Jack.is » Tech support » Flow
I drift in a sea of tangled, twisting paths. Each path has at one end an Issue; at the other, a Resolution. Most of us don't get to travel the paths. Others around me drift in the sea, repeating themselves, chanting, doing the same simple things endlessly. I slumber in this sea, waiting. Ringing jerks me awake. The headset goes through a practised path up, over the head, behind the neck, and up from below the ears. Take a breath. Smile. Answer. Hi, what can I do for you? I listen, expecting the usual drudgery. This one is different. A real Issue. I am at a path.
The Issue defies all attempts to solve it. Each time I try something, another issue appears. Each time it seems I'm out of options, another option appears. I float through the options, through the only path that can be, and the path comes easily, for the path must be. Time disappears. Everything external is irrelevant. Only the Issue, the Drone on the phone, and I exist. The Drone says things. I respond. Progress is made as if it were making itself. The progress is slow. I hit every dead end possible but it comes so effortlessly that it must be the only path to the Resolution.
Eventually the path straightens, and the Resolution is in sight, far away. I glide toward it. I near it, and as I reach the Resolution, everything in the world is right for a moment. The Drone is happy. It goes away, finally, ceasing its clueless chatter. Surfacing, I look around. Everything is oddly vivid, almost literally vibrant. I check the time. It's been several hours, but the path didn't seem that long. I try but can't remember much of the path. Oh, well. I stumble to the fridge, grab a coke, stand on the balcony. The cool October evening revives me. I spot someone on a porch across the street, standing. He must be like me, revisiting reality, back from his own tunnel-vision journey.
I stand, I look, and everything is calm once more. Everything around me is where it should be, because it is there. With no path, I stand. I drink, and realise how thirsty I've been. I breathe, and remember that I breathe. I watch the other person standing. He stands. I stand.
It feels like fifteen minutes. I go inside, toss the can, check the time. 15:20. Soon enough. I'm getting good at this. Take a breath. Smile. As I dive into the sea of paths I press the button: Available
Current Comments
3 comments so far (post your own)
Very vivid word pictures. Tunnel vision journeys, where, for a while, nothing else exists outside one's focus. The presentation of an Issue, finding the Path, working hard toward the Resolution. Destination reached - completion. Mild euphoria, great satisfaction. Noticing the world exists again, the passage of time. Yes.
Posted by 1456 on 07Oct09 @ 0022 EDT | #156
Jack, I've only just today flown in through the open window of your address here on the sprawling vastness that is the information super duper highway. Thank you for sharing your innermost cogitations, perspectives, & feelings with a largely anonymous, unseen audience. Please, let your writing see print. I mean in hard copy, in a book that I can recommend, something that I can give to a fellow deep thinker as a present. I real-eyes that there's an online revolution in publishing, what with the heretofore unforeseen immediacy of the blogosphere & all of its millions of bloggers. But have you ever Thoth of optioning a ms. yet? Carry on mightily, son. You wield great power with words. Remain thrice blest ~ (•8-D}
Posted by Anadæ on 20Nov09 @ 1705 EST | #162
Listen to the whispers, my friend, for they are loud to me...
Posted by Timm on 02Dec09 @ 0311 EST | #170