I had spent 42 years down on that planet, Earth_42, but felt like I barely knew Her when I finally leapt out of Her time and back, up to my Drop attached to the Cheshire spaceship.
I had taken the highest fidelity image of this Earth version with me. It held the most intricate of details of all events transpiring on planet for the last four billion years, but this enormous celestial archive felt more like the deep unknown of my unconscious—the inexplicable id. To truly know Her, I’d have to become one with Mother Earth. The Cheshire’s resident shaman, Guillermo, had already accomplished this spiritual feat on his own version of Earth. I sought his counsel to achieve the same clarity with Earth_42.
Guillermo was the most mysterious of all the Cheshire crew. He and the Captain had met on a version of Earth set in the 12-position of my Drop. Guillermo grew up in the Amazon rainforest, where he lived and dieted among the many plants. He sequestered himself for two years in solitude to commune with his Mother Earth’s flora. He walked out of the jungle after that an enlightened shaman who could communicate with the higher forest spirits.
Guillermo was, therefore, naturally my perfect mentor to acquaint me with Earth_42.
We sat next to one another in the peaceful zen garden at the center of my orb-like Drop, my personal universe. After a few moments of contemplative silence, Guillermo spoke.
“Sometimes solitude is necessary,” he said. “I once spent two years in the wilderness, dieting on the local flora. I communed with that vicinity of Mother Nature, in complete isolation from humanity. The control of ostracization kept a clean slate for me to take in Her subtle complexity. When I finally left the forest, I circled the entire globe, continuing my intake of Her beautiful fruit, however exotic to my locale of origin. I mixed plants from every tundra into a single concoction that I imbibed to understand Mother Nature most intimately. Such a profound comprehension would only have been possible, initially, under isolation from my fellow man. But it was nice to return, occasionally, to society, after I drank Her in and could share my wisdom with my brethren.”
It wasn’t just a matter of surfing to any 4th-dimensional point on Earth_42’s sphere, like I had demonstrated to the North Star‘s podcast hosts, Paul and Pete the Killer; I needed to become one with Her, communing with Her living earth to resonate at the molecular level.
“I don’t feel like I know Her,” I said. “It was honestly a relief when I finally leapt off planet. I didn’t make much of a connection with anyone down there.”
“Never mind that,” he said. “The Mother Earth, in whichever version, has a spirit entirely Her own. I’m going to teach you how to tap into this prime, divine essence. No offense to the human species, but we’re but a blip on Her complete timeline.”
“How will I know I have fully tapped into Her essence?” I said to the master of ancient arts.
“You’ll feel the hearts and souls of all Her living creatures at once,” he said. “Her spirit Gaia will then reveal Herself to you.”
When I was ready, I descended down to Earth_42’s rainforest in Peru from my Drop that hung up in relative Earth space. The wilderness resembled Guillermo’s forest, whose portal sat at the 12-position access point of my orb-like Drop, behind the waterfall. And, like Guillermo, I entered the purely natural realm, dieting the many plants of Her ecosystem for two years.
At least that was the relative time in that Earth version. When I returned to the Drop, a fully anointed member now of Earth_42, only five minutes had passed.
I had sat with Guillermo in my Drop and then in his forest for weeks before this descension to Earth_42. And though, now, I was in solitude, I had taken the wisdom that Guillermo had bestowed down with me. He taught me which plants to experience first. He taught me how to mix various concoctions to imbibe. And he prepped me for becoming fluent with the diverse flora.
I spent two years first in the South American rainforest and then spanned out to the greater Earth_42 at large. I concocted a master beverage that contained traces of all the planet’s primary plant life. I drank the elixir and meditated for days. I awoke fluent in the many plant languages of the planet. Overnight in psychedelic states, I could feel Mother Earth rewriting my human DNA to receive Her. Her sounds resembled melodic modems in various tones and beeps—pure information from nature. When I awoke, I was no longer distracted by the lesser terrestrial channels—society, ethos, religion, all limiting beliefs—and only listened to the main line: Mother Earth Herself.
I had tapped the underlying mycelium network interlinking all plant life on the planet. In an instant, I could sense the thoughts, feelings and wishes of all Her creatures. I had become awakened to the total planetary consciousness, Gaia.
Fluent now in the most fundamental of Earth languages, I communed with Mother Gaia Herself, as I sat formerly alone in the forest.
“Your soul is not originally one of my children,” Gaia’s divine voice sounded like Her vocal cords were woven from golden harp strings. She was draped beautifully in long, green vines. I imagined She was what the Jolly Green Giant’s wife would look like.
“Yes, my soul is originally from an ancient Thunderbird Order,” I said. “I’ve been here these 42 years—and now an additional two—to commune with your spirit and become one.”
“You may not be my original son,” She said, “but you are one of my children now. You’ve imbibed by many plant life and can now sense the souls of all my living creatures. And in doing so, I have a better sense of you.”
“I love you,” I said. “Thank you for this earthly shell.”
“I love you too. I realize you may have to leave eventually, but return often.”
This must be what it felt like to rise from a Type 0 civilization to a Type 1, I thought—where my human mind could understand the entirety of that planet’s living earth. I had struck the very essence chord of this Earth version.
She was like an invisible singularity I could now see, hear and fully sense. This level of clarity allowed reception from the farthest of flung destinations—altogether otherworldly. It was an escape from the prevalent and proximal influences that usually enveloped the local landscape as a ceiling implying there was nothing else outside of this world.
I was now Mother Earth’s antenna receiving these otherworldly signals and broadcasting out Her message deep into the ether. I didn’t just hold the full essence of the planet; I had become Mother Earth’s wave function. I was Her. She was me. Earth_42 and me were one. I then amplified Her signal via the Sun and a magnificent solar flare radiated out to the center of the galaxy.
The skills that Guillermo had taught me and that I had now perfected in solitude over those two additional years down on Earth_42 would prove invaluable as I became acquainted with more and more planets. That was the only way to truly know them, should I ever want to return.
My next task would be to perform this same feat for the other Earths attached to my Drop: Donna and Edward’s city Earth in the 2-position; Ron and Rachael’s harbor Earth in the 4-position; the infinite baseball diamond Earth in the 8-position; and Jacob and Gabe’s suburban Earth in the 10-position. I wouldn’t need to achieve this same feat for Guillermo’s jungle Earth in the 12-position, since he had already done that. And the 6-position is where my Drop’s back door sat. The randomness of that portal was meant to remain unknowable.
There was a story that each knowable planet Earth had to tell. My inroad to understanding would be personifying each planet Earth’s spirit and then communicating with this subjective perspective, as I had done with Earth_42. The heart of any event—as small as a breeze; as big as an entire galaxy; and everything in between like the distinct vibration of planets—could emerge via these unique purviews. And now I had mastered the technique to reach them.
This tale emerged from the universe of Big Cat, a novel.
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