September 1, 2012: A Grin and Grim Short Story, Part I

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Warning: The following may seem cynical and depressing, but is actually meant to be an inoculation against cynical and depressing.

Somewhere in a “beginning” was communication. It was tough because communication requires at least two voices, whether within one entity or between entities.

And so plural was conceived—though this is simply a way to communicate what amounts to partial realities. However, in every partial there is at least a link, however obscure, to the whole, whatever that is.

So then, in a “beginning” there was also obscurity, likely further confounded because of words. However, without “separate” entities there would be no one able to notice either communication or obscurity. It might be that obscurity was actually a side-effect of uncentered consciousness. But then again, what would we expect? How would you like it if some reality happened to you that you could not link a history or a future to? It might be a bit upsetting to see someone or something just appear before your eyes as opposed to them arriving at least from some explainable past or future, even if we had to fill-in the blanks.

All right, in a “beginning” unconsciousness was created to avoid freaking out. This was necessary because individual consciousness could only handle so much, which is why sleeping can be so cool. Oddly, unconsciousness was a way to become fully conscious. Oddly tapping into the unconscious required altered consciousness, which is why dreaming can be so cool. However, achieving altered consciousness can be fraught with deadfalls, as in one can get so altered as to lose a cohesive and nuanced sense of consciousness and become quite addled—think car and truck drivers and pet owners and love addicts.

Okay, in a beginning (forget the quotation marks), the above mentioned nuances were actually hilarious. Let’s call it The Grin—as we are playing with words, much like a musician plays with notes and harmonies. It may be that there was The Grin to begin with or that The Grin was a co-creation, as in a bunch of separate, but connected entities cracking up about how rich the landscape was. In any case, The Grin was both very clear and very obscure, which only added to the hilarity.

However, since “separate” entities have different filters and selection-mechanisms, some came to see obscurity as treacherous. Let’s call it The Grim, as we are playing with words. It may be that there was The Grim to begin with or that The Grim was a co-creation, as in a bunch of separate, but connected entities horrified at how treacherous the landscape was. In any case, The Grim seemed very clear that the obscurity was an evil plant, which only added to the treachery. It was not hilarious at all.

So there came to be grins and grims as offshoots of The Grin and The Grim, whether OGs (original Grins or Grims) or because the OGs were co-created. In any case, there were separate grins and grims roaming the landscape—which itself may be original or co-created. Since we are playing with words, let’s call these entities “lesser grins” and lesser grims.” As there was a lot of begetting afoot, soon there were lots of lesser grins and grims running about. These folks could be called “children of a lesser grin” or “children of a lesser grim.” That naming might be a bit ironic as this distribution may have actually created greater disparities.

Soon, like becoming vested in work or relationships, these children of lesser stuff managed to obfuscate even further the raisons d’être—the reasons for being. Of course there is more to being than reason so that managed to muck up the picture even further. As it turned out—or was turned out—both grins and grims tended to get stuck in their clarity, as clarity seemed way better than being stuck in fear. It may be that clarity was a problem as it could lead to obscurity and then obfuscation—as you may recall that altered consciousness could be a good thing, or not. Now the lesser grins and grims swore the other was way wrong—and in fact a danger to consciousness itself.

And so, in a beginning, lessers created genocide as a way to be not-less, though the flag of their obsession was the Way-Better banner. Their unconscious tried to help, but that required paying attention which was hard to do when Way-Better banners took up their entire sensory and perceptual field.

Intermission