I don’t know how this is going to turn out or if maybe it should remain a stand-alone piece. What do you think? xo, Amy

“But…”

“Why don’t you understand?”

“I thought…when you said—”

“Bullshit! You knew what I meant!”

“I guess it went over my head.”

“Do you have to take everything so literally?”

“I didn’t know it was going to—hey, I never meant to hurt your feelings. I messed up. I’m sorry.”

“This happens all the time!”

“I said I’m sorry.”

“Sorry’s not good enough. You’ve got to change. I can’t live with you if you’re gonna misunderstand everything I say! It’s bullshit!”

He bit his lip and tried not to cry.

It was later, much later that night, huddled under the warm, soft blankets with tears hot on his cheeks that he made the decision.

At dawn, he entered the cathedral of steel and glass.

The banner said FREE YOUR MIND. It was hung on the wall behind the guru where she held court in her leather executive chair.

The guru wore a black suit and a tie. “Cast off the duality of the material world,” she crooned. “Embrace the unity of the cosmos. Be one with the universe.”

“I want to be less literal. Can you help me?”

The guru lit a cigarette and breathed smoke. “There is no substance. Boundary is an illusion.”

He waited patiently.

The guru finished breathing smoke. “Consciousness allows us to construct symbols of things apart from the things themselves. But the symbol is not the thing.”

“But aren’t they all one? Didn’t you just say that a minute ago?”

“You are confusing an idea with an object.”

“You said ‘cast off the duality’. But this constructs a duality. You’re creating a boundary between the two concepts.”

The guru pressed a silver button on the glass desk before her. Two acolytes, dressed in black suits and ties, excommunicated him.

He stood on the concrete before the cathedral and wondered why she had forsaken him.

Copyright 2006 Amy Frushour Kelly. All rights reserved.
Reproduction by any means prohibited without prior written consent.