Part XII - The Commander

When you truly understand that there is a master within you, your course is assured of a safe arrival on a distant shore. Though arrival is not the appropriate word when the discussion is about a focus on a lasting discovery, it can be used to describe the context of some foreign source of mysterious involvement. Destinations, destinies and fate have been subjected to their own forms of isolation, for they give the false impression that you have control of everything that you will encounter. Understand that what is around the bend of some distant corner cannot be foreseen unless you are a creature that can only survive in the repetitive worlds of preoccupation and the preordained.

Alter your prescriptions in order to give surprise the space it needs to shake you at the core. Understand that bodily functions are precarious at all moments so the frailties that are fostered from apprehension of total involvement must be treated with tools like the gelding shears. Cut these preoccupations from your mind in order to allow yourself to be guided totally by your own consciousness. See the sea of your life as it is; an endless expansion of endless directions, motivated by endless reasons and their endless counter-variations. Destination is futile if the journey will never end.

Rest yourself along the way at outposts, inns and oases. Treat yourself like the vessel you are. Hesitation to care for your needs will result in deformed information. Know that any illusion can be hazardous to all on board. It is certain that you will fall prey to the pirates along the way, but know that they are there and their purpose is to become the parasites in your sanity. Selfishness is the key and any denial of this fact will result in you being boarded, then raped, and then scuttled. Do not take the time from your own mouth to feed it to those that waste their own. You are not their keeper, for the chains that bind them must be held by you.

Let your consciousness lead you into the worlds of your own creations. Know that there is a certainty that your brilliance will serve all others. You will tie yourself at times to the decks of those in need but do not become so domesticated that the decks of your own craft rot to the core, assuring you that escape from your patronage will be nonexistent or be too time consuming for little more than a fragmented breath of the freshness that was once possible. Hold your idealism closely and understand that most will ridicule you if you expose it. Jealousy voraciously consumes everything in its path.

Believe in your consciousness, feel its presence during all encounters. Know that it will take all of the information as suggestions before it gives any orders for reaction. Material existence means that there will always be jagged edges to get snagged on. You cannot float by anything without paying the price of passage. Without your commander at the helm material life will dissect you and force you to witness the feast upon your soul. It is foolish to assume that you will be allowed to prepare yourself as a dish upon the banquet table without ending up as just another stained plate waiting for some source of cleanser that will wash the whole horror quietly away.