A tale of one city split in two

Some speak of the center of our planet as if one could dig a hole into the core and find a magnetic/gravitational point of neutrality.

The fact remains that the center lies elsewhere.

Bristol.

A small town, if one considers one half on one side of one state of one country of one continent in one hemisphere on one planet. A little bigger when one considers both halves.

However, strength is not is size. Strength comes from power - the power to be and to see.

Thus, Bristol is the center of the known universe.

The residents and historians of Bristol can extol its virtues, hideaways, treasures and other kinder, gentler points of light.

I have other concerns in regards to a municipal entity. I want to know why it rules this planet. I want to know why a Richmond writer wants to abolish the corporate tax in order to save jobs (or at least increase workers' salaries) by comparing wages and jobs to the city of Bristol, an area peopled by 17,000.

Why was the sound combination known as country music started in the Bristol area?

Why do many famous people find ties to Bristol, important enough to mention in a positive light and visit more than once?

Why do some people in Bristol say they love the Tri- life?

Why? Strategy. Power. Protection.

Let others pretend to rule from their palaces or capitols of groveling courtiers. We give them their right to entertain us in their pompous circumstances, knowing how much they crave the limelight and how much the people want to worship and adore others of their kind.

Real power lies elsewhere.

Where? Places like Bristol, of course.

Most of you don't know what I'm talking about. You have no concept of real power. You think that guns and ammo, martial arts, bulk, towers, walls, castles, vast electronic sums or access to a large network of friends means power.

I understand the role of magicians. I know that illusion is more important than reality. We want to supplant the rich, 3D imagery of avatars with the staid, boring history of Confucius to maintain the sense of historic manifest destiny. I don't want to take away what one Han thinks one Hun, Huron, Huguenot or Hessian doesn't have. But I want to know how the magic trick works and share it with you, even if I can't completely communicate with you on this so-called universal communicative magic trick called the worldwideweb, restricted and cut off as it is (apparently, we the people don't want seven billion people talking to each other at once or the magic disappears and we suddenly face reality in all its stark starkness, making the pyramid scheme of leadership (in business, government, sports, etc.) collapse onto its shaky, temporary, hastily-constructed scaffolding).

And thus I look for real power. Power that excludes illusion. Power that includes everything, both the timid and the intimidating, the weak and the strong, the doves and the hawks, the preservers and the destroyers, the overpopulating and the extinct. ALL the people ALL the time. ALL seven billion of us in all our various states of illusory belief.

That's why Bristol is the center of this planet. It contains all the power I want and need. From Bristol, one does not rule the universe. From Bristol, the universe rules itself.

You still don't understand, do you? You expect to find a person, some people, an organisation or other object on which you can focus your attention and say, "A-ha! That's what he's talking about." But you'd be wrong. The very opposite is true. In fact, I only mention the name Bristol because it happens to line up with our geographical people-oriented mapping systems that point to the place where real power exists. Otherwise, even the name Bristol and organisations associated with it are unimportant.

While others focus on the Fertile Crescent and try to justify the reason why some people found a place to eat grain and cultivate meat which required scratching symbols on clay to account for crops and livestock, those in the know understand the reason why others - visionaries - left that area and explored the rest of the planet, sensing that power was concentrated in another spot.

That's why my friend decided to land the rocket ship in Bristol. Access to unlimited power, portending a bright future for those who have no sense of purpose or direction. Not Beijing. Not Berlin. Not Barcelona. Not Boston. Not Bhatpara.

A place. A point. A fruit full of seeds spreading roots and branches. Invisible but open for all to see.

Power is such a useless word, giving meaning to that which means nothing. Power is not used or gathered or abused. Power is not having anything. Free from collecting, free of owning, absent, transparent, incalculable. You cannot try power - power tries you.

Bristol. You'll see. Or maybe you won't. Matters not. The power's there with or without you/me/us.