"I remember when she arrived, she was so talkative."

"No, she wasn't, she was D&C."

"No, she was talking a little."

"No, a mile a minute."

"No, she wasn't."

"Do you know that she did not exist before then and I invented her."

"Sure, and she had that dog with her."

"No, the dog came later."

"But there is no later here."

"She and the dog are one."

"No, they will be one. But without time, they are one already."

"She could talk from the start!"

"No no no, remember she had us talk to her folks."

"O, I forgot."

"You forget often."

"No, I don't. I remember about your chicken."

"Shut up."

"I think there's one thing we all agree on."

"What."

"No, there's not."

"O yes there is: It hasn't been the same since she got here."

"Amen."

"And how!"

"Arrrf."

"Ok, take the gag off. She wants to speak."

Rikkity: "No, I don't. Serve you all right if I went mute and first-timer... just point to myself a lot and smile."

"Ok, point to your elf. We want to know which one is yours."

Rikkity: "It's him."

"O. We thought he was MCP."

"He is."

"Hey-a, I be-a no-a elf-a."

"What?"

"I said I know I am the alpha and the omega."

"Sit down and shut up. MCP was talking."

"I was-a, but now I no-a talk. You hurt my feelings-a."

"Ok, you're no elf, you're a gnome."

"Ok-a. I like-a gardens."

Rikkity: "Hi. Well it's like this all the time: orderly chaos, planned spontaneity. I just fit in.

"Eight fucking life years, and now the window of tomorrow. I've seen it all and I suggest you wait for the sales: $3.95. But seriously... grrr... this time is different and it's ok. You don't need that plaque nor the flowers. This is an opening into eternity. Grieve if you must, but don't make grief your companion any longer. Remember, but don't measure the days with solemn anniversaries. Look up ahead, what is it? Woog... woof? No, it's a future which can be any way you want it. Why choose the one with the weight of the past. Just as you can either take last season's wardrobe with you on vacation or you can take your fashion sense and a good credit card. Now you choose, past or future--keeping what you have learned or keeping what you have acquired, but not both. So choose wisely. Wisdom, not events. Can you do it, sure. Ahhh. Not easy but decidedly desirable, or else you'll be buried in the grave I never occupied.

"So far this has been some journey, but it ain't over yet. So, 3 important elements: love symbolized by hugs, hope symbolized by windows, and humor symbolized by all of these: 'Hi' 'Hello' 'Ciao.' Thank you for them, too. I needed your laughs and hugs and openness just as much. Nothing spiritual is ever one-way. The receptive spirit is an equal partner to the sharing guide. And I now go for the ambrosia is ready... grrrr... and the fresh legs. ARF." (8/20/2003 - W#286)



Rikkity: "Papa and [Aunt] Mimi are telling grandma stories. She's D&C and he's Papa.

Papa: "Now, wait a minute, babe."

Rikkity: "Yes, Papa."

Papa: "I was never confused about picking you up but you were often confused about who would pay what.

"Hi, babe. Yes, Mimi's here, and likes not having to breathe. She hates not being able to smoke though. She has asked for a cigarette, and then we ask her what is she going to smoke it with... no body, no brain, and no lips. So I said she could sense that she was smoking and she said I could sense it up my ____. She might just show up [to speak] sometime. So, here we are, dead... not bad, eh... and a lot easier shopping for clothes. I take after my granddaughter... there she goes, and I take after her."

Rikkity: "Arrrrrf. He's my buddy. He ain't heavy, he's my doggie. How are Don and John... wellll, it's hard to maintain crashed planes. See, Don realized that if you're dead you can't be killed, so he pushes the envelope... ooops. And he says he knows what it's like to crash land at 90 degrees... plop. And John just says 'O boy.' And I sell tickets. So, the dead stay dead... but some are grateful. Here's a thought: _____." (9/3/2003 - W#287)



"A short tale from the other side: One eon... or aeon... a spirit was trying to find a perfect connection, so the spirit put out all the facets and waited. Along came another spirit, but the first said 'No, your facets don't look like mine.' And another, the same. And another, even worse... don't ask. Eventually, after an eternity, the spirit entity was disassembled--not because it wasn't capable of union, but because it didn't know it was. By looking for perfection as similarity, it lost the whole shebang.

"So be open, be yourself... don't be your elf. And look for those who see you in you, not them in you. The End." (9/16/2003 - V#77)



TL:

"Hello. She's not here but we are... Arrrf. She's everywhere but not here, so to speak, and she's not all there sometimes. So we have been given the gift of talking with you... arrrf... barking with you.

"Don't believe everything she tells you! Because none of it is true--not in the ultimate sense. It is only partial truth. And at any time you sense you see beyond her words, look for yourself... and that little guy, too.

"We are, if you remember, guides not seers. We provide insight which may help you see but we don't hold the truth--just pieces of it. Someday someone will look at what she said and decide she was wrong, but in fact she was right--until newer and wider understandings are known.

"What people thought thousands of years ago seems primitive, but what people will think thousands of years from now seems mysterious and impossible. So the best we can do is look a little down the path and try to see better, not perfectly.

"Those who say they know must be dealing with what is already known, and who wants to get trapped there. No future in that.

"Ok, did I say that right? Arrrfff. Whoa, 5 thumbs up... and assorted appendages. Bye." (11/6/2003 - W#288)



"Remember, for first-timers, forces of wisdom may feel like threats. And for those who are destined for disassembling, there may be an inherent sensing that they themselves are tearing themselves apart.

"Remember, nearly everything you experience is about the you of you, because you are the filter of it all. And even what is not about you becomes about you in the process. Too too too many seem to think that their experiences are about the universe, when they are more about themselves. Why create an external Hell when so many do such a complete job of it internally.

"By the way, the image of the light is only a metaphor. Such brilliant flashes are just your best known examples of intense energy; it's not like you will need to wear sunglasses on the other side. There are other examples: sensation, sound--all music is a search for the essential sound.

"Why do people want to universalize particularities when they do so badly on particularizing universals. Hey, let's get this straight: It's not about us! except as we move into a larger us-ness. If it leads you away from a focus on you as unique and special and separate, then ok. But if it leads toward feelings or understandings of being unique, special, and separate, that's no good and a lie and bogus. Looking away from connection is looking back down the evolution of your entity. You only stand apart if you see yourself separate from your evolutionary future. So go ahead! See yourself as soooo special and forfeit your spiritual future." (11/9/2003 - V#78)



Ericka's Bench 11/17/2003

Rikkity: "And now, from a parallel universe very close to your own, it's the greatest probability of the moment: It's Ericka's Bench. Today we have a large studio audience made up of dead folks. But they're recently dead, so don't expect a lot out of them... 'huh'... 'wa.' See what I mean. Ok, get the Bench ready... arrrf. No, don't use the bench, use the hydrant... grrrr.

"Welcome to our old friend, Marky."

Marky:

"One of the things I remembered I was surprised by when I came to America was the great desire of many for all things new. In fact, some of the troops were very critical of my friend (GW). They said whenever he addressed the troops he said the same thing, more or less. And I must admit I experienced the same, not only with him but also with TJ and those M guys: Madison, Monroe... and Messerschmidt. You don't hear much about him. He was a Hessian deserter who became our cook. Every day the same dish! But--and this is a big but--it was all necessary! If G and T and the Ms had been working to come up with new lines and dishes, how much could we trust each of them. And the food may have been boring, but it was never bad... just like the political sentiments. I wonder if, in the middle of the struggle TJ had decided he needed to rethink the Declaration, what would have happened. So maybe the inalienable rights aren't so inalienable if they are not constant.

"What I am trying to say is that it is better to have a consistency without manufactured innovation than innovation without any consistent substance. And I say this in the light of your present politics. Just because a candidate gives the same speech 100 times, don't forsake it. Once upon a time, when politics were about values not show, such was considered virtue not vice. If a person must wander all over to find direction, I wouldn't want him or her as my guide.

"And now, I am off again to another meal of wurst and kraut. It grows on you. Did I mention the Hunter's Sauce--my addition to the cuisine in Messerschmidt's kitchen! Cover the damn kraut in gravy. Bye.

"Here's a sausage for the doggie... arrrrr... snap." (11/17/2003 - W#289)

MW:

"Hello. How are you both. Do not fret and trouble yourself. Worry is a bad companion on long journeys. Had I given way to all the fears those many nights he was away, I should have despaired and lost the faith of our shared vision.

"There is a great power in constancy--to know that what truly matters is not a matter of the moment but of the centuries. Why do so many put such stock in the great Commandments. Do all who subscribe to them really embrace their many notions? Or is it that they have stood so long their very constancy is a power greater than their specifics.

"There is much to be said for that which endures, and even more for those who endure through tribulation with a constancy of faith and values. If we each had to make it all up as we lived each day, like it was new without history, we would soon fall into despair.

"So I come to commend to all the value of a mode of constancy--not as blind repetition, but more as a continuing honesty of spirit. Don't state for today what you already know you may change for tomorrow, and don't tomorrow change what you state today simply because it is the morrow.

"And now I must indulge myself. Here, boy *pat pat* ... fff. I am so glad spirits are not species specific! This little dog reminds me, in a way, of G... arrrr? A gentle, fierce soul... Arrrrg. Ta-ta." (11/17/2003 - W#290)

Tea lady 1: "Hey! You didn't finish your tea! Now what do you want me to do, carry that sloshing cup back here. The least she could have done is put it on the counter. Some people!"

Tea lady 2: "Now, now, Maude, don't get vexed. There's no accounting for some of these Yanks. Look here comes another."

Tea lady 1: "O lord, and he's so fat."

BF: "Hello. No, no tea."

Tea lady 1: "Would you have a bowl of ground oats?"

BF:

"No. Ok then, a spot of sherry.

"Hello. I give clues. I don't normally eat oats at this hour. I do like that Rikkity.

"Here's the secret of my success: I have always been myself. And whilst that changed as I grew from lad to man, there was always the same person.

"Life is better lived as a honing than as a changing. One learns new vocabulary but not new sentiments. And those who would fain the newest sentiments are really people adrift in a sea of opinions. There were many I violently disagreed with who had my respect more than those I agreed with for their time of agreement. A good adversary is a better friend than a friend of sunny days. Get my point. Look for the integrity, not the similarities.

"Now, I know you know the real story, but I want to use an old Christian myth: Better to deal with Pilate than with Judas. At least with the former you knew where you stood.

"What, I'm done? Ok. Later, dude." (11/17/2003 - W#291)

Rikkity: "And that's the show!"

Tea lady 1: "Wait... put your glass on the counter."

BF: "Ok."

Rikkity: "And as we say here... ARF... knock 'em dead."



"I give thanks for CT and all 'the gang,' as you call them. GW, prototypical gang banger! with homeys, TJ and Marky. Their turf was a continent; their weapons were war; their goal was equality; they wore red, white, and blue. And they were the Patriots--with their gang babes, Martha and Betsy. There'll be blood in the streets of Boston! Now here's a question: Were they terrorists.

"So, be thankful. It's easy. Don't envy any other place or time or person. That's it." (11/27/2003 - W#292)



"I'm dead. You were dead about 56 years ago... and for a long time before that! Bunch of deadbeats. You just sat around, drank ambrosia, and teased CT in absentia. He didn't know that then... but now, yes. And Dad worked with spirits on nonlinear perceptions, and Mom taught them Jewish kvetching... no no no no no. She helped with spirit communications. So many spirits doubt that human communication is possible... lots of sceptics here, too. But, as she would say, 'believing is seeing.' And Sandy was a great big spirit who helped feed people spiritually--taught them abundance... Arrrf.

"Hey, some burned down the château because you... oops, we... were aristocracy, and others because you were a witch... or so the rumors went. I think channeling Charlemagne went too far, and he was such a blowhard. We tried to tell them it was the effect of the mold on brother's cheeses. We did know Pasteur... but that's another story. You always said 'raw milk, good cheese.' " (12/6/2003 - W#293)



"Sure, like a path without time and dimensions has a forward and back. And when you almost die there's lots of flowers, but when you die it's all creme pies! Or not. This insistence on objectification of spiritual realities is such a modern idea, but not a future one--everything as a physical model, even SP. And I remind you, the model I shared is only a way to talk about things beyond talk.

"So, Mr. Speaker, you say your experience was ineffable. Can you say more about that? Duh. And he went into such detail to convince himself. Maybe if it were just an apprehension, he wouldn't have believed. We have so bought proof as equal to evidence, but where's the faith? The greatest teachers have always relied on faith more than evidence. But the proof's in the pudding... and I'll take mocha.

"You could be a saint without portfolio, and that would not diminish your goodness." (12/14/2003 - I#67)



Ericka's Bench 12/22/2003

Rikkity: "And now it's 1:30 on Monday, which means? Lunch? No. ARF? No. Woog. No. Grrrrr? Yes, it's Ericka's Bench. It's a full Bench today, but that's because certain dogs and certain CTs are lying down! But since they don't have bodies... huh? Wait, a sec, what's this about no bodies? CT, calm down. You've still got your trout. So, hi.

"This is our big winter special. I've got Yetta and Frosty and a frozen mammoth... and the debonnaire Mr. Frosty, too. He has ice cream trucks over all the suburbs. But seriously... No! Yes!! Let's get started.

"Here's a spirit that needs no introduction, but seems to get too much interpretation: JC, or as we know him, JJ."

JJ:

"Hello. Just wanted to say a greeting from eternity, which you hold in your souls and live out in your lives.

"What we are doing is nothing special; anyone could, because I only spoke the wisdom of Creation. It has amazed me how the simplest of folk have known this wisdom all along and the wisest seemed to have missed it. I will remind you of three elements that our host at this Bench also knows so well.

"Confirmation: All things of value are confirmed in you. You need do nothing, for this is a graceful reality of your spiritual inheritance. You do not have to follow any single path nor know the magic words. Your existence is living proof of it all. What a miracle that the simplest spiritual matter is one with the eternal parent of All. Can you even imagine a grander thought than that?

"Consecration: If we all are the living embodiments of the eternal All, then how do we sanctify the fact? How do we make each step and each breath and each word a consecration of that reality? What would life look like if it were so sacred that it held this divine secret in every action? It would be as if Heaven had been achieved. But we know that we fail at this. Does this make us humans bad? No, it makes us human! If we didn't fail, we couldn't learn and remember. So the vision is there and we strive to live it by making evermore sacred the ordinary of life.

"And connection: If any attitude were to be essential to consecration beyond your fulfillment, it would be a sense of ultimate connection. If you are never separate from the divine reality of Creation and know your connection to it, then how can you miss the simpler connection of spirit to spirit. Ultimately there is no 'other.' We are all one! I remember speaking about that often.

"In my vision, there are no differences that can hold us apart essentially. So I offer these reminders, and wish you a warm place to sleep and a star and wise people to welcome you... and some fresh wine wouldn't hurt. Peace be with you. Thank you for being here with us!" (12/22/2003 - W#294)

Rikkity: "Hey, you know he always wants to sit in the middle. I got awesome friends, but then so does everyone. None of this is special, and all of it is special. Ok, let's review: there is no time; there are infinite parallel probabilities; so he has moved on, and he hasn't. Get used to it.

"All... and I mean All plus... is always available as a resource, and if you lived like that were true you'd get to go to the front of the line because then you would be one with All That Is. Got it? No, but that's ok." (12/22/2003 - W#295)

"Hey, here's the wandering fool."

LD: "Hello. No, it's me."

MCP: "No, it's me-a."

LD: "No, it's moi."

MCP: "No no no, I-a the fool."

LD: "You said it, I didn't."

Rikkity: "LD and MCP, shut up."

LD: "Actually we wanted to both speak about the same thing."

MCP: "Hey-a, we agree-a. But the hat, she'a no-a fit the LD."

LD:

"It's ok, my little friend.

"Both of us remind you that the great joy of life is found in expanding your horizons. And we offer you an exercise for the year to come: Each day, either go somewhere that is unfamiliar and go there with some uncertainty, or contemplate an idea you have not yet mastered, or just do something without planning. And make 'yes' your watchword.

"Both of us know that when you allow yourself to truly wander and allow yourself the risk of being the fool, you actually find more of the world to be home and embrace more as wisdom. Anything less is simply reliving a digest of the past." (12/22/2003 - W#296)

MCP: "Hey, he's-a pretty good. He no-a said 'past-a.' What he said!

LD: "Hey, my little friend, what you say we go and mix your noodles with some chicken."

MCP: "Ok-a."

LD: "And it would be like serving soup to nuts."

MCP: "Hey-a."

Rikkity: "They're gone... and have been for a long time. Sandy went with them. He likes noodles. Sometimes I can't tell whiskers from noodles. And one of our dear old favorites:"

Tea lady:

"Come sit down, you look frazzled. It's the time of year, dearie. Here, have a nice cuppa and I tell you a secret.

"If I was to put just 'ot water into your cup, you would be just as relaxed afterwards. It's not the tea, it's the stopping; it's the sitting, chatting, pausing. A world without tea shops is a world gone mad.

"What is it with people who want to stand in line to get a cup to hold while they stand or run. Sit, enjoy, think, look, converse. After all, when all is said and done you won't remember the tea nor even the running or even me, but you will remember what you thought or felt or saw. So drink up, dearie, but not too fast. I'm right here if you need a biscuit." (12/22/2003 - W#297)

Rikkity: "And one more guest. And before we talk with her, a reminder. We will talk again on Christmas, and certain spirits not appearing on today's Bench will be there."

MW:

"Hello. It is always good to converse with you. This was always a festive time at Mount Vernon--many greens, wonderful punch. He himself made it. It took many trials to get it right.

"This is a season of peace. And often we hear praise for the peacemakers, but I offer up the small prayer I held in my heart: 'May I be a peace holder.' For it is too easy to preach peace but not hold it close. Many would claim to make a peace, like it were an object. But it is more an inclination, like holiness.

"If one focuses on what needs to be made rather than on what needs to be, one may become assumptive that a peace achieved is a peace that endures. But an attitude of peace as a constant companion is better than any object; for one may have the objective peace, while the feeling of peace has one. We think life is about obtaining peace. No, it's about peace obtaining us. And when we feel in concert with all, then peace will not be foreign in any way and its name will not be spoken because its essence will be the very reality of life.

"Pray that you hold peace, that it might hold you and all. Ta-ta." (12/22/2003 - W#298)

Rikkity: "And so we reach the end of our Bench and... ooops, plop... fall off. Hey, no noodles on the bench. See you Thursday. Later, dude."



Papa:

"Hi, babe. Thought a good Jewish boy should show up on Christmas. I had to drop Rikkity's gifts off (everything!). Only change doesn't change. Got any change? Need quarters.

"So, I am well and dead. Hey, it's not half as bad as those preachers told us it was... nothing like Army chaplains! 'You think it's hot here (North Africa), wait till you get to the afterlife.' Just flying and sitting at the beach, helping beautiful deaf girls to speak... do like those cute ones. And the great ace and I have been soaring. Roger, over. So don't worry about me and I won't worry about you, ok? I hear from her that you're doing well. Good, carry on. Write if you get work."

Rikkity: "Hi. He has such a tan, people think he's my real papa, hahaha. Did I ever tell you I'm an albino over here. We don't have colors, silly.

"Saw Smokey the other day. He's handsome. Had quite a life before being a cat. He was an opera singer, and many things. He was a banker and a singer. And before that, a pincushion... gotcha. Go to a store, find a clerk under 20, and ask for pincushions and enjoy the puzzled look. So, have a wonderful Christmas." (12/25/2003 - W#299)



Ericka's Bench 12/29/2003

Rikkity: "Ever wonder how you'll get that stain out? Want sheets as white as a ghost? Use new Scaro: frightens them white. Not recommended for African American sheets.

"And now, from somewhere in the universe, the gang that's all perverse, it's Ericka's Bench. I will put on an alternative aura. Out of frequency, out of mind. Now I will increase my vibrations... all that does is make me dizzier. Ok, let's set this straight. No I won't, he will. It's the man with more ideas than sense, LD. You don't know him like I do. Dancing on the bottom of tables is not very sensible."

LD:

"Someone had to try. If that Michelangelo could paint on his back, why couldn't I dance. And while we are at it, what did the Pope have against me? So, let me straight this put... oops.

"Ok, vibrations are what? Movements in the physical realm. So what the Hades do they have to do with spirit? People keep thinking that the spiritual realm is just an extension of the physical in which the parameters are not yet measurable. I don't think so!

"Turn it upside down and dance, that's how you do it. Then you are dancing on the bottom of the table. So maybe it's that the physical is an extension of the spiritual with only a few elements in common. Don't keep putting the physical first, which would mean some radical honesty. When you are alive, you don't have a clue about the realities here. You get some experiential glimpses, but when you reduce them to any terms you know, you have destroyed whatever might have been perceived. Putting the spiritual in any physical terms is destructive of meaning. All you get is some physicalized spiritual mumbo jumbo... no, mumbo gumbo. It includes okra. I invented gumbo. I like mine with lots of shrimp.

"So, we all get the spiritual equivalent of a chuckle when you treat spiritual matters like some physics problem. And if you could comprehend the meaning of spiritual existence at this level, without going through all those delusions, you would not be better off. It would be like those who walk before they crawl and later don't have the developed motor skills. Acceptance of the reality that your path is spiritual search and discovery, but what you will discover at this level is more about you than spirit. And that has been true at less complex levels and will be true at more. And even the notion of complexity is a poor metaphor for what it is really about.

"All of your understandings are at best tools, not knowledge. And if you mistake the hammer for the roof, you're going to get mighty wet! Ok, I go." (12/29/2003 - W#300)

Rikkity: "He's so deep, but depth is a physical concept. So he's not deep? No, he is both deep and not deep, because that really doesn't have any meaning. So there. And now, another non-occupant of the non-Bench with some non-words about some non-ideas."

VC:

"I am, for your sake, VC. I am relatively new... or, actually, old but back again. Sure seemed to be working on this for many lives. And that was a bit discouraging because I have been a very spiritual person many times. But just being spiritual doesn't mean I get it. There is no magic formula that says someone is spiritually advanced.

"Following a path because someone says it is the way out of the forest doesn't mean you're not still lost. And no one set of road maps makes the whole journey understandable. The most important guru is always inside, and if you look for her or him too long you might miss yourself.

"Indeed the greatest shame is not for those who have not found a path, but for those who have and claim it as the only path. And just because a path is an alternative spirituality does not mean it is free of dogmatic potential. There are just as many closed spirits as there are closed minds. Ponder that!

"And now I am being gently bitten on the shin. I go... Arrrrf. Nice doggie." (12/29/2003 - W#301)

Rikkity: "Hi. Just one more. And before that, let me say that one of the strange realities over here is that there is no sense of tragedy. Without time, there is no measure of urgency or of calamity; the idea of x number dying today makes no sense. It's a flow. And if there is an infinite expanse of being, then there never is a big clump (that's a technical term).

"Sometimes we feel like things get busy even when we aren't doing any more, simply because we suddenly perceive the busyness around us." (12/29/2003 - W#302)

"Ok, one last guest: another newcomer. This is IH."

IH:

"Hello. She has a way with invitations--the smile.

"I was thinking with her the other day about how I wasn't getting it, and I felt her wanting me to know that this is not a place of universal perception, only more open possibility. And I protested that I had been promised that all things would become clear in the afterlife, and I felt like I was being consoled as I realized I had been led to expect what is not true here.

"This is a place of greater clarity but not total clarity. And I find myself often going 'O' and then feeling both aware and puzzled. So don't expect to get here and have it all clear. This is not an existence of perfection but of possibilities beyond physical limits.

"And I now sense a gentle soul tugging toward the end of the bench. Bye." (12/29/2003 - W#303)

Rikkity: "And there you have it. For a video tape of this broadcast, send all you have to me! Later, dude."



"There is no spiritual ascendency, but only spiritual depth development. And it is always qualitative, not quantitative. In other words, you can get deeper into it, but you can't rise above it. We are all in the soup together, as the missionary wired home from the cannibals. To rise above the cosmic creative soup of possibility, would be to deny those possibilities.

"Or, to put it another way, getting spiritually whole is a dirty business, and if you want to stay clean you'll have to miss the whole show. Or, to put it still another way, if you want it safe and easy and comfortable, you came to the wrong existence. Or, to put it even another way, you've got to risk the pain and trouble to get the sunsets and hugs.

"It's not about easy. It's about fulfilling." (1/4/2004 - V#79)



"Spiritual gang wars: see the ectoplasm fly. Sharp remarks take their toll, and hushed voices are menacing... oooOOOooo.

"Here's a little-known fact: While the living get into disputes about what the dead have told them, the dead never argue about what the living have heard. We know it is all analogy and metaphor... but not similes. So we are not the literalists, but certain folk are and they are the live ones.

"So, is it a tunnel or a target or an aura, yes! One of the learning points at this level is to not be defined by this level. And just when we get all excited that someone has gotten the message, wham they go all specific on us. For example, there is no perfect mantra, there is no magical prayer, light is just a euphemistic symbol for energy.

"So hey, give it up. Miss the forest for the trees, miss the Moo for the herd." (1/12/2004 - I#68)



"Do spirits dream? Yes, you bet your bippy. Since dreaming is a spiritual activity, we do. Even Sandy does... woof. Remember, whether here or there, we are parts of larger spiritual realities of which we get glimpses in our dreams.

"And dream interpretation is such a superficial thing. We interpret from what we know, and that's only a small fraction of what we dream. It would be like interpreting a trip to India based on living one's whole life in East Anglia. You'd miss a lot... and heaps... and more.

"Getting out of dreams what you recognize, is only looking back. Ok, I've said enough." (2/3/2004 - I#69)



LD:

"Hello, it is I. Always glad to have an audience. I once had an audience with the Pope. He didn't listen; I was the one who was told to listen. But I get my revenge: Nobody remembers much of what he said, but everybody knows my Mona.

"Art without mystery is just craft... and some of it is crap. If you know precisely what it means, you might as well have schematics. All those drawings of mine of human detail never captured the essence. Know the structure, but also know that you can't know the nuances but can only sense them. Try to figure me out and all you'll do is find that I couldn't figure me out... kept trying.

"You know, I invented some very simple folding eyeglasses that might be useful. And if you stick them in a special solution and connect them to wires out of a lemon or lime, you can make them golden. I made many things golden and even passed some off as gold. I was a crook. I never said what they were but only asked how much they were worth. A lesson: Ask others what they think of things, don't tell them. Along the way you all might get a surprise.

"And was he [a disciple in 'The Last Supper'] a woman, I don't know. I'm not saying. See what you see, don't ask what I put. Maybe all I know is the question and you're the ones to find the answer. Why do you suppose that the person asking knows the answer, huh! A well-framed question is much more valuable than a firm answer. One ends other possibilities, and the other opens all possibilities.

"Here's a possibility: I'm going to lunch." (2/3/2004 - W#304)



Rikkity: "LD is not happy. They miss him completely, he says. They try to know him with 21st century minds, which won't do since he's from the 25th. If they run hard, they might catch up to his dust. And this stuff about the photo... oops, picture... they say 'If that's a woman, then where's the 12th disciple?' Who do you think took the picture... duh. And didn't the book say it was a joke, so how do you disprove a visual joke with facts. Can we say they don't get it. Hey, pizza-man, you paint a joke."

LD: "I did-a... many. You should have seen my plans for the Sistine--hidden meanings... wellll, hidden jokes. All work and no play makes Leonardo a hotheaded crybaby. Hmmm... how can I design a hothead? I go figure."

Rikkity: "And so off into the sunset he goes with his pen and charcoals." (2/6/2004 - W#305)



"We had a spirited discussion. We talked about spirit... welll, actually we felt about spirit. Words are such a pain--so slow, so imprecise. You should hear spiriti (spirit poetry)--all meaning, no words. And it loses in translation.

"She wants to know: lemon or creme."

Tea lady: "Neither!?! You Yanks. The whole British lemon import trade would collapse. How else would we get our daily ration of coddled cream. Gives tea body."

"Isn't it interesting that when someone says something truly profound, they speak of her or him as making a substantial comment, when it has no substance at all, only meaning. There is a grave desire... hee hee... for physical entities to want to make everything physical--as if, if it weren't in the physical world, it wouldn't be real. So we speak of arguments as weighty and deep, and we suspect what is mysterious and mystical.

"One of the signs of spiritual enlightenment is a lack of desire to see or sense anything as either physical or spiritual, but simply as is. Why draw even spiritual lines that divide. And for those who want this earthly frame to pass quickly, that's an assumption of the same duality. You think it isn't spiritual in the physical realm? Guess again.

"And here's a glimpse: Just as by being physical does not deny the spiritual, there are other ways in which the spiritual is ... hmmm, tough time for words, hmmm... expressed. You think physical and spiritual are the 2 dimensions of being. Guess again: infinite. And in this physical expression, we haven't got a clue. I get a clue here only because I am not so focusing on being physical. Lots of windows to a soul--as many windows to a soul as facets of All That Is. No matter how you look out of your spirit, you can see some aspect of the All.

"So don't think physical is the exclusive vacation site of the soul, nor the only school of the soul! It would be terribly vain to think that physical life is the only expression of spirit other than the spirit realm.

"And we here learn from All, not just life... except for him. 'Hey, I didn't learn from life.' I know, it shows. 'O.'

"And all in a timeless and infinite stew of being, slowly becoming a ragoût and then a purée and then one of those aspics of spirit--growing denser and more solid and more homogenous, until all is with All. Wow, I'll take a milkshake, thick. And will the final mélange be ice cold or piping hot? It will contain all energy, so you would think it would be hot, but if it gave off heat, it would not contain all. Ponder that.

"Is All That Is good, or not. It may... no, does... contain all goodness, but it can't radiate any, or it wouldn't contain all. Maybe All does not have to be rational, even though it will contain all reason. Ponder that and get back to us. We're pondering, too!" (2/9/2004 - I#70)



Ericka's Bench 2/16/2004

CT: "... And always ready for new learning on Ericka's Bench. I'm Sandy Dog, her sidekick. No, I'm CT. And now here's the woman who is all spirit: Rikkity."

Rikkity: "Settle down, it's just me, the universe's gift to itself. We have quite the show--some of the usual dunderheads. 'Hey-a.' Yep, he's here but he no-a gonna speak-a. 'Hey-a.' And without further ado, here's the Father of Our Country. 'Hey-a.' No, GW."

GW:

"I will only speak if he stays quiet. Sandy, watch him... grrrrrr.

"Hello, dear friends of liberty. I want to tell you of a dream. In this dream, all people are free of want and fear, and free to be themselves. In this dream, no one ever acts against the common good and the common weal; for it is the dream of democracy. But I know it is a dream and not a reality because the world is not perfect and people are not perfect. So the dream of democracy must be tempered with the realities of life. The great challenge before any leader of democracy must be to see how the realities are understood in the light of the dream, and vice versa.

"Is any failure in a person a failure of the dream? I hope not, because then fallible humanity would never dream a dream of hope. Rather the failures of humanity do not deny the vision but clarify it. We build a union which stands in principle with the full knowledge of what failures might come. But the essence of that union must always be upon its vision, not on its failures. In this way that union will always both fail and fulfill itself. But the focus must be on the fulfillment.

"In the scriptures of our Lord, He is given to speak of having the abundant life and having it more abundantly. Let me take His divine words and speak of us as having a national life that is democratic and having that life evermore democratically. In my time, some were seen as fractional or property of real humans, and others without any rights. Now you see the picture more openly and so you have a union that is more democratic. Both were democratic in nature but yours just more so. And that passage toward the vision never rests; it will always become more inclusive. But still, there will be those who point to the failures of individuals and seek to stop the passage. Some may even try to reverse it. But it is a passage which cannot be stopped.

"The dream, though never fulfilled, is so fulfilling that whenever and wherever it is blocked it will rise again in a wave of sentiment that no government can contain. And the wise leader will always seek to make the government a channel for the sentiment, not a dam against it. And all governments will be judged by whether they enhance the dream or convert it to a nightmare.

"And now I give you my honored colleague, with whom I disagreed mightily but with whom I shared this dream, TJ. I am off to have some cherry pie. Yes... sure... right." (2/16/2004 - W#306)

TJ:

"Hello, dear friends. Would that this conversation would be at my beloved Monticello and I might insist you try the new wine I have made. But I greet you nonetheless.

"Why, I ask, do so many fear rights and liberties. And do you know the difference between the two? I will assume that not all do know.

"A right is a matter of the constitution of the universe. It is an expression of the divine plan in which we exist. It is a matter of the detail of the Creator's hand. It is a human statement and recognition of the essential nature of human existence.

"When we speak of rights, we speak of the essence of both the human and the divine. To have mouths but not a right to speak would be to suggest a perverse Creation and, therefore, a perverse Creator, which no person of faith could enjoy. To have minds that can think but have certain ideas outlawed would be the same. To have the gift of the capacity to love and form union with one another and not be able to express that, likewise would be perverse. Rights speak to those realities which capture our very nature.

"Liberties are those qualities of life which are liberally granted their just due from a legally constituted government. So no government can decide your right to speech, but a government may or may not give you liberty to own property. No one was born with a divine right to property; one gains access to it as a liberty.

"All liberties are the product of the compact between a people and their government, and are subject to their acceptance or rejection. Thus, some people may willingly give up a portion of their freedom as an expression of their liberty to seek a greater good; taxation is an example. But liberties, either expressed or denied, cannot at any time infringe upon rights. And any government that does not have the wisdom to know the difference and express the deference will be a government that cannot and will not stand. In the end, right and rights will out.

"So I caution all who will listen... 'And he cautions us all the time, blech'... hush... to be clear about a difference--unless you wish revolution on your hands and heads. And with that, I sigh and take my leave." (2/16/2004 - W#307)

Rikkity: "Ok, who's the next pres. ARF. Ok, here's a dog who's been president but not of the USA... grrrrr. Another political entity... grrrrr... which was a bit repressive... snap. Let's just say the inmates ran the asylum... arrf. And I can't resist... here's a coffee man."

Coffee man: "So what will it be, black or with cream. Come on, I don't have all day. You think I do this for my health. You want to know what's wrong with this country? The lottery payouts are too low! If I had a winner... pay attention, I don't have all day to spend with you... if I had a winner I'd be out of here like that *snap*. Ok, next."

Rikkity: "And now, one more: a mystical seer."

E:

"Relax. I will offer you nothing. And nothing is all you need, for in nothing of mine is the all of yours.

"When you look to others and what they have and know, you miss the treasury which is you. At this spiritual level, every entity that is stable contains the same potential memory of all that has been. And all that is yet to become is equally contained in each of you. So, when you hear the wisdom of others, realize that it is not the wisdom of others, it is your wisdom. If it weren't yours, you couldn't hear or sense or understand it.

"Revel in the you which is also the All. And if the collective you which becomes a country would also know this, then real liberation would be achieved. Government is not in some capitol, but in all of the people.

"Be well. A name doesn't matter. Call me E, as in Everyone." (2/16/2004 - W#308)

Rikkity: "Well, that is the show. And now, for the entire Universal Television Corporation and the $4.95 Glass Company, it's Rikkity and her dog Sandy... arrrrrf... saying write if you get worse and hang by your hmmms. Later, dude."



Ericka's Bench 3/1/2004

Rikkity: "From the inner circle of foolishness, it's Ericka's Bench... snap. Hi. Today we have 4... count 'em, 4... visitors to the Bench, and none of them have been famous in their past lives or their future lives. So let's get started. But first, you ask why no famous spooks this session, because they are all playing hard to get. And I won't play that game. They said I had to play their way or they'd leave, and I said 'Go!' I learned and remembered. I theenk eet was a test.

"So, to begin, put your paws together for YN."

YN:

"Know what YN stands for. Every time I'm asked to do something I say 'Y not.' Can't learn without trying.

"But I actually want to share a secret with you: Famous people get the short end of the stick... huh. Ok, let's review. We're all in this together. No one entity rises above the rest. It's a 'sum total plus' situation. And you can't be one with All alone; it takes all. So, we get these famous folk and they inspire us and we learn through them... and yes, we learn as well from bad examples as good. So we get something from them and what do they get, squat! Actually they get squat minus, because most famous people think it is about them as people and not them as spiritual examples; so they get adulation and think it's about them, but it's about the ideas they express. So they delude themselves and the total is more like negative. So we receive from their example and they do not--with a few well-placed exceptions of those on the verge of moving on.

"Now, if you think about the whole, you'll see that a simple soul needing to learn a great deal for fulfillment gains more than one with vast enlightenment. And since it is all connected, we all gain more. We rise in complexity because there are greater potentials for connection whenever a greater number of spirits move toward fulfillment. In other words, we are more gifted by the learnings of the simple than by the fame of the famous.

"So if you look up and down your spiritual tree and see no fame, that's ok. All That Is is congruent with meaning, not fame." (3/1/2004 - W#309)

Rikkity: "And here's my good friend, ER."

ER:

"Hi. I'm not a part of a hospital! Let's get that out of the way. Is ICU next... wait... ICU. You see me? Damn, guess I'm less spirit than I would like.

"One of the amazing experiences of spirit is to be on this side and sense what really matters--strip away those bones and that flesh, take off the ego, and look at the soulful spirit. It's where you see values. What? You can't see values, we can. And ultimately they matter more than matter.

"Recently--and I mean by that in the last go-around that I'm here--a spirit arrived D&C and, once more settled, the spirit gave off a feeling of regret. That's always upsetting. This spirit loved the children but could not feed them enough. In poverty you don't always have choices! But you can have values! So we helped this spirit to recognize that the value was to feed the children, even when no food was around.

"And then we get the others who think a long list of life deeds will be good enough, and they are devoid of values. Our favorite is 'I did it because that's what a good person does who wants to go to Heaven.' Sure... right. That's not a value, that's a deal. Values are never about deals! I overheard what TJ said--or is going to say--about rights and liberties. Well, values are like rights; they are not negotiable nor are they conditional.

"I am amazed how so many people attack situational ethics and call for absolutes, but their absolutes are all part of a perceived deal. Remember, the so-called 10 Commandments were part of a deal. If they were true values, they would not come as part of the Covenant package. Real values move one toward spiritual fulfillment, even if circumstances keep them from being fulfilling... no... completely expressed. And I'm through!" (3/1/2004 - W#310)

Rikkity: "And here's another spirit... and you won't see him... KW. Ha, it's a she... or not."

KW:

"Ok, it's a sum total. And it's about values. So it is always reaching out of self for larger definitions--which may not be possible in the physical limitations of life.

"What does all that mean. I doubt I can tell you exactly because you are so physical. But let's try with the concept of love, which is a physical expression of ultimate connection. If love is a value, then it is not defined nor limited to the physical and no physical dimension holds it. So all things drop away: age, gender, nationality, racial, live or dead. There is no dividing line you can state that can contain love or... hmmm... exclude it. So whenever you find a limit to love, you know you are not really dealing with the value.

"Values are universal and limitless. And finding ways to live in limited physical existence as close to this spiritual value existence is the challenge. It's not about money or things or fame... or even safety. It's about becoming a living limitless embodiment of values--which are spirit made real." (3/1/2004 - W#311)

Rikkity: "Here's a value made real, but what value escapes me... grrrrrr."

TL:

"Hello. Last but not least. You ain't heard nothing yet.

"There is no linearity to values. There is no hierarchy to values. It's not that the saints had better values. If you want better values go to K-Mart. If the values at this level of complexity are all the same, it's a challenge of their understanding and acceptance. And even those who understand don't always get it. How many glimpse connection and then decide it's about connections to their own.

"You can't grasp universal and put it into specifics and hope to say you're done. One of the recurring challenges that keeps us recurring is this: Values are ultimately not tools, but spirit. Ponder that. I'm done, too." (3/1/2004 - W#312)

Rikkity: "So there you have it: 4 nobodies... but we are all nobodies here. Well, if you like our show, support our sponsors. UTV."



"I'm the Queen of All That Is.

"How do you know that All That Is is not all that is. Well, you see, just like a well... if you have all that is, well then, you would take some out... no, wait, ha... uh. Well, I'm the queen of my bench! Arrrf. My part of my bench! F... f... f... f... f... f. I'm just a humble human-class spirit guide. Hi. I need my Mommy.

"If All That Is is all that is, then it would be All That Was--without a future. And I mean a future not as in time, but in becoming. Without the potential for more than All That Is, we couldn't have All That Is because it would be only All That Was, and that tends to nothing.

"Either All That Is holds infinite potential, or else All That Is collapses into infinitesimal nothingness. And I ain't going there! You see, I'm the Queen of All That Is and more!

"But for you, I put it in linear time-based terms. Ok, yesterday contained either everything or everything plus more. If it contained only everything, then did the day before contain only everything? Sure, because unless you have everything plus, it's all the same. But then, on Day 1 it had to be everything, and nothing more. What about Day 0. Then it was truly nothing. But if on Day 0 it was nothing and nothing, we'd have nada. So on Day 0 we had nothing plus, so on Day 1 we had the plus as everything, and we also had a new plus. It's always everything plus, or else we'd never get beyond the nothingness of Day 0.

"Unless you have more than everything as a constant potential, you never even get to Day 1.Now without it there would be the eternal nada. Now just take out time and order and you've got it! Because I'm a plus-size queen... oops. I'm the Queen and more! ARF...rf... f... f... f. Stop laughing at me." (3/8/2004 - V#80)



"This conversation is filled with potential. Name something which is not. Even nothing has a potential.

"Nature truly abhors a vacuum. That's why it's so dusty here... no no no no. So in the absence of a total nothing, which is unnatural, there is always potential. Even in the best of situations, well thought out by parents, there is the potential for mischief <grin>.

"By the way, logic is an assumption.

"You gotta be where you are, or else you've robbed the potential. The best way to reduce existence--either physical or spiritual--of its potential, is to act, think, believe, feel that potential is some other time, place, plane, form. Either it flows through All That Is or it doesn't, and we've already dispensed with the doesn't, so it must! So it is as much there as here, and now as then.

"The question is not if but then what... or huh... wha... sure... I guess. At-one-ment: because it is never something other. All the potential you ever need is available in every place and moment... but a trip to Disney wouldn't hurt." (3/13/2004 - V#81)



"Hey, we Morsels were conditioned to being a bit edgy... nothing quite 'right' with us. Two towering homes for towering minds. Don't forget, Morsels can look down on other Yalies." (3/19/2004 - W#313)



"Remember, all physical attributes are only manifestations of the spiritual--and fleeting ones at that. Tempus fugit but--or should I say sed--tempus non esse. You've heard it before... or wait, you're going to hear it soon. In What Dreams May Come, them folks who were posing as dead... well, they were dead, but... they manifested as aspects of their spiritual attributes. So a kindly soul might manifest as Florence Nightingale. And an idiot might manifest as someone from Crawford, Texas... o, I'm bad.

"Collective spirits are not the same as coordinate spirits. Did I mention companion spirits. I theenk not. Complementary? And you better say 'yes' because that's all I have given you. Complementary are elements of entities. They complete the pattern. Complementary, complete... see. And comple plus ete or mentary--same root.

"But what is a coordinated spirit, one that can dance? And the other kinds. Watch out for compound spirits: two-faced liars. You think they match, but only while you're watching. And dipole coordinated spirits... don't ask, don't tell. Actually, it's simple: 2 entities which must move on together because their energy is a coordinate around a single expression of being. And you say, 'Huh.' And I say, those stories were about this: Adam and Eve and Romulus and Remus, Sylvester and Tweetie, Vishnu and Shiva. Without both, you have nothing. And without both in balance, you have trouble... yessir, trouble right here in Judgment City.

"So, I will get to the others... or not. Now it is time to get serious... woof. Or not. Don't assume that because I put the process of Spiritual Persistence in simple plain terms, that it is that simple or plain. Remember that 1 + 1 = 2 is both simple and amazingly elegant. The simplest notions point to life's complexities, just as complex compound spirits do. And we will get back to that. Have to prime the pump before you can go to the well." (3/26/2004 - V#82)



"Collective entities--not to be confused with compound and complementary and coordinate. And there are no collateral ones, but actually all are collateral if time is infinite and expansive and meaningless. Did you say correlative. But a correlative entity would not be causative and so it would have no effect, and if it has no effect, it effectively isn't, so don't go there.

"Collective entity is one that is not only more complex by reason of its own building on complementary, more elementary entities, but one that begins to mirror the whole of the All That Is. Actually, all entities which are complex are collective, but at the most elementary levels you couldn't tell. But at some levels, one could begin to sense that the entity is all it is and... aha... more, just like All That Is. Something gets added to the equation; the complexity weighs in with its own meaning. And guess what, humans are right on the cusp between the something more being insignificant and being something. So we get a glimpse of that something more in some entities and not in others. It's there in all, but not to the same extent.

"So, we have lots of entities which have the more but don't show it, and a few that show some more more, and a fewer still that show a lot more more. And what we recognize as more, and celebrate in the great entities, is just a tiny glimpse of what is along the entity trail. So, you are functioning like complementary spirits, but you are collective but don't know how to know and use that. Ah, so much learned and so much to learn.

"Understand? If you do, let me know. I don't get it but I say it. I have a slightly better glimpse, and no need to waste energy on being physical. Whoa, do you know how much work it is to be physical? Ok, that's the spiel for this session. And remember, I'm trying to use models which can be understood by your wee wittle brains, but the reality is more astounding than any model I can suggest or any words I know.

"I just feel like a kid who has run up onto the top of a hill and, seeing a great cathedral spire in the distance, tries to yell back down to my family in the dell what I've seen. But since I've never seen it before, I have to use words from the past, not the vision. So maybe I get a good description of the spire, or maybe you think I've spotted an elephant with a tusk stuck up in the air or maybe a water tower or maybe a tree that has been struck by lightning. Until these images are in our 'past,' we will only be seeing illusions." (3/29/2004 - V#83)



Ericka's Bench 4/5/2004

Rikkity: "And now, the greatest show not on Earth, Ericka's Bench. Hi folks, have a seat... no not there, you just sat on a guest. I was planning on having Robespierre and Ivan and their friends but I can't find them... gone, but not forgotten. So instead, I sent my assistant out... ARF... and he rounded up the usual suspects. So let's go... grrrrr. Thank you, Mr. McPooch... grrrin.

"Our first guest is rather inventive. Here's LD."

LD:

"It is always good to sit and cogitate. Thinking is too often underrated. People leap to action. They think the products of need are all that is needed, but the greater products are the ones of thought without need. Needless contemplation forms the bedrock upon which the needs of the world can be addressed.

"Nowadays people see all my designs as practical, but most for me were theoretical. I wanted ideas, not solutions. If you start with a need you get a solution, but if you start with thought you get an idea. I like ideas.

"So, be wary of the ones who think only of action. They are trying to deal with their own feelings of fear over the unknown. See, you act but do you get any idea that could grow outward to an understanding? No. You solve a problem but learn virtually nothing. So it is with everything. Don't shortchange the thinking.

"And, speaking of short change... " (4/5/2004 - W#314)

MCP: "Hey-a."

LD: "My dear little friend, you have traveled long and far... "

MCP: "Yessir-a."

LD: "And I salute you."

MCP: "And I you."

LD: "No, I you."

MCP: "No, I you."

Rikkity: "While the boys resolve which is the bigger gentleman, here's GW."

GW:

"Thank you, dear lady. Now, my friend LD has suggested thought in relation to action and I suggest thought in relation to titles. One of the great issues of the Revolution was whether or not we should honor titles.

"A whole House of Parliament was befitted with seats of title, not thought. An idiot could be--and was often--an Earl. The most common person in our colony could often speak of greater wisdom than the whole of the Lords. So our struggle was in some measure the struggle of wisdom over titles. But I know the struggle is long. And anytime a person's thoughts are denigrated, and their personality made the substitute for those thoughts, our Revolution fades a bit more into forgetfulness.

"If it be the truth, it never matters who says it. And the fame of a speaker never confirms its truth. We must be eternally vigilant, as my friend says, to not mistake station for truth. All the greatest tyrants have been both the greatest liars and the most famous people.

"And the best way to avoid this pitfall is to ask, 'After the underlying thought, what is being said here that reaches beyond the place and moment.' Simple to say and hard to do." (4/5/2004 - W#315)

LD: "Thank you."

MCP: "No, you."

LD: "You're the greater gentleman."

MCP: "No, you sir."

LD: "No, neither of us are, but he is: TJ."

TJ:

"That canine can be persuasive. And a good day to you. I'll try to speak over their noise. Soto voce, per favore! See, it is good to know other languages, they have fallen silent.

"This discussion of thoughts is very personal. I am best remembered--just as is LD--for my ideas, but they did not spring spontaneously from my soul nor in some inspired revelry. The gracious Maker of this Creation has graced us with the basic tools and resources of our craft of thought--but we are not given thoughts, but only given to thought. The gracious gift was thinking, not specific thoughts. After all, all thoughts are part of Creation; you cannot think one that is not! But the capacity to discern between the wise and the foolish, the energizing and the enervating, the narrow and the broad, is our capacity to divinity.

"All thoughts reside in the Divine, but the divine quality knows the path of that which builds, connects, enhances. Thoughts which can do that become creative forces of their own; thoughts which are not will not create. So we, with our reason and experience, navigate the murky waters of thought in search of clarity, and such clarity allows us to see to new murky waters. The sentiments of my words that are remembered were the long-thought results of my thinking. For every sentence I put to paper and history, I held an infinite number in myself.

"Roll dice several times if you want to get to a specific answer. But think and think again if you wish to understand." (4/5/2004 - W#316)

Rikkity: "Ok boys, you may speak... arrrf."

LD: "O my dear fellow, let us agree."

MCP: "Yes, let us agree."

LD: "Yes, he's the real gentleman."

MCP: "I'll drink to that."

Rikkity: "So, a Bench of pith--not as long as some but deeper than many. Like some couches: short but deep and hard to get out of. I'm going. Later, dude."



Rikkity: "Papa is here. He wants to either talk or buy me some time."

Papa:

"Hi. Immortal words don't last like they once did, but the beach goes on without notice. And I like it here... and there. John and I will be at the beach for the duration. So, how's by you. Look like you could use some starch. Peanut butter?

"I am doing well. Crashing all I want, not a garage safe around here. Gotta find how to park these things. Every landing is just a controlled crash.

"Have not seen Mimi but I haven't been looking. And somebody down there is trying to yell for her. Guess who. Someone who had perfect parents! Mimi's hiding in the smoking section. I hear she is ok but D&C for longer than some. She didn't believe, so she just thinks she's alive and very confused. But that's true for many. Gotta get that light repaired, been out for awhile. Some arrive through a dark tunnel. But I soar." (4/9/2004 - W#317)



"Dead are often surprised--lots here to be surprised about, and by. Since most arrive with cognitive expectations, there are many surprises in a noncognitive existence. Thinking is not highly valued here... since we have no brains! That would be a no-brainer.

"It is amazing how people know when you're dead, you got no feet so you won't be hiking, and you don't got no stomach so you won't be eating, but they assume you'll still be thinking. And in this corner, logic, and in the other corner, wishful thinking. Get over it.

"Being in a spiritual way beats thinking every time. So there, blech. That's enough pith." (4/13/2004 - I#71)




"So, you vant I should speak more about spirit entities. Vhat's to say. Oy, the entities, vhat a mess... coming and going, coming and going, growing and going. But wait, the rowers keep rowing and the danger keeps on growing... oy, don't ask.

"I gave you some terms about coordinated and compound and etc. (not to mention confused) entities. All of this is metaphorical, so I will try it another way, ok?

"How many dimensions are there. A lot and then some! Let's just say a bazillion. But we are made of less complex stuff, and for them there were how many dimensions. A bazillion, and so forth. So, in this level of development, you get how many possible realities just in yourself? A bazillion factorially: 1 x 2 x 3 x 4... up to a bazillion. But each of the infinite parts of you have how many inherent possibilities. A bazillion factorially. So, a bazillion factorially of an infinite number of elements makes? One hell of a lot of possibilities. So I would run out of descriptors before I ran out of possibilities. And some are just shadings of another. Huh.

"Ok. 1,000 people in a line, but it's different if they all face right or ahead or if one gets out of line... CT, back. So when I describe some of the major trends, I am not even coming close to talking about all. But the question becomes, if the entity in some level of complexity has an integrity. And here's the kicker: remember what we did with time? Threw it out. So not only do you have all the complexity of the lesser complex expressions of your entity, but all the more complex as well... already, not yet.

"So, we could take models from this stage of complexity and use them to describe spirit, and it would work and be accurate and be totally misleading and a failure at the same time. This level gives us gifts of abstraction and curses of limitations. So there! Ponder that.

"And the most confused are those who think they know it all. Certainties about unknowns and unknowables is stupid... stupid. A wise respect for one's ignorance is a great sign of wisdom. Only the short-sighted really see the horizon, but it's not far enough off to mean anything. The loud noises the deaf can hear do not contain the whispers of angels. And the foolish will always shout while the wise stay silent. And we'll never have that recipe again!

"Did I ever tell you about my grandmother who made the same dishes each week? Too bad she lost the recipes. Recipes--like formulae and scripts--keep things from getting much better, but they, thankfully, keep things from getting much worse. And the Constitution is only a recipe--but no, not a dish ready to reheat and serve for drop-in company.

"Dried flowers provide the sweet aroma of memory, but never the deep scent of presence... oooo. Enough." (4/16/2004 - V#84)



Ericka's Bench 4/26/2004

Rikkity: "Having trouble connecting? Too few words, too long sessions? Then get the new 134E board, the latest and fastest board one can get. More words per minute than flimsy pasteboard and plastic ones. Dazzle your friends and spirits. Get one today or any day.

"And now, it's the Bench. You know, the Supreme Court got nothing on me. I've got my own bench! And I rule!! ARRF. Chief Injustice... grrrr.

"So today we have visitors but no one famous. Maybe we should give them numbers, not letters. What do you think, Sandy. Woooog. Ok, letters. Arf. Arf. Arf? Arf! So, let's get started so I can go to the beach."

TP:

"Hi. I don't know what to tell you. I'm 465... grrrr. Ok, TP... and no jokes, please.

"Did you know that humans have a vast experience with the process of spiritual complexity connection. And they don't realise it... sorry, realize... Aussie. Well, I was once.

"One of the deepest human emotions is that of love. And we usually think about it as a connection between two lives, but it is not a physical connection. It may be expressed physically but it is not defined physically. Two lovers can be separated physically and still connect. You do not need to see each other or even to have met. Pen pals fall in love. Something reaches out from one being and finds its mate in another reaching out. That is, essentially, the connecting of simplicity into complexity. One does not stand alone. And 1 plus 1 makes more than 2 when real connection is made, and yet there is not any quantifiable measure of it.

"The entity of a love connection is like the entity of a spiritual connection. You were given a physical model of atoms, and here is a different model but the same. If you think your spirit is a building block, you've missed the point. It's like a building block but it's not one. Think metaphors, not descriptions. And love is only a metaphor, too, but a living glimpse.

"And you can't control it. You can just be you.

"Now I need to go and throw some white stuff over the trees in CT's yard. I'm going to TP him, hahahaha. I can make the jokes but you can't!" (4/26/2004 - W#318)

KF:

"And hello. I was going to mention a number but someone suggested it would be prudent to use letters. KF.

"TP is so right. If you look to all the areas of life about which you are certain they exist but you can't be certain of how or why, you are peeking into spiritual stuff.

"I'm not talking about how many planets there are or if the world is flat, but the more esoteric items--like how we think and feel, how we know sometimes without experience... things like that. Not everything will be eventually explained because not everything is of this spiritual level. Some bleeds off from before and after, more and less complex, etc. We have vestiges of what was and glimpses of what is to be, and some of those will never make sense here.

"What egotism to place this physical existence at the center of the universe. But every level of complexity does--and learns from that mistake until it all remembers and then truly is the center of All That Is as well as the edges.

"The best way to discover that you are not the end-all and be-all is to pretend you are and see how wrong that is!

"That's it for me." (4/26/2004 - W#319)

PP:

"And I'm the last one today and I'm PP.

"Don't believe what TP and KF said. It's all lies. No, I'm just kidding. I'm here to remind you that this is no laughing matter. Wellll, actually it is. Only by the laughable do we see how wrong our assumptions are. When we can laugh at our folly we know we have learned and remembered. When we change but don't laugh we are only changed until we can prevail and do it our way. But when we know our position as laughable, we give it up. So smile on that." (4/26/2004 - W#320)

Rikkity: "And now, here is the Chief Injustice himself... wooof. Picture, if you will, a Supreme Court made up of McPooches... talk about tail wagging dog. Ok, the beach beckons and the Bench is closed. I'll be back. Till then, keep on laughing."

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