles simply can't see. Even when we're considering a third option - it's never really a genuine third.

What do you mean?

Well, a genuine third option - that's neither "a" nor "b" will only come to mind if you have a mind for it to come to.

What are you insinuating Merry... that we're too dumb?

No, no and again no. I'm not insinuating at all, I assure you. I particularly dislike all forms of insinuation - which in my humble opinion are mean, underhand and cowardly. If you want to say something, I always say, then make it plain, say it without shame.

Then what?

The third is simply inaccessible to the bipolar mind.

Er Merry - what exactly do you mean by "bipolar mind". Are you referring to some medical condition?

No, I assure you. The bipolar mind is the usual 3D mind that's obligated to think in terms of one or the other - such is the nature of the beast.

What beast?

The beast you're operating from within.

??!

Well, you don't for a minute imagine you're really 3D creatures incapable of multi-dimensional reasoning do you?

Er...

Surely you have an inkling of your higher self - your higher functionings? You've all sensed things that are hard to put into words. You've all experienced beauty and love, even if just for fleeting moments, that lift you over the mountain tops, into the stratosphere of isness, before you come crashing back down into muck and brass, nuts and bolts 3D existence, have you not?

Well, if you put it that way - yes - I suppose we have.

You see - your higher functionings are still accessible, but only just, so most the time you're hostage to the beast that's only really able to think in terms of fight or flight, love or hate, right or wrong, even though you're aware that there must be more than two sides to every sphere.

Er... Merry - you're losing me again.

Sorry Pi. Look - it's just that you've come from a realm where you can move in any direction without limit, to one where your mind operates much as an antagonistic muscle system - one side contracting, the other relaxing - not altogether dissimilar to a computer with its 1s and Os, either on or off.

Oh. So I'm a beast-cum-computer. Is that it?

That's the LCD.

The what?

The lowest common denominator - but of course you're infinitely more and you're free to soar - as you well know.

I am? That's - er - reassuring.

Yes. You're poetry in motion. You're the be-all-and-end-all. You're alpha and omega with delta, epsilon and theta wrapped within - waiting to shatter the illusion of flat screen objective reality.

Oh.

Yep. So, what I was getting at is it's hardly surprising you tend to overlook the third - as you've agreed to participate in this what-if extravaganza of normal-it-y.

This what?

You know - normality - that's what you call it, isn't it? You're reality is designed to seem normal. All of the abnormal entry and exit points, all of the cuts and omissions, the gaps in continuity - they're all carefully edited out so you have this seemingly seamless livestream transmission. Such is the nature of the beast. You simply forget or ignore any thing whatsoever that confounds or contradicts the seemingly normalness of it-y.

Of ity? Not sure I know what that is?

it plus y - where y refers to what seems to be I - in its limited state of awareness.

Oh. So you're saying there are gaps and breaks in the livestream?

Absolutely.

But er... how do you know?

Because you can't help noticing them, if you're not in the what-if reality experience. It's a bit like someone in the studio audience, or an actor on stage. They see the breaks in transmission. They can see where the set ends, where the cameras and lights are. In actual fact, you can see them too - but your normal-it-y conditioning causes you to ignore them.

It does?

Absolutely - otherwise you'd find it impossible to concentrate and hold the illusion in mind - that this is really it.

Well, it's nice to know I'm doing it because I choose to, rather than because I'm too stupid to read between the lines.

Far from it. You're a willing accomplice.

An accomplice in crime?

In a manner of speaking, yes. This is a somewhat criminal act, you're undertaking.

How so?

All the killing and maiming, all the destruction that's ongoing. It's not exactly in the nature of Is.

No? I always assumed it's human nature to act this way.

Precisely - to "act" this way - because it is an act.

Well, there's nothing original in your hypothesis - Shakespeare said as much in his "All the world's a stage" speech.

not necessarily William Shakespeare           

True, but then this is no hypothesis. Killing, maiming and destruction are antithetical to your true nature - in fact, you'd find it impossible to do any of this if you hadn't purposefully cut yourself off from what you truly Be - your isness.

Then why? No, don't tell me - we were bored and wanted to experience the dark side, just for the hell of it.

Ha ha - very funny.

Then what?

Not what - it's more a case of "what if".

Go on...

Well, the question "what if" is, in fact, immensely powerful.

It is?

Yes. With what if you're able to go beyond any thing whatsoever.

Well don't just stop there as if I'm supposed to understand what you're going on about.

Until you what if "is" - you're stuck with plain vanilla existence - the isness of Be - which no matter how wonderful, loving and perfect it is - just happens to be          [neither here nor there/ unpunctuated, thus meaningless]

Happens to be what?

Not what! It just happens to Be - because it is all "of the creator", so to speak - so it's all perfectly aware of that which it is. There's no doubt or uncertainty. No death or destruction whatsoever. It all makes perfect sense - because there's neither time nor space - really - though they may seem to exist to a greater or lesser degree.

Then what?

Not what.

No, I need to know what you're on about.

Just as I said - "not what". Until or unless you insert "if" into the equation - as in "what if" - there is no such thing as "not".

I - am - at - a - loss - to - understand - what - you - are - going - on - about - Merry!!!!

Because you're up to your eyeballs in it - how could you possibly understand? That would be like a fish trying to understand water, or emotions.

Oh God. Then why are you telling me all this?

You know those strange things called expiry dates in supermarkets. Amazing things aren't they?

No - can't see any connection whatsoever. I - am - lost. You've failed to explain this to me.

I never really tried because there's nothing to explain.

Then what?

Listen to yourself Pi or Zie, or whatever you want to call yourself - because ultimately none of these names really touch your essence - your true nature.

Oh thanks a lot. Talk about personalising the debate - just because you're not winning.

Just listen to the broken record of your mind's logic. Ever and again coming back to it's touchstone save-all formulaic "what". What, what, what you bleat without ever wondering why... what do you mean? What do you want? What is it?

Listen Merry - I just about had enough of your abuse. What if you took your big opinions and know-it-all higher consciousness crap and just walked off a clifftop!

Ah! Now we're talking. Will you accompany me?

No, I will not. You know I'm not a murderer. Nor do I have any intention of being party to a misguided suicide attempt.

But if I'm right Psi, I cannot fail, I cannot fall.

Oh Jesus Merry. Didn't you ever read the Bible. Wasn't that one of the temptations of Christ - to throw himself off the mountain top - which he kindly declined?

Yes. And so we've had two thousand years of continued murder, misery and suffering - not to mention some astoundingly good poetry, music, art and general creativeness.

So what are you insinuating?

It's been a cosmic trade off. In our state of knowingness, our isness of Be, we have no meaningful degree of separation from that which is, and thus we're not able to generate the phenomenal elixir of what-not that humankind down here on Earth has been able to.

I can't believe I'm hearing this... The cynicism is... words fail me. You think we'd trade our lives, our wellbeing, our minds merely for the opportunity to create some good music or literature? Are you out of your mind??!

It seems insane, doesn't it, if you take all this at face value... If you assume it's really real, and not a carefully engineered reality experience. But, allow me, for a moment to interpose our secret weapon, our hero waiting in the wings - our very own "what if".

And? Am I supposed to meditate silently while you practice extending your dramatic pauses beyond breaking point?

What if we needed to experience "not", or what you might refer to as "nought", in order to make sense of existence, to make sense of Is, in order to get another perspective on that which is?

Well?

How could we do this without separating ourself from the isness? Without creating, then agreeing to enter and accept this illusion at face value - where anything goes, no matter how much it contradicts our essential nature.

But this makes no sense whatsoever. How could perfect beings - how could beings of light - of one essence with the creator succeed in generating hell on earth - and why would they be willing to perpetrate such crimes merely for the sake of art?

Ah - there you have asked some truly great questions - and I assure you the next stage of our mission will be to find answers to these very questions - but in the meantime, we're now pulling the plug on "not what" - because the "what if" that was used to set this whole thing up has reached the end of its resource.

What do you mean?

Well, it had to be projected into what you call material reality - which is a kind of reversal of Is. A real-it-y, where I as in y is only real in terms of it. This is what I mean by "not what" and when this was set up it required a certain amount of mental energy to get it going - to fund the operation if you like.

And what?

Not what has expired.

Oh come on Merry - I've heard all that 2012 crap about the end of the world. It won't wash. The world didn't end.

No, of course not, but "Not what" did.

Meaning what?

Meaning, like it or not, the current has now/ is now reversed. In a matter of time you're about to rediscover timelessness - if you get my gist.

No I do not.

At which point you'll be free to join me in comprehending the magnitude, the majesty and wonder of what has been created, and what has been achieved.

And I suppose I'll just overlook all the murder and destruction, will I, because it won't matter anymore? How disgustingly cynical.

Yes, I mean, no.

Well, make up your mind - which do you mean?

It's difficult to put in words Psi.

Try. This matters you know.

Yes, but words, like thoughts down here in 3D reality, are either all or nothing. They're separate from all that is - so how can I convey that which is? Everything that you do down here - whether you know it or not - is to create creation code. That's what the mind beast does - or did.

What?

Even when you're experiencing hate or misery, even at the very gates of annihilation - you're generating creation code - the elixir of what not.

No, no, no, and you can take your ridiculous "what not" and flush it down the quantum vortex of hyper-dimensionality - for all I care.

Done, if you'll agree to come with me for one moment out of time. I wish to share something with you that may answer your question

at which point Psi as he now seems to be, passes through a gap in the set, vanishing from normal-it-y for a period of unspecified duration - unbeknown to everyone else in this seamless three dimensional fabric of what-not-al-it-y.