A scape in stasis

Christina runs her fingertips across the nape of my neck.

"Let us enjoy this trip together."

The words enter my mind seductively, like a caress, but I detect a subtle plaint in her tone.

I rise from my seat and offer my hand. Joining hands, we walk to a window with a panoramic view of the Free Zone.

Putting my arm around her waist, I draw her close. "What do you see, Christina?"

She smiles equanimously, pressing her body into mine, whispering into my mind: "The Free Zone."

"Yes, but what do you see?"

I watch her scan the Free Zone. "I see beauty."

"Yes."

Her eyes settle on an impressive array of buildings. "I see order."

"Yes."

She pauses, realizing that I need a less obvious answer, and then looks me in the eyes. "I see a scape in stasis."

I give her a squeeze. "Exactly."

"And so ..."

"And so, how can such a place as this ..." I sweep my hand across the Free Zone. "... be free with no hint of growth?"

"The Free Zone is a sacred place."

"Yes, but ..."

"But what?"

I release my thought process.

Sensing the release, Christina regards me pensively. "We're going to the Pleasure Zone for more than just pleasure."

I reflect her gaze without thinking or saying a word.

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?”