Losing It, Finding It, and Peace
Every so often in his explorations Agapito had sudden outpourings of tears. They were more frequent when he was alone and most frequent when he was happy. They were moments of release, moments of ecstasy, moments where his body grew to be the body of the Earth. Some moments his body was the Earth expanded to be the body of the Universe before dissolving to nothing like honey in tea, at which times he would shudder, close his eyes and mumble, “My God, My God.”
He had such an occasion when he arrived at the shore of the Rio Pata Tuichi in Madidi, Bolivia. Upon concluding the mystical outpouring Agapito left his backpack, machete and residual bits of fear on the Western shore of the river and dove in to the rainforest-warm water. The current was swift and he was a Taurus, making for questionable swimming abilities and so the Tuichi carried him down. The river and its many rocks knocked Agapito unconscious within 100 meters. His journey from there to where he was found 100 kilometers further in Rurrenabaque was undocumented except by God who still processed his persistent nerve-synapses.
Whatever happened in his unconscious travel, some said that it must not have been too bad because he was washed ashore with a smile on his face, an erection and the claim, “God and her milk have been good to me!”
At this point Agapito broke into a sweat and the rash enveloped his body. The heat from the rash became unbearable and his fever elevated to 102 for three days. He was put in a jeep and carried directly 15 hours to La Paz, “The Peace”.
In La Paz Agapito had the chauffer drop him off on Sagarnaca where it was rumored that a great Kallawaya named Don Iberio kept a clinic. A single inquiry to a toothless Aymara woman was fruitful. She would not tell them the whereabouts of the clinic, however, until Agapito bought the shirt off her back, literally.
Arriving at the clinic, Don Iberio already had Agapito’s cards and coca leaves laid out on the table with a grin that spoke of expectation. For his rash Don Iberio recommended honey to be applied generously and frequently to all afflicted areas as an immediate remedy while he concocted the healing tea. The sugar of the honey would be cooling to the heat of the rash. In this time he stayed in his hostel naked with a fan blowing directly between his legs in attempt to cool himself.
In Agapito’s cards, Don Iberio read that he had been invaded by evil winds that were now passing, and in the coca leaves he read that Agapito was looking for a love. When told he would be married within the year, Agapito figured he should set to finding a beautiful woman to be his partner. As we shall see below, his search for love and his marriage there-to would be of a much different nature.
On the third day of drinking it, the healing tea drove Agapito to delirium. He fell into what seemed like a dream. Draped in his white sheet he began to float above his bed. The roof disappeared and his ascension went unimpeded higher into the atmosphere. He noticed that as he rose, a giant tower with a flashing red light at the top was rising in pace with him. At the upper extent of the stratosphere the tower stopped growing while Agapito continued into the blackness of space. He cart wheeled upside down and looked back at earth with the flashing light keeping pace to his breath. In an instant, and not because of Agapito’s lucid-will, he was pulled back to earth and began to tumble beside the tower.
His fall accelerated with the increased gravity but the Earth remained at a suspended distance so that his fall became more of a flight. He could not dictate his trajectory but was definitely not pulled straight down by gravity. At times he would drift right or left and at other times he would cut sharp 90-degree turns into the clouds. The Earth kept its distance.
With one final jerk, the Earth pulled heavy on Agapito’s body and he plummeted toward the ocean. As he entered he made no splash. It was a transition from one medium to another, more similar to a person finding the atmosphere increase in density as they move from the mountains to the lowlands.
He swam to the sandy bottom and landed akimbo next to a bubble-mouthed 100-year old leatherback sea turtle. Agapito slowly fell onto his back with a force that initiated a somersault backward and buried him in the sand. The sand washed over him and the gentle sway of the ocean bottom slid the sand side to side. The turtle let out a large bubble and waddled over to him. At that time Agapito could no longer see his body, and when the turtle dug its nose into the sand to release him, only the dust of his bones were released and immediately dissolved into the water.
Agapito no longer had a body. In a strange sensation, there was a field similarly corporeal that encompassed what was left of his existence. The focus of his being at this point, however, was a ball of white light about the size of an orange that sat in his absent chest cavity. This remnant light recoiled into the sand and then shot upward, breaking the surface of the water again without drama and landing on a boardwalk on a popular beach.
It may have been California, Mexico or Cuba, but also could have been Thailand, India, Tunisia or Alaska. The people on the boardwalk were featureless, emotionless and alone. For all the masses scattered along the shore and on the boardwalk, they were alone. His light penetrated the heart of the crowd and not a single face turned. He walked along the boardwalk, away from the shore and moved back onto the land. As he moved people began to give gentle nods, acknowledging smiles and occasional laughter. Their faces would light up and their posture would straighten.
From then on his white ball of light moved agelessly through the world at chest-height. And those that heard of this phenomenon began to call it “Agapito”. For example, you could hear the man Heinrich in Switzerland turn to his wife after a walk into the mountains, “Ahh, I had the most beautiful Agapito today by the lake!” It meant a momentary appreciation, a glimpse of eternity and an acceptance of reality.
He found Don Iberio as he hovered through The Peace one last time and they exchanged acknowledging smiles and a piercing cosmic laugh. Agapito could hear Don Iberio continue the laugh as he hovered his way over to Sao Paulo.
The word was absorbed into the World’s language with a quite literal connotation from the Greek word “agape” and the Spanish diminutive:
A little bit of GOD’S love.
Every so often in his explorations Agapito had sudden outpourings of tears. They were more frequent when he was alone and most frequent when he was happy. They were moments of release, moments of ecstasy, moments where his body grew to be the body of the Earth. Some moments his body was the Earth expanded to be the body of the Universe before dissolving to nothing like honey in tea, at which times he would shudder, close his eyes and mumble, “My God, My God.”
He had such an occasion when he arrived at the shore of the Rio Pata Tuichi in Madidi, Bolivia. Upon concluding the mystical outpouring Agapito left his backpack, machete and residual bits of fear on the Western shore of the river and dove in to the rainforest-warm water. The current was swift and he was a Taurus, making for questionable swimming abilities and so the Tuichi carried him down. The river and its many rocks knocked Agapito unconscious within 100 meters. His journey from there to where he was found 100 kilometers further in Rurrenabaque was undocumented except by God who still processed his persistent nerve-synapses.
Whatever happened in his unconscious travel, some said that it must not have been too bad because he was washed ashore with a smile on his face, an erection and the claim, “God and her milk have been good to me!”
At this point Agapito broke into a sweat and the rash enveloped his body. The heat from the rash became unbearable and his fever elevated to 102 for three days. He was put in a jeep and carried directly 15 hours to La Paz, “The Peace”.
In La Paz Agapito had the chauffer drop him off on Sagarnaca where it was rumored that a great Kallawaya named Don Iberio kept a clinic. A single inquiry to a toothless Aymara woman was fruitful. She would not tell them the whereabouts of the clinic, however, until Agapito bought the shirt off her back, literally.
Arriving at the clinic, Don Iberio already had Agapito’s cards and coca leaves laid out on the table with a grin that spoke of expectation. For his rash Don Iberio recommended honey to be applied generously and frequently to all afflicted areas as an immediate remedy while he concocted the healing tea. The sugar of the honey would be cooling to the heat of the rash. In this time he stayed in his hostel naked with a fan blowing directly between his legs in attempt to cool himself.
In Agapito’s cards, Don Iberio read that he had been invaded by evil winds that were now passing, and in the coca leaves he read that Agapito was looking for a love. When told he would be married within the year, Agapito figured he should set to finding a beautiful woman to be his partner. As we shall see below, his search for love and his marriage there-to would be of a much different nature.
On the third day of drinking it, the healing tea drove Agapito to delirium. He fell into what seemed like a dream. Draped in his white sheet he began to float above his bed. The roof disappeared and his ascension went unimpeded higher into the atmosphere. He noticed that as he rose, a giant tower with a flashing red light at the top was rising in pace with him. At the upper extent of the stratosphere the tower stopped growing while Agapito continued into the blackness of space. He cart wheeled upside down and looked back at earth with the flashing light keeping pace to his breath. In an instant, and not because of Agapito’s lucid-will, he was pulled back to earth and began to tumble beside the tower.
His fall accelerated with the increased gravity but the Earth remained at a suspended distance so that his fall became more of a flight. He could not dictate his trajectory but was definitely not pulled straight down by gravity. At times he would drift right or left and at other times he would cut sharp 90-degree turns into the clouds. The Earth kept its distance.
With one final jerk, the Earth pulled heavy on Agapito’s body and he plummeted toward the ocean. As he entered he made no splash. It was a transition from one medium to another, more similar to a person finding the atmosphere increase in density as they move from the mountains to the lowlands.
He swam to the sandy bottom and landed akimbo next to a bubble-mouthed 100-year old leatherback sea turtle. Agapito slowly fell onto his back with a force that initiated a somersault backward and buried him in the sand. The sand washed over him and the gentle sway of the ocean bottom slid the sand side to side. The turtle let out a large bubble and waddled over to him. At that time Agapito could no longer see his body, and when the turtle dug its nose into the sand to release him, only the dust of his bones were released and immediately dissolved into the water.
Agapito no longer had a body. In a strange sensation, there was a field similarly corporeal that encompassed what was left of his existence. The focus of his being at this point, however, was a ball of white light about the size of an orange that sat in his absent chest cavity. This remnant light recoiled into the sand and then shot upward, breaking the surface of the water again without drama and landing on a boardwalk on a popular beach.
It may have been California, Mexico or Cuba, but also could have been Thailand, India, Tunisia or Alaska. The people on the boardwalk were featureless, emotionless and alone. For all the masses scattered along the shore and on the boardwalk, they were alone. His light penetrated the heart of the crowd and not a single face turned. He walked along the boardwalk, away from the shore and moved back onto the land. As he moved people began to give gentle nods, acknowledging smiles and occasional laughter. Their faces would light up and their posture would straighten.
From then on his white ball of light moved agelessly through the world at chest-height. And those that heard of this phenomenon began to call it “Agapito”. For example, you could hear the man Heinrich in Switzerland turn to his wife after a walk into the mountains, “Ahh, I had the most beautiful Agapito today by the lake!” It meant a momentary appreciation, a glimpse of eternity and an acceptance of reality.
He found Don Iberio as he hovered through The Peace one last time and they exchanged acknowledging smiles and a piercing cosmic laugh. Agapito could hear Don Iberio continue the laugh as he hovered his way over to Sao Paulo.
The word was absorbed into the World’s language with a quite literal connotation from the Greek word “agape” and the Spanish diminutive:
A little bit of GOD’S love.
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