Back to "Guided Expriences"

Suggestions:

While this Guided Experience can be done by oneself, it strongly recommended that, initially, one works with this Guided Experience with an orientor and with others in the context of a Formative Meeting of Ang Kommunidad (The Community).

Before proceeding with this experience, one must be in a state of complete physical, internal and mental relax (see associated materials).

A reader reads the following for the others, in a calm and neutral voice, pausing for several seconds where an asterisk (*) is indicated.If no one volunteers to read, an .mp3 file may be launched by selecting radio button below. It will launch your computer's native media player and playback the Guided Experience. Adequate speakers or audio monitors must be connected to the computer for everyone to hear this well.

The Clouds*

In total darkness I hear a voice that says, “In the beginning there was neither being nor nonbeing. There was neither air nor sky above, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. There were neither human beings nor animals, not even one bird, fish, or crab, no stones, caves, or cliffs, no prairies or forests. There were neither galaxies nor atoms—nor were there department stores. Then you were born, and sound and light began, and heat and cold, and rough and smooth.”

The voice falls silent, and I become aware that I’m going up the escalator in a huge department store.

I pass by several floors, and then I see the roof of the building opening above me. Slowly and effortlessly the escalator carries me up into the clear sky.

Down below I can see the building, looking very small. The sky is a deep blue. I feel the pleasant rippling of my clothes in the breeze, and with great serenity I take deep breaths of the fresh air.

Passing through a layer of fine mist, I encounter a sea of very white clouds.

The escalator gradually levels out, and I begin to walk on it as if it were a sidewalk. I move forward, and realize I’m walking on a floor of clouds.

I can walk without effort, and gravity is so weak that I can leap long distances. Taking advantage of this, I flip head over heels, landing on my back and rebounding as if bouncing on a huge trampoline. I seem to move in slow motion, with perfect freedom. (*)

I hear the voice of an old friend greeting me, and see my friend running gracefully toward me. Coming together in an embrace, we roll over and over, bouncing and tumbling, laughing and singing. (*)

Finally we sit down, and my friend takes out a retractable fishing rod and extends it. For tackle, instead of a hook we tie on a horseshoe-shaped magnet. Then we let out the line, and the magnet descends through the floor of clouds.

After a while the pole begins to jerk and my friend exclaims, “I think we’ve caught something good!” Immediately we begin to reel in the line, and soon a large tray emerges, stuck to the magnet. The tray is filled with all kinds of food and drink, and everything is exquisitely arranged. Setting down the tray, we prepare for a great feast.

Every dish I taste has a delicious flavor. Even more remarkably, we can eat everything we want without gaining weight, and the food never runs out. All we have to do is wish, and new dishes appear to replace any we have eaten. I begin helping myself to all my favorite kinds of food, savoring every mouthful. (*)

At last, completely satisfied, we lie back on the soft mattress of clouds, enjoying an incredible sensation of well-being. (*)

My body feels warm and soft and completely relaxed, as gentle thoughts wander through my mind. (*)

I notice that I feel no sense of hurry or restlessness or any desire at all. I feel I have all the time in the world for myself. (*)

In this state of complete fulfillment and well-being, I recall the problems I had in everyday life. I feel able to handle these problems without undue tension, and clear objective solutions appear to me. (*)

After a while I hear my friend say, “It’s time for us to return.”

Standing up and taking a few steps, I realize I’m on the escalator again. It begins to slope gently downward, passing through the floor of clouds. I feel a fine mist as I begin going back down to the earth.

Approaching the building, the escalator enters the roof. As I descend past the different floors of the department store, all around me I see people worriedly trying to choose which objects they will buy.

I close my eyes and hear a voice say, “Then there was no fear, no worry, no desire, for time did not exist.” (*)

 

 - END -

• Participants discuss their experiences.

*Note on this Experience:

This story bears the name of Aristophanes’ comedy, first performed in 423 B.C. Throughout the guided experience, there is a lighthearted, playful background in homage to the spirit of the original Greek work.

The voice heard at the beginning of this story incorporates into a single passage elements inspired by the genesis passages of three important works. The opening is inspired by the “Hymn of Creation” of the Rig Veda, which reads, “Neither nonbeing nor being was as yet, neither was airy space nor heavens beyond.” The next phrase, “and darkness was upon the face of the deep,” is a direct quotation from the first book of Moses (Genesis 1:2). The following sentence is reminiscent of the Chichicastenango manuscript of the Popol Vuh, the sacred Council Book of the Quiché Mayan people, which reads, “There is not yet one person, one animal, bird, fish, crab, tree, rock, hollow, canyon, meadow, forest.” With the next phrase, “There were neither galaxies nor atoms,” we reach the realm of present-day science journalism with its debates on the Big Bang theory. And finally, “nor were there department stores,” derives, according to a note by the author, from an explanation by a four-year-old girl. Here is the anecdote in question:

“So tell me, Nancy, what was everything like before the world began?”

“There was no mommy and daddy,” the little one replied, “and no department stores, either.”