In which Merry shreds a wad of hundred dollar bills

It’s just if you’ve got nothing better to do I could do with a hand.

Sure thing. What needs doing?

I need a witness.

A what?

Witness. I need a witness. Can you witness what I’m doing please.

Er... yeah, why not.

Merry takes an inch thick wad of hundred dollar bills out of his pocket and feeds them one by one into a paper shredder.

Four minutes later the last one’s gone through.

Thanks Zie. I appreciate the help.

Zie’s kind of struggling to comprehend what he’s just witnessed.

You... er... you just shredded a pile of hundred dollar bills?!

Yeah. 120 if I got the correct number.

120 one hundred dollar bills?!

Yeah.

12 thousand dollars.

Apparently so.

Apparently?

Well, as you’re my witness, unless both of us are delusional then yes, I did. Anything else?

Er...

Zie appears to be having problems processing what he’s just witnessed.

Er...

Flickers of cognition light up his face momentarily, then die away, like a fire that can’t make up its mind whether to burn or not.

If it’s not a dumb question Merry, could I ask you why?

I don’t know. It’s entirely up to you.

I mean, why did you just shred 12 000 dollars for no apparent reason?

That’s a good question Zie. I’ll answer it just as soon as you tell me why it bothers you.

Why it bothers me? You just shredded 12 thousand dollars and you want to know why it bothers me?

Not particularly, but that would give me reasonable grounds for answering your prior question.

Well isn’t it obvious?

I don’t know Zie. That’s for you to say.

Well, 12 thousand dollars is a lot of money.

Is it?

Er... a helluva lot of money. I can’t believe you just did that Merry. You must be off your rocker.

Ah – now we’re getting somewhere.

I mean – just think of all the good you could’ve done with that money.

Good?

Giving it to charity, helping people in need, buying me a new second hand car. Jesus Christ Merry – you just shredded 12 thousand dollars. Why?

You haven’t actually answered the question. You asked me to imagine what I could have done with the money – but I don’t see how that explains why you’re so bothered.

But it’s obvious, isn’t it?

So you tell me.

No one shreds money.

Disproven, I think you’ll agree.

Well, only a lunatic then.

Unless I happen to be of sound mind.

But... what a waste. What a terrible bloody waste Merry. I...

You could’ve helped me spend it, couldn’t you?

No... yes, of course I could, but that’s hardly the point.

Then what is?

Where did you get it from?

What?

The money, Merry.

Oh that. Where does anybody get it from?

Er?

The bank, of course.

I didn’t know you had twelve thousand to burn.

To shred.

Ha ha, very amusing.

I didn’t... until this morning.

So this morning you just happened to get your hands on twelve thousand dollars.

Yep.

And decided to shred it.

Yes. It seemed the wisest thing to do.

The...?

Zie’s still struggling to comprehend. Muscles that shouldn’t be living autonomously are twitching in his face – around the eyes, above the mouth, in the cheeks.

How do you do that Zie?

What?

Twitch your muscles like that?

I... I’m not doing anything Merry. I think I need to lie down.

By all means. Stretch yourself out. Is there anything I can get you?

A glass of water would be nice.

But why did you need me to observe?

Not just to observe – to witness it.

Yeah whatever... just tell me why?

To ensure the magic works – certain procedures need to be adhered to. One of which is to have a witness.

Ok... And the magic – what exactly were you hoping to achieve, if it’s not too much to ask?

No, not at all, let me just get your glass of water.

A minute later Merry returns with a glass in his hand. - Here you are Zie.

Thanks.

Zie gulps back the glass and lies on his back trying to...

But you never said where the money came from.

Yes I did.

Well – you said the bank – but how could the money just appear like that in your bank account?

Anything’s possible, Zie.

Of course anything’s possible, but things like that don’t generally happen, do they. And that doesn’t explain why you needed to shred it all.

Ah – well there you’re definitely jumping to conclusions. I never said I “needed to”.

Well why else would you have done it?

That’s the million dollar question Zie. The fact is that I have my reasons, but it’s only fair to point out that "necessity" was not one of them. Think of it more in terms of art – creative destruction you might call it.

So first you were saying it was some kind of magic, now it’s an art installation. You’re not giving much away Merry. Is it really such a big secret?

No Zie. No secret at all. I just have to observe the protocols.

What bloody protocols?

The protocols of indeterminacy - where the infinity drive is concerned... Schrödinger's cat and all that.

You don’t mean to say your blasted infinity drive’s behind all this?

No, I don’t. The infinity drive's just a tool enabling quantum level creativity. But I'm the artist... 

I’m sick of hearing about it Merry. Infinity drive, infinity drive – and what have we got to show for it?

A box full of shredded 100 dollar bills.

What use is that?

None whatsoever. The very essence of the infinity drive... 

A useless machine that causes you to perform random acts of insanity.

A mechanism that realigns the flow of "finities", liberating trapped energies, bringing back planetary alignment when seemingly irrational, witnessed acts disrupt the causal stream, ending the tyranny of logic and reason.

It looks like all you’ve achieved is to substitute the tyranny of stupidity for the tyranny of logic and reason. Fat difference that’s gonna make.

Switch on the TV. Have a look what’s happening in the world. Go ahead... let's see if it worked.

Wars... An economic crisis... The usual stream of... what the hell?

You see!

And you think that’s connected? Oh come on, get real!

Of course it’s connected.

It’s just a random coincidence. How could shredding 12 000 dollars achieve that?
That's all it takes Zie - a minor hiccup in the causal stream. Every thing is connected as you're aware, so it's easy to affect the whole just as soon as you create an opening - a minor but meaningful disruption in the causal stream. Do something that seems completely and utterly illogical with the money as I did just now - shredding a pile of cash with you as my witness - and we momentarily collapsed the chain of causality. That enables something infinitely more powerful - the quantum field of conscious awareness to jump in the air, do a backwards somersault, yell “whoopee!” and the next thing you know the entire banking system extends a debt jubilee to every man, woman and child on the planet. Welcome to the age of infinity – where anything goes – just as long as any thing is.

Is what?

Just is. “What” is merely a matter of your perception, your interpretation.

Well, you’ve got balls, Merry, is all I can say.

Faery balls Zie, but that’s another story for another day.

Rock n roll

No one will notice.

What do you mean "no one will notice"? Of course they'll bloody notice if I'm standing there like a nutter waving my hands above a rock.

Of course, if that's what you intend to do.

There you go. So it's hardly surprising I don't fancy yet again making an exhibition of myself.

Yet again? When have you ever made an exhibition of yourself?

How about the time when I materialised naked in the middle of a crowded street.

Oh - well that was only for a second or two. Do you honestly think anyone would remember.

Of course they would. They were screaming and pointing at me.

Yes, but then you disappeared, didn't you, so that alters everything.

What do you mean?

People are terrified of appearing gullible or mentally deranged. Things just don't appear and vanish like that, do they?

They're not supposed to at any rate.

So the way the mind works is that all those who witnessed your brief appearance would have filed it away as a mental aberration. They'd actually be terrified of remembering what they thought they'd seen, so none of them will. I guarantee it.

You can guarantee whatever you like Merry, but it doesn't make me feel any better, particularly as you'd told me that nothing like that could possibly happen.

Just a minor glitch. No one's perfect Zak.

Yeah - but I have the impression you positively take a delight in compromising me like that.

I can't imagine why. I'm a professional. I don't like messing up, it's just there was a - how shall I put it - amusing side to the episode. Not from your perspective, I hasten to add, but from the perspective of your higher consciousness, which doesn't care a fiddle whether or not you're wearing clothes.

Well you can tell my higher consciousness next time your in communication with it...

No need Zak - it's here right now.

That I don't like making a spectacle of myself. Once you get a reputation for being weird - that's it. You're labelled for life. No one'll take you seriously ever again.

And?

And - is it so unreasonable for me to require a little self-respect.

Ok. But you're aware of the other side of the coin, aren't you.

Oh here we go - play your trump card for all it's worth. A little more emotional blackmail perchance? Look, I'm not the messiah, Merry. It's not my job to awaken humanity or shift the balance of energies on this planet, you know.

Correct.

So stop making out that it's essential for me to do my part for planetary realignment. I'm willing to do whatever it takes, but I don't see why it always has to involve me making an ass of myself.

No.

No what?

No, you don't see. It's not your fault.

Funny that - because as soon as you say it's not my fault I start feeling the opposite is true. Did you attend special courses in emotional blackmail by any chance Merry, in whatever inter-dimensional school you attended.

I...

You're not allowed to lie, are you.

No, I have no need to lie. Blackmail would not achieve any meaningful or lasting results,

But you did learn how to manipulate people.

Interact creatively with the sub-consciousness - yes. It's a kind of magic, isn't it, but it has to be done beautifully. Neither force nor hypnosis are allowed. It has to be done so that you yourself are fully aware of what you're signing up to, and are willing to do so.

So how do you achieve this masterful control over your subject.

Joy and delight.

Excuse me?

Joy and delight. They're kind of infectious, you see. Your mind and your body enjoy entering these states, and although a part of your sub-consciousness experiences discomfort, overall you feel stimulated and invigorated by going beyond your habitual boundaries, boundaries which all too easily become like prison walls with your sense of propriety the gaoler.

So making an ass of myself is liberating - you're saying. That's er... nice to know.

Yes, it is, isn't it. But more than that - as soon as you enter into the spirit of what you're doing - no one actually notices.

Of come on! Pull the other one. Of course people are going to notice if you walk naked down a high street.

Not if you enter into the spirit of what you're doing. You'd be amazed. The mind is highly programmed and compartmentalised. It doesn't see things, or imagines it's seeing things in accordance with the...

The what?

[pause]... if you're coming from a place of power and integrity.

Er... how can I be coming from a place of power and integrity if I'm walking naked down a high street, or waving my hands above a rock so that everyone imagines I'm raving mad.

You can't - unless you're willing to do so, by letting go - by not doing whatever you habitually do. Catch 22, except that...

Except what?

There's really nothing to it. The minute you give yourself to the situation and stop focussing your attention on irrelevancies...

Irrelevancies?!

Absolutely. Life is short Zak. We're all going to die someday - some sooner than others.

And what's that got to do with the price of cheese.

We have the option of spending our days paying homage to the God of small things - things that seem to matter terribly, but which in no way affect the real issues, or instead, coming into the flow, the isness, the magic of now moment.

What now moment?

The only one - the one in which everyone and everything is engaged totally in    Merry doesn't finish what he's saying. Instead he slowly moves his hands and opens a kind of doorway in front of himself and steps right through. For a moment he's invisible until he steps back through another doorway on the other side of the room. Trust me, Zak, there's nothing clever in what I just did. It's not a trick. There's more to this thing we call reality than meets the eye, is there not, and it's waiting patiently for you and your cohorts to discover its open secret.

Cohorts? What cohorts? I wasn't aware I was in cahoots with anyone else.

Oh people in general then. Now, you're free to stay in the kind of reality where things are all fixed down in a nut and bolted manner, but you're also free to confront the simple truth of life - and engage the isness that you're living in - in a more engaging, interactive, playful manner.

But why? To what end?

Why not?

Well - because it ain't normal for a start - wafting my hands around trying to tune into a rock.

Ok - it ain't normal - but it's fun. You'll actually enjoy it once you get started - and your body will love it - you know that.

Hum.

It always does, doesn't it?

I suppose so.

Your body's ready to move into an upgraded version of material reality. It's basically reached the limits of what can be achieved in the current version. It's getting kind of cramped - like a foetus reaching the end of its time in the womb.

Oh God - I wish you wouldn't talk like that. You give me the heebie jeebies.

Yes - change is a little unsettling, isn't it, and death's a major issue, which is precisely why we need to keep moving if we're to stay still in the now moment. Otherwise we're slipping back off the curve of Is.

So I have to wave my hands and interact with a rock in a public place - because I'm going to die otherwise?

You do have a talent for sounding dramatic Zak.

No more than your talent for destroying my peace of mind.

If your peace of mind, as you call it, is based on truth, then I won't succeed in destroying it by means fair or foul.

And if it's based on sticking my head in the sand?

Then you're free to continue that way if you choose - but that will be an irrevocable choice. I'm only here with you as long as you're willing to continue walking the bounds.

So you keep telling me. Listen Merry - why is it no one's gonna see me making an ass of myself?

Because you'll be tuned into the rock in a minute or so.

So for a minute people will wonder what I'm doing.

Yes.

And then?

Then they'll have the choice - either to put their head in the sand and forget they'd ever seen you - you'll no longer be visible - they'll forget what they just saw in exactly the way people forget a dream, or they'll choose to follow you - in which case they'll completely accept what's going on and it'll be a pleasure to share the experience with them.

Sounds too good to be true.

Yes.

So is it?

You know Zak, the world you're currently in, material reality - sounds too bad to be true - and yet I take it on trust that it kind of exists - but only in a very limited sense.

What do you mean?

I mean - it seems to be here - when I tune into it - and people seem to be living in this reality as if it were real - but when they die it all gets erased, and even while they're alive - they have to pretend they're not able to see and feel what's really going on.

So you mean this isn't really real?

How could it be? How could people care about whether you're using a rock as a kind of portal, or whether you're wearing garments of clothing or not?

Because these things matter Merry. We're human, you know. There are certain ways of doing things.

Yes, up to a point, if you choose to be bound by the stifling limitations of 3D reality, and in doing so ignore everything else that is.

No one's ignoring anything... we just don't see more than we're able to see.

Ok. But you feel a lot more, and you collectively can now feel that something's not quite right - that things don't quite add up, that things have to change and are already in the process of changing.

Yes. You might be right.

So let's embrace the change. Let's delight in what is - rather than worrying about zombies and ghosts. Half the people you're worrying about are not even real - they're just simulations. and the other half are desperately trying to free their minds from a machine that seems to have subsumed them into its labyrinthine mechanism of control. Tuning into something tangible, like this rock - is a great way of re-establishing the basics, reconnecting to the isness.

The isness?

of Be.

So let's do it

Zach tunes into the granite lump of rock feeling its power surging through and around him. Suddenly it's like a flash mob. First one, then another, then a dozen people are with him and the rock is singing, humming, vibrating... and the rest, as they say, is history.

Elective affinities - engaging the quantum field, a practical guide

Hi guys, time for an update.

My quantum computing project is coming along in leaps and bounds.

There really is no limit to what it can do, now that we've got past the thing of things - the great barrier - the seemingly insurmountable obstacle that lay in the way for so long.

Tis no matter... that was the clue that kept ringing in my ears, so to speak. Try it yourself if you will. Let it be your mantra and see what happens - tis no matter, tis no matter, tis no matter...

Pretty soon the walls start coming down and you're confronted by limitless possibilities.

Wow!

Limitless possibilities - that's a tall order, is it not? But the trick is conversion - cashing in on the infinite - for unless we're able to convert some of our abundance - some of the infinite wealth that is growing on our tree of life, waiting to be picked, waiting to be consumed, and utilised, into something useful, something of value - then it's all to no avail, to no purpose, to no end. Nothing will come of everything - King Lear might well have said - for "everything" or "all" is as slippery and damnable as "nought" or "nothing". "Everything", you see, is too much to handle, too much to encompass, too much to process. It needs to be brought down to finity from the infinite.

But how? You well may ask. How can we bring the infinite, the everything into finity?

The answer might as well come from another author of note - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who wrote a book entitled "Elective affinities". Affinities - something we're attracted to, something we're drawn to. It's a bit like induction in physics - where a current is induced in a wire or coil by a magnet passing nearby.

You see, the infinite is something to be engaged, something to be played with, something to be danced with, teased and tantalised - as if it were a living being - and that way a spark crosses and some of its limitless potential is induced or emerges on our side of creation - on the side of things that seem to matter.

So, it's like a force of attraction that is, or can be, stronger than gravity, stronger than the laws of things that matter. All it requires is for me to elect or select my affinities - things that move me, things that matter to me which my heart is drawn to, which I cannot yet see or grasp here in 3D reality. I play to them, I sing to them, I dance them into being. I engage them with the quantum computer - in whatever guise or form I choose to operate it - and thus I reprogramme reality itself - the materiality - reprogramme it in such a way that things now reflect my elected affinities - and a small part of the fruit hanging from the tree of my limitless abundance falls into this fruit bowl known as 3D reality - and suddenly I find that finity is not in fact limited in any way, shape or form. 

Quantum computing, like 3D printing, gets around apparent limitations or lack by entraining matter, coaxing it into alignment with my elective affinities. And amazingly, wondrously, matter is happy to oblige. It can not do otherwise, deferring as it must to the template of Is that I have now entrained.

Cuckoo la la - it is I am

Quantum computing is a process of engaging the field of Is, otherwise referred to as the isness of Be, directly - in whatever manner is most appropriate to the individual engaging the magicks of Is. There's really nothing to it - as you discover as soon as you engage your isness and initiate your own quantum presence forthwith. 

Happy field work to you all. 

Once you accept that you, your very conscious awareness is the interface, then howsoever you choose to relayer, realign or repurpose Reality - so long as your are coming from your isness of Be - your place of power - your highest inspiration, your joy, your unfettered creativity, then the machine of matter surrounding you bows before the sovereign being that you now are. Hail the king, hail the queen, all material reality acknowledges the ascendancy of Is - the living being - over what is essentially not - bit, matter or thing.

May your dance, your song, your quantum engagement be guided by beauty and love and three - a mysterious force which ensures that all continues to flow harmoniously within and throughout the isness of Be.

Margo's mammoth

...and thus, according to the conventional point of... What?

The conventional point of what – beautifully said, my friend.

Why are you looking at me like I'm a magician from a circus?

Is that how you see it? Funny. But that's true, you're a great magician – I dare say.

I don't know a single trick and I'm surely not performing anything at the moment. I'm telling you about an old dream of mine, the Bountiful Human Empire. It's serious!

Yes, yes. Of course it's serious.

I'm not performing any tricks.

Aren't you?

(a slight pause) No, I'm not.

You are such an amazing performer, you don't even “remember” that you are performing your trick.

I'm not – oh, it's no use arguing. What is this “trick” you are performing – er, I mean, referring to?

You know that yourself. And if you think you don't – just watch yourself. Bring a bit of energy to yourself. Your body is stupid. It doesn't know the next thing about the mind's conspiracy. It's like that criminal from a detective story – no crime is flawless, for the sake of story if nothing else, and the criminals always give themselves away – if the detective is watchful enough. So be a good detective. What did you detect?

I don't know where to look, how can I detect anything?

Search for your noughts. Your not-doings, avoidings – they often give more indication than doings...

And how am I supposed to notice “not-doings”? Aren't they absent from my observation by not-being? Besides, I'm not doing many things, you know – I'm not cleaning my shoes, I'm not standing on my head, I'm not drawing elephants...

Aye, but there's a difference between “not doing” and “not-doing”. Not-doing is coupled to doing. Cast a net but look at the wholes – I mean, holes – between the ropes. Cast the holes.

I'm allergic to metaphors.

The ropes are your doings, your expected responses, something you can hold and see. Holding them makes it easier to find the holes – what you could have done but didn't. Remember, we are talking about the body's reactions at the moment so keep it simple.

Like what?

Oh goodness gracious! Like why are you not looking at the right corner of the room?

But surely that's not important! I look where I like, and there's nothing interesting in that corner, just a hairy sofa... There's nothing to look at so I'm not looking.

You're not looking now.

So?

Is it natural not to look at whatever you are discussing if it's right in front of you?

It's not a rule.

No, of course it isn't. It's an extremely common thing though, done automatically, requiring extra energy to cancel it... Examine yourself. What's “wrong” with that corner?

I don't like the sofa's design. The thing is too big and hairy.

I don't care about your mind's explanations. I want you to tune into the sensation, into your not-looking.

Alright, alright... Though I feel rather uncomfortable about it...

Good – that's the first gates... What's there? What's uncomfy?

A kind of... Shame and fear, and a bit of anger... I don't know... But that's just an ugly sofa!

Cool. Take my hand. Look at me. I want to tell you something. Are you here?

Er... Yes, I hear...

Then hear:

One, two, three -

In the Gnomikland are we.

Fear and shame account to zero

We've nothing to lose, we are story and silly.

Fear and shame all you like in the Normaland. The Gnomikland is free as we know we are not real. We are cuckoolaled. Your normality is safe and sound as it doesn't exist in this land and thus can not be damaged. There is no face to keep. Can you feel it? Can you feel it?

(an astonished nod)

Grand. Check it out. Can you look at the sofa now? You never stopped looking at it though...

Yes, I... But that's - !

Yep.

A mammoth!

Yep.

A living mammoth!

Yes, I know.

But they are all dead!

Yep.

And how can it fit this tiny space?!

Yep. Nice, isn't it?

And you never mentioned having a mammoth in your room!

Yep. So you see, your mind invents a kind of a dress-code and many a good sight can't pass it. Mammoths don't exist; it's too huge to be here even if it existed; and the vital social factor – if it's really here then where is the confirmation? - hey presto, you edit it out and miss the mammoth under the rug. And by the way, I'm not “having it” in my room. She's visiting me.

W-what?

And by the way, - a deep, pleasant voice sounds, - We did not die out. We time-travelled when the human race claimed dominance over the planet. We merely jumped forward to the year after the humans dried the planet up completely and died themselves, unable to live on the dead planet. Then the planet began to revive itself and we came back and helped her...

Careful, Anne, don't frighten this human. He's dreaming of the Bountiful Human Empire.

But that's fine. Doesn't he know? - Mine is one time-line of many, and there's still a chance to come to the Bountiful Human Empire, to the Bountiful Planet Earth in his...

But if that's true – oh, the time is running out!

Time?.. Who's talking about time? It's story.

And you are telling it.

Right now.

You.

Your actions, your intentions, your own doings and not doings decide your story and the story of your planet...

And that's the real mammoth under the carpet.

Speaking to stones - it sounds insane

Oh come on Merry - you can't be serious! I'm not a raving lunatic you know.

Merry remains calmly silent, unperturbed by my outburst.

Normal people don't talk to stones.

More calmness. 

There's a good reason for this you know.

Still more.

Coz believe it or not - rocks, stones - they're just things. They're inanimate objects. They can't hear a word you say. It's like talking to the wind.

Ever so slightly Merry's eyebrows raise, questioningly. 

And don't tell me you think the wind's alive and can hear when you talk to it.

I decide to join Merry in his strong silence charade. After a minute's absolute stillness I hear Merry muttering something to the wind. Don't ask me how - I just know he's muttering to the wind - and at the very moment I'm aware of this - I know what's going to happen.

Ok Merry - you've proved your point - I interrupt him - hoping to forestall what's coming. But Merry plays all innocent and continues muttering under his breath. In the meantime I feel pressure building - an electrostatic pressure - I know what's about to happen even before I see the trees start to dance in the mounting breeze.

It's enough - you don't need to show off! - but Merry appears to be lost in concentration. Now  I feel the wind dancing, leaping around me in a way that shouts beyond all shadow of doubt - "alive"! This wind is probing, feeling, advancing, retreating, touching me in ways that are both disconcerting and exhilarating. I'm torn between the desire to scream with unbridled joy or panic. Never have I known fear and delight so closely entwined. It's like the life force within me has just leapt off the scale, amplifying everything I'm able to experience in the moment of Now.

Enough - I hear myself say in a quite different voice - a voice I never even suspected I had. No sooner have I said it than the wind is like a genie back in its bottle. Merry is beaming at me - delighted that I've found my voice of power, the voice of Is - for with this voice - whatever we say, whatever we state Is - immediately so. No thing can resist it. The entire universe bows to its command. It is the voice of creation that nestles within each of us, waiting to be invoked.

So, I'm  ready to work with stones you're saying...? and at this moment I'm absolutely clear in my head - I can see how Merry is guiding me in this magical process of self-discovery, of awakening.

But why now?

Your perception of reality has shifted. You've become more flexible. You're able to adjust to frequencies within the core of human perception. It will serve you well to spend some time with your brother sister stones. Their wisdom, their perspective will help ground you - help take you beyond what you've hitherto experienced, into stillness and perception that may at first seem alien, but which is nevertheless part of your one and all. You are learning to engage the world around you - the whole of creation - for all of creation is the template - and there is not one piece of the puzzle that is superfluous. Everything helps to open the allness up, to reveal the magic of what you truly are.

Ah! Just hearing it - hearing Merry speak I'm feeling it within. I'm feeling the depth, the solidness of the fundament. I'm feeling how I'm now ready to start engaging my allness - that the entire physical, material world, the entire universe exists for this very purpose - like a candle's wick - for me to engage, to draw me out of my cocoon, out of my compressed state, into my fullness, my allness, my isness.

Are you sure I'm not going to repeat the mistakes of past generations - and become an evil sorcerer - a stone worshipper or the likes?

Merry beams at me - and I feel such love, such candour, such playful gaiety that my sombre fears evaporate. I have absolute faith in the light I see in him.

Ok Merry, I'm ready... I say with a seriousness that causes us to erupt in laughter. The absurdity of the situation takes my breath away - and yet for all the laughter it's a solemn moment - a commitment to shatter the old paradigm - to engage once more the living field of Is - the entire universe - even the stones. No longer can I pretend that they're dead or irrelevant. How can I truly embrace myself, my allness, my isness if I refuse to interact with any aspect of all that is? So now I'm talking to stones and letting their silence speak...

and here's what they say...

A stone looks dead, it hardly moves,

And stones can’t talk, which only proves

That they are far from being like us.

They live their lives without a fuss,

Ten thousand years, or maybe more,

Patiently lying on the floor,

The thought’s enough to make you sore.

The world of stones may seem a bore

But they would say the same of yours,

Our lives are so fragile, our lives are so short,

All floating and frothy, a moment of thought,

Then our light is extinguished, before we have caught

A glimpse of the secrets which occupy stones,

And all that remains of us – fragments of bones.

In fact, they can talk, but not as we do,

And a stone thinks a stone is as lively as you,

Although they don’t move in this world, there’s another

Where stones dance and sing, which you can discover.

I know, I know, no need to moan,

There’s nothing exciting about a stone,

It sits there or lies there, with nothing to say,

It seems to be lifeless, does nothing all day,

And that’s why no human would knowingly choose

To converse with a stone. I always refused, 

But then something happened, I dreamt that a stone

Which stands on the side of a hill near my home

Was calling me…

The song of stone is easily sung

If you’re ten thousand years and still only young,

If you’re ten thousand years and you’ve barely begun,

Let the song of stone take you out of this world,

Like a boat on the sea when its sail is unfurled,

Let it carry you safely through time and space

To the land where a stone moves with ease and grace,

Let it carry you safely through space and time

Till you come to my home in the wink of an eye,

Where stone is supreme, where stone is sublime.

I knew it was madness. I went there alone.

I stood by the stone and recited a poem.

At first, nothing happened, I thought I’d been wrong

To do as my dream said, to sing it a song,

But then something stirred, I felt the ground shake,

I shut my eyes tight for they started to ache,

I could still see the stone, like I dreamed while awake.

The song of stone is easily sung

If you’re ten thousand years and still only young,

If you’re ten thousand years and you’ve barely begun,

Let the song of stone take you out of this world,

Like a boat on the sea when its sail is unfurled,

Let it carry you safely through time and space

To the land where a stone moves with ease and grace,

Let it carry you safely through space and time

Till you come to my home in the wink of an eye,

Where stone is supreme, where stone is sublime.

There I stood by the stone in the dead of the night,

I thought I could feel a strange glimmering light,

Like the stone shone within me, like I was a screen,

And the more that I felt this, the more that it seemed

That the stone and the hillside were passing right through me,

For I was a vapour, a sunbeam or moonbeam,

I could see how the stone’s world and ours move as one,

Like music and words that combine in a song.

The song of stone is easily sung

If you’re ten thousand years and still only young,

If you’re ten thousand years and you’ve barely begun,

Let the song of stone take you out of this world,

Like a boat on the sea when its sail is unfurled,

Let it carry you safely through time and space

To the land where a stone moves with ease and grace,

Let it carry you safely through space and time

Till you come to my home in the wink of an eye,

Where stone is supreme, where stone is sublime.

Yes, I know that it’s madness. I know it’s absurd

To talk to a stone, to believe that it heard,

But something deep down tells me stone likes to listen,

So I sing when I’m passing, and stone seems to glisten.

Ah, life is a mystery wrapped in a vision,

So go meet a stone, let it be your decision,

Though others may laugh, never fear their derision,

For who are we, what are we, all of us fools,

Just braying and neighing like donkeys and mules.

flying balls and sticky tape - feeling the edge

Flying balls.

You've gotta be kidding Merry.

Nope.

But, there's gotta be more to it than that.

Oh there's infinitely more, but that's just why you need to use flying balls to get in.

You've lost me there...

Because this is an inter-dimensional portal. Anything that you can understand or learn in 3D ain't gonna work. It'll just further entangle you with your existing reality. That's why no explanation is mandatory. The no explanation protocol ensures that you arrive safe and sound, as and when you're ready to do so.

Then what about the g-nome portal access codes?

42 64 33

Yes, that's right. Can't we use them to get in?

You can try - I don't see how it's gonna help.

But...

It's not a zip code or an IP address. It's only of value to those who are already in the loop. Look Evie, I know this is hard to accept but there's really only one way to access g-nomeportal, and that's through your conscious awareness. That's why I recommend flying balls.

But it seems kind of ridiculous throwing a ball backwards and forwards.

Yep. "Kind of ridiculous" is the perfect medicine for anyone hoping to let go of the inflated ego and morbid seriousness of 3D material reality.

But if it were just a case of tossing balls backwards and forwards you'd have all sorts of unlikely people accessing g-nome portal.

Which we do, but there's a difference between people playing with balls for a 3D purpose, and those who are using them to access hyper-dimensionality.

In what way?

Well, when someone's focussing on getting good at juggling, basketball or football, that's where their attention, that's where their energy goes.

So we have to do it differently?

Precisely. It doesn't matter how adept you are with throwing balls, making them fly. They just happen to represent two things which you need to join the quantum stage...

Let me guess - the particle and the wave?

Excellent. And you're the observer, but also the collaborator.

Right. So our job is to find the balance? To begin to sense how the flying balls are neither one nor the other?

Or both.

And how they're not really things flying through space, though they can be perceived as such?

Yep. They're more like field fluctuations.

And how this 3D reality is not really half as finite and determinable as it seems. How, in fact, it's no less indeterminable: a form of energy that is responsive to consciousness?

Good.

And that our conscious awareness can expand beyond the narrowness of the 3D mind, and we can start to access hyper-functions which would seem impossible, if in our right minds?

Yes, yes and yes. It's a case of blowing the mind - but not destructively with violence. It needs to be done playfully - with a higher purpose guiding you. That way you won't get over-excited by strange anomalies which you encounter along the way.

What - like balls floating in mid air?

That and other seeming wonders. You see - you're using the flying balls as a kind of technology, a metaphor or zero point - in order to find what's been eluding you. You're searching for the edge of the reel.

Ah. The elusive end of the sellotape that no one can unpick.

Precisely. Of course, you can once you know what you're looking for. But you've gotta feel your way and be a little patient. Without that patience - you'll get frustrated before you unpick it, every time.

So 3D reality has an edge that can actually be located?

Absolutely. It's a self-imposed construct.

Mind blowing.

Well everything finite has to have an edge. It goes without saying doesn't it?

I dunno. I always assumed that it was somewhere up there in space.

Nonsense. The edge has to be within reach. That's not to say the physical universe doesn't have an edge as such - but you'll never reach it - not by flying in a straight line, at any rate. Actually, the Earth itself is also an edge which is why people sometimes disappear through Earth holes, but that's another story.

So training with flying balls is the best way?

Yep. You need agility of mind, body and spirit. Playing in any shape or form helps to balance you. It's like rubbing play dough into a ball. Your rough edges soon wear away, but more than this, the play is a medium into which you channel your intent. With intent you coordinate breathing, conscious awareness and body movements until you slow down reality, eventually stopping it.

???

Yes - well it's just another way of saying you sync with the wave form of 3D reality.

How on Earth...

Well, once you realise that material reality is a kind of programme or spinning projection, flashing on and off... then you're able to feel how it's interfacing the conscious awareness - it is I am - it's a two way process. Material reality flows into, through and over the conscious awareness, while the conscious awareness sends photon packets of quanta back into the universe of materiality. You might call it a closed loop feedback system. The trouble is the conscious awareness is so much more than most people realise that they never quite catch up with things, and thus remain unaware of the feedback nature of reality - that the universe is only ever responding to you.

Ah.

So, if you're doing something simple, repetitive, graceful and artistic such as tossing balls to one another with the explicit intention of doing so in order to become aware of how the two sides are spinning together as one - sooner or later you arrive at parity. They synchronise and reality seems to stop. That's the point where the average individual will go and see a doctor, assuming she's been training too hard, or worse still, start believing she's some kind of great mystic mage. Then instead of hyper-dimensionality she'll get bogged down in her delusions of 3D grandeur, and start trying to manipulate reality to impress other people or satisfy her personal ambitions. The results are never pleasing.

So what's to prevent me from doing the same?

Well, it all depends on your intentions, doesn't it? If your intention is to unpick the sellotape in order to use it to stick a picture on the wall, then sooner or later that's what you'll do. Likewise here, if you're intention is to access g-nomeportal because you've already outgrown 3D materiality - then nothing's going to stop you.

But how do I know I've outgrown this reality, or it's just my ego taking over?

Well, the ones whose egos have taken over usually find another less peaceful means to locate the edge.

Yes?

Yes. They usually do so through some kind of forced event in which they sacrifice another person or other people to achieve their goal.

You mean like black magic?

Yes, that or black politics. Most of what's going on in the world on the big scale - wars and the likes - have this black magic aspect at play. Someone is aware of what they're doing - but it never leads to freedom, for the soul is excluded when any force is used, so they only have two legs to walk on.

Sounds enough to me.

That's if you're walking in 3D space - but if you're trying to access hyper-dimensions you need mind, body and soul. Otherwise you'll crash in flames. Anyway, the beauty, the joy, the transcendent magic is what comes when you bring the three into balance. It's like the illuminati pyramid.

Oh God - not that!

Yes, but see it another way. When you bring the three together as one - and you do so in a playful, merry, might I even say "gay" manner, then laughter and fragrant light is what you experience. It's expansive and liberating. You start to realise that life's a magical game-like experience which really, in truth, has no limits, none whatsoever, other than those created by our own unwillingness to be whole, and our fear of seeing.

Fear of seeing? Surely everyone wants to see?

Not necessarily, because when the pyramid is complete the eye opens and we see with absolute clarity. That's where the all-seeing eye has its basis in fact.

But why would we be afraid of seeing?

Because to get there we have to first see ourselves thoroughly, through and through - and if we're deep in self-deception... there's no small discomfort in seeing the extent to which we ourselves are in fact responsible for both our personal woes and the greater world's problems too.

But you can't seriously be saying, Merry, that I'm to blame for wars in far flung countries - in Africa or the middle East?

How can it be otherwise? We are, after all, talking about the infinite. In order to access the infinite, to go beyond the cosy confines of limitation, you naturally have to see how all is One - it is - I am.

Well, in theory perhaps...

No less in fact. This is more than theory. This is mathematical certainty.

But I never fired a bullet in my life.

So, instead of trying to work it out here in the 3D mind - you simply need to use flying balls - for once you're busily studying the magics of particle and wave, it'll be easier for your mind-in-matter to let go of the bone of contention it's tightly gripping and start chasing balls in flight it cannot comprehend.

It sounds a recipe for suicide.

Aren't you forgetting something?

I don't know? Am I?

You're true nature - your isness. It's waiting to emerge - like a butterfly from the cocoon. It needs little prompting to start reactivating the DNA codes that will make all the difference, that will lift you out of your flat worldyness - and g-nomeportal is a small yet vital part of this process.

How so?

Because here the game of life and story itself meet and interact; here the spinning wheels of hyper-dimensionality start to be felt, shifting the gravities of matter you're currently experiencing.

Oh.

So, have no fear Evie. If and when you're ready to make the leap and engage g-nomeportal - do so gaily, creatively, magically, and the flying balls will certainly be a valuable tool to help you find the edge of life's sticky, sticky tape.

Margo's donkey - don't ask me why

I say, Merry! Some of your friends are beastly unmannered to say the least! Who was that baffling young fellow who very nearly knocked me off my feet?

Oh, him – he's, er – isn't he nice?

Rude, shallow, impatient – what's so funny?

Nothing to do with you, my reverend friend.

I could have sworn you were laughing at me. I know that twinkle in your eye!

Taking everything personally, - that's where all your troubles come from.

Don't tell me you weren't going to turn and say that I was speaking about myself.

Oh, I wouldn't dream to upset or to tease you. I'm very decent.

Decent? You? Come on old chap, I've spent enough time with you to know your ways.

And what are my ways?

As if you don't know! Mirroring back what I'm saying, that's what!

Fascinating.

(aside) I must be saying something jolly foolish. That sheer boredom in his voice!

Of course you are saying something jolly foolish – but don't let it stop you. We don't need the sterile highways of thoughts, we are forging through the bushy jungles of the unknown, heading to the golden Eldorado of Isness, and who cares if we forge a scene or two on our way? That's out right and delight – so feel free to be foolish.

Really, your metaphors – hey! Did you hear my aside?!

Um, yes – asides are where all the good stuff is, wouldn't you agree?

They are supposed to be private, you know.

No – they aren't. Not when you are in charge of the scene.

Never claimed I was.

No, you just accepted it automatically – by joining me.

Fine print?

Kind of. So, er, what was it you were saying about my ways?

That they are about myself – that is, feeding back my feedback.

Really? How's that?

COME ON MERRY!!! Nobody's that stupid. Do I have to answer?

Imagine I'm one of them school teachers. They do ask silly questions, don't they, and kids have to answer. Take it easy.

Sorry. I don't know what made me roar like that. So it is true, I am rude and angry, and I am a dumbass who lacks any discipline – so that's why I was so annoyed by that  id... by that chap.

He's a promising lad though, wouldn't you say? Isn't he promising?

He is absolutely hopeless, and I don't know why you would waste your time on him!

Never think afore you speak, is that your motto?

Oh – I – I didn't mean that.

Of course you did. That's why you said it. That's great – grand – so don't be shy, let it all out. Hopeless, eh?

Merry – oh, Merry –

Yes? That's me.

Oh Merry – I'm hopeless. I know I am. I get angry so easily and I speak rubbish all the time – I'm just a clumsy little troll compared with you. It's really nice of you to try to teach me -

Nobody's teaching you – save yourself.

Guide me, then. You are the most wonderful guide I could dream of –

(aside) You are dreaming.

Am I?.. Anyway – I'm really, truly grateful – but when I see your nonchalant magic, your impeccable foolery – and then see the more clearly what a braying donkey I am – oh, Merry – and calling that young kettle black! So what if he left me a bruise or so in a fit of ill temper? I've no call to be offended, I'm no better than him – no, I'm just the same! Just the same!..

Have you finished your brooding?

(a sullen nod)

Good, let's see if anything's about to hatch, then.

(without any warning Merry hits his friend with such art that the latter tumbles over and finds himself standing on his hands, upside-down. No matter how he kicks the air he simply can't get on his feet again)

Calm down, lad. Gravity is gravity, you're not going to fly into the sky. Relax. Now – our hands are trained to feel. So use your hands to feel your connection with the ground. Do that. Trace that. Don't worry about blood coming to your head. Let it circulate. Yes – you are hopelessly stupid. We all are. Let your feet be like balloons. Relax. Breathe normally. That's fine. Yes – you are hopelessly full of pain and anger. But don't let it stop you. Be aware, not afflicted. Unwind yourself. That's right. Aren't you magical! Right. And yes – you are just like that boy.

So that was me after all, that unfortunate lad.

Nope. That was me.

You?!

Steady on, don't lose your balance. That might be fatal.

But – you! There's nothing more far from you than that angry dumbass!

And yet that angry dumbass is really me. Ah, good old times!

I don't understand.

There's nothing to understand. It's easy as a doornail.

Easy as a doornail? That's new.

But still easy. You didn't think I was any different from you, did you?

Uh – to be honest, that's exactly what I think. But the difference is simply tremendous! That arrogant fellow – and you!

Mind-boggling, isn't it.

What happened? What caused such transmutation? A faery stepped on your head? A witch dropped you in her cauldron? What? What?

Not-what. That's who we originally are – even if we have to invent ourselves anew.

Well – it might be your case but I wasn't born with magic in my blood!

Didn't you see the young fellow? There's not a shred of magic about him – and yet he is the Merry you know and adore.

Yes, but you're – you're an alien, a faery...

Not really. I be what I be – don't bother. I am many things and many nothings. Just like you are.

I'm not!

Love your Italiano gesticulattio. The most convincing. Capisci?

Look, I – wait, how can I be gesticulating if I'm standing on my hands?

(and then he notices he's been flying all along)

Yep.

Time to invent yourself – freely.

Time to fly – shamelessly.

Time to be – truly.

See you.

Ciao!