A Time Tale

Thoughts are things that are not to be taken too lightly.

                                                A Time Tale
                                                                              A.J. Powell

  
     We passed each other on a crowded street in New York City. Neither recognized the other. Not immediately, at any rate. He, with his wife; I, with mine. I don’t remember the street exactly; probably  Madison, or Lexington Avenue, on the east side. I know that because, on that day,  I passed by a shop on 55th street between Lexington and 3rd Avenues where I used to be employed. Only, my place of former employment was no longer there. There’s an expensive ladies boutique there now.

It wasn’t until later that evening that the memory came to me. And, the sensation that I’d seen this person before caused me to stop what I was doing, and place both hands on my desk, so as not to fall from my chair, such was the revelation that assaulted me.
It didn’t strike me then, because the two individuals that my wife and I passed on the street, couldn’t have been more than a young man and woman in their 30’s. It wasn’t until that instant that I remembered what Gerald, my dearest friend from years past, had said to me, so many years before.

Gerald and I were schoolmates, and close friends since we were in grade school. That was more than 60 years ago. We were together pretty much every day until high school, where we both began dating girls. Still, we saw each other frequently, and double dated on many an occasion.

While we didn’t attend the same university, we remained in the same city throughout, and communicated several times a week, if for no reason than to annoy the other. It was during our university days that we met the women that we would eventually marry.

One Saturday  evening during a short holiday recess, in Gerald’s dorm room, chatting over beer, and half a joint that he remembered leaving in the medicine cabinet, he brought up the subject of aging. I remember thinking in good humor, that his medical studies might be turning him into Dr. Frankenstein. Soon, he'll have me robbing graves with him. I dismissed this with an enigmatic grin, that he chose to ignore, with a shrug, and a pull on the joint, leaving him coughing, and both of us laughing.
Still, after, I remember him proposing: what if we didn’t convince ourselves to age?  It’s quite possible that we would not."
 
Intriguing as that was, I wasn’t quite getting what he meant, but I nodded. And, with a slight tilt of my head, accompanied by a mildly quizzical, but encouraging nod, he continued.

‘You know, almost everything, or group of things, is a microcosm of something else. Imagine ourselves having multiple, let's say, 'systems', beyond the physical selves that we are; the one that we live in every day.  There are multitudes of unseen forces that influence us, and that we influence, continuously.
I mean, think of all the things that we influence, and are influenced by, every second of our lives. There are the five senses that we seem to accept, because we're taught that is what we have. But, we don't consider the other senses that we've been taught to give little significance to, which might have more significance than we know. 'Intuition'; that's as real as 'love', 'desire'; 'fear'.  'Anger'; what about that? Anger is a powerful emotion.

"Emotions", I added casually. That's what they are. I mean, they come from the same place, right?"

"yes, but they're not the same thing. Okay, think of your body. You have a heart, lungs, stomach, brain ... ; I mean they're all sort of in the same place, or space; but, they're nothing the same. I mean, can you compare your eyes to your feet?  Can you imagine the gravity of losing either?  Where I'm going is, there are things at work here, in this realm; this existence; that we're not 'seeing'. And, were we to see them, it's realistically possible that we can use them; draw from them; influence them, to influence something within us.'

"I'll think on that," I responded, not really giving any thought to it. This was still a bit abstract for me, and I wasn't really 'seeing' it, though my interest increased a bit, as some of what he was saying became somewhat intelligible.

"You know ... , thinking about it, our thoughts greatly influence our reality. It’s like, all the cells in our body receive messages and instructions from someplace. Maybe, it’s the brain. Maybe, it's outside the brain ... , I don't know. Maybe, those cells receive unconscious  signals via our thoughts. Maybe, both; I don’t know. But, what I’m saying is, suppose we refuse the idea of ourselves getting old? I’m not saying we won’t age; you can’t 'not age', chronologically. But, what if we chose not to visualise, or anticipate getting old, and visualised ourselves young looking, always? All the cells in out body would then re-program themselves to achieve that vision. Makes sense, right?’
‘Makes sense to me,’ I responded; but, didn’t  really give it much thought. Well, actually, I did give it much thought, but didn’t believe it.

It occurs to me now that much of what we experience in this life; this existence; is influenced by ‘belief’.
Another 'sense' that we've learned to cubby hole into another obscure context. What I realize now, is that there is great power in those things that exist beyond our physical selves, that greatly influence our reality. It was not until passing Gerald on the street that day, that I realized how real the non-physical realm is. And, how we are influenced, and shaped, and guided by that realm. It lingers, and lurks, and beckons us to follow. But, we learn only to ignore it. To disbelieve it.

Is it too late, I wondered.   End