Blue Fox Shaman

Another bizarre episode of “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”

[…We’d like to thank Diotima of Mantinea (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diotima_of_Mantinea) for help in preparing this episode…]

[…the phone rings…]

Fox: [answering] Satanic Mills. Can you hold please?

[…she presses the hold button on the phone console…at that moment, Bärchen enters…]

Bärchen: Hey!

Fox: Hey.

[…she removes her headset then turns to face him, smiling…]

Bärchen: Don’t you need to get that? I can wait.

Fox: No. I was just going to hang up on them in a few minutes anyway.

Bärchen: What?! Why? That’s terrible customer service. Won’t they fire you for that?

Fox: No, actually, it’s written in the Employee Handbook. I can show you if you like. I mean, it is “Satanic Mills” after all.

Bärchen: Hmmm… You know you don’t need to do this just because I lost my job.

Fox: I was thinking of giving up this gig anyway. I have other plans for us.

Bärchen: Something for my Golden Years of Retirement?

Fox: Like hell… uh, no! You know we have a working relationship. It’s part of our marriage. It was in the prenuptials.

Bärchen: Yeah, I remember something like that…

Fox: You’re going to be anything but bored. Oh! And I made plans for us tonight. Happy Seven, by the way.

Bärchen: Happy Seven. But our actual seven year Marriage Anniversary was months ago.

Fox: I know. I like to keep reminding you.

Bärchen: Uh huh. Ours was the Path of Bhakti. [smiles]

Fox: [returns his smile] So, seven years. That means that you are now Woke. Well, actually, Woke surpassing Woke. An advanced case of Woke.

Bärchen: Ouch!

Fox: Yeah, sorry, I just painted a really fucking big target on your back. On our backs.

Bärchen: No worries, I think Death has been on our track a lot longer than The Man. Death’ll get us before they do.

Fox: I hope so. If it’s any consolation, now that we’ve been married for seven years, I also get to be your Muse.

Bärchen: You mean even more than before. Yeah, I know what you’ve been up to all these years. I can’t wait to really get started creating with you.

Fox: You do remember it’s going to be a process, don’t you? Don’t get me wrong, we’ll have plenty of fun along the way. I insist on that. But I intend to put us to work on developing our artistic vision and technical skill.

Bärchen: Yes, I remember.

Fox: This little Devil’s in the details. [grins]

Bärchen: Now that I think about it, our brand of Woken Wakefulness always has extended into the Realm of Beauty and Love.

Fox: Bärchen! You you are ready for this. And this past year, especially, we’ve been through a lot, medically and employment-wise.

Bärchen: You’ve been there for me, through it all, and deepened my trust, and my love.

Fox: Mmm Hmm. Hah! But I can still freak you out, which means I’m keeping up my side of the Contract. I’m going to keep working on that Weltanshauung of yours. We’re going to remake it according to our best understanding of The Great Mystery. Oh! Right. So, you also get a badge for that.

Bärchen: A badge?! Like a Boy-Scout Badge for Wokeness?

Fox: Kind-of… But, no, silly Bärchen! Hmmm, but then again, maybe…

Bärchen: What sort of scheme are you cookin’ up, Gracie?

Fox: [sizing him up] We’ll see, George. We’ll see.

Bärchen: Oh boy. I’m done for.

Fox: [singing] “Just you wait, Henry Higgins, just you wait…” Okay, so maybe “badge” was the wrong word. But what it all boils down to is this… you are now Counselor in Residence at Camp Runamok.

Bärchen: Ogygia?!

Fox: Gesundheit! [laughs] Ha! I’ve been waiting months to spring that one on you.

Bärchen: Okay, you. So… is this another way of saying the Blue… Fox Fairy has made me into a really real…

Fox: Shaman. Yes. Your professional name is… you’re going to love this… wait for it… “Ghost Bear”…

[…Bärchen shivers…]

Fox: Yeah. You’ve got a lot to live up to, there, buddy. But I’ll help you. Oh! And speaking of Camp Runamok, that’s what I was telling you about why I like Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony more than Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony, his From the New World.

Bärchen: Whoa, whoa, whoa–sudden change of subject. Nonetheless, yes, explain please.

Fox: Well, maybe the best way to sum it up is to say the Dvorak’s Ninth reminds me of the Fourth of July, military marching bands, and a picnic at sunset on the grass. That sort of thing.

Bärchen: Okay…yeah. I get that.

Fox: But Beethoven’s Ninth reminds me of the Fourteenth of July.

Bärchen: Liberté, égalité, fraternité!

Fox: Oui, exactement! Les droits des citoyens. There the pastoral section in movement three reminds me of Camp Runamok. Well, movements one and two also remind me of the trainings and discussions. The third makes me think about our picnics by the River. Those picnics were more important than you thought. That is why I chose this music tonight as part of our celebration.

Bärchen: Wait! What celebration?

Fox: I invited our families over. I didn’t think you’d mind. And also, you’re getting something special, for finishing seven longs years in training.

Bärchen: “Somesthin’ sshpecial just for me?!”

Fox: Down boy! Yes. You…are…

Bärchen: Oh boy! Do I get to wear a Ranger hat?

Fox: Yes, if you really want to. Geez. Only you would ask that question. But you are excited, I know you are. Maybe you are because you’ll get to wear that hat, but that’s much better than in anticipation of getting the Three P’s.

Bärchen: Power, Prestige, and Possessions?

Fox: Oui, exactement. I guess I didn’t do a half-bad job on you; the thought of those hardly darkened your brow before you had, am I right?, a little rush of fear?

Bärchen: Uh, huh.

Fox: You’ll have me as Co-Counselor, Bärchen. [singing] “Don’t worry, be happy!”

Bärchen: I wouldn’t, indeed I couldn’t, do it any other way.

Fox: But, I still get to call you my Little Bear, sweet Bärchen. So, before our families arrive, let’s work some more on your Artistic Manifesto.

Bärchen: I’ve been giving that some thought, working on my terminology. We agreed, didn’t we, that every work of Art is in essence an act of communication?

Fox: Yes.

Bärchen: Of course, do you think we have to start with first principles? By Art do we mean the most common use of the term in Modern English?

Fox: What is this, Plato’s Hippias Major? You’re going all Socratic on me. I love it. Yes. That’s what I intended we do together–create Art.

Bärchen: The other term, or first principle, we have to tackle is Beauty. It’s in that common definition of Art. You keep repeating that saying to me “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Fox: It works very well for our purposes. By “eye” I mean not only the whole visual apparatus, but the software… the Mind, sorry, that runs on it.

Bärchen: So, then, Beauty is, by your definition, subjective. It is, in fact, a particular state, or pattern, of Mind. Of a Mind, in response to stimuli.

Fox: Which stimuli can be external, or internal… memories. But it is the recognition of some quality in those stimuli.

Bärchen: Which is?

Fox: Perfection. Perfection of its particular kind. Well, actually there can be several kinds of Perfection in any one work of Art. But anyway, the term gets projected on to those stimuli, as if it were a Quality in the Aristotelian sense.

Bärchen: Okay, wait. I’m sorry, but you’ve gone and dug us another hole we have to get out of. How the heck are we going to define Perfection?

Fox: Don’t bother. Let’s do the Platonic thing again and just call it the Good. Leave it at that.

Bärchen: We’re building this edifice on very shaky ground.

Fox: That’s why it’s Art and not Science or Mathematics. That’s why you need me, your Muse. [curtsies]

Bärchen: God! You are so cute when you do that!

Fox: So that’s your job now, Bärchen… our job. We have to develop your “eye”… our “eye”, for Beauty, so that you can communicate it when you encounter it.

Bärchen: Well, let’s get to it!

Fox: Well, let’s get to it, then, silly! I’ve been trying to get you to do this for a long time now.

[…he takes her in his arms…]

Bärchen: Ever since we were married?

Fox: Seven… long… years ago. Yes.

[…they laugh…]