Faith, ROH and the Great Now

Today an enormous rectangle appeared on the cracked earth of Zakuna Salt Lake.

It was just a flat and simple plane shape. No depth to it at all.

Once the sun went down, we observed it to be self-illumined, and colourful as the best of rainbow auroras.

It emits a low buzzing hum or vibration and is slightly warm to the touch.

We have no idea where it came from or how long it will stay.

People are fascinated and have been flocking to the shores by day and night to picnic nearby and observe it. It has an almost hypnotic presence that is impossible to ignore. Children are ditching school to be near it. Workers are leaving their posts.

Some rumours are starting that it might be able to heal physical and mental ailments. The elderly and infirm are gathering too, and asking to be allowed through the crowds to get close enough to touch it. One man in a wheelchair has been practically glued to the thing for 4 hours today. I hope he remembers to look after his basic needs, like drinking water. I haven’t seen him move a muscle the whole time. He has both hands pressed awkwardly to the blue edge.

I should say, that the colour is only on one side. If you go around what I call the “back” of the rectangle, it is pure black, with somewhat of a shimmer. It absorbs light. So there is deep shadow on that side, and brightness on the other.

I haven’t been close enough to touch it yet, and am a bit wary about doing so. But I can’t seem to take my eyes off the thing, either. It has a mystical or magical pull.

*

This morning I awoke on the shore after having fallen asleep outdoors—along with the majority of my neighbours, and those who have come from further afield to see our famous wonder.

The first thing I noticed was that there is a slow tide of greenery starting to creep from the closest verdant area, across the cracked flats. Plants too, it seems, are drawn by the thing. It is amazing indeed to see this heavily salinated land support growth of any kind. Nothing has grown here before. Not even in ancient times, according to local lore. It is scientifically impossible, allegedly. But the evidence is clear enough today— the science must be wrong.

The next thing I noticed was the birds. They are joining the crowds on the flats, threading through us without a trace of fear. It seems they too are drawn by the Rectangle. And calmed or comforted.

There is talk today that it might be a portal of some sort. That is the obvious thing to think. But no one has entered it. So far, it is simply a presence.

*

Let’s talk dimensions. The Rectangle of Healing or ROH, as it’s come to be known among the growing body of devotees and acolytes—of which I am one—is still there on Day 3. I guess it’s about 3 metres high, and a little over 2 metres wide. The depth…is nil. As I mentioned before, the ROH is a plane shape and completely flat. As you walk around to go behind it, it disappears altogether for a moment, when you’re exactly side-on. It’s that thin.

The ROH has already revolutionised my existence. There is Before ROH, and the Great Now.

There are no teachings. There is no dogma. ROH simply Is, and in the Great Now, Being is enough. It is All.

[Written for prompt at: https://www.writersdigest.com/your-story-140;
Photo credit: Andriy Onufriyenko via Getty Images]