Time, Place and Change

Time is a forever changing horizon we all face. Here we are folding into the futures inevitable arrival. The world we live in is chaotic and we move like leaves in the fall, just blowing in the wind. Where we fall is the beauty of it. With Covid I’ve experienced having a lot of time, life has changed for a lot of us, how we’ve experienced this time is diverse to each individual. For me, imagination is something I always enjoy delving into with my time. So enjoy this story of time, place and change.

original image by Tara Walton

In the land of the yellow levitating desert, time turns backwards. There is a sun that never leaves the eyes of the only creature that roams. There is an edge to the land, a pleasant place to sit and watch the moons rise and fall across the endless void that surrounds planet 569243333. Which is where you would most likely find Divoc, a brown spotted and striped moth, jolly and content with himself, he is the only creature on planet 569243333. His life is riddled in curiosity, ever since coming into life from the dead. Divoc has often wondered what everything really means.

original image by Tara Walton

I have felt the sand warm and tiny on my twiggy legs as I bask in the suns eternal glow. I wonder how long it has taken for these small pieces of rock to form, and does it feel, that slow and patient unraveling of time. I often sit at the edge of my planet and watch time as it goes back to where it came from. Every passing of a handful of time, pink smoke rises from the ground of planet 569243333 and moves up like a slithering dance into the above. From what I can feel the pink smoke is the planets energy releasing like the first and last breath of life gasping and heaving out into the empty everything. I have watched this planets cycle of pink smoke more times than I can remember and I feel I don’t have many more to watch, soon I will turn to dust. When I first rose from my bones into flesh I felt like I had experienced so much but as time returns I feel more and more naive. What is there to know but to know I can’t really know what it is that I think I know.

As I sit on the edge of 569243333 with my legs dangling over into the void, the sensation invokes an idea I’ve longed for before. To go out into the void and find meaning. As I look at the endlessness of it all, I’m certain it’s there waiting for me.

The unknown is a friend that waits for me. Two feet leap off, spiraling into the notion. Eyes open with heart, seeking that which I know is there.

original image by Tara Walton

Off in the distance the first planet that caught my eye, is a swirling planet with  pink and purple skies. Through a misty atmosphere I fly and land in wavy grass. I notice movement on the ground. Through the grass I see a puffball, sitting on a stool. Its body is entirely circular and fluffy, its eyes wide and piercing. I’m frozen and my body doesn’t move, I want to turn and run in the opposite direction but I am caught gazing into the eyes of this creature. The feeling of fear is apparent in my body, my heart racing and my breath panting. The puff ball rises to the height of my face, it began speaking to me but its mouth was closed. As clear as day, the puff ball said to me “do not stand there quivering with fear, for i’m not what you know me as and you have nothing to fear but the fear you create. I am Honesty but you can call me Guufguuf and I come to you with a message. There is a journey that calls to your spirit, you have felt it and i’m here to tell you it starts now. Follow me if you wish but i must tell you, you will lose the self you are now and it will shed from you like the fur sheds from my body. This way.” My feet began moving, hesitantly in step but without a thought, I followed the puff ball. It led me away from the tree into the field, the grass was thick and taller than three of me stacked on top of the other. The grass seemed to sense me, without even moving it with my hands it parted a path for me, I felt at ease even though my surroundings were towering above me.

original image by Tara Walton 

I almost lost sight of the puffball a couple times, it moved like it was a part of the grass, slightly hovering above the ground. It was swift and an incredibly graceful creature. We came to a small clearing somewhere in the depths of this field. In the middle of the clearing stood what looked like a large circular mirror, but it was in motion and the closer I got I realized it was resembling more of a large circular ocean standing in front of me. Astonished, I went to walk around it but as soon as I walked to the opposite side it completely vanished. How boggling and peculiar this was. It was only on one side. The puffball then spoke to me “there is one side to this truth and it is truth. Your journey began the first step you took in following me, Honesty and now you must lead yourself in your first step alone on your continuing journey by walking through truth that stands in front of you.” I wanted this, right? That’s why I’m here but oh my I am terrified. I stood in front of truth. I looked to Honesty, we nodded to each other in respect of our meeting and respect for our parting. I looked forward and without another glance given or another thought, I stepped into truth.

I’m floating through the cosmos, till I reach an entirely blue planet. I feel every living thing on the planet. There was no separateness. Land, water, breath, being, everything flowing in a beautiful chaos that’s patterned to purpose. This is the truth.

original image by Tara Walton

I came across an ocean of water, with a black shadowy creature peeking its head above the water. The water began to shimmer as if light from the sun was being caught on the surface of its reflection, shining back at me so magically. I was in a trance of this aesthetically pleasing presentation. In my trance I began to fall into deep questioning, all felt uncertain. What is life? What have I done here? One breath of life among the enormity of all existing. Billions of breaths every second, last breaths, first breaths. Passing is our time. Time is never ours, it slips from our grasp before it’s even held in our hands. So what does life consist of then? What do I consist of? What does it mean to be alive? To be alive as me? Then it is as though the creature had been listening to my thoughts, it shoots right through me like lightening and emits my truth. My eyes are filled with blinding light and I burst out laughing. It echoes through my ears and sounds like thunder through a lively green valley. My heart is so joyous, I think I’m crying. Every laugh and tear is with every life energy to have ever existed. Every feeling, expression and emotion emptied into my little being. It is an epiphany of my truth and there are no words for this truth, there isn’t a language that speaks it. All I know is everything is so beautiful and I would live all my lives the same way I have. I wouldn’t change a thing about anything. Life is encrypted in an eternal meaning of beautiful existence. My current experience comes to a halt. 

original image by Tara Walton

I’m back on planet 569243333 in what feels like a blink. Back in my favourite place, watching the moons rise and fall. I feel content, I have found meaning out there in that void.

Little does Divoc know that in a parallel universe he exists, but in that existence, everything is not backwards. He is not a moth but a virus that has ravaged a whole planet. Divoc lives unaware of the time he has given and the time he has taken.