The Seven Days of Wander

by Broken Walls Publishing

candle of dim or darker reasoning.”

  The tall man “We are far here from our soul source, however, my friend. I fear you will makes us follow a beggar’s weave through the narrower alleys of your mind.”

  The short man smiled and nodded “What I mean to say is that the source of soul in a man is the sense of his own death and that intimate dread which many do not acknowledge.

  Soul is man’s awakened consciousness of the death of that very same consciousness. And that mind, that soul is

  disturbed. Disturbed for two reasons.”

  The short man continued: “ A man sees death amongst men and is puzzled. Death of each living being gives life to other living beings, ‘cept man’s, or so at least, it would appear to men.

  Why does a man die? Why should a man die?

  Or more to the heart of the matter, each man asks ‘ Why should I die? Why must I die?’ For perhaps it is less tragic that other men die...or at least...less puzzling...

  Men see the flow of life into death; yet, each living being, wether a desert gazelle running in weaves before the doggish pack or a Cyprus bending its back to the muscle strains of a hurricane, desires to continue living.

  Yet in each living thing is known the end of its days. Indeed, not just known, but sought.

  Tall man: “I trust, old friend, that here you will not sink us into the obscure ruts of wheeling stars and moon shadow fingers pointing a foretell of fortune? As if man is birthed with his Book of Futures in his hand for any pretender to write!”

  Short man (with a laugh): “ No, sir, I need no ball or goat guts to crystallize this knowledge; nor smear our intelligence either. A man dies because his body so wills to do so.

  Tall man “What!? Did not thou just say that all things desire, and I would add, greatly struggle for, to escape Death?”

  Short man: “ Life desires to escape calamity, escape pursuit, escape starvation, escape abuse. In fact, Death by Calamity is but Death by another power other than Body, hence is in a sense Death by the Uncontrollable. The Body desires the Living in order to Die by decay, by its own Control, its own power. Survival is not an instinct against Death but is more a reflex against Pain, Control, Powerlessness. The Body follows these escapes, yes, but the Body also decays. That Calamity prevents a death before decay does not mean that the original Death by Decay was not planned, not desired. “

  Tall man: “ How so planned? Disease and old age come unannounced, unexpected...”

  The short man interrupted “Not so. Disease may be unexpected to the Body but what you call the decay of old age never was. For it is not old age which overtakes, entwines, and then suffocates the Body like a snake loving a rodent. It is rather that the Body makes possible, that is, literally ...causes, Old Age. In a sense what we call ‘decay’ is to the Body, victory! The medals, the laurels of that victory upon Time. Twin victories! For it, the Body, has become victorious over all calamities that have assailed it to bring upon itself any Unnatural Deaths. With this Life it can now embrace the Will of its Bodily Destiny. That destiny being its own willing demise. You see, Old Age is not a decay but is a place of stature where the Body achieves its own Will.”

  Tall man ”What do you mean’ its own will?’ I still find it preposterous that this thing we call Body flees all death but the Death of Old Age.”

  Short man “ Old Age is what the Body achieved by exercising its own Will of survival against Outside Calamity. And against Time. Till Body decides its Time. Just as the Body has the eyes, ears, smell to sense calamity and the legs, muscles, fists to flee and fight calamity, so, too, the Body has the powers and means to avoid Decay, but in the End, or at the End, of its Time; it declines to do so.

  Tall man: ”Declines, friend? Declines? Such a word infers that a man’s body has the power to decline Death by even decay forever.”

  Short man: “ So true, friend. many parts of a man can I take away; arms, legs, eyes, ears and will not the man live on?”

  The tall man rebutted “Ah, many things can I also wound and the body of a man will not live on as well!”

  Short man (laughs):” That is true. We have said that not all Calamity is surmountable. My point, however, is that the Body can heal, does heal...not only heals but can regenerate, can regrow. look at the skin. I can tear it, cut it, burn it away and in Time, it becomes anew, reborn.”

  The tall man threw up his arms “ Lets grant you then a stretched point so as to avoid more decay in my ears. But what use is this recovery to our question of soul?”

  Short man: “ In healing, in recovery, the Body shows it has the means to forestall or even prevent Death in injury or calamity or disease.. If skin and flesh can heal a great wound, why cannot heart or liver be healed of a great age? It is because the Body choses not to. It has the mechanisms but denies onto itself the means. The Body could ‘will’ to immortality but, instead, ‘wills’ itself to Death.”

  Tall man: “Death comes by Calamity or Choice, what of it? Dead’s dead.

  Short man: “The inner mind of man is conscious of Death in a way beyond the animal instinct. An animal sees a body lifeless, sniffs it, moves on; the moment as remarkable as scenting dung or declining unappealing food.

  A man sees Death, esp death of another human and realizes, he too must die.

  Or must he?

  The Body seeks to die, chooses to die, wills to die... but does man’s inner mind?

  Does the consciousness of man seek to die, choose to die, will to die?

  If not so, than would not the Mind see the Body as a traitor?

  Now who asks this question even but the mind of consciousness not seeking Death.

  if the dog is heading for the boiling kettle, can we be a flea and leap to a better destiny?

  The mind of man is as a rider upon a camel. he sees his destiny, or rather cannot see the end of his destiny..or , at least, cannot see his destiny as solely the place of desert where his camel decides to collapse.

  For all men ride toward a golden city in their mind. That city is not necessarily a heaven or a hell but, rather, that city ‘is’. ‘Is’ no end, of no ending. That is all that is important. No ending . Wether an eternity of pain or pleasure or the repeats of living futilities, it does not matter. No ending means..no end..of consciousness. That destiny. The image and illusion of immortality. That is what the mind wants from soul. From the creating, the painting of a soul.

  Immortality of gods is nothing. It is immortality of a man that a man wants. Immortality as the perpetuality of a man’s consciousness. Do not take this meaning, this wish for the grandiose, for the golden, godly giant’s stature of a head in stars and feet bathing in an ocean of soothing oils.....a man’s consciousness will settle for the moon’s dunghill if he can but blink his eyes eternally just above it.

  Tall man:” What!?! How did we end up in this celestial heap...had we not begun..been in..the Marketplace of the Gods?”

  Short man:” Old friend, we have followed soul into this place. Or to know first the meaning of soul. Soul is the man-conscious pleading, fighting, denying Death. And the ally of Death, Body. The inner mind of a man sees Body deliberately cast down its sword of regeneration and die upon the final embrace of a Willing Death. Utterly alone, the conscious mind creates a soul, creates a sensation of soul as an answer to this Dread, this Ending of itself.

  The young Beggar:” Why? Did we answer ‘why’? Why the Body dies? Embraces death?”

  Short man:” Perhaps we cannot. Perhaps, though, the Body as a purely natural thing, still follows the natural paths of feeding the Cycle.

  Or perhaps, as do all other Natural living things, the Body still follows Death to make way for the new Living...the New Emerging...our New Born of our race, our species.

  That the Old give food onto what would have hunted the Young.

  Calamity requires new people. Old age requires that the Body exit the Living place; the Living space, leaving room for new people. Men die of old age because they don’t die of calamity.
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br />   Men, Social Man, because of agriculture, medicine, government and cities, has built an unnatural place where it seems that Natural Calamity is forestalled. The ‘hunted’ no longer are ‘hunted’.

  So except for accident and disease, nothing would kill men but that they must for the most part, kill themselves.

  The Body has lived in a Time when a small tribe hunting and foraging could not afford more mouths than the Valley could feed. Though Calamity fed well, there was still a need for the Body to find balance between the adulthood of protecting the young and the final ending of old Body to ensure enough food stayed in young mouths to grow.

  Tall man:” Allowing for some truth in this Past, why continue then? Why, with food for all, does the Body still, as you argue, choose to die?”

  Short man:” Perhaps old ways die off slowly...or perhaps the Body is not so willing to ally with this conscious mind of man which seeks immortality at all costs.”

  Tall man: “ What costs could there be to living forever? What is worse than Death itself?”

  Short man” Aw, religion, religion, I ask you, what is more tedious than the heavens but the ways to it! Why does the Body still die if indeed the City would feed all?

  A City...a Society...a Species...thus Men, what purpose then but to become a collective god for does not then the collective make a collective soul? Not a soul of each man but rather a soul of all men!?

  Thus our feeding City raises up a Collective God as it creates a