A shanty toliet in the australian outback. A woman opens the creaky door and prepares her toliette, ignorant of the dunny spider lurking behind the bowl.
G’day mate, what are you doing here? Ah, one of those, I see. I never could quite understand what that was, not having one myself. Indeed, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on it mate.
I was waiting for you the other day. You never came. I thought you were never coming back! I have to say, I kinda missed ya.
This is a golden opportunity isn't it, this place. I noticed others come here too, every now and then, with roughly the same regularity as yourself.
I wonder how many of them see it as an opportunity, and how many just want to get it over and done with.
That's the strange thing about moments of stillness isn't it mate, some people hate 'em. Other people abandon all possessions and retreat to monastaries. The rest of us probably end up somewhere in-between.
I guess the same spectrum can be applied to the notion of journeys. I remember when me and camel spider was going to Tasmania to see one of the ant queens over there. Camel couldn't wait, he was so excited. Me, I was anticipating it, and counting the days, but that doesn't mean I missed the amazing view. That was one hell of a journey through the outback. I guess the stronger the pull of the destination on ones heart, the less the journey matters.
But then, when you get there, as always, there's not much to see, and you wonder why you even bothered in the first place. And the journey back from disappointment was no better, because Camel never learnt his lesson. He was just bitching about how something called 'the spheres' had betrayed him. Poor little bastard. I never went back to Tasmania with him.
PLUNK!
But you're not like that are ya mate? What's going through your mind round about now? I always had you down as the thoughtful type, not much of a talker though are ya! Maybe you just enjoy listening. Or maybe you have nothing to say. That's quite disturbing isn't it, nothing to say. Although it does imply there is something worth saying, if I may be so polemic. What are those things worth saying? Ah, maybe you're right after all. Nothing; jabbering's not worth the effort of moving your jaw. You sure have a roundabout way of teaching your sage wisdom mate.
I understand where you are coming from. Language and morality removes us from the stream of nature. It is like surrounding your senses so that your feet do not touch the ground, even if they do. Just making one observation of the world, just comprehending reality free from some bullshit belief or prejudice, that was an uphill struggle which never came about till the Greeks discovered it! We are not, by default, creatures of directly observed truth. We drape ourselves in falsehoods.
Guess I'd better shut up now, I'm boring ya. But y'know what mate, this toliet bowl isn't doing it for me. It's boring. There's always something that needs to be said, otherwise you're left with nothing but porcelain. We can't transcend the mundane without expression can we mate? I know you come here to meditate, but maybe there is a transcendent aspect involved as well, and maybe I am part of that somehow. I like to think that I'm part of your life, that I'm relevant. I don't feel that attachment with the other visitors. I wonder what the difference is here?
Ah I guess you're right, there's not much more to it then what there is. Illusion is impossible, for all illusion is part of the truth. There's no transcendent anything, that's just the left-overs of judeo-christian monotheism. Damn, that's quite a heavy blow, not sure I can accept it. No meaning hidden in the recesses of the mind? All things reduced to natural processes, with little room for this frail thing we call the will? You're not just carrying out natural processes are ya mate, you come here because you want to visit me every now and then. Right?
Hang on a sec, I just want to ask you one last thing. Promise it will be the last. Yeah, just hang around a bit longer, I need to fix me web. Wait mate, I just wanted to say I...FLUSH
Selim “The People's Selim” Talat
The Philosophy Takeaway Issue 47 'Open Topic'
