Notes - 6th or 7th sense? / the Muse dances

       You were up early, breakfast and the paper. Carol wanted to shop so you headed south (again) across the Sunshine Skyway to the Crab Trap II for an excellent lunch of a shared crab and shrimp quesadilla with added jalapeño peppers on your side, Carol had a side salad and you also had a bowl of New England clam chowder.

         I am sitting in the shade in the parking lot of the nearby outlet mall at the junction of I-75 and Rt. 301 waiting for Carol in the mid-afternoon. A grove of coconut palms a hundred yards wide sets out the front window as I face east on about the fifty. As I look in the rearview mirror I see a Chico’s about a hundred yards to the west, one of Carol’s favorite stores.

         Last night after going to bed I didn’t listen to the Internet radio as usual. I thought the experience of the occurrence would stick with me but it evaporated as if it had never happened. Had I not written the description of said occurrence immediately after I would have thought it completely imagined.  I would know that nearly disembodied voice though, if I ever heard it again. Gravelly voice – that is another word I thought last night but did not write down. It wasn’t exactly gravelly though – the word,  I think, was in English, which would be just as well. The voice might appear more authentic in ancient Greek, especially if it had utter ancient Greek and I wrote it down and come to find out it indeed was ancient Greek because I don’t know ancient Greek or modern Greek for that matter.  

         The problem with having an open mind is that while it remains skeptical it also remains open to the unexpected and to the unwitnessed and improvable. I know it is all inside. Everything is. Reality is witnessed by the five senses under normal circumstances. I don’t know if the ‘sixth sense’ is talking or listening to the Dead or if that would be classified as an alternant reality via a self-hypnotic trigger.

         Now, I could do something with this. For the sake of the story, I could have Tiresias being joggled up by my last night’s occurrence or mishap and thus come in tune to the chapter in the book. The books are a ghost’s story (Merlyn) anyway so why not?

         Okay. Let’s say my thoughts (in the hypnotic/altered state) were as quantum particles. Let’s go the Schrödinger’s cat – half a cat living and half a cat dead. An energy of thought produces a state of half a Tiresias here (in my head) and half a Tiresias not here. He utters a word, which I hear but do not comprehend. A passageway from the Brain Stem through the cerebral aqueduct to the Frontal Lobe.  

         “Aqueduct: 1b: a structure for conveying a canal over a river or hollow; 2: a canal or passage in a part or organ.”  MW

         You have returned to the condo in later afternoon. Post what you have while the concept is in its formation. Take a short break then back to it. – Amorella.

            Twenty-one hundred hours. You and Carol went for a longer walk on the beach, heading south then north to the condo in the setting sun. You took some photos tonight thinking about how it might be to introduce Tiresias being drawn from the beach with a prophetic vision of first a storm cloud over the Styx and the rise of a sun over the Styx at the same time as being drawn into an entrance to a cave (brainstem) along a cliff (Rt 1, CA) and into a vast cavern (Mammoth Cave image)

        

Vision – Cloud reflecting a sun over the Styx

Vision – focus on the cloud almost above Tiresias

Vision – First Sunrise over the Styx

Vision over and Tiresias is drawn to Cave Crevice between rocks

         For inspiration you have the four photos (taken tonight) above to better visualize what Tiresias envisions. It is a good thing you chose to take a walk when Carol suggested it. - Amorella. 

         I am picking up a sense of what is going through the mind of Tiresias as he is walking along the River’s edge. I see him as a hardy robust old white bearded head-weathered Greek (six feet and 180 pounds).  When seen straight on by others his skeleton appears within but to the side it fades further into the skin. His eyes at first appear normal and bright but as he moves into a vision they turn white paper-like with the pupils the color of black ink. (Somewhat like Merlyn’s eyes which become the pages of the book with his pupils become the black letters of which words are created.)

         I could have Tiresias counting down his steps in ancient Greek as he feels a ‘fit’ coming on. (An epileptic-like fit similar to that which Ezekiel has before a vision.) Tiresias holds a walking stick that appears to be made of aged wood but when the sun reflects in his vision the stick appears sun gold. He looks the part of a Dore painting, half shade and half living as he walks in a dual world along the banks of the Styx. I can see this in my head.

         His nose appears to have been broken at one time. Stubbornly he chooses to appear old and frail from the back only when one approaches within a few feet does he/she see this is not the case. His hands and feet have an appearance of hard calloused clay at times as if they were selections of a statue that he chose to adopt as his own. Life in Death is he. (Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner) – Perhaps begin with this in poetic form similar to that of Coleridge.

         Enough for tonight, boy. The ancient muse dances in your delight. You must become Tiresias, old man. You caught a glimpse in mind as you walked the beach towards the setting sun tonight. Imagine if you will Merlyn and Tiresias having a conversation on a rocky cliff overlooking the Styx. They are studying this scene eight in chapter seven. Merlyn must enter a scene such as this even though he is in the air surrounding you. Both must ‘be’ – one in your right arm, the other, in your left as your fingers hit the keys. Post. – Amorella.

                 

         Most utterly cool. I thank my muses all four of them. 

         Five-in-one, my boy. They dance as Merlyn dances, on the floor of your soul. - Amorella. (Now let that be a lesson to you.)

Notes - GMS apology / Expectations / A Singular Occurrence

Up early for a shower, breakfast and the paper, you are back to a usual routine at this morning’s high tide. The Gulf waves are Lake Erie flat, a few walkers and a few puffy’s. Carol and Linda are off to Mary Lou’s condo but you are supposed to pick them up at eight-thirty.

         Any readers out there need to realize this is a working blog and a part of keeping me honest (which is the idea) I post several times during the day and don’t usually change anything unless it is a terrible grammar error that I happen to spot and remember to change. Otherwise, it is potluck. The notes are first draft, sometimes the MS is second draft but it is so noted and it has been awhile. I am a chapter behind in my audio draft (chapter six).

         This is Amorella. The boy was a teacher of English and falls into an embarrassment every now and then that he is not living up to what he used to call GMS – General Manuscript Specifications. Students who earned the circled GMS on their essays or papers were stuck with a C or less, at least that is the way he remembers it. He’s a boy to me because now he is the student and I am the teacher. He doesn’t care because he knows he needs an education one way or another. Post, orndorff, or you will be late picking up wife and her sisters.

           You found more information on Tiresias and like him the more for it. Pop the material in here:

**

Even in the lower world Teiresias was believed to retain the powers of perception, while the souls of other mortals were mere shades, and there also he continued to use his golden staff. (Hom. Od. x. 492, xi. 190, &c.; Lycoph. Cuss. 682 ; . . .

www.mythindex.com/greek-mythology

          

** **        

. The hero, trying to make his way home after the Trojan War, had been told by the enchantress Circe that he would never return safely without consulting Teiresias. Odysseus journeyed to the far western edge of the earth and crossed the great river that flows around it. Entering Hades, he dug a pit and filled it with sacrificial blood to summon the ghosts of the dead. Teiresias was among them, and he gave the needed advice.

www.mythweb.com/

** **

. . . it is Tiresias who tells Amphytrion of Zeus and Alcmena and warns the mother of Narcissus that the boy will thrive as long as he never knows himself. This is emblematic role in tragedy (see below). Like most oracles, he is generally extremely reluctant to offer the whole of what he sees in his visions.

Qe-Ra-Si-Ja

At Knossos, in a Late Mino an IIIA context (fourteenth century BC), seven Linear B texts mention an entity, unattested elsewhere as yet, called qe-ra-si-ja and, once, qe-ra-si-jo. If this title had survived the fall of LMIII Crete, then it could have evolved into *Terasias in Doric Greek and, possibly, *Te[i]resias in Ionic. [14]

**

The Caduceus

Connections with the paired serpents on the caduceus are often made (Brisson 1976:55-57).

**

In post-classical literature

Tiresias' impressive apparition in Odyssey xi kept his image a lively one, and the figure of Tiresias has been much-invoked by fiction writers and poets. Since Tiresias is both the greatest seer of the Classical mythos, a figure cursed by the gods, and both man and woman, he has been very useful to authors. . . .

**

In The Divine Comedy (Inferno, Canto XX), Dante sees Tiresias in the fourth pit of the eighth circle of ten (the circle is for perpetrators of fraud and the fourth pit being the location for soothsayers or diviners.) He was condemned to walk for eternity with his head twisted toward his back; . . .

**

Frank Herbert also uses the mythic characteristics of Tiresias in his second Dune novel, Dune Messiah, where the protagonist Paul Atreides loses his sight but has prophetic powers to counter this stemming from insights into both the male and female part of the psyche.

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"The Waste Land" Tiresias' daughter Manto is also assigned her punishment here.

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During the opening scenes of “O Brother Where Art Thou”, a derivative of the Odyssey, Tiresias is introduced as an old black man on a railroad handcar. Although, when asked his name, he states "I have no name."

(above) www.enotes.com/topic/Tiresias

** **

         Mid-afternoon. Home from the movie, lunch, and a grocery errand. Probably no more company until Friday, that is your thinking, then Saturday at Linda and Bill’s – head home on Sunday.

         I have to say “The Bridemaids” is pretty raunchy but exceedingly funny. We aren’t usually up for such movies but it lived up to its expectations.

         What are your expectations for the completed Merlyn series?

         Nothing more than what the first three in the series are. You did promise me though, that if I survive to finish these three and am ready to work on another you would help me with it.

         I did. A play of five acts, a condensed satirical version of all six novels. – Amorella.

         I didn’t know this part. I assume the fourth act would be a combination of books four and five.

         You assume correctly.

         That would be impossible, not and keep the stories contextual.

         If you live long enough you will see this can be done, and it will stand on its own, people will not have to ‘drudge’ through the six books. However, you cannot condense works you have not yet consciously seen, and more importantly, understood. Post, then take a break. – Amorella. 

          Mary Lou, Sharon, Mia, Corie (his spelling), Carol and I watched the sunset. Tomorrow they are off to Los Vegas and Mary Lou back to Columbus. Quiet is settling in. Overall, a good time, but too short, too fast, too many people to where it is hard to coordinate.

         You are wondering how to introduce Tiresias. It might be best to let him introduce himself.

         Whoa! I just heard a distant far off rumbling in my head, a muffled earthquake of sound from a tunneled cave-like inside distance. How can I discern a distance from the front top of the Frontal Lobe sloping down across the lower fifth of the Parietal Lobe down through the far inside of the Temporal Lobe (from the third ventricle through the cerebral aqueduct into the fourth ventricle to brain stem at the top of my spinal column. (I jumped into Gray’s Anatomy brain images online. I have the well-used book at home but the above are my first impressions of this ‘hallucinatory-like’  event.)

         Surely, you (Amorella) put me into an immediate setting. I even thought I heard a voice with a strong resonance from the area of the third ventricle. A one-syllable word with delivery and articulation, the intonation was solid as if the man behind the voice was still within the brainstem or the top of the spinal column, but I didn’t understand the word. My brain couldn’t think fast enough. I kept thinking “this is coming from inside, from the inside of the center of my head."

         Wow. That was imagination at work – a prelude to a séance. The earthquake sounds the voice came from the brain stem, or so it seems, now, about three minutes later. That was awesome, Amorella. How did that work? An immediate quick trance, hypnotic suggestion, that’s what it had to be. It sounded real, a voice of humanity coming forth from elsewhere. How can I put this in words?

         I have been modifying (redrafting) this description with clearer more accurate word choices. Fifteen or so minutes have gone by. The event lasted perhaps three seconds at most, two to three seconds. It had a sense of an ‘alternate reality’ to it, not a dream sequence. It was a deep, distinctive, echoless and unknown older man’s voice. The event [occurrence] was sharp-minded and immediately focused – no special effects, no lucid dreaming. A half hour or so has gone by. This is all I have in deletions, additions and clarifications. Maybe it was an episode rather than an event. Checking the thesaurus I have to say it was an occurrence rather than an event or phenomenon.

         Indeed, what you have is fairly articulate as to what you sensed in what I would say was a second. It seemed longer because you were attempting to hold onto it. Also, what it reminds you of is the perception that the full spinal column was acting as an antenna for the brain (as amplifier) to receive the message. If Tiresias could speak to you that is the voice you would give him – this lends credence to the belief that the occurrence was, in part, based in a hypnotic suggestion.

         It appeared to be real in the moment, Amorella.

         As well it should. This should give you some inspiration to cover a good night’s sleep. – Amorella.

         It was amazingly real. Unbelievable.

         Beyond belief, boy. Just like these books, they are also beyond belief to you.

         Only a second, the occurrence was only a second?

         By my reckoning it was, but what do I know of time, that’s your expertise, young’n. Post. – Amorella.

Notes - Paintings by Dore and Fussli / wkg. Tiresias

             Later morning. Breakfast is over. Mary Lou is staying and they are waiting on Linda and Bill who are coming over a little later. You are trying a new restaurant for lunch – no decision yet as to which one. Not the right frame of mind for writing but you can include the two paintings – one depicting Ezekiel and the other Tiresias (both from Wikipedia).

The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones

By Gustave Dore

  

Tiresias Appears to Ulysses During the Sacrificing

            by Johann Heinrich Fussli        

         I like both paintings because they remind me of another favorite artist, William Blake.

         Post as you will be family busy for a few hours. – Amorella. 

         Closing in on twenty-hundred hours. Lunch nearby at Screwy Louie’s then the beach or the couch. Supper of hot dogs, baked beans, and two kinds of dip with veggies from Bill and Linda. All left save Linda who is staying over. Tomorrow Linda, Mary Lou, Jean and you are going to West Shore mall to see a chick movie with “Bridesmaids” in the title.

         I like a few chick flicks. This one has good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes so I’ll check it out as it is supposed to be a comedy. I am wondering though how this next scene is going to begin. Is Takis going to call Tiresias forward? Or, is Ezekiel going to instigate a meeting with Takis through Tiresias?

**

622-570 = 52  = 70 =    550 BCE appox. death  date of Ezekiel.

**

The mind of Tiresias was unchanged in Hades, as Persephone granted him reason even in death, that he alone should have understanding among the dead.  

www.maicar.com/GML/Tiresias.html

According to some, he lived for seven generations, whereas others say nine. In any case, he lived from the times of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, to the times of the war of the Epigoni.

Cadmus – 2000 BC

1100 or 1200 – trojan war

According to some legends Tiresias lived 450 to 900 years. Others say 7 to 9 lifetimes.

**

      d1 -   In modern calculations if Tiresias had lived from the time of Camus who founded Thebes to the times the Trojan War this would have been about 900 years. In legend he lived seven or nine lifetimes.

      d2 -   Tiresias thought himself a shade for lifetimes longer than the many lifetimes he had lived.

         Time to fold up shop for tonight, old man. Tomorrow morning you will be busy and after the movie you and other others are having another lunch at the Seafood Shack (old Florida in style and tone) just west of the Gandy Bridge. Post as is. – Amorella. 

        Okay,  Tiresias begins scene eight.

       That will work. - Amorella. 

Notes - Tiresias introduced / Ezekiel details noted / image used for Takis

Mid-morning and it’s high tide for a change. The greenish-blue waves are thick and soupy as the reach up to crash onto the lightly tanned sandy beach.

         No real waves five hundred yards out, flatter than Lake Erie on a windless day. It might as well be a river out there. Motored craft a mile out with no sailboats as of yet. No dolphin either, at least not in range. More people walking by though, and as it is Memorial Day weekend the crowds, I would expect, will be as a thicker tide. Kim, Paul and Owen just arrived at their favorite spot and it looks like O boy forgot his hat. One last dip in the Gulf until mid-December, when walking along the beach with a selection of wading will suffice. Still, it ought to be fun and everyone is already looking forward to it.

         Early afternoon. You drove straight back from the airport, had some leftovers for lunch and are ready for a nap. The condo is quiet as Carol is shopping with her sisters at the West Shore mall, then the three are eating out, and you suggested a chick-flick if a good one is playing.

         Carol and two of her three sisters are close. Gayle lives in California and does not visit often, never did. The three are/were lifelong elementary schoolteachers and have children of similar age in common, along with being shoppers (they don’t have to buy anything and sometimes don’t). Linda and Carol are also ferocious readers, mostly fiction but not always. Linda has read my novels, Carol has little interest but she is content that I do my writing.

         Mid-afternoon. You had a nap then cleaned up the condo with kiddies’ stuff mostly put away. The interest is focusing on scene eight. This is how it will be. Takis will go to Ezekiel to discover what he thinks about the world he as recently arrived from. Ezekiel will be attune to a matter of consequence though he thinks it pertains to G-D and . . . first, go back and renew your acquaintance with Ezekiel and his concerns.

         I will do so. I do not see, as you are putting this, that to two will have anything in common that relates to “righteous anger” as they are of two different cultures (religions and philosophies).

         But, if you remember, when the shaman danced above the Styx, it was Ezekiel (in this novel) who saw the vision of the wheel within a wheel – his interpretation of a dance of the selected Dead – from their perspectives all this can be within “the Grace of G---D”, can it not?

         Ezekiel’s thinking would surely be G-D, but for Takis, by the grace of which god? This is where matters can get lost in translation. People debate meanings even within their own language. I cannot remember these points so I have to begin with a definition here.

         Merriam-Webster software says: “Grace: 1c; a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace.” [My bold.]

         Wikipedia says: “In the Old Testament, the Hebrew term used is Chen, which is defined in Strong's [Concordance] as ‘favor, grace or charm; grace is the moral quality of kindness, displaying a favorable disposition’.” (Under ‘grace’)

        

         In my research today I came upon an old name known to me through various works of literature, Tiersias (Antigone among others).

** **

“Tiersias was a blind prophet of Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Charicio; Tiresias participated fully in seven generations at Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus himself.. . . .

Stripped of its narrative, anecdotal and causal connections, the mythic figure of Tiresias combines several archaic elements: the blind seer; the impious interruption of a natural rite (whether of a bathing goddess or coupling serpents); serpents and staff (Caduceus); a holy man's double gender (shaman); and competition between deities.. . .

Tiresias's background, fully male and then fully female, was important, both for his prophecy and his experiences. Also, prophecy was a gift given only to the priests and priestesses. Therefore, Tiresias offered Zeus and Hera evidence and gained the gift of male and female priestly prophecy. How he obtained his information varied: sometimes, like the oracles, he would receive visions; other times he would listen for the songs of birds, or ask for a description of visions and pictures appearing within the smoke of burnt offerings, and so interpret them. . . .

As a seer, "Tiresias" was "a common title for soothsayers throughout Greek legendary history" (Graves 1960, 105.5). In Greek literature, Tiresias's pronouncements are always gnomic [maxim or aphorism] but never wrong. Often when his name is attached to a mythic prophecy, it is introduced simply to supply a personality to the generic example of a seer . . . .”

From: Wikipedia

** **

         You came up from the pool early to finish what you have above. Linda and Carol just arrived. Bill, Jennifer, Sharon, Mary Lou, and Mia are still swimming in the Gulf.

         Tiresias will make a good bridge and Takis will do well to draw on him as both he and Ezekiel are prophets of their respective cultures. I am enjoying this challenge and hope I can make it work.

         Will wonders never cease. Post. – Amorella. 

         Going on twenty-one hundred hours and you are at Winn-Dixie once again as Carol invited Mary Lou, Sharon, Corey and Mia over for breakfast. The four leave on Tuesday. Tomorrow, Linda, Bill, Jean, Bob and Jennifer will be over for lunch out then the beach/pool the rest of the afternoon, which is fine for you.

         I already have several pages of material on Ezekiel from Jewish Encyclopedia.com.

** **

Below from: Jewish Encyclopedia.com

Biblical Data:

. . . Ezekiel was married (xxiv. 16-18), and lived in his own house (iii. 24, viii. 1). On the fifth day of the fourth month in the fifth year of his exile (Tammuz, 592 B.C.), he beheld on the banks of the Chebar the glory of the Lord, who consecrated him as His prophet (i. 1-iii. 13). The latest date in his book is the first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year of his exile (Nisan, 570); consequently, his prophecies extended over twenty-two years. The elders of the exiles repeatedly visited him to obtain a divine oracle (viii., xiv., xx.). He exerted no permanent influence upon his contemporaries, however, whom he repeatedly calls the "rebellious house" (ii. 5, 6, 8; iii. 9, 26, 27; and elsewhere), complaining that although they flock in great numbers to hear him they regard his discourse as a sort of esthetic amusement, and fail to act in accordance with his words (xxxiii. 30-33) . . .

. . . There is undoubtedly an element of truth in the opinion that the human monarchy was antagonistic to the dominion of God, and that the political life of Israel would tend to estrange the nation from its eternal spiritual mission . . . so that the opinion arose that the Prophets themselves were merely a sort of statesmen.

The Prophet's Spiritual Mission.

. . . In the absence of a worldly foundation it became necessary to build upon a spiritual one.

This mission Ezekiel performed by observing the signs of the time and by deducing his doctrines from them. . . . there is no reason to despair; for God does not desire the death of the sinner, but his reformation.

The Lord will remain the God of Israel, and Israel will remain His people. As soon as Israel recognizes the sovereignty of the Lord and acts accordingly,

He will restore the people, in order that they may fulfill their eternal mission and that He may truly dwell in the midst of them.

This, however, cannot be accomplished until every individual reforms and makes the will of the Lord his law.

His Individualistic Tendency.

Herein lies that peculiar individualistic tendency of Ezekiel which distinguishes him from all his predecessors.

He conceives it as his prophetic mission to strive to reach his brethren and compatriots individually, to follow them, and to win them back to God; and he considers himself personally responsible for every individual soul.

 . . . the truth of the word that Israel was destined to become a "kingdom of priests" (Ex. xix. 6). Law and worship—these are the two focal points of Ezekiel's hope for the future.

The people become a congregation; the nation, a religious fraternity. Political aims and tasks no longer exist; and monarchy and state have become absorbed in the pure dominion of God.

Thus Ezekiel has stamped upon post-exilic Judaism its peculiar character; and herein lies his unique religio-historical importance.

Another feature of Ezekiel's personality is the pathological. With no other prophet are vision and ecstasy so prominent; and he repeatedly refers to symptoms of severe maladies, such as paralysis of the limbs and of the tongue (iii. 25 et seq.), from which infirmities he is relieved only upon the announcement of the downfall of Jerusalem (xxiv. 27, xxxiii. 22).

These statements are to be taken not figuratively, but literally; for God had here purposely ordained that a man subject to physical infirmities should become the pliant instrument of His will. E. G. H. K. H. C. . . .

God allowed Ezekiel to behold the throne in order to demonstrate to him that Israel had no reason to be proud of the Temple; for God, who is praised day and night by the hosts of the angels, does not need human offerings and worship (Lev. R. ii. 8; Tanna debe Eliyahu R. vi.).

Ezekiel's greatest miracle consisted in his resuscitation of the dead, which is recounted in Ezek. xxxvii. . . .

 Twenty years later God took the prophet to the place where the dead boys were buried, and asked him whether he believed that He could awaken them. Instead of answering with a decisive "Yes," the prophet replied evasively, and as a punishment he was doomed to die "on foreign soil."

Again, when God asked him to prophesy the awakening of these dead, he replied: "Will my prophecy be able to awaken them and those dead ones also which have been torn and devoured by wild beasts?" His doubts were unfounded, for the earth shook and brought the scattered bones together; a heavenly voice revived them; four winds flew to the four corners of the heavens, opened the treasure-house of the souls, and brought each soul to its body. . . .

The resurrected ones at first wept because they thought that they would now have no part in the final resurrection, but God said to Ezekiel: "Go and tell them that I will awaken them at the time of the resurrection and will lead them with the rest of Israel to Palestine" (comp. Tanna debe Eliyahu R. v.).

The Book of Ezekiel.

Among the doctrines that Ezekiel set down in his book, the Rabbis noted the following as especially important: He taught "the soul that sinneth, it [alone] shall die" (Ezek. xviii. 4),

although Moses had said (Ex. xxxiv. 7) that God would visit "the iniquity of the fathers upon the children."

Another important teaching of Ezekiel is his warning not to lay hands on the property of one's neighbor, which he considers the greatest sin among the twenty-four that he enumerates (Ezek. xxii. 2 et seq.), and therefore repeats (Eccl. R. i. 13) at the end of his index of sins (Ezek. xxii. 12).

In ritual questions the Book of Ezekiel contains much that contradicts the teachings of the Pentateuch, and therefore it narrowly escaped being declared as "apocryphal" by the scholars shortly before the destruction of the Temple (Shab. 13b; Men. 45a).

No one was allowed to read and explain publicly the first chapter of the book (Ḥag. ii. 1; ib. Gem. 13a), because it dealt with the secrets of God's throne (comp. Ma'aseh Merkabah).S. S. L. G.

[My underlining and sentence/paragraph divisions for my own clarity.]

** **

         The selected and underlined material above from the Jewish Encyclopedia.com will do although you have much more. Enough for tonight. Post. – Amorella.

I finally have a photo of a shaman from Tibet, the one I use for description. I cannot remember where I obtained this on the Internet. I do not remember if the photo is copyrighted, but I don't think it was. If I am mistaken I will gladly take it down. 

The above photo is my descriptive model for Takis the grandfather of our 'Mother' in the book. I love the shaman's facial expression and vibrance. I hope this isn't illegal. 

Notes - Abusing the Dead / Sc. 7, Ch. 7 /

The Gulf is a bright green this morning and I saw two-bottlenose dolphin gingerly swimming south about thirty yards out (just beyond the safe swimming buoys). Another breakfast of banana and blueberry pancakes and an egg each. The banana is because Owen is presently allergic to eggs. The pancakes are even better, thicker and fluffier, with the banana rather than eggs. A pleasant surprise (a few weeks ago) for everyone. Alas, tomorrow we have to take KP&O to the airport at ten of eleven. They are heading for the beach, then the pool on this partly cloudy morning of typically summer Florida puffy’s.

        

         On another subject, I cannot imagine Takis and Ezekiel working together even in a fiction, and if they do wouldn’t some be offended by using an Old Testament prophet in such a manner?

         We have gone over this before, boy. People put both Testaments to their selfish uses from time to time. I like to call it “abusing the Dead”, but that’s me, you’re entitled to call it what you wish.

         That’s a little harsh, Amorella. I’ve heard of abusing a corpse before, and there are laws against it, but I don’t think there are laws against abusing the Dead. Well, the moral point was brought up in Sophocles’ Antigone. I haven’t thought of that play in years. Wonderfully put, it was; the point was well considered and sharp as King Creon discovered all too late. He did gain and conclude with a bit of wisdom though if I remember correctly.

         You stopped to watch from the veranda and to take a couple of photos of Kim, Paul and Owen on the beach. I’ll choose the one to place below.

         This is good for a memory. Another generation. This is what a grandpa is supposed to witness. The pile of sand is a turtle for Owen to ride – that’s about all I know. Both are in the early thirties but they look like college kids to me. Paul was telling us about some of his experiences in the operating room last night. Amazing stories of survival or not that one could just not make up. What the OR crews have to do, sometimes in a second or so, to save or to begin saving a person’s life. I would be terrified of causing a fatal error, not my kind of life that’s for sure.

         You had a nap and some are readying themselves for dinner in a little over an hour from now. Take a break, and when you return we can catch up on the Dead and this conversation coming up between Takis and Ezekiel.

         I’d like to finish the present scene first.

         That can be arranged. Post. – Amorella.

Scene 7

         Takis blinked twice and focused on granddaughter Gloama, once mother of the future of Earth’s humankind. His left hand reached up to touch the white turban, smiled silently and let his dark eyes do the speaking. 

         In the moment of quiet, Gloama’s eyes lifted to meet her grandfather’s for a prevailing understanding, a touch, tongue-less of words, is too intimate for either granddaughter or grandfather to admit. What kind of understanding begins as a taste in the mind to be quickly swallowed whole and chewed by heart’s unknowingly sharp teeth, then quickly un-digested, regurgitated from the heart as from a mother robin’s beak slamming down to a recently hatched open-mouthed chick resting in the soul’s nest of what will be. The eyed silence between Gloama and Takis weighed and considered consequences unthinkable by the Living.

         Two soul’s exchanged and slid down feathering other’s nest. Each heart had tunneled to each mind and, as its once physical counterpart, developed valves and a beat, a rhythm of circulatory thought. Nothing stood between the two who began dead; who began as little less than air in the first place. Unknowable to either, the pump, the understanding, was already at work.

***

         A shift in thought. Another shift in thought. “Grandfather, do you believe the story you told is the Tree’s story?”

         “No need to go any further than the Betweeners and the Groves. That is the statement. This Tree is not connected with the Dead.”

         “That is a fact?”

         “It is clear to me. The illusion of Elysium is that common human consciousness created it. I say this Place was created before there were any Living, before there was any universe at all.”

         “This is supposition on your part, Grandfather. You told the story. I heard your voice, not the Tree’s voice.” Then she muttered, “A dream is not a reality.”

         “Being dead is not a dream, child. Why would you think such a thing?”

         “You are a reader. You know things. You believe things that you know. We are not the same Grandfather. I do not think like you do.”

         “You were here first. I came here knowing you.”

         “I died first.”

         “You did.”

         “I went someplace else. Others, human-like in composure were already there. If the Tree’s story is correct as you say, Elysium was already here. Why didn’t I come here first?”

         “I do not know. The story did not acknowledge that.” He paused, “However, it is I who suggested this place was here. I said we were in both places at once. You told me then that the concept changed your life.”

         She mellowed. “It did. I believed. . . .”

         “There, you see, child. You believed first. Why you were delivered to a stranger’s place I do not know. But you realized the mistake.”

         “It was a fact, Grandfather. I was there with other Dead. Their hearts were just like ours.”

         “Minds are less than hearts.”

         “Your mind sets you to realize the heart was not as common as you first thought.”

         Gloama pondered, then she said, “When swelled with passion, in argument or otherwise, I cannot tell heart from soul or mind. How can this be done, Grandfather?”

         An honest question from childhood, he thought and pondered.

         In a more sarcastic and whiny tone than she expected from her mouthless, tongueless self she asked, “Are you going to ask this Tree on the Styx or tell me what you know?”

         “You must feel the balance first.”

         “You mean they weigh the same?”

         “They weigh the same only when weighing from the soul.”

         Mother recollected her own thoughts on the subject. “I would think the three are of the same dimensions and tiny ones at that. We think of heartansoulanmind as three-in-one, a trinity, that together makes up our greater sense of self.”

         “Then you think of such as a body, a solid, which none of us are. Heart and lungs and liver made up our body, but the only bodies here are memory. Three-in-one? Is this stackable like pieces of bread?” He continued, “Our word begins with the heart, the soul, then the mind. The soul is the center for balance no matter what contains the heart and mind, all three have open doors one into the other.”

         Mother replied, “The entrance to the soul is the fulcrum to balance the entrance of the heart and mind.”

         Weighty browed, Takis noted, “More for you to know it as the rebellion unfolds.”

***