One Thought at a Time
I stood alone staring at the items on the slab for quite awhile. Though the aliens had walked me through their meanings, I still sensed that my journey had just begun. For although I went through the steps and even felt what it was like to experience them in all of their glory, I knew that it was only in my mind and that the real experience would be drastically different than flaming wands and coins growing from trees.
“Are you ready for the next stage,” I heard Iman say.
As I turned to look at him, the snow-covered landscape disappeared and the three of us were once again smack dab in the middle of the nebulous void.
“Where did everything go?” I asked, turning 360 degrees to survey the encroaching inky blackness.
“Into another crevice of your mind,” said Yewell. “There are plenty of them, you know. More pockets than a pair of cargo pants.”
“That’s one of the ways that you’re able to manage all of your thoughts,” said Iman. “Can you imagine experiencing all of the thoughts in your head simultaneously?”
“Not really,” I said. “Would that be so bad?”
Iman and Yewell looked at each other, blinking large bovine eyes. They each took a step toward me and placed a hand on my shoulder, much like they did when they first gave me the Estralarian Mind Meld.
“This might sting a little,” said Yewell.
Before I could respond, it was as if my entire consciousness was convulsing. Colors, shapes, and sizes flashed before me, around me, and through me. Sounds of all kinds reverberated through my entire body, none of them intelligible, just a dizzying cacophony of music, words, and noises. I smelled everything from apple pie to horse manure all at once, which does not make for an enticing experience. My body fluctuated between orgasmic and entirely numb, leaving me completely unable to move. My mouth was filled with what seemed like cotton soaked in habanero flavored molasses. The entire experience was as if I had simultaneously taken every hallucinogenic drug known to man, lathered my entire body in Ben Gay, and went bungee jumping into the mosh pit of a Megadeth concert while they played an Andrew Lloyd Webber medley on kazoos.
And then it was still.
I looked up, engulfed by the soothing rush of silence and blissful serenity of the nebulous void to see the aliens look down at me.
“See?” Yewell said. “Now aren’t you glad you only use ten percent of your brain?”
“What the heck was that?!” I said.
“That,” Iman elucidated, “was all of your thoughts coursing through your mind at the same time. Pretty wild, huh?”
“Wild does not even come close to describing that!”
“That is the reason,” said Yewell, “that your brain is shaped the way that it is. Sure, it resembles an emaciated cantaloupe, but it’s designed so that only certain portions are active at any given time. It helps to avoid little instances like that.”
“Good thing,” I said, still trying to shake off the after effects.
“And it also allows you to compartmentalize your thoughts,” Iman added.
“What good does that do?” I said
“What you just experienced is actually the natural order of things,” he said. “At the universal level, everything does happen all at once, and whatever your concept of the Higher Intelligence that put this whole thing into motion, It does experience life just like that and manages to make sense of it all.”
“However, creation isn’t developed that way,” added Yewell. “Remember how we said that the human soul was a facet of the universal Spirit?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, every part of creation is a facet of the Creator.”
“What does that have to do with compartmentalizing my thoughts?”
“All of the facets of creation are the individual experiences of the One Creation, All That Is. All of the souls are individual expressions of the One Spirit. All of the minds are a part of the One Mind. And all of your individual thoughts are part of the One Thought.”
“I don’t get it,” I said.
“And that is why your thoughts are compartmentalized,” said Iman. “Because you can’t fathom the universe in its entirety, you experience it one piece at a time, one thought at a time. Yet you are always seeking that greater understanding of the One Truth. That is why you develop progressions of thought in paradigms. In your current manifestation as a simple facet of creation, you are unable to grasp the magnitude of All That Is.”
“As you have just experienced,” Yewell reminded me.
“Yet these paradigms are devised to give you greater comprehension of it in doses that you can savor and digest. When you realize that they are all part of the great flow of life and part of the journey to bring you greater awareness…”
“As are all facets of creation,” Yewell interjected.
“…then you are well on your way to fully being what you were intended to be.”
“And what am I intended to be?” I asked.
“Exactly,” said Yewell.
“I’m intended to be what?”
“Absolutely,” said Iman.
“You lost me again,” I said.
“No, you’re right here,” said Yewell.
“I mean, I’m confused.”
“Well, of course you are, silly boy,” said Iman. “That’s why we’re here. You think you’re the only one?”
“Only one what?”
“The only one to be confused,” said Yewell.
“I suppose not.”
“And that is why you are writing the world,” said Iman.
“Because I’m confused?”
“So you can cease to be so. Each of you has the capacity to rescue yourselves from your own confusion if you only follow the path that is laid before you.”
“And which path is that?”
“The path,” Yewell said. “Start by looking at those who have gone before you. Look at the heroes of old who have achieved great things and elevated their consciousness. By walking their path, you can learn how to be your own hero and take the first step toward greater understanding.”
