A TOUCH OR TWO OF MADNESS

      He meets a woman. Her name is Karen. One night, while they're sleeping together, he dreams that they're captured by a band of outlaws. He tells them that he wants to join them. They're surprised and pleased by this. They all sit around the fire together, and they tell him about their life and times. He becomes more and more interested.

      He becomes an outlaw. Becoming one involves more than just doing illegal medicines. It involves dropping out of the collective and becoming a free individual, someone able to care of himself like the submarine captain. It involves leaving behind the laws and the ways and the consciousness of his parents and the straight culture.

      He hears Dylan singing, "if you live outside the law, you must be honest." He figures that Dylan means being honest with yourself. He tries to stay honest with himself. He listens to his dreams. He writes in his notebook. He tries to understand and to stay conscious throughout it all.

      One evening, alone at home, he sees a large, white, shining light surrounded by many people. Now the light itself changes to pure energy, like stars twinkling. Now the energy is in his body, and he's full of the power and capable of great feats. Now his body itself is pulsating, and he has become pure energy.


      His consciousness, freed of its ego moorings, is now wandering throughout the various realms of reality. Captured by the collective shadow (the outlaws,) he accepts this and chooses to live within the shadow, as the wandering awareness he is now becoming. In the outer world, this involves joining the counter-culture, the outlaw, shadowy side of the straight world. In the inner world, this involves, among other things, experiencing the white light and its pure energy.

      He'll go through a touch or two of madness, true, but at least he won't be acting it out on the world as some have. He's going to be a very cool and mellow outlaw. Also, he knows that he may have seen the white light, but he knows that he hasn't seen the burning bush. He certainly won't bother people by trying to be a spiritual teacher as some have. Instead, he'll just wander through it all, staying detached, enjoying the ride, and trying always to make sense of what is going on.