reandf3

In Williamsburg (on Papa's birthday)

Papa:

“Hi babe. As you say, carpe mañana.

“I’m dead and flying. And working and learning and waiting for her. Are we together a lot? Yes and no. Define a lot in eternity. We have different things to learn. I’m learning there’s more than peanut butter. Yes! You put peanut butter in your drawers? Sticky. Don’t you have trouble washing them. They are all laughing their nonexistent asses off. I love you, and we’re always together... except when I come apart. Well, bring me a treat and a pickle.”

Rikkity: “He’s so funny. He went to see the chiropractor. He flies in and out. He won’t say what he’s learning. He says it’s about stuff for him and we wouldn’t understand and I say ‘Try me’ and he does and I don’t. But he says try him and I do and he doesn’t. He and I and you will never really understand someone else’s learnings because they’ll either seem patently obvious or totally obscure. Its like duh or huh. But not for you. I use understand in a radical way, and see, you
don’t understand.

“So, how’s the town. Brrrrrrrrrr. Good to come back and better to leave. Put it in perspective and move on. Closed systems.

“Clean up at the Memorial Park, bring the usual flowers (iris, sunflowers, and lilies). But don’t fret. I am not there, I’m here.” (4/11/2007 - W#399)

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Announcer: “And remember, with Sin-Out, you don’t need a savior. Get Sin-Out now and get sin out forever... ARF. Works for pets, too! Heaven knows they have things to atone for... grrr. And now, from the Chairman of the Boards in Rikkity’s Bench, it’s Rikkity.”

Rikkity: “Calm down, it’s just my spirit. I’m actually on the third plateau of Barova, but my spirit will do just fine. ‘Hi.’ Not him. Hi.

“We have a great Bench today: something borrowed and something blue, something old and something new. ‘It’s our Annual Wedding Show’... no no no no... ‘it’s our Eternal Wedding Show?’ Noooooooo, it’s a Bench. ‘O.’ ARF. Hi. Clear the set!

“Our first guest is an expert at things borrowed. Welcome our big guest.”

MCP:

“Hiya, it’s-a me. Ciao. Chow? We eat?

“I speak of cultural appropriation. Was it so bad that I brought back pasta. I don’t know, but I doubt it! And clam sauce, could that ever be bad?

“There is a big difference between learning and appropriation. For example, to learn to grow and pick and brew tea is a good thing. To appropriate the tea ceremony is quite another. You eat a great dish in a restaurant and you think, if the dishes taste this good, how about the food. See, I borrow from CT. But seriously, you go home and make the dish and yum, but it is not the same if you go home and reconstruct your house to be an exact duplicate of the restaurant and you never go back to the restaurant. One honors and one dishonors.

“So it is an honor to interpret into your lives the insights of others, but it is a dishonor to welcome into your life the lives of others as if they were yours. If you haven’t been to Hoboken, don’t try to pretend that reading a travel guide gives you the experience.

“You can borrow what people have discovered and made, but you can’t borrow what they are and have experienced. So just eating ham jowls and greens doesn’t make you a descendant of a slave. But you can use the recipes.”

“O my, here is a sad person. Say hi to NW.” (6/11/2007 - W#400)

NW:

“Why? Why say hi. So, I guess I’m blue. But what else is blue: the sky and the ocean, but not a molecule of oxygen or a drop of water. Most sadness comes when we feel that we are only a part of something which subsumes us and it feels like it consumes us.

“If every particle of the air which makes up the sky could be seen separately, it would not be blue. Many people fear the notions of SP because they are afraid it will depress them to be just a part of the whole, so they rush off to religions which keep them separate forever.

“Whether it is the dharma or the Heaven or whatever, it is a desperate seeking of not becoming just a part of the blue. But like I just was experiencing, when we lose sight of our own identities, we can only sense the whole and we feel lost, blue, sad, grief for ourselves. But now I ask you, is the molecule of the water that makes the sea not composed of the atom of oxygen. Without it being oxygen, it wouldn’t be water. The All That Is which contains us all does not deny us but affirms us, and we are we, not affirmations of all that has been. Is not every less complex part of us affirmed in our being, just as the mathematician doing her calculus relies on the kindergartner inside who knows 1 plus 1 is 2.

“Nothing lost, nothing forgotten, nothing gone, nothing subsumed, nothing consumed. I feel better now. I am feeling much better now. I’m still blue, but I am also red and orange and yellow and green and indigo and violet. Wow! I am all that has been, and contain the potential for all that is to be.” (6/11/2007 - W#401)

Rikkity: “What a segue to old and new. Here’s an old dude.”

LD:

“Hi. I don’t think of myself as old. My body may be, but my thoughts not. I am the master and the servant of Vinci. ‘Heya, pass the vino.’ Hey, my little friend. ‘Heya. We drink, no?’ Si.

“How does one know where old and new meet. Is it always in the present. Or was it always in the past. Or is it, infuriatingly, always in the future. And the answer is: Yes.

“If time is but a construct like any other thread or noodle, if it flows but has no point, can be experienced but has not any real quantity, then old and new are never points but only process. You all know this existentially. I hate that word! I wish the existentialists and the nihilists would go head-to-head until they’re all gone... but I wander. But I ask you, which person, which being at your level of complexity, can show me from experience an exact point, an exact moment when his or her life began or ended. Life and death are processes. Why do you live with the experienced knowledge of that, and insist on making things points and moments. Old, new--they are each other’s cusps.

“And if I am the old, here’s the new. Let me introduce you to KD.” (6/11/2007 - W#402)

KD:

“I am not related to Mr. D. I am a D of mine own und I have proud of this. ‘Heya don’t talka with an accent.’ O. Is this besser. ‘No no no no no.’ Ach du lieber. I vill try. Hello, old chaps. ‘Heya.’ Should I speak like I am from Nebraska. I am the new kid on the bench, I guess.

“This is a well-worn bench. But I have to tell you something. Since all of us sitting here... ARF... and lying here.... ARF.... are from the past, it is interesting that the bench faces the emerging horizon. She says it is so we can see who is coming toward us from life, and reminds us that no one can sneak up behind us because we contain all that is in that realm behind. And we may act surprised by what emerges ahead, but it is always more of 'aha' and not 'o no.'

“We have learned that what will be from here is to be welcomed in the whole, if not always in the parts. If our blue friend finds a rainbow of hope by remembering that what has been personally learned cannot be lost, I take comfort in knowing that even where the waters of the ocean are troubled, not calm, the whole of the ocean is beautiful.

“The trick is to see the universe in a grain of sand and to see each grain of sand in the universe, for they are one in the same.” (6/11/2007 - W#403)

Rikkity: “Well well, we got through it all without a wedding planner. We thank them all. See you.”

TJ:

“I wonder what people today would value enough to pledge their honor and their future.

“People receive the government they allow. Dictators never seize power; they are given it. But the sudden coup d’état is much less pernicious than the slow erosion of the collective soul. Whenever we are less than vigilant and more than complacent, when needs and wants take the place of values and vision, then the structures may appear strong but the foundation is unsound. A democracy based on a weakened foundation is more perilous than a tyranny based on a sound underpinning; for the latter can be moved toward democracy without remediation, while the former is just play-acting, and the entire enterprise will need reconstitution. A revolution grows from strong foundations.

“Or, as our friend CT might say, you can’t build a three-tier wedding cake--no matter how grand and pleasing to the eye and palate--on a base of pudding. ‘I wouldn’t say that!’ O yes you would, and pudding is a term used in deference to the ladies present. ‘O.’

“So never judge a nation by its glories, but by its ordinary moments when its truth shines through.

“Today it is sort of like a Napoleon--some substance and some pudding. But if it be tempered again in the crucible of faith, vision, and courage, it can be transformed again into solid rock and suitable mortar. The real test of the Declaration was not its words, but what its words stirred in the hearts and actions of those who heard it. It was batter, baked in the furnaces of passion and reason." (7/4/2007 - W#404)

Marky:

"Bonjour. Ah, a day to remind us to never emprison our souls. So many stormed the Bastille, but more failed to storm the prisons of their lives--caught in fear and hatred and abuse and ignorance and blind faith. Had they assailed those, the world would have been better.

“It was not the Bastille that was the problem; it was the system of the less than perfect masquerading as the ideal (Sun King bullshit.) That is always a problem when we think the problem with the system is not also a problem within ourselves.

“CT asks if there were any elves in the Bastille. And I say, mon dieu, ees ee an idiot? But I do know he has freed himself of many chains that shackled his spirit, otherwise he would fear making such comments. Come the revolution, his jokes will be the first to go. We shall put his punchlines to the Madame. ‘O,’ he says, ‘a cutting remark.’ Just a name to drop... but I plunge on.

“No revolution of less than free spirits will ever succeed. Slaves like to change masters, but free spirits accept no masters. This is what we remember today.

“O that my country had the likes of yours. Perhaps ale is better than wine... no no no no. Pâté yes, bacon no. Grits no no no. Sausage gravy... hmmm, it is a sauce.

“So keep the spirit of revolution alive, but do not keep the spirit of the Revolution alive.” (7/14/2007 - W#405)

Awareness and Openness

“Welcome to Ericka’s Bench! I’m Sanford McPooch, your announcer.”

Rikkity: “No no no... ARF ARF... he’s Sandy McPooch, your arfer. And that was CT, your idiot... whack... yum, fresh trout. Well, we have four assorted nutcases for you. And let’s get started. The man who invented benches, LD.”

LD:

“Good graces, what’s up with her. Sit down. We will chat.

“Actually, I invented nothing. ‘Wow, he invented nothing!’ CT, my friend, I don’t mean I invented nothing. I mean nothing credited to me was an invention. I only raised up my awareness and allowed possibility to run free. ‘Here, boy.’ No, I don’t mean like that.

“Invention often seems to imply imparting something which was not there. I may have discovered, or uncovered, much. But I did not invent air or motion or flow or interaction; I observed and pondered and thought ‘what if.’ Also, I did not manipulate, I used. I did not ask water to flow uphill, but I did find a way to use water power to pump water up.

“The key was always awareness--looking and listening and tasting and touching over and over and over until I knew a situation in depth.

“Possibilities rarely arise in first encounters. They are the product of long interaction. Even so-called spontaneous insights arise from a lifetime of experience. It’s a pattern, not an object.

“In a world obsessed with deadlines and time, there is not often permission for this. That was how my world was: ‘LD, is the new machine ready yet?’ Being driven is not a new phenomenon.

“So, always allow for the awareness, or you’ll just get the same old story.

“Speaking of the same old story, here’s Papa.” (11/16/2007 - W#406)

Papa:

“Hi, babe. I do as I’m told. She says ‘Wait,’ I wait! Years on the eternal beach, with sandy toes... ARF? No no no.

“But what genius-man was saying is so true. Your mother would call down to me and ask what I was doing. Much of the time it was thinking. She called that nothing, but the thinking is an essential part of the process. The great one calls it pondering. Letting the latent equations come to the surface.

“Ever tried to see something at the bottom of a stream? Poke around too much and it gets all murky, but leave it alone and observe and it grows clearer. And then, with clarity, you can reach right for it.

“Sometimes dogging a subject pushes it away from grasp. Like Sandy trying to get a bone but his nose pushes it away... grrrr. He tries to sniff it out, but if he were to sit back and look, he could pounce right on it... rrrf? Awareness and waiting. Waiting isn’t so bad if time is not in the equation.

“I now pass the hat to this one.” (11/16/2007 - W#407)

MW:

“Gracious be, please be seated. Tea? Hello. Once again, I can entertain you, and you me.

“I was wondering the other moment about what all this means. And I realized that if I insist that any existence must contain a meaning, a purpose, then I am imposing my definition of being. For example, was my life with the president the meaning of my life, or was it in the too-short time with children, or was it as a young uncertain girl. I could choose any one and get it wrong. Maybe the meaning was not in any of those. Maybe it was in all. Maybe it is yet to be. If I demand it to be in the same frame as my life, o how I have trapped it.

“We choose to use words about God like vast, limitless, infinite, eternal, and then speak of God’s presence in us in specifics. We want only pieces of what cannot be broken. Our vanity insists upon a connection, and that same vanity demands a separation. As your dear Papa says, go figure. Curious phrase. I once asked him about it, and he said ‘O, I guess it means to try to put it into a formula and you’ll see how inadequate any formula is.’ I like that. He and I are so different, yet alike.

“I’m told another awaits, and I do not want to monopolize your presence.” (11/16/2007 - W#408)

BW:

“Hello, I’m BW. Not another W, but W. The pleasure has not been mine or yours.

“This is a curious proposition. I always thought there was more to existence than the solid rock of the mundane. Sometimes, in the moments between the lucid, I would sense something else--not like a shadow nor like a light, but like a presence. So, it was someone on a bench talking to me.”

Rikkity: “No no no, BW, this is a metaphor.”

“O, I thought it odd that spirits would have a bench. But I have been told that those glimpses are the very source of my conversation with you. My slim acceptance of a possibility was enough. Curious.

“Apparently, the widest believer in the psychic and the most skeptical who is open to a sliver, both have the same experience here. It does not take fanaticism or devotion, only openness. And had I known this, I would have been more open to so much because I have been told a secret. Get close. It’s not just about psychic things. Openness is the key to all--not with wide-open doors, but with portals at least ajar. You don’t have to scream YES, just don’t even whisper no.

“And now, my new friend asks you to come closer again for something very personal.” (11/16/2007 - W#409)

Rikkity: “Tickle tickle. Gotcha. Hit my shin on the bench. But wait, I have no shin and there’s no bench.

“And so, once more the Bench serves us all. Sandy put that leg down... arffff. Until next time, if you can’t chew on a good idea, gum a few thoughts."

Rikkity: “Blub... ugh... spprt... gfst. Please stand by. We are having a peanut butter moment. We don’t have mouths, but we have spiritual peanut butter. It goes with everything. So you have All That Is with PB.”

Papa:

“Hi, babe. She is something else. But she takes after her grandpa. ‘My Papa.’ O, I stand corrected, as usual. But what else is new.

“I’m deader than a doornail, and having the time of my life. Boy, some of these arrivals are so smart. Makes the Rosicrucian materials look like comic books. They come in and say ‘Wow, I can hear and I can speak,’ and with just a couple of lessons, they are all Platos. So we have platonic relationships and Socratic dialogues. Some smart people, those Greeks. Got it from the Jews. Did you know that? A Jew invented Windex, hehehehe.

“But seriously, here’s a tidbit. Put in my terms, you know what radar is? Ok, you send a signal out and see if it bounces off something and comes back. The echo back says there’s something there. And if the echo is big, it’s a big something. And if the echo is higher in frequency, it’s coming, and if it’s lower, it’s going... and if it’s way high, get down, it’s really coming. So, you ping and wait for an echo. And what you get is evidence, but not image or fact or data--sort of like the game Battleship. And sort of like psychic communications. You send out your signal and get echoes back, which sound like your language because that’s how you can interpret them. But you never really get the substance. Right now you are pinging us and have an echo of us, but you don’t have us. We are a projection of your understanding, built on echoes. Ponder that.

“Because nothing in your world would make sense here, and vice versa. If the other side in a military conflict created a large cream pie to smash into the Capitol but they gave it an image of a plane in tin foil, radar experts would see the echo and say, ‘There’s a plane coming.’ Ha, *smash*. See, the echoes only tell you where things are, but cannot tell you what--other than as assumptions from what you already know. So these echoes appear as language about spirit personalities with distinct histories. You think that’s what’s over here? It’s what’s over there, not over here. The echoes give you a sense, but not a picture.”

Rikkity: “Ok, Papa, that’s enough for now. Back in your cage. ‘What!?!’ O. Ok, we don’t do cages here. He is amazing... and was and will be. Hey, the moon shot was nothing! compared to other stuff.

“Wait, Papa, put down the Welcome mat. ‘Why.’ Because you are not just arriving. What? No time, so you are. Hmm, I am baffled. He keeps acting like he’s just arriving. He says it keeps him fresh. Ok, we go.” (11/26/2007 - W#410)

Christmas

Rikkity: “Welcome to another Ericka’s Bench. 'But this is the same Bench.' I know. It’s a new one in content, but not substance. 'So it will be all new in content?' Well, no. So, ok, welcome to a slightly recycled program on the same old Ericka’s Bench. Some of the usual cast of characters, like the man who invented Christmas.”

YB:

“Hello. Yes, if not for me, there would be nothing to celebrate.

“So, out there in the spring, in a nice little cabin by the barn, the midwife helped Mom bear me. Every birth is awesome, and mine no more or less. So was I born with more potential, or special potential. No, just the same portion as every being on this plane. Somehow the odds of the potential became focused in me. How, I don’t know. I always felt keen, sharp, attuned, what is it you say... ‘with it.’ Nothing faded into the background. It was all very stark and, therefore, very compelling.

“All I did was be myself, but apparently that was unusual enough to get me noticed. And I noticed that most people don’t do that. They don’t perceive sharply, and they don’t act as themselves. I have met a few spirits who know what I mean, that one must let go of preconceptions but must hold dearly to essences. All have been given means of expression, but most simply mimic.

“In the course of history, there has been only about 10 original thoughts. But there are an infinite number of potential ones. It’s that simple.

“So, just a little concentration on the possible and the equation is changed. Doesn’t need to be a revolution. People look for radical change, but the most radical thing one can do is institute small change and allow it to grow unfettered. CT, my friend, says you should also serve salad un-feta-ed. I say to CT, get thee behind me. There was DT (Doubting Thomas) and now CT (Confused Thomas). I like to tease!

“Someday the astronomers will notice that the ripple of energy crossing existence from Creation looks just like the wave function of laughter. Dad likes to laugh.” (12/17/2007 - W#411)

Rikkity: “And now, the next piece of Christmas. He’s got a red suit, but no pitchfork... but a great pithforth.”

SC:

“Merry Christmas, babe. I’m Santa! Ho ho ho.

“So, who did you think got you all those presents. But I’m just a symbol–-a symbol of giving. But this is the sad part: it wasn’t intended to be about material things. And once upon a time, every gift was symbolic. The orange was from the East and it was sweet; the fruitcake also. ‘Hey-a.’ My dear man, I do not think of you as a fruitcake. ‘Ok-a.’ More like a nut case. ‘Hey-a.’ With the sweetmeats of the Orient. ‘Ok-a.’

“The gifts of heart and self, of handmade things and special foods. Something has been lost, and this is bad news for my hernia. Do you know how much plasma TVs weigh. Rudolph with your nose so bright, help me with my truss tonight.

“To sit around a family table and share a meal and memories and laughter. Does it get any better? And after hours of such, the group begins to rise from the table until a small voice asks, ‘Is this all,’ and we settle down for a dessert of song and more good cheer. Don’t mistake presents for presence.

“Last night, I was prepping for my gig around the world and tripped and fell into my sack. The elves said, ‘Santa was half in the bag.’ There are elves--more elves than saints. But some elves have become saints. No saints have become elves! And now, another guest.” (12/17/2007 - W#412)

M:

“Just call me M... but no W, just M. I was a traveler, a mystic. I believed, and moreover, I hoped.

“If you are truly hopeful, you are always looking at the horizons for the astounding--a tree where there should be no tree, a distant fire on a black cold night, a star out of place, a welcome in a strange land, a kind word in times of fear, a sudden urge to just shout ‘Yes!’

“Some have thought that they needed to travel widely. ‘Hey-a.’ My little man, that’s ok. But don’t mistake physical distance covered for travel. The home bound who has journeyed from doubt to faith, from meanness to kindness, from quiet to activity, is a traveler of much wider worlds. A wealthy person who has traveled the world has seen less than the modest person who has looked into her own heart and sighed open a new facet of her being.

“But remember, always take gifts when you travel--maybe some gold, or maybe a box of chocolates to share on another bench, or maybe just the welcoming open spirit. A hug can be more valuable than a balm. ‘What! A bomb!’ No no no. And sometimes the gift of knowing silence speaks loudest. Just keep traveling. My friends and I did not stay. We traveled on because we knew it was not a destination, only a way point. And the three of us separated, for we each had more journeys ahead.

“And here comes a weary traveler. Sit, my friend. I give you my silence and my attention.” (12/17/2007 - W#413)

Rikkity:

“Hello. Marking point: Another season for each to know what has changed.

“The symbol of the evergreen is so appropriate. Yet when we cut it and make it a static symbol, it too soon turns brown, and leaves us only with memories. And what is more dismal than a discarded, worn-out, artificial tree. But when genuine and natural and planted, how glorious a symbol: Green, always growing a few new needles taller, in a single year nothing remains but the essence which is the tree, a ring marks the passage. The memories mark the past, but the future is held in the core of its being, waiting eternally to express itself.

“So some places at the table will be empty, some toys worn out before the day. No two Christmases the same. Compare and you lose it all, but bring them together and seek their common core and there it is--ever green, though the world be dark and the family of man cold to one another.

“Look beyond the specifics, and also look beyond the symbols, and try to recapture the essence. And raise a glass of eggnog to me. But I can’t figure out what the essence of eggnog ever was. And with that, we all sit on the Bench and wish you the season’s meaning.” (12/17/2007 - W#414)

Rikkity: “And now, straight from a bottle of Beaujolais, here are the boys of Revolution. Do I have to spell it out for you? O, I do.”

TJ:

“Huzzah. I was just showing my friend the view from the Western terrace. I love to haunt there. But they really don’t understand me. I liked a life full of meaning and leisure. They had me working all the time. Sometimes I just sat and thought; other times I just sat.

“Inspiration is a great gift of the Creator by which we breathe in the pure air of divine possibility, and incorporate its potential in our thoughts and deeds. Man is so different than the other animals. Like them, we take in food and water and air, but their only other sources of impression are fear and pleasure, whilst we humans have this capacity to also take in the great fabric of possibility and tailor it into a suit which we might wear as our own. Let experience make alterations that it might fit us well.

“Whenever we fail by our own neglect of the task, or by the fettering of opportunity by the constraints of others, we lose some of our humanity. Thus, it is right and necessary--if we are to call ourselves humans, and not simply animals--to ensure our sure application of ourselves to the free exposure of our souls to the potential of such inspiration. To waken ourselves first, and then throw off the shackles of our making or our acceptance, so we can finally dispense with the bonds of imposed restraint of both state and church, and be thoroughly human.

“Independence is often seen as a state of individualization. No, it is rather a state of freedom to pursue that which is common to all, and by which we bound ourselves to one another in deepest meaning. Only free souls can form true community, and all true communities seek the freedom of their members. ‘And they offer free eye exams.’ Mr. CT! ‘Well don’t they?’ Marky, get out your sword. ‘Mais oui, monsieur. Take that, you cad.’ Ouch. Him, not me. ‘O.’” (7/4/2008 - W#415)

Rikkity: “And so the party digresses. What’s this, another empty bottle. Oy.”

Marky:

“Allo. I have a man with me in Virginia who was like CT. He kept us rolling on the floor, but he was a great spy. He could charm the redcoat off an officer. But then he would play the fool, and being the bon vivant and the fool, others would speak freely in his presence as he feigned sleep. His mind was filled with revolution, but his thoughts were filled with information. And one needs both to make progress.

“The wild-eyed revolutionary who has no use for the practical is a dangerous companion. And the most informed soul without a passion for change is a dull and dangerous friend. Know where you want to go, but also know how to get there.

“That is the most revolutionary of concepts: direction and means. Keep them both in mind. And the truly dangerous have neither, so they pretend they have both. And since the vast majority have only one or the other, they are taken in with the appearance of such certainty. The wise and good always say something akin to ‘or not,’ while the dangerous ones say ‘I know!’ If you are certain, you have no need to be certain--trusting that what you know to be so will rule the day. ‘But who rules the night?’ CT! ‘Everyone knows it is Batman!’ Rikkity! I was seriously making a point and you egg him on. ‘I’ll egg him.’ Ok. Hey!” (7/4/2008 - W#416)

Rikkity: “What’s this? Another bottle, oy vey. Boys, have a great Fourth!”

“Why, we’re already onto a fifth!"

MW:

“Hello. How are you this afternoon.

“Never let any circumstance serve as an excuse to be less than your full selves as divine providence has ordained, for while giving in to the temptation of a lesser self may feel good for the moment, it disappoints all Creation forever. If we are truly of one creation and one blood, then whatever you do has effect on all of us. So even a momentary lapse for convenience or emotion has set a ripple across all Creation.

“You know you were created out of infinite love and possibility, and every moment which is not loving or expressing that potential is denying it, and with that denial a little bit of possibility dies. There is enough death in this world. We don’t need to create more just to satisfy our own personal whims or feelings.

“If you are not enhancing the divine gift of life you hold as steward, then you are wasting the greatest gift there is.

“Tea? I know you like yours strong. I do, too. Otherwise the leaves have died to not give up their strength. In all things, go for the essence, the strength. Otherwise you are being wasteful. I go.” (8/4/2008 - W#417)

Geniuses and Fools

Rikkity: “And now, from the amphitheater at the corner of Reason and Emotion, it’s Ericka’s Bench. We have been looking for the bench and here it is. How did it get here. Grrrr. HS. Grrrr. CT. Grrrr. MCP. Yelp. Marky. ‘Mais oui.’ ARF ARF ARF. All of them? ARF! O, why. Woof. O, I see. Let’s sit on the bench and get started. Grrrr. Let’s not sit on the bench. Not dry? Grrrr. O. Wait a petuty, we don’t have bodies, and spiritual shellac is never wet. Woof woof woof... f f f f f. Good one, Sandy. F f f f f f. He’s slaying himself. *Ding ding* No, not sleighing himself.

“So, let’s get started. For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction. Ok, here’s AE. He knows his physics. He’s no relative. F f f f. Want a comb? ‘No.’ Ok.”

AE:

“Good afternoon, if it is afternoon where you are. You know, I always argued that everything depended on speed, but also on the dimensions of time. And then I find myself without time–which means all the calculations don’t apply. Which means here there is no mass and no time, but there is distance. How? I still ponder that.

“Does this mean that not all dimensions are universal? Then that may imply that all dimensions are particular. I am leaning that way. ‘Well, don’t fall over.’ CT, as always a voice of reason–as in, he has no reason to say that! Don’t mess with the smart man.

“But I am not a genius here, I just play one in life. No, I was not a genius, but I was observant and mindful and thoughtful and universal in a sense. Every new understanding comes from the ability to sense a larger picture. It is not from creating the larger picture, but from seeing it. Everybody knows this from experience. You look out your window for years and then a stranger comes, looks, and says ‘How long have you had a grapevine,’ and you say ‘Do I?’ And then you see it.

“Most new ideas are like snakes in the grasses–there, but unseen. And sometimes we see their shed skin and say ‘There must be skins in the grasses,’ and sometimes we hear a hissss and say ‘There must be a leak in the grasses,’ and then someone comes and shouts ‘Eeeek’ and we see the snake and say ‘Why didn’t I think snake when I saw the skin and heard the hiss.’ And sometimes, by the moment of recognition, the snake is gone and all you get is the skin and the memory of the hissss.

“Putting it all together does not define genius; it just defines awareness.

“Hey, we have a caller from life. Are you a first-time caller? ‘No, I’ve called many times.’ And your question is? ‘What does define genius?’ Genius is defined by those who aren’t as aware. Clueless people always respect those with clues.

“And is genius all it’s cracked up to be. Only if it fulfills the person, not the definer–does one no spiritual good if it does not facilitate learning and remembering. If I had said ‘O, I see it all now’ and left it at that, what’s that worth?

“Here’s my magnificent friend, who will continue.” (9/15/2008 - W#418)

LD:

“It is me. Not him, not her.

“Genius, hmmm. So I see more than some, am I a genius or a fool. The fool sees all just as much as the genius. The fool doesn’t know what to make of it, and the genius knows... 'a hat, a brooch'.... That is why that scene is genius.

“I drew plans for 10 times more things that couldn’t work. I threw away those. Genius is often in knowing what to toss. Editors know this! A full wastebasket means a good manuscript. If there is nothing to remove to make it better, then it has little worth. Genius is honing.

“Gather every stone in a field, and you don’t have more than a pile of rocks. Take one and sharpen it, and you have a knife.

“Remember, the greatest treatises of literature are often one word long: Go! Think! Love! Yes! All else is not commentary; it’s banter in the cause of obscuring. Most people would prefer an obscured complex reality than a sharp view. Pith is so often feared because it is direct.

“And speaking of taking the less direct path, here he is.” (9/15/2008 - W#419)

MCP:

“Hey-a. I went from here to there and back, so I don’t know what you mean. Most never go from here to there, much less back to here.

“We speak of journeys... and journies... and paths which are pathetic, but you have to go somewhere to journey. Standing still and letting things go by is not a journey... ‘unless you have a sky box.’ CT, I sky box-a you.

“So, you can speak of simple and complex travels, but the simplicity and the complexity don’t matter. So I took a couple of extra days. Who is counting. But if I had never come back and spoken of it and written of it, what would have been the point. Part of it for me was to share, so we get back to the old rabbi: ‘If I am not for myself...’ but ‘If I am for myself alone...’ It’s-a complex.

“Fulfillment alone may make me more ready, and fulfillment of others may make them more open, but it is only the combination that can lead to connection. If I had found connection with those of Asia but not told others, the first encounters with Asians would have been as strangers. But I paved the way.

“I am thirsty.” (9/15/2008 - W#420)

Tea lady: “Then just sit down, lovey. A cuppa?”

MCP: “Now if you mean a cup of tea, as introduced into the West by that great man, Marco Polo, then yes.”

Tea lady: “Whatever. Lemon or milk.”

MCP: “Tea!”

Tea lady: “I know that. Lemon or milk.”

MCP: “What?”

Tea lady: “Ok, I’ll bring both.”

MCP: “Both? You said three things.”

Tea lady: “No, just lemon and milk.”

MCP: “But I want tea.”

Tea lady: “I know! What do you take me for, daft?”

MCP: “So just bring me the three things then.”

Tea lady: “Three what?”

MCP: “Milk, lemon, tea.”

Tea lady: “And that’s all you’re having? It’s tea time.”

MCP: “I know and I want tea.”

Tea lady: “Just tea?”

MCP: “And milk and lemon, I guess.”

Tea lady: “Well, it’s for you to know. And now what can I get you?”

MCP: “Lemon! Milk! And tea!”

Tea lady: “I know! But what can I bring you? A digestive?”

MCP: “What for. I’m not eating.”

Tea lady: “You’re not eating at tea?”

MCP: “No, I drink tea.”

Tea lady: “Everyone does. But what do you want for your tea?”

MCP: “This is going to be a journey longer than my previous one. Let me try. I suppose if it were cereal time, you’d want to know about my drink?”

Tea lady: “I would!”

MCP: “So I eat at teatime and drink at cereal time.”

Tea lady: “Now you’ve got it!”

MCP: “Ok, I’ll eat a cup of tea.”

Tea lady: “Are you daft? Just sit here, lovey, and I will bring you a trolley of cakes and fingers.”

MCP: “I don’t even want to know.”

Tea lady: “And a bit of clotted cream.”

MCP: “O no, the milk is off, then?”

Tea lady: “No.”

MCP: “So I am to have tea, lemon, milk, cream that’s gone bad, and some cakes and fingers. And they say the Asians are quaint.”

Tea lady: “Are you calling me quaint?”

MCP: “I am!”

Tea lady: “Then you can just get up and walk out and down to the High Street for your elevens.”

MCP: “I am not going to ask!”

Tea lady: “Ta-ta.”

Rikkity: “And with that, another chapter of One Man’s Journey comes to a close. In tonight’s cast were Tea Lady as herself and MCP as his elf. Be sure to tune in again, when Papa asks the music question, ‘Why?’ (about Johnny Mercer). UTV. And now, the UTV Dog... ARRRRF. If MGM can have a lion....”

TL:

“Can’t go in the wrong direction without some damage. There needs to be a buyout, but it can’t be suffering-free. Let’s see, have a war but no one has to sacrifice; have a recession but no one has to sacrifice. Can’t do it.

“This is a time for the country to come together sacrificially. And we need to have some bad guys to punish, but the alleged good guys are also the bad guys.

“What a mess. And all fueled by replacing vision with dogma, and principles with personalities, and values with doctrines. The most materially successful economies are driven by vision, not economics. The material success requires a spiritual component, which has been missing.” (10/1/2008 - W#421)

Papa:

“Hi, babe. How are the thumbs. I still like ketchup, but I can’t get any here. But I can get the concept of ketchup and its fulfilling attributes–as in, yummy. But I ponder, was the ketchup yummy or did it make other foods yummy. I think the latter. I didn’t like eggs by themselves, but a good dash of the red stuff and ok. But not on pancakes... except potato pancakes.

“So, I continue to lead spirits out of their perceived limitations–take them spiritually soaring, as it were. Haven’t hit a garage yet... ‘but had a few near misses with carports’... no no no no no, Mr. CT! He’s a scamp. But she calls him other things.

“I see her every day, but since there is no time, every day is eternal. I am never out of touch with her and you... ‘but not him.’ CT! Ok, you go to the market and you get 49 cents in change. You put it in your pocket. You go about other business and don’t give it any mind. But then you need to buy a chocolate bar, and you reach into your pocket and say ‘Yes, I have enough.’ See, the money was always with you, even if you did not see it or recognize it or think about it. Sure, the poor change is neglected and forgotten and ignored, but comes through in the end–just like the eternal connections you have but don’t always recognize or remember or think of. Now, what do I do with the 7 cents I have left? Save it for a rainy day.

“So, I help people become spirits. What?!? They arrive here as spirits, of course, but they think of themselves as people. Have to change that–no thinking, just knowing; no people, just spirits. Can you imagine trying to combine several people into a more complex being? Works spiritually but not physically because to be human is to be differentiated, which won’t go over very big at the complexity picnic.

“Limitations are flip sides of fulfillment. What you perceive as the outer edges are actually the vessel you need to fill in order to get outside that limit. Ponder that, as she would say.” (11/26/2008 - W#422)

MCP:

“So, I am-a here, so I talk-a. She makes the shut up. She-a shut up. ‘Mmmmm.’ LD invented this sticky fabric tape and coated it with feathers. Duck Tape. This-a tape, she just call-a LD a name-a: 'quack quack'! I think she is a good joke. ‘Mmmmm.’

Sandy:

“So these waves, they aren’t waves. But the effect is measured as if they had come in waves. Again, the reduction of the spiritual to the physical is not inaccurate, but only incomplete.

“So don’t say something is wrong, but also don’t say it is right, just say it is–accurate but not complete, like LD’s ideas. They were not wrong, but they were not right, either. They were accurate based on his knowledge, but others with more knowledge could be more complete. Someone who looks like a complete fool one day will show himself less a fool another day. And one who proclaims himself wise one day will play the fool another.” (6/13/2009 - W#423)

Papa:

“This I can tell you! Don’t ever act like things are valuable to the extent that they imprison you.

“Then they have you, not you have them. We all lost, or thought we lost, the most valuable thing. But then we found she wasn’t lost, just we were.

“And if someone came in and took anything, they couldn’t get the you of you. Never... no, no always... live like you could lose it all and not feel the loss. It is hard to do, but essential learning. Remember it!

“I would say more, but I’ve lost my mind.” (8/6/2009 - W#424)

Rikkity: “I don’t know much about Mufi’s other lives, because while spirits are on sabbatical we don’t engage their story lines. They are not plugged in because, without time, the other lives would make the break impossible.

“Sabbaticals are about a chance to disengage and be something else, without the burdens of history and future. For example, try to be a Navy captain who goes on vacation in uniform. So he is old and wise, but now he is just a cat.

“Even knowing once he has come back here would change your human relationship with his memory. And his memory of his life with you has value as it is. Sometimes you need to know less in order to know more. There’s a PtoP.” (8/9/2009 - W#425)

TL:

“Hello. Well, I’ve been better. I seem to have a non-headache. It hurts where I would have a head. Whatever.

“Just because you are no longer physical, doesn’t mean you forget your physical ways--anymore than being physical means you forget your spiritual ways. Might get vague and neglected, but always remembered.

“So, I can remember stubbing my toe even without toes, and you can remember floating in meaning even without being able to float. A warning: Do not try this when physical!” (9/3/2009 - W#426)

Thanksgiving

Rikkity: “And now, brought to you by ARF brand paints and finishes, it’s Ericka’s Bench. ARF ARF ARF. If you paint your bench with ARF, you know it’s finished! Grrrrrr.

“Well party goers, it’s another Turkey Day... gobble. Yes, it’s our own turkey. CT. Picture foot tapping, patient foot tapping... not-so-patient foot tapping. Yes, CT has brought in our turkey... gobble gobble. That’s better!

“Well, we’ve got quite the Bench for you: a sot and a wiz and a prez. But which is which. ‘You see through me.’ Of course, you’re not physical. ‘O.’ So, let’s get started. But I forgot one or two. So let’s say: a sot and a wiz and an ace and a prez and a woof. Now, maybe it’s not Sanford... rrrr. Let’s begin.”

Marky:

“Bonjour. The Beaujolais, she has the berries, no? It was my pleasure to sample many options... hic.

“It is such a festive time. The labors are done and the stores are lade and now the wine mellows, and we with it. And all of this with great thanks. One of the problems of the revolution in my country was that in the haste to remove the past, they also removed the source, and so there was no power to which one could give thanks--except perhaps the mob, and they were hardly worthy of thanks.

“With no spirit of public thankfulness, there is also no source of public hope. So my people became easy prey to the charlatans of charisma. When a nation cannot stop and give thanks, it is no longer a nation but just a mob of neighbors.

“So remember this, and also remember that before the Revolution the agencies of government and church told us to whom and how to be thankful. What is the result of mandate or prescription is never thanks of the heart–not real, only thanks of the fears. I raise my glass and offer thanks. Merci, merci à Tout.” (11/26/2009 - W#427)

Rikkity: “So he’s not really a sot, he’s a wino. And now the wiz.”

LD:

“I invented turkey stuffing! They had all this stale bread and I said ‘Stuff it!’ Hello.

“Continuing the theme, real thankfulness is never simply about the past. We do not raise up thanksgiving just for what has been and what has come our way, because such thanks would then raise the question of those whose history of late is hunger and pain and fear. To solely base thanks on what has been achieved is to create two classes: those who are blessed and all the rest.

“But in an abundant world, there are no classes. So part of our thanks must always be for the vision of what might yet be, for in that realm all can participate and have hope. The ancient Hebrews embraced this when, at the end of thanks for liberation, even as they knew not everyone was free, they spoke the words ‘Next year in Jerusalem.’ And even the slaved and infirmed and hungry could repeat those words.

“So don’t make thanks a competition, but rather open it as an invitation to the future which is everyone’s birthright, for we know not of any entity which is not intimately part of All That Is And Will Be. So be thankful for the whole, and not the blessings of one’s small portion of the whole. I am off to invent something involving green beans and marshmallows. Wish me well.” (11/26/2009 - W#428)

Rikkity: “Oy. And now the ace.”

Papa:

“Hi. This is pretty lofty company! But LD loves to hear my flying stories. He says ‘Really? It works?’ And I tell him about flying under the bridge and he goes white. And the Frenchman, he likes my Morocco stories... but he doesn’t like Manischewitz. ‘If I wanted to taste table grapes, I would eat them.’ And the rest of the Bench.

“Just remember to remember the best. The rest will dissolve in the flow of existence. And who knows which is which? So don’t obsess over this or that. Live, enjoy, get out of the basement.

“I always wondered, if she weren’t along, if when we got to Providence we might just have kept going. You were always up for an adventure. But no, ‘Turn here, Milt!’ The biggest gifts of life may be just behind the door, in the room where we keep our biggest treasures. Ponder that one.

“I connect with all who matter to me. This is better than dot dash. Ouija Board Operator's Manual. I teach that over here. ‘Say, Mr. Ace, I want to connect with my loved ones. How do I do that.’ Here, read this book. My book title is blank and they see what they want to. So sometimes it’s Ouija and sometimes it’s dreams and sometimes it’s dimes, etc. The same techniques apply. It’s about belief, not about details.” (11/26/2009 - W#429)

“O, here he comes. Mr. President.”

GW: “O, Ace. Talking with babe again?”

Papa: “I am, sir.”

GW: “I’ll speak too, then.

“Gracious good afternoon. Ace is something. There is much you are not yet aware of. And I, too. Just the other day, M was explaining something to me and I nearly dropped my teeth, haha. Didn’t know I had a sense of humor, did you.

“It was one of my greatest pleasures when I proclaimed the first Thanksgiving in our new nation. We were barely a nation, still beset by challenges that would make your days seem calm. But to set aside a day of thoughtfulness about how far we had come and yet how much of the journey remained seemed the greatest responsibility of my office.

“Roads, commerce, armies, and navies pale in comparison to the national spirit, because if we aren’t united in hope, we cannot be united in aught else. O look, my shoes are united. CT. ‘Sir.’ Please. Thanks.

“A nation divided against its hope and vision cannot stand the rigors which will surely come. And now I go with my trusty dog, Shirley. Shirley, come! Woof.” (11/26/2009 - W#430)

Rikkity: “ARF ARF... grrrr. Calm down, you are next. Woof. Grrr ARF rf rf rf rf. He’s saying that what Gus means is... ARF. He wants to remind you that a delicious bone is a sumptuous meal until someone mentions a steak. But even with a steak, the bone meal (not the bonemeal) is still sumptuous. Don’t give thanks for having more or better, just for being... woof arfé.

“And with that, the Bench is emptied. And we all salute this day with a tableau of us enacting the first step on Plymouth Rock. The boat approaches, a daring soul steps over the gunwale and steps out... ayeeeeeee.” (11/26/2009 - W#431)