"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)



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)



Ericka's Bench 3/6/2006

Rikkity: “Sanford has been a wee bad doggie... arrrr. Sanford was whining and said ARF--which meant he wanted a bone... grrr--and I said ‘No, you are a spirit dog.’ So, without a bone he gnawed on the bench legs... woof. And so what does this mean? A shorter bench.

“So, our first guest: an old friend of the Gallic persuasion, Marky.”

Marky:

“Bonjour. It is good to be back on the bench--even if I have to sit cross-legged or else my calves will drag. They need a good French poodle to teach the dog good manners. He wouldn’t dare bite my legs... grrrr. Why do my pants feel damp... arf arf. Bad dog.

“She has told me it is time to tell you about spirit averaging. And I said ‘No’ but she said ‘But yes’... actually, she said ‘Mais oui.’

“In the reality beyond time, the essence of spirit is not a point but a flow which gains and ebbs. Now, you could argue that to gain and ebb implies time. But it doesn’t, for the two cycles coexist, and each is a function of spirit energy--which is a sum of the many, and that sum grows and falls. And to take a snapshot in time gives a total, while a snapshot beyond time gives a sum. And those two are quite different because the sum divided by the infinite parts is always 1, but the total divided by the constituent parts can vary from 1. So in the fullness there is unity, while in the particular it may appear more or less than a unity.

“Always focus on the 1--even when the apparent status is less than 1. And do not become elated when the average is more than 1; it is an illusion. So, idyllic times are as unreal as are demonic times, and we waste energy on any focus other than 1.

“Ok, got that? Adieu.” (3/6/2006 - W#369)

Rikkity: “He is so suave. And now we have Madame X. How mysterious.”

Madame X:

“Hello. That’s actually my initial. I get only one. That’s because when I last lived, I was royaltyand we had just one name each. What a pain. I always longed for an identity with more dimensions. But alas, it was not to be.

“People with complex histories seek simple lives and people with simple histories seek intrigue, when, in fact, we all have the same amount. We don’t like to think we are average but, in the passage of many lives, that’s what we learn: The average which is us. And that average may not look like the average of anyone else but it is still an average. You stand out only to the extent to which you find and live your average.

“You are the expression of the sum of many lives, and when you finally get your personal average to 1 you are ready to move on. Everyone likes to think the big total wins, ha.

“Off I go.” (3/6/2006 - W#370)

Rikkity: “Ok, here’s another friend.”

MCP:

“O I like the bench this way. Hi-a. I don’t need climbing gear to sit down.

“So, what was the highlight of my travels? That’s easy: my travels! People keep wanting travelers to name the top spots. Ok if it were about destinations, but it isn’t.

“Each destination is part of your travel quilt. Pieced together it is meaningful, but separate parts are just rags. And French cheese is meaningful because of Velveeta. Get it. But some days Easy Cheese is the highlight. A sandwich you would disdain becomes a feast on a marooned train. So, you weave it together and trips stand out as wholes because of their averages.

“And now, I easily step down and walk away. Hey-a, cool!” (3/6/2006 - W#371)

Rikkity: “And so off into the sunset goes the masked rider of the Tuscan hills... oops, he fell off. And one last visitor: my main squeeze, CT."

CT:

“Hello. She’s letting me speak.

“So, what have we learned today. Look for the trends, not the positions. Don’t become dismayed because circumstances are less than perfect. Worry more about a life than details. Be sure you are facing and focusing correctly.

“If you give in to the minutiae, you will live a small life. If you desire the larger life, remember it is not gained with a sum greater than 1, but with a focus on the one that it is.

“Don’t mistake the parts for the whole, or some other whole for yours. Ok, bye. She’s back.” (3/6/2006 - W#372)

Rikkity: “Ok, pith to ponder. And I have 4 new legs. Whack, whack, whack, whack. Ok, the bench is fixed... grrrr. And I have a bone to pick with you... grrr. No, I mean I really have a bone to pick with you... ARF. Meaty bone... arf arf.

“No no no no no, don’t get on the ben... *crash*. Have you never heard of glue? Rrrf. Ok, whack whack whack whack. Now come and gnaw... rrf.”



Ericka's Bench 3/27/2006

Rikkity: “Welcome to another chapter of the continuing saga of MCP. We last saw our hero when he said ‘Oops, quicksand.’ Oooooo. ‘Hey-a.’ ‘Here, grab this rope,’ the swami said. And then, with mystic powers, MCP rises up as the rope ascends to Heaven. Wow, that was close.

“Stop, we’ve got the wrong tape in. Wrrrrrrr... clunk... buzz.

“Hi and welcome to Rikkity’s Bench. Hi folks and dogs... ARF. What an exciting half hour we have planned. ‘What,’ you say?!? ‘Half an hour.’ That’s right, we are being preempted for the Big Balls Tournament. CT is playing because he has big... trout. What did you think I was going to say? Ok, let’s get started, LD!”

LD:

“She has been spilling the beans about the pervasive potential always available, because without that perspective I can remain a creative inventor, but once everyone knows the truth, I’m just a simple forward thinker.

Rikkity: “LD, you’ll never be simple.”

“Thank you, but you get my point. I didn’t create anything, I didn’t invent anything, I just pay attention and remember what I see by looking forward and outward. It is a measure of how underdeveloped this level of complexity is that we have so few who appear to be creative. All it takes, for most people, is to turn around--face forward, not back--and to turn themselves inside out to look out, not in.

“And religion doesn’t help, with its images of great outward deities but the need to go inside and examine one’s soul. I tried that, but my soul needed so many repairs I gave up.

“So it’s no trick or genius, it’s just a matter of orientation. And since the word orientation is based on knowing where the East is, what good is it to get oriented if your future is in the West. And for all those who bow in one direction (they don’t actually bow in the same direction, but their minds are conditioned to think linearly), whether you face Rome or Mecca or L.A. doesn’t matter. Get up, look around, and anywhere and everywhere you’ll see something new to you. It’s there waiting for you and me and them... but not him. By the way, he is a genius and she is a cutie. So said the wise old dirty man.” (3/27/2006 - W#373)

Rikkity: “Ok, he’s fallen asleep or into thought or into his food... whatever. Ok, who do you want to talk to, Soupy Sales? SS. How about Rutherford B. Hayes? And his brother, Isaac. Hey, spirits are not racial. Here’s Matahari... shhh. Ok, you! Get over here!”

IW:

“Boy, is she bossy. That’s what we call her here her here her Hereford... she moos and we call her Bossy. I knew her in the old country. I was not a spy--not now, not then, not ever... but maybe not yet. It was the English countryside, and the gentleman here talking with me was a daft sort. He spoke in strange tongues and begged about the village. Slovenly sort.

“The point of bringing all of this up is that each spirit has some past which is not sterling. Just as metal must be annealed for strength, so, too, spirit. And those who journey in regressions and find only strength of status, not strength of learning, may glow in what they find. But a slate of goodness only is the sign of a weak spirit and one that surely shall know testing in the future. Never be ashamed for having been the idiot; be ashamed if you thought you couldn’t be one--just as it is no shame to be a serf, but a shame to think oneself above serfdom. The worst leaders are those who have no sense of themselves as followers.

“And I remain, IW. (3/27/2006 - W#374)

“I gave you that penny openly and honestly, so no thanks are needed. But if now you might have a crown to spare, I could use your remembrance of my kindness."

Rikkity: “Hey, you don’t need money here!”

IW: “O.”

Rikkity: “Habits are hard to change. And change is what you get when you take off your habit. No, it was not a punchline! It was a planned segué to our next guest.”

MW:

“Hello. Please sit with us awhile.

“Now, I will continue what IW said. His ‘W’ and mine aren’t the same, but we are related by insight.

“Think with me of the great sermons preached and how often the message is about how our gracious goodness--whatever little of it we live out in life--will sustain with us in death, but the habits of sin will need to be purged and we will need to be purified.

“Now where did that notion come from, that this side would not be a continuity of all the traits of the living side? Wishful thinking! If, as she has so often told you, life is about learning and remembering, then any purification must come in life. This side is neither reward nor punishment but rest and consolidation.

“Any change from habits must be the conscious choice of an enlightened life. The great Divine does not save us but offers a universe filled with possibility for our choice, and we make habits of our choices.

“Intent is not good enough. Experience of a different perspective, which becomes habitual because it is remembered in the core of the spirit, is what changes the spirit and lets it grow into its fullness. And when I speak of purification, I don’t mean pure by the definition of ideals, but pure as the entity each one is.

“Remember, it is about you becoming you so thoroughly that you can become more.

“As you habitually become you, you become you habitually. And identity and essence are one, as well as identity and action and experience are one. Chart your expectations against your experiences. As they become synonymous, you sense the unity forming.

“O I do think that’s enough. Tea’s done and G’s coming. Ta-ta.” (3/27/2006 - W#375)

Rikkity: “Ok, in just a minute, Big Balls! We will have all the action. But now let’s say goodbye to our audience, with a reminder that come Friday we will talk, but not on Saturday because we are no April fools. ‘I am!’ Yes, you are! This has been a production of Sanford Radio... ARF ARF... and UTV.”



Ericka's Bench 4/3/2006

Rikkity: “Once again, Zippo Spirit presents Rikkity’s Bench. New sponsor: Change lives in an instant with Zippo Spirit. ‘Hey-a, without time, who needs Zippo Spirit?’ Sh... just remember sh is hs backwards. ‘O, carry on-a.’

“Hi. And welcome to an action-packed Bench. Welll, not really--more of a spirit-packed Bench. And here we go. 4 spirits? We will see. Here’s AB... ‘Hi’... as in, AB Normal (Igor). Just kidding.”

AB:

“Hi. I just got here. What a place they’ve made for me. I always wondered about heaven because it sounded like a place that was perfect, but everyone’s perfection is so different. Then wham the bus and all that, and here I am. And wow, it was about my perfection, just as I would want it. I should have believed. But hey, it worked just fine.

“Just look around. Could it be any more perfect? I don’t think so. Ah. And I get an eternity of this. Not a bad trade for 53 years. Just goes to show you... but I haven’t got a clue what. And this is so cool that I can talk with you.

“I am off to enjoy. Bye, later.” (4/3/2006 - W#376)

Rikkity: “There goes a happy spirit--a clueless happy spirit. Sandy... ARF... keep a nose out for AB... gr. And now, BC.”

BC:

“Hello. I keep having this feeling of loss. Here I am, with all my needs met, but I feel like there’s something which was and now isn’t. I keep wanting to turn back and see but, when I do, the something flitters out of perception and is gone. There’s this inkling of a 'before' that isn’t real, but is, too.

“This place is tinged with a feeling I can’t describe--potential and loss at the same time--which makes it hard to be present here. I feel torn, not whole. Why? I don’t know. Maybe I’m just a troubled spirit.

“And what is ‘me’ and what is 'not me'? So many feelings and so many questions. But this seems a good place to feel both.” (4/3/2006 - W#377)

Rikkity: “BC has wandered off in thought and feeling. Sanford, another to keep track of... ARF. Here’s CD.”

CD:

“No, I’m not a record nor a savings instrument. I’m who I am, and wow, I feel so multifaceted. Look, this is me... and this and this and this and THIS! Wow! better than the breath mint-candy mint dilemma. I am so many and so much! I am the Alpha and the Omega, and a little Psi, too... did I mention Rho and Theta. I Eta Pie.

“I feel so full and fulfilled, but yet I sense there is more. What comes after Omega... and do Omega 3 fatty acids make a difference. I don’t know, not here. Here you can eat all the trans-fat you want, but there ain’t any.

“Verge... that’s the word I was trying to tell Rikkity... on the verge. On the verge of something--the green growing edge of one’s path. I am so much and so many, and yet I feel the great potential awaiting on the verge of I-don’t-know-and-I-know-totally. And it’s not frightening, it’s beckoning and enticing and alluring and seductive and o wow.

“I have seen it all and there is so much left to see! I am me! And I am becoming.

“Off I go. Bye.” (4/3/2006 - W#378)

Rikkity: “And now, DE.”

DE:

“Hello. And greetings to you. Do you like jigsaw puzzles. I do. I am one. We all are.

“You open the box and all the pieces you need tumble out. And it’s easy to create the edges, but then it gets harder to fill in the picture. And you look at the box and think ‘What?!?’ It’s the image of you with all your potential all realized. But all you’ve got is a physical edge and lots of fragmented parts, and some did not appear to fit anywhere--just random junk, no meaning, no place in your life portrait. But then a piece fits into another--sometimes because it looks like the box and other times just because they fit together--and pieces that made no sense make sense when connected, and slowly you see the patterns emerge.

“Somewhere, about midway, the pace which slowed after the edges were made begins to quicken. And the last pieces almost magically fall into place because the other pieces have made the spaces for them. And, at last, all the potential is realized; the picture is complete; the pieces all fit into a meaningful whole, and you sit back and admire it and say ‘Whoa.’

“And some take the pieces and take them apart to do it all over again, and others leave it intact and say ‘Now, let’s try it with more pieces,’ and get lost in a more complex puzzle, more potential. And that’s where I am. Do I want to keep putting together the same pieces, or is it time for a more complex potential. I think I’ll move on. I’ve done this one so often, I know it’s edges and core and tricks by spirit.

“Anyhow, after I’m gone, pick up the pieces. Bye.” (4/3/2006 - W#379)

Rikkity: “So, 4 guests on the Bench, 1 spirit on the Bench. Without time, we can see. Gotcha. Sandy, make sure we don’t lose any pieces; DE needs AB and BC to be DE... arf arf snap. And remember, Zippo Spirit: You don’t want to be without it, and you don’t need it.”



Ericka's Bench 4/7/2006

Rikkity: “Sit down! There’s room for y’all.

"O, hi. I didn’t sense you arriving. Welcome to 'The Bench Decoded'. Tonight we have 3 great minds... ‘and 2 great bodies’... CT! And we will illumine... watch it now, watch it now... I digress.

“But seriously, here’s our first guest.”

Guest 1: “I just want to get things right and understand the rules. Is that such a big deal? Lots of people go through life making it up as they go, but that’s not for me. And others just fantasize and dream and are so impractical that they are useless. If you can’t build it and use it, what’s the purpose?”

Rikkity: “Hi, this is Rikkity, wondering if you can guess who our first guest is. It’s LD, but not LD as we know him, but as his spirit back a few lives. Couldn’t be the visionary without first knowing the realist. So, we try again.”

Guest 2: “Hello. Life is so awful. I’m glad I’m dead. Done with all the suffering. And don’t tell me suffering is redemptive, that’s horse manure. Life sucks and then you die. Horrible joke by the Creator--big cosmic haha, but I ain’t laughing.”

Rikkity: “Ok, ready on this one. MW, a prior M. Had to be the nihilist to become the believer. Ok, one more. And you can stay here with Sandy while we talk... ARF.”

M: “He won’t bite me, will he.”

Rikkity: “No no no no... sure... that’s the ticket... snap.”

M: “O”

Guest 3: “Whenever we try to discover the patterns of existence, we are limited by three things: Past experience, which tells us how things have been understood; the current cultural climate, which allows us to look here but not there, and which suggests direction which may not point to more inclusive understandings; and third, we have the limits of our own capacity for faith in ourselves, because doubt is the greatest barrier to a growth of understanding.

“Where people lack depth, you know that one dimension dominates. But where even a single person can see beyond the horizon--not in certainty, but in expectation and possibility--there the dimensions are infinite and open.” (4/7/2006 - W#380)

Rikkity: “Ok, last guess.”

Tea lady: “Here, lovie, have a cuppa.”

Rikkity: “Tea ladies can become sages! There are no dead ends... hahaha I slay myself. And that’s the pith and the whole pith and nothing but the pith so help me me. Sanford, pack up the show, we’re leaving... ARF.”