A Longer Wheel

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern.” – William Blake

Being our first year at college was certainly the last thing on our minds that weekend night. After having partook of the latest entertainment chemical mix, the four of us guys drove around like crazy. It should be logical that flying high and speeding around in a hot car don’t mix. But having a flat tire on top of that didn’t bode well for the rest of evening.

The first thing we did was not to look for the jack, but to lie back in a field looking up at the stars. I had never seen the night glow like that, nor the stars dance so much.  And yes, on top of all that, it happened once again.

As I flowed into the ebb and flow mixture of the nightly lights and spheres, the ripping pressure in my chest pulled me away. And the rising sensation totally changed my perspective. My gyroscoping point of view shot fear throughout my body. My physical body, which I was no longer a part of. Now I found my ‘self’ shooting towards the heavens, completely out of and away from my body. And I heard that damn ringing sound again. Oh hell.

I gazed around and it seemed I was a part of the star fabric around me. It seemed like there was no limit how in space I could go. And then I looked down and wondered how I was ever going to get back in my body. It was like a small speck way down there. Next thing I knew I was zooming down, right back into my body. It seemed just focusing on my body got me right back into it. Now, I am certainly open to the idea that these chemically-induced events were just hallucinations, and it didn’t actually happen at all. If it had happened only once, and under these particular circumstances, I could go along with that. It was too real, and obviously it happened before, and it did happen again.

Afterwards, I tried to confide in my friends what had happened, but that was a non-starter. Scoffs, laughs, and jeers were the only token responses. In the years that followed, none of them remained my friends. My path went a different direction. Oh well.