The Messengers Touch: The Anomaly

THE MESSENGERS TOUCH: THE ANOMALY

My friends all ran toward me. They were hugging and kissing me saying how delighted they were to welcome me home. How odd that sounded, I had not been away nor could I remember having gone anywhere special. Without speaking a word I wondered where I had been and for how long I was gone. In their joy they told me, I had not gone anywhere - not even an inch, and I was never away - not even for a moment. This bizarre scene is both the beginning and ending of my story. 

It is an incredibly beautiful day. The world around us is brightly lit, the textures as well as the hues are stunning and the natural beauty of our surroundings is overwhelming. The fields of grass are punctuated by the majesty of the giant trees that dot the landscape before us. The colors of the flowers delight the senses while their fragrance rises like a perfume to become absolutely intoxicating. The many sounds of life seem to blend together in a musical symphony and every new sound adds to the harmonies that embrace us. How interesting, the light is everywhere but does not seem to originate anywhere. The landscape before us has no discernable beginning or end but it seems to go on in all directions forever. The music is ever present and although the activities around us add to the harmonies they are not the source of this symphony. There seems to be a single dominant mood that I can only describe as joy. People are everywhere but it never seems crowded. Everyone is doing something, some are interacting with others and some, but very few, are by themselves. I do not believe this place has ever had a name other than Home and no one has ever called it anything else.

Here at Home we spend our days in a variety of ways. We work, we play, we rest, we exercise and we study. Most all of these activities are done in groups interacting with one another.

At work we begin with a motive, a desire or an image of what we want. Often it is something for our community. Instantly we see the beginning, the process and the end. Our imaginations are incredibly acute so when we picture the process a blue print is formed that we call a pattern. In this way we image every step of the process from beginning to end. Then our work is simply to construct or express the pattern we have imaged for our use. Perfection in the process of expressing the pattern gives us indescribable joy. As a result we are all devoted to the process in everything. Here at Home no one ever hurries or takes short cuts because that would sacrifice the process, the application of which gives us so much pleasure. In this way, we neither desire nor require results but we remain devoted to process. In the application of the process, excellence is our main if not only objective.

Play is universal and also done in groups. We are not competitive but cooperative in the exercise of our physical and mental attributes. In group events we all play a part and the object is not to win but to participate. Here we aspire to bring out the best in others. In this way we are all winners and there are no losers. Play is joyful and most gratifying when we see the pleasure experienced by all of the participants.

Ah, rest. There is the most common form of rest where we simply breathe rhythmically. This brings about a renewal of our bodies and minds. Often we stop other activity when we rest, in this way we can focus upon the energizing benefits of our actions. On occasion, when we have spent all of our energies and require intense rest we simply shut down. We do not go anywhere, we do nothing special physically but we mentally shut down. At such times we can absorb and accumulate large amounts of energy until our rest period is over. However, the breathing exercises are sufficient for most of us much of the time.

Exercise for us consists of repetitive activities both a physical and mental. Exercise, like most other activities is performed in groups and designed to stretch our abilities. There are those in the group that are directors and those that are participants. The directors rotate so that everyone has the opportunity to serve the rest of us in this way. Here too, the process is of paramount importance; consequently we neither exercise in excess nor injure our self. 

Study is interesting. We do not read books or work with implements of any kind but we do attend lectures. On occasion there is someone particularly inspiring speaking but most of the time we simply hear the lesson inwardly. We call this introspection and we gain far more knowledge in this way than any other. Through this process, we not only hear what is being given but we experience it as well. We sit in groups and let our minds focus on the lesson and we each receive all that we need. Because our lessons are so well balanced, containing equal amounts of inspiration and information there is never a danger of becoming disinterested or bored.

Our memory is very limited, not that we do not remember, we simply do not memorize anything because we do not have to. To recall an experience at Home is to relive it in an instant. And we relive it with an intensity equal to or greater than the original experience. Our instincts are so sharp that we know how to do things without having to remember the process. We do not have to recall how we or anyone else did something because we instinctively know each and every time.

We enjoy an intimate relationship with family and friends that exceeds that of familiarity. There seems to be a force that binds us, strongest to family and friends, lesser to community, and lesser still to everyone living in Home. I have emphasized the group aspects of our daily affairs but we do grow as individuals. We have individual likes and dislikes we call attraction and repulsion. We question what we do not understand and above all we aspire to be better than we are. Although the process is one of perfecting our activities, our imagination is near limitless, thus our opportunities are seemingly infinite.

Some of us believe we came from elsewhere while others among us believe we will not be here always. However, no one remembers ever being anywhere else nor have they any indication we will move on… ever. So we consider this our eternity and we simply call it Home. Another view that has gained popularity recently is one of forgetful retention. The theory is that as we go through the process of permanently retaining the results of our experiences but eventually we forget the details. In order to be able to expend more energy retaining and using the results of our growing experiences, we discard the details. The theory suggests the further we get from the experiences, the more we occupy our self with building upon them, the more need we have for forgetful retention. If this is true we could have come from anywhere and Home, which seems eternal, could be just a transient experience after all.

If you walk out in the fields there will eventually be a clearing in which there are no trees, no flowers, just an endless field of grass. In what could be the middle is a distortion and we from Home call it the anomaly.  The anomaly is quite large and it extends upward as high as any of us can see. As you look at the anomaly it is totally transparent and you can see right through to the other side. However, when looking through the anomaly what is on the other side appears wavy and vibrating. The image of the other side is not oscillating but looking at it through the anomaly makes it appear so.  There are constantly people, dozens, hundreds, thousands walking through the anomaly most in groups but a few, very few alone. It takes just a few moments to walk from one side to the other and no one is ever out of our view when walking though. Though it is a short excursion, we plan with our friends and relatives to take this journey together so we may have a shared experience.

I entered the anomaly. Several of us walked up to its borders and stepped gingerly inside. Instantly it seemed like the world stopped, there were no sights, no sounds, and no fragrances. All of my senses shut down and I found myself alone in the dark. So isolated did I feel that it caused me severe pain everywhere. I was gripped with fear and my only thought was to escape. However, I was paralyzed with heaviness and movement was incredibly difficult. I never moved so slowly or expended so much effort to do so little. Even the timelessness of Home stopped and became stationary under the seemingly immense weight within the anomaly. Here I was in what felt like intense pain, experiencing unimaginable fear and there was nothing I could do. I was so distressed the longer I experienced the anomaly the more I forgot I ever existed outside of it. It did seem though the more I forgot the easier it was to adapt to life in the anomaly. Although I could not see, hear, taste, feel or smell, slowly, ever so slowly I began to develop the organs of perception to do this in the anomaly. So in a very crude sense I developed sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch in the darkness. Although this was a fraction of the acuity of senses I enjoyed at Home, I could not remember enough to compare these experiences to those I had outside of the anomaly. But I learned that if I wanted to interact with life in the anomaly I had to develop the ability to do so.

At first, growth was painfully slow but the focus was helpful. As a process oriented being, I found in the anomaly process was all there was. The fluidity of the timeless passing of events I call Home time had also stopped and this was my opportunity to devote myself entirely to the experience at hand. Had it not been so comparatively painful I might have seen the benefit from the very beginning of being here.

None of this was visible from outside of the anomaly. What seemed like the painful crawling of time passed instantly to the world outside. My friends and family saw nothing of this nor did they see any time lapse but for the few seconds while I stepped in to and out of the anomaly. For me, time seemed to stop while it moved on for everyone else outside.

In the anomaly I was unaware of those with whom I had entered or even our agreement to share the experience. These are the effects of the far reaches of forgetful retention. Though I forgot the agreement, the covenant, I did not forget the commitment, which I would retain. The force that bound us together as a group in Home operated fully in the anomaly. As long as we remained in the anomaly, when we finally met, we would feel an inexplicable bond to one another. When we would meet in the anomaly for the first time we would experience an attraction (or at certain times a repulsion) but never fully understand it.  In time we would form those bonds necessary to share the experience as we had determined to do. So the exact memory of our agreement was not necessary for us to become bound to one another in the anomaly. Those forces that bound us as a group, modified by our intent, were all that was necessary for us to enjoy a shared experience.

As I began to become conditioned to life in the anomaly I developed a sense of sight in the darkness. Nothing had the clarity or beauty I experienced in Home but because I could not recall this I accepted what I had in the anomaly as perfect vision. As I became accustomed to the sounds without the harmonies I believed I had developed a good sense of hearing. However, in Home this sense included both truth and beauty of the unspoken word. As I mentioned earlier, for lack of memory I could not compare my senses in the anomaly to those outside. As I became aware of the odors they seemed to inspire different feelings but they were not the same as the life renewing fragrances in Home. Tasting in the anomaly was vastly different from tasting in Home. Here in the anomaly taste enabled us to identify the properties of what we ate but in Home tasting evoked images, memories that rose before us. The sense of touch was unique to the anomaly because this was not a separate sense in Home but it was incorporated in to all the others. The more I used these senses in the anomaly the better I became at interacting with a reality bound up in time and space. For without these senses I would simply be an observer and not a participant in the anomaly. It was for the participation I entered the anomaly. Here where experience was so intensely minute I could gain an appreciation of the smallest thing.

I began to learn that the anomaly was a super condensed portion of Home. Everything in Home was here but in an incredibly compressed almost unrecognizable form. As a result, instinct played a large part of my interaction with what I encountered along the way, and forgetful retention was fully present through this impulse. Although a reality in Home would have appeared different from its compressed form in the anomaly it served the same purpose in both places. A good example would be cause and effect. This was the underlying law of creation in Home and everything was bound up in it. Because there was no delay, the two were experienced simultaneously as one. However, to have the opportunity to experience this in great detail we would experience them as separate events in the anomaly. To make this possible, cause and effect were compressed in the anomaly becoming time and space. Time would allow for events to occur sequentially (one after the other) and space would allow us to measure the distance between those occurrences. As I said, in Home everything happens in the same time but in the anomaly we can separate events and in this way we can better appreciate our creative gifts. In Home, creativity is what we are about but in the anomaly we can closely study this process as an exercise in self replication. In the anomaly we recreate our self in everything we say and do. Thus life from one end of the anomaly to the other is a tremendous opportunity for us to both experience and observe the process of self replication.

As I developed and mastered the use of my senses in the anomaly I began to meet those with whom I entered. Unaware of any connection with them I could not understand why we were drawn to one another. We shared our experiences, helping one another in every way we found practical. The pact, the covenant we made before leaving Home was that none of us would benefit from the experience unless we all did. We would live our lives together and we would all gain from the shared experience. Although the experience could be personal the gain would be mutual. This is the pattern that exists in Home becoming fully present in the anomaly when it is expressed as joy, peace, persistence, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. However, it is important to understand these expressions are not simply behaviors but the basis for wholesome personal relationships.  In this way what benefits one of us benefits all of us.

Because of our forgetfulness, we become prone to error in the anomaly. Even going in what may appear the wrong direction can be very helpful. We have the opportunity to recreate our self under any circumstances so in this regard we cannot do it wrong. We can, if we wish make the process more or less difficult. From the beginning of the experience in the anomaly until the end we have a single, distraction, one single torment, one single obstacle and it is fear. Every difficulty we can possibly encounter in the anomaly is from one or another expression of fear. This dominates our experience in the anomaly. Fear is not what you would call a thing but it is the lack of a thing. Faith is the wellspring from which flows our creativity. It is the energy that makes both creation and recreation possible. This is true in Home and no less true in the anomaly. However, in the anomaly, should we choose we can create a sense of the absence of faith. It is simply a matter of focusing on one thing at a time to the exclusion of all else. Everything still exists but not within our awareness. Fear then is merely the illusion of the absence of faith and the cause of every error that befalls us in the anomaly.

Although by Home standards our experience in the anomaly takes only moments, by anomaly standards it takes many decades.  We are limited in the ability to energize and revitalize our self in the anomaly because we do not have unlimited access to the creative forces as we have in Home. We do have some access to the life force but because of our limitations we find after a while we cannot fully recuperate. We are unable to fully resuscitate as we did at Home and we call this process of deterioration aging. Gradually when we have spent all of the life force and can no longer regenerate our self sufficiently to continue to fulfil our objective we step out of the anomaly.

For many of us this stepping out of the anomaly becomes the most difficult and painful part of our experience. Because of our forgetfulness we do not remember our life in Home. We do not remember our countless experiences and most of all we cannot remember we entered the anomaly for only a few moments of self-examination. Over time we come to believe we are part of the anomaly and if we step out we will no longer exist. We also fear separation from those with whom we share the experience, forgetting that outside of time and space there is no separation. Nonetheless, we are only visitors in the anomaly and we must step out eventually.

As we step out of the anomaly it is like waking up from a foggy dream. Everything looks similar to what it was in the anomaly but the clarity of what we behold in Home is overwhelming. For a moment, before everything floods back in to us we remember our experiences in the anomaly, all of them “from cradle to grave.” We process them and they become a permanent part of us. Forgetful retention once again begins, and like digesting a good meal, we gain the benefits eventually having no need to remember the details.

My friends all ran toward me. They were hugging and kissing me saying how delighted they were to welcome me home. How odd that sounded, I had not been away nor could I remember having gone anywhere special. Without speaking a word I wondered where I had been and for how long I was gone. In their joy they told me, I had not gone anywhere - not even an inch, and I was never away - not even for a moment. This bizarre scene is both the beginning and ending of my story. 

This is where my story should end but I am compelled to add a post script. You may rightly be wondering, after resuming forgetful retention, where I got all of the information from to write this discourse. In Home, we conjecture there are several, if not many different life forms. We do not see or hear them so it is just a theory. Little things seem to point to this but we may be completely wrong on this issue. However, there is one life form we are certain exists alongside of us that under normal circumstances we cannot sense. From time to time they make themselves known, they communicate with us and withdraw as quickly as they had appeared. They have names known only to them but we simply call them the messengers. The messengers are a higher life form than we, they are as wise as they are gentle, as loving as they are powerful.

While walking from my friends and their celebration of my return I was approached by a messenger. He looked just like anyone else but when he began to speak I knew inwardly who he was. The messenger asked if I would like to tell others of my journey and I said I would. He told me he had access to the record of all activity in Home including all of my experiences in the anomaly. The messenger said if I wish he could bring anything to my awareness he found helpful. He asked if I wished to recall my experiences in the anomaly, and I said I did. He touched my upper lip with his finger, right beneath my nose, ever so gently and suddenly I relived with incredible clarity every single thing I experienced in the anomaly. Not only was it clearer to me now than it was then but I can remember each and every emotion I experienced. Just then the messenger vanished and I have not seen him since.

As life goes on, and at the appropriate time, I will share with you more of what I now recall of my experiences in the anomaly.

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