there was a nice bench by the wayside .. he propped his walking stick up against the bench...he took his backpack off ,, dug out his sphone and sat down
gnat>>GEMINI....open up the COE...(Gemini is gnats sphone name and coe is an outline editing program)
gemini>>can do
gnat>>go to the end of the project "get back to greem"..
gemini>>got it......
and gnat started writing on the sphone with the pencil , he was writing a poem maybe a lyric,,,,he put the date on the top right of the page...and wrote this:::
hiking the GBR
hiking the GBR
a smile upon my face
sadness there isnt a trace
hiking the GBR
everyone smiles as you go drifting by
, , ,he was so busy he didnt noticed the man untill he sat down on the bench.. next to him
rc>>hi my name is red cloud,,,rc
gnat>> gnat was startled,,, a bit and recovered ,, , , ,,glad to meet you RC....my name is gnat....i put a lot of weight on first impressions... its almost uncanny on earth ....i size people up immediately and very often its negative , , ,but here in nootopia every one I meet come across is good....i look at you and see a good person,,,are you ???/
RC>>I would say I'm a nice person . . .but that depends doesn't it,,,,,,,,,on what you mean by a good person....
gnat>> well there is honesty....first and foremost , , , , . .
RC>>yes honesty is right up there at the top for being a nice person, , ,and honesty is a universal trait here in nootopia..when it comes to politics there is only 1 party , , , ,the party of the earth ,,,the party of nature . . honesty makes the best policy , , , , ,
along with honesty there is not being greedy....to not demand more than your fair share , , , ,everyone is seated at the table , , everyone treated equally .. .yes?? noone left behind no one far ahead . . .no luxurys and no poverty . . no fat cats and no hunger and homelessness , , ,
rc>>also to be a nice person is a bedrock understanding of tao tao , , , ,which unlike most religions, is freeing...tao tao is not really a religion, its a philosophy .and its founding book is the "Tao te ching " which translates into "The way and its power " , , , it was written in about 500bc . .by one chinese dude named lao tzu . It teaches how humans and animals should live in balance with nature ,with Tao tao , the universe, ,, as a wonderful extention , , , , a bonus tao taoists believe in spiritual immortality.. where the spirit of the body rejoins the universe after death , , , chi is the energy present and guiding everything in the universe . tao tao is a guide for behavior and spiritual ways of living in harmony with this energy., this nature and be ,honest
you can have a belief in another religion but also have tao tao as a foundation,,,in fact one of the worlds eastern religions zen is based on the tao tao world view , , ,
honesty in our relattionship with the Earth,,,, everyone knows that Earth is in trouble,,, and thats a major focus . . .here in greem , , ,we live in harmony with the nootopia , , every step we take goes lightly on the nature . .. .every eco-system is respected and left alone to fullfill its destiny . . . .
and personnal cars - - -- there are none.......
rc>>back in babel they have global warming...too much carbon dioxide being emitted around the globe , , ,,its effecting the oceans temperature , , ,in fact the ocean is a mitigating influence on the land ,, ,, most of the excess heat is being absorbed by the oceans , , ,oceans are getting warmer faster than the land. . . . and the first casuallity are the coral reefs...the loss of the coral reefs is a red flag , , ,, that something is terribly wrong , , , we are holding the fate of the earth in our hands . . .in greem there are no cars just red and white electric vw vans , not all roads have traffic, and all the roads that are van friendly are one-way so the streets are narrower, pedestian friendly ,, the city has a high population density , , ,you can walk almost anywhere , , , speaking of walking, why dont we get back on the GBR, ok ....so gnat stowed the sphone .... put on his pack and they were off , ,, ,
they walked on in silence . . RT used a pair of walking sticks to stabilize himself , , ,, he had on an enormous back pack . ...
after a few hours they came to a campsite by the road , , , , , ,
tents up
fire supper
sleep
morning came right on time , , , ,
buffalos were hanging out on the grbr . and ever so often they grunted loudly..they seem to be molting , , ,hair coming offf in slabs , , ,leaving behind short and shiny brown hair..
they came upon trail leading away from the GBR .. . .. there was a small sign reading ''Shingwuays .tao tao temple" , , , after a discussian they decided to go for it .. . .it sounded great . the trail was easy at first ,, the trees were quite thick , , ,,it was cool in the shade , ,they came upon a stream with an upside down "U" shaped bridge , , ,crossing it was a bit tricky,. but once across they felt elated , and the feeling didnt go away , , ,,they felt good and happy and tired , , ,soon the trail started to climb when the climb got steeper, the gravely trail gave way to stone steps , , ,up and up they climbed ,, soon they could see the way ahead , , the staircase hugged the side of a mountain that was shaped like a 4 storey building..it must have been 200 steps , , , they would go up some steps and then rest for awhile , , , finally the reached the summit , , , , , , the view was spectacular, , ,there was a building, a tower several stories high, , , ,it was simple and plain . . .it had a small courtyard out in front...there was a short man standing there.. he spoke....
mw>>:hi rc and gnat , ....: welcome to shingwuays .Tao tao temple ,, gnat...you dont remember me but we have met ,, ,trust me you are on the right path , , ,now ..come with me inside , ," it was a large circular space , , , with a few windows on the wall and a large yin-yang symbol on the floor "why dont we do some tai chi?? Tai chi is a series of coreographed motions or steps that are done by a group in unison ,, ,, lets go ... we will start with the first step called raise hands. .. .. now stand here before me and to my left .. .. . .stand with your feet beneath your shoulders .....arms at your side .breathe deeply ,, follow your breath , , . .the first position is raise hands , , ,,slowly raise your hands in front of you . . . .as if they are suspended in air . . .let them rise and fall. . .asd if by strings , , ,at shoulder level rotate the hands forward and then slowly lower them back to your side verysimple . . now try it again,, , ,,
for the next few minutes they listened to the master and tried to follow his lead on the opening movements., over and over , , , and when they were done the master took them thru the whole tai chi routine , , ,there was a little balancing on one foot , , ,,which at that stage was very hard to do .
after they'd finished the tai chi movements they took a short break,,mw gave them each a copy of the book "Tao Te Ching." The founding book of Taoism...its was written in 550BC , , , ,by a reluctamt wise man named Lao Tsu in China
....it is short.... . . it has only 81 verses..... you could read the whole thing in a day and spend the rest of your life pondering it , ,, ,, there are many translations , , ,
mw>>first off we here at Shingwuays .tao tao temple call Tao by the name Tao tao,,,,why repeat them name every time????? ??? ? ?? ? ? ?? ? ?? ? it takes us away from the hum drum english language and elevates the words tao to a singularity, ,, , , ,, its special , , ,it also causes us to stop thinking for second.. .. to be present in the moment . . . whenever I make a physical mistake like dropping a soda bottle cap , , ,i say thankyou tao tao ,, i lean over and recover the cap and put it on , ,I accept the mistake, , , ,no matter how bad and i am grateful and present and try to correct the problem and try to be more careful and present in the future .. ..To be present in the future , ,, , a curious phrase .. .. .. .but I guess true . . .
there are 81 verses in the tao tao te ching,,
,lets start reading from the beginning , ,, , ,open your book to chapter one:
the tao tao doesnt have a name , , ,it was here before the beginning of the universe where there were no names.. we call it tao tao out of convenience. the universe started 13.8 billion years ago....tao tao was fully there .. from the start . unchanged and . .for the most part, the universe is on auto-pilot. the physical universe obeys laws..scientific laws...like Newtons 3 laws of motion...
1/ a body remains at rest or in motion at a constant speed in a staight line, unless activated upon by a force
2/when a body is acted upon by a force, the time rate of changeof its momentum equals the force
3/if two bodies exert forces on each other, these forces have the same magnitude but opposite directions
that pretty much describes a pool table with no pockets ..which is in 2 dimentions ... you rack the 15 balls on the mark,, then you chalk your cue stick ,,aim and let fly.your breakshot ....there's a tremendous crash and the balls fly everywhere..collisions evrywhere but it eventually all the balls stop,,why is that? because of friction and gravity...,, now imagine that there was no friction.or gravity and we are limited into 2 dimensions , , , ,..the balls will continue colliding for ever,,,and if it were 3D , , ,then they would scatter just like in real life , , ,add gravity into the mix and voila , , ,we get matter clumping together . .. forming planets, suns, solar systems, nebulas, and galaxies .
mw>>this is all very well for the physical aspects of the universe like the evolution of galaxys,, solar systems and planets but when it comes to evolution of life,,something else must come into play . . ..a spirit arises, , ,possibly due to gravity ,like the eye on top of the stone pryamid . . ., ,the spirit that arose on Earth we call it Gaia. She monitors the solar system and tweaks it to favor the beginnings of life on Earth ,, , ,lets face it , the evolution of life on Earth is a statistical impossibility,,from many angles....
1/ the existence of a suitable planet , , , ,more than a million to one shot . . .but doable given the large number of planets out there,,,.
to help the odds a huge amount we postulate the existance of a spirit called GAIA ,, weilding MP (meta-physical ) powers,,, ,able to influence the evolution of the Earth , , ,over the span of billions of years to make an environment suitable for life to thrive
2/the bactetria , , , ,0 oddds
3/ the DNA .......0 odds
3/multicelluar , , , ,,0 odds
4/functioning organisms 0 odds
5/brains - spirit 0 odds
the evolution of life is a game and the game is rigged , , , ,for positive outcomes
it started getting darker .. . .. and since there were no lights,, they ate a quick bowl of oatmeal and beans..it tasted good...and they set up their tents and hit the sack....
as gnats head hit the pillow he prayed:
i pray for my health and safety
i pray for my familys health and safety
i pray for my friends health and safety
i pray for Earths health and safety
i pray for Nature's health and safety
i pray for Gaia's health and safety
i pray for the muse
i pray for strength, courage, bravery
wisdom, enlightenment
love, guidance, prosperity, protection, happiness, and more good friends
and with that he fell asleep,,,,
the next morning, gnat awoke with the temple bell ring, , , more of a chime , , ,he rolled out of his bag and crawled out of the tent , , ,,he did his thing and then ate a breakfast , ,, at 9 oclock they gathered in the hall , where mw again taught them the intricasys of the various tai chi movements ,, , ,starting lesson 1 they took their positions before mw and to the right....
mw going over what they knew over and over and then onto the next step over and over
then they went thru the whole tai chi form ,, , ,gnat really enjoyed it , ,, ,it took them about 30 minutes ,
rc and gnat went out on to the wide back porch and sat in a nice chairs.. it overlooked a lake and wooded mountains and there was no evidence human activity anywhere,,,, ,, ,,humans were just a little feature in this landscape , , , ,the lake was quite close and there were trails all around .. there was a small island with two small wooden arched bridges connecting the island to both sides of the lake..
mw brought them mugs of tea , , , herbal tea...no sugar,,,,it was so nice to sip it and watch nature,,,
mw>> i am not a preacher or a follower of any religion , , ,I am a patient observer and a studyer of the flow of life,, Tao tao requests that you observe nature ,learn its lessons , , ,,,i feel the wind in my hair and watch the clouds skuttle by...sometimes the rain comes down and blesses the land , , ,the water cascades down the mountain side, sometimes a roaring torrent sometimes a waterfall sometimes a lazy river in a valley ,, ,, sometimes a still lake like we have here , , ,filled with all kind of lifeforms , , , like the great blue heron,, ,,standing so still,,,,in the shallow water...stareing into the water looking for fish , , ,like the turtles some underwater ,, some hauled out on a rock or a branch , , ,just laying there without a care in the world , , ,in deep meditation...content,,but if they feel they are being seen, they shoot off like a rocket leaving a muddy trail,,,,,,then there are the crops planted in the spring and harvested in the fall , , , ,sometimes bringing bounty sometimes not , , , ,the seasons come and go like everything in life it comes and goes,,ride and fall, ebb and wane, living and dying ,, all this is like a wheel slowly turning , , ,infinite processes which cant be defined by words or concepts or formulas...no it can only be experienced,,,these words I am speaking can only go so far , , ,,they can point to the moon but they aren't the moon.. ... .its time for a walk , , ,,everyday i set out on a walk around the green lake..every day of the year...put down your cups and lets go , , ,
and so they set out , , ,single file with mw leading , , ,the trail went down a gentle slope , , , suddenly mw froze,,,and he waved at them and pointed to the ground ,, ,, there in the middle of the trail was a skink , , ,a lizard with tiny legs and no neck,,,this one was basking in the sun , , it was brilliantly red and blue , , , its a question how they could evolve to look so beautiful without a mirror. . . .to find a mate they must be attracted to colors , , ,their sense of beautiful , ,, when they resumed their walk the skink disappeared suddenley like a bullet . . .they continued their walk...the trail forked and mw went left , , ,more downward with trees shading them , , ,they came to a short arched bridge of wood, , ,,that led to a small grassy island with a tree and two benches,,, one on each side of the island,, ,, ,gnat sat down on the iron bench and mw and rc sat on the /wooden bench....no words were spoken . . .the swallows put on a show,, darting here and there , , , sometimes dipping into the water in flight , ,, there were no buildings anywhere , , ,just the trees and trail , , ,gnat watched as a bluebird shot by ,, a bolt of blue , ,,and landed on a nesting box by the shore , , ,
too soon mw got up and led then across the second bridge to the far shore , , , ,the trail went up the other side , , , the trail meandered up and down , , , , ,mw froze again...this time it was a rabbit,,,a young one , , ,it stopped on the trail , , ,the seconds ticked away,,,,gnat wondered if it was feeling threatend..apparantly not as it reared up on its hind legs and rubbed its muzzle , , , ,then behind it a ground hog emerged on the trail , , , it breifly stopped , , , , ,,gnat had never seen one up so close ,, , ,it was a beautiful . . . the way it was so thin and flat , , ,hugging the ground , , , , ,how its cheeks met with its shoulders ,its fur was corse and fine , ,it scurried off into the bushes , , , and so did the rabbit , , ,the three climbed for awhile until they came to the top of a ridge , , there was an overlook and they could see for miles , it was breathtaking , , and no human touch,,,except for one small square building red open on all four sides . ..their was a figure,, a man,, reclining, ...meditating , ,, there were many hills shaped like fingers,pointing to the sky . . .,,so precipice there was no way for a man to reach the top , , ,but the trees and vegitation were there , , , on top and sides . . .gnat looked along the ridge and saw a large bird,,,, a buzzard,,wings outstetched not beating , , ,sailing on the ridges updraft...getting nearer . . .nearer .. the big bird twitched a little ..then he was directly overhead and then gone .. .
trail
they got back to the temple just in time for lunch,,,,,which was a quite a meager affair , , ,, there was fish but not much , , after lunch gnat went off and grabbed his sphone extended the screen and called GEMINI to start COE to where he last worked , , ,he opened it up and started writing about the trail of nature and its many fine beasts , , ,
the temple bell chimed , , ,gnat folded the sphone screen and put it into his pocket ,, ,the sphone had a feature that prevented the loss of the sphone...whenever you were 10 feet away from your sphone it woudl beep and your pocket would buzz .. ... gnat went to the main room , , ,
mw>>its time for afternoon tai chi .
... .line up behind me and to my right , ,, ,good , ,, first feel your breath , , ,in and out , , ,relax your mind ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, , now spread your legs shoulder width apart , , ,breath , , ,,slightly close your eyes , , , , ,bend your knees a little , , , , shoulders back a little , , ,raise your arms slowly , , ,to shoulder level , , , ,rotate your hands forward slowly,,,palms facing outward , , ,,good, lets do it again , , ,, ,then they did position number 2 a few times then they went thru the whole routine , , ,,again it took 30 minutes , , , ,
gnat>>i really enjoy the tai chi , , ,,,its relaxing
mw>>if your doing it right, your in a state of non-focus ,, ,, a meditative space , , ,the mimd chatter goes down . . .and awareness goes up . . .
mw>>follow me , , , ,gnat , , ,,we'll go to the library , , , they climbed a stone cirular stairway that openeds into a large room this is an artist library , , ,,, ,whatever artist you want to study is at your fingertips . . . . , , ,,what would you like???
gnat>>well I am not certain what qualifies a person to be callled an artist , , ,but I'd sure like to be one , ,, , it would be an honor , , , ,any way , , ,I'm writing a story, , I write lyrics , , ,I write accompanying music and i sing and i play guitar , , ,
mw>>"so your weapon is the guitar , ,sit here,,, the chair was in front of a large screen and this guitar was on stand next to it..." and MW handed the guitar to gnat, , ,
gnat took it and felt its weight, , , it was a nice guitar ,,, it was a classical guitar with a cedar top,,,,the strings were of course nylon , it had a tuner and a capo on the headstock , , , he tuned it up , , ,
mw>>do you feel comfortable in front of this screen , , , ,,is that comfortable with your guitar ???
gnat>>: its perfect ,, , ,
mw>>so who is your guitar favorite??your guitar artist???
gnat>>"no question its James Taylor , ,he wrote alot of songs at different levels of difficuly , , , on a bunch of his songs,
he plays a very elementary guitar , ,but still the songs are fantastic,"
mw>>the first song of his to try to master is "sweet baby james"
we will use the fake book version ,, just the chords and words , your sphone computers name is GEMINI isnt that so GEMINI
GEMINI>>"yes it is mw"
mw>>GEMINI i want you to connect to this nearby screen please
GEMINI>>got it .
mw>>pull up james taylors sweet baby james...fake book , , ,.
gnat didnt have to wait a second, , ,, ,on the screen in front of him there appeared the chords and words to the song , ,,,just as he remembered it..
mw>>GEMINI play the song, ,
GEMINI>>the first chord is a D are you ready???
gnat>>put his fingers on the chord .. .. "ready"
and it started right away , , , the screen showed the chords above the words:
D A G F#m
,"there is a young cowboy lives on the range "
Bm G D F#m
his horse and his cattle are his only companions,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,etc..
gnat strummed the chords and sang along , ,its just about the only strumming song tarlor ever wrote ,,,, gnat ,did a pretty good job ,he'd played it enough times, ,and when it was over,,,,,
mw>>GEMINI- - - save song to playlist 1 , , , ,,
mw>>I'll leave you now , , , you can take it from here , ,i guess you can say that the music world is your bivalve molluscs....:
gnat>>thanks I'm having a blast , , ,
:GEMINI pull up taylors greatest hits . . . "which GEMINI did , it had the album art, ,"show...the song ....."something in the way she moves" ......which GEMNI did , , ,the screen was filled with words and chords....
,"put it on playlist 1 , , , ,at the top , ,now , ,Play ..".
GEMIINI>>it has a capo on fret 3,,, and its first chord is A , , ,, ,,are you ready???
gnat took the capo off the headstock and put iy on the 3rd fret , , , , ,"ready" and off it went,,,,till it reached the end , , ,
gnat>>GEMINI play the last 10 seconds again ... . . ." he did this many times until he had the ending note and chord changes down pat , , , , he felt very proud to be able to replicate what he was hearing , , , note for note , , ,
gnat>>GEMINI, , ,do you have my songs in your memory banks on the sphone?"
GEMINI>>
i believe I do gnat,,,,"
gnat>>can you play my song . . " I'm leaving
GEMINI>>their is no fake book format for that song, but you do have a text file of that song...would you like me to pull it up?"
gnat>>yes pull it up,,, " it was exactly as he remembered it,,,,the song title and date and the lyrics .. instead of the chords being placed above the words, the chords were tacked on to the end of the line. the first verse looked like this :
I'm Leaving by gnat
been so long i can't remember A D G C
this life has grown a little pale F E Am
but all the good times I will cherish A F G C
just like the bad memories will fail F E A G D
gnat>>save this song to playlist2..." what if I wanted to write a song right now??
GEMINI>>the recording studio is a digital audio workstation (DAW) and its called RAZ . its very easy to use but its best to take a short tutorial first. shall we begin?
gnat>>let the games begin" and the tutorial started . . . .for the most part RAZ was voice controlled but you could also control it by using a mouse or the mousepad, , , ,or the sphone
just as gnat was finishing the tutoriaal the temple chime sounded , , ,
gnat>>GEMINI... i"ll be going now,,, you can shut down the screen ,,," the screen turned off and gnat went down the circular staircase to the main floor , , , ,
they went out to the patio and sat at a table for their evening meal
, ,MW brought out the meal and they enjoyed the food . . . .RC related how he was making progress on his project , , , every time he showed up he was moving forward even if only a little bit...gnat talked about learning how to play guitar and being able to predict the next chord , , ,there were pretty much 7 chords in all,, and they were numbered 1 to 7,,, in the key of C which has no sharps or flats, , ,, ,the C chord is 1,, ,,..and 2 being the D chord.. . up to the B chord which was a 7,,,,
evening Tai Chi lesson, , ,, . here MW was getting ready for a tai chi lesson.....RC stood behind and to the right of MW
and gnat filed in to the right of RC
where he said "hey buddy" gnat nodded back, , ,
MW started the session by going over the steps they had previously learned....with emphasis on keeping the mind quiet ... to focus on the movements , , , a sort of moving meditation if you will . , , , ,
Tao Te ching lesson , , , ,
sleep
morning,,,, grin seeds
breakfast on the patio.....
tai chi lesson
gnat>>dont get me wrong, , , ,the green brick road has been great...but when do I get to greem? I feel like I've been on it forever..
MW>>let me show you the roof ,but first gnat,, get your back pack and tent .." gnat returned so MW led RC and gnat to the circular stone staircase . . . .up they went , , ,past the library , then past another floor , , ,on up to the roof .. .. ..the floor of the roof was a giant yin yang symbol , ,, it was windy and foggy..there was a 4 foot wall on the perimeter of the tower and some flags on the wall were making a whipping sound , , "this is a transporter . . .it can take you anywhere you want to go . . . .in the blink of an eye . ..
gnat>>goodbye RC,,,thanks for being here with me on the GBR . if my life has an arc to it, then this has been one of the highest moments , , ,i hope we can be together sometime in the future . . .. and they hugged . . ..
gnat>>goodbye MW,,,,thanks for the guidance and help on the way .. the way that is Tao tao , , , , and thanks for the book, i will treasure it as I treasure my time with you , ,, and they hugged , , ,
gnat knew the drill ....he went over and stood on the white circle in the black tear , , , , ,"I choose to get back to Greem" and he disapppeared...
go onwardcnew to greem