weirdy-wyrd

So if it’s not physically possible to teach the rational mind to engage in-finity, then what are you trying to achieve? You’ve flung me on a yo yo into the fathomless, psychedelic wilds of in-finity more times than I can remember, you’ve literally blown me up a dozen times, at least, and you’ve beetled me into weird corners of taxonomy, showing me the world from the perspective of impossible creatures, opening neural paths in my mind that either shouldn’t be there whatsoever, or which, being there, raise the question of whether it’s still reasonable to consider me human, in the traditional sense of the word...

Looking somewhat smug I’ve... done my best.

You’re best?! If that’s your best I shudder to think what your worst might be.

Still exuding an air of smug self-satisfaction

I don’t know what you’re so pleased about. By any normal measure you should be sitting behind bars as a public menace and threat to humanity.

Is that all the thanks I get for my pains?

Pains? Your pains? I don’t remember you having to endure anything more than the occasional scratch or bite, when I was beside myself with fear.

Oh really Zie, you do like to exaggerate, you know.

Exaggerate?! Do you deny that technically I’ve been dead at least a dozen times?

That depends how you define “dead”. I’ll admit you’ve crossed the veil, but like you yourself admitted, that was on a string. I merely yo yo’d you across the barrier, on a brief excursion into the closest reaches of in-finity, in spite of all your hyperbole.

Hyperbole? Is it normal for mere mortals to be yo yo’d into in-finity, near or far? The distinction seems utterly irrelevant.

Well, yes, actually it is.

?!

If they’ve reached saturation point.

?

Like a cup of tea which cannot dissolve any more sugar once you’ve already stirred in several spoons.

?

Saturation point. Once you’ve reached it you’re bound to shift, willingly or not.

What in God’s name are you on about, Merry? I don’t hear about anyone else getting blown up or tossed through hermetic seals, which were put in place for good reason.

No, you wouldn’t.

Well, are you going to tell me why, or do I have to beg?

I was hoping you’d either figure it out or remember.

Remember? If I knew what you’re on about I wouldn’t be asking.

Unless the part of your mind which knows, or the particular memory is located elsewhere, in a spot you can only access in calmness. Why not try a little calmness first, to see if it comes to you.

Calmness? After all I’ve been through? You’ve got

a bloody cheek, yes, but that’s not going help, is it, focusing on me and my many shortcomings.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, Zie finds himself in an utterly unfamiliar state of calmness, which absorbs him deeper and deeper.

That will do Zie. No need to take it to extremes.

Zie looks at Merry with wide eyes, at first unsure of his surroundings, who he is or what he was doing.

My God!

Yes?

You mean to say...

I?

I mean, I just realised that I know the answer. You’re right. It was waiting for me in calmness.

Congratulations Zie, you’ve just crossed the barrier for the first-time single-handedly, and returned in one piece, with only a little help from me.

Oh... I don’t know if I’d have returned, had you not guided me back with your voice.

Possibly not, but you’re getting there, so well done. Now answer your question.

But why bother, if I already know?

Because there’s still a mental barrier which needs to be surmounted.

Oh. It’s awkward Merry.

If course it is. It’s a barrier. It was put there for a reason, but now it’s getting in the way.

I’m a chick hatching, aren’t I?

Go on.

I’ve never yet met anyone, because I haven’t yet hatched.

Right.

All my experiences with other people were virtual, though utterly real to the unhatched chick.

A bit like

Yes, a bit like Plato’s cave allegory.

Right.

You never see anyone else hatching, or testing the edge of reality because...

Come back Zie, no drifting off like that.

to do so you’d have to look away from the wall of the cave, which you’d never do, unless you yourself were ready to hatch

Good.

because seeing is believing, is it not?

Yes, I believe it is.

And we wouldn’t even notice a person leaving the cave because...

Back Zie, quit fading like that.

Sorry Merry, it’s absorbing seeing this information so clearly for the first time.

Aye, that it is, but you need to be able to access information without losing your current whereabouts ir wherewithal.

Yes, I think I see what’s happening.

I’m pleased to hear it. You’ve gone from one extreme to the other, which is somewhat disconcerting.

But I’m only really remembering what I already know, as you yourself told me to.

It’s not what you’re doing but how you’re doing it that matters.

Oh

You’re still applying 3D brute force tactics which are no longer appropriate. Instead of squeezing the orange with a ten-ton press, then drinking the juice and eating the pulverised peel for good measure, you can merely touch it lightly. The juice, like the memory, is already inside you, waiting to be remembered.

Oh. But I want to enjoy the sensation of drinking and eating.

Yes, I’ve noticed, but you’re still trying to feed the shell of yourself inside the cave. Trust me, there’s a sweetness of eating and drinking unimaginable which you’re about to discover once you lighten your touch and allow

Allow what?

Allow the orangeyness to manifest directly, without dragging it through the 3D platform of scrutchy physicality.

Scrutchy?

Aye, there’s the rub.

Scratchy

And touchy

And itchy

And crotch?

Or scrotum – yes, apparently there’s a sexual aspect to the 3D pleasure pain process of experiencing physical sensations such as eating and drinking.

Oh, wow, yes i see.

So, where were we?

I was fading o’er the veil involuntarily and trying to explain something vitally important, which now eludes me.

No, don’t look back, or you’ll lose the plot.

You mean it’s a story? Yes? Oh... it is. But how... how can it be a story if... I can feel it Merry – I can feel myself merging with in-finity, melting into the ocean of all that is, its Lethe aspect – which would be kind of terminal, would it not?

Precisely! Excellent Zie – you’re like the babe who has just figured out that those numeric sensations can and ought to be categorised as “pain” in order to avoid crossing a host of potentially lethal barriers unwittingly.

So I require pain to preserve me?

Was it painful?

No, just an ugly dullness.

There you go. Now you’re more or less safe to make your own way.

But there’s something, isn’t there... A question I still haven’t answered, which I can’t quite remember.

Yes, there’s always something, there’s the rub, and sooner or later you’ll recall that particular question, remember its answer, enjoy a hallelujah moment, but then sense there’s something else, which will take you deeper, further, all tge way, eventually, back.

Back where? Er... Merry? Where did he go?

He?

Er... Who’s there? Do I know you?

You know me not

I know you not? But something tells me you’re...

Yes?

You’re Popping sound as Zie travels deeper into fathomless recall, deftly sidestepping Lethe unconsciousness.

GOOD. It is good.

Oh, there you are Merry. I think I’m getting Alzheimer’s.

Yes, but there’s another name for it, much more joyful and magical.

There is? Oh, She whispered it to me a moment ago, didn’t She?

Yes, she might have done.

But who is She? You were gone and i was seeing her but unseeingly. I could no longer join the dots.

That sounds like

Dorothy?

Yes.

I met Dorothy? And i didn’t even know it?

Yes

THE Dorothy?!

Yes, apparently so, with capital letters an’ all.

Oh God.

Easy does it Zie.

There’s so much i need to ask her. So much...

Dot dot dot... Peace, little one you’re barely one hour old. Let’s walk before we run. One, two, three, Lethe light, take him away... and Zie melts in the warm waters of in-infinity, for a much-needed rest.

The End, so to speak