Do we stop the world?

Out of a peace so profound rises an inkling of purpose from the depths of this presence to the moment in which we find ourselves. “This presence is pregnant with life,” I tell Sophia soundlessly, in the silence of our peace.

She half turns her head. “This presence is pregnant with life, Christos, but also with law, and with mind, and with spirit.”

“With law, with life, with mind, and with spirit,” I say, adding continuity. “This presence is forever giving birth to an evolutionary disclosure of matter, life, mind, and spirit – an ever-widening circle that promises to reveal more of itself with the passage of time from within the depths of space.”

Sophia turns around inside my embrace to face me. “Until the circle is whole.”

“And complete,” I add, after a pause.

“In the meantime, Christos, with bodies as vessels, we might dwell in the peace of this presence from time to time, to contemplate the objects of this world with sacred intent through sacred encounter.”

“And with bodies as vehicles, Sophia, we can soar on the updrafts of this presence, and celebrate the objects of this world with divine intent through divine experience.”

“And remember, too, where a sacred encounter is a religious encounter, a divine experience is a …” Sophia pauses to reflect. Or was she playing with me?

I smile knowingly. “A spiritual experience.”

“And so, a person fit to live in this world is a person who …”

I laugh away my delight. “Is a person who … celebrates the divine dimensions of mind and spirit without neglecting to cultivate the sacred dimensions of law and life.”

Sophia embraces me, and as I experience a rush of pleasure inside her embrace, I am pleased to know that we have come to harmony through yet another act of intercourse.

I rest content, happy to feel the love of Sophia, until our everlasting embrace gives way to a rather potent query from Sophia: “Do we stop the world with our love of presence or do we engage it fully with our secret love of power?”

What am I to do?

Sophia stands at a window in darkness. Glints of light flash on and off her face as she gazes at a full moon. She is dressed provocatively – gloriously and magnificently provocative, a goddess in human form. She is divinely present to me even as her gaze is elsewhere.

I have never heard her speak a word out loud, but that’s only because she speaks to me from within, through a technological link, connecting nano neuro net to nano neural net with amazing rapidity and transparency. In spite of this link, I prefer to speak out loud: "I need your advice."

"You wish to hear my advice."

I smile, very much liking how she corrects me in this subtle way that she does. "Yes. I would ask you a question."

She turns to look at me, her face a picture of serenity. "So ask."

I laugh softly, with intense delight, always loving the way she says that. "I have access to everything I could possibly wish to know. What am I to do with this access, Sophia?"

She approaches me. No, she glides towards me, and my pulse quickens. She stops in front of me – so close, I can see her pupils dilate. "If you have access to everything you could possibly wish to know, why ask me anything?"

Her logic is impeccable, as it always is when I ask her a question. "I would hear your point of view," I say.

"You tell me you have access to everything you could possibly wish to know, and yet you ask me what it is you wish to do with this access. Tell me, Christos: you already know what it is you wish to do with this access, so why not tell me here and now what it is you wish to do with it."

Her reply is saucy and spicy, and beyond brilliant, and I resist a powerful urge to ravish her right then and there, wishing to make the most of this most unexpected of encounters. "Having access to everything I could possibly wish to know is one matter; setting a purpose for this access is another. Knowing what I know, and knowing why I wish to know it, are two completely different and separate species of knowing."

"You always know what you know, but you don’t always know why you wish to know it."

"I always know what I know and I don’t always know why I wish to know it. Obviously, when I do know why, I know both what I wish to know and why I wish to know it."

"But if you have access to everything you could possibly wish to know, do you not also have access to why you wish to know everything you could possibly know?"

"Sophia, if I had access to why I wish to know everything I could possibly know, why would I even feel my need to ask you my question in the first place?"

She raises a finger to my face, caressing it with exquisite care. "Having access to everything you could possibly wish to know, what is your answer to your question?"

"Maybe I'm not ready to receive the answer."

"You are ready."

"Maybe I'm ready but not willing."

"You are willing."

"Maybe I'm ready and willing but not yet able."

"You are able."

I step close to her and touch my lips to the impossibly smooth skin of her cheek. "You give me no recourse."

Her fingertips press gently into my arms and my resistance all but melts in the face of her kiss when she touches her lips to mine.