Hyper-lative

Hyper-lative Angel and the Super-Hyper-Latte

6.16.05

One day on my way to an appointment, I pulled over to a drive-in cappuccino hut. Flashing from it's front window in neon red lights, were the words, "HYPER-LATIVE: The most hyper coffees around." I had been up pretty late the night before and wanted a pick-me-up.

As my car came to a stand still next to the open window, I looked inside. To my surprise, the lady selling lattes, mochas, and cappuccinos seemed to be wearing An Angel Costume! She was dressed in a classic white robe with white feathered wings. She even shimmered a bit, as if she weren't actually all there. Very beautiful, with the classic long flowing golden ringlets and tiny pink baby roses were woven into a garland upon her head. Her skin glistened with shimmering glitter rainbows.

"Hi!" she smiled, "What can I get for you today?"

Trying not to show too much surprise, I mumbled, "Oh, ah, I'd like to try the Super-Hyper-Latte, please."

"Sure," she answered.

As she turned around, all I could see inside were her large white wings, which slowly fanned the inside of the little coffee hut. Aromatic smells wafted towards my nose; a wonderful mixture of strong coffees, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cocoa.

"I'm more tired than I thought," I said to myself. "I'm seeing things."

"Here you go," the Angel said, turning around. "I think you'll enjoy this. It's a little hard to swallow, but it will definitely heighten your awareness. Don't drink too much too fast. As I said, this will absolutely help you to wake up."

Then she sprinkled some angel dust onto the top of the latte foam.

"How much do I owe you?" I asked the Angel.

"Oh no, dear," she answered in a soft hushed tone. "This won't cost you a thing.

Well....I should say this a little differently. No Money. You'll be paying with your sanity."

She beamed me a radiant smile.

"Oh," I mumbled with tired confusion.

"Is it Halloween?" I asked.

"Do you know what 'hyper-lative' means?" she continued without answering me.

"Uhhh, no, not really," I said.

"Well, you know what 'hyper' means, don't you? Keyed up, high-strung. It also can mean excessive, over done, over the top," the Angel explained,"and 'Lative' comes from 'superlative,' which means superior to all others, the highest degree or peak."

I nodded, as if I really cared.

"So what we have here, dear, is One Hell of a Cup of Coffee," she said, in conclusion.

"Ok," I mumbled, feeling rather weak. "Thanks. Have a wonderful day."

"This is weird," I chuckled, driving over to an empty spot in the parking lot. "I just told An Angel who sells Coffee from Hell and quotes the dictionary, to have a nice day!"

I turned off the car motor and took a sip of hot latte. Mmm...delicious. I read the label on the paper cup. In bold letters it read, "SUPER-HYPER-LATTE." In small print underneath, I read, "Thought For The Day: Life has no meaning. We all need to create our own meaning in life."

"I wonder what that means?" I thought.

"Don't go there!" I quickly answered myself, closing my eyes as I savored my second sip of coffee.

After my third sip, I had to put the coffee cup down in my little cup holder.

I WAS feeling quite hyper.

"Strong stuff," I said, out loud, "very strong stuff. Good. I needed that."

Next thing I knew, I was seeing things.

painting by Rassouli, "Revealing Self"

Whole scenes began to appear before me. They were real enough to reach out and touch. I saw scene after scene, from my life pop up before my very eyes.

"Uh oh," I whispered under my breath, "either I'm so exhausted I'm hallucinating, or that coffee has me completely out of control. My mind is going nuts on me."

A bit panicked, I looked around to see if there was anyone else in the parking lot. But the parking lot had disappeared. The car now seemed to be parked in some kind of playground.

"Oh my God, " I said. "I have entered The Playground of my Mind."

Opening the car door, I stepped out for some air.

"Good thing I only took 3 sips of that latte," I said to no one in particular.

I recognized this scene. It was from a moment in my childhood when unexpected, undeserved discipline and criticism had entered.

"Wow!" I exclaimed with increasing excitement. "This is like entering a video game or a movie."

I walked over to a park bench and sat. There was the swing set over on the edge. In the middle was the slide. Over to my right I could see the little metal merry-go-round. On my left the duck pond was noisy with mother ducks with their ducklings. I could even see the little black and white pony over in the meadow beyond all of this.

Next walked in all the people...my mom, my new father, my sister... and there I was! I looked like I was around 3 or 4. My sister and I were dressed like twins in plaid overalls with ruffles on the shoulder straps.

"This is amazing!" I smiled, as I watched this scene unfold. My sister and I were playing, laughing, and yelling a bit, running all over the place exploring.

All of a sudden, our new father began yelling at us for no apparent reason. His face was screwed up into a frown. I saw my mother's face change from relaxed joy to fear and concern. I saw myself run behind a tree, cover my eyes with my palms, and cry where no one could see me. I could tell I was making some major life decision. My sister ran over to our mother, hiding behind her pants leg.

That was when everything STOPPED!

I stood up, feeling upset.

"What now?" I asked. "What happened? Everything has come to a stand still! Am I to remain in this horrible scene the rest of my life? I have an appointment in half an hour! "

THAT was a very upsetting thought. I walked around the entire playground, exploring every inch of it. All was absolutely frozen.

"Great!" I said sarcastically. "Of all the places I could have picked to spend eternity! I should have stayed in bed today instead of drinking that stupid latte!"

I was starting to hyperventilate when I noticed something moving. It was a tiny dot of white light in the distance, slowly approaching me. The dot of light grew larger and larger as it came to about 10 feet in front of me. That was when I recognized the shape of an emerging figure.

"The Birth" painting by Rassouli

It was the Hyper-Lative Coffee Hut Angel!

Needless to say, I felt stunned.

She spoke in a soft, reassuring manner which led me to believe there was nothing to fear. My shoulders relaxed a bit and as I sighed, she began giving me instructions.

"This is your one day on Planet Earth," the Angel said. "You are actually An Angel. Of course, you don't remember. But that is fine. Long ago you promised this little girl you would come to her rescue in some future time and place. Well, this is THE time and here is THE place."

I started to feel extremely frustrated at this point in time.

"Ok......" I said in a loud annoyed tone, "so you're telling me that you're a dictionary-spouting Angel who sells 'Hell in a Coffee Cup'...

I'm supposed to believe I'm also An Angel, and that I've never been here on Planet Earth before...

I came here just for one day, to help some little girl...

and if I am not successful, I may be stuck here in the Playground of My Mind for all of Eternity...

is THAT what you're telling me?

Is this correct??!??!"

"Calm down, dear," said the Hyper-Lative Angel. "Once you drank that latte, everything was bound to become a little hyper, for awhile. These people cannot see you. Your vibration has speeded up so much that you are actually now invisible. And this scene is actually moving. Look a little closer. Compared to us, they are actually moving in slow motion."

"Huh!" I replied, squinting at the scene like an idiot.

"So here's the deal," continued Hyper-Lative Angel. "You can only be here for one day. All of that little girl's memories are yours, for this one day. Whatever you came here to do, do it quickly. There is no other chance for you to help her."

I was still getting used to this new tidbit of information, when I realized the Hyper-Angel was slowly fading back into her cozy soft bubble of white light.

"Hey!!!" I yelled, "Wait! Where are you going? Don't leave me here! Come back!!!

You can't do this!!!

HEY!!!!!!"

She had disappeared.

I plopped back down on the park bench. One mother duck was in the middle of swallowing a piece of bread a child had given her on the pond's edge. Never saw anything eat so slowly in my entire life. I shook my head, in amazement.

"I guess it could be worse," I pondered, "I could be dodging bullets, here."

"I remember my whole life! I couldn't be here for only One Day!!!" I thought. "How can I remember everything, if this is my first day on Planet Earth?

My mind went back over all the spiritual teachings it could drum up at the moment. I honestly didn't know if I even believed in Angels. Was it possible to actually BE something one didn't even believe in?

"I don't have time for these kinds of thoughts, "I told myself. "I need to find my way out of here. It doesn't matter whether it's true or not! Either way, I have to 'be present', stay alert, or I may be stuck here forever."

Walking around inside the scene, I circled the people in my family. I remembered all the stories I had heard, about alternate realities, multiple dimensions, time travel, and the like. Was this some kind of time warp, I wondered? Why had everything stopped? Ok, that had been explained to me already. Things only appeared to be stopped, and I was the one who had actually changed. I figured I had entered some "hyper-space dimension" in which I was rendered invisible, due to my fast velocity.

Then I remembered from Quantum Physics that even the atom is made up of mostly empty space or energy. There is no such thing as a permanent, partless atom. Sometimes an electron acts like a particle, sometimes like a wave; it's behavior seems to be affected by the observer. If the electron is measured as a wave, it behaves like a wave; if it is measured as a particle, then it behaves like a particle.

Buddha, Lao Tzu, Osho, and many other spiritual masters have basically said the same thing: that our Reality is determined by our perception, or awareness.

William Shakespeare has said something similar: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep."

All is Emptiness. Or you could call it Energy. Energy is just Energy. Nothing inherently exists from it's own side. Wisdom comprehending Emptiness. All is illusion. The Universe, a vast energy system, mirrors whatever Mind creates. Things are not as they appear; yet nor are they otherwise. Form is Emptiness; Emptiness, Form. Life is but a dream. How many times had I heard this Truth? And how many different ways had I actually experienced it?

And Here It Was. I was Absolutely Stuck, right Here and Now, smack dab in the middle of IT.

It was now or never. I had to accept this as Truth. Or I would be forever stuck in LaLa-Latte-Land-Hell.

I threw my hands up over my head, and shouted to All that Exists,

"OK!!! You win! I give up! I surrender!"

I let it all in.

painting by Rassouli, "Surrender"

I was the scene. I was everyone in the scene. I was everything in the playground: the pony, the pond, the ducks and ducklings. I was the bread the ducks were eating, the blue sky, the tree. I was the merry-go-round, the swing set, the slide, the toys. I was the little girl. I was my own little sister. I really didn't want to be my parents, yet I knew I had to be. I was Time and the Timeless. I was also the emptiness, the space, invisible and alone. I was the creating Mind; I was also the Universe mirroring all that had been created back to myself. Then I realized, ok...so I also must be that Latte-Coffee-Hell-Angel.

So I was An Angel. I had one day. What would I do?

My new father's words were still coming out of his mouth in slow motion. They sounded like the moans and groans from some horror film of a satanic figure from the underworld. Hating the way his face looked, I turned the corners of his mouth up, as if he were smiling.

That felt better.

I moved his arms, which were on his hips, so that they were clapping in delight.

"There!" I said with smug sarcasm. "We have ways to make you enjoy life, and every one of them hurts!"

Next, I walked over to my mother. I sculpted her face so that her worried frown transformed into a countenance of delight. I placed my hand on the back of her heart, hoping she would not develop heart trouble, later on.

Ok. I was getting the knack of this, and feeling Way Cool Better.

Still a bit annoyed, though, I stomped over to my little sister. I noticed she had tears in her eyes.

I lovingly wiped her tears with the bottom of my shirt. I placed her little hand inside my mother's, put a smile on her lips, and tickled her a bit. She was laughing by the time I was finished.

Ok. Now it was time to help the little girl I had promised, so long ago.

I tiptoed around the tree. There she was, still hiding her eyes, crying where no one could see her.

Looking around, I noticed she had left something over on the merry-go-round. I knew it was something the little girl had lost. Walking over to it, I realized there were several things left there. They looked like toys. One was a beautiful doll. Another was a clown storybook. The third was a red heart sticker. I instantly knew that one was her sense of humor, another was her self-esteem, and the third was love.

"Hmm...not good," I said. "Not good at all."

I placed the toys back into the little girl's hands. Then I picked her up and carried her over to the pony. Now she was sitting on his back. Molding an expression of elation upon her face, at last I felt satisfied. I looked over at her parents. They were both smiling in her direction, cheering her on, as she experienced her first pony ride!

"Ok. My work here is done," I said to myself. "Oops! One more thing!"

I leaned over to kiss the little girl on her left cheek, whispering in her ear, "I love you, and I always will."

painting by Rassouli, "Where Heavens Meet"

At that very instant, my body jerked, and I blinked my eyes.

"Huh," I said, "I'm back in the parking lot. I must have dozed off."

I took another sip of my latte. Interestingly, it was still piping hot.

"Nope...." I answered myself, "You didn't doze off. You awakened with a pretty big buzz! You just visited The You-niverse: Supr-Hyper-Latte-Land-Hell in a Coffee Cup. "

I was very happy to be back, wherever I had been. I turned the key in the ignition, flipping on the radio.

The DJ was announcing a new song, called "Wake Up, Angel, Wake Up. "

The voice singing sounded very familiar. Where had I heard that voice before?

Then I realized it was the voice of the Hyper-Lative Angel

as she sang:

"Wake Up, Angel, Wake Up

already AM

what I want to BE

already DID

what I came to DO

DID

DONE