Seventy Percent Water

Packing

Start small. Aspiration-wise. Start really tiny. Start somewhere way back. The year dot. Or maybe forward, because sometimes forward means smaller; like when the half-lives have halved their half-lives. Start in the middle of one of those. Right in the middle of one. Or, right in the middle of something. Start in the middle of a tiny light. In between the light being on and off. It doesn’t matter which light. Where are you right now? There’s probably a light switch. Let’s say you’re in the bathroom. And, let’s say there’s a light switch on the bathroom wall. And, let’s say the light switch on the bathroom wall is the only thing that’s certain; it’s the only thing that will do something. It will definitely let there be light. The light switch on the bathroom wall could be the only thing you have, the only thing that’s for you, whether the light is on or off or in between. So, start small. Start with a light switch. Let there be light. Let there be no light. Let there be in-between-light-and-no-light. Let’s say the light switch on the bathroom wall is a bit like love. Or God. Let's say, for the time being, that the light switch on the bathroom wall is God.

But, God isn’t very small (probably) so God was a bad place to start, if we're starting small.

Maybe start big. Start with a bang. Or an enormous mess. Or a helter-skelter so high that it twists up from an earthy, solid, rooted place, through the clouds to the thin, papery air where there is. . . what? God? No, not God. Because God is everywhere these days, right? Maybe. Remember the light switch. We said that could be God. For someone. Not for everyone.  God isn’t for everyone. Well, the Light Switch on The Bathroom Wall God isn’t for everyone. But God is for everyone. As in, God is on our side, yes? Even if we’re not for God, God is for us. Even if God isn't actually there, even if God is just a silent scream under a bed or a punch in the guts from a terrified bully, God is everywhere and God is for us. God is our friend the whole time and is not to be feared like before, when God was feared. God isn't scary any more, because God keeps up with the times. Like soap operas do. That's the kind of thing that happens these days, God-wise and otherwise. It's important to keep up with the times.

But let’s start small. Aspiration-wise. That’s what we said at the beginning and in the beginning, even though there might be God, who might be everywhere, there is always something small.

Like, a note on a scale, an ink spot, a finger mark on a damp window.

Or, like the back of a head, a jar of pens, a stain on the floor of a supermarket

Or, like the smell of a sugary sweet shop, the sound of a voice in a sports hall, a taste of things to come.

A light switch.