We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, sisters and all

[liminal_luke]

Luke had traveled long sustained only by chicken soup (without noodles!) and zucchini pesto when he heard whispers of dark discord between two beloved Bums.  First a worldwide pandemic then Joe Rogan and now this?  He wouldn't have the mental bandwidth to unravel the mystery without a bagel and cream cheese, maybe two, but, alas, his intermittent fasting "eating window" had closed.  How could Penetrating Wisdom and Humorous Good Fellowship be at odds?  He mentally hugged them both -- and himself for good measure -- knowing from hard personal experience how the divisive energy of the zeitgeist could descend like a twister, sending body and mind howling up into the sky.  "If it could happen to these two, it could happen to anybody" he mused.  Maybe one bite of onion bagel wouldn't hurt.

 

(After sharing his little vignette, Luke reconsidered: was it wise to openly divulge his habit of mental hugging?  Touch is such a fraught subject, even when it takes place in one's own mind.  Luke would like his readers to know, in case there's any doubt, that he is presently incapable of sitting in full lotus and has never consciously summoned up the image of a buxom blond.)

Edited February 14, 2022 by liminal_luke

[Cleansox]

48 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

 

  How could Penetrating Wisdom and Humorous Good Fellowship be at odds?  

The cleansocked wanderer sneaked around at the border between light and darkness, listning to the chatting around the fire. 

Less is more, he heard, especially when it comes to penetrating wisdom. This must truly be nei dan discussed, he thought, because here the common belief is reversed. 

 

To conceal himself, not having a string, he put a sock (clean) on it, just like a red hot chili pepper. 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Cleansox

[Apech]

"In Daobumia did @Nungali a sacred pleasure dome decree, where .."

The cat screwed up the paper he had been scribbling on and threw it to one side.

@Nungali picked it up and sighed.

"That's plagiarism," he said.

"I thought it was quite creative, " replied the cat," just not quite ..."

"Creative!" Nungali stood and started pacing up and down, " you can't just take something and change a couple of words!!!"

"I don't know.  I quite liked my last effort," said the cat unmoved.

" 'Shall I compare thee to a Santa's sleigh, thou art more slippery' ... that you mean?"

The cat stretched, expecting a rant.

"Look, " said Nungali, " we're stuck beside this bloody musical river until you come up with the next plot line!"

"I thought you liked the Saraswati."

"I did but ... all I could hear was the BeeGees greatest hits ... all night!  I got no sleep!"

The cat thought for a minute.  But no ideas came.

"Maybe @dwai and the others will be back soon," said Nungali hopefully.

"Oh," said the cat in an uninterested way.

"At least he might take us down river on the Diamond Cutter to the Indus Valley," said Nungali.

"What would harappan then?" asked the cat.

Nungali becoming agitated.

"What would harappan then?  What would harappan then?  That's not funny, puns are not funny.  Its just taking one word that sounds like another! It is not humour!!!"

The cat puffed up his hair into a ball and and said nothing.

"You've ruined everything! " went on Nungali, "where is @blue eyed snake, where is @Bindi, where is @questionmark??? You've pissed them all off with your bad jokes and toxic masculinity.  That's what!"

Silence.

Long silence.

"Do you think so?" asked the cat at last.

"Yes, you are toxic.  You really are."

"No ... I'm masculine?  Do you reckon."

Nungali suddenly silent just threw a stone into the water.

"Do you remember when you had Catvid 19?" he said.

"Yes," said the cat.

"I took you to the veterinary  and they gave you general anaesthetic."

"...yes."

"They said it was for the best, at your age and everything.

"Oh.  You mean ..."

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Sorry."

The two sat watching the river and the soft strains of 'Stayin Alive' wafted over the water.

[dwai]

@Apech stood up, pacing worriedly at the mouth of the sarasvati-Indus delta. Looking westward into the horizon, he mumbled under his breath, “….what was that poem I learnt in school? Oh what was it? It seems so apt for what my eyes see here, right now..”

 

@Nungali, ever the mind-reader, spake thus — “Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

 

@Apech’s eyes lit up in recognition, “that is it! That is it!” He exclaimed excitedly!  And then shrank back visibly, mortified at his mind being read with such impunity! 
 

“How could you do this sir! You wizard, you!! Reading my mind without my permission!” He lamented.

 

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by dwai

[Nungali]

4 hours ago, Apech said:

"In Daobumia did @Nungali a sacred pleasure dome decree, where .."

The cat screwed up the paper he had been scribbling on and threw it to one side.

@Nungali picked it up and sighed.

"That's plagiarism," he said.

"I thought it was quite creative, " replied the cat," just not quite ..."

"Creative!" Nungali stood and started pacing up and down, " you can't just take something and change a couple of words!!!"

"I don't know.  I quite liked my last effort," said the cat unmoved.

" 'Shall I compare thee to a Santa's sleigh, thou art more slippery' ... that you mean?"

The cat stretched, expecting a rant.

"Look, " said Nungali, " we're stuck beside this bloody musical river until you come up with the next plot line!"

"I thought you liked the Saraswati."

"I did but ... all I could hear was the BeeGees greatest hits ... all night!  I got no sleep!"

The cat thought for a minute.  But no ideas came.

"Maybe @dwai and the others will be back soon," said Nungali hopefully.

"Oh," said the cat in an uninterested way.

"At least he might take us down river on the Diamond Cutter to the Indus Valley," said Nungali.

"What would harappan then?" asked the cat.

Nungali becoming agitated.

"What would harappan then?  What would harappan then?  That's not funny, puns are not funny.  Its just taking one word that sounds like another! It is not humour!!!"

The cat puffed up his hair into a ball and and said nothing.

"You've ruined everything! " went on Nungali, "where is @blue eyed snake, where is @Bindi, where is @questionmark??? You've pissed them all off with your bad jokes and toxic masculinity.  That's what!"

Silence.

Long silence.

"Do you think so?" asked the cat at last.

"Yes, you are toxic.  You really are."

"No ... I'm masculine?  Do you reckon."

Nungali suddenly silent just threw a stone into the water.

"Do you remember when you had Catvid 19?" he said.

"Yes," said the cat.

"I took you to the veterinary  and they gave you general anaesthetic."

"...yes."

"They said it was for the best, at your age and everything.

"Oh.  You mean ..."

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Sorry."

The two sat watching the river and the soft strains of 'Stayin Alive' wafted over the water.

 

.... and then slowly as they where drawn down the Great River unto the Great Sea , the post mortem  hallucinations began  ;  my time in the jungles of  Colombia  ...... my one true love  .....

 

 

 

 

 

[Nungali]

 

 

any one for some squid randori ?

 

 

 

 

 

[zerostao]

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

"This is where we part ways." said Big Cat.

"what, wazzup, wasabi?" z said.

"WWW dot com, amigo, Thanks for the burgers! find your way up to the STONGHOLD" Said Big Cat as it vanished

Z followed the river,

five miles meandering with a mazy motion,

through wood and dale the sacred river ran.

z ran along.

For he on honey dew hath fed,

and drunk the milk of paradise.

This must be Xanadu, thought z.

And Owl arrived saying, "Oh I see you've found your way afterall."

"To Xanadu" z said.

"Whoooooooooooooo, no, no, no you are in Altai and must start ascending to the Stronghold." And Owl flew off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[old3bob]

 

The wise white cat chose well in not taking on the moor cat,

 thus living to fight another day and to also continue telling stories...

 

                                        

[zerostao]

as z started to wander away from the river bank and towards the ascent to the Stonghold

 

 he glanced back to the edge of the river, where a lone squirrel, or was it two?

 

 

 

 

[Nungali]

After many days travel our little band of seekers had finally  come to the Sacred Mountain  where the Holy Hermit lived . Camp was set up at the base  and it was decided one member of the group should attempt to scale the summit and reach the hermit in his cave , put to him the questions the group had been considering  and return with his council .

 

They held a quick discussion and decided  Liminal Luke  should be the one   (  ... I know, right  ! ... oh well , that's democracy for ya ! ) 

 

Apech informed him ;  ' Beyond yonder arched gateway lies Chapel Perilous , there , things are very different , you will need your wits about you . "

 

Nungali stepped forward ;  "  Here , you should take these ritual symbols of your symbolic princely quest ."  He placed an ornate golden crown on his head and belted a sword to his waist . " Now you look the part ! "

 

Luke set off, climbing the steep hill .

 

As time went on the hill became steeper , but not too hard going , it was mostly grass with some smaller trees and rocks  to negotiate .  Prince  Luke   was  tired so sat on a rock to rest ; " I which I had bought some food , " he said to no one in particular , " I am getting quite hungry . "

 

Just then a huge fat colourful  fish  came along , swimming through the air . ' Ah! " Thought  our Prince , " I must be at the beginning of 'the strange realm '  . He snatched the fish out of the air and examined it , it appeared to be smiling at him but also a little uncomfortable .  It burped and a bubble appeared around its mouth   and then burst , some went on the princes hand , he noticed the smell was pleasant  and familiar  ........    ?   ... what WAS that smell ?  ......   Tacos ! ?    ... NO .   He smelt it again ... yep , Tacos .  He dipped his finger in and tasted , definitely tacos !    "Oh well", said the prince , " I am hungry enough  so he stuck the fish's lips in his mouth and sucked . " Wow !  Thats good ... its like that astronaut  food , in a tube ."   As he  sucked the fish, it got smaller until  it seemed normal of a proportion  . Now, also it seemed a lot happier , and swam off happily through the air .

 

Then along swam another fish,  it was fat as well and a green colour , Luke snatched it out the air and tried it , " Honeydew Melon ! "    He supped , the fish shrank , he let it go and it swam happily away .   " What a curious place ," he said , then he arose and continued his trek up the hill .

 

At one place he had to negotiate brambles , they kept catching his clothes and particularly tangling his sword hanging from his belt .... "Why do I even need this thing !   .... was it a joke ?"  He stabbed the sword in the ground upright and hung the crown from it  " I'll get them on the way back "

 

 

 

.

Edited February 15, 2022 by Nungali

[old3bob]

(the part about sucking on the carp that flew by was left out)

[Nungali]

After a a few more more hours  of climbing  Prince Luke saw a grass clearing ahead , behind that was a rock wall with a cave and sitting in front of the cave  , cross legged on the grass sat The Hermit .

The Prince approached , "Wise one , I have found you  ! I am Luke and I .... "
“I know who you are. I’ve been expecting you. Come, sit.”

The Hermit patted the ground beside him and prince Luke sat down next to him .

Prince Luke began immediately; " “They say that the Wise One knows all and can answer all questions.”

The Hermit noded smiling.

“What happens to us when we die?”

The Hermit laughed , " O, young  Prince,   not even I know the answer to that one! No one knows … until they die.”

Prince Luke  contemplated  the view in silence for a moment. “Wise One, what is all this?” he sweept his hand out over the view.
“Life.”

“But what is it FOR, what is it all about?”

“THAT is what it is for! To ask that question. You have to work it out for yourself.”

Prince Luke  meditates a bit more; “Some say that all life is a stage on which we are players.”

“They do.”

“Is that true?”

The Hermit looked a little uncomfortable and shuffled in his previously composed posture. He goes to say something but hesitates. Then he slumps, as if in resignation  " Yes. "

Prince Luke  looked up at the Hermit with surprise. “So it IS true! … Then life … well then, life must be play on a stage.”
“Oh yes, life is a story.” agreed the Hermit

But Luke went on ; “Yes, but not just metaphorically. I mean, if say, this, is part of a story it must mean somebody has written the story.”
“Well, logically, yes.”

“And they would have written the play so people could read  it.”

The Hermit looked cautious .... " “Well, I think you might be getting a bit ahead of yourself there Prince Luke .”

Another thin fish swims past in the air. Prince Luke goes to make a grab for it but stops. The fish scoots away on the air.

Prince Luke's stomach rumbles, he rubs it as if hungry. He looks around slyly and then suspiciously at the Hermit.

“But that wouldn’t make much sense would it?”

The hermit looks relieved;  " “No, no, it wouldn’t.”

“Because the writer could just write in whatever he felt like …. making stuff up as he went along , he could make up crazy stuff , and us , we in the story ... life , well, we would be having all this crazy stuff happening to us , and thinking that was 'normal' and really confusing us . "

A fish, the same as the others but very fat, swims past on the air. Prince Luke grabbed  it. " Ah a! At last!”

He put the fish’s mouth in his mouth and sucked it, the fish shrunk. He stoped and looks at the Hermit and offered the Hermit some ;  "“Fish-sup?”

The Hermit held up one hand and placed the other hand on his stomach and shook his head.

“I’ve had my fill today thanks.”

Prince Solomon finished the fish and now it is as thin as the others were, he lets it go and it swims off through the air.

[Nungali]

Prince Luke thought for a moment ; “Where was I now? Ah yes, life would not make much sense and the writer could just write whatever he liked, and change things at will and, well … that would make life crazy, illogical and insane.”

The hermit pondered this and then offered , "Well … that’s the conclusion a few people have come to regardless.”

“But how would we know?”

“Pardon?”

“How would we know if we are different, what could we compare it to? I mean, what if the writer decided to …” Prince Luke lifted up his shirt exposing his chest and his three nipples. " Say? Only give us two nipples. How would we know if that looked weird?”

The Hermit muttered dismissively;   “Well, I don’t see what all this has really got do with …”

Prince Luke  looks around again : “Hmmm, writing for an audience … wait a minute!  I just had an inspiration ! Someone is reading this  right now aren’t they?”

“Well, this is getting rather philosophical …”

“You have to tell the truth!”

The Hermit slumped in resignation , " “Yes … they are reading  us now.”

Prince Luke jumped up excited and looked around, " “I knew it! Where?”

The Hermit stood and gestured expansively, " “All around.”    

“How can they be all around at once?' Luke protested , " I’d be able to see them.”
“Well, not ‘all around at once’." The Hermit replied , " They are in a different dimension to us, you understand. But if you concentrate, you can feel them watching. It changes position a lot - their viewpoint.” The Hermit closed his eyes and concentrated. He gestured towards a tree in the distance  and opened his eyes. "They are over there now. But often, when I’m talking to someone, they are over here.” He turns his head over his shoulder and points backwards . "

 

" But , " Prince Luke went on. " If there is a writer, and an audience … in another dimension … well, that writer then, being our creator, is like God! And the audience … well, they must be angels or something.” Luke goes into  contemplation ,

The Hermit looks around nervously.

Prince Luke seems in deep contemplation now , " It seems to me though , I remember being in another place , a place beyond and behind this place . The place of the reader of the story  .... I actually remember  being there and reading some of the stories myself  .......  wait !  I actually wrote some of those stories !   Now I am wondering how I have become trapped inside one ? "

 

Now the Hermit was pondering too , " “Hmmm, I suppose that is possible, but, but I doubt you will be able to get back there . "

" Ah ! But now I have become PRINCE Luke .... I can pretty much do what I want ! "

" No , " reminded the Hermit , " You are still at the mercy of the author ."

 

- just then a huge pentadactyl swooped overhead and deposited its dropping upon both of them 
 

Edited February 15, 2022 by Nungali

[Nungali]

" Ewww grose !   Anyway , it seems I have penetrated the mystery myself , thanks for your help old one . "

 

And Prince Luke set off down the down the mountain .  Eventually he got back to camp and gathered all around to tell them of the mystery he had uncovered ;

 

" We are all actors in a play, characters in a story ."

 

"Not this again ! "  said Apech , thats old hat .

 

'Where is my crown and sword I lent you? " asked Nungli .

 

"No,"  ( now plain old ) Liminal Luke protested , its actually true  and not only that , we all used to be on the other side , reading the stories , this , all around us, this consciousness , is not  real , we all have somehow become trapped in each others stories  as characters . We are not the characters ... we where and are supposed to be readers ! " 

 

" Cant we we be both at the same time ? "  offered Nungali .

 

" Oh, there he goes again with his obscure  silly comments ' protested  Old Bob  .....  he even left the bit out about being both at the same time ! "

 

- everyone looked at him strangely .

 

" No, look !  This is important "  protested Luke , thinking  that no one was giving valid reception . " You will all be stuck in this delusional world otherwise . "

 

" Blah blah blah "  said Nungali , " You and your Buddhist  illusion , do - gooderisms  again !  Actually, I am very happy in this place . You just made up some story about some experience you had up there  to justify your own belief system ! "

 

"What ! ? "

 

" Yeah ," piped up Ralis ....  and your delusions are probably contagious  as well ! No one listen to him ! "

 

"I've had enough of this  .... I am going back to the other side  ."   

 

 

 

...... and promptly vanished ! 

 

All looked at each shocked ... except Nungali   " I am already there  .... and here at the same time . " he told the others .

 

 " Yeah sure  ... big mouth ! " Apech shot at him .

 

.

Edited February 15, 2022 by Nungali

[natural]

Neither here nor there, yet everywhere?

[zerostao]

Z had nearly run out of breath. The altitude was taking its toll.  A local merchant along the path said, "You will encounter the ghosts of the mountain."

z was thinking that coca leaves would be damn handy about now, alas, the merchant had none of those. So z trodden on upwards and was intercepted by

 

to the one side and from another flank

 

 

 

 

"what brings you here up on this mountain" said yet another

 

"It is a journey I am on, I was sent this direction by a mountain lion and an owl, they said for me to ascent to the Stronghold.

 

one of the cats said, "Follow me."

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by zerostao

[old3bob]

...and as the good cat was leading him on she also warned him saying,  "keep the pace for there are yeti's up here we have to avoid!" 

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by old3bob

[old3bob]

...and after expending much effort during their dangerous and snowy mountainous trek they came  to and went through  magical  pass,  suddenly the winter weather was gone and magical cat turned into a magical woman leading him further on to the stronghold.  (and as one can see it was all he could do to keep up with her swift space!)

 

[zerostao]

When it became apparent that she could have just left him in the dust, she stopped and waited for him to catch up.

"What is on your mind ?" she asked.

"Are you a feline human hybrid or a shapeshifter?" z asks.

"Do you always answer a question with a question?' she continued.

"Am I the only one doing this ?" z retorted.

She exclaimed, "You actually retorted?!"

They both were overcome with spontaneous laughter. 

  or it could've been the altitude.

 

"Let's go a bit further." she said as she motioned for him to get up and try and keep pace.

 

they came upon a nomadic stayover. 

 

others approached the camp.

 

 

One them asked the hybrid guide, "Who is this, another Sherpa looking for his higher self ?"

The mysterious guide answered, "It is z from TDB"

The trio laughed in unison, "This is z?"

and there were whispers among them, barely audible, "doesn't look like anything special"  

 

then from the lake emerged

 

 

and she instructed z to take this baby name "glad" with him, when he would return to TDB.

 

"Before he can return, he must stop off at the Stronghold for council with the cats." said the mysterious hybrid guide.

 

"Very well, first he must have a sit down with the shaman." said the lady of the lake. and she handed Glad to z.

 

The lady of the lake turned and walked into the depths of the lake unseen. The mysterious guide had vanished into thin air.

the trio of riders escorted z to the shaman.

 

[Apech]

"I've heard news, " said @dwai,  as he walked into the clearing carrying an outboard motor.

The others stared amazed.

"Where did you get that?" asked @Bindi.

"It matters little," answered @dwai mysteriously, "we must go North upstream."

"Oh." they said in unison.

"I have heard news," repeated @dwai ,"that @zerostao is in Hyperborean Thule with the reindeer shaman."

"Is he in school, in Thule?" asked the cat poetically.

They all looked at him in disgust.

"He's been like this since you went," said @Nungali.

Quickly they rigged up the motor to the Diamond Cutter and climbed aboard and turned the boat to the North and began their long journey to the snows and ice to the furthest lands.  At the foot of great glacier they decamped and made their way through pine forest, always up, till the vast tundra stretched out before them.

 

 

 

[old3bob]

Btw, (and to back track a bit before they left the shore) no one had ever realized that Steve had a secret and 2nd occupation and talent and thus volunteered to tune up the outboard motor before they went across the lake.  Dwai asked him if the motor could use some Ether to help get it started but Steve said, "no, Ether is invisible to an earthbound motor...

 

 

Edited February 19, 2022 by old3bob

[dwai]

@Apech rapidly climbed atop a little hillock, as the group stepped out of the pine forest at the foot of Mt. Freezerburn. He tilted his head backward, nose in the air and inhaled noisily for what seemed like a long time. And then he let out a loud yodel - “yodellehihooooo”, and then dramatically gesticulated with his hands. He whispered, “wait for it…wait for it…wait for it…and NOW!”

 

A concerto of yodels reverberated in the valley of Mt. Freezerburn…echoing ethereally, the mellifluous notes ricocheting across the expanse and swept into the deep pine forest. From behind various crevasses and jagged boulders on the mountain, emerged @MIchael80, @freeform, @anshino23, and many others. @freeform raised his hands up in the air, as if saying “hallelujah in daoist” and exclaimed, “Ming before Xing, or you shall not pass!!!”

@Nungali said, “there is no separation between Ming and Xing for us western wizards…we follow the ways of Bardon…fire, water, earth and ether, those are the elementals we work with.”

 

@natural chimed in musically, “all you need is xing….all you need is xing, all you need is xing, and xing is all you need.” 

 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2022 by dwai

[Geof Nanto]

- - - 

Edited February 26, 2022 by Yueya

[TranquilTurmoil]

I enjoyed the first 4 pages of this thread, realized I no way had the mental stamina to get through the next 5 and figured I'd hop around the second fire I've sat at today, which would be the second fire I can remember sitting at in the past 11 months as well. I am grateful for what the Bums provided to me this summer, even though I have been averse to coming back here since. I don't feel belonging much less true belonging anywhere these days outside the one on one sessions I have with a few spiritual friends of mine, two/three of whom are mentor/mentee + counselor/client dynamics. The rest of the days, my refuges are the wonder-ous and at least seemingly tragic world of nature, my first real romantic relationship in over a decade, and not much else. In one of my last poems I wrote when I was still writing frequently, I rebelliously blurted out, "I've died many deaths, (yet) still very alive".... but now I experience that in a much more somber and yearning cry. It ain't easy being cheesy. And it ain't easy being a stranger in a strange land. I think of the Zhaungzhi lines:  "Someone in Sung had some marvelous hats to sell, so he took them to Yueh. But the Yueh tribes crop their hair short and tattoo their bodies: they had no use for marvelous hats." After leaving the world behind zealously for a brief period of time, missing it terribly and painfully within a year of doing so..... which coincided with falling into an 8-year devotional journey to nowhere at all that collapsed in on itself this past August.... add in a three-year stay in a psych ward in between complemented by long-term health deterioration from said 8 year devotional journey.... and finding that the world you returned to doesn't recognize you or you it... it's been a lot.

 

I do hope to find belonging, and stubbornly know it exists somewhere in some place and time, if not in this very moment. I'm glad you all provide the refuge to each other that you do, and encourage you not to discount it's significance. I can't fathom how I could have possibly escaped the trap I was in for those 8 years without all of your unique and expansive perspectives, knowledge, and experiences. Within birth, there is bound to be death, and within death there is bound to be rebirth. And I'm sure there is something birthless and deathless that lies beyond birth and death, and that it is not seperate from birth and death but encompasses it (or at least place my faith in that last informed conjecture). And just as I'm sure I have suffered grief just as strong in incarnations prior to this one, and have still been able to touch profound peace and deep love+kindly joy from time to time in this one, I can infer that such uplifting and transformative change is not only possible in this lifetime but probable.

 

Walking back to my house  today I stumbled upon this in my driveway for the first time, who knows how long it had been there