TRIPPING THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

If my reality came in buckets of all there is, it

would appear as planets around different suns,

each with a life of its own; each with a life of

my own. I’ve lived so many and left them strewn

like breadcrumbs as former versions of me. I’d

visit them more often if I had the time.

T ime.

S pace.

G ravity.

We rotate, and orbit while Earth flies along in what

we call the universe at a couple million miles per hour,

and sixty minutes ago I sat down to to say something

to myself about what it all might mean. They talk

about time travel, but you can’t just run off like that

without your baggage.

That’s what they say, but they don’t know for sure,

because in their religious fervor, numbers don’t lie.

Theirs don’t, but mine do. All the time. I never trust

them, they are Day Trippers, and take me only half

the way there.

In the TSG of me, their numbers cannot find God,

my mind, or my soul. Ha! You can’t even find those

in religion. So what are we supposed to do? It’s not in

any of the digits on your hand, or your eighth grade

Algebra book, either.

Four million miles ago, I closed my eyes, and this is

what I saw. God the universe, the big empty with

everything in it, and my own personal darkness

resting in the light.

Reviews

[Lorry]

By Jiminy you're right Vol! I checked in our equivalent of an eighth grade algebra book, that we call our first year book from being at big boy and girl school, for some reason or other that has probably got nothing to do with the metric system, but I'll use that as a reason to blame!
Neither is it in the palm of my hand or the soul/soles of my feet!
I don't know if id fancy a trip, day or otherwise to visit all the discarded he's from whatever direction the past is. I mean, they all thought they knew everything until me/my/now obviously beat them to the Font of all knowledge, by being me, right here right now.
Well, its what I tell myself to stop the arguments in my head from escaping out my mouth and being tried for treason! 😀

[Vol]

Lorry!
Douglas Adams was right... it is impossible for "What is the meaning of life." as a question to exist in the same universe as the answer, because if it did, everything would collapse and be replaced by something even more bizarre... he goes on to say there are some who believe this has already happened. Either way, I'm still pretty lonely out here in in the middle of nowhere.
On a different note, I have a lot of concern about GB right now. I keep hearing about people being arrested for exercising their free speech rights? Is that true? Are you having to bite your tongue online? If so... the pattern of history is true... the liberals are the ... oops I should wait for your answer before I finish that statement...
Vol

[Lorry]

I knoweth not Vol, other than abortion clinics having buffer zones were you face arrest if you harass people in the zones, which are usually 200 feet in all directions. People still get arrested eventhough they know the cops will step in. It just doesn't stop the rosary bead clackers from stating their obvious "don't do it" stance.
Most of what you'll be hearing is from anti immigration parties like reform, who worryingly seem to be in pole position to take power at the next election.
Look out for the name Nigel Farage and if your story bears that chinless wonders name, it might well be something that rhymes with wool bit! 😀
I've gave up on the news entirely now, both here and in the states. In fact I heard Neil Degrasse Tyson say that with the proliferation of fake news, it might actually end the internet when people start believing whatever their agenda tells them to believe. When fake news takes control, he says the internet will go back to people watching kittens chasing balls of wool and the rest will just go back to harassing real people in public, just like in the good old days! 😀
Be well my friend and remember, weed and scotch both help the festivities pass in a blur! 😀

[Vol]

Lorry,
I know... I lost 99% of my desire to watch the news when Hurricane Elena caused such mindless hyperbole as it wandered around in the Gulf of America back in the Eighties. I dropped the remaining 1% during Desert Storm when no one could pronounce "desalination. By the end of that tiny war, it was 'desalination." What's worse for me is the number of folks who allowed themselves to be manipulated and brainwashed into the current situation where "Vive la diferance" can get you beaten up til,l the cops come to arrest you... Sort of like Chicago, where fifty murders were committed by illegal aliens every weekend getting pissed off about the Feds sending help, arresting bunches of them so the rate is now lowered by 30%. Just think... thirty percent more chairs at the dinner table occupied by mostly fathers and sons.
In the universe I came from, logic was pretty much de rigueur; in this one, it barely exists at all...
VolXXX

[Lorry]

Plus, your El Presidente wants to put his name on everything like the Kennedy centre. I wonder if he'll do the same with the Trump riots, the Trump wall or the...holy s**t, they are known as that! 😀
Ps... I bet it pissed him off that only Fifa gave him a peace award and not Nobel,but even Fifa broke their own rules by doing that so they'll have to ask for it back! 😀

[Curly Grace]

I really enjoy how you move from breadcrumb selves to cosmic speeds to the unreliability of numbers. The poem feels like a mind wandering through galaxies and contradictions, searching for meaning beyond equations or religion. That last image, darkness resting in the light, is such a perfect closing note.

[John the Baptist]

Your last verse sums it all up, Vol. God (or whatever you choose to call It), the great emptiness, with everything in it, and our own personal darknesses resting in the light. I choose to believe evolution is still going on, and eventually the darkness shall be lifted and we shall see our true identity and rejoice in it.

[Vol]

In a perfect creation, evolution is the whole point...

[ETERNITY]

Vol, wouldn't it be something if every planet in every galaxy and solar system is another test to see if we, the beloved of Christ, will ever get 'it' correct?
God set everything in order. I believe he can make us happy for eternity.
FAITH, my heart.

[Vol]

Eternity,
WE tend to make things more complicated than they are. Salvation consists of three things... recognizing who we are (repentance), loving God, and loving our neighbors. That's it... EVERYTHING stems from these. It's where the church blew it... Humans want to complicate things, but salvation is easy, and the yoke is light... If you DO, really do those two things, the reward is a pure heart and a steadfast spirit. I'm sure you have heard it said that you can't work your way into heaven, with those two things, you won't be able to work your way OUT, either.
Vol

[ETERNITY]

Yes, Darling, now hand me that cob of corn, the third from the bottom ;)

[Vol]

Eternity,
My very favorite food! (So many inappropriate comments come to mind, but I'll spare you...
Vol

[jacob erin-cilberto]

something is missing...I have felt that lately but can't put a finger on what it is.
And I have been thinking about lifetimes it seems I have lived about five of them...my days in NY, my time from third grade through high school in Lockport...my undergrad days in the late sixties...my many years of teaching, and now my lifetime of retirement. something is missing...something I still need to do, or maybe I just need to have that feeling there is still something to do.
aging is confusing.
j.

[Vol]

Jacob, ( I wonder if I should preface this with "Don't get me started...)
I think I understand... I know what I'm missing... emotionally, I am alone, and need a true lover.
Sometimes we underestimate the importance of writing and exploring a thought or insight in our poetry. I am reminded of sending my honors seniors to the mall with a video camera to interview random strangers about whatever issues were around at the time. I let them come up with the questions to ask except one the one I had them save for last... "What is the meaning of life?" Not one person had an answer of any kind... in fact, most of the interviews ended as folks ran away. I knew that would happen, I just wanted my kids to understand it is a required question of all thinking people.
It is the thing we HAVE TO DO! Remain curious! And never stop looking for the important stuff of eternity, the stuff science cannot explain about the Universe as God.
Whenever I think cosmologically, the pittance of what I know falls to its knees in light of this vast universe I can only see “as through a glass darkly.” The great emptiness of the physical universe and its perfect mathematical balance is the best we can do. But no math can measure the distance from my mind to my brain. I survive because in my Universe, everything is ameliorated by my unique relationship with the God of the Bible as I understand it, and cannot find any contradiction between what has been revealed there, and what quantum Physics is describing as the conscious Universe. In my reality, He (we need a better pronoun) is an invisible companion attached to me, by my side, in my “heart,” so I am never without an ear to hear my complaints, confessions, glories, repentances and questions. I've had this continuing conversation my whole life.
My father was a pastor, and my parents met, married, and brought me home while they were in Bible College, so I have been steeped in the desire to understand spiritual things to a degree that makes me wonder how much of my thinking is my own (a problem I ignore because I am who I am). I am proud of who I have become, and happy, too.
In the mistaken, fundamentalist doctrines of the church I was born to, I am a heretic, and got here because I have a mind of my own, and have found my own salvation with fear and trembling. And that is enough.
Vol

[Thomas W Case]

Powerful and deep. Excellent work.

[Vol]

Thank you!

[Jimmy Crapped Corn]

I thought about this for a while. It addresses my lifelong trouble with faith. Can't be proven, nor discredited, I desperately want to believe it. But the street in me fights me, the logical forbids . But tuning into the bigger "being" the bigger "cause,", is always fun. Have a safe trip

[Vol]

Jimmy,
I've lived in my had all my life, preferred books to sports, poetry to music... From what I've been reading over the last years, Quantum Physics is beginning to think that the universe is conscious. Science! No faith required. Not believing in some dude in a white robe playing gotcha does not make anyone an atheist. An incomprehensibly vast universe operating in perfect order requires much more intellect than faith. The science says it is too perfectly balanced not to be designed. The parameters for life are too narrow to be a chance occurance. What I've been seeing is that the majority of common, popular opinions and beliefs are nothing more than a search for acceptance by a person or movement that makes a person "cool," and able to fit in. It is not enough to believe or not believe; if you go there, you HAVE to stand on a foundation of knowledge that cannot be assailed. Works in politics, too, but folks are too lazy to think about much of anything anymore.
Vol

[ETERNITY]

Jimmy Crapped Corn, Danny, God made us. He knows our weaknesses. Satan wants you to give up. The Bible says "We ALL sin and come short. There is NONE perfect. No, not one." Keep talking to God. He's listening. We are to pray for each other and help each other. That is our purpose. Someday we'll understand. PM me if you want to talk, babe.

[ETERNITY]

Danny, I love Vol. Vol is very, very intelligent. His knowledge undermines me so much, I'm left feeling a little ignorant instead of learning. Just remember this: Christ is the Son of God. He died so we can live eternally IF WE BELIEVE, John 3:16 It's a choice, love.