...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 7-9: Zeke's Talk

With the enthusiastic response to the Sea Dream and the ensuing interest in new Sea Shell installations, WBI asked Ryan and Rosita to be roving consultants. They agreed to make themselves available, visiting first by QAR link and drone, then eventually leaving their original Sea Shell to travel in person for shifter training. As their list of clients grew and became more than they could handle at times, Bear and Xayna pitched in to cover for them as needed. Eventually other shifters from the Sea Shell community were recruited to help out.

It soon became customary for the facilities they visited to provide drones for this purpose. When they weren't available or more were needed, Bear would fly in extras. Ray helped him set up links so he could fly several of them in formation.

Zeke too was in demand, often as a visiting lecturer to describe the Sea Shell experience. When the agenda was designed to include seminars and workshops, Jen would help out. Since this was all done by QAR and drone links, it was not too taxing. But Zeke and Jen soon found they had a very busy schedule, with almost weekly commitments. Zeke enjoyed it, the drone experience had become almost indistinguishable from being there in person.

He began to comment on this in his talks, just to add variety and color. But then he got requests to make what he considered filler be his main topic. He was puzzled by this, so before he agreed, he asked Jen what she thought was going on.

"Zeke," she said, "you're a charismatic speaker. People would pay to hear you read a business directory."

"But what have I said that stirs so much interest? They ask me to talk about the religious experience. Where does that come from?"

"Ah, maybe... Zeke, we have to remember that your virtual audiences may come from all over the world, regardless of what particular venue organizes the event. What they have in common is having been deeply engaged by the Sea Dream. You may have forgotten the comment you quoted that captures the heart of it, but they haven't."

"What comment was that?"

"It was the one where you overheard someone say that the experience of shifting was what a religious experience is supposed to be."

Zeke remembered. "Ah, of course. That did strike a chord. But what do they expect from me? Do they want me to become a preacher?"

Jen thought, You don't need to, Zeke. You already are. For a lot of us. But she didn't say that. Instead she said, "Well, suppose this is what you've been asked to do. What would you want to tell them?"

Zeke thought for a moment. "As you say, this is an audience that's already deeply engaged in augmented reality, which can almost be a religious experience in itself. The Sea Dream promises to take that to a new level.  But maybe they haven't yet connected all the dots...

"Jen, I'm remembering when you said we are the whisper that resonates in the Q, that our intent winnows the possible to the actual. I hope you can recall the rest of what you said then, it would be a good lead-in. Because I'd want to pick up from there.

"Life is a particularization of the impulse to explore the possible. It's an experimental process, an effort to explain by example, to expand the self-awareness of the whole. Each instance becomes a statistical point in the spectrum of the possible. The whole history of the cosmos is an attestation and assessment of the possible. It's an ultimate knowing of what can be, of the range of likelihoods of each possible particular, and the relationships available among them. At least, that's the intellectual, the philosophical assessment.

"Most people approach life pragmatically and don't question much of what they observe. Those who do question tend to accept the answers offered by their elders, their teachers, their culture, without much thought.

"Those we call shamans retain a heritage that derives from a time when all people lived on the knife edge between life and death. That heritage is evidence that people can survive and thrive in such an environment, that life was worthwhile in those times. In those times, most thought was left to the shamans.

"That heritage has been abandoned by many cultures that aren't so close to the edge, cultures that have been stable for millennia, cultures whose biggest challenges come from other cultures, not from nature. In short, static cultures.

"In the wide world, the modern world, the community of nations enjoys such success that it's now possible for nation to help nation in times of trouble in the same way that formerly neighbor would help neighbor. But cultural differences and political rivalries get in the way of that. In a changing world, static cultures fail. They could fail all the way back to the condition of the shaman times.

"The shaman heritage teaches that in times of change, leaders must embrace change, not try to prevent or avoid it. But change is the knife edge. Embracing change can mean embracing death. The shaman way includes an understanding that death is not an end, not an enemy, merely a new beginning, a new challenge.

"Change can also mean no turning back, a kind of little death, an end to old ways. The shaman way is to embrace this as well. Or not. The path may change, but the goal may remain. The shaman sees the way. In the full scope of shaman understanding, life is an illusion. Death is an illusion. There's something beyond life and death, that which we have glibly called the Q, where nothing remains of the individual, nothing but a spark, what we may call the will, the intent. And even that may fade, alter, be transformed. It may, as Shakespeare said, suffer a sea change. Become unrecognizable, even to its former self.

"This too the shaman teaches us not to fear, but to embrace. It's the way of the world. It's the nature of evolution, the fount of the future.

"The way of the shaman isn't to plunge ahead foolishly, but to tread knowingly, bravely, with impeccable intent. And to accept the outcome, come what may. This is freedom."