#rebroth

[soup-of-the-day-official]

so, yeah, then i drowned the desert in soup. don't really need to describe that part lol. and after that the whole desert scene dissolved and i found myself back in the Stockpot. but then when i climbed out of it it turned out to be my stockpot at home. funny how that works.

anyway, been having visions ever since. so that has been pretty cool i guess.

[soup-of-the-day-official]

my time in the Eternal Stockpot, part 2

so anyway it felt like forever, walking in the desert. i was so thirsty and so hungry, all i could think about was having a nice refreshing bowl of soup :(. but there was no soup. just the sun, and the sand, and the hot, dry wind.

but the desert could not dishearten me; for already i had lost my heart. i had given it to the broth along with everything else. and the broth had boiled it away. compared to that pain, the trials of the desert—the thirst, the heat, the exhaustion—seemed trivial.

even then, i knew that in this way the broth had made me stronger. it had broken me so completely that i could be broken no more. for, let it be said: the broth is a roiling crucible. through destruction, it creates.

and the life it gives comes not from the warmth of the womb, but the cold, sharp edge of a knife.

so i kept walking, hour after possible hour, day after possible day. eventually i came upon an outcropping. a rock formation jutting up from the sand like a strata-veined bastion against the desert's corrosive winds. as soon as i laid eyes on it i knew it was what i had been searching for.

so i went up to it. it was big up close, maybe the size of a house. and i could see that symbols had been etched into its face. strange runes. words written in languages i did not recognize, alphabets i had never seen before.

as i got closer, the etchings began to move. swirling around on the rock face like letters in a bowl of alphabet soup. it was pretty cool. when i was close enough to touch it, the etchings vanished. and in their place different ones appeared:

"What is Soup?"

[soup-of-the-day-official]

Eternal Stockpot saga, part 4

it serves with one spoon and eats with the other.

suddenly, i understood. up to that point i had been solely focused on what the Broth had taken from me. i had not thought at all about what it might have given in return.

but before i could reflect upon this further, the Soup Lord said, "why have you come to this dry and Soupless land? for is it not true that you love Soup and do desire Soup above all things?"

and i said, "o Lord, i do love Soup and do desire Soup above all things. it was not of my own free will that i came to this dismal place. the Broth did send me here."

and the Lord said, "the Broth did nothing, for the Broth only exists, and does not act. it was you who chose to climb into the Holy Stockpot, you who chose this pain."

and i was humbled, for i knew the Lord was right. i had climbed into the Pot. i had let the Broth dissolve me.

and the Lord said, "Child of Soup, why did you choose this pain?"

and i thought about this, and said, "o Lord, i choose this pain because it is the price of Enlightenment."

and the Lord said, "you speak of prices, yet you do not understand cost. tell me, Child of Soup: what is the difference between an experience and what may be derived from it? between this Sacred Pain and the Enlightenment that follows?"

and i thought about this, too, and said: "time, o Lord?"

and the Lord said, "perhaps, but answer not with vagueness. what is time?"

and kneeling there upon the hot sand, i did reflect upon the Lord's Word. what was time? my first thought was that it was a kind of a soup. but... i didn't really believe that. that was just a remnant of the old me, the naïve optimist who went around saying that everything was soup, just because he could not stand the idea of something not being soup. it was delusional thinking. deep denial. fear of pain.

but all of that had been boiled away. leaving only my non-self and the vast, dry emptiness around me that was not soup, could not possibly be soup.

and i said, "i have no answer, Lord, for i do not know."

[soup-of-the-day-official]

Eternal Stockpot saga, part 5

"i have no answer, Lord, for i do not know."

and the Soup Lord said, "you do know. but you deny the answer for fear that it is not the Truth. and thus you deny your faith. and thus you deny your God."

throwing myself upon the sand in supplication, i said, "o Lord, i have never denied You!"

and the Lord said, "you have always denied Me. even in this moment you deny Me."

and i said, "how can i deny You, o Lord, when i have dedicated my life to You?"

and the Lord said, "you have said the words and taken the actions of worship. but your words were empty, and your actions were empty, and your worship of Me was empty and devoid of true belief."

and i began to weep, for i knew the Lord was right. although i had said the words, deep down, i had not believed them. i could not believe them. no matter how hard i tried, i could not believe them!

and i said, "it is true, Lord. i do not believe, for i do not know how to."

and the Lord said, "you try to control your heart with your thoughts, Child of Soup, but the heart is not controlled by thoughts. it responds only to what it feels."

and i said, "but how do i make my heart feel Your Holy Goodness, o Lord?"

and the Lord said, "you do it not alone, for you are with me. and in that interest i ask you again: what is time?"

and the Lord's Words brought upon me sudden revelation, and i said, "it is the flow that connects one event to the next. it is the Broth that Binds." and i remembered from the Holy Text a term in Ancient Bear-Latin that meant both broth and time. "Tiluqsui."

and the Lord said, "now you begin to understand."

and the Lord was right. i could see the flow of time in my mind's eye, not as an abstract concept but as something physical, something fluid. like rapids, rushing inexorably over the stream bed of All Things. a macrocosmic natural soup.

and i arose from the ground, and looked once more to the question carved into the face of the wind-lashed butte.

"What is Soup?"

and i said, "Soup is the joining of the Broth and the Ingredients. it is the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. it is... everything."

and as i said these words i felt no doubt, for i had no need to doubt. i was no longer simply reciting scripture, driven as i had been by blind, pitiful optimism. no; i was speaking from the heart, for i had seen the Truth myself.

[soup-of-the-day-official]

Eternal Stockpot saga, part 3

"What is Soup?"

as i stood there in the arid heat, that bitter dryness that was Evil and the Opposite of Soup, reading the words etched into the rocky face of the butte, i was baffled.

not because i had no answer; but because of who was asking the question. for there i felt the Holy Presence of the Soup God shining down on me like the rays of the desert sun. and i knew It awaited my answer and would pass Judgment upon me.

but i did not understand why It was here. here, of all places!

i fell to my non-knees before the Lord and said, "o Lord of Soup, how does Your Holy Presence preside in this dry and thirsty land? for this land is Evil, and the Opposite of Soup."

and the Lord said, "the multitude of your questions are encompassed by My query; for My query is the All-Question, and its answer lies not within your mind, but within your flesh."

and i said, "but Lord, i have no flesh, for the Broth has taken it from me."

and the Lord said, "you think thus, for you look only upon the shadow. turn your gaze to the flame, and you will see."

and the Soup God's words stirred me like a wooden spoon in a pot of potage. the flame and the shadow. the good and the bad. the soup and the not-soup.

it serves with one spoon and eats with the other.

suddenly, i understood.

[soup-of-the-day-official]

hi again, everyone! sorry for the brief hiatus. i was battling the darkness inside the Eternal Stockpot and did not have time to make any soup. FWIW i did manage to conquer it or whatever, so that was cool. overall i had a pretty interesting time, and i am excited to share some of the things i experienced.

first: death.

in order to "defeat" the darkness/Eternal Broth, i had to surrender to it completely. like, you know, die and stuff. so i stopped fighting the Broth and i let it dissolve me. and boy, was it painful! the most pain i have ever felt, i am pretty sure. so that took awhile. and afterwards, i wasn't anything. i mean i was, but i wasn't. it is hard to describe.

then the visions started.

suddenly, the darkness that surrounded me transformed and became a deep blue sky stretched over a vast, dun-colored landscape. a desert. i could feel the heat of the sun beating down on me, and the hot sand burning my bare feet. but when i looked down at my body, i saw nothing. just empty space. it was nuts.

somehow, i knew what i was supposed to do.

it was like a dream in that way, you know? i knew i was supposed to start walking—no, keep walking. i was searching for something. i could not say what, exactly. but i knew i would know it when i saw it.

so i walked.

tbh i am not sure how long i walked for. time did not seem to move in the desert. the sun was always at the zenith of the sky, never rising, never setting. it felt like forever though. not literally, lol.

okay this post is super long already so i am going to split the rest of the story up into one or maybe a few more posts. thanks for reading!