Planet QUAD
Planet QUAD
Planet Quad…
One upon a time in a galaxy far, far away there was a planet named Quad.
The adults on Quad loved their children very much and parents delighted in each stage of their child’s development. They delighted when newborns first opened their eyes, and when they first recognized their parents’ faces and followed them around the room with their gaze. They delighted when infants realized the pink stubs slapping them in their face were their own limbs and realized that, with some concentration, they could control them deliberately.
When infants learned to lift their head, eventually roll over and lift themselves up on all fours, parents were ecstatic. But when their infant began crawling on all fours, they were happiest of all, so much so that they held a celebration to recognize that their offspring had finally reached their “locomotion maturity,” their child was finally able to crawl around like a full-fledged adult.
Because, you see, on planet Quad, everyone, even adults, got around on all fours. When they needed to go somewhere, they crawled.
All the billions of inhabitants on Quad, when they wanted to get somewhere else other than where they were, crawled. As long as anyone could remember this had been the best way to get around, and there were whole industries that supported this reality.
When someone wanted to carry something, they couldn’t use their arms or hands, so they placed items in baskets strapped to their backs… like they were beasts of burden. Shoes and boots lasted a long time since only the toes of these touched the ground, but there was a booming business supplying kneepads and hand pads because these wore out frequently. There was also a brisk trade in helmets, because when crawling for extended periods, necks got tired, so people spent their days looking down and often bashed heads into obstacles and other crawlers. So, helmets were used to minimize injuries.
Yes, life was pretty good on Quad, all the residents agreed. That is, until The Dream.
The Dream...
One night, a young adult had a dream where they crawled towards a thicket covered in gnarly green vines and saw a wizard on the other side. The wizard had kind eyes the colour of turquoise, a long white beard, and his manner suggested he was very old and wise.
The youth, whose name was Yoot, and the wizard stared at each other. The wizard flashed the slightest smile, and at that instant, Yoot heard a word boom in his mind. The word was…
“Arise.”
The wizard, seeing the puzzled look on Yoot’s face, grabbed hold of some vines and elongated its body in a way Yoot had never seen before, until the wizard’s body was vertical with only its feet touching the ground. When the wizard let go of the vines, he remained upright. Yoot was stunned, and as the wizard smiled down, poof, Yoot awoke in his bed, drenched in sweat.
Three days later the dream recurred, except this time with the wizard’s encouragement, Yoot grabbed hold of the vines and lifted himself up until he was high above looking down on the wizard.
Yoot was amazed at his change in perspective.
From up high he could see beyond obstacles that previously blocked his view. He could see further and take in more of the terrain that surrounded him.
When he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, he found he could move about faster than crawling.
Yoot looked back at the wizard who was smiling broadly. Yoot thought to ask the wizard if this was all possible during waking life or just in dreams, but before Yoot could speak, the wizard answered back in Yoot’s head, with one word…
“Try.”
Then poof, the wizard was gone and Yoot was back in his bed.
The next day Yoot found a quiet place in the forest with small saplings he could use to pull himself upright, and after several failed attempts, he found he could stand for a few moments before falling back down.
Each day Yoot returned to the forest and practised lifting himself up on just his two legs. Soon, Yoot found he didn’t need the saplings to elevate himself. Furthermore, he could move around with confidence on just two legs.
Yoot was very careful to make sure no one saw him, for fear they would misunderstand and criticize, scold, and admonish him. Yoot was excited about his new skills but had no one to share them with. He almost missed the wizard and being able to show him his new capabilities.
That night, Yoot dreamed of the wizard, but in this dream, there were no vines or thicket of trees. He and the wizard were walking alongside each other, both upright.
As Yoot formed questions in his mind, immediately the wizard answered them, without words, the ideas and concepts and words forming in Yoot’s mind.
Soon the two of them arrived at a glade with a crystal clear, spring-fed stream running through it.
Yoot looked at the water and realized he could see right through it and see every detail of the riverbed beneath the stream. Yoot asked the wizard how such clarity could exist. The wizard answered with just three words…
“Look, See, Know.”
The wizard saw the frustration on Yoot’s face and was ready when Yoot blurted out,
“Well now that I’ve looked and seen and know, what am I supposed to do now? I don’t fit in anymore, crawling with the others seems backward. I don’t know who to be, where to go, or what to do. Curse you wizard for having ever shown me all this when I can’t use it!”
The wizard looked patiently and lovingly at the angry Yoot. “Sorry,” said Yoot in his mind, “I didn’t really mean that.” The wizard smiled indicating he had received Yoot’s thought.
Yoot and the wizard sat quietly for a while, just breathing, and taking in the beauty and serenity of the glade and the crystal-clear stream that was flowing. They just sat there, on adjacent rocks, absorbing the magnificence and beauty of creation.
Slowly, the wizard pivoted to face Yoot. Gently, he took both Yoot’s hands and stared so deeply at him Yoot felt he might tumble into those turquois eyes that seemed to see right down into his soul.
This time when the wizard spoke, Yoot did not just hear it in his head, he felt it in his chest, in his heart, radiating down past his stomach out the soles of his feet. He felt it radiating upward through his throat, through his mind and out the crown of his head where it sputtered and discharged into the Universe like electricity.
And accompanying this profound sensation came a word, an idea, that filled Yoot up like a vessel until it gushed and overflowed. The message encoded in the idea vibration was…
“TEACH.”
Yoot’s face dropped, like the bottom falling out of a container...
“I can’t do that. Please, don’t ask that. No one would listen. No one would have any interest,” Yoot pleaded, “I can’t.”
The wizard looked at Yoot gently and said in Yoot’s mind,
“MANY would be interested, THOUSANDS ARE interested, you just need to find each other, and MILLIONS more are searching for something, they just don’t know WHAT “IT” is.”
“Let them see you walking, upright, confident and crystal clear, able to see what they cannot from down where they are, from where you once were.
When they approach you, and many will, reach out, lift them up like the vines and the thicket lifted you up.
Let them LOOK and see what you can SEE, show them what you have come to KNOW and let them DECIDE for themselves if this is also for them.”
“If they decide they are not ready, do not be concerned.
Smile, bid them well, and move on to others who ARE hungry for what you offer to share.”
Suddenly, before Yoot could object, poof, just like before, the wizard was gone and Yoot was back in his bed, but this time his bedclothes and the bed sheets were cool and dry.
Over the next few weeks, Yoot revealed his knowing and upright ways. His parents were mortified and alarmed for his wellbeing.
“Oh my,” they exclaimed, “What have we done wrong?”
“You cannot do this!”, they declared. “We forbid it. This is blasphemy.
Everyone knows the proper way to get around in this world is to crawl, keep your head down and wear your helmet, and be safe.
This has been our way and the way of our world for millennia.
Who are you to upset this supreme, God-given system?
You are wrong, you are LOST!
You must repent immediately and cast away any thoughts of this demon wizard and his sinful ways, along with his insidious mind control.
We will take you to the holy man who will exorcise this evil from you.
Then you will return to just as before and we will never speak of this again.
We will forget the shame you have brought on our family this day.”
Yoot just stood there silently looking at them. “Well,” thought Yoot, “I guess I won’t be going on any upright strolls in the forest with good old Mum and Dad anytime soon.”
Nevertheless, Yoot remained strong and was undeterred.
Many of Yoot’s friends gave him the same dread-filled reaction as his parents, but there were some who were curious and wanted to learn. Some of them began trying the “upright shuffle” as they called it and found that, with a little practice, they could do it too. They were surprised how much they liked it, and how many benefits it brought to their daily lives, especially the elevated perspective, swiftness, and agility.
Initially those practising these new ways met in private but soon some began revealing their abilities to others. Many who saw were shocked and appalled, but others were intrigued. As more tried and adopted these new upright ways, they found their lives improved, and these improvements were seen by those around them. Some observers began asking how they did it and to teach them. Even Yoot’s parents quietly made enquiries.
Soon many who were living this new way, were also teaching. Others, who said they didn’t want to teach, were still teaching by living their lives in plain view.
One day Yoot was asked to explain the essence of this new way in just a few words that would be easy to remember.
Yoot paused, his eyes glazed over slightly as he thought back to his first meeting with the wizard, which seemed so long time ago.
He recalled the wizard’s first words to him, that he heard in his mind that first day, and to these words, Yoot added his own perspective.
He turned to the one asking the question, smiled slightly, and said…
“Yes, there is a phrase… and it goes like this…
Arise…
Arise and focus deliberately on what you want and where you want to go.”
And as the questioner stood there, upright, absorbing what Yoot had just shared, Yoot waited patiently. And as he did so, in his mind, Yoot could see the wizard smiling at him, and in his mind Yoot smiled too.