A 420 Ester Story; The Garden Of Weeden

 

Joshua Kriss, an old man lies on his bed, recalling his life and his old friends who he has outlived. He dozes off as the memories turn into a dream. As a teenager he gets a call from one of his now dead friends “hey Dave” he says as he answers the phone. Dave on the other end says “dude, man, I just got a call from you” “I don’t think so” Joshua responds, Dave continues “Nah dude not you you, but like future you, older you, like way older" "dude how stoned are you?” Joshua asks, “like wicked baked, but that’s not relevant” Dave answers as Joshua interrupts “I think it is very relevant” Dave continues "nah dude, it was legit you and besides it's not like tetrahydrocannabinol is a hallucinogenic". Joshua was shocked by the overly technical term, “tetro- hydro- what-anol?” he asked. Dave answers “tetrahydrocannabinol, that’s what you, or future you told me THC stands for, “that doesn’t sound like me, but it literally is a hallucinogenic” Joshua responds “oh ya you said that too, and it sounds a lot like older you, he’s really smart. Anyway, he gave me directions to a giant weed plant, like infinite he, or you said, I’m on my way over I got a map down like a treasure map, we need to find this thing man, you read maps, right?” Dave asks. “What no, especially not a treasure map you just drew” Joshua responds, “oh, well future you does, like I said he’s really smart”.

When Dave arrived at Joshua's house, he was so excited he jumped off his bicycle before it stopped and ran over to Joshua as it hit the ground. “Dude dude” he said as he ran over while taking off his backpack and opening it up, “here’s the map” he handed Joshua a piece of paper that looked older than it should, on it was a map, that looked no more readable than a child’s napkin drawing that wouldn’t even make it on the fridge. Joshua looked at it, flabbergasted, as Dave pointed to it, saying, see there’s the park where the weed guy always meets us, that’s where we start and then we go east, or north, or west, or maybe it was south, anyway we go one of those directions and then see the X marks the spot” he finished speaking while pointing to a big red X. Joshua said “ya I figured that but what direction do we go?” “Like I said man east, north, west, or south, definitely one of those”, Dave replied Joshua looked dumbfounded as he spoke “well ya I figured we needed to go in a direction, but which one? That seems important. “Whatever man we’ll figure it out now grab your bike and let’s go” Dave said, before Joshua asked “we’ll figure it out? What do you mean? You just want to walk every possible direction until we reach a giant red X?” “No man it won’t be an actual X, it’ll be a big green plant, an infinite weed plant with magical secrets to tell” Dave answered, before Joshua continued in his sarcastically skeptical tone “Oh now this plant is gonna give us magical information? “Doesn’t weed always though” Dave answers now inexplicably smoking a joint, “dude now you're smoking before we go look for a magic plant we can smoke?” Joshua says surprised before Dave nods as he inhales and says “ya, you wanna hit before we go?” holding the joint toward Joshua who pauses for a second, before saying “ya gimme that shit” as he takes the joint hits it and continues while inhaling “let’s go”

    They continue on their weeks-long journey. They smoke, chat, laugh and campout beneath the stars. One night while lying below the star lit black sky as they pass a joint between them and talk. “How are things with Eve?” Dave asks “Oh there great, I swear Ima marry that girl” Joshua answers as Dave continues “ya I always knew you two were made for each other said it from the start, that’s why I didn’t date her” Joshua laughs at this and says “ya, like you would have a chance, c’mon you know she woulda never dated your dorkey ass” “Hey man I’m smooth as MiraLAX when I wanna be” Dave responds while trying to hold back laughter that he could not for too long before cracking up with a cough and smoke exhaling his nose. Joshua does the same “ya right smooth as MiraLAX, that ain’t the kinda smooth you want with chicks” “hey smooth is smooth man” the laughter continues for what time dilation made feel like hours. After the laughter calms down Dave continues “ah, but seriously, merry her, have some kids, live the dream man, but I know you will, future you told me” Joshua then said, “I don’t need some future seer to tell me that, I’m definitely gonna marry her, now quit bogarting and lemme hit that shit”. He did.

Joshua wakes up wheezing but happy. They never did find that weed plant but damn if that wasn’t the best trip of his life, well one of the best, second only to his honeymoon with Eve, who has long since died at this point, just like everyone, how had Joshua outlived all his friends he wondered, now sick and frail, he had the thought well soon, I’m definitely gonna have to call past Dave soon, if it was for real, but then remembered more about the trip, some more information Dave had told him about the call, the memories again became a dream, a waking dream this time.

    On a trail, far up a mountain, neither Dave nor Joshua knew where they were. Dave said “I think this is the spot” “where? I don’t see no giant weed plant” Joshua responds. “No, I know but like it should be around here somewhere, this is where you said we’d meet” “wait we’re gonna meet future me now? Like when I’m super old, probably near death” Joshua responds with a slight giggle before Dave answers “near death, no way man, you never die, thanks to that weed plant ""wait it’s like the cannabis of eternal youth or something?” Joshua asks. “Or something man, it connects everything, it holds up world upon world and all those who die near it are remembered, part of some collective, no not collective but not an individual either, you were very clear, but what was the word you used, halan, holon, holon that’s it” Dave said to Joshua, looking confused, he wonders aloud “what the hell is a holon?” “A holon is everything man, both a part and a whole, you were very clear about that part, less so about the infinite worlds held together by this infinite weed plant, or some kinda titan, or great dane or something, I heard one barking in the background” Dave answered as Joshua continued the questioning “wait you heard a dog barking, while I’m in a collective consciousness?” Dave corrected him “nah man I heard a great dane barking, while you called me from the holon" "ok I still don’t understand what a holon is, but how’d you know it was a great dane? Just from a bark?” Joshua continues. “They have a very distinctive bark, and don’t worry nobody really does, we all think too much with our ego, not enough with our superego, once we can do that all will be revealed” Dave said profoundly.

Joshua, still wheezing on his bed, remembering all Dave had taught him that apparently, he taught Dave. For the first time in his long life, he started to wonder, what if it was all true, what if everything Dave had said was legit? Why was Joshua thinking this now? That he didn’t know, but he knew one thing, he knew: he still had the pictures from that trip, and that old treasure map. Coughing, he got out of bed and walked to his garage where he took out a bunch of boxes and chests and began digging through them. He came across his old self lighting pipe, held it in his hand, staring at it with a nostalgic smile on his face before he continued looking through the boxes until he found it. That old dusty picture book, with the treasure map still inside. He looked at the treasure map and somehow, for the first time it all made sense, he knew exactly where he needed to go. So, he left, didn’t even pack, he just grabbed his old golden self-lighting pipe and began the quest in his nightgown. He was gonna find that infinite world growing cannabis plant of eternal youth yet. Still wheezing as he walked but the closer, he got the more it stopped. Doctors had long said he was near death and not to exert himself, but he was on a mission and wouldn’t let himself die until he arrived at that magical weed plant, joined that holon, or became one, whatever the case may be, and of course after all that he had a very important call to make.

    Joshua soon arrived at that old trail. He walked up it as unseen birds chirped around the familiar environment. It looked exactly the same as he remembered it, almost like he and Dave were the last people to have been there. As he walked, he felt younger and as though Dave was right beside him, like a shadow, or a ghost, he felt his presence which strengthened his resolve. He soon reached that mountain peak that he and Dave had so long ago. He said to himself “Ok what did we miss? I didn’t know then, but I know now that you were right. I can feel it, I just can’t see it.” Joshua looked around as a breeze blew over him causing him to turn around where he finally saw it. What he and Dave had thought was a tree and as such didn’t give it a second look. “That’s what we missed? A tree?” Joshua wondered to himself in confusion, before continuing “unless, no, it’s not a tree” as he walked over to it and kicked it hard causing a dust storm as dirt fell from the heavens and what was revealed was a cannabis plant unlike any that he or anyone had ever seen, like the giant beanstalk but bud instead of beans. Joshua sat at the base and said to himself quietly “I found it Dave, you were right, here’s to you” as he picked a bud, put it in that old self lighting pipe and inhaled deep as he closed his eyes, dying, but only for now.

    What he saw was indescribable, he felt as though he was being reborn, or hatched, resurrecting from an egg, but he suddenly understood exactly what a holon was, he understood everything, he saw everything, all of time, not just his own past but all the history of all the worlds. Like traveling to them all at once, he spoke to historical figures, he preached kindness and love, he told those to give up their belongings and help their world. He preached thinking with the ego, not the superego. He saw world after world growing from this infinite cannabis stalk. And he realized he had been here before. He then remembered to call Dave. He just thought it, no phone, he didn’t even remember Daves number, but soon a voice said, “This is Dave talk to me”.

Joshua spoke only in his mind, “Dave my old friend you were right, I found it, we found it” “found what?” Dave asked “EVERYTHING” Joshua answers. “What? Who is this?” Dave asked. “We are everyone, we are everything, but you would know us as Joshua” “Joshua you don’t sound like Joshua, and who’s us? Dave responded “I am” Joshua answered. “Have you joined a cult?” Dave questioned with concern as Joshua reassured him “no, I died, but then I saw, I stopped thinking with my ego and began thinking with my super ego” “Wait you’re dead and now a part of a collective consciousness?” Dave asked, shocked but curious and just high enough to buy it. “No, I am both a collective and an individual, yet neither a collective nor an individual, I am both yet neither, I am a part and a whole I am as we all are, all the things in all the worlds, I am a holon” Joshua explained as Dave tried to understand “wait worlds? Like plural? As in more than one?” “Infinite and you and I have seen them all we just don’t remember” Joshua replied “I have never visited another world, I’ve never even been outside of the US, I think I’d remember visiting another world” Dave said. “No, you have, you are right now see every time you smoke that weed you and I love so much you see it, but then immediately forget, you know how tetrahydrocannabinol affects the memory” Joshua explains before Dave asks what Joshua had all those years ago “tetro- hydro- what-anol?” Joshua spoke again “tetrahydrocannabinol It is the hallucinogenic compound in cannabis commonly abbreviated as THC” Dave was about to speak but Joshua interrupted and continued “I know you have more questions, don’t worry answers are everywhere, you just have to look with your superego, now take out that piece of paper you have and write this down” Dave wondered how Joshua knew he had paper on him, but didn’t ask and took it out of his pocket and said “ok I’m ready” as Joshua continued “first draw the park where the weed guy always meets us, then draw lines in all directions, east, north, west, and south, you must travel them all. At some point, high on a mountain, where no one ever goes, you will see it and all will be revealed, you will remember all those worlds the ones that are, the ones that have been and the ones yet to come, growing like eggs, hatching out of buds, of a plant very familiar to us all” Dave said “wait what? Where?” Joshua smiles and finishes his speech “X marks the spot of course, don’t worry I will understand, I won’t believe you, but I will understand,

now I must go, it is the twentieth of April somewhere and another world is hatching, as a great dane is being born as a Titan to hold it up” Before the call ended Dave heard the very distinctive bark of a great dane and tried to say “wait” but it was too late, the line was dead, but like Joshua would rise again or is still happening as time continues, static yet moving, as the superego already knows, what the ego is ignorant of. Joshua is known even to the ego though. A continuing influence throughout cultures, eras, and worlds. Known by different names in different languages. Maybe you know him as Yeshua in Hebrew. Lesous in Greek, or perhaps you’ve heard his English name, Jesus!

THE END