Saturday, September 13, 2008

Shark tank

I saw a cylindrical tank of water, made out of clear glass, diameter roughly 10 feet, height roughly 8 feet. In the water was a large shark, almost featureless, no telling signs of what kind of shark it was. Also in the water was me, although I was not seeing from the perspective of the diver-self in the tank, but from some point outside of the tank, some other self. The tank sat in a blank grey void.
The shark was extremely irritated and thrashed about uncontrollably, biting with teeth and scratching with skin. There was no blood, no carnage, only a strong feeling of panic, pain, and discomfort. I could sense these feelings coming from both my diver self and the shark. Although the self outside of the tank could see clearly, the self in the tank could not; the water was too muddy and murky. The water was also extremely sugary, and the taste of this sugar water in the diver-self’s mouth was strong and unpleasant.
After taking all of this information, I realized that I may be able to control this reality.
Instead of making the shark, mud, and sugar disappear, a simple and straightforward solution to my problems, I saw that there must have been a reason that these things were present in the first place, and decided to act differently. I started to increase the size of the tank, by tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of times its original size. My point of view outside of the tank became useless – there wasn’t any outside of the tank anymore. I took the eyes of the diver, and the two selves became one.
The water had also grown in volume to fill the tank, but the dirt and sugar had not. The same amount as from the original tank had stayed in this tank, and so had dispersed throughout the huge volume of water. I could see clearly, and the water seemed pure and clean.
The one shark had become three. I could sense them at the bottom of the tank, swimming around one another. Their actions were slower, calmer, and more natural than the first shark. They no longer filled me with a sense of anxiety. I knew of the danger they possessed, but I had accepted them as part of the tank. I regarded them almost as one would regard dogs, and allowed them to come to the top of the tank to swim around me.
I did not leave my area at the top of the tank, and unless allowed otherwise, the three sharks stayed in their place at the bottom.

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