Think of the Fortune card from the Thoth tarot. See the wheel? See the triangle behind it? See the vivid blue of the card’s background?
My first awareness is movement. I am moving consistently forward and consistently moving to the right. I open my eyes, and see I am sitting on the hub of a large wheel. Perched sidesaddle on the horizontal wheel, I see vividly deep blue in all directions. Flashes of lightning streak randomly. The wheel is gold, with ten spokes connecting the rim to the center hub. There is only the wheel, and myself sitting upon the rim.
I feel like I am moving. But I have no reference to judge my movement by. The wheel could be still, and I would not know the difference.
“You do not know your orbit?” The man’s voice startles me. I turn to the source, and see a man sitting on the center hub of the wheel. His legs dangle through the spaces between the spokes. “Tell me, why does the Moon not fall down and crash into the Earth?”
“The moon is not falling. It is moving away, actually.” The geek in me engages and seizes upon science to force reason into the dream. “After eons and eons, the moon will one day spiral away from earth far enough for earth’s gravity to no longer keep it captive.”
The man laughs. I recognize what he is wearing, and realize my mistake. He spoke of the Moon. I spoke of the moon. We spoke of different things.
“You do not yet see the Truth of Things. Do you wish to?” He smiles as he asks.
I swing my legs over the edge, so that I am facing the hub. The sense of motion increases. I suddenly resent the static hub. From the corner of my eye, I see two shadowy shapes on the rim. I realize the three of us on the rim divide the wheel into perfect thirds. A flashing thought, that I am chasing one shape, and running from the second.
And in the middle, the static hub. Motionless. Stagnant. Not experiencing the vibrancy of movement. Or is it? He asked me about the Moon. The Moon orbits the Earth. But the Earth orbits the Sun. From the Moon’s point of view, however, the Earth is stationary.
The shadow “ahead” of me, taunts me. It makes obscene gestures and dares me to come after it. The shadow “behind” me, threatens me. Its gestures demonstrate my fate at its hands if it catches me. But I am fixed to my position on the wheel, just as I know the shadows are fixed on theirs as well.
And the man still sits on the hub, facing me. Waiting for my answer.
“Yes, I wish to see the Truth of Things.”
“If you wish to see the Truth of Things, change your Perspective.” He closes his eyes as he speaks.
I close my eyes as well, to ponder how to remove myself from the wheel. I feel a shift in position. My eyes pop open at the shift. It takes a second to register where I am. I had been deeply accustomed to my position on the wheel, the idea of being at the hub is greatly alien. But here I am. I am sitting where the man had sat, my legs dangling between the spokes radiating from the hub below me. I am facing an empty place on the wheel where I had been sitting merely seconds before.
I look to my right, where the shadow “ahead” should be. I see the shadow clearly and know it. The shadow I had been “chasing” on the wheel was what I thought my desires and wants to be. But these are empty goals. As fast as I would achieve one I would be dissatisfied and go off chasing another.
I look to my left, where the shadow “chasing” should be. I see this one clearly as well. This was my fears and guilt and regrets. Ever dogging me, ever reminding me of my failures. Ever devouring my wants as fast as I gain them.
I was on the wheel, thinking that if I could ever achieve my desires then I would finally shut up my fears. And that wheel would ever turn and turn and nothing of worth would ever be accomplished. That wheel is not where I should be. I didn’t know where I should be, but I now knew where I should not be.
This was A Truth of A Thing, but I knew that the man was speaking of Other Things as well. I feel someone smiling at me and look up. The man is kneeling behind me, steadying my perch by holding me at the shoulders.
“Other Things will come in time. As you change your Perspective, you’ll see more Things.”
He smiles. I smile. He speaks his last. “Time to go.” He lets go of me. The wheel becomes non-corporeal and the gravity that held me to the corporeal wheel asserts itself. I fall into vividly deep blue. The lightning bolts cease to flash and the vividly deep blue becomes vividly black. The black becomes complete darkness.
*fin*