Fourth Quarter

As luck would have it, Faith suddenly appeared and strolled into the clearing. With a pleasant smile she greeted both Wonder and Virtue and stated, "Heard Wonder is experiencing some confusion."

This caused Vi to break out in laughter. "Might just be the person trying to explain it to him, Faith."

Wonder shook his head and piped up, "No, it's true. I don't understand. Everyone seems to have different ideas of what God is, or how we should act, and what to believe. How am I suppose to know which one is right?"

"Believe in the process Wonder." With that she winked at Vi and continued on her way, whichever way that was. Faith like to find her own path. 

Wonder's glance at Vi was dejected. "I don't know what the process is, Vi."

Virtue studied him for a time before saying, "Wonder, do you know the men of science say that there has never, ever, been two snowflakes alike? In all the snowstorms, in all the world, since time began, no two snowflakes have been identical. Does that seem possible?"

Wonder shook his head slowly. It seemed preposterous.

"And what happens when thousands upon thousands of snowflakes fall in a specific location?"

Finally! Something he knew. "Snow, Vi."

"Indeed! The uniqueness of the individual snowflake is lost--it becomes homogeneous. It loses itself in something larger, and, some would say, greater. But that isn't the end Wonder, not by a long shot. Most snow eventually melts and becomes water. It soaks the soil to nourish verdure, or finds a stream to slake a thirst, or seeks solace in the anonymity of the ocean. Wherever it goes though, evaporation and transpiration take place--or sublimation if it hasn't melted--and it will, eventually, find itself lifted skyward to form a cloud. Guess what happens then Wonder? The PROCESS starts all over again! Be it snow, rain, dew, or fog."

"To what purpose, Vi? Why?"

"Look around, Wonder, and ask yourself, 'why not?' God wants you to know Him. She didn't think that possible without revealing Herself."

"Vi, how can God be a He and a She?"

"Wonder, God isn't a He, a She, or an It. God transcends gender. God is nothing--no 'thing.' God is everything. Every Thing! And the urge, the impulse, the desire to experience, is what God is up to. Or down for, as the case may be."

Just then Doubt crept in...

Triple Play

"Oh Vi, you're making fun of me," Wonder asserted. "How am I ever going to figure things out if you keep teasing me?"

"Well Wonder, it is important to maintain one's sense of humor when talking about the Deity," Virtue insisted. "Did you know the Lord goes around introducing Himself as Al?"

Wonder gasped, "The Lord calls himself Al, Vi?"

Virtue struggled to maintain a straight face saying, "Yes He does Wonder--Al Mighty! In fact He insists his full title is, 'Good God Al Mighty.' "

Wonder bit his lip and looked at Virtue with reproach. "Vi, you blaspheme."

Virtue glanced at Wonder with kindness. She gently took his arm and said, "lets sit down for awhile Wonder," and led him off the trail to a small glade. Once they had settled in, Virtue asked for his undivided attention and told him the following story:

"At the beginning Wonder, the Lord of Creation said to the Lady, 'with everything We have fashioned, how are We going to keep Our shit together?' (here Wonder gasped yet again) The Lady, with only a slight raise of an eyebrow, suggested there might be a less crude way of putting it, but that yes, definitely, Creation would produce large amounts of waste. Whimsy, who was there at the beginning and a vital component of the creation process, suggested that 'poop in a group' was more refined, and that he thought he had the answer--'shit kickers.' The Lady concluded this wasn't solving the problem of 'good taste,' insofar as terminology was concerned. Well, Whimsy was up to the task and provided an alternative; 'dung beetle'. But he asked that the beetle push the shit with his feet, no! no! with his BACK feet, head pointed the opposite way! As the Lady contemplated the idea, murmuring, 'perhaps a poo pushing beetle would work,' the Lord commented, 'how in the world are they going to be able to sustain a straight line?' Whimsy, by now totally enamored with his notion, said to make it so they navigate--steer--by stars million and millions of miles away. The Lord of Creation asked Whimsy 'why so grandiose?' to which Whimsy responded, 'to keep humans humble.'

"So...that's the end of the story, Vi?"

"Well, its the end of the point I am trying to share with you Wonder. Humans believing that they can 'blaspheme' is the height of arrogance. It would be as though an electron in your body was saying that YOU were illegitimate or counterfeit. The electron's existence is dependent on the very thing it would repudiate. It is inconsequential ignorance. The Lord and Lady care far less what you say as what you do. Remember that. Even if you are no more than a poo pusher."

[ image courtesy of http://www.toptenz.net ]

TMI Squared

Whimsy leaned toward Wonder and whispered, "Bees knees please the breeze." He looked expectantly at Wonder, as though he had shared some state secret, eyebrows popping in a suggested and silent conspiratorial brotherhood. Wonder was at a loss as to what to say. He turned to Virtue with a quiet desperation born of bewilderment. When Virtue simply smiled and cocked her head, Wonder was left to sputter, "Ah, umm, yes...er, ahhh...I'm sure that's true." Wonder was uncertain if he felt more captivated--or exasperated--by Whimsys declaration.

When nothing more came from Wonder, Whimsy seemed a bit crestfallen. Exhaling, he looked all around and in a singsong cadence declared, "Wonder blunder under the Thunder;" then, with a touch of Virtue's shoulder announced, "you're it," before careening madly down the path and melting into the woods.  

Wonder looked at Virtue with more than a little confusion, asking "what did he mean Vi? What blunder did I make?" Virtue slung an arm over Wonder's shoulder suggesting, "lets keep walking," and resumed their journey. It was some time before she said, "Whimsy was making the point that you fail to see the continuity. That all things are really one thing. That life is nothing more than God revealing Himself in a million different ways."

This helped Wonder not at all. He felt as though a secret was purposely being kept from him. He dejectedly asked Virtue, "is that what he said, Vi? I didn't hear him mention God at all."

"Well", Virtue started, "thunder is often used as a metaphor for God. The ancient text's are filled with descriptions of it being His voice, or a manifestation of His power. Whimsy was saying you don't hear His voice--His message--in the flight of the bee. That bees knees, nearly always seen laden with pollen, not only ensure the regeneration of flowers, but food for bee offspring as well. It is a classic win-win situation. Naturally, this would 'please the breeze,' since the continuation of life is Life's purpose, and the breeze is most certainly a part of Life. It doesn't exist outside of it."

"So the breeze is a part of Life, Vi?"

"Everything is a part of Life Wonder."

"Even death?"

"Especially death. How can transformation take place without death? All that Life feeds on is--Life! That constitutes death in your mind. But it is simply an alteration of the physical, not the spiritual. Just as there couldn't be death without life, there can't be life without death. If there is no up Wonder, you can't possibly go down. And how would you go forward, if backward didn't exist?"

But Vi, why can't we just live forever?!"

"You do Wonder, you do."

"How do you know Vi? How can you be sure?"

Virtue chuckled softly, turned and looked deeply into Wonder's eyes. "It's simple," she said, "every little breeze seems to whisper, 'eternities.' " *

* (apologies to Maurice Chevalier)

TMI

Harmony had formed an impromptu conga line of several squirrels, a hedgehog, an entire family of voles, and one extremely nimble brown bear. They disappeared down an incline straddling the Dipatoe river, 1-2-3-KICK'ing with utter glee. Wonder sighed and turned to Virtue, "She never seems to stay around for very long. She comes and goes so quickly."

Virtue smiled and said, "Harmony is an 'intent', Wonder, not a person."

"How can that be Vi," Wonder questioned. "We were just with her."

"Being around the Lady creates a sort of resonance Wonder. You were engrossed and deeply affected by Her presence. Harmony was the result."

Wonder chewed on this answer for awhile before asking, "Is the Lady, God, Vi?"

"Partially," Virtue answered. "She is half a potentiality. The Lord is the other half. They each have a realm where they rule. We exist where the two realms overlap. Formally it is known as the Vesica Piscis, Wonder, but most simply call it life. Everything that you know of springs from this source."

Wonder's head was spinning and he walked a long way contemplating what Virtue had said. He had heard so much that he didn't understand. First from the Lady and now from Vi. He felt lost. "Oh Vi," Wonder finally confessed, "I feel so muddled."

"Don't over think it Wonder," Vi suggested. She could see her little friends furrowed forehead and knew he was apt to get lost in the answers. "The dung beetle doesn't even know the word 'astronomy' exists. And the idea of 'celestial polarization' has never occurred to any dung beetle at any time since creation began--yet they do what they do. It is something to marvel at, not muddle over."

"But how do they do it Vi, how?"

"How now brown cow?"

Wonder and Virtue turned to see who had spoken. It wasn't a total surprise to see Whimsy flashing his irresistible smile. He went on: "Hey diddle diddle--Her Lady loves a fiddle--And the cow jumped over the moon--The little crab scoffed--And said to be off--So the Archbishop ran away with a loon."

Hmmm

Yesterday, after glancing at the librarians' name tag, I noted her name was similar to an author of one of the books I was checking out. (Terry Pratchett) Overhearing us, the other librarian announced that he had just died. Arriving home, I Googled the information to see that Mr. Pratchett had died 3-12-15.

I had just "met" Pratchett a month or so ago. I had stumbled upon a number of his quotes from various books he had written and was quite taken by his unusual view of things. (See; Tipping The Scales 2-17-15) So much so I wrote a "tribute" to him with Fiddler on the Roof. I followed with two additional (and consecutive) posts; Back to the Garden and Sky Light, carrying the "tribute" forward. I haven't posted anything since. (12 days) I wonder what to make of that...

Sky Light

"So it all has to do with celestial polarization?" Wonder asked.

The Queen of Heaven smiled and stated, "That's it in a nutshell."

Wonder looked around to see where this amazing nutshell was. He was understandably confused. The explanation of a dung beetles' ability to navigate by star and sky defied logic. Unable to locate the nutshell, Wonder looked up at the Queen of Heaven and said, "do they really dance?"

The Lady responded, "It might be more accurate to say they orientate themselves. But that's akin to saying humans only dance to find themselves. While true, it certainly misses the essence of what dance is. The impulse to dance is in your DNA, Wonder."

This in no way cleared up the many questions that assailed poor Wonder's mind. He was spared further confusion when Harmony appeared and clasped first his, and then Virtue's, hand. "Let's skip to the loo and then back home," she suggested. "Our Lady has a Fiddle Festival to attend."

"Indeed," the Queen of Heaven said. "The new batch of fiddle sticks are going to be tested!" As she gathered her gown before moving off, she smiled at Vi and said, "be sure to tell Wonder about the 'riddle of the fiddle.' "

The last thing Wonder wanted was another riddle. He was riddled to death. Never-the-less, he turned his head to Vi with a sigh.

Virtue snorted and laughed. "Wonder, relax!" she said. "You aren't expected to know all the answers. Just take it in and see what happens, okay? Harmony's here and she'll help"

"Okay, Vi."

"Okay!" Vi responded. "The riddle of the fiddle is as follows; When you rosin a bow--It's important to know--A result of that friction--Can induce benediction."

Harmony and Virtue were reduced to tears of laughter when, Wonder in tow, they exited the garden to Harmony's innocent query, "what light through yonder Wonder breaks?"

Back To The Garden

Virtue came across Wonder on a path to the Garden

"Hey Wonder."

Looking up with wide eyes, Wonder responded; "Hi Vi," and subtly reddened when Virtue hugged him. Despite his slight embarrassment, he was pleased his friend always embraced him. Virtue meant the world to Wonder.

"Whatcha doing?" asked Virtue.

"Watching a dung beetle," replied Wonder. "They always push their poo in a straight line."

Virtue laughed. "Yes, they're accomplished astronomers," said Virtue. "They navigate using the Milky Way."

Wonder gasped in amazement, never doubting Virtue. "Who would have ever dreamed of that?" marveled Wonder.

"Lets go ask Her," Virtue responded.

And so it was Wonder and Virtue made their way to the eastern entry of the Garden. A flaming sword was rotating impressively at the entrance, watched over carefully by Charles the Cherubim. Virtue passed by the sword and angel both, but Wonder hesitated. "Am I allowed?" Wonder questioned. Immediately the sword swelled to ten times its original size, blocking any possible access. "Vi, help me!" Wonder shouted.

Virtue turned, retraced her steps, and took Wonder's hand. She led him back down the path until they reached a small, overgrown trail. Virtue and Wonder were a good long while on this trail until they reached the little known western gate into the Garden. The passage way was unobstructed.

"Why is there a sword at the eastern gate," asked Wonder.

"To keep the tourists out," said Virtue.

"Am I a tourist, then, Vi?" Wonder remarked.

"No Wonder," responded Virtue. "You just doubted a good intention is all."

"Oh," Wonder mused. He recalled that Hell was paved with those.

"How come there are so many Fiddler Crabs in the Garden, Vi?" Wonder posed, carefully stepping over and around the vast horde of crustaceans that seemed to be scurrying everywhere.

"Shortage of fiddle sticks, Wonder," Virtue answered. "A real shortage of fiddle sticks."