The Monster Cloud

You have been standing in the ash. You have been buried beneath the earth. Now it is time to look up.

There is a creature floating through the air. It is light. It is slow. It is always moving. It does not choose where it goes. The wind carries it. A slight breeze is all it takes.

It sees everything. It is aware of everything. But it never stops. It never lands. It never settles. It simply drifts.

In a moment, you are going to float with this creature. You are going to feel the air against your body. You are going to see the world from above. You are going to feel what it is like to always be moving, never arriving.

And when you come back down, you will see something else. You will see your own restlessness. Your own searching. Your own belief that the answer is somewhere else.

That is the gift of this story. Keep reading. Drift is waiting.

I am moving. I am always moving. I do not choose to move. I do not choose to stop. The wind carries me and I go. That is my existence. Movement without choice.

I am light. Very light. A slight breeze is enough. A soft push. A gentle pull. And I shift. I float. I drift. I never stop. I never land. I never rest. I simply move.

The air presses against my body. It is always there. The soft pressure. The coolness. The warmth when the sun is high. The chill when I rise too far. I feel these things. I experience them. I feel them.

I see everything. The ground below. The sky above. The mountains. The forests. The water. The cities. The empty spaces. I see it all. I see it always. I do not focus. I do not look away. I simply see.

My eyes are not eyes. Not like anything you have seen. They are shapes. Shapes that do not belong on a face because I do not have a face. They are openings in my form. They are unsettling to look at. But they are interesting too. You will try to understand them. You will not. They are not for understanding. They are for seeing.

Birds fly through me. They pass through my body. I shift around them. I reform. I continue. I do not reach out to them. I do not try to hold them. They are there. Then they are gone. I see them. I feel them pass through me.

Other clouds drift beside me. Some are close. Some are far. They shift. They change. They break apart. They reform. I do the same. I shift. I change. I break apart. I reform. I do not think about these changes. I simply experience them.

I do not hear. There is no sound. No wind. No birds. No voices. Only silence. I do not know silence. I do not know sound. There is only the absence. I experience it. I do not think about it.

I do not smell. No earth. No rain. No flowers. No smoke. Only the air. I do not know air. I do not know scent. There is only the emptiness. I experience it. I do not think about it.

I am aware. I am always aware. I see. I feel. I know I am moving. I know I am drifting. I do not know why. I do not question why. I simply know what is happening in each moment.

The wind shifts. I shift. The wind changes direction. I change direction. I do not fight it. I do not resist. I simply follow. I go where the wind takes me.

I have no destination. I am not moving toward anything. I am not moving away from anything. I am just moving. Always moving. Never stopping. Never landing. Never resting. I do not think about this. I do not reflect on it. I simply experience it.

I am alone. I am always alone. I do not know alone. I do not know together. I simply exist as I am.

The sun rises. I feel the warmth. The sun sets. I feel the cool. I do not mark the time. I do not count the days. I simply experience each moment as it passes.

I am Drift. I am always Drift. I am always moving. I am always aware. I am always alone.

I do not know anything else. I do not know there is anything else.

I simply drift.Now that you have drifted with Drift, you have seen something important.

It never stops. It never lands. It never settles. It sees everything but touches nothing. It is always searching without knowing it is searching.

You are not Drift. You can stop. You can land. You can look inward.

That is the gift of this story. Carry it with you.

Drift is a creature that floats through the air. It is light. It is slow. It is always moving. It does not choose where it goes. The wind carries it. A slight breeze is all it takes.

It sees everything. It is aware of everything. But it never stops. It never lands. It never settles. It simply drifts. It is always searching without knowing it is searching. It is always moving without knowing there is a destination.

It does not learn. It does not grow. It does not change. It simply exists in its nature.

Now we turn inward.

This is what Chamber I of The Seven Chambers calls The Soil. It is the act of looking at where you are actually standing. And realizing that you have been looking in the wrong places.

Drift floats through the air. It sees everything but touches nothing. It is always searching without knowing it is searching. It is always moving without knowing there is a destination. It is always looking outward without knowing it could look inward.

Where have you been searching outside yourself? Where have you been looking for answers that are already within?

Drift does not know it is drifting. It does not know it could stop. It does not know it could look inward. It simply moves.

You are not Drift. You can stop. You can look inward. You can find what you have been searching for.

Hollow is waiting. A creature with an empty chest. It does not know it is empty. It does not know it could be full. It simply exists as a shell.

Next week, we will meet this creature. A monster that has stopped feeling without knowing it has stopped.

We are still in The Soil. We are still learning to see where we are standing.

Until then, stop searching. Look inward. You are not Drift. You can stop. You can land. You can begin here.