On Fri, 28 Jul 2006 11:44:27 -0400, Turtle <michael_sharp@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> THE PARABLE OF THE ROOM
>
> by Michael Sharp (www.michaelsharp.org)
>
> Imagine for a moment that we are all sitting in one huge room.
or, things you;d like to do to it YOURSELF!!!!!!!!! : )
> The room that we are in has doors and windows and is like any other room
> that any of us have been in except for the fact that the room is
> freezing cold. In fact, it is so cold that everyone in the room has
> several layers of warm clothing on: hats, gloves, and parkas to insulate
> us from the bitter cold.
>
> And so there we are huddled in the freezing room, desperate for warmth.
>
> Nobody really knows how long we’ve been in this room. We just know it
is
> a long time. But suddenly, after what seems like an eternity, one among
> us looks up from her huddled crouch and realizes that there is some kind
> of strange contraption on her back. She strains to see what it is but
> cannot quite make out the details. After a few moments of examination,
> she notices that there is a string attached to the contraption. After a
> moment’s hesitation, she pulls the string and a soft humming begins to
> emanate from it. Nothing else happens for a moment or two and so she
> sits back down and huddles against the cold.
>
> While she is examining her contraption and pulling her string, a few
> people notice her activity and stand to watch. After seeing what she is
> doing, they too notice a contraption on their back and an attached
> string but they do not pull the string. Instead they watch the girl as
> she pulls her string. They watch to ensure no harm comes from this. They
> watch as the girl sits down. Nothing happens and they immediately lose
> interest and settle back down to resisting the bitter cold.
>
> After a few moments, however, the girl who originally pulled the string
> notices something. Something has changed in the air around her. “What
is
> it,” she thinks to herself. And then she realizes! The air around her
> seems to be warming up, and rapidly. She can no longer see her breath
> and her body is becoming uncomfortable under the extra load of clothing.
> She strains her neck to look at the contraption and immediately realizes
> that the contraption is some sort of personal heating system. Surprised,
> she looks around and notices that everyone else is also wearing one just
> like it.
>
> Incredulous, she wonders why nobody has seen this heater before or never
> pulled the string. Perhaps they were concentrating too hard against the
> cold and simply did not see beyond the frost in their breath and the ice
> on their clothes. Perhaps they simply believed that no other existence
> was possible. No matter, after a few minutes she is becoming decidedly
> uncomfortable and she now, with some degree of excitement, begins to
> remove her clothing layer by layer as the air warms around her.
>
> The people huddled immediately around her have now looked up and noticed
> her excitement. What is more, those closest to her are also noticing a
> change in the air temperature. The heater on her back is so powerful
> that she has now affected the temperature a few meters all around her.
>
> People have noticed.
>
> People are warming up.
>
> People are becoming uncomfortably warm.
>
> They ask her what is happening and she explains about the heater on
> their backs. She suggests that if they turn on the heaters, they could
> warm up the room even more. She also advises that they should start
> taking their layers of clothing off because once their heater is on,
> their bodies will quickly become uncomfortable beneath the layers of
> fabric.
>
> Some, but not all, of her immediate neighbors take her advice and pull
> the string. A few moments pass and the air around them rises a few
> degrees. Feeling uncomfortable, they also begin to take off their
> clothes.
>
> Now, there is a small bubble of excitement in the room. A few more
> people (this time a little farther away from the center) are beginning
> to look up and wonder what all the excitement is about. There are even
> people standing off away in the corners who have heard the bustle and
> are straining their eyes and ears to see and hear. A buzz begins to move
> through the room and a few people here and there, perhaps the ones who
> are most resistant to the cold, look up, stand up, and wonder what is
> going on. They ask those around them but most of the freezing people
> they ask are too cold to worry and too bitter to care. Still, some
> people are talking and the word is spreading. They say something about
> warmer air and that some kind of heating system is available to
everyone.
>
> Some are even saying that people are taking of their clothing. The more
> skeptical laugh at this. However, the braver ones, the ones who are
> tired of being cold, the ones who trust the rumors, the ones who can see
> the small island of people beginning to dance in the warmth, strain to
> look at their backside and lo and behold, they see a string attached to
> a contraption. Getting swept up in the rising excitement, they pull the
> string and the air around them immediately begins to warm.
>
> They begin to feel warm uncomfortable.
>
> They begin to take off their clothes.
>
> Now as we pause and look around at the room we notice islands of radiant
> heat in a sea of bitter cold. Here and there, dotted throughout this
> huge room of individuals, people are starting to realize that the bitter
> cold is not something they have to live with. More and more see that
> within their grasp is all the heat they need to get warm and stay warm.
>
> Still, and at first, it is only a few people here and there. The ones
> who are more adventurous, the ones who are tired, the ones who are
> desperate for a new world, these are the first ones to pull the string.
> They talk, of course. They point out the rising heat. They excitedly
> exclaim “look, we don’t need too many clothes!” But most people in
the
> room are too busy trying to keep warm to give them much thought.
>
> “Crazy,” they think to themselves. “They’ll all just freeze to
death.”
>
> For a while, it seems, little progress is made. More and more turn on
> and heat up, but against the huddled m*****, it seems like a drop in the
> bucket. However, the heaters are powerful; far more powerful than we
> initially think. And after a certain point, it is not just the local
> temperature around the individual heaters that is affected. When enough
> have turned on their heaters, and when the heaters have been running
> long enough, a ****ft occurs. Instead of localized islands of heat, the
> entire room is impacted and the ambient temperature begins to slowly
> rise. Once The ****ft has occurred, everyone, no matter how inured
> against the cold, no matter how tightly huddled against the arctic
> blasts, begins to feel the rising temperature of the room.
>
> After a certain point, nobody can ignore what is going on.
>
> At this point individuals in random locations in the entire room begin
> to look up to see what is up. Hundreds and, soon, thousands now notice
> the excited activity of a handful of their once frozen compatriots. They
> ask, with some confusion, “what is going on.”
>
> They are told, “there are heaters! There is warmth. It takes only a
> moment. Just pull the string.”
>
> They see the excitement, they feel the heat, and now, swept up in the
> growing excitement, waves and waves of frozen room dwellers pull the
> string. They don’t even wait to start taking off their layers. Even
> before they pulled the string, they felt the warmth and were becoming
> uncomfortable beneath the clothing.
>
> Of course, now that so many are tuning in and turning on, the rise in
> temperature is no longer subtle. Now the thermometer rises a degree
> every few minutes and the consequent discomfort rises fast as well. It
> is at this point, as we gaze at waves and waves of people jumping to
> their feet, turning on their heaters, and stripping their clothes, that
> we begin to see the problem. Fear has begun to cascade in waves through
> the huddles m*****. Many people, whose only experience had been to
> huddle against the bitter cold, stare around them in total dismay. The
> room is now heating so fast, and people are stripping so quickly, that
> they are confused and befuddled. Questions flood through their minds.
> People all around them are staring and smiling and pointing and
> stripping. Some have even reached the point of total undress and are now
> running bare ****d around the room jumping with the sheer joy of
> freedom. They are confused. “What is all this about?”, they wonder.
What
> is worse, all this confusion is compounded by the pain they are in. The
> room is so warm now, and their clothing so thick, that they are
> literally beginning to bake inside their clothes.
>
> It is a crisis, but it is one the people in the room seem able to
> handle. There are many who have already weathered The ****ft and they
> understand the process. They reach out, they explain, they help removing
> clothing, they calm, they smile, they respond and there are so many
> individuals with lightened layers of clothing that there is lots of
> help, lots of sup****t, and lots of reassurance.
>
> Most people respond.
>
> Most begin taking off their clothes.
>
> Some even turn on their heaters but at this point there is enough people
> with backpacks on and heaters turned up that it no longer matters if the
> new comers are turning on their heaters or not. In fact, at this point,
> people are starting to advise against it. The temperature is a perfect
> 28 degrees.
>
> The ****ft has occurred. No more heat is required.
>
> Still, there are problem areas. A few, a small handful, cannot cope with
> the rapidity of the change. They have to assimilate information too fast
> and they cannot. They see the frenzied dancing and the smiling faces.
> They see the ****d people and amidst all the odd sensations they are
> experiencing, they cannot process the pain in their body. A few snap and
> run screaming around the room. Some are mad. Others are shouting, “the
> end of the world is here.” Others experience total panic and flee out
of
> the room or leap from the windows. Those that can be restrained are
> gently held and their clothes gently removed. The new reality is
> explained and they are held until they are calm. Those that cannot be
> restrained or who flail too violently are left to themselves until they
> exhaust their reserves. When they are silent, they are approached and
> assistance is given. Those who “leave” too soon are lost, but only
> tem****arily. Eventually, they calm down and return without clothing.
>
> How many will panic? How many will need to be restrained? How many will
> “leave the room” and have to come back at a later date? It is hard
to
> say at this point. It will all depend on the action and initiative of
> those who have gone before. In fact, how fast the process unfolds, how
> quick we shall restore the calm, how smoothly we shall navigate The
> ****ft will depend entirely on the concerted actions of the people in the
> room.
>
> Still, there are no unknowns here.
>
> There is no chance.
>
> It is all up to you.
>
> If you are one of the ones that has gone ahead, reach out.
>
> If you are one of those that remain beneath the layers, reach out.
>
> There is nothing to fear.
>
> The room is warm.
>
> Namaste
>
> Michael Sharp
>
>
>
|
