Chapters 1-7 are somewhat self contained and describe Matt being rescued from a Midwest snowstorm by a family that turn out to be his soul mates, girls with lots of past life ties. Lots of spirituality and lots of sex. This was mostly written in 2005 and was posted in 2010.
Chapters 8-13 describe Matt going home to the Northeast, discussing things with his wife. Ann, Barbara and Connie starting college. Matt and Ann setting up a business. Again lots of spirituality and lots of sex. Written and posted in 2013.
Chapters 14-17 are sort of a side story. They describe meeting two of Barbara's friends and what unfolds from there. I considered posting it as a separate work under the title: "Tall and Short." Written in 2013-2014 but the characters Becca and Zena were developed in 2007.
Chapter 17.
Mystical experience.
I left Zena sleeping in the bedroom, went and used the bidet. Then I came out and sat down on the sofa. I was feeling a state of tremendous calm, all was right with the world, all was right in the world. I began to breath count.
It was not long to where the breath counting had dropped away and I was in a transcendent state. The entire universe was at my fingertips. I was flying - soaring above the clouds. I was in a space where all there was was love. I found myself singing songs that I had never even heard before, songs in Sanscrit, beautiful songs, songs of beauty. I danced around the sky in time with my songs. I knew who I was. More, I knew what I was. It shifted into pure union. There was an All and I was in union with it. I was it and it was me. I was one with everything and everyone. Beauty, pure beauty, love, pure love, joy, pure joy. It was all beyond words.
I found myself coming out. I tried to hold on to it. As soon as I tried to hold on to it it was gone.
The sense of calm remained.
I picked up my robe and put it on.
I sat on the sofa. Not meditating, not sleeping but not really awake either. Pleasantly zoned out.
The girls return.
I heard the sound of a garage door. The girls were back. I got up and looked out the back window. The SUV was pulling into the garage. The girls came up the stairs. All were smiling. Ann and Barbara carried bags, Becca did not.
I said: "I take it your trip was a success?"
All three nodded.
Ann asked where Zena was.
I said: "Napping."
Ann gave me a knowing smile.
Becca started filling me in on their discussions. Mostly it was about forgiveness, forgiveness of others and forgiveness of self.
Zena joined us. She was nude. She seemed totally comfortable that way even though the other girls were fully dressed. She was somewhat disheveled. There was some dried blood in her pubic hair and a broad smile on her face.
I knew Ann and Barb were OK with Zena's appearance but I was not sure about Becca. I need not have worried.
Becca said that she now had a handle on forgiveness. "One area that we only touched on and Ann suggested that I ask you about is the area of power."
I replied: "Power is a tricky subject. In physics power is the rate of change of energy and energy is the ability to do work, specifically force through a distance. Force is the rate of change of momentum. But we mean something very different when we talk of people having power."
"Mostly when people think of power it is the power to get our own way which becomes the power to instill fear. Political power, military power, police power, power of the state, even power of a boss over an employee. Chairman Mao talked of political power growing out of the barrel of a gun. This type of power is what Gary Zukav calls: 'external power.'
"Likewise embracing external power turns off spiritual guidance. Consider Hitler - He was very intuitive and very trusting in his intuition but that intuition worked to bring about Germany's defeat. One might say that even his intuition was serving divine purpose."
Ann said: "He certainly was not so powerful at the end. He had made his world a fearful place and he succumbed to that fear. Stalin also made his world a fearful place and it didn't help him at his end either. He had a stroke one night and nobody was willing to risk his wrath by checking on him in his bedroom. Finally, many days later, they got his daughter to check on him and he was dead, having died several days after the stroke."
I then said: "The Taoists talk of a very different form of power which is called Te. Te is a very difficult word to translate into English. Virtue combined with power comes close but it is a subtle form of power. When ordinary people see someone with Te, they may say: 'Boy, is he lucky.' It is far more than luck, it is going with the cosmic flow. Lao Tzu even claimed that insects will not bite people with Te. It is about living harmlessly, living lovingly but it is a subtle form of loving. Te is actually much more powerful than external power. At the individual level it is the power of soul love and soul awareness. At the higher levels it becomes the power of shared divinity, shared oneness.
"Going with the cosmic flow is not being subservient to any God in any form. Instead it is doing what your heart most desires, what will maximize happiness for yourself and everyone you are interacting with. It is pure freedom."
Becca responded: "I never thought of power in those terms before."
I continued: "Te also turns 'on' synchronicity and the recognition of synchronicity, in fact it turns it on in ways that life can become one long serendipity. Recognizing synchronicity and serendipity can become a form of spiritual guidance, a very happy form.
Our discussion continued.
At one point Becca said: "Thinking about the torturer and the girl. Yes the torturer killed her but she really had the power. He could not get her to confess which was his goal. As she was dying she laughed at him. He was really powerless. All he could do was kill her which was not his purpose at all."
Barbara said: "When we stop fearing death, what is left to fear? Really?"
I said: "That is the point, external power fails when people stop being afraid. The Berlin wall came down without a shot being fired when the citizens of East Germany stopped being afraid. One neat fact about that is that all the candy stores in West Berlin sold out that night."
Our conversation slowly came to an end.
Becca seemed radient.
Lunch.
Then we stopped for lunch. The conversation became lighter as we ate lunch.
I asked the girls what they had bought.
Ann said: "Three dresses including a classic black dress and dancing shoes. Do you think I can talk you into taking me dancing?"
I answered: "You won't have to try very hard at all. I would love to take you dancing."
I turned to Barb and asked her: "And what did you get?"
She answered: "I also bought a classic black dress and another but I already have dancing shoes. I am sure you will want pictures."
Ann suggested that I turn on some music. I went and put on an album of waltz music.
Zena, Becca and I loaded the dishwasher and put away the extra food while Ann and Barbara went to change. Zena continued to be totally relaxed. Most of the time her nipples were hard. She still smelled of sex.
