I've been doing a lot of musing lately, with pen and paper and one of the understandings I have managed to work out is a parable of sorts. Now for those of you who will understand this, it caries a message for those who were raised in the 20th century. More the last quarter of the century than the latter is where it really hits home, but here it is...
Picture yourself sitting in front of a large 110" monitor, and before you is a list of options to choose from for your character. Oh did I mention you are building a character which you will be able to go into and experience whatever it is you choose to experience through this character.
You see the choices laid out before you and you begin the selection. Who is it making the selection you might ask, and you would be well to do so. Let's leave it at this; the one making the choices is the one who is going to experience the choices made. So laid out before you comes the list, and at first you see it and feel like a kid in a candy store as you begin making your selections... "I want some of this, and some of that, and OMG yes I want a lot of that please..."
Do you desire to experience Love? What kinds of Love do you desire to experience? Do you wish to experience Lust? What level of lust do you desire to experience? How about happiness? Yes! Okay, check, we want to experience happiness. How about sadness? Yes, we want to experience some of that as well, if for no other reason than to sweeten the experience of happiness. Who is to say what the reasons are for anyone to wish to experience what they choose, but they do. Do you wish to feel like a hero? If so how will you do this if no one steps up and agrees to be rescued? Then, a match, someone comes forth and says, "yes, I'll be your damsel in distress."
All too often we forget, that for every experience we have here in the grand amusement park, there must be someone who is willing to come forth and and say yes, I'll walk through this experience with you. As we go through the list, right there before our eyes we see a 3D model of a Human Suit. This is the suit our character will wear throughout the lifespan of the game/play/time here in the park. As you choose more of the experiences you wish to have the form revolves before your eyes, taking shape, slowly at first... It appears at first gender-less but then, in the time period you have chosen to experience the life you desire, you say "I wish to know motherhood" and poof, gender established!
There before you a female of the species begins to take shape, you choose the hair color, eye color, body type, all of it. Then, once you have chosen all you wish to experience in the park, you pick the point on the time-line you wish to experience your desires. There are so many choices, each one altering ever so slightly the human suit, the cast of players, the supporting roles you will play as you go along and so much more. As you receive your final instructions prior to boarding the water-slide into the park you hear the following instructions...
"You can take nothing into the park with you."
"You can own nothing of the park while you are there."
"You can bring nothing home from the park when you leave."
You smile to yourself knowing this ain't your first rodeo...
Then it happens...
Wheeeee...... and as you are headed down the water-slide you hear, "Go into the Light...!"
Moments later you find yourself in the park and the adventure begins. You see the one who agreed to be your mother figure as she takes you to her breast and for that moment you exist in two worlds. You try to recall how you arrived at this place, and for that moment all seems right with the world. You wriggle the toes of your brand new human suit and look up as if to say thank you and you realize you don't have the words yet. Days pass, then weeks and months as the memory of your time in front of the machine of choosing fades and you cross over to be fully in the moment and nothing is ever the same again.
Years pass and you grow into the being you chose, having the experiences you chose. Love comes in all its forms and lust and joy and pain. Somewhere you read something which reminds you that this temporal time is first one thing, and then another. You delve fully into the beliefs of the times and get caught up fully in the days, and oh the nights...
Somewhere in the back of your mind there is a nagging feeling that you have forgot something very important, but it is brushed aside like yesterdays menu at the local Chinese takeout. Years pass and life goes on as life does, experiencing moments in an endless stream, one after the next, cataloging them, remembering them, cherishing them. Then something changes and you look in the mirror and realize the reflection is no longer one of youth. Time has begun to write its name in the wrinkles around your eyes and priorities begin to shift.
At first fear comes to you when you realize that time has passed you by and there is so much left undone, unsaid. Time you imagine has now become the enemy and not the friend it once was in youth. So much has happened, lost in the haze of half remembered recollections and through it all there was something in the back of your mind, reminding you that there was something you had somehow forgotten Then you lay your head to rest and you see a warm, familiar light, glowing. People are applauding your performance, you look out into the light and take a bow and then, as if you were never not there you step gingerly into the light and like a child have only one request... "I wanna go again"..
Then...
Then...
