Subconscious Theater

Somewhere far and beyond the other places passed by in everyday life, there is a distant sea. It is a rolling, dark thing bound above by cloud and fog and below by sorrow and need. It stretches away before the eye, going a long way after the horizon. Too long to comprehend for most of us.

To get to this sea, one must walk through a forest. The forest encompasses all of the forest of the waking world, and none of them. Within it are cool shadows, the bitter smell of rotting leaves, the soft feel of pine needles beneath the feet. The trees soar into blue sky, sometimes crowding it out so completely that walking among them is like walking through the tunnel of a cave, trusting only instinct for the surface world to get out again. The rush and roar of waterfalls echo in the background. Streams babble, talking even when no one is listening. And the narrow deer paths lacing through the trees always lead to a sudden meadow, or the top of a hill overgrown with flowers, perhaps the side of a dusty cliff with red rocks all the way down to the canyon's bottom.

The forest goes a long way too, but not as long as the sea. And when one comes out of the trees, there is a road of hard-packed earth. The road goes many places backward and forward, but the real destination is always the sea. To get there, one has to cross the road and walk beyond a barrier of shale and tumbled stone. On the other side is the shore, a gentle curve of white beach that hugs the water and stretches out into two long arms of rock and seaweed. Gulls wheel and cry overhead. Otters dive unimpeded in the greyness of the water.

At the end of one of those rocky arms is a rowboat. Tied to a long-forgotten stake, it rises and falls with the tide, old and unpainted. The rowboat has one purpose. A few hundred meters out from the bay and the jetties that form it is a lighthouse. Tall and white, its light flashing around and around in a constant unhurried circle, it stands alone. Within, it is a simple building of few rooms. Attached is a house with kitchen, cellar and bedroom. And at all times it is jammed to the gills with individuals all trying in their turn to be the center of attention.

It's amazing the light is lit at all.