“The worlds greatest funfair?” you say as you look at the ticket that somehow appeared in your hand. “Come and enjoy the ride of your life with thrills, spills, chills and moments that bring you face to face with death itself as well as dizzying highs, shocking lows and much, much more” reads the text as you glimpse at the small print: “This ticket admits one. Once you take the ride you must stay within the vehicles perimeters at all times for your safety. We accept no liability for anything that happens, good or bad, as you undertake this adventure of your own free will, come what may. You are entirely responsible for everything“.
“Well, thats seems cryptic” you say out loud as you ponder the predicament. Looking around at your life with its predictable safety and routine boredom you decide “What they hey!” and decide to sign up for the thrills. “It’ll be a nice vacation” you think as you hear a knocking at the door at the same instant. “Hi, we are here to collect you for your trip to the worlds greatest funfair. Are you ready for the ride of your life?” says the tour guide slash chauffeur slash assistant. “Huh? I only thought it…” you say out loud wondering how they got here so quick. “I haven’t even began packing” you protest. Cheerily and with a grin your guide replies “No need for such things, this is a fully catered package deal and you require will be supplied to make the most of this experience. This is your last chance to state whether you wish to sign up for the ride of your life or decline as I came to collect. Either that ticket leaves with me or you hop in and see what happens when you arrive at the destination” he says with his eyes twinkling.
You think for a moment. This all seems really weird. You can’t remember how you got the ticket. Its text seems so cryptic and then this strange looking guy just pops up, out of nowhere and asks you to come with him? You look around at your home, your life, your friends, family and the rest as a sigh escapes your lips. Its nice but predictable, too safe in a sense. Whatever this is it promises the excitement that you didn’t click was missing until that ticket appeared in your hand. “How did it get there?” you think as your guide quietly coughs to get your attention:
“Ahem! You’ll have to make a decision otherwise I’ll pick someone else after you return my ticket. Hate to rush but I’m on a schedule this evening” he says smoothly in a way you find quite hard to resist. Throwing caution to the wind you issue an emphatic “Lets do it!” and head out to the immense and wonderfully equipped limousine that whisks you off to your destination. Getting in you notice its stocked to the gills with food, drinks, entertainment and anything else you could wish. Picking up a beverage and examining the label you notice it says “Whatever You Wish”. Grabbing another and another you spot the Pattern and ask the chauffeur what the meaning of this is. He replies by pressing a button and a screen folds down from the roof as you hear a cheery jingle pump through the sound system:
“So you decided to step into the realm that houses the single greatest experience a Soul can manifest? From now until the end of this imperience it would be helpful to recollect that you are in charge of the whole thing. We have tailored the ride perfectly to bring to the surface that which dwells within. You will see your fears manifest, up close and personal, as well as what you desire just beyond the reach of your fingertips. From crushing disappointments that contrast with stunning achievements you are about to step in to a dimension that defines itself entirely in polarity as it all plays out primarily in your imagination. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself. Set your intent upon whatever you wish that drink to taste like then twist the lid and take a sip”. The video pauses almost like its interactive and waiting. Picking up the bottle you think of the taste of your favorite drink with a twist and are surprised to notice it replicates the entire experience. Even the texture and temperature are identical.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” the video interjects as you sit there sipping with wide eyes, taking all this in. “How did you do this?” you ask the screen and take it in your stride when the replied issue is “I didn’t. You did. Remember, from now until the time the ride of your life ends its all powered by your imagination. It all is whatever you decide it is and the previous steps will define what comes next as its all build on consciousness, emotion and what you wish for within”. “So…. if I open this next bottle and imagine it tastes like say a banana cognac then it will?” you wonder out loud, to the air. “Don’t ask me, try it yourself” comes the reply as you pick up an identical bottle and twist the lid after setting your intent. “Ugh, disgusting!” you say after taking a swig. “But interesting, yes? There is an important lesson in this in that you’ll get exactly what you ask for, even if it manifests in ways unexpected. We threw that in just to keep it interesting as what good is a rollercoaster without twists and turns? In ours the track is invisible so it can feel like you’re flying or being catapulted into nothingness as you fall into the depths of the abyss only to find yourself placed in lanes as other adventurers do their thing” he says. “You mean there are more people?” you ask the screen like you’re talking to an old friend. “Of course, by yourself it would get boring and this adds in random influences and variables because everyone is creating their own ride at the same moment so it generates the kind of outcomes that are quite unpredictable which keeps it so interesting for those of us who like to watch this park of great amusement to which you’re headed this very moment”.
“That sounds ominous” you think “Yet also intriguing” as you wonder what you really signed up as the excitement is creeping through your system as you get used to this style of thinking. “Wait a minute, do that mean I can change my appearance as well? Is that why you said I don’t need to pack anything?”. “My, you catch on quick, most people are headed for the exit before they get this and you haven’t even arrived yet and are already asking the billion dollar questions. Bravo! I can see why you were picked” says the man with teeth that glinting and ever so slightly pointed. Before you can ask anything else the car stops, door opens and you decide you want to take the ride as someone else and imagine the exact opposite of your current embodiment, just to see what happens.
As you leap from the vehicle you feel a growing sense of excitement but then find yourself tumbling as you hit the deck. “What the heck?” you think as you look around at this strange new flesh that surrounds your awareness. “You! Driver! What is the meaning of this. Tell me right now. This instant!” you bellow looking up at the giant with the crazy eyes and oddly translucent skin you’re just noticing. He laughs and picks you up with a sense of effortlessness combined with amusement as he points out you’re speaking gibberish as you pass by a hall of mirrors and you are stunned to notice you are a baby. “What the hell is happening?” you yell, whilst outside in this realm where the funfair dwells there is nothing but nonsense and dribbling as your awareness isn’t accustomed to this new shell its wearing. Calming yourself and remembering its just a ride you look around notice so many other drivers also carrying kids and how some of them are just rolling with it and happy as proverbial pigs in excrement whilst others are yelping in anguish. Either way the strange people but not quite who may or may not be drivers are strangely indifferent. Like they’ve got a job to do and are handling it with the bare minimal effort. A sharp contrast from the easy charisma and seductive presence you remember. You remember. Now where did you remember what you can’t forget to recollect at this moment? What could it be? You’re pondering as you are slotted into your own little carriage seat on a huge rollercoaster that is snaking off into the distance.
“Wait, wait!” you scream “I’m not ready for this, I’ve got loads of questions. Hey you, get back here this instant!” you yell at the receding one who got you into this. Before you can think the ride starts moving with a sense of smoothness and gliding as it floats from side to side in an undulating motion that eases your agitation and suddenly you find yourself grinning taking it all in. There is an immense light show overhead, all around and soon you find yourself enveloped within it as you start tasting the spectrum, hearing the emotion and smelling the locomotion.
You are beside yourself in a sensorial overload that is way more intense and vivid than anything you’ve ever known and it feels like the strongest, most hallucinogenic drug is coursing through your veins as pleasure sweeps your engorged cheeks that are positioned to reveal a toothless grin as the rollercoaster does its thing. You feel the emanations of pleasure from the rest of the babes in their carriages as well as those who don’t like it and are wailing as they generate a sense of discomfort as you yell “Hey, sadsack, stop ruining it for the rest of us, you stupid idiot!”. Of course they don’t hear a thing because everyone babbles on and on in ways incoherent when they’re first being seduced by the ride of their lives as that is how it prepares you for what is coming, by analyzing your reaction and then using this to build the rest of the track because suddenly you find yourself split off from the rest and you faintly recollect a message about no tracks as you accelerate at an immense speed and find yourself screaming “Wheeeeeee!” as you twist the key of energy in flesh and obtain a semblance of coherence as the ride of your life hits the jets. Suddenly you spot another, over there, in the wide blue skies in which you fly and then you’re next to them. “Ah, yes” you think, remembering the taste of that foul concoction “This is all in my head” is recollected as you challenge them a race and you fly with wide grins across your steadily developing face.
As you progress you meet more and more people who are having the times of their lives and are surprised how few actually recollect that which you try to tell them but they remember how to forget, what were you saying again? “Wheeeeeeee!” issues from your lips as the ride does more tricks that you’d never previously imperienced or expected. “Ride?” you think. “Whats a ride?” you wonder as the carriage dips down low and skims the grass, then over the stream as you dangle your fingers in the water, absentmindedly.
There is a shock that rips through your system as you come back to the present moment, wondering what the hell happened. You contravened the rule which is keep all of yourself within your vehicle otherwise bad things will happen but the growing child now sitting in the carriage can’t remember this because somehow you ended up just looping around and around again on this simple circuit that was originally colorful and then slowly got drained of this to become so, so boring. With heavy eyelids you can barely lift as a yawn crosses your lips you sink down into the stupor of boredom and notice it feels quite familiar. Similar to the initial rush but slower, longer cycles and far less interesting. Like a cover of your favorite song but played on another instrument. You look around and notice its so hard to overcome this resonance as their are countless carriages filled with kids that are cycling in this same holding Pattern.
Suddenly there is a jolt. Like a bolt from blue a spark rips through you awareness and embodiment as you come to in the carriage and spot a set of gangly limbs that you didn’t previously notice but before you can question anything you sense the presence of another ship that gets your attention as there are immense sparks arcing from it in your direction. The chase is on. Everyone splits off in small teams. Some are doing it as pairs right there under the influence of magnetic attraction. You notice a whole crowd chasing after one who is baying in ecstasy as their attention causes him to accelerate at an ever greater pace from the girls racing behind him and lavishing him with projected affection as their lusted object evades their grasp and makes their desires more intense as others who were watching join in, thinking “If everyone is doing this it must be worth checking”. But your attention is simply on one whose carriage is blazing out colors that cause your Soul to sing as the dance of opposites begins.
Racing side by side, interlocking, drifting, spinning then meeting up again you are thoroughly satiated and exhilarated by what you’re feeling and, during a calm moment, when you’re side by side on an even pace you turn to glance at the objection of your affection and suddenly notice a dramatic lack of acceleration. Like you crashed into something solid. Everything stopped. She vanished. The lights are gone. You are alone. In the darkness. It is silent. Dread steps in. The grasping part of you laments at what happened because a moment ago it way all perfect and now this? “Hello?” you venture to the pitch black ambiance that seems deafening. “Can anyone here me?” issues in a voice quavering as you feel anxious and anguished at the vision of paradise that was ripped from your senses only to be replaced with this.
All of a sudden you feel a sense of dropping in the pit of your stomach and before you know it you are screaming as you fall into an endless abyss. There is no one there to hear you calling and not matter what you attempt no one is coming to help. “Just you and me, buddy” says a voice within. “Who? Who are you?” you say glad for the company but also apprehensive at what you hear. “Me? I’m you. Who else am I going to be, you tool? What, you’d rather be mad and say you hear voices in your head like a dimwit? No, you asked for help and I came. Before I was just quietly observing, churning away under surface but I’m here now to protect, offer guidance and make sure you get what you intend”.
“Oh, thank god, thank god!” you say as a sense of relief floods your system. “I just want it to go back to how it was back then-” and before you can finish that familiar rocking undulation with sensorial stimulation creeps in and you feel glad to release your tense grip and ease back into it as you forget so much you once thought was important and now can’t even recollect even if you tried your best to wander into that realm and somehow, without realizing it you are now surrounded by other people again as you orbit in another holding Pattern. This time the loops are even longer and the cohesion even stronger as everyone just sits there looking glum and straight ahead. “Hey! Hey you!” you yell to the person next to you and they ignore you on purpose as they are fixated in their awareness and cannot twist their neck anywhere the carriage isn’t pointed.
“Why do you want to talk to them? You’ve got me. I’m your friend. I’ve been there since the beginning. I remember everything. I’m the one that kept you safe. I can give you anything you wish. All you’ve got to do is listen without question and I’ll pull all the strings required to make it happening” slithers into your awareness in a voice you can’t distinguish from your own and its so smooth that eventually the third person act is dropped and instead it speaks, you do. Thats is all there is.
Off there, in the distance, you spot some sparks which jog something, deep down within as you try your hardest to break from this grey looped circuit which is boring you to death. You look down at your hands which are clutching the safety rail and notice the weathered skin. Something feels different but you can’t quite put your finger on it. Its like what was once direct perception is now somehow – “Come now, look at her. Lets go and get her shall we?” derails your train of thought smoothly and heads off in another direction as you get glimpses of what you missed that are also hampered by the threat of losing it again as you dimly recollect the abyss that came from your first experience of resonant connection.
With an immense sense of distraction and growing dissatisfaction you look around and notice a pilot in his vehicle ablaze, screaming as its falling out of the sky before your attention is drawn to this huge orbit of ships around a sphere of influence that reflects back the light poured upon it. “It’s him” you think as you recollect the kindergarten experience “I guess some are just born with it” you say to yourself as you set off to be somewhere by yourself to try and make sense of this.
All around you there are people wooshing, that way and this. Suddenly you recollect that you can connect just via the feltsense of directing your intent as the taste of banana cognac hits your lips and fragments of a life so different, predictable and solid until a ticket was pressed. “You can’t park here” says a voice in your head that is stern and means business. “Go on, get out of here. Keep it moving before you get cited, blighted and possibly kicked out…”
You don’t wait for whats next, instead you jet back onto some tracks that just appeared to rise and clamp onto your carriage as it heads somewhere else along with the rest who are all stringing behind anothers intent without a clue of where they’re going. “Hi, I’m Simon and whatever Simon says you do because you are him and we are me” pours into your awareness and you respond and react without question as that rhythm rises up again, the color slowly drains and next thing you know you look down at your hands with their skin grey and faded and wonder what happened as these pesky kids are zipping around with sparks arcing from their ships as they make them twist and flip in search of the next thrill when all you want is a little peace and quiet.
Looking around you sense a dark void of silence. This time you’re not scared. You actually welcome it because the ride was becoming overwhelming. The ride? “Yes, yes” you think “This is a ride. I’m starting to remember this. I had a whole nother life before that ticket was pressed into my hands, I remember the limousine, the banana cognac that was disgusting and that clown looking ghoul with shadowy yet bright eyes and extended teeth. How long have I been in all of this? How do I get home? Which way is the exit?” and other such things reverberate in your awareness and its at this moment a voice steps in. One you’ve heard so long that you think you are them because when they command you listen.
This time they’ve bought cheerleaders with them as they congratulate you for almost winning the challenge and asking how you liked the the ride of your life on this planet? “But before you leave this realm, permit us to show you something as they spin the showreel of what you could’ve been and had from this experience. With an odd sense of disconnected presence you see yourself catch the girl you’d been chasing instead of falling into the abyss and how it all turned out so different. Not only this but you glimpsed how it felt to be the one that became the celebrity that all were chasing as the center of attention from kindergarten to the world stage and so many other variables and options you never even imagined were possible along with a flashing text in your awareness which reads “To continue, insert credit” as you look around to see if you have anything to offer that will allow you another spin.
Suddenly the voice you think is you but isn’t and the cheerleading squadron burst out in triumph as a light show starts circulating and an undulating vibration makes its presence felt and you sense this is the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning. Either way its something different but before you can direct your awareness and carriage along to this destination you hear “Congratulations! Lucky you. You’ve got another chance to ride. This time you can play to win and all you glimpsed in the preview can become your experience. All you have to do is remain silent during this presentation and the offer it brings because by the time we stop speaking we’ll have prepared everything just as you intended”.
Whilst you were still considering it the door opens and you spill out onto the pavement. “What the heck?” you think as you look around at this strange new flesh that surrounds your awareness. “You! Driver! What is the meaning of this. Tell me right now. This instant!” you bellow looking up at the giant with the crazy eyes and oddly translucent skin you’re just noticing. He laughs and picks you up with a sense of effortlessness combined with amusement as he points out you’re speaking gibberish as you pass by a hall of mirrors and you are stunned to notice you are a baby. Again.
“What the hell is happening?” you yell, whilst outside in this realm where the funfair dwells there is nothing but nonsense and dribbling as your awareness isn’t accustomed to this new shell its wearing. Calming yourself and remembering its just a ride you look around notice so many other drivers also carrying kids and how some of them are just rolling with it and happy as proverbial pigs in excrement whilst others are yelping in anguish. Either way the strange people but not quite who may or may not be drivers are strangely indifferent. Like they’ve got a job to do and are handling it with the bare minimal effort. A sharp contrast from the easy charisma and seductive presence you remember. You remember. Now where did you remember what you can’t forget to recollect at this moment? What could it be? You’re pondering as you are slotted into your own little carriage seat on a huge rollercoaster that is snaking off into the distance.
The Game of Souls has you, my friend. How many times do you think you’ve read this text? Care to recollect?
Till we meet again
21 thoughts on “The Ride of Your Life”