The Life of One Canuck

The Obligation to the Good Time

January 25, 2010 at 4:57 am (Uncategorized)

Let me stick an image in your mind for a moment. Those convoluted cerebral serpents are going to get a little clarity. Lets call this a thought excercise; one that I’m very accustomed to and out of my generosity, I want to share with you all. I made it up for myself, and it always helps me get my bearings in life. If you ever catch me looking up at the sky with the look of a daydreamer, this is what I’m doing. : )

(Also try listening to the song in my link while you do this. It’s one of my favorites and I find it helps put me in the right state of mind.)

Imagine yourself at a pool party, surrounded by the people you know best in the world. Whether they are friends or family is irrelevant, all that matters is that these are the people you know inside and out, down to the last speck of their personalities.

You’re having a wonderful time, playing games, splashing each other, talking about old times. The sun is high in a scarcely cloudy sky and it’s about noon, so you’re bathed in warmth while the refreshing water pools around you. Theres a light breeze in the air and the trees around you shift about humbly. It’s hardly enough to notice but it pricks your wet skin with a vivid wisp of cool air from time to time. A light tune is carried about on the wind and comes about when it hits the trees, a sweet natural melody. Physically, you are as relaxed as ever; the ebb and flow of the water lulling you into a cool daze as you play the day away. You can’t think of a time when everyone was having more fun.

Your friends exit the pool for a bit to get something to eat. “You coming with?” they ask frankly. You decline; the mood in the pool at that moment is just too good to resist, its something special that you just don’t want to waste. What you’re experiencing is a sort of natural harmony, some intangible aspect of the day has you trapped in awe and epiphany. So you sit and float. That seems appropriate, right? A day this perfect only comes around once in a while, so what better way to spend it then floating?

With arms and legs spread and your back to the water, you float right in the middle of the pool. Your eyes are affixed to the sky and your ears are below the surface. The tune of the trees is muffled, coming through in a warped, bellowing tone; like hearing the sweetest music through a paper-thin wall. The tune is different, but you welcome it all the same. Below the surface is where the true music will stay, the excess volume, the harsh noises of the day, it all evaporates  away and your left with the tune of the trees, dancing about the leaves.

Above you is the most incredible sight you’ve ever seen. A palette of clear blue with a single cloud right in the center of your field of vision. The cloud has no shape, its constantly shifting, restless in reality, reveling in the rhythm of the day’s tune. This cloud is above forms, it’s perfect and flowing.

Your eyes never stray from it, you just keep trying to make sense of the ethereal shapes. Suddenly, the cloud urges you under, without words it asks you to drown. This request might seem jarring but at this moment it makes perfect sense, some innate function, a presence that exists in the deepest folds of your soul tells you know not to doubt the cloud. After silently accepting its request, the water begins to slowly envelope you.

Going under feels different this time. You notice that as the water crawls along your skin, it goes numb with warmth. The warmth envelopes every part of your body. Your skin perkilates with euphoric pleasure and your chest feels heavy and winded.Your head feels light, as if its sprung from your neck and floated off on its own. As the water gently washes over your eyes, you begin to go blind. The beautiful palette of warm blue is replaced by a dull lifeless black and your vision slowly dims into the gaping maw of a warm, sensual abyss. In the center of this abyss the cloud remains as it had before, in a transient limbo of shaplessness.

Stripped of your senses, all you can feel is the numb shifting of the water’s current. Your paralyzed form is finally flowing with the warm water, flowing with the tune of the trees, lost in the mercy of the ebb and flow. You are a cloud floating through a land of water and dreams, passing with the current through every font of reality. Every experience that you’ve ever treasured, every smile you’ve ever evoked on the face of a friend, every kiss stolen from the lips of a lover, every time your heart has grown golden in the heat of a perfect moment, everything that makes you real exists in a continuum of thoughts and colours below the water.

Congratulations, you’re drowning. : )

Edit: As usual, I’ll come back and revise this soon. For now, I’m going to grab my book, read for a bit, then get some z’s.

I realize its a bit rough. I wish I could’ve had more time to work out some of my thoughts, but I have a lot on the horizon.