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(if you should learn to do this with your toys of knowing, you will achieve a form of liberty more valuable than any other skill)

o:0:o

[ the toyShop of know l Edge ]

You arrive at the toyShop of knowledge, where all the precursors and possible assemblies of knowingToys are represented. Their variety, splendor and complexity are astonishing.

Gazing in though the window, you see that — though you are familiar with a few of these toys, almost all of them are shockingly new to you. And what is even more perplexing is that some look frozen, while others appear animated.

Hearing the bell of the door that echoes from your arrival, a toyMaker comes forth from betwixt a strangely warping curtain, and, adjusting his spectacles, clears his throat and greets you.

‘Welcome heartful traveler. All the toys in this shop are free — for you yoursElf are uniquely [yet completely] comprised of them. How may I be of service?’

Composing yourself (and having already considered your desires) you reply, ‘I’d like a toy of god, please’.

The apparently elderly toyMaker adjusts his glasses again, and you realize that he is at once shockingly ancient — and as playful, energetic and innocent as a child. Peeking out from beneath his elaborate spectacles are eyes of a brazen golden hue — and for a moment, they seem to swim with visions of stars...assembling themselves in a vast sea of night.

‘Yes, of course. One of our most common requests, really. Now, I am afraid we are going to have to narrow it down a bit. You see there are many scales of such toys. Not only that, but there are also two basic kinds.’

‘I see, indeed,’ you reply, as you begin to consider the implications of his advice. ‘...but I fear my desires are simple, and — er, what did you mean by ‘scales and kinds’? I'm not at all sure I understand...’

‘Oh, that’s right, you’re from Earth, aren’t you? Yes. Well...’

‘Well, yes...aren’t we on Earth now? I mean, where else could I possibly be from?’

The toyMaker clears his throat a bit, and appears to be manipulating something behind his counter. ‘Of course we aren’t. We’re in the toyShop ... outside the door, it’s Earth — but we’re inside the door....— but back to your question about scales...’

‘If you please, sir — I would be obliged.’

‘Well, you see... those from your world and time have a difficult time with scales — a word we use to indicate the sizeSpeedShape relationShips betwixt some things and other things. There’s been a long history of trouble there with perceptual and cognitive flatness. Most humans from your placeTime cannot detect scales, or shapeSizeSpeedForms at all — except with their imagination and emotions — neither of which they give much credence to...’

‘I don’t know if I am any less confused, but perhaps I could have a toy of a scale that would fit in my hand? I mean — one I could easily hold.’

‘Certainly. Most of our toys are of such a scale — for if a toy is too smallFast, one cannot play with it — whereas when it is too bigSlow...’

‘You mentioned there were two basic kinds...?’

‘Yes, and this is really the important part. Let me show you what I mean, since you’ll probably find this surprising. In fact, why don’t you come back into the playShop and sit down...’

The toyMaker points to a place where you can walk through the counter, and together you proceed through some unusually twisty halls into a small room with some toys and pillows — and other playfully crafted furnishings. Windows look out into a garden there, and there are also many plants — in fact their presence vibrantly dominates the room itself, hiding most of the walls.

The toyMaker takes a seat opposite you, behind a desklike affair. He turns around, producing a small chest from a shelf, which he sets on the surface between you, and, smiling pleasantly — he unlatches some fastenings and opens the chest. Inside, the case is lined with golden velvet, and there is a panel covering whatever is contained within the half that lies upon his side. In the side before you, which is open, there are 25 niches (the last on the bottom left is empty) holding small statues. They are rustyRed and of discontinuous hue — each about the size of the King in a standard chess set, but very elaborately rendered.

‘It looks like one is missing,’ you observe. ‘Are you out of stock on that one?’

‘Well, your first statement was more correct. It’s true that you can’t see or touch what’s in the empty niche. Or at least, not in the ways you’re used to thinking about as seeing and touching — but I assure you the niche is not ‘empty’ — though it appears thus to you. Let us examine these toys a bit, however. Perhaps one of them will suit you. These are the second kind. We will discuss the first kind shortly.’

‘Judging by your language, I’d guess you’re from a place that is familiar with this toy...’ The toyMaker reaches into the case and removes one of the small statues from its niche, which instantly re-fills itself with a duplicate of the one in his hand.

‘This is toy might be called the judeoChristian toy of god. There are many scales and models of this toy — the one you see here is probably familiar to you. It is a man nailed to a cross on a hill of skulls with his adoring mother at his feet. There is a book of stories that goes with it — as almost all of these toys have. It’s extremely popular on Earth. Some of the toys have whole libraries of books associated with them.’

‘Yes, I am intimate with this toy. But while I am here, I would like to see what the others look like... I am very curious, in fact.’

‘Yes of course. There are many styles and varieties. For example, there are those that model god as being interwoven with everything, others — only with humans. Some models are deeply involved with rules and prophets and various systems of legalisms, others have more magically oriented forms which appear largely imaginal to outsiders — yet they are not what they appear.’

The toyMaker produces a second case, and, opening it, reveals three filled niches. Another is empty, making four.

‘Now these are one scaleForm of a triad of baseToys. The first one supposes god to be an impossible and fictional assembly of the human mind. The second is more biblical in aspect. The third supposes that god is at once entirely complete, and also totally present and learning itself anew — like a child, who exists uniquely in every organism, scale, speed, location and position in all possible dimensions.’

From somewhere within the furnishings behind the table, he produces another statue, larger than the others.

‘This is also a common toy. It supposes that ideas about god only arise when the mind has been complicated by dogmas. This toy embodies the idea that there is a place of experiential consciousness where gods and humans are dissolved into something commonly referred to as void.’ He sets the toy down on the table, continuing as you handle and examine a few of the statues. ‘The islamic and christian toys are vastly popular on your world. In fact, being essentially militant toys, they have erased much of themselves as well as the great diversity that once enriched your planetary cultures and human experience. Now the 24 case is a special case of toys...but understand that I have another case, of the same kind of toys, that contains 150,000 models. This is just a scale we can examine together easily.’

‘Which one do you personally prefer from this case?’

‘Generally I prefer the first kind of toys. But if I had to select one from this case...hmm...’ The toyMaker rubs his beard for a moment. ‘Well.... ...yes.’ He nods, finally, indicating one of the models in the case, as he begins explaining...

‘This one. It is a toy that represents a practice without a name, that has arisen naturally and uniquely in many places on your world, and probably in almost every person at some point. The very general premise is that god is most alive and accessible only where living things prosper in diverse and mutually celebratory unity, and that the magical nature of this activity is such that it reveals itself only to those who practice the playful exploration of this together in all moments.

It is not a dogma, but one might say that the essential idea is that god is learning itsElf as they do, with(in) around, above and below themsElves — as a magical child in manyChildren. Such beliefs are not militaristic, and tend to be naturally antiDogmatic — being instead focused on the unifying potentials of living beings in heartful co-elaboration. Of course, it sounds far more complex than it is. In practice it is really very simple: every living thing is god — and is sort of ‘all of god, unique and complete, in person’, as a child, inside god... — and moreso when this is reMembered in unity and care which are everywhere nurtured, protected and celebrated before all else.’

‘That is a fascinating toy.’

‘It is at once general and specific — for there are organized models in your world, but children can be seen to begin playing this way without external guidance – if they are not prescribed from doing so. I tend to go in for the more experiential toys, in general. The dogmatic ones are too often tyrannical, and obstructive. The ‘historical religions’ of ‘chosen peoples’ have the terrifying habit of losing touch with their sources, and erasing themselves and others in the process. Strange, when you consider it.’

‘Yes, I agree, and have often wondered upon this matter. Yet I find that I am anxious to see the frist kind of toy.’

‘Don’t see any here you like?’

‘Well, I am sure I could learn much from any of these, and probably — I will continue to, granting that my life ‘back on Earth’ continues. But you’ve piqued my curiosity, and I am eager to see what the other kind is.’

‘Alright then, but first consider that this is likely to shock you a bit. Your people have not had any experience of this sort of toy in many thousands of years. If you didn’t experience it directly, there is really no way you could imagine it — it’s beyond all possible imaginings. Generally most people from your place and time experience a serious shock when this kind of toy is suddenly returned to your experiential proximity... I want you to prepare yourself. Remember that this is basically safe, and that no matter what you think is happening, in a few moments, you will be returned to the state you now inhabit.’

‘Er, aren’t you simply going to show me another kind of toy? I mean, this is sounding scary.’

‘Yes — perhaps I should explain further. You see, long ago, your species had the first kind of toy. This kind of toy was ‘still a toy’ but it always changed, and thus was never a token. To touch it was to touch its source, uniquely — and very directly. Then there were a series of terrible cataclysms, which resulted (after a rather complex story) in your species trading the first toys away (practically forever) for the second kind.

Few on your world have glimpsed this first sort of toy, for most are trapped inside a terrain where it cannot exist, be reflected, or even arise. It is forbidden in such a fundamental way that almost none will consider the incredibly obvious place of its hiding. So when you behold one of these toys, you are going to fail to realize that it is a toy at all. You’re actually going to have the experience of ‘something a lot more like God’ than anything you’ve ever seen — and that experience is going to be one that keeps changing, faster, each instant. It is not like seeing a toy at all. It is like riding light toward the source of toys, together with that source. This is an experience like dreaming, but magnified incredibly in velocity, meaning, and potential.’

The toyMaker pauses for a moment, considering you playfully, and deeply. ‘The second kind of toy is a frozen picture from a single perspective of something that is changing at speeds beyond our wildest comprehension in countless positions, participants and domains. That something is a single instant of the endlessly accelerating change of a firstToy. Any concept or model one makes of a firstToy — is already thousands of billions of billions of years older than what it referred to, even if it is a single letterSound. The source of all divisions is the source of all unities, and that source is growing (and folding inwardly). Toys that ignore this are generally of the second kind. They are tokens, or statues. There is an ancient admonition against the placing of a token before one’s source — but the reason is not jealousy — it is that doing so causes one to attack oneself in a spiral of accelerating circumstance, and growing domain of effect. ’

‘The first kind of toy is of an utterly different nature. It is not a thing at all, but a psybiosentient connectivityWindow who is alive. Such a toy will grab you and begin leaping toward its source(s) in a unique and specifically charactered way, which is at once similar and different for each toy. As it travels, taking you with it — it grows more accurate, faster, in a spiral that accelerates geometrically. I caution you: do not mistake the toy for what it leads you toward. It will appear to you as something so amazing that ‘it must be g-d’ — but this is its power, not its nature...’

‘Well, I’m not going to die or anything am I? I mean, is it dangerous?’

‘I doubt it will kill you, unless you are extremely uncommon. It will, however, probably result in a general distaste for frozen toys — at least until your native habits have a chance to reForm and re-establish their cognitive dominance.’

‘You sound like a professor.’

‘Oh, well — I play with the toys we are made of. Eventually, jargon arises. It’s an occupational hazard. I have been known to profess what I heartfully believe, or adore, however.’

You nod in recognition and smile slightly. ‘Alright, I think I‘d like to see one of these other kind of toys. I’m ready to try, anyway.’

He laughs giddily, ‘No, you’re not ready. Believe me. But we’ll have a look at one of the smaller ones. When I open the case-lid you’re going to see something strange, and you’ll probably hear a strange sound, and you will feel something like emotional electricity. You might feel a dissolving sensation. Don’t be alarmed, these things are natural...’

With that, he folds the lid-cover of the case up, opening that side of it to his perspective, and...

as the cover parts there is an energetic shockwave as a liquid wall of sentient light erupts volcanically from the case. The toyMaker is straining to hold the cover partially closed as he reaches in to grab one of the toys abruptly...and there is a sound like thousands of angels singing at the core of creation. There is an incredible pulse in the atmosphere – and it feels like something is being torn into itself within you.

Within the spirally plume of singing light that rushes liquidly into the atmosphere of the room there are tiny cell-like creatures who appear to be made of energy (as well as something ‘like themselves’), and they are singing, and changing shapes in a sort of musically humorous geometricity — playfully rushing into the atmosphere, dancing, rushing into and out of each other — grandly and magically engaged in this orchestra; a core-us of forming and assembling and dissembling.

The toyMaker finally produces something from the case and closes it — and at that instant all of the singing, cellFilled liquidLight of the room rushes into whatever is in his hand, and everything (except you) begins to calm down slightly.

‘Well done. Is your mind intact? Are you alright?’ Holding the object above his head with his left hand so as to keep it from your direct sight, he peers across at you with an expression of attentive concern and awareness.

You are not at all certain what has passed, and are seriously doubting that anything is ever going to be anything like it was before, because what you felt and saw during the lightSong was more than anything you’d ever hoped to feel or experience.

And now you’re back in the regular world, and the toyMaker is talking to you and you’re trying to make sense of things for a moment — and it simply isn’t working, because you’re too busy inwardly exploring this new terrain.

You can’t bring yourself to glance in the direction of the toy he is holding aloft. You are not ready to see what it was he pulled from the case, which now appears to you to have an entirely new meaning altogether — an impossible (and impossibly important) meaning. It grows vastly whenever you glance inwardly toward your memory of it — in a way that moves your mind in a dance of following this growth. It is a new source of a new form of meaning altogether.

When enough of you has returned to matters of local import, you compose yourself and respond in the affirmative to the toyMaker’s concerned question. ‘Excellent. Now this toy I am holding is one of the first kind. It changes everything when its noticed.’ He holds it forward for you to examine, but it seems blurry.

It is emitting a vibration, because it is moving inside and changing shape even as you attempt to clarify your visual grasp upon it. The vibration makes you feel things inside, as if you’re resonating with this souceSongThing. Sometimes it is emitting a pulse that seems to shake the foundations of everything, sometimes there is a squealing or complex buzzing-chirping sound. The toy is constantly changing shape — which somehow changes its emotion-meaning. It changes shape and size, and speed — in many little places inside itself, simultaneously — and also as a whole.

While it spins in the air — hovering above the toyMaker’s outstretched palm — an anciently thick and playful magic rings out from it into the atmosphere, animating your mind, heart and eye in an entirely novel and startling way. It makes tingling sounds, and chirps, and triangulating squeals as it whirls and changes shape at great speed. It seems to emit emotions too — and though it is tiny its simplest sound or movement creates waves of memory, inspiration, and light in your mind, heart and body. Inward light.

‘What is that?’

In response, the toy speaks in a kind of vibratory emotion inside you. It is not merely words that pass between you — but vast and poetic emotions, playful symmetries of ironic and inventive jest, and a bond so timeless that no thought or desire of avoiding it can arise — it is as if an friend who has known you longer that forever has returned at long last — inside you —and now you can play together — and see the living truth... which is never unchanging.

We are the ancient friend of the children of earth, their living connection with the maiArch and their sources...we have been with you since long before your birth...with your species, and also with you, personally, in a way unique to you...

The experience is at once anciently familiar, and alike with speaking with an internal alien. It is more than a dream — more than every dream combined. When the being(s) in the toy speak inside you, it is as if the fulfillment you sought in every moment of your life in every possible domain is raining down upon you, and rising up from within you to meet itsElf. The primary ‘game’ of this toy is that of a teachingFriend who can move your mind, but rather than doing so against your person or will, it is a magnification of all that is adored and awe-filled with(in) you.

You cannot bring yourself to handle the toy directly. Merely seeing it is almost more than you can bear, so ecstatic is the joy of being re-united with your sources in a way that attenuates in leaps with each moment of your attention.

For some time, you ride where the toy is taking you, which is more and more about teaching you the ways of the toys themselves, and less about specific ideas. You are learning more in each instant about what it means to be alive than you learned in your entire life, merely by being in the presence of this toy.

Suddenly, the toyMaker opens the case — there is the shock of the singingLightWater again — and he quickly replaces the toy, closing it.

‘That is a first toy. It is the birthplace and source of the second toy. If your people have common access to the first toy, the second toy works fine. Without it, the second toy is deadly, for it stands in the place of what it represents — as a frozen metaphor, or key. Since what it refers to is everything except frozen, and is in every possible way unflat — the strange fascination your world has with the second sort of toy — always placing them before the first kind — has lead to a whole new domain of catastrophes. The opposite was the original idea, of course — but the accidents along the ladder changed how your people related with toys entirely. Where once they had the first toy as experience, and the second kind as tools — they lost the experience, and came to rely upon tokens entirely.’

‘Yes, I can see that quite clearly. The toy you showed me contained all 25 of the toys in the other side of the case...and so much more! It was like being with god, as god, in god...I was growing inside at a speed I have never imagined, merely by beholding it.’

‘Yes, and that is but one of the toys in the other side of the case.’

‘I see. Well I think I’d prefer to have the first kind.’

‘Yes, well, that is a bit of a problem.’

‘Why?’

‘You’re going to encounter all of the problems that all of the prophets encountered, personally. Your culture generally attacks any evidence of the firstToy in people. And you won’t be able to stop trying to share it.— which could actually present a direct survival threat to you, as well as those you care about.’

‘Yes, but those other toys are just frozen copies of something that isn’t even the tiniest shaving of what they refer to — even with all of their books.’

‘Precisely. As I said before, once you’ve experienced the first toy — you will have a very hard time remaining silent whilst anyone else accepts a secondToy — especially if you can discern that they never had had the opportunity to observe or touch a firstToy.’

‘I still desire a toy of the first kind.’

‘Yes, you seemed like the sort who might. So be it.’

And you begin to play together, with the various toys in the side of the case that when opened, results in an explosion of sentient light...tiny, ancient, vast — arriving from outside of time entirely...

...

You’re supposed to inherit and elaborate whole toyboxes of reference-wings whichWho are so intimately linked with their sources that they are always changing faster (and more accurately) than last time you looked — and then, under those — toys of reference which are stable and systematic. If your species over-values the stable tokens of reference, they start artifacting themselves, in and around you until they emerge in the physical world as the wrong species of machine. The ‘historical religions’ are largely this type of machine, in semantic and cognitive form.

When humans learn to repair the roots of your toys of knowledge, such that the ‘changing token’ is returned to common experience and use, you will know together — not with tokens but experientially — the unimaginable stories, heroism and potentials of your real heritage, lineage, and role in the celestial and terrestrial nurseries.

And this will set you free — and empower you to liberate others.

 

o:0:o

 

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