"Just a reminder. If the energy isn't flowing forward, then it's lost, because the energy invested in the future will be there when you get there, but energy invested in the past is someplace you'll never go again. And yes, I know there is no time, but I speak of flow, not time--of patterns yet to be, not patterns already known.

"Yes... no... yes... no... I don't know. I am confused. Because all existence, if examined closely and deeply, is confusing. If it weren't, we'd know it all already. Confusion is a great mark of being in touch with reality. If it doesn't baffle, it's not the future. If it's a waffle, it's not flat like a pancake. You can't have a settled frontier... or an established pioneer." (10/20/2001 - B#35)



TJ:

"Gracious citizens, I rise on this occasion to say blech. I would have farted but I was told it was gross. In my time, a good fart or belch was well appreciated. Now you have much colon and stomach cancer and ulcers. Is their implication of a link true. Anyway, I have come to be more serious than I seem.

"One of the prerequisites of true democracy is always an absence of fear. Choices and decisions made in fear are never the truest representatives of one's visions or hopes. They are expedients only. They seek very immediate ends without regard to means, while democracy craves longterm ends by only such means which embrace those ends themselves.

"If one does but a cursory search of history, one quickly sees that decisions made out of fear lead to disaster. So, always ask of oneself... or one's elf... 'Do I decide from fear or hope.' If fear be the answer, you may still choose; but know it is only a temporary expedience that will require later remediation." (10/29/2001 - W#225)



"Just a simple thought about Halloween: Maybe it's not that we all are closer to the living; maybe the living are paying more attention to us. We are always here... and there. But y'all aren't always here... much less there. Focus the energy and see what you can see." (10/31/2001 - I#44)



Papa:

"Hi. Hinky dinky parlez-vous. Surprise. I'm dead and loving it. Been here a long time... 6 years, count 'em... and one off for bad behavior. Anniversary time, that's why I'm here. And despite her objections I sing, 'Don't cry for me, New Hyde Park. I never left you.' I tried but I couldn't. You know what this place needs, a diner and a chiropractor. I do have a basement. Big and cluttered with lots of equipment.

"LD and I were working on something. Boy, is that guy smart. But when I told him my work had landed on the moon, he just whistled. As Ralph Cramden would say, 'To the moon.' But it is a mutual admiration society. So, wanted to say hi. I still see Don and he sees me, and we fly. He's full of piss and sweat and more than enough beer, so to speak. And now with much to do, here's her. I think of you and that tricycle." (11/24/2001 - W#226)



"Parallel Lives 101. First, they are only parallel in the finite sense, but approach unity in infinity. But that's another story. Ok, picture this, tee hee. You are like a photographic negative (but don't read anything into the word negative, I use it to convey the sense of latent image). So, at this spirit level, you arrive with a latent image of spirit self, and from that latent image can be fashioned an infinite number of images that are not latent, but actual. Ok, like a photo that gets printed from a negative. Let's say you had a picture developed of Uncle Ned and Aunt Beatrice being naughty before their nuptials. So you say to yourself, 'Self, I need some copies made.' But Self is distracted, and at the photo counter puts down 100 instead of 1. So when you come back, you get 100 prints... ooops... but it's in your handwriting, so you pay and take them all. Now, which one is the real one.

"Ok, whilst you ponder that, someone calls up and says, 'I hear you got a photo the Enquirer could use.' So you sell one, and send one with a strange note cut from newspapers to Ned and Beatrice, mentioning some money. Then you send one each to the 32 cousins not mentioned in Ned's will. You drop one on a bus in Ashtabula, and 4 are left as bookmarks in overdue novels with the Wichita library. One becomes a coaster for Tom Collins. At some point, your landlady throws several out, and they take up residence in the Trenton landfill. One is used as an illustration in a textbook on incest. Another becomes a model for Tiffany, as he creates a window. Two more disappear on a trip to Lap Land. And the rest are somewhere. Which one is the real one.

"Ok. Time passes. Each print... except maybe one eaten by rats in Trenton... has its own reality, its own story, its own history. It is playing out a reality as factual as any other. All are true. And, in general, no 2 of them cross paths... except at the reading of Uncle Ned's will. Aha. Some parallel realities become unified... and a class action suit occurs, but that's not important now. More time passes. A print becomes an archive, another languishes in an evidence room, many become compost and help flowers grow stronger at Exit 52 of the Garden State Parkway. And which reality is the real one.

"Now multiply this infinitely, and you got the picture, so to speak. From our spiritual emergence as an entity of this complexity, multiple realities reach out. Some will seem parallel forever, others will tend to converge, and others diverge. You only sense totally as real one, but since in field theory all pieces related have a 'knowledge' of each other, you sense the rest, but only vaguely, until some piece converges. Suddenly, you know something you didn't experience. Aha, convergence. We sometimes intersect with those other realities, but do not converge--a sudden sense of connection and insight, and then it is gone, and we only remember what we incorporated. Other times it is like a newly found pathway is ours forever thereon.

"And here's the kicker: What happens in Apparent Reality 1 is influential on Apparent Reality 2--even if 1 does not know about, converge, or intersect with 2. All the parallel lives at a spiritual level of a specific entity (and remember, they are not really parallel), all are within a system or field. So it is not really a matter of so many lives, but facets of one spirit. But, caught as we are in lives, we see only the particulars, and we hold up our copy of the photo as if it's the one and only and whole factual finite truth, and say 'I know what Ned and Beatrice did,' while we don't notice that the next image on the next negative would give us a photo showing it was all staged and a gag. Remember, the totality of all your parallel lives is in a unity, but that unity is only one out of an infinite number of unities, etc., etc., etc.." (11/29/2001 - I#45)



"Now, on to charts and plans and choices. This is somewhat easier, tee hee. Yes, there is a chart of your life, chosen before you live. But. This is not so simple. There are actually 2 chart components: you and possibility. Let's take you first. Which one. Ok, take all of yous.

"As I just said, there are many yous in you. So, you arrive in this specific life with a more or less complex set of experiences in this spiritual level, which is an overlay on the latent image of your spiritual entity with which you arrived. Like with the photos, you brought an image, and there were an infinite number of prints. And now consider that some had moustaches and eyeglasses drawn on them by experience, and some had fake zits added, etc. So now you come to this life with the latent image and the accruals of your lives and, of course, the influences of all your other lives, now and before. So there is a chart of you, but boy what a mess. You tell me how you get a straight answer from that. It's a resource, not a compelling plan.

"And then there is your life chart... wellll, let's just give this analogy: You get up one morning in Tuscaloosa, and you say, 'I have decided to go to Eugene' (which is a place, not a person). So, you make a choice of life chart. But the choice is not of a single Trip Tik, but a choice of either AAA or Continental or Rand McNally or Delorme. And then you have to decide: on foot, bike, car, train, plane, bus, thumb, boat, armchair, and off you go. Chart... wellll. You choose the resources, but not the specific details because, you see, when you started, you planned to go by North Platte, but outside of it the skies open and ooops, no bridge. So now you are taking a different route using the chosen resources, but not the specifics. Footnote, n.b. John Candy, Trains, Planes, and Automobiles.

"And what are the charts of life like. Not maps, but things like myths, faiths, religions, philosophies, ethics, culture, etc.--elements that inform our journeys at all stages, and especially help us find our way when the bridge is out, so to speak. That is why it is often hard, or next to impossible, to change some aspects of how we interact with life because they are the charts we brought with us to this life. So activities like dieting or exercise or etc. don't really relate because we are talking about the journey here, not the destination, and about sensing unity with our values throughout, for they are the ultimate chart. All other systems are but manifestations of values. And that's all I have to say about that." (11/29/2001 - I#46)



Ericka's Bench 12/17/2001

PK:

"Actually, I have had many initials. Been alive a lot. Guess I'm a slow learner. But that's my point. If time is not the measure of existence, then what is. How about existence--which is the growing complexity of spiritual meaning.

"There is no comparison. I take 50 lives to get ready, and someone else takes 5. Think of it this way: Someone gets ready for a party and takes all day. Someone else takes an hour. Knowing this, can you predict which will have the better time at the party. No, could go either way. The slower one might have added some other experiences in the process, and the faster one would have had time for other experiences... or not on both counts. So I am suggesting that we need to drop the concept of `old souls' and `fast learners,' and think instead about those who seem to have their spiritual acts together; because we can't tell if they are old or new. Wise, yes. Insightful, yes. But we can't say if they've seen many lives. Nobody knows the trouble I've seen... and I could've seen it in one life or many.

"What makes the difference. Just time and time doesn't matter, so there! You know those kids who can read at 3 and those who learn to read at 5. Studies tell us that at 7 you can't differentiate between the two. Get it. Good! Bye-bye." (12/17/2001 - W#227)

G:

"Just call me G. In one of my lives I was a shepherd. Actually, in another life I was a sheep... but that's another story. Now, where do you think I herded sheep. I was outstanding in the field. Ok, we got the field part, now where was the field... and I don't want any crap about the field being in a field of being. Let's get physical. It has 'Middle' in it and it ain't Middle Earth. It is Middle East. Ok, Judea, Judia, Judora, Judiena... it had many names--including 'the pits'--but I was in the field.

"So, where were we. O, in the field in Judea with about 187 sheep... about... I lost count. Now you've got the picture, right. And this was when. Two millennia ago. Right, yes, hills of Judea. Quirinius was governor in those days, and Augustus was Caesar... not Sid. Ok, you got the picture. So, one night, just at the time of the census... and boy were the roads packed. Wished I had been in the inn business. I was out with the sheep--in the field, as you may remember--and guess what happened. Nothing. Nothing. So I forgot that night. So how come I can tell you about it. Because it was one of many forgettable nights with those 187 sheep--so much the same I can forget and remember at the same time. But later on, in another life, I was sitting in an orchard with Isaac Newton and wham he got the old apple on the noggin and I did, too. And with that he became famous... and I had also a career in science as a case study in induced insanity. And in another life in 1775, I was a delegate to the Continental Assembly and later signed the Declaration.

"And the point of all this is? We don't all have to be at the big points of history to learn from them. We just have to be present in our own lives, and then the learning moments will come that we need. If all of us had been by the manger, oy vey what a crowd. So in any moment we need those who are doing the decisive defining stuff of the moment, and we need all the rest just doing and being. Hey, want some good mutton. Bye." (12/17/2001 - W#228)

Rikkity: "Ok, here's a spirit of few words who was a mime."

Spirit draws a picture: A large circle, a point in the center, and a spiral that moves out from the center to the edges in widening circles. Then a diagonal line moves across the circle.

Rikkity: "Who will explain that. A former art critic."

DR:

"What we witnessed here was an elegant portrayal of human spirit moving from particularity to universality along an ever-enlarging spiral, in which all points of the whole become visible over time, but only approached not in linearity but in a kind of sideways glance. Our focus ahead only lets us see the whole tangentially. So the goal is never truly ahead. But, moving ahead we can become one with the whole and the goal.

"Get it. You face where you are going, and that is not your ultimate goal. But in going ahead you see, out of the corner of your spirit, the whole. And, in the fullness of time, the journey to particulars leads you to the universal. Buy my book. Bye." (12/17/2001 - W#229)



Ericka's Bench 1/1/2002

GW:

"Good day to you, sir and madam. Who would have thought about 2002 back then. And the stupid idea to call the capitol Adamsville... or Jeffersonia. Thank goodness I was the first. And not Georgia.

"So, let's pose a question: When did I become President? Wrong! Whatever you say, if it has a date, is wrong. I became President that night at Valley Forge, and on that day at Duquesne, and crossing the stupid river, and in Congress, and so many other times and places. Without that field of before it would not have been. And another question: When did my presidency end? Wrong! I am still quoted, and many of my initiatives continue.

"Life is not a series of endings and beginnings, but a flow of related events. Some would say, 'You must end one chapter before you begin another,' but not even novels are written like that. So, look for the flow not the points... unless you are playing darts. And with that I welcome my bosom friend and life partner, M." (1/1/2002 - W#230)

MW:

"Hello, hubby. Watch, I'll kiss him and he will blush. He's such a softy. A man of heart as well as mind and limb.

"What G said is true in matters of the heart as well. When did you become a parent. Not at the birth, but hidden in the recesses of all your past. And will you ever stop being one, no. You are changed forever by not only each child in each life, but also by the simple act of seeing yourself as parent. The qualities of identity do not flow from circumstance but rather from understanding. Ponder that.

"A childless person can, therefore, be a parent in spirit. Most of us knew an aunt or uncle who, though childless, was a parent. And so it is with many other roles. Here, let this kind gentleman explain more." (1/1/2002 - W#231)

LD:

"Hello-a. It is I, LD. I never had an original idea. All my ideas were original. Both are true. Nothing springs from nothing, yet everything arises in fresh awareness of possibility. I did not invent logs. I did not invent rope. I did not determine the tables of trigonometry. And yet I did bring into being a bridge of a design not shown before, and not known before; but certainly possible before. Possible because of those other things, and they because of others. Nothing arises on its own... except Twinkies. No, no, no, no. She made me say that.

"So, the trick is not to start something new but to release what is already but not yet. All circumstance is pregnant. I but a midwife be. Randy used that analogy recently, and I liked it so I used it. And now those who read history will think you stole it from me... or not. And those who think that way don't have time down at all. And here-a is he-a." (1/1/2002 - W#232)

MCP:

"Hello-a. You like-a my hat-a. Is New Year, yes? I just come-a to. There were many years when I did not know precisely the start of the year. But guess what, it started without me. And so the day does not matter, only if you travel wisely and when you arrive you are fully attendant.

"Sometimes we would think we were arriving days late on our journey, only to come to the port just as things were happening. Had they happened before we arrived? Didn't matter. Did they happen after we left? Maybe but didn't matter. Only what happened while we were there mattered and, since the present contains past and future, was ok. Just that. And now, here-a she is-a." (1/1/2002 - W#233)

Rikkity: "Hi Mom and Dad. Moooo. Happy Happy. And what a year we will have. But what year will we have? Give me a call and we'll talk, but for now a group bow. And later, dude."



"How come peeps think auras are all in the visible spectrum. Some are so low they are audible, and some so high they are physical. We all radiate energy, but not all of it is visible. And for some, little is. Just because you don't see it, don't assume it's about you not seeing it. Maybe it isn't there in that way." (1/14/2002 - I#47)



"Do auras have auras. Everything has an energy field, so why not energy fields--like ever-slighter ripples going outward. Big dogs have little fleas who bite 'em, and little fleas have littler fleas, and so ad infinitum... grrrr... snap... one less.

"A person dies... plunk. The body gets taken away... wwrrrr (siren). Then later you go to their favorite place and smell them: aura. And suddenly you have a sense of light: aura's aura... which is not Walla Walla... Bora Bora. That's it, I quit." (1/18/2002 - R#37)



"More suicides are disassembled than others. The system just doesn't hold--often sustained for years on external energy. But when the candle burns low for most, it is just a dark day... but for some it is the end of existence.

"Here's a thought that is sure to be controversial, but hey I'm not shy... grrrrr. Go, dog... gggrrrrrrr. When those who have seen it, speak of going to the light, the light is not an external source--like God as a separate entity--but it is the light of one's own being; an awareness at last, without fears and blinders and physical limitations, of what is essentially us: great piercing energy. We walk through the tunnel from the physical into our own gleaming presence. But alas, those caught in darkness without the balanced set of personal... or should I say entital... energies, do not go to the light, for there is no light that is internal to them sufficient to sustain the entity. Or, when you are an entity and truly fit together, you have spiritual energy beyond bounds, contained only in the physical world by your physicality. Whoa.

"But there will be many who want and need and insist to see the light as separate. But... but... but if we are always a part of All That Is, then there is nothing separate. And why can't we affirm that we are the light. Why can't we step back and say, 'Whoa, we're good.' God is reputed to have done that--created, stopped, and said, 'Whoa, it's good.' Well, if it's good enough for God, it's good enough for me! So there. I've said enough.

"Some stupid pride crap keeps us from affirming our goodness. And also a lack of faith in self--which is another name for fear. Ponder that. We are afraid of our own goodness and potential. But some, like Buddha and Mohammed and Jesus, got it. The Kingdom of God is in YOU! So, I guess I've said enough for today." (1/22/2002 - R#38)



"Duh, I don't have no brain. This is not thinking. Only you think so. Ponder: A highly integrative expression of the spiritual reality, which is infused with experience and insight, but not necessarily with cognition and analysis." (2/2/2002 - V#64)



"Your energy is just a fragment of what we get. People think that being spiritual is limiting because we aren't physical, but actually, being physical--trapped in only a small spectrum of energies--is limiting. Whether your communication comes through sound or light makes very little difference, compared to other things.

"Can I communicate with less complex entities, yes and no. And the answer is so simple, you'll go duh. Let's say you have WordPerfect 5.1. Can it read files from 3.1, yes. But can its files be read by 7, yes. But can it read 7's, no. So, I can understand what those less complex are expressing; and I can communicate with them, but I have to dumb down (use more rudimentary methods). But I can't do the same with more complex. I can 'hear' them, and they can understand me, but I can't understand them at their level. Just like adults and little kidchips... have 2 or 3 or 4, they're small. So now say it: duh. That's all it is. Just like someone who knows English and Italian can speak with both, but if they speak Italian, the English won't understand and will cook the pasta for 40 minutes. But hey, when you've got no teeth, what does al dente mean.

"I can 'hear' those at more complex levels when they, so to speak, 'speak' in my level. And they sound like parents with a 2-year-old, or talking with a foreigner loudly and slowly... maybe that's the last thing learned and remembered. They contact us. We don't call them; they're unlisted. Look, don't you get some glimpses of things beyond belief. And all those voices the religious folk get (angels, hint hint). I mean, do you want to be visionary about advanced entities, or just earlier entities of your same product line. Peeps mistake the Clarences for the Gabriels. Some guide and help, like senior hall monitors. Others come back for Career Day, like wise graduates. And others appear as great, sage, motivational speakers. All appear angelic, but they are not the same. There are peers, and then there are the peerless ones. And the peerless ones are just commoners from greater complexity, visiting to give us a glimpse, a peek, and some really dumbed-down language: 'Be not afraid, for I bring you good tidings.' *retch* If you were that complex, do you think you would say that to anyone other than the slow-spirited. But you can't tell the difference. If you could, you'd be more complex. And voices on records played backwards are neither angels nor demons... unless they say, 'RRRikkkitttyyyy issss ttthhhhhe bbbbessssttt.'

"The voices and images mediums get don't come through physical sound and light. They come through a complex process called ATT (Angelic Truth Transfer). What you hear is what you hear.... except for him... and that. Go figure. If I had known, I wouldn't have gone there. But beggars--as much as they are liked--are no better than choosers, but that's moot. I digress, which is good." (2/6/2002 - I#48)



"Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye. You want sense? Ok, then ponder how there can be a continuity of spirit across different entity levels. Because nothing is ever lost. There is a total conservation of all spirit--even those that get disassembled. And in the enhancement process, nothing is lost. It is learn and remember, which means retained. And even what we learn to move beyond we retain, because otherwise the learning would have no context. It is always cumulative--even those who get poofed. Since they didn't learn anything, nothing is lost... except a small brown terrier near the bandshell in Cedar Rapids. But we think he was actually a tsar, hiding from the Bolsheviks.

"Something gets lost, but then we find it... like a memory of the way we were. My tummy got big, but I don't have a tummy, but I remember my tummy. So I can say it got big, even though I don't have one. See. Just as you can now speak of the child you were, although you're no spring chicken no more. Wellll, not all channels are that clear. It's more of a Jungian thingie (collective unconscious). The collective unconscious is from then ... and archetypes... and Archie comics. You always translate to your level of development; because otherwise those pieces of understanding would seem utterly stupid, simple, banal, or duh. But even duh has essential truth in it. What got you through the slime and mire is useful... or not." (2/24/2002 - I#49)



Sandy:

"You can't understand animals because you're small brains. Got to be great to understand us. In all the myths, only the gods could understand us." (2/24/2002 - W#234)



Rikkity: "Disclaimer: CT is a wonderful spirit, and actually more evolved than I. Otherwise he would become angry and defensive at all I say. And he loves me. We allow our spirits to mingle *blush blush.* Hey, I'm being very serious here. I would never say such things about some others less ready to move on. He da man... and he da woman." (2/24/2002 - W#235)



LD:

"Hello. You wanted to ask me about mind and body. I saw it all as part of a whole that also included spirit and other stuff--vapors and humours and spirits. I also liked spirits... a little grapa... but that's another answer.

"Only with the rise of the Western mind-set of separating levels of workers did a clear dualism emerge; but it was presaged by the Christian notions of sin and salvation, and also a 'quick and dead' (another pre-dualism). It emerged most forcefully with the economic growth of differentiated labor. And slave owners bought into it, but slaves did not. I ask you, how do you separate the idea of work from the actual work unless you actually separate the 2 into roles for 2 different people. On the old farm the planter was also the reaper, but in industry the weaver was not the seller. Homespun was integrated but cotton cloth was not.

"And so when Lucy and Ethel had to make chocolates they were not part of a whole, but just parts. I somewhat invented the assembly line but meant it to help a team work together--not parts working separately. When the dualism was imposed it took root. 'Hunters, stand here; gatherers, over there.' But they each saw the whole... or, in the case of gravediggers, the hole. The product was not evident in the work. Enough." (3/17/2002 - W#236)



LD:

"Dualism. It takes 2 to tango... unless you have two spirits. Then you can be dualistic with thyself... or thy elf. Take an elf, paint him gaudily, and you get a gnome. So, yes. What.

"Why do some many think in dualisms when they live in a multidimensional world. Could it be that they only experience 2 dimensions at a time because their experiences are so fragmented. I don't know. People with integrated lives are less likely to be prejudiced, seeing only bi-dimensionally. And some are lucky to get 2 dimensions." (3/20/2002 - W#237)



Ericka's Bench 3/25/2002

GF:

"Hello-a, but I no-a MCP-a.... no-a LD-a. They just-a silly 2 boys. I'm GF. I come-a to... wait, I try-a your speech. Is this better. This is hard.

"LD, MCP, who is the better. I tell you about a time when such were more common, and I was one. There come times in the human community when those living in bodies have a higher ratio of evolved spirits. No way to predict, because the lives that lead up to then always have different possibilities. Even on a deathbed someone may finally get the clues arranged in the right order. (Wasn't that what Jesus said, and everybody thought it was about salvation instead.) And in all the parallel realities of different outcomes, ripples of intensity of spiritual evolution roll like waves across time... or whatever that is. So in Reality 1 it may be a peak time of fulfillment, and in 2 a trough, and in 3 whatever--each reality with its own periodicity. But in each reality there are waves of diverse length, which rise and fall and interfere and conflict and build. And sometimes you get a lot of evolved spiritual energy, and other times not much.

"Ok. Think about Bach's time. Lots of good music being made, of which he was but one. Then think about the '80s--but a pit in the musical landscape. Peak and valley. MCP came riding in on the rising tide that later crested with LD. They are expressions of the same wave of spiritual fulfillment--each as dependent as the other for the wave to support their lives. Without the context MCP would have been a mediocre trader, and LD probably some backwater blacksmith. The tides of spiritual development raise individual fulfillment to heights of greatness. And yes, they raise lower levels to mediocrity. So, a mediocre person may be 'not much' surfing on the waves of the greatness of others. And when the troughs come, even greatness can't get a break. Can we say 'Dark Ages.' Thanks. And as she-a says-a, ponder that-a. Ciao." (3/25/2002 - W#238)

LW:

"Hi. Why am I here. Let's just say I've been there, done that. I'm LW. I'm tired. Look, I was a lighthouse keeper in Rhodes. Had a falling out... like out the window. Then, in another life I was a lookout on a ship. Went for the drink... or should I say, in the drink, when we went down on the rocks. Ouch. I was a scout for the Lost Patrol. Get the picture. I tried over and over again to be the eyes and ears for others, but since I was blind and deaf this was a bad career choice. Wait, I could see and hear. This is figurative. If I were blind, only blind people themselves could be fooled--and that's another story, about how often we choose life guides who we can't sense have the same limitations as we.

"But back to the story. Until I finally realized that maybe what I needed to learn and remember was not about my deficits but about my talents. Shit, all those tiresome lives spent on the wrong lessons. So, I think I've got it: Go back without presumption and see what life calls me to, not what I call out to life for. And if I don't get it... o damn, I'm tired. Thanks for listening, and thinking. We often try to control instead of listening, thinking we know better." (3/25/2002 - W#239)

Rikkity: "Now, one who thinks she knows better."

Tea lady: "One lump or 2. It's just me, with all of you to wait on. So, drink and go. Advice? Look, does this look like some headshrinker's. Do you get tea at your doctor's. Get a grip on reality, missy. Finished, good. Goodbye. Closing time. Ta-ta. Close the door."

Rikkity: "And last, but not least, an old friend."

MW:

"Hello. I always miss my Virginia in spring. The dogwood, the azaleas, the rotting manure, George tracking mud in the house. But just a simple thought this day, ok.

"We all feel called to greatness. But how do we know if the call is to be about our greatness or about our appreciation of greatness. I will use my husband as an example. He was called to greatness, but his greatness would have meant nothing without those who were called and appreciated his greatness. If everyone were to be general or president, then no one would be. He could only be general if others would follow his orders. But then he was only a follower to his supreme general, who walked in ancient Galilee and in his heart. If he had tried to be Christ, he would have been neither Christ nor general. We are called to our own greatness and the appreciation of the greatness of others. And remember, no carpet can long sustain our tread without the strength of the unseen, common, undyed, back fibers. The greatness of the carpet is in both the highlighted pattern and the firm backing. Which is greater, both. And now, would you like some calm tea time... ah.

"We know we are called to greatness by the ease of our being. I do not mean the absence of work and effort, but the seamless flow of our selves into life. When all the greatest efforts seem effortless, time dissolves, obstacles fade, connection emerges, and energy spent is returned manifold. Or to put it bluntly, you will know it when it's true; and if you have to ask it's not. I must leave. Goodbye." (3/25/2002 - W#240)



"Why do the skeptics allow the scientists to tell them what to believe. Dogma is dogma, even with numbers." (4/2/2002 - I#50)



"Speaking of such dualism, anything less than a pluralism or a unity is just a variation on dualism in multi dimensions. Two dimensions, two poles, dualism. Three dimensions, three poles, dualism... etc., etc., etc.. So, in an infinite setting, anything less than totality is dualism. See the whole. Get it?

"Most don't see the whole; they see the whole of the last level. Ponder that. The familiar... and Familia, with cream." (4/14/2002 - I#51)



Ericka's Bench 4/15/2002

MW:

"Good afternoon. It is always a pleasure to have your company. It is I, as you have surmised. And I have come to continue a thoughtful process which has lingered--this idea of there being only two choices in matters of importance; what you call 'dualism.' For example, live or dead. But do not the two bleed into each other. Some have come here but live in the hearts of others, and some are still there but dead to the world. But I wish to consider truth.

"So many want to consider and know what is true and what is false, but often it is a blend of both. There is precious little which is only true; precious little which is true without any lack of truth. Most things we consider true are some truth mixed with the unknown. So, when someone wants an answer to something they usually want to know it as if it were true, not with some level of condition upon it. And even those who understand this want to understand this as an absolute understanding. But except for the love of the divine, all else is in process of being revealed, and is not absolute. And this is as true in the esoteric sciences as in the physical ones. Many spiritual answers must now be as grey as any other. If you want black or white, welcome to delusion.

"Ponder all things until you know they must always be pondered. Accept answers for their ability to let you live, not for their absolute truth--until that point in our development when I shall not know anything as separate, and I am one with the truth and with all else. Ponder this, and fare thee well." (4/15/2002 - W#241)

CB:

"Hello. I don't know why I am talking to you. O yes... O, sure... she just told me.

"I was listening to M, and I thought about how little she and I have in common. I was Asian, poor, uneducated, and lived only 23 years. And many of the things she tells me as if true were not true for me. And yet, when I see those who lived in my own area and time I have much in common. I often wonder if our eyes do not see differently and our ears do not hear differently. So much is a product of life, and how foolish it is to try to speak of universals from our own lives. But what to do then. Should we look to the lives of others. Buddha never knew my life, so how could his wisdom bring real truth to me. It is always a guessing game, what applies and what is best forgotten. And yet, over time, so much wisdom accumulates.

"I have come to understand this: If one must place a truth in context, it is not a truth. If you must understand the story or the people, then it is a truth for those people in that story. Only that which all would see or hear and know is truth. And then it is so simple. No big words, just big feelings. And the biggest truths are always yet to be, waiting in the little understandings and the big words until they can become big understandings in little words. I am finished." (4/15/2002 - W#242)

Rikkity: "I thought she was different... but different from what. Ok, one last guest today. A great pilot and parking attendant."

Papa:

"Hi babe. She's mean but cute... that smile and giggle. Hi. Thanks for the memories. Good not to be forgotten. In light of what some of these smart folks have been saying, I want to add my 2 cents... but you'll have to pay half.

"When I was working on projects I was always amazed by the smart boys who kept talking about a breakthrough. And they would look long and expensively at things outside of our project, but I would keep staring at our work. You see, I always said, 'The answer must be in here somewhere.' It wasn't like it wasn't there, but just that we couldn't see it. And so, while they were staring into space, I usually found it. Like so much. People think the answer they need will come from somewhere else, but it's right in front of them.

"If you really and truly believe in abundance, the answers are already here. All the keys to all the locks you can imagine are on the keyring in your hands. I guess that's all. Ok, that's good, and don't forget, hang by your thumbs." (4/15/2002 - W#243)



"An energy trough is about change. And since people fear change, it's related to fear. Fear is a symptom. But 'I'll remove the cause, but not the symptom.' So long after the trough is gone, the fear of being in it lingers. And most great achievements occur, not on the upswing of the crest, but riding out the energy of the crest as it begins to move trough to trough. So the seeming greatness is usually a product of the crest, not the cause of it. You ride the waves, not the swells. And waves are crests moving to oblivion.

"So, the fear is a memory of the experience of the trough, where everything is uphill, but that fear is only known later, when some of the uphill is already achieved. The social emotions, like personal ones, live with an experience lag. You know people who live on through the worst, then collapse when the worst is over. I think that is eeenough." (4/19/2002 - R#39)



"Know your spirit and honor it. And see who gives off energy and who takes it in. And negativity tries to attract positive energy. But only those lacking focus on lacks." (5/12/2002 - R#40)



"So, since when do spirits have to linearly exist only in one level. If time is not there, then a first-timer is also a top-timer. First-timers don't know they are no longer top-timers, so they act like that. Here is one of the universe's little jokes: Just when you get it, it changes. The smaller steps you can enjoy, but when you take the big leap, it is before you think you can enjoy it. But again an irony, because top-timers think it can get better, and it does, and poof they are first-timers. But in that top time, their spiritual reality finally seems to make sense. So, one is almost there, and senses it in how the spirit exists. But when it is totally understood and incorporated, then bye-bye. But there is a reward.

"It's like you are lost in a giant mall and you are trying to find your way. Over time it gets easier and easier until you have it almost figured out. Then suddenly you find the door you've been looking for, and when you enter, it is into another more complex mall. But you find yourself with others whom you sense are soul sisters and brothers on the same search. So it feels like a loss and a gain and a connection all at once. But all you have to go on is what is already learned and remembered. You love the new community, you use the old insights, and you are a first-timer.

"And some of the old learnings work here, and some do not. So it goes. But at least you're not alone... until you are one with everything, and the universe breathes and oops you start over in another universe that is more universal. No end, but lots of meaning.

"Everything in context is elementary; it just seems that some things are more complex. But everything is an element of something else... except him. First-timers are good for a laugh, but remember, ultimately the laugh is on all of us. I've said enough." (5/20/2002 - V#65)



"Hi, and ouch. See, when we talk it is really us, not me and you. We become as one, and you get my thoughts but I get your pains... so, ouch. It is your paw... ARF... and his paw, too... grrrr. He didn't hurt his paw, but Dad did. So if you want to channel Sandy, he has to channel you, which can have its ups and downs. But it's never a one-way thingie. The veil is very thin. You want to know about here, and we want to remember there. We consolidate, groove, get on the same track, so to speak. This is temporary, while connecting into entityship is more or less permanent. This is not creating something more complex spiritually. It is still in one plane.

"You get my spiritual shit, and I get a taste of physical (which can be a real pain), or something like that. But it is a spiritual translation; just as your physical sensations are a translation of spiritual experiences. We can recognize the feeling without actually experiencing it. You don't have to have an upset stomach to know what it feels like... baaarf. No, Sandy. It's like empathetic sympathy... or is that sympathetic empathy. I won't say whether we also get your emotions and thoughts, but yes. And you can catch some dimensions of me if you really really really try, but most don't. I am sensing the letter W. Does W mean anything to anyone. And I see a book, and W is written inside with a pen. It's a book with pages of paper. The cover is either gray or colored. I think it's a checkbook. Wait, it's Papa's.

"So, that's my big giveaway for the night. That's it. It was hard for all of us at the beginning. How could it be real and otherwise. But it's natural, just like my hair is naturally straight... every 6 months. But just because something takes work and energy, does not mean it is not natural. Ponder that." (5/29/2002 - I#52)



"Probable selves. Some of mine talk with some of yours. But some of yours have already come here. And some of yours, Mom, didn't have me. So, me talking to you would make no sense. And in those realities where I'm not dead, I talk and talk and talk. But in some you are deaf. The possibilities are endless. In one, Seymour is able to talk... keeps saying, 'Have an apple.' And all I want is a fig leaf or 3. I hear things from reputable sources, like CT.

"Look, there are an infinite number of probable realities, and yet for you there is only one that is probable and you are in it. So just leave the others. Don't mess with them or else they might want to mess with you... oooOOOooo." (6/9/2002 - W#244)



"All those people say this is a fake. This is all a sham. I said this before. This is not happening. It is just a projection of your own personalities. But then, our entityship is also just that. Why should a projection of personal spirit not be considered real. Actors live off the projection of the audience's appreciation. God lives off the projection of personal faith. Colonel Sanders lives off his fingers... oops, erase that... sregnif sih ffo sevil srednaS lenoloC. All reality is just collective projection of interpretation... and a few spare parts. Wow... bow wow... ARF.

"So anyway, just remember that most great movements of thought and feeling began as a projection of personal desire, which became personal possibility and then collective idea. There are no new ideas, but only new collective acceptance of them... or not. It is not real until it is collectively perceived as real. Before that it's a theory... and before that a short story... no no no no... before that, a sense, which is a sensation of remembering.

"Sometimes progress is just remembering the past, which proceeds down the endless corridors of existence, past the edges of time and space--a flicker of a point of reflected light from the eternal illumination, bending round the corners beyond where we can see. I wax poetic... now I wane... and here's Garth. You're not worthy, but you are. Fireworks in the soul of Creation. So that's the scoop." (7/5/2002 - I#53)



Ericka's Bench 7/8/2002

Rikkity: "And now, direct from the 5th Circle of Insight near the Understanding Cutoff, here's the place to sit with the spirit, to sit with Ericka's Bench. Ok, quiet down. With me today, as always, is the woofer... woof... and all of creation. But not him." "Yes, I'm here." "Ok, him, too. Ok, ladies and germs, spirits and spiritesses, we've got 4 big-mouths. Let's get going.

"But first, a commercial. Feeling disspirited, energy low, not feeling like the old entity. Maybe you've become unglued. Try new Entity Renew with amazing G7. Just when you fear disassembly, poof you are your old self again. But wait, isn't that what disassembly is. Yup. But with G7, you'll never know. Try it. Go ahead. It's made just for special people like you. Only the best can get it, and that's you. Bye-bye.

"Here's someone you've never talked to:"

GL:

"Hello. Hello. O, they're talking, not thinking. Hi. You know, we don't talk here. What a waste. Talking is not all it's cracked up to be. Now empathy is something else. And why do I say this here, now. I want you to consider your world, filled with many how-to and self-help books--lots of words about how to treat others and self. But can you say that your world is better for them all. So what's the point, other than perhaps giving oneself a way to stay busy while ignoring the basics. If we get one more spirit here asking for Chicken Soup, we're going to scream! I don't care about roads not taken. Celestine can keep her prophecy. Dr. Phil... need I say more.

"Ok. Given what you know, it is so simple. But only your heart can give it to you--no big books-- if you look for connections, not differences; which is empathy and sympathy and all that. It does not take 12 steps, just 1; it does not require revelation or scripture; to see everyone else as ultimately a soulmate, because in the fullness of time we are. And if some act like kindergartners while we are middle-schoolers, that does not mean we are wise and they are dumb. Each will be both in each's time.

"So, yes, if you need those books, ok. But don't think any have a secret. It is the least secret thing in the universe: We are all connected.

Rikkity: "Except for him."

"Rikkity, even he is.

Rikkity: "O."

"You just don't see it yet. And there's an important point: Just because you don't see it yet does not mean it isn't true. In fact, when you don't see it that's a good indication you need to look harder, deeper. If anything seems truly and totally alien to you, ah, there's a good starting point. Greet the alien element. And see how it is connected to you. I must go. The dog has my shoe. I am connected to him by teeth." (7/8/2002 - W#245)

Rikkity: "He was such a tired soul when arriving. But hey, so many are. Ok, let's move on. Old friend time. Now he's back and so we again say harken to Marky and his malarky."

Marky:

"Hey! That's Count Malarky to you. She is something else, and I won't say what.

"I seem to share with TJ the assignment on freedom. But I never wanted freedom... not total freedom, that is. I never wanted to be alone. I never wanted to be Greta Garbo... I never wanted a bad accent.

"Freedom is not an absence of binding relationships. It is the choice to be bound. Society is based on wise choices.

"And now a little nugget: You don't just get put together into entities like the first day of class, getting assigned seats. When you're ready, you can choose to merge. Remember those rooms with spirits waiting. You have a choice to stay or leave. And, despite what your simple minds were told before, you could fit in a number of entities. But there is a choice factor, which you began to exercise the first time around at this level. Your choices of what to learn and remember shape you. Some things you must learn, and others you can. And in the freedom to choose, you shape your self, and also begin to choose your connections.

"Freedom is about not being a cog in the machine, but it is not about not being in the machine. Each and every spirit is the machine, not a cog; each and every spirit is its heart and center. In infinity, each place can be the center because it is equidistant from the edges--infinitely equidistant. So the freedom I try to find in life is the same as my spiritual freedom: not a release from participation, but an expression of self chosen in it. And I think that sums it up. And I choose to go." (7/8/2002 - W#246)

Rikkity: "Moving right along. From Stanstead train depot buffet, here's PC:

"Sit down, she'll be with you in a minute. Blimey, don't you understand the Queen's English. You look ghostly... all rosy and no palor to you at all. I think you need a cuppa to get your pale back. Iced? I think not! You come in here off that express and think you can get a pick-me-up in a few minutes. Well, try this. No no no no no no, put in the milk ... not with the lemon. O dear me, where was you brought up. Ok, sips it. Just a bit at first. Mmmm good. You are looking more ashen now. Much better. Just a shadow of your former self. Now ta-ta. You've got a train to catch. What! No tip. Some people!"

Rikkity: "And last but not least, the flying ace himself... the scourge of the South Shore, buzzing beaches from Jones to Rockaway, looking for babes."

Papa:

"Hi, babe. You don't think I went to the beach just for the sand, do you? Skin. So, busy as ever. We had a tough time... that air thing with those kids... Germany, yep. About 3 dozen. They couldn't believe it, and I said 'believe it!' But they are so eager and open.

"But here's a piece of experience: I worked too hard to try to keep things from changing. Stayed in one place. And I sort of stopped growing and only survived. Not the way to go! Remember what she told you: Stopping place should only be temporary, otherwise the path and the stream move on. And if you are willing to move but where you are isn't, then you better not stay. So the question for you is not about you, but about them. Are they open to moving and changing? That's what you need to know.

"The whole society there seems to be leaning towards pulling up the drawbridge and keep the castle from change. So if you don't mind either frustration or stagnation, stay. It happens, I know. And she is gesturing frantically. Ouch.... grrrr... I'm out of here. Write if you get... grrrrrrrrr. Bye." (7/8/2002 - W#247)

Rikkity: "Ok, then I'll go. And now for one more word: Go."



"Pith. 4 piths: 2. When it feels like you are losing it all, it is only because you are not allowing yourself to see what is arriving and beginning. And every barrier you create or choose to limit the options, narrows the possibilities. Creation is not about finding what is, but about making something meaningful out of what you discover and allow. 3. Not all choices contain all options, it is true. But you don't have to have all options to make meaning. Only when we are universal, will universal meaning be real. So for now, make the best of things, and possibly the pieces you think you have left behind are just waiting to fit into a puzzle where the space is yet to be created. And 4. Be kind. Be one of a kind, too. And 3. Nothing is measured by time. Whenever you think there is only one place to be, you're not in it, because a place that engenders the thought has no horizon. Whoa! Arrrrrf!" (7/20/2002 - I#54)



"Grey areas are no problem here. And why, in a world of color, do people want to see things as black or white. As the great philosopher once said, 'Go figure.' (7/26/2002 - I#55)



"Water. Why do we think of water as different than air. Both are mediums in which life exists. But what of other forms beyond air and water... and don't say 'earth and fire.' What about other expressions of mixed energy. Some would speak of ethers. Can you not perceive that energy in other solid forms might not also be the medium of some sustaining existence. Then why not energy just in energy form. Ha, that's us over here... but not him.

"Why the quick rush to assume only a physical basis for existence. Could it be the empirical nature. But who's to say what can be measured. Sandy, go measure our existence. Arrf... trot trot trot... ARF ARF ARF. Ok, good doggie. Ok, we now know that here is three ARFs long... and a tail, but the tail doesn't count. When you all can see that anything that can be thought of is measurable, you won't be so quick to be physical. And what are dimensions anyway but limits, and who wants them? 'I do!' No, you don't. 'Yes, I do.' Ok.

"People are scared of worlds without limits. Spirits are scared of ones with. A great tension... hi... high tension... hi, tension. Is such a tension one you can live with. If not, you really won't be living. At points of tension like that, we reveal boundaries of the worlds. That's a hint about how a sense of tension reveals more continuity than discontinuity. Where you sense conflict, there is always some level of contact. Where things seem to stand alone and beyond conflict, or even controversy, there is no contact. The only really sure things in your world are those which do not connect to larger meanings, and therefore are sure but meaningless. Ha, I wax elegantly. Now I polish.

"So, until we are one with All, tension will always reveal greater potential than certainty. That's it. I'm done. Turn me over. Whoa, I'm brown. Ponder." (8/4/2002 - I#56)



"At one life, one can get it, and it looks like smooth sailing. But then, between lives, lost it. Hey, over here is not on auto-pilot. It's not tragic, just happens a lot. Get it together but can't keep it together--premature awareness. And those folks often become seers and mediums because they sense the glimpses they can see no more.

"Most who report connecting are not doing it for the first time, but they have lost the remembrance of it and have only the experience. It's like someone who has been to Detroit and forgets it and then, passing through, scenes seem familiar. This happens often with what we experience as kids. It's like filling in the dots... connecting the numbers... completing the outline... fulfilling the suggestions... making whole the partial... getting the shit together... ooops.. I do go on. All I say is interesting, if you find the right person to listen.

"You can lose it here, or in the parking lot... in the process. Especially if you had it, and don't now; if it feels right but not yet yours. Like you know it but you aren't it. There are people who make great discoveries, who later haven't got a clue of how to apply them. I say just peel off the backing and apply. I groan... ooooo... ayeee... I recover." (8/13/2002 - V#66)



"Hi. I just got a job. I'm a bartender at this cool place. I'm the one with the hair... of the dog... actually, the whole pooch... ARF... among others. Did someone say refreshments.

"And as for me, I'm dead tired. It's ok, I'm not tired now. Now I am. Not now. All those peeps who want it all linear and in one direction. But hey, over here it's just chaos. Is chaos with meaning inherent really chaos? Does meaning automatically imply structure, hmmm. Does form always include meaning. Can you have meaning without form. Can you have meaning from meaning within form if you don't perceive the form. How many angels can dance... o wait... grrrrrrrr... how many fleas... snap. None, I guess.

"Do spirits have to have some manifestation to be real to you all. What if you physical types touched spirit-to-spirit to some spirit that was not, and would never be, physical. Can you feed yourself at a restaurant that is closed. I don't know. That's why I pose these ponderables. I do know, but I'm not saying now. Do spirits feel hugs? Let's try." (8/24/2002 - I#57)



"So, attendance at the Emerald is up. Thanks. Let's think about collective dreaming. It can be a group activity of shared experience, or it can be shared experiences of individual exploration. Huh. I 'splain.

"A group tour is the physical equivalent of a group dream; a group discussing their individual experiences in a common city is the other. One, the focus is on shared experience, and the other is about sharing experiences with common elements. So, the latter could be about details or feelings or process or whatever. Not everyone who shares Rome was there on the same day. Ok. But if everyone were, how would we get a table and a glass of wine?

"Just wanted to clear that up. Well, if they came by the pub, I'd tell them... but not all at once." (8/31/2002 - I#58)



"Sandy is sleeping--which is not to say physically sleeping, only that he's on a different psychic plane, but not with the temporal sleep crap. And you don't need a Serta ™ Serta, Inc. All rights reserved. Do not remove this tag under penalty of life." (8/31/2002 - I#59)



"Remember how I said that the most primal spiritual entity flowed from All That Is, and then the process of complexity begins. And I talked about combining into more complex entities. Remember? Well, that's a mis-statement, made so y'all could understand. But I theenk eet ees time to 'splain more.

"There is no combining; no atomic spiritual molecule-making. It is as if there were, but there isn't. Huh. Ok. Time does not exist. Nothing is linear. So, all states exist all ways. Now what does that mean. Damned if I know... but I do.

"At any and every moment, you are to some extent one with All, and also ultimately separate. You separate and differentiate from being part of All, and that is the primal level I spoke of. In that level, you sense only your existence; nothing more. At the other pole, you experience the existence of All, and nothing as separate. And here it comes: You are constantly and always both. And the levels of complexity are more about awareness than about any pseudo-physical spiritual combinations. It's not that you are connecting to create something that has not existed, but that you connect into an awareness of another state of your being--more complex, that is. I keep 'hearing' people treating this like it were physical, but maybe the intellectual process of awareness is a better example--not nearly it, but better--moving through our many levels of being.

"So, you don't become something else, or more. You become aware of the more you that co-exists. Learn and remember, and therefore be more aware. And if you forget what you thought you remembered, you can't be aware of what that remembered thought made you aware of. We grow in greater awareness of our greater complexity and greater connections, until we become aware again that we are one with All That Is. So ponder that.

"The merged state you become aware of already is. But let's say you see someone and don't like them... you really don't like them... grrrrr. Because you cannot connect to them, you cannot become aware of how they may fit in the more complex you. Your lack of connecting to them keeps you distant from awareness. And awareness is not linear, but more the most complex web of being you could ever envision.

"Just a step from physical modeling to spiritual, but we ain't there yet." (9/4/2002 - V#67)



"It is I, the Moo, the awesome Moo. Ok, serious time. So, if one is always part of and co-terminus with All That Is, what's the point. If it is only a matter of perception of one's unity with ATI (All That Is) then why bother with all these lives and all the experiences at other levels of complexity. Good question.

"If one assumes the traditional view, of everything created flowing from one infinite but eternal source, then there is no point. But, if ATI is an organism--both creative of its many layers of complex meaning and created by the experiences of all those layers--then the point is not personal, but universal. We do it because that way ATI isn't static, it's organic. So ponder that!

"So instead of trying to be reconciled with a God that was, is, and evermore shall be, world without end; we are trying to be active participants in the totality that is yet to be. From the simplest spiritual level of awareness, to the fullest oneness with ATI, we gain not only awareness of our own complex levels of existence, but we participate in a process of genesis which ultimately creates an ATI that is different from what had been. And that new ATI, which transcends the old, continuously needs our ever-new awareness. And... just to blow your minds... all the various ATIs also already exist but await the collective awareness of them.

"Here's a dog, smiling... ARF. Do you understand all this. Just smile and say 'ARF.' ARF. But he's a part of it. Every spirit is a part of it. And remember, it isn't linear. Onward and upward is replaced by aha. And if you could wrap your awareness around ATI that both is and is becoming, then you would add more to that which All That Is is a part of. Turtles all the way up and down. So, how's tricks... snap. Pithy enough? I startle myself. Ok Rikkity, calm down." (9/8/2002 - V#68)



"I want to say this. Someone is certain to say, much later, that I'm full of it. First I talked about combining into more complex entities--and even disassembly--as if spirits were parts. And now I talk about awareness and ongoing connection that persists. So where's the disassembly? Look, I'm just trying to use helpful models. So think about this: You become aware of another state of your being. Does that mean you necessarily become one with it? I don't theenk so. But maybe I geeve an example.

"You are in 5th grade. You wouldn't think about hangin' with the middle schoolers. But the next year you are in middle school, and you see all those 8th graders, and you become aware of the 8th grader in you, so you hang out with them... or, should I say, you try to hang out with them. But chances are you will know what they are about. You will be aware of how they are, but you won't have a clue about how to be really connected to them. And, in the end, they'll probably tell you to get lost. You just won't fit in--even though you have some nascent sense of the 8th grader you will later be. Just another way of saying, in terms of the physical world, what that spiritual reality is like.

"I gave you a chemical model, and recently an intellectual model of awareness. There are many other models, which say different things but try the same to represent what is not able to be fully represented over there. And the usual reminder, that the best you get there is a reasonable facsimile, because if you had the whole actual picture, you wouldn't be there, ha. So, whether it is by connection and fulfillment, or awareness and fulfillment... whatever... it is the same damn thing! It's like trying to describe how far I am from you, and someone saying 'It's a mile,' and another person saying 'No, it's 1.6 kilometers.' And they're both right and still don't get it. I shut up now. Mmmm... ummm... grrrrrr... mmmm.

"The biggest mistake JC made was quitting before offering Answers 2, 3, and 4. So Answer 1 got codified, when it was just an example, not the answer. He never got to the Last Breakfast with the OJ and Danish... but Orthodox would say raspberry Danish, while liberals would insist on cheese.

"So, I needed to remind you, by a changing example, that models are only models, not realities... unless, of course, you are talking about models. But is there a model of models, or does that elevate the former into a reality which is then modeled? And so, do our models turn models they are based on into such pseudo-realities. Too much pith... ARF. Look what he's wearing: a pith helmet to protect him from pith... and my good friend from Germany, Helmut Pith... grrrr. And for a simpler model: Life is like a supermarket aisle the day after a sale and a day before inventory. Ponder that." (9/12/2002 - V#69)
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