Zup'in Canada - Part 3

The Drive Up

            I don’t work in the summers. The perk teachers get for being paid a lower salary than most of the working world. As a result, I volunteered to drive with my Grandfather in Uncle Keith’s van. The two of us decided to drive all of the fishing gear and tackle, along with everyone’s packs and bags, from Florida to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota to pick the five others up at the airport. Uncle Bob was flying in from Phoenix after being in California on a business trip. The four others were flying in from Orlando.

            We opted to drive the gear rather than fly because of all the terrorism paranoia going on in the country. We surely couldn’t bring fishing gear, tackle, and knives on a plane without a headache. Besides, it had been a while since I drove across country, and this time I’d have someone driving with me rather than driving solo. It would be quality time to spend with my Grandfather as well.

            I left Seminole, Florida on Wednesday, July 5th, to drive to my Uncle Keith’s house in Safety Harbor to pick up the mini-van. When I got there, it was already packed with my uncle’s stuff as well as my Cousin Lori’s gear. I transferred my sister’s and my gear into the van, left my key on the counter inside for them to move my vehicle, hit the restroom, and was off to my grandparent’s house in The Villages. When I arrived at my grandparent’s, we packed the van with the rest of the gear, ate dinner, slept, and woke up early to head out onto the road.

            I had already warned my early-bird grandfather that I wouldn’t be awake enough to drive until about 9:00 AM after the coffee kicked in. So we made a silent deal. He would drive the morning shift. I would dive the middle shift. And he would finish off the last leg, ending by pulling into a hotel so we could start if all over again the next day. It was a good compromise to me, because a few mornings I fell asleep while my grandfather was driving.

            We left Thursday around 6:30 AM. The drive was uneventful for the most part. We drove north through Atlanta, Georgia – getting lost a few miles by me taking the wrong exit. However, we were soon back on our way to cruise through Tennessee, Kentucky, and the beginning of Illinois. There we a lot of farming fields of corn and soy beans along the route. At one point there was a giant cross in the middle of no where. We saw a few deer along the side of the road grazing. We also saw a huge land area of windmills – over 50 of them by my count – powering, hopefully, the entire city. We had driven about ten hours and thought that after entering the Illinois border we would stop for the night and find a hotel.

We were driving five miles over the speed limit, as we did the entire trip to avoid speeding tickets. Just after mile marker six on I-24 I heard a sound like a tire blowing out. My Grandfather was driving and thought it was the mini-van next to us until all the air deflated and we realized it was us. We pulled over to the side of the road right before Exit 7 for Goreville / Tunnel Hill and called AAA.

            While we were waiting for AAA, we decided it would be a good idea to try to get the flat on. It took a while – figuring out where the spare was, lowering it down, pulling on the lug nuts (which were tight as hell), replacing the tire, then realizing the spare was too flat. We waited for the tow truck, and when he arrived, he told us he’d have to tow us to Marion, because he didn’t have air in that truck. He said Wal-Mart might still be open and they could help us. If they weren’t open, he could drop us off there and we would have to get it fixed in the morning.

            The tow truck driver was very nice. The poor guy had a migraine, but he still was helpful. He called ahead to a buddy he knew in case Wally World, as he called it, wasn’t open. The buddy could help us. He just wouldn’t be able to balance the tires.

            We pulled up to Wally World at 7:55 PM just as the shop keeper was putting up the closing chain. He saw us, and looking a bit disgruntled, put down the chain. They would help us, and we were saved. Luckily, we would not have to wait in the morning and could get on our way. We had a feeling we would lose a lot of time if all of this hadn’t turned out perfectly well.

            The next morning we were on our way again. We had picked up a book on tape – The 5th Horseman by James Patterson – to listen to the day before – ten hours long. We continued listening to the story as we drove on through Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. We arrived in Minneapolis-St. Paul around 6 PM. Uncle Bob had gotten a suite for us on his company’s tab (I believe). We were planning on going there, eating dinner, and picking my uncle up at the airport later that evening if he was able to catch an earlier flight out.

            Unfortunately, Uncle Bob didn’t catch the flight and wasn’t going to get in until around 11:30 PM. So my grandfather and I went and checked in, dropped off our clothes, went to eat at Chili’s, then returned to our room to watch television and fall asleep. Everyone else would be picked up in the morning, and we would all head directly out from the airport to Canada.

            The others arrived around 11:30 AM Saturday. Earlier that morning we had taken Uncle Bob to rent a car. He had to leave a few days earlier than us due to some business – so he needed his own way to get back to the airport. Everyone piled in to either the rented Jeep Liberty or the mini-van. Rene and I went with Uncle Bob. Everyone else went with Grandpa Joe. We were finally off, and in about 5 hours we would be at Scott’s on Crane Lake ready to be transported by boat to Zup’s Resort. 

Zup'in Canada - Part 2

Introduction

            I had been to Canada on a family trip fourteen years ago back when I was eighteen. It was during a simpler time before I grew into an adult having adult responsibilities. The trip was different than the one we were planning on going on this time. People were older – my Grandfather was turning 71 on the trip. A different group was going – half those that went last time wimped out this time. The group consisted of the following: Grandpa Joe, Uncle Bob, Uncle Keith, Cousin Lori, Cousin Tommy, Sister Rene, and me – seven of us.

           During the previous trip, it was hot as hell. The black flies were out biting through jeans, socks, deet, and anything else you could find to cover your body but still try to stay cool. I also enjoyed the personal experience of poison ivy last trip. I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone – itching, blistering, sweating . . .

We were camping on an island with motor boats rather than portaging with all of our gear in canoes day after day. This trip would be different. At least before we started out, I hoped it would be.

Zup'in Canada - Part 1

Prologue

            This is an attempt of preservation, written to preserve a memory before it leaves the confines of my brain, or I lose it by killing more brain cells that hold these pieces of information. I am writing this as I remember it in order to look back on an experience and enjoy it again in my old age.

            Those members of my family who were also on the trip will probably have different versions of the same experiences. As with any experience within a group, each person has their own take on what happened. And this is how I perceived it . . .

Humanocracy - Part 17

I met Jones in the parking lot the next night for our bartering session.  The joint put my mind more at ease than I had been at weeks for some strange reason.  I thought, at the time, it was because I was about to embark on my last journey through the Kaleidoscope Gate.  Jones just laughed as he read my thoughts, and I somewhat blushed at forgetting that the two of us could read each other’s thoughts.  We both clambered out of his car and walked through the propped open doors.

As usual, our Quacktails were waiting for us as we sat down.  Once again, I got an early start and began to down the Quacktails one after the other.  Billy just kept bringing me more as my eyes burned and my head spun.

“Tonight is the night we finally all meet each other,” Nameno broke out.  Tasiny and our fair son will walk together along this final journey.  After tonight the Quacks will know as much as they can for now.  None of us knows what the future will bring, but what all of us do know is that we will get the last piece we have been searching for tonight.  So, to Tasiny and our fair son, we drink these Quacktails to you!”

“Here, here,” the room echoed louder than ever, and every single Quack drank their Quacktail.  Billy served us more, but this time he gave Tasiny and myself two for the road.

I did not talk to Tasiny on our way down to the Gate.  I barely looked at him.  He barely looked at me.  I think the two of us were walking in sadness since we thought this would be our last journey and our knowledge would soon end.  I think the two of us were also afraid that after tonight our search for knowledge was on our own.

We reached the Gate and walked through.  We did not have to wait long for the voice to begin.

“The final stage is upon the Quacks tonight,” the voice began.  “What you have learned thus far must be taken with you in order for you to reach higher levels.  After this, I cannot guide you any farther.  However, you must guide yourselves.  The knowledge I have imparted you with are only the stepping-stones in which to further your understanding.  For no one being can be taught everything unless he or she walks into the unknown on his or her own.  Tonight I will explain the Duality of Existence – through which each Quack can realize what it is each is surviving against.  Humanity exists in a world of black and white, up and down, left and right, front and back, fat and skinny, tall and short, large and small, etc., etc.  Humanity live in a world of duality – simply put it is a duality of positive and negative.  Each of these complement and eradicate each other.  Every thing in existence complements each other at the extremes and eradicates (or negates) each other at the center.  Where is the middle ground or gray area?  Where is the neutralizing force?  Where is the in-between?  Unfortunately, it is not there physically for Humanity, because the Physical Reality is filled with contradictions.  Where the middle ground exists is between the lapses of Time.  In between the moments, where everything stops (or so it seems), the dual nature of existence disappears and everything becomes one.  It is between these lapses of Time that humanity becomes one with everything.  All three forces – positive, negative, and neutral – combine to make everything one.  The Physical Reality is full of dual systems; it is inherent in its nature.  In between the physical, at the Point of Existence, is the gray area, the one-ness of everything!  There is not separation between forms and beings in the in-between.  In the In-Between, where the Immaterial meets the Material, is where all three forces create eternity.  The trick to all of Reality is to balance these forces in order to transcend each of the Four Planes of Existence.  The trick to all of it is to balance these forces to keep Humanity on track to reach Plane Four – Spiritual Reality!  The last words I have to say to you come from a great sage.  And he said:

‘I live in fear of what I once day may become.

Fear of the simplicity and the calm.

For so much is confused by the chaos,

That to forget about it would be death.

But death to the social world is what I need.

Death to this social reality I am forced to exist within is what I want.

Death to all I know is what I shall become.

For without death there is no rebirth.

Without death there is no new beginning.

Without death there is nothing that can be reborn

Without death to all I have been taught there is no Sanity.’

Go Quacks out into the world!  Understand the nature behind it!  Comprehend your existence within it!  Realize your potential among it!  Transcend each Plane one by one!  Begin the work that was once existent but has become lost!  Reshape the thoughts behind Reality!  Reshape Humanity’s existence!”

And with that the voice stopped speaking, the dark room became lit, and Lear and I walked out through the Gate into the common area from the strobe lit room.  All of the Quacks were waiting.  All of the Quacks were told what we had heard!  None of us knew when we would be blessed with further knowledge, so we took the knowledge we were given and ran into the world to see what may become of it!

THE END

Humanocracy - Part 16

Admer and I emerged from the strobe lit room, but this time it was as if I was unable to explain what I had been through.  It took Nameno a couple of times asking, and a couple of Quacktails downed, until I was able to explain what I had experienced.  I had a difficult time explaining, but between Admer and myself we did a good job.  By the time I was finished, every Quack knew that we had one more night to get through in order to complete our knowledge up to this point.  The only thing I wondered about was who would be my next partner.  I knew ten of the eleven Quacks now, but there was still one whom I saw that I did not know the name of.  I shook it off and realized I would meet him tomorrow on what I thought was my final journey through the Gate.

Humanocracy - Part 15

The following evening, I met Jones once again in his car in the parking lot.  We did not talk much, but we did our normal bartering routine.  When I had finished the joint, the two of us went inside.  As we walked through the door, I had a weird feeling.  On one hand, I knew the Quacks were getting close to the end of our knowledge.  On the other hand, I knew there was so much more to know than what we were going to be told.  I shook the feeling off, sat down with Jones at our table, and quickly drank my Quacktail.  Billy brought me another one as Nameno began to speak to the Quacks.

“Once again, we are here to push further into the unknown.  What we might find no one can tell.  However, without our fair son we would not know half as much as we do today.  To our fair son.”

The room bellowed in cheer, “Here, here,” and finished their Quacktails.  As Billy furnished us with more Quacktails – and I kept downing my faster and faster, as my eyes burnt and my head spun – Nameno began to speak.

“Tonight, our fair son will be accompanied by Admer.  Billy get them another round and let them begin their next journey.”

I had never met Admer before.  Admer was a tall and skinny man.  He had a clean face, and he wore an interesting, leather hat.  He had also always worn old, tired suits and was dressed in one this evening.  I walked over to his table and sat down.  All of the other Quacks left us alone.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“As ready as I can be, I suppose.  What should I expect?”

“Expect nothing, for there is nothing any of us can expect.  You have heard what I have experienced so far.  That is all I can tell you.  There is a voice, and I am sure we will hear it again.  But what the voice will tell us I have not a clue.”

“Shall we proceed then?” Admer asked.

“Yes, but first I must see Billy.”  I walked up to the bar and Billy’s machine and downed three Quacktails before Admer and I started our descent to the Gate.  I was carrying another Quacktail with me and finished it before we stepped through the Kaleidoscope Gate.  Admer was looking at me as if he did not know what to expect.  The funny thing is, I did not know what to expect either.

On the other side of the Gate there was darkness.  There was no voice, no console, and no light.  Even the Gate disappeared without a trace.  I was beginning to get worried when I heard something in the distance.  The voice rang out.

“This way, Quacks.  There is another door you must step through in order to understand all of this.  Walk forward and you will find the door.”

Admer and I did walk forward, for about a hundred paces, and then we found the door.  I opened the door and headed through with Admer following at my heels.

The voice began again, “Take the two vials on the table in front of you and take their sweet nectar.”

I handed one vial to Admer and took the other in my hand.  I saw Admer’s reluctance to drink what he had been given so I drank mine first.  Admer followed suit.  Within an instant the room began to spin, and I had no understanding of where I was or where I was going.

“Don’t worry about your confusion right now, it is common,” the voice continued.  “Not many people have made it thus far, and those that have who are of your race are always confused by the vial’s contents.  It will not wear off until we are finished and you leave through the Gate, so get used to it now.  The more you get used to it the better you will understand what I am about to say.”

I stumbled around for a few minutes and finally got my bearings.  When I did, I noticed Admer sitting on the floor regaining his composure.  He finally stood up and the voice continued.

“This place is called In Between and Dreaming.  Each of you has lost enough self-consciousness to enter into the same state you Humans are in when you dream.  Dreaming, for you Humans, is the closest your race can get to understand the true basis behind everything you exist in every day.  It is in your dreams where the Human conscious works out its problems in an interesting way.  Dreaming is almost as if you are dead and on the other side of your Physical Reality.  For in your dreams you can fly, walk through walls, die but not die, and see what lies beyond the every day Physical Reality.  Dreaming is the key to understanding aspects of immaterial existence.  It is a way for the body to lie at rest while the mind materializes ‘real’ images showing Humanity what true Spirit would be like.  Without a lot of work and conserved energy, Humanity can never understand the Spiritual Reality (4^th Plane), but through Dreaming the Body, Heart, and Mind can combine to show the Soul its true nature.  Dreams are often confusing, because the Mind is trying to process all of the fear, anxiety, hopes, experiences, etc. that the physical body goes through each day.  So a true picture of what the Soul, or Spiritual Reality, is cannot always be observed since the mind tries to control the dreaming state.  What Humans call lucent dreaming is the closest a physical being can come to understanding the true Spiritual Plane.  If one truly thinks about it, odd dreams come every once in a while that try and help each individual realize what is the truth behind all that one experiences each day.  If you stop and think for a moment, I guarantee each of you have had these types of dreams.”

The voice stopped for a while, and I tried to think if there were any dreams that I had dreamt over the years that would make this true.  And I realized I had dreamt of those things the voice was trying to tell Admer and me.

I had dreamt of monkey in a cage – three of them.  At a beach.  I let them out and realized what I had done.  In reality, these monkey men were always around me – hiding all of the time, but they were there.  This dream was trying to tell me that there are other dimensions existing at the same time as I exist in my dimension.  I can’t always see the monkey men, but they are there, just a couple of vibrations off of my existence. 

Another dream I had was of a weird series of circles that were rotating and traveling through each other.  I did not understand the dream at the time, but when I woke up I was left with the impression that energy moves this way.  Each individual observer, being, perceives energy in concentric circles, overlapping and passing through each other.  Now that I had been told of hw the Material forms from the Immaterial this made sense.

I also dreamt that I was in a classroom looking out the window onto barren land – nothing to be seen except the horizon and the sun setting.  There was a teacher at the board, and he was drawing a diagram while showing the mathematical formulas representing each section he drew.  He was trying to show how to represent what we saw out the window in mathematical formulas.  I felt stupid, because it was supposed to be easy.  Unfortunately I did not understand, and the math never stuck in my mind.  However, when I awoke, the diagram the teacher was explaining did stick in my mind.  It was then that I realized I learned about Reality conceptually rather than mathematically as others of my race can understand.

There have been other dreams, in my past when I was younger, that taught me just as great of concepts as these I remembered here.  Unfortunately, those dreams were before I realized what wisdom I was being told through them.  As I recalled these dreams that had such an impact on my life, I realized that everyone has these dreams at some point in their lives.  Humanity just does not know that the answers they are seeking are coming through this medium.  It is here, in between the conscious and the unconscious, where the answers to what lies beyond exist.

The voice confirmed my thoughts as I sat on the ground in the dark and figured all of this out.  At each epiphany, the voice told me I was on the right track.  It was a while until I realized Admer sitting in front of me staring at the opposite wall.  The two of us were in a daze, sifting through the dreams we had had and making sense of them all finally.  It was here, in this silence, when I realized that all I had learned beyond the Gate, and even before the Gate, made perfect sense.  Nothing was real; yet everything was real.

Humanocracy - Part 14

No sooner than we stepped through did the console rise up from the ground.  This time the button had a large R on it.  I looked at Lear as I stepped forward and pushed it.  To my surprise, the console sunk back into the ground, and we were left in darkness.  I hurriedly looked back to make sure the Gate was still there.  To my horror it was not!  I started to panic a bit.  The only thing that kept me sane was Lear’s calm expression on his face.  Little did he know that this had not happened before, so he did not know what to expect.  I tried to calm down, but the only thing that kept running through my head was the conversation I had with Jones before this night started.  Just as my panic began to rise higher, a light from above turned on and the voice began to speak.

“Humanity lives in only one dimension that exists called the Physical Reality.  There are many dimensions out there that Humans cannot see.  At times, Humans see a part of the other dimensions but write it off as hysteria, dementia or a bad lunch.  However, they are there but are beyond what Humanity can perceive.  This is not because Humanity is looking in the wrong places.  It is merely because the Human, as a physical being, is created only to see the Physical Reality.  When a Human catches a glimpse of the other dimensions it should not be written off as it normally is.  Instead, it should be taken as real since it is the experience that matters and nothing else.  Whatever one experiences is real - it is Reality. However, the Reality Humans exist in can be diagrammed as such:”

When the voice said those words, the light above shone brighter.  Lear and I noticed a large diagram that was being depicted on the floor around us.  It took a moment to grasp the entirety of it since we were standing in the middle of the diagram and had to move around in order to get the full effect.  The diagram looked as such: 

Lear and I walked around the diagram many times trying to figure out the concept behind it.  At one point, Lear began to smile as if he finally grasped the whole diagram.  He just stood still and closed his eyes.  A few moments later, I had this overwhelming feeling come over me, and I too understood the diagram in its entirety.  Not only did I understand it, but it was as if it soaked into my Soul.  I closed my eyes along with Lear and waited.

I felt someone poking at my side and opened my eyes.  I opened my eyes to a dark room and saw Lear to my left.  The diagram had disappeared.  The light above us had gone off.  The Gate was still missing!  We sat down and waited some more.

After about fifteen minutes of silence, the voice began to speak again.

“You have now been given the true Diagram of Reality.  I am unable to explain it any simpler than the diagram already does.  There are, however, a few Common Misconceptions that Humanity must overcome in order to realize Reality to its fullest potential.  They are being told to you as how most of Humanity thinks about Reality as a whole.  You must remember that these statements are misconceptions and are not true.  In fact, their exact opposite is true to the nature of Physical Reality.  These Common Misconceptions are as follows:

-          Space and Time exist!

·         False - they are just a figment of a 4-Dimensional reality

-          Humans do not have a soul

·         False – every being (planet and animal) has a Soul

-          Materialism is the key

·         False – the more material objects one has, the more attached one becomes

-          DO don’t BE

·         False – if you BE you realize eternity; if you DO you drive yourself insane

-          Heaven is what one finds after one dies

·         False – Heaven is accessible every day at every moment

-          Color, Race, Sex and Creed matter

·         False – all Souls are created equal

-          Religion should be fought over

·         False – all religions say the same thing = BE a good Human being

-          My God is better than your God

·         False – all Gods are the equal creation of themselves (the Source)

-          Life is simple

·         False – the objective behind it is simple; the existence of it is not

-          All one must do is live, die and pay taxes

·         False – life is consumed with ups/downs and undulations of good/bad

-          Every Human is an individual

·         False – Humans are individuals in their experiences, but everyone is connected to the Source

The voice went on, “For now Quacks know the understanding behind how Physical Reality is created.  Also, the Common Misconceptions of your race have been made clear.  Go forth until tomorrow when two more must come forward and learn of more.  One of the two of you will come back tomorrow.  Another will follow with you.”

The voice stopped as the Kaleidoscope Gate reappeared.  Lear and I went back to the common room.  I didn’t know about Lear, but I needed a Quacktail.  And a Quacktail was what I received as soon as I stepped out of the strobe lit room.

Once again, I told all of the Quacks about what Lear and I had received.  Lear, like Snepal, filled in the gaps as I told the rest of the Quacks about what happened.  Nameno, once again, commented on how short of a time the two of us had been gone, and I began to realize that my theory was right.  Space and Time did not exist beyond the Gate.  The evening ended with all of us understanding that we would continue tomorrow.  I went home and slept like a baby.