In Pitlochry, Scotland:

"Is there a Nessie? In some probable reality. Sometimes realities cross. Just like UFOs: Not here, but there, but sometimes there is here (intersection). Déjà vu is an intersection, too. So déjà vu is personal; others are collective; and sometimes others are societal–which is another name for paradigm shift. Aha, pith. Ponder that." (5/27/2005 - I#79)



At Dove Cottage, Grasmere, England:

"Wow, it's crowded. All the spirits are good.

"Remember, the veil between the physical and the spiritual is itself metaphysical–as a supposition and an imposition of the late modern rational mind, which did not hold sway here." (5/31/2005 - I#80)



In London

Rikkity: "This place is full of spirits, and surprise: most of them were not beheaded. Bloody awful what they emphasize. For example, here's PN."

PN:

"Hello. I lived in London. I was a seamstress. I had 3 children and one husband. We were wed 45 years. All my children lived longer than I. I died at 70, one year after my husband. We both died of natural causes. Life was never neither grand nor plain, but the joyous mix which is life.

"Do they mention us on tours, no. We were just some of millions who lived and learned and loved and celebrated and cried and ate and walked and etc. Cities are made of people, not stories.

"They like the myths more than the realities, for in fact the realities are quite common. Think of a town where, when you enter, the sign says 'Welcome to a place where nothing happened except for 1287 lives lived out.' Wouldn't make the tourist maps, but that's the truth of most places. On the tour they may mention 100, but how many millions have been Londoners. It's like saying you are defined by that single second in second grade.

"And here she is. Ta-ta."

Rikkity: "So, focus on the common. It's harder to connect to the exceptions, and harder to learn from them. Can't learn from fear. They don't want to learn–believe the best was not 'is' or 'will be.' Empire in decline." (6/4/2005 - W#345)



"Let's talk about remakes–the worst idea of Hollywood, made better only by comparison with written remakes. I mean, like a book is a book and don't try to rewrite it. But what about religious crap... oops, I mean religious works.

"Do we think it really matters what the sources of religion are? The proof is in the pudding, not the recipe. People keep thinking 'If only we can get the recipe, we will have it made,' but they left the cake out in the rain.

"Here's a scary thought, proven by centuries: A new, or renewed, Christianity could develop from discoveries, but then we would have inter-Christian warfare. When we should be looking beyond the divisions we already have, we instead put energy into making more divisions.

"If people believed what some radical sources now offer, they would forget about arguing the sources, and get on with living the values. No scripture ever converted anyone, but life lived with hope and meaning has. And besides, who wants pudding? ‘I do, I do.' Ok." (6/30/2005 - I#81)



TJ:

"When in the course of politics... no no no no no. When in the course of human affairs... no no no no no. Whenever we feel like it... no no no no no. When in the course of human events... yes. Wife, puberty, and... no no no. O hi, I'm TJ, I'm not a revolutionary, though I play one in history. Do you think I came up with those words out of my own little brain. I do not claim such. I was merely the conscientious and courageous soul who put on a single document the best evolution of human thought.

"Did I write it for the ages, yes and no. What I wrote was, I hoped, a glimpse of the eternal truths created by a presence greater than my naming and knowing. And yet, at the same time, I had to write to my times, not to eternity. There is a constant need for a fair and enlightening point of confluence between the theories of the natural laws and the wants and needs of breathing people of an age and culture. If I had written that all people were equal and that slavery was unjust (which I knew it to be), my words would not have become enshrined in anything other than the dustbin. The truly prophetic words are those which point us in the right direction but which do not presume the ultimate destination of fulfillment. So, too, with the Bible. Where it teaches me to walk a Christ-like path and see the moral truths for myself in my age and place, it is a holy work. But where it asks me to accept as true the destinations of those long since dead, it is but an albatross to the true spiritual traveler.

"Ask of any work: 'Does this point me in a direction of greater inclusion and holiness, or does it narrow the path as it narrows the spirit and the mind.'

"I've got work to do... on a trifle for dinner. Don't look for my path, look from my path for yours. And don't forget to stop and picknick awhile."

Rikkity: "He's so cool and deep, we call him The Well. And one last word from GW: 'Hey, I told you I'm not the father! Grow your own country!' " (7/4/2005 - W#346)



Bastille Day

Rikkity: "And so, in the winter of 1789, there were many whose stomachs were empty but whose minds were full. But who knew what would grow in the soil of that famous year. 'I do.' No, you don't.' 'Huh.'

"And now, for part 1298 of our recorded story of France's freedom. In episodes 1 through 1297, we learned that the dinosaurs became fat and lazy, and so the English and the bourgeois were made. Now we hear Pierre entering the inn and saying, ‘Bonjour, mon amis. How ees the wine.' And they respond, 'Revolting!' and so it starts. Hi. Well, it's a big day in the Land That Time Forgot because time doesn't exist.

"Ok, serious. Here's a man who has been kissing MCP."

Marky:

"Hello. Without the little Italian, how could we have the feu d'artifice. He is my hero. And I remain your humble servant, Marky.

"It is important that we all remember that celebrations are only reminder, not event. As the years pass, too many focus on the celebration and forget the event. Maybe we need a holiday with no precedent, just to celebrate. And then we could use the real times to remember. Just an idea." (7/14/2005 - W#347)

Rikkity: "And now, here's the Gallic wonder:"

CDG:

"Hello. They say I was a great leader, but I have this confession: Everything I knew about it came from the experience of following. We too often speak of people's qualities in a life as if they were causes, not results. But I know that all which is accorded great and all which is accorded poor are the results of lives, not the cause of fame or infamy. We arrive in each life with the resources which are the result of much learning–either at this level or another. What we bring we use, and what we learn here becomes the blessings of another go-around.

"I was much more informed at the dairy (the fromagerie) than at the Sénat. I learned more at the cheese tables than in the halls of government. It is a process of aftereffects. Everyone wants it all now. Well, grow up. Moses, that kind servant they called a leader, never saw the Promised Land. And none of those who raised the Tricolor saw the great democratic republic which is France.

"So don't think of leadership as presence, as much as a present of experience.

"And on another note, what is this whole thing about English food. They have excellent cheese.

"So, ponder that, as Her Highness says." (7/14/2005 - W#348)



"Now, I want to ask you a question: Why do you think people want to settle for being people after they die, when they could instead look forward to being spirit. I mean, all we hear in most lives is about how our bodies ache and we have to house them and feed them and care for them, so what's the deal with wanting eternity with bodies? (Even ones as magnificent as mine once was... and is.) Arrogance that the human form is the top of the creative pyramid, and maybe sin as a notion is a corrupt way of acknowledging that we don't stand at the top.

"Maybe original sin is not about being condemned in this world or yours, but about the basic incompleteness of being human, which at the same time holds the seeds of completeness. As I sense it, the words of the physical world point to failure or success–as in, saved or sinner. But from here I sense both how far from wholeness of All That Is we are, and how far from total separation we also are. Without the total perception of both fulfillment and challenge, then we get left with sin and salvation. But our greatest sins, so to speak, are our inattentions to what we can do, and our salvation is in our attention to it. And none of that is a matter of grace or ordination.

"Every spiritual entity at every level of complexity will eventually be able to sense both, or no progress of fulfillment will ever occur. Somewhere in the before of you, the elements which would become you all had to sense this greater possibility.

"You stay at a level of complexity until you sense and know that that level of being, with all its attributes and problems, is just a phase, not a permanence. To make the afterlife a permanent and perfected version of Earthly existence is to pervert the process of spiritual evolution." (8/8/2005 - V#105)



"Who am I. I am spirit that was made and is in the making and is awaiting making until the whole and the parts are one.

"I am energy and matter and other existences which have no name or existence at your complexity. And I am a barefoot blob of potential waiting for my handiwork and also waiting for the handiwork of the infinite other Yesses.

"For all the universal All is an expression of Yes in the face of No." (8/8/2005 - V#106)



“Here’s a tidbit: There’s a great difference between those who say they are messengers of the Divine and those who say they are the Divine.

“With a messenger, you can receive the message and ponder it. With the Divine, you sort of have to take it or leave it. So, I’d rather get a letter of meaning I could ponder than a head-whammy I have no choice about.

“After all, it’s not about the teacher, but about the student. So maybe all teachers should be teaching as if their students were the Divine, and they were reminding them of what they already know as their essence. That would surely change the equation... and don’t call me Shirley. What would you do if you were trying to remind All That Is about some of All That Is? Ok, enough.” (8/19/2005 - V#107)



“So, a long journey has a marking place. I hope you can embrace the gifts of the journey, even while lamenting the losses. If the focus were to be on 10 years ago, what would it serve but to negate 10 years and all that I have tried to share. Can’t choose 'em, but can choose how.

“Each piece of a puzzle we call Life is another polished facet of our entities. It is tragic when the allure of focusing on any one facet keeps us from seeing the brilliant jewel which is us in our entirety. You can’t get holism without focusing on the whole. Perspective is also a name for insight.” (8/19/2005 - W#349)



“Like all works, take what works and use the rest for toilet paper.

“No one book contains it all. A chapter here, a line there--just like TJ and his Bible. Isn’t all knowledge really one’s collected anthology. It’s called Life, not Time. Some are readers and some are writers and some are editors, and most are some of each.

“Never accept as yours the work of others. Include theirs, but be not limited by them.” (8/24/2005 - I#82)



"And welcome to SP 1001... or not. Yep, 10 years and still yakking. I’ve said it all, and there’s so much more to say. But I will try to keep it simple <wink wink>.

“Ok, here goes. Think about human physical chronological history. When you look at any point in time, you see a variety of connected events. For example, just when Einstein was going out for a beer, so were several other physicists and, within the same period, they all got drunk... but I digress. They all came to the same theoretical discoveries. This is what we have been talking about for a decade: the web of connection in an infinite number of directions--butterfly in Beijing, rain in DC; idea in Bern, idea in Oslo; parallel universes are experiences of the same web from a different perspective. So all of this should seem familiar by now.

“Ok, let’s look at any nexus on the web, and choose any probability you wish. Now, looking at that nexus, you can see the web of connection... which is not like the cloak of invisibility. But with a deeper look at the nexus, you can see precedent and antecedent. So Einstein, earlier in the day, had a very salty wurst. Later that night, he had to go to the wc twice. But now the question: Did the other physicists who went for a beer have the same precedents and antecedents. No... or yes, but not necessarily. It ain’t necessarily so. One might have had nothing salty, but been an alcoholic. Another might have wanted social company. And later, both of those might not have had to get up twice, because one barfed it up and the other’s bladder was so familiar with the abuse it didn’t get pissed off... ok, didn’t demand a nightly waking. So, we have three points connected by physics and beer and the web which unites them, but we also have paths which are different.

“Picture the precedents and the antecedents as another dimension and at another point of connection. The connections are quite different. One was eating a wurst in a restaurant, one was downing a beer in a gasthaus, and another was sitting all alone in a lab with a dull Swiss cheese sandwich. Not much to connect them. So at that point they were more connected to their individual strands of events than to each other, but they were very connected to what would come about, connecting them all.

“This month we will take up the strands–connections along the development of entity complexity. Or, to put it simply, we each and we all are on distinct paths, but those paths lead to larger connections.” (9/1/2005 - I#83)



Ericka's Bench 9/5/2005

Rikkity: “It’s a lazy day on the Bench. Sanford is asleep under the bench... f. And our guests are snoozing, too. We’ll wake them one at a time. Ok, but first, hi. Ok, pssst... hey, wake up.”

TJ: “Huh. O. Hi. Am I at Monticello?”

Rikkity: “No, this is Iowa!”

TJ: “Very funny.”

Sandy: “F f f f f.”

TJ:

“Hello. Not with it yet... give me a millennium.

“Ok, so I had this friend--big extrovert, great for PR. You’ve seen his handiwork, right here on my Declaration. But now a little secret that Mr. Hancock will not admit. If you examine the Declaration with a lens like I did, you will see that his big sprawl scrawl is nothing but a series of little ink dots. To the eye it looks continuous, but to the inspecting eye it is otherwise.

“Now, here’s the ponder: Is the whole or are the point parts the signature. And the answer is yes. His signature is the line of many points, each flowing from the former and flowing to the latter; each its own and yet part of something more. And that’s not all! His whole signature is part of the flow from past to future, so you know it as well as I. Just like lives made up of separate days and then larger lives made up of several lives--strands running through the perceived time.

“Some point in his signature is connected to its adjoining points and to a signature on the Magna Carta and to the written text of his Lord the Christ. It is connected, not by substance, but by something more substantial. It is a thread of reality flowing in many lives--each composed of many lives, each composed of many days, each composed from many entities.

“It’s a complex thing. You will never know all the precedents and antecedents, but you will know all the precedents and antecedents in the fullness of existence. *yawn* Enough. Bring me some water from the well, if you would.” (9/5/2005 - W#350)

Rikkity: “Ok. Hey, wake up! God, no more ambrosia for these dudes. Hey!”

MCP: “Hey-a! O, yes. Hello-a. Did I miss anything.”

Rikkity: “O, yes. You slept through the end of the world.”

MCP: “Ooops-a.”

Rikkity: “It will be coming back again.”

MCP:

“Now, I want you to picture your life if I had--one day when I was young--said, ‘No, go yourselves, I’ll stay right here.’ But you see I was prepared to go and so I went, and presto: ice cream and pasta and fireworks and peace in the East. We have to be willing to go and do that for which we are prepared. Otherwise, what’s the point.

“We walk off into the unknown knowing ourselves, and so are equipt for all that may come. No one is asked to make the world-transformative journey, but when each of us does what we have been prepared to do, the world is transformed. And it will always be scarey, but the best things are because they’re about change.

“Unless one lives out what one has been prepared to do, he is only a dilettante at life.

“I guess-a das is das. And I run out of gas.” (9/5/2005 - W#351)

Rikkity: “No, you’re an old gas bag.”

MCP: “Hey-a.”

Rikkity: “Go back to sleep.”

MCP: “Ok-a.”

Rikkity: “Now, the hard one. Hey! Wake up. I mean it! Tickle your toes... “

GH: “Hee hee. I’m up. Hello. I’m not awake."

Rikkity: “Get up!”

GH: “Five more minutes.”

Rikkity: “No, now.”

GH:

“Ok. We have not met before. I am GH... GHO... GHOS... GHOST. Just GH. Want to do the penny trick (from my movie, Ghost). She says I should behave, but why.

“Ruts are for saps. Can’t see nothing down there. You want to see where your track is heading? Gotta get out of the ruts. Get up on some high ground and see the view. It’s amazing how few people do that and get a sense of where their track has taken them–and I don’t just mean physically.

“If you want to understand the thread of which you are a fibre, you got to be willing to frazzle a bit. Linear lives are dead lives. Going with the pack is also deadly. Step up, step out. See for yourself. And if you must be in a rut or two, at least let them be chosen ruts... now, there’s a book title.

“But I am filled with ennui. I must doze... zzzzzz.” (9/5/2005 - W#352)

Rikkity: “He’s gone. Ok, the Bench is looking mighty tempting. I give it an eye. It’s my left one. It gives it back because it isn’t physical, but neither am I nor my eye. The Bench is going to sleep, too. So we reach the end of the Bench. I mean we really reach the end of this bench, it just collapsed. Spirits, bench, dog... all one. And I shall lay upon it and become it. It is All and I will be one with All.

“And, by the way, when I said that All That Is includes All That Is, plus is something more, I meant to add that the something more is also part of it. Ultimately, you can’t have anything separate. Because by the very act of saying there is something more, you’ve linked to it.” (9/5/2005 - W#353)



“So, as we were saying, you can string out relationships in as many dimensions as there are–which is oodles. So why only see time as in history, and family as in them!?! You are the nexus of not only DNA and spirit, but also ideas, concepts, notions... but the notions are on the 2nd floor.

“So many strands, and we seem to identify them with individual spirits, but they are not spirit-bound. You are the intersection of the many paths from less complex to more complex everything–not just fabric materials, but even baking powders, and things for which you don’t even have a name or a clue but which are gestating in you as a strand of potential right now. And some of it is stuck in between the back molar and the wisdom tooth... the mill by the Floss, which grinds exceedingly slow... but fine! Hee hee.

“The greatest products of development are never sudden. Strands are long. And one of the greatest disappointments is when a way station is taken as the destination. You think you ever get to the end of a string? I hope not... and I hope knot... otherwise, it all unravels. But the universe coheres, so that implies the strings are infinite.

“Did I get that right.”

LD: “You did.”

“So, enough pith.” (9/30/2005 - I#84)



Rikkity: “And now, here’s FC, TL, GR, PB and J. Who did I say I would produce... arrf. See, Sandy, I was right... grrrr... snap. So, from the great seadog tradition... arrf... it’s FC.”

FC: “Hello. I almost said ‘Avast, shiver me timbers, arrgh'... ARF... arrrgh... ARF. But I’m not a pirate born.”

Chorus: “No, he’s not a pirate born.”

FC: “Shhhh. But never have I a pirate scorned.”

Chorus: “No, never has he a pirate scorned.”

FC: “Damned, this chorus. Hi Gilbert, hi Sullivan. When I was but a lad...”

Chorus: “Yes, when he was but a lad...”

FC: “...I shot a choir bad. Shhhh. That’ll keep him quiet. Duck tape, keeps him down. Yes, I was a seafarer.”

Chorus: “O yes, he was a....”

FC: “Shut up. Sanford me boy, keep him quiet... grrrrr. Well, as a sailor, I called nowhere home.”

Chorus: “No direction known? Grrrrrrr”

FC: “So, if I might continue uninterrupted...”

Chorus: “If he might...”

FC: “Ok, hoist the yardarm high and hang the tenor there.”

Chorus: “O hoist the yardarm high and... grrrrr.”

FC: “No more tenor, alas. And he does give good shade. Do you want a piece of the yardarm, too? Why. Spot o’ rum.

“When I sailed, what always impressed me was how each port seemed different at first, but then as each became familiar, they became more similar. The strands which wove through me were revealed with time and familiarity. One of the things I learned was to not so quickly define anything as foreign or strange... except for him, of course... hhhmmmm hhhmmmm.

“The process of life--for anyone who is both learning and remembering--is the process of translating the strange into the familiar... or rather, seeing where our life path intersects with so much. And if you live in a straight line, you will miss so much. In my day and, o yes, especially in my nights, rare were straight lines.

“A good sailor knows the best journey between two points is often a disjointed series of tacks. And even the ones which seem to go contrary to desire may either get us closer or prepare us for a long, steady run.

“If life seems to have blown you off course, maybe it is better to set a new course than to try to recapture the old.

“Just a few rambles from an old man and the sea. Ok, undo the tape. Leash the hounds. I once more go down to the sea in ships.” (10/7/2005 - W#354)

Chorus: “O yes, he once more...”

Bang!

FC: “Have you heard of Pachelbel’s Canon. That was FC’s Canon. CT is breathless.”

Chorus: “O yes, he is breathless...”

FC: “ ‘Ahoy, to Sea, to Sea,’ by FC.”

Rikkity: “Hi. I found him at a party.”

Chorus: “O yes, she found him at a party.”

Rikkity: “C.T., T.L., L.D., G.W., M.W., M.C.P...”

MCP: “Hey-a.”

Chorus: “O yes, hey-a.”

Rikkity: “Shut up.”

Chorus: “O yes... ARF.”

Rikkity: “I am surrounded by idiots, dolts, dullards, and choristers. And I can’t tell the difference.”

Chorus: “O no, she can’t tell the difference.”

Rikkity: “Hi. Just another fun time with dead folks. Ok, get out the harps. A little musicale to lift our spirits... hehe.”



Ericka's Bench 11/18/2005

Rikkity: “Like dogs to Pavlov, they come. ARF? Sandy, this research scientist had dogs... ARF!... and he would ring a bell... grrr... and then feed them. ARF! And after a time, he could just ring the bell and they would salivate. Rrf? That means they would get all juicy in the mouth like when they were eating... snap... grrrrrrrrrr. You’re right, it’s not nice to trick a dog... g... wooooof.

“Hi. So, today I have a Bench but it’s empty... well-painted but empty. Shall we fill it? Ok, any volunteers, just raise your spirits. Ok, you in the back.”

Volunteer: “Hi. Wow, this is cool. I just got here and they put me on a Bench. I must be very special! This place is so cool–everything just the way I like it. I could get used to it. Some of the others who came when I did seem out of it. They want to sit around and connect. Jeez, connect with these dead people... I mean some of them are old and some are just creepy, and don’t talk about the coloreds. But I know this is going to be my place!

“There’s this cute dog. He just stares at me–probably never saw anyone so downright good. And he just looks like he’s smiling at me! And this servant girl, who sat me down. She knew a success when she saw it. How does someone like her get a Bench? Grrrrrr. Nice doggie... I think I better be going. Those people don’t like my type sitting in their ‘hood. What the hell, I’m stuck. Damn wet paint. Shit, I can’t get up. Help me! Snap. Bad dog, you’ve torn my tupa. I can get up
now... rrriiiip. Don’t look. This isn’t funny. Doggie, stop chortling... grgrgr. Hey girl, get me a robe.”

Rikkity: “Who you calling 'girl'?”

Volunteer: “You!”

Rikkity: “Ok, Mister Ripped Smarty Pants, come with me. We have some very special experiences reserved just for your high class of people. It’ll be a blast!”

Volunteer: “Ok, but keep the dog on a leash. Try!”

Rikkity: “He’s gone. And the bench catches another. Ok seriously, here’s our old friend, GW. Wait, don’t sit, here’s some papers. O that’s right, you know you’re not physical, so do whatever.”

GW:

“Hello. One of the greatest lessons I learned as a young officer was that the most brilliant strategy was often a vigilant waiting while the arrogant foe would over-extend themselves–a version of ‘giving them enough rope.’ When the forces are massed, they seem impenetrable, but when they scatter to their tasks, one can begin to perceive their vulnerable points.

“Remember this: There is often a great and seemingly powerful onslaught just before the collapse–like the fever that peaks just before breaking. The worst injustices come just before the restitution of the good. The dogs and hoses came out just before the Civil Rights Act. Decades of small injustices were wrapped up in those intense moments. And if we became enamoured or obsessed with their strength, we would miss the revealing weaknesses.

“If you are to give your energies into a struggle, know to use them against places of weakness. Take a sledge to a boulder and you will sap your energy hitting it full-face, but look for a small crack and the slightest tap will render it asunder.

“Strategy is not about having energy, but using it.

“Good boy... ARF. He’s so cute. He reminds me of some mixed hounds we had: loyal... arf... smart... woof... and cute... ppf. Be well. (11/18/2005 - W#355)

“Hello, my darling.”

MW: “Hello, Mr. President. Will you sit and have tea with me.”

GW: “No, my dog and I are off.”

MW: “O, is he yours? Grrrrrr.”

GW: “No, just a good friend... woof.”

MW: “Safe travels.

“Hello. He is just magnificent! At your service.

“He speaks of strength and he is right, but I would remind that, at times, weakness can be equally disarming. To know when to be meek is also a gift.

“The great blowhards can be disarmed when there is no resistance to their spent energy. Meet a raised fist with another raised fist and you get a fight, but meet a raised fist with a feigned fallback and a quiet laugh and you have them off balance–so the slightest misstep will trip them.

“Sometimes your non-use of energy can use their energy to their regret. Never push tea on anyone, but let the inviting vapors work their magic. One lump or two?

“O, I must go. He will be coming back with that dog. And he’s so cute... both.” (11/18/2005 - W#356)

Rikkity: “Hi. Where’s Sandy? Ok, it’s a short Bench.”



“So, these strands reaching across complexities (note I do not say across time or space, but only meaning), these strands are the links which connect past, less complex, entities to the present complexity–even when the prior or less complex appear to be independent of each other.

“And those same strands also reach as possibilities into what is more complex–linking everything, but not in a lateral sense, of the weave of complexities at any level of complexity. Take a movie like Sliding Doors: There are links to other elements of the same complexity. But strands are beyond that. We sense strands when we have intuitions which are not born in our experience at this level (even if those experiences are in past lives, because past lives are still at this level of complexity). So there are weaves and wofts of this complexity, and strands, which run like another dimension of connection.

“If it were not for strands, you could not even perceive of differing levels of complexity. And those strands form a kind of conic projection--starting from a totally universal and disparate placement, and moving to the ultimate convergence. Strands of seemingly disconnected complexities, each with its own progression of complexities, and all converging into one ultimate complexity of All That Is. And the weave and the woft and the conic projection, each and all contain All That Is, and are, by their existence, the more than the sum of the parts.

“The vessel which holds, or the formula which describes All That Is is both part of All That Is and more. Go figure. Ok, pith enough.” (11/21/2005 - I#85)



Papa (on his 10th anniversary):

"So, did you know you were here recently. In a place without time, things happen. Well, we're all floating through here all the time, hehe. But if we don't yet have a sense of the whole, we compartmentalize--see only fragments. But sometimes we get glimpses and say 'Look who's here,' but then poof they're gone... just like spirits on your side.

"We are all here all the time, but here and there are not separate--just awareness, not existence. She says you should ponder that. And sometimes we get glimpses as treats. Like when she got here, she got a glimpse of me, even though you thought I was there, but I am also here... time. Enough." (11/26/2005 - W#357)



"About channeling an unspeaking spirit. Hey, we're all unspeaking here. If we transmit the translations of our feelings, thoughts, and essences, it doesn't matter if we speak--as Papa can tell us.

"When he gives them voice, he is not giving them a voice, but the belief in their capacity to communicate. Hey, sound waves are so yesterday--slow and limited. You ought to know about music that is not made up of sounds. Pondere that... yes, pondere: the London spelling (litre, theatre, pondere). Dopner: an anagram of ponder. To think outside the usual order: dopner. So, dopner this." (12/13/2005 - I#86)



“Just remember, you and I and we and they... but not him... are all about fulfilling entities, not creating them. Creation does not lead to fulfillment, but fulfillment leads to creation. But what is created has always been, as potential... 'or porridge.' CT! 'Potential polenta.' O I get it, sort of a cereal explanation.” (12/13/2005 - V#108)



"Get back over there. The pith is trying to escape. Sit. Sandy, guard the pith... grrrr. Hi. Never trust pith until it has proven worthy in experience... ooops, is that pith? Hmmm....

"So, strands and strings and continuities... but what about anomalies. When the strands appear to ravel out, what is that? Usually a point of juncture--a strand intersecting with another strand--which produces the potential for two new strands. You could have just AA or BB, but you could also have AB and BA. Now, what happens with three strands intersecting, and 4 and 5 and 6, and oy vey. And what if strand B is strand A doubling back on itself. The mind boggles, and I’m glad I don’t have one. Where would I keep it with no body. ‘In a purse.’ CT!

"So, what we like to pretend is our strand may be only the path along an infinite number of intersecting threads. Hey man, those are some nice threads. His life was threadbare. So, there’s the pith.

"Strands are connections, but they do not connect us. They express or embody or connote connections. Does the ink on a piece of paper contain the words, and do the words contain the thought. They are vehicles--descriptors, but not essences. Without experiences, there are not empty strands, just no strands. Go ponder more." (12/16/2005 - I#87)



"About going and leaving in a non-physical realm. Obviously, we don't go somewhere else, we just don't focus our connectional energy in that way. If we couldn't focus our thoughts both in and out, we'd be surrounded with spiritual din–undifferentiated noise or spiritual chatter. We have spiritual squelch controls, so to speak... over.

"So, we can differentiate as a way of not being present to all. Otherwise, we'd go bonkers.

"So there's a tidbit more for those who want all the details of spirit communications." (12/28/2005 - I#88)



"There’s an infinite more, so how come we miss the finite parts. But we do. And I have come to realize that’s one of the gifts of Creation. Because if we didn’t miss because there was an infinite other, then we couldn’t care, either.

"And infinity doesn’t mean interchangeable. You can’t replace that hamster, but you can get another one. Having an infinite anothers is not the same as replacing." (1/22/2006 - V#109)



“The previous complexity level was not 2-dimensional, it was other-dimensional, because what you call dimensions are simply aspects of this complexity. See, where I am, there are no dimensions. Hard to have dimensions without time, since distance is a function of time, of perception. Without time, the farthest star is right here... no, it’s over there?... no it’s here... no it’s not. Ponder that.” (2/1/2006 - I#89)



"So, we haven’t been working on pith. Want sand? Ok, a few choice grains... grist for the mill... nitty gritty for the mind.

“I want to remind you about one of the PtoPs: Every level of complexity contains all the secrets of the universe, but not necessarily all the tools to understand (you should see what passes for Ouija boards next level!). And of course, you all know this, because at your level the basics for nuclear physics were there when the elements were only four.

“Everything for your most advanced understanding was waiting all the time, just outside the view of your previously inadequate tools. And to cheer you up, in 213 years they will be rolling on the ceiling about some of your hard facts. And yet, what they know is already here, but you can’t see or sense it. But we mathematicians in Cambridge will point the way... or not.

“Was it just a bit irritating. Ah, sand.” (3/22/2006 - I#90)



“Over here, we have spirits who don’t believe in bodies. Our skeptics are spiritualists. And some try to debunk the notion of a physical world, if they don’t remember. First-timers can be adamant: ‘There is no death after death. You just are and then you aren’t. Why dress it all up with stories of bodies and sex and animals and pleasures and food. That’s just to placate those who cannot cope with the idea that after spirit there might only be spirit. If it is so true, then show me some matter.’

“So there’s some sand, and the whole universe in each grain. Grains of sand... like the Days of Our Deaths: ‘Today Sandy will go into the spirit world and meet Jessica, who is a great tycoon but has amnesia.’ (Sand Operas.)” (3/22/2006 - I#91)



"It’s Rikkity’s University, where in just 5 sessions you can become spiritually equipt... ‘and morally depraved.’ CT!

“The moral ambiguity of anything less than the whole: Because unless you are the All of All That Is, anything else is just situational because you don’t know the whole picture. So take that, you moral absolutists. How can your teeny little brains have conceit enough to think you know universals. And if you don’t know universals, how dare you judge anything, except in context.

"In context, everything makes sense. And beyond context, nothing makes sense except as part of the universal. Such pith.” (4/21/2006 - V#110)



"Now, have you got it all straight? Strands of strings, woven in a matrix beyond time, connecting all points of reality. ‘Huh?’ CT! And without time, there is also no up or down, right or left, because the matrix has no edges. Mobius reality: self-contained but organic. So it sustains itself, and also is energized, but who knows how?

“Maybe God is the big independent variable which, in the end, turns out to be interdependent. Like a star without any system to receive the energy is not much of a star. Unless the energy goes somewhere else, the system explodes and poof is gone. Black holes: Former unused sources of energy... or not... or knot.

“And how can you tell a weave from a rat’s nest? You can’t. The universe does not depend on beauticians... even student beauticians. In other words, by our simple definitions of order, the universe is a mess if we could really see it. Such a mess! We see it as orderly because our sense of order only allows us to see the parts which fit our sense of order. I have pithed enough.” (5/4/2006 - I#92)



"Ok, let’s review. Have I ever said we move ahead to more complicated entities? No. What is complicated is just a pile of simple things which work together to do some complicated thingie. The total is the sum of its parts, no more and no less... no less... noblesse oblige. But I have always spoken of complexity... as well as complexion. In complexity, you get more than the sum of the parts.

“There is a diversity in complexity, but it is not based on differences--although without differences you don’t get complexity. Put together 405 little electrical switches and what do you get. A big switch. But then couple that with the notion of yes and no, plus a way to speak in yes and no, and the switches become a computer: Complexity based on the introduction of a foreign element. Switches don’t know language. Language doesn’t know from numbers. But together they can generate both, and beyond the capacity of either.

“If you put all the wise people in the world in a room... ‘someone would ask for room service’... CT!... and all were equally wise, they wouldn’t wise up. Know-it-all’s don’t make things change. The provocative unknowing triggers the insightful to new understandings. Take a look at the New Testament. Almost everything worth remembering was said in response to a seemingly ignorant question. Questions are the intellectual equivalent of difference. Ponder that!

“And what about ropes and cords and strings, I don’t know. In a parallel universe I dance on my own head. How many pins can dance on the head of an angel? But if the angel answer is ‘infinite,’ so too for pins. It’s not about the nature of angels, but about the nature of infinity. Don’t mistake the expression or embodiment for the essence.

“Lincoln was not the Great Emancipator. It was a nation ready for the idea which was the Emancipator. They could have said ‘Hell, no’... well they actually did, but it didn’t win the day... which is why the Klan rode at night (dark humor). See, it isn’t the vessel, it’s the cargo.

“And otherwise, all else is well.” (5/19/2006 - V#111)



"As we think we move from spiritual level to spiritual level, we are fooling ourselves... and doing a damned good job on our elves, too. And finally, youse guys have an appropriate metaphor: it’s computer software.

“You get a disk and install it and go ‘wow’ or ‘shit!’ But in time, you get to know all the features and quirks. But then you are sent an email that says ‘Unlock the assets of the program,’ and you go ‘huh’ and ignore it, because the program is doing what you want. And then later, you get another email with the same offer, but with more experience you don’t go ‘huh’ but rather ‘no, don’t need it.’ And later, another email, and now it’s time for ‘hmmm’ but still ‘no.’ And later still--which feels like several lifetimes in computerese--you get another and say ‘ok,’ and they send you a weird code and voilà, there it is. It was there all the time, but at first you couldn’t understand; then you wouldn’t see; then you caught a glimpse, but it did not seem worth it or applicable to you; and then finally you could see it and how to use it, and it was there, but it was there all the time. Your next level is not waiting for you; you are already with it, but can’t or won’t see it... like Heaven on Earth.

“So the path of complexity doesn’t take you into new realms; it takes you into realms in new understandings--like visiting a great restaurant you first visited with a cold, but now you can smell... ‘and o boy, do you smell’... CT! Get it. Not separate realities, just more complex inclusions and perceptions.

“If this were not so, we would not be communicating--has to be a continuation of All. And the other levels are here, because they are not levels of existence, but of awareness. Take a person out in a field and ask what they see. Then take 5 others out separately and compile what they see. Then take them out together and see what they see. And then let them get organized and see how much more the new entity can see. But the field stayed the same! The group is the more complex being--another level of being--but the field is the same.

“A more aware entity sees and understands more of what there is. Picture a matrix of several layers of dimensions--like the old three-dimension checkers. Where you look and how you see changes the matrix. But remember, no bunnies... matrix are for kids. ‘Rikkity!’ Mine aren’t that bad! Ponder this all... or not.

“If there were any disconnect from level to level, we wouldn’t communicate. So how do I know this shit if I haven’t connected. You reach from life to death, and I reach from life in the past to something more in the future. I get the glimpse of the more complex awareness, while you hold deeper awarenesses of the past, so to speak. Micro-levels, an infinite gradient, not a set of steps.

"Well, here’s a step in the right direction... ARF. Just doing my pith.” (6/16/2006 - I#93)



"So now the test: The universe in its connected form, live or dead? Dead, but lively.

“It is not dead, but it is after life. We call it dead, but it’s not. Dualism is misleading when the subordinate state gets naming rights. You see, the living have posed life as the positive state, and the other state--which is viewed negatively--is called death. But if we had done it, it might be something like connected and away, with here as connected and you there as away. Or we might have called it ARF and grrrr.

“See, descriptions are rarely factual nor value free. It’s all perspective! So don’t you live ones start up with that death shit. I don’t want to have to speak to you again! Finger wagging extra... blech. That’s a big terse nugget of truth.” (7/2/2006 - I#94)



"See, nothing is uni-dimensional, or even bi-dimensional. And if you don’t know all the dimensions, you can’t see whatever it is totally.

“So always, ask not what your object is, ask what dimensions of it you can’t see... or can tsetse (it’s a joke on the fly).

“So much of life is understood--or, I should say, misunderstood--because a dimension is missing, or we don’t know it’s missing.

“Thinking outside the box means thinking without regard to a box shape or notion.

“So, when you have anything pinned down, take another look, so to speak, from another vantage. Think you have the perfect liberal answer, try looking at it with conservative eyes. Keep honing it. Test it from many perspectives. Test what you propose by doing what you propose.” (10/8/2006 - I#95)



"He wants to know what a cow was doing in a car on the interstate. You see, sometimes our spirits project an image which is very physical, and usually based on the pre-perceptions of the viewer. So he saw me as a Jersey cow, and I said ‘No way, man, I’m a Holstein.’ Just a little tidbit, passed off as banter.

“Pre-perceptions are what certain spiritual vibes were true in the physical world. So I guess when he was near Jersey cows, he experienced some energy that I then reminded him of. I am a cow. I identify myself as a homobovine. There are some spiritual vibes that I share with cudsuckers. Totems are not invented. But beware the dwarf and the albino.

“And each of us also shares some spiritual vibes with each and all classes of physical things. But you knew this, since each person shares spiritual vibes with a planet! If it’s true for planets, it’s also true for flora and fauna, and even elements. We feel most at home when we reside with those physical things we share spiritual vibes with. And this is true of everything--like grains. Some folks are wheat people, and others rye.

“We live in webs of spiritual energy that is expressed in many forms. Enough. Seek, ponder, find. You already know. And some are more universally connected (hi, LD).

“Let go of dimensions. See the amorphous web of all patterns.” (10/20/2006 - I#96)



New Year's Day

Rikkity: “We have five brief histories of... no no no no... five brief piths. ‘From five pith makers in briefs’... no no no no no, CT! We begin with a spirit of New Year’s present.”

MCP:

“Hello-a. There are two ways to travel: One is to leave and the other is to be left behind. Your choice-a.” (1/1/2006 - W#358)

Rikkity: “And now, a spirit of New Year’s present.”

LD:

“We often rush to what appears new but is really old when, if we looked to our own thoughts, we would find that old things may actually be new. Many of my inventions were old thoughts allowed to ripen. Sometimes old ideas ripen, while new ones rot.” (1/1/2006 - W#359)

Rikkity: “And here’s the spirit of a New Year present.”

MW:

“Gracious good year to you. There is never a season when compassion is not freshly needed. If you expect that the new year will usher in the era of joy for all, you will have hardened your heart. A new year asks for a graciousness, not a demand.” (1/1/2006 - W#360)

Rikkity: “And now, for the spirit of New Year’s present.”

TJ:

“When one speaks of rights and liberties, one is always speaking of the future. To be consumed by grievance is to be holden to the past. We never sought the fall of Britain, just the rise of our liberty. Give, add, enhance, rather than detract and destroy. Agents of good focused on evil are evil.” (1/1/2006 - W#361)

Rikkity: “And now the spirit of New Year’s present.”

Papa:

“Hi. In the simplest things are the most elegant ones. Anything which is complicated beyond the understanding of the common folk is but a charade. At heart all is simple, and the great ones have always known this.” (1/1/2006 - W#362)

Rikkity: “And so that’s it for the spirits. Because without time all spirits are of the present, and every moment is all moments, and the new year is ever-beckoning. What more could you ask for? Always the chance, always the possibility, always the opportunity, always the challenge. Happy New Year always... ARF!” (1/1/2006 - W#363)



Rikkity's Bar Stools at the Emerald Pub

Rikkity: “Hi. Friday the 13th and no Bench... ARF? No, no Bench! Barf? Yes, Sandy, no Bench... arf barf. O I see, yes Sandy, we will be sitting at a bar... barf! And let’s see, we have 5 stools... grr... and a big floor dish... arf arf. So if I am sitting at one stool (of course, there are no actual stools and I don’t sit, but be that as it may or may not be), that seems to indicate 4 guests... or a very bad night for the bar. Yum, peanuts and pretzels. And barkeep, keep the libations coming.”

CT: “Yes, ma’am.”

Rikkity: “By the way, the barkeep seems to resemble CT. How could this be?”

CT: “Because I am CT!”

Rikkity: “O, that’s right, this is my fantasy and I fantasize about CT with a body... yum. *Blush* CT’s turning red, CT’s turning red, CT’s turning red. Ooops, CT is turning to go. ARF? No, I don’t want a doggie tail, I want a cocktail. And look, the door is opening and in walks a short little guy in a hat. I wish he were wearing clothes, but the hat does cover what it needs to cover.”

MCP:

“Hey-a. And hi-a. Ciao. It has been a long time--not for me, but for you. I often think about how much more I would have seen if time were not a factor. In my own way, I made it less of a factor. I never said ‘Hey-a, I gotta get-a back to Venezia.’ Why not? Because I spoke Italian. But I didn’t even say the same thing in Italian because I did what I did until I didn’t do it anymore. And sometimes I stayed a day, and sometimes many years, and each was an equal portion of me.”

CT: “Hey, my little friend, what can I get you? Grappa? No problem.”

MCP: “Sip... ahhh. Time is always a bugbear. I love that word. Let’s go out and bug a bear... grrrrrrrr. Bugdog doesn’t do it. Time should be understood as a resource. And here’s a radical thought: It is a renewable resource. Huh.

“Some would say no, because once yesterday is gone, it’s gone. But I say yes, because as soon as it becomes yesterday, you get another today. Now, when you exist apart from time, you realize this more and more: There is no dimension you can sense that is anything less than infinite. Some will tell you about newly discerned dimensions and that they are minuscule, but in each there is an infinity--a range which goes from before reckoning to beyond reckoning. Infinities are not comparatives... and Infinitys are nice cars.

“Sip... ahhh... gulp... ahhhh! So don’t let the boundaries of your thinking and knowing become the prisons of your possibilities. All the dimensions of your being are as infinite as All That Is, and as infinitely small as the spark of Creation.

“I am going to sit here until... sip, ahhh... I’m done.” (1/13/2006 - W#364)

CT: “Take your time. No last calls at the Emerald.”

MCP: “CT, my buddy, you are a great listener, and I’ll have another.”

Rikkity: “While CT is busy, we’ll just scoot down a stool with better lighting to see if we can illumine a few points. Hey, out West near Carson City, a miner’s home was empty because he got TB. Out back, his workings were idle but he being a gentleman who liked to share, was a sign: ‘Ill, U Mine.’ And that’s where the largest lode of silver was found.

“But out of the restrooms at the back comes another. Hey, A.”

A: “Hey, R.”

Rikkity: “Hey, A. Let’s stop this and have a drink.”

A: “Fine by me. Make it an absinthe on the rocks.”

Rikkity: “No, make that on ice. Here we have to be careful, with CT pouring. Put the pebbles down, CT.”

A: “Wow! Absinthe on diamonds! Wish I could have had this back there. I’m A--just A, like she’s just R. Together we are known as the ARs, as in ‘getting your ars in here,’ hahaha.”

Rikkity: “See why I like A. We’ve met before in which life?”

A: “Denmark.”

Rikkity: “O, I thought it was England.”

A: “No, it was Denmark with these two.”

Rikkity: “If you say so.”

A: “I do, and so blech. Hello. I sang but did not dance. I was a cripple--a triple cripple who was known to tipple. ‘There was an old cripple from Dansk, who could tipple but could not quite dance...’ “

Rikkity: “Enough!”

A: “Ok, here’s a point to ponder.”

Rikkity: “Don’t say that! It’s copyrighted.”

A: “O. Here’s a not point to not ponder... or is that a knotty point to pander.”

Rikkity: “Just tell them!”

A: “Shit, I have to listen to all your prattle about TJ and CT and Richie and that woman.

“Ok. Which is better, a world that is plain in which one can have visions of beauty, or a world filled to sate all senses and without a vision of plainness.

“We so crave for the fullness of the whole, we often fail to notice that the whole is built up from the simplest. Sure, it is tempting to leap ahead to completion, but for me I’ll take a lone sunflower sitting in a barren landscape to an endless field of the glorious faces of the sun. One gives hope while the other becomes the expected. And we grow from hope, not from easy expectations.

“And yes, I’ll take another, but let’s make it what he’s drinking.” (1/13/2006 - W#365)

MCP: “Hey-a!”

A: “I meant the same thing he was drinking, not his drink!”

Rikkity: “CT!”

CT: “Yes.”

A: “CT, the pretzels do make you look like a walrus, but I’m the Eggman.”

Rikkity: “Moving, or stumbling, right along, one more stool over. Wow, picking himself up off the floor, here’s a sot for sore eyes. Hey, Marky.”

Marky: “Bonjour. Monsieur, please a glass of your finest cognac. What, no it can’t be, no cognac?”

CT: “I have some nice brandy.”

Marky: “Mon dieu, man, it’s the same! Give us a snort.”

CT: ssnnn... ARF.

Marky: “Now give us a pour... with a glass!”

Rikkity: “CT. Sandy, get down, you’re not a lap dog... lap lap lap... hic. Sandy is wobbling. Remember, this is all a simulation. No spirits or actual spirits were harmed. Do not try this at home. Professional stunt spirits. Ok. Marky!”

Marky: “Rikkity!”

A: “Marky!”

Rikkity: “A!”

A: “Rikkity!”

Marky: “A!”

A: “Marky!”

CT: “Ok, I’ve had enough of you two pixies. Now get out of here.”

Rikkity: “Clarence, come on, let’s go out with Mr. Martini and Gower. Marky.”

Marky: “Yes.”

Rikkity: “Don’t speak too loudly. Shhhhh... ggggr.”

Marky:

“All things to excess finally dispose of their greatest virtues. Do not seek to have more of what already elates--and I don’t mean in terms of physical things alone. A person of faith can become so faithful that they are filled with fear. Fanatics of every faith proclaim doubt. And so, too, with politics. The worst despots are those who so prize liberty that they will defend her by any means necessary, including suppression.

“When any good thing is taken from the realm of the ordinary into the extraordinary, watch out! And when the extraordinary becomes resident in the ordinary, pay attention. The former is a subjugation of the whole to a piece of the whole, while the latter is an expression of the whole in a piece. One opens the view, and the former closes it. Just remember this, and all will be ok.

“Now I think I need another shot.” (1/13/2006 - W#366)

CT: Bang!

Rikkity: “CT! This bar is going downhill fast. That’s because it’s built on an unstable bluff... ayyyeeeee.”

“5 bar stools and one of them drunk, he’s getting up like a wounded skunk. 4 bar stools and one them drunk, he’s getting up like a wounded skunk. 3... why aren’t we drinking... ok, last stool standing. Look, pith! Wow, Mr. Livingston, I presume.”

L: “O yes.”

Rikkity: “Great hat!”

MCP: “Hey-a, it sure-a is.”

L: “It’s not a hat, it’s a helmet.”

Marky: “Well helmet and good day to you. Sherry.”

L: “No, I don’t want your trollop, I want a drink.”

Marky: “Pardon me, mon cheri.”

L: “I did not hear him well. Have you any digestive biscuits. O, that’s a shame. So there I was in darkest Africa. One morning I got up and shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I’ll never know. I was an explorer.”

MCP: “Me too-a.”

L: “Hey, aren’t you....”

MCP: “Yes I am, and you....”

L: “O yes, I am. Well, at last we meet.”

MCP: “How’s Stanley.”

L: “Who.”

MCP: “Ooops. Aren’t you the man Stanley found in Africa.”

L: “No, I’m an itinerant vaudevillian from the West and I helped found Livingston, Montana.”

MCP: “O.”

L: “Look here, don’t... always... I mean never... I mean be sure to get your facts straight. If you thought I was this other chap, you would create a history which was unfounded. And since any one strand connects so universally, we have a moral imperative to get things right. You fail at this over and over again, but trying is vital.

“Now I think I’ll try this sherry... ahhh.” (1/13/2006 - W#367)

“Ahhh.”

“Ahhh.”

“Ahhh.”

“Ahhh.”

Rikkity: “5 ahs, and so the bar is full and the ahs have it. And ponder the bar but don’t pound the bar. And don’t... grrrr... take... grrrr... the dog to the pound... snap. Ok, the round’s on me. *splash* CT!”



GW (on his birthday):

“Gracious hello. A good draught of the old wine made many a day pass more graciously. I raise high my glass and toast all who know the value of spirits... hehehehe.

“I tried to be a humble servant because I knew any other kind of servant would actually be trying to be a master. And she reminded me, thank God. But I always felt a great trust in the infinite power of the universe--not in the short time, but in its fullness. We did not win the war because we defeated the British, but because we could sustain our cause longer than they could uphold a tyranny.

“The test is not the time, but the strength of resolve. Focus, be patient, persevere, persist... ‘perspire’... CT... ‘Well, I didn’t say purr like a cat.’ No, you didn’t, but cats could teach us.

“The biggest problem with being president was having to live out all of those others’ expectations. Sometimes I just wanted to sit... and I did. You don’t have to speak to influence (eye rolls). It was easier than trying to push an agenda... ‘and much easier than trying to push a desk.’”

Rikkity: “CT, leave him alone.”

GW: “He’s humorous in a half-witted sort of manner. If he ever met another half wit, they might be funny.”

Rikkity: “GW!”

GW: “... What is the opposite, just look to my namesake city.

"Ok, party time. Give me a hat--3 corners, please.” (2/22/2006 - W#368)

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