Radically Happy

Continued from Sex 403: Not the Bees

I find myself in a forest glade. My companions are… transformed.

The Earnest Redeemer: Ares? Aphrodite? Deus Ex Machina?

Mars: Ares? Never heard of the guy.

Venus: Hello, big boy. I’m pretty sure I’m the only goddess of love you need.

They are the same… but different. More worldly. I’m tempted to say crass, but they are actually much more sophisticated. Civilized, even.

Except for Deus.

Janus: Please. Not Deus. Janus.

Deus has grown up. Way, way up. Still in a toga and laurel wreath But well over six feet and 200 lbs. Looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Complete with a thick accent.

Oh, and he has two heads.

J. But of course. The better to see you with.

His Arnold face is stoic, facing Mars. But his Danny de Vito face leers at Venus.

I can never tell which one is speaking.

E. Why did you bring us here?

J. Welcome to the land of doubles.
You were getting stuck in your little one-dimensional logic.
I brought you here to open your mind…

M: Ha! I like it here.

V. Me too! Shall we dance?

E. I’m… very confused.

J. Of course you are.
You are used to thinking of war as the opposite of peace.
But I know that they are two sides of the same coins.
Twins, if you will.

You are used to thinking of war as the opposite of peace.
But I know that they are two sides of the same coins.

Janus, God of Opposites

E. Then what is the coin? Generativity?

J. [leering] Wouldn’t you like to know?

E. Wait, which head was that?

J. It doesn’t matter.
That’s the point.
I don’t really have two heads.
Sometimes I have one, or four.
I’m not actually changing.
It is all in how you look at me.

E. But.. why? How?

J. For why, look at them.

Mars and Venus twirl around the glade, passionate and elegant at the same time.

E. But they’re ruining the flowers!

J. Are they? [grinning]

I pause. Yes, they are trampling the flowers. But their destruction sends sprays of pollen into the air. And where it lands, the flowers burst forth with even more vigor and beauty.

E. Then… how?

Somehow, the two faces turn to face me at the same time. Maybe there’s two more behind them that I cannot see.

J. Son of Man.
For too long you have hid behind your walls
And your fractured dualities.
If you would see this garden unleashed upon the City of God
You must take… the plunge!

If you would see this garden unleashed upon the City of God
You must take… the plunge!

Janus, God of Opposites

He points. Bizarrely, in the middle of our sunny glen. Is a patch of ice. With a hole in the middle. Containing what I am sure is freezing water.

I start to protest the incongruity. But then remember I am dealing with the God of Opposites.

I sigh.

E. Once more into the breach!

I take a running leap. Hold my breath. And dive into the frozen abyss

To be continued