Sunday 16 May 1999
My dear young friend the Supergirl called me today, with impeccable timing. She carried the glad news that her older sister had sort of given birth to a tiny boy. Sort of given birth, since they had to cut her up and take out the kid a month early. But he seemed viable enough, and the mother was quite happy.
I told her about the upcoming marriage of our old friend Dan, though I'm sad to say that I still don't know his wife-to-be from the millions of Germans out there. Hopefully she will cease to be German now. What a fate, being born German and unable to do anything about it. ;) Anyway, Dan's engagement was a pleasant surprise for Supergirl too. I think she was getting slightly suspicious, what with Dan and his brother getting a house together. You must admit that sounds pretty resigned. :) Still, all is well that ends well, as the saying goes.
My friendess also wanted to remind me of the Constitution Day tomorrow, and instructed me to put on the suit and get out of the house during that day. She was delighted to hear that I had already bought May 17th clothes. (Yes, this is indeed a concept here in Norway, much like July 4th fireworks in the World's Leading Nation.) My new credit card also cheered her up, whereas she's worried about my studies. She demanded that I get along with my university studies this autumn, or she will be disappointed. We don't want her to be disappointed in me, now do we?
The girl is dedicated to making me more human, if anything. In that her timing was quite good, for I had spent much of the day brooding over the limits that being human puts on me. Sometimes, like today, it seems obvious to me that Real Life is just another roleplaying game, in which I play a human. I play a Christian and so I follow the Christian rule book rather religiously. If I had played a Buddhist, I would have followed another rule book. There is such a wide spectrum of people I could have been, who all would have been me. The greater Self, the spirit me, encompasses so much more than can be lived in a single lifetime, or in a single body.
"From the day we arrive on the planet
And, blinking, step into the sun
There's more to see than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done
There's far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found"
(Lyrics from Elton John's song "Circle of Life", theme song of Disney's popular film Lion King. A quite good film, by the way, and probably cheap on video now for those who have video. Ideal for children, though grown-ups will get more from it. I hope. Want a simple, fresh midi file of this glad melody? Click here.)
Somehow people become wary whenever I mention that I find human existence limiting. Folks, it's not as if I'm gonna quit. I love this life, and I'm probably going to throw a temper tantrum when I have to leave it. But even so, there is the fact that I could have been a lot of other people besides me. It's like there's this wellspring from which personalities spring forth. It's not mine personally, though I seem to be more aware of it than most other low-wage workers. People may think of this source as the Greater Self, the Christ, the Cosmic Consciousness, or many other names. I shall not judge on which names are most appropriate, because none of them really describes it. In one novel I refer to it as the Wheel of Light. I guess "Circle of Life" might work too. :)