It was Tuesday night - the August full moon. The moon was almost too perfect and majestically suspended in the sky as if to challenge the significance of your very existence. 

Ron Vickers sat on the beach wondering if Luna would show up. It was 8:30 p.m. - they were to meet at 9 p.m. It had been one year since he last saw her. They broke up ten years ago, but whenever he was back home visiting they’d start something and end it upon his departure. He was 35 years-old and for the last ten years he travelled to every corner of the Earth. Over this time he tried to visit back home once a year – usually in the summer.

Ron arrived in Toronto last week. He thought how bizarre the best laid plans can be – here he was on this beach due to blind faith at a point where his life appears to have come full circle. A month ago his travels unexpectedly took him off his intended course to a town in Turkey. Through this diversion he met and became friends with a very fascinating mystic who ended up giving him two envelopes addressed to Luna – it had to be passed on to her in-person. Word had gotten out around this foreign town that the mystic gave Ron this quest. Before leaving, Ron had a chance meeting with the Mayor of the town, who said, ‘it would be wise to do as the mystic instructs – good things come of it…and bad things come if the advice is not heeded.’ Ron was impressed that the mystic knew there was a special woman in his life; that she was back in Toronto; that the mystic referred to her as the Moon Princess; and, knew her astrological sign was 'Cancer’ – this was enough for him to believe in the mystic’s reading.

He spread a blanket out on the sand. He weighed the blanket down with a small backpack that contained a bottle of wine and two glasses. He reached deeper into the pack and couldn’t feel what he was searching for. He panicked…his heart raced. He quickly reached inside the second compartment of the pack and found the two envelopes. He pulled out a red envelope that had even a deeper red seal locking the contents of the envelope inside. The seal contained an image of a lion roaring at a full moon. He pulled out another envelope…it was purple and sealed with a darker purple insignia with an image of a crab overlaid on a full moon. With the two envelopes safely in hand he relaxed.

Ron and Luna met in first year university. Ron and a friend were playing hacky-sack out on the campus courtyard. Ron saw Luna passing by…he froze and couldn’t believe his eyes. She had captured his attention for almost six months, but she had been mysterious and evasive - she kept appearing on the other side of the subway platform or going the opposite way on an escalator. He wildly kicked the hacky-sack over his friend…it sailed toward Luna. Luna reacted quickly and caught it with a toe delay - stalling the hacky-sack on top of her foot, she then flipped the hacky-sack over her back and caught the hacky-sack behind her back on the soul of her foot, after which she flipped it to Ron. The hacky-sack hit Ron square on the chest - he didn’t even react as it dropped to the ground. He was momentarily dumbfounded – the woman of his dreams played his favourite sport – and was better than him – what more could he ask for. Luna walked over and joined them for about an hour of play. They were both equally drawn to each other and an intensely romantic courtship took flight – within a month they got an apartment together. Their relationship flourished all the way through their under-grad and post graduate studies.

It was after Ron finished his Masters degree in Anthropology that he was overwhelmed with an uncontrollable urge to go out across the world and take aim with his arrows to slay mankind’s worst enemies and ferocious beasts that inhabited the Earth. Luna completed a Master's degree in Architecture and wanted to design and build ecological homes across Ontario. Ron was convinced that life in Canada would be too mundane – he needed to go off on a crusade and right the wrongs of colonialism and corporate greed. He loved Luna deeply, but Luna wanted to stay put and live a normal life. Ron dreaded getting an office job and he wasn’t ready to start a family. He knew that they weren’t in sync on their goals in life. Given this gap in their life plans, Ron felt there must be a deeper and more meaningful relationship waiting for him outside of this comfortable home and potential future with Luna. Over a few weeks in August of amazing loving making and countless tears Ron and Luna separated. At the end of the summer Ron was on a jet to Kenya to do economic development work with the Maasai tribe.

Ron’s decade of travels took him to 22 countries. He was starving to know the ways and secret lessons of ancient and foreign cultures. He was exposed to many different kinds of people and cultures, and he was soaking it all up. He was being spoon fed hearty meals of African, Middle Eastern, Asian, Aboriginal and mystical philosophies – this was a diet of vitamin enriched knowledge as far as Ron saw it – a refreshing challenge to his Western based education. He was convinced that mind expanding wisdom can only be attained through exposure to sages and gurus encountered through travels and from the experience of countless adventures –he was learning the greater meaning of life. He felt this path was leading him to the peak of emotional and intellectual awareness and eventually to a Spiritual Nirvana.

Ron often thought back to the point in time when he left on his travels – the 25 year-old Ron back then was an empty vessel, he thought. He considered his up-bringing in a Canada to be sterile – sanitized by pompous and superior minded monarchists – this education put only a few dregs of reality about life in his vessel – nothing that useful. Now that he travelled and soaked up life abroad he was worldly and wise. He had also became experienced in the realm of love and the art of tantric sex – everywhere he went women were finding him desirable and he whooped up the attention showered upon him through these intimate encounters. He thought it would be very cool to sleep with a woman from every country on Earth. He then did the logistics of how this would work. He knew that Western authorities recognize around 196 countries – but then there were fraction of peoples and communities within these countries – he identified 214 different territories and therefore women he would need to have a relationship with in order to gain the educate he desired – but, he knew this was just a wild fantasy. While most of the people in the world were into globalization he was into tribalism – he desperately wanted to shed his skin and the trapping of a North American life – he wanted to be re-rooted as a tribal citizen wherever he went. As an anthropologist he was sad to see so many small indigenous societies disappearing into national societies where their presence and independence was lost or muted – so many indigenous traditions and even languages were fading away. Ron remembered his professors warning him about the common downfall for anthropologists - the psychological dangers of falling head over heels in love with the cultures and lifestyles that you get immersed into...he couldn't remember why it was dangerous.

Ron was well made for world travel. He was one part Irish, German, French and Spanish. He had brown eyes, dark black hair and olive skin – he could appear to be native of any Western country or any place colonized by the Europeans - he even could pass for Middle Eastern. These traits, a lean muscular build and a height of 5’10” give him great stealth to fit into various countries. He found it was easier to do his anthropological work than his taller, blue eyed, blond hair colleagues. He also seemed to have a wider universal appeal to women of different countries, creeds and so on. Even his one big love he left back home, Luna was half Indian and Italian– the best of two ancient cultures, Ron thought.

Ron was 30 years-old when he was on a train between Dhaka and Goa – he met a couple his age from Switzerland traveling with their two children – a five year-old boy and seven year-old girl. They were so hip and tuned into the world...and they were so much in love. Ron observed that having kids did not dampen their efforts to go out and explore the world. He was envious of them and felt he was advanced enough in his learning and spirit to start focusing on finding a soul mate and start a family of his own. He knew he had been wanton and whimsical in finding lovers, but it suited his personal growth and needs at that time. And he did have sexual encounters with women from almost half the countries on his list – he convinced himself that all these encounters were mutually loving and giving…if only for a night. Now he needed to be focused and exacting about finding a special woman to love.

He carefully crafted a checklist of the traits of a perfect partner – these characteristics were essential items to look for in a woman when identifying a potential soul mate. And he knew that he was going to come across this woman on his travels. In fact, she would have covered much the same physical, intellectual and spiritual terrain as him. Her interests and physical prowess would mirror his. Ron viewed his psychological checklist like an astrological map that sailors use to read the alignment of the stars and Earth to reach their desired destiny – the items on this list will lead him to his one true love.

After several romances that failed to meet his criteria for a soul mate Ron’s searching landed him in the hands of Helen. They met in Hungry. Ron was 34 years-old at the time. She too was a fellow traveller from Canada. She was the same age as Ron and had been travelling abroad for eight years – ever since finishing a degree in Nutrition. She shunned all material goods and made her way in the world by living in countries where she could work about fifteen hours a week for local or international non-profit organizations as a nutritional therapist or teacher – she only wanted enough money for a simple shelter and basic foods otherwise she wanted time to herself – it helped that her profession paid a good salary in these countries, way higher than most locals get paid. Disillusioned with Western life styles, she dedicated much of her free time observing locals and befriending them, taking photos, daily sojourns and writing travel diaries -  this also meant she spend a fair amount of time at her computer and reaching out over the Internet on social networks criticising people for their greed and corrupt values…and love of theory over action – she’d take the same convictions and discourse down to the local cafés and had no problem finding friends to join in on the rant against Western values – she felt sorry for friends back home living the consumer life and stuck in office jobs.

Ron was mesmerized by her audacious pursuit of truth and freedom – and her go anywhere do anything attitude – there was no mountain she hadn’t climbed or city she hadn’t fiercely navigated her bike through its chaotic traffic – she took pride in being a daredevil. Helen was a beautiful woman - tall curvy body, long blond hair and green eyes. Normally, Ron was attracted to thin, dark skinned women with black hair, but his list was very open where it came to attractive physical traits. Ron determined that he had sex with too many women and now he needed to be focused and chaste. He wanted to get to know Helen and hold off on sex and slowly build on the intimacy until he knew for sure that she was his soul mate. She was a woman of action and teased him about his morals and convictions, she told him soul mates are momentary opportunities in time that you need to quickly seize – ‘take me you idiot,’ she exclaimed. And he did – there was no pondering involved. Over the next month Ron ran through his checklist and found that Helen was filling every tick box on the list. He was exuberant and thanked fate for bringing them together.  

One time Ron was waiting for Helen, having a coffee at an outdoor patio café in Budapest. Local and foreign aid workers, writers, artists and poets dominated the café – it was very bohemian and not a likely place to find tourists. It was afternoon, Helen showed up wearing a headlamp – the kind campers use when it's dark. It was turned on and hardly cast a light in the broad day light.

‘What’s up with the headlamp?’ Ron asked.

‘I’m looking for enlightened people – they’re hard to find,’ Helen replied.

Ron knew that Helen was gregarious and liked to broadcast loudly her five canons that set the rules on how one was to live life 'right.' Her five canons were: 1) To be free, you must be free of the ownership of objects, 2) To be happy, you must not let yourself do unpleasant things, 3) To be true, you must always speak your mind, 4) To be passionate, you must let go of inhibitions and always follow your dreams, and 5) Achieving the first 4 canons delivers you to a state of full enlightenment - no compromises – ‘simple…right,’ she’d say every time as a closer. She was constantly attacking people’s addiction to material goods, and thought she was setting an example for them by living a life which was exactly the opposite. When she was out of work or on the road she lived in make shift places among friends and strangers that offered her temporary shelter or she would find a safe public place to rest for the night. Her only possessions other than a small laptop computer consisted of one pair of sandals and socks, hiking boots, underwear, pants, shorts, two tops, a rain jacket and a sleeping bag along with a set of chopsticks and a small wooden bowl and cup which she used for eating and drinking.

Ron and Helen were out with friends at a café when she witnessed a young peasant woman eating food and drinking water from her hands. Helen immediately dug into her backpack, pulled out the chop sticks, wooden bowl and cup and smashed them into pieces.

One night in bed Ron kissed Helen goodnight. She clasped the hair on the sides of his crown with her hands and pushed him down toward her “Venus” as she called it.   

‘I’m responsible for my own orgasms,’ Helen said as Ron explored Venus. ‘I don’t expect you to please me sexually.’ Helen generally gave up on men if they couldn’t get the job done in fifteen minutes.

Ron was happy to do anything to satisfy her desires…and he could make her explode in about ten minutes or so. Helen declaring that she was in charge of her own pleasure with his face between her legs seemed pretentious he thought. 

‘I have rules about relationships – rule number one: relationships don’t last so don’t get too invested,’ Helen said. ‘Entropy…entropy is the negative force that stalls and reverses all forward momentum in life – all things fall into decay, but especially relationships are destroyed by entropy. Rule number two: dive deeply in and rule number three: come up for air and swim away.’

The next morning Helen left a message for Ron written on the ceiling above the bed - RULE NUMBER FOUR: RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN. Ron thought, 'then why so many rules.' A little later that morning Helen came back with two coffees. Over sipping their coffees, Helen looked very serious and preoccupied with thought.

‘Ron,' she finally said and paused as if she was digging deep into the wellspring of her thoughts, 'it won’t be long before we can’t stand the words we say to each other or are disgusted by the way either one of us eat dinner or slurp back a drink or snore at night or clasp on to tiresome phases and actions that become irritating habits. This is relationship entropy – eventually we won’t see any beauty in each other – there will just be disdain.’  

Even though Helen was only thirty-four she had a kind of beauty that was already fading – her addiction to cigarettes and passion for the sun coupled with her disdain for beauty and skin care products didn't help her cause. She kept her body in good shape, but her youthful colour and shine were giving way to a dull and weathered complexion. Ron thought it didn’t matter – inner beauty is what counts the most.

It was while they were climbing Kilimanjaro that Ron saw a fragile side of Helen for the first time. She had captured a beautiful black and blue butterfly with yellow and white markings. She tucked into a plastic baggie.

'Look at this,' excitedly she said, 'it's a Blue Crow butterfly'.

'Very beautiful, now you should let it go,' replied Ron.

'As a young child I used to secretly trap and collect beautiful things such as butterflies, leopard frogs, turtles, salamanders and so on,' Helen confessed to Ron. 'I would give them names like Ruby or King Richard and put them in jars. One time I caught a Monarch butterfly and named it Crystal after my grandmother. I would hide the jars away, but much to my surprise the creatures would shrivel up and die over a couple of weeks. My mother found out I was doing this and told me that these creatures of beauty can’t live outside of their natural world.'

'Ever since this time I always felt conflicted and remorseful about desiring or coveting another living thing. The expectations and demands I have of lovers is no different than entrapping and hoarding creatures in jars - and I know what this does to living creatures, but I can't stop myself.' Helen started to cry.

To Ron's amazement Helen kept the Blue Crow butterfly. It was dead by the time they got back to the base camp. An insect expert at the camp examined it and told Helen it was not a Blue Crow butterfly. In fact it was a moth - the Burnet Moth.

'Very beautiful, but also very deadly,' the expert said, 'it's coated with poison and people who touch them often die. You're very lucky to be alive,' he added.

Ron thought this need to collect such things helped explain an enigma he saw in Helen. She was bordering on the obsessive side of talking to her plants, giving names to her bike and computer, and even dressing up the stray cat, ‘Apollo,’ she adopted, in all kinds of different clothing and giving Apollo his own Facebook account. As an anthropologist Ron studied psychology and was taught that most people need to personify other living creatures and objects – it was called anthropomorphism. You can see this clearly in the many deities that various cultures have associated with the sun or moon or other powerful forces in nature like a wolf or an eagle. And it was generally a healthy exercise of empathy toward other creatures and objects – it was a way to create a spiritual or compassionate relationship with other entities and rendering it worthy of moral care and consideration. Yet, if this urge to apply human characteristics on cats or bikes or nature is taken too far it can degrade both the person’s sense of reality and the undeniable truth that underlies the cat or bike or plant being humanized.

Ron’s analysis came around full circle back to Helen’s childhood obsession with collecting beautiful creatures. If you thought of a Monarch butterfly as your dear departed grandmother it does not matter how familiar or foreign, or enchantingly mysterious you find her, you are still defiling her with your own desire – and for what purpose? Are you using her or saving her? As an anthropologist Ron knew that it was impossible to touch the world without plundering it in an unpredictable way. The jury was still out – was Helen anthropomorphizing to the degree where she was ignoring the manifest destiny, individuality and dignity of her subjects? One thing for sure, Ron thought, Helen clumped the real people in her life and her personified collection of creatures and objects all into one category - and that was dangerous.

‘I have taken full responsibility for my emotions while letting go of expectations of any external validation, or projecting blame, anger and frustration outwardly,’ said Helen one afternoon at the beach. ‘My relationship with authority figures has been thoroughly dissected and I have asked the brave and bold questions of where my conditioning comes from.’ After completing this analysis she concluded that her mom, dad, brother and two sisters were undeserving of her time and although she did not disown them…she relegated them to the dark and outermost reaches of her mind – her family were like distant satellites caught in orbit around the outskirts of the solar system. When she told friends of this revelation they'd applauded her.

‘I know the source and wellspring of my origins and I know exactly how to undo the bad conditioning I had from my family and other people who took a hand in raising me.’ Helen told Ron as her revelation was of biblical proportions.

Going forward in life, as a grownup Helen made it a point of finding and being close as possible to intellectual friends and teachers in order to learn their ways and later engage in great debates where she was gleeful in sabotaging their views and discussions on life. She saw this tactic as an endearing and exciting way to build special friendships…she thought that these friends knew her intellectual digs were loving jolts to challenge and encourage them all to be better than they were. She concluded she was given a unique mission and gift in life…she was on this Earth to shock people out of complacency and conformity and knock them off the material bandwagon jolting them back to a stone cold reality - she thought it was an honourable task.

On one of their travels Helen and Ron were sleeping over night at the train station in Casablanca. They couldn’t find a bench together so Ron slept on the far side of the station. He studied Helen as she slept. From her tattered sleeping bag, worn sandals and beat up backpack it was clear to any onlooker that she was a vagabond and could not afford a hotel – Ron thought she looked like a fallen angel. In the morning he looked at her across the room, Helen awoke with the sun streaming in through the window – she got off the bench and was basking in the sun as she rifled through the nearby ashtray for cigarette butts. An old man approached her. He was a ‘local’ and was wearing the finest silks and a Rolex watch - he was clearly very rich. He asked her what she was doing. She explained that she was an archaeologist and by sifting through these ashtrays she can tell how many poor or rich people frequent the train station. She then looked him in the eyes and said the brand of cigarette butts from rich people are no different than the ones from poor people…except the rich people extinguish their cigarettes out about half way through smoking them. This comment was meant to offend the rich man who had just lit a cigarette…however he was so impressed by her bizarre insight and audacity he asked Helen if he could help her. He told her his family owned a chain of hotels and she could have a hotel room for free while staying in his country. Helen looked up at him from the ashtray, smiled and said, 'you could do something for me…could you please move…you are blocking the sunlight.’

Ron chuckled and thought this was a great story to showcase Helen - she demonstrated the discipline it takes to vanquish oneself from the allure of luxuries that wealth and power afford. Ron was determined to avoid this evil temptation and resist the enticement to accumulation wealth, power and status…life was too short and precious to waste time over such shallow pursuits, he thought.

Ron and Helen left Casablanca by boat to Alexandria, Egypt. Ron wanted to explore the ancient city. They spent a day at a beautiful beach where Alexander the Great landed his boat upon first visiting the harbour. Helen was off shore a fair distance swimming...the rough waves were tossing her about and she looked like she was struggling. Ron got a fisherman to row him out to Helen. She refused to get in the boat or take a lifejacket. In fact, she was mad that Ron was trying to help her.

'I'm a better swimmer than you,' she yelled out and then started swimming to shore. 

After a week they sailed from Port Said to Iskenderun, Turkey. From there they met some fellow travellers on the train to Istanbul. Helen decided to share her five canons of life with them. Up until their Casablanca trip Ron had a pretty fixed view of Helen – she was unique and amazing. However, over this trip a new light upon her was emerging. As he sat listening to her explain her perspective on life to the people on the train…for a reason he could not explain he was exhausted and fed up with her - it was a eureka moment coming out of the blue. She didn’t even seem pretty to look at anymore – it was like her beauty was an illusion and the magic wore off – the curtain had been pulled open to reveal an average and naïve looking young woman standing in the spotlight babbling nonsense. All his five senses were repulsed.

‘You know not everyone can quit their 9 to 5 jobs and live out of a backpack,’ Ron said after she took a pause in explaining the five canons and was about to give examples to her audience.

‘I understand that not everyone has the courage to explore this world and seek enlightenment,’ replied Helen as she looked over to her new friends on the train – hoping to get their support and encouragement.

'You know the donkeys that traveled with Alexander the Great went to the ends of the Earth and back with him and saw most of the charted and unchartered world – just because they covered all this terrain didn’t make the donkey’s enlightened,’ Ron said.

‘You’re an ass,’ retorted Helen. ‘Why don’t you move to another car…and grow up.’

Ron did one better…he got off at the next station - thereafter validating the theory of relationship entropy in Helen's thoughts. She went so far as to think she had freed her creature from its jar. 

Ron found himself in Gebze, Turkey. He was enjoying himself drifting about town, wandering the streets when he met Mima. She saw him walking by her booth that was set up on the street corner near the Market Square where she sold coffee and told people’s fortunes – for a small fee.

‘Come over and have a free coffee,’ she said to Ron in perfect English.

‘I can tell you’re wandering aimlessly, but you’re not lost,’ Mima said. ‘I can see that you’re a man that once had everything and let it go to find nothing.’

Ron spent the entire afternoon with Mima at her booth…when she had no customers the two of them shared stories. He felt a deep connection to her – it wasn’t sexual – a pure and honest friendship had instantly bloomed. Mima was in her mid-thirties, jet black hair and dark brown eyes and had a very regal statute and face – she could have been cast as a beautiful lead flamenco dancer in a Spanish dance company’s stage show. She commanded people’s attention – the passer-bys on the street could not help but glance at her and smile her way.

That night Mima took Ron back to her place. She was Roma and lived in a poor neighbourhood, but the place was lively and the narrow cobblestone streets and modest row houses were bright and shone with joy and happiness as neighbours hung out on their doorsteps. Every fifth door step or so had a gathering of people playing all kinds of musical instruments with others singing and dancing out to the street. They settled into Mima’s small apartment on the second floor of an old house…the music softly carried into the room. In their short time together Ron felt like he had told Mima everything there was to tell about his life.

Over dinner Mima said, ‘Your story reminds me of a wise Taoist fable about a young man working in a rock quarry, swinging a pick against the rock at the base of a huge mountain. The sun was beating down on him and he was feeling small against the elements. He thought the sun must be the most powerful thing in the Universe. He wished he could be the sun. His wish came to be. In the sky he was the Sun shining down on everything. He felt immensely powerful until a huge cloud blocked the sunrays from falling on the Earth.  The young man thought that this cloud must be more powerful than the sun. He wished he was a mighty cloud. His wish came to be. As an immense cloud he felt all powerful travelling around the globe until he came upon a gigantic mountain that would not allowing the cloud to pass. He thought there was nothing more omnipotent and invincible than the mountain. He wished he was a mountain and his wish came to be. He was overlooking the valley and feeling supreme. This surely was the most superior state of existence he thought…then he felt a small vibration and something chipping away at the foundation of the mountain. He looked down and saw a young man swinging a pick.’

‘Why do I remind you of this tale,’ said Ron.

Mima slapped him gentle across his cheek and said, ‘silly you, you should know why, but I will tell you.’ She slapped his other cheek and continued. ‘Ron you were like the young man swinging the pick. You felt inadequate and you believed that there were grander things for you to pursue and be. Therefore you set out on a journey to discover these things. You didn’t realize that you could learn all you needed to learn on your own doorstep. This notion didn’t dawn on you. You were so fixated with the belief that who you were and what you were rooted in was stagnant or infertile. Now you are beginning to realize that travelling the world and meeting all the people on the road is not the impetus for enlightenment. In fact most of the people you’ve met on the road were disgruntled and disillusioned – that should tell you something.’

Mima pointed out across the view of the city and to the Aegean Sea and said, ‘Even here on my own doorstep I’ve come to see that most foreign people passing through my lands were provoked to travel because they felt incomplete and unsettled back in their homes. The few travellers that find inner peace do so from being in an element of nature such as surrounded by mountains or the ocean as opposed to the culture that occupies those lands. People are people where ever you go…love, greed, grace, hate, honesty, cheaters, integrity and so on. Travellers that find a foreign haven mistake this sense of completeness through an association with the local peoples and fail to see it was nature that provided the sanctuary – the 300 days of sunshine, the mountains and sea in this case. Nevertheless, that is why you often hear travellers spinning fantasies about how great the people of one culture are over another...usually with a smug remark on how their home culture sucks.’

‘You told me about your passion for tribalism,’ remarked Mima. ‘I believe that most of the vagabond foreigners on the road don’t like their mother culture because they never felt special within their home tribe. For some people not being special in a tribe is a worse fate than not fitting into the tribe – on the contrary not fitting in will make them feel cool. These people feel undervalued or overlooked by the tribe and flee to distant lands and cultures where they can standout and feel unique and special - physically and certainly personality-wise. They are driven by pure ego and selfishness. I see these foreigners standing out like a lone giraffe in a herd of zebras as they embrace another tribe that, unlike the foreigner, values conformity and modesty – yet most tribes are polite and even curious and welcome these bizarre creatures into their tribe. Once in the fold these foreigners feel special for all the wrong reasons…especially if they come from a culture that worships individualism and heroes.’

‘The worse thing is when a foreigner…the giraffe… rounds up some zebras and teaches them to shed their strips and express their individualism,’ exclaimed Mima. ‘The giraffe thinks it is doing the individual zebra a favour in showing the zebra the view from up high…and of course this is just idiotic,’ said Mima, and then shaking her head added, ‘the giraffe is fooling itself - it will never know the life of a zebra.’

‘Disenchantment,’ Mima said loudly throwing her arms up to the air, she laughed, and continued saying, ‘is an essential part of every person’s chemistry, it drives us to pursue dreams and innovate in our lives, but if there is too much disenchantment running through our veins it drives us to chase our tails and do wasteful and unrewarding things…even stupid and dangerous things.’

‘Ron you were born in August and are a Leo - a Sun sign – the androgynous symbol representing the alchemy in you forces you to crave the Sun – the Queen who will never be in your reach. Chasing after this will bring you nothing but despair. The moon is illuminated by the sun rays it is also considered feminine. Even in your own Christian iconography the moon represents the Virgin Mary as it represents the Mother Goddess in paganism. Both the Virgin Mary and the Mother Goddess are depicted as standing or enthroned on a lunar crescent.’

‘You told me that your first love of your life was named Luna,’ said Mima. ‘This means the Moon in Italian. And I am sure your Luna is a Cancer. In ancient Roman times, Luna was regarded as a Giver of moisture and Ruler of the water-sign Cancer, since Cancer is the house of Luna which gives moisture. The ancient Greeks and Romans recognized the moon as the source behind philosophy…it was the cleansing waters bestowed by Cancer that washed and empowered the philosopher’s stone. The medieval alchemists said the philosopher's stone was synonymous with God, therefore, Christ - the giver of sanctifying grace.’

‘I believe the moon rightly governs this earthly realm, surpassing the other planets not in potency, but in proximity,’ said Mima.

Mima stood up and Ron flinched and grimaced. ‘Ron, don’t worry  I’m not going to slap your face anymore…but, think about your history and the path you’ve taken…I believe you left a little treasure behind in Toronto,’ said Mima.

‘Close your eyes,’ said Mima. ‘Now imagine your life back in Canada - imagine a house surrounded by a field of tall grass in the backwoods away from Toronto. The house is made of cedar outside and oak inside giving off a sweet scent of the forest after a rainfall. It consists of many rooms and hallways, but it sits empty and void of life. There is a porch that surrounds the entire house. Now look inside. You see nothing. You feel peaceful and invigorated looking through to the undisturbed rooms. You can see why this place inspires. It is uncluttered and simple. There is a pile of wood meticulously staked in the backyard cut for the fireplace…and an axe is embedded into a chopping block…the image is ripe for spinning yarns and folklore …this could be your home…the place where a philosopher could flourish…a home to share with your wife…a view to tranquility and the world beyond that would provoke many thoughts and a room inside to write the words to capture these thoughts. Step back…walk away to the forest…now look back at the house…there is only the wind now swirling around the house and making the long grass dance in the yard…the house seems to be yarning for you – it is patiently waiting for you. Now walk down the path away from the house…to a river…the river is in motion…it is not waiting…it moves at its own pace…it has somewhere to go…now you must become a true philosopher and wonder about the substance of such things in life…what is in motion and what is at rest…where is the balance in the flux of life…how can you not chose to live in such a place among the majestic trees, tall grasses and the babbling river.’

‘I bet you thought back at the time when you left Toronto that Luna was too simple for you,’ said Mima. ‘You needed a worldlier, wise and adventurous explorer type woman to complete you.’

‘You should know that I’ve seen many travellers under-estimate the depth of our local townsfolk who are firmly planted on these grounds and most never venture off,’ said Mima. ‘They respect us and find us refreshing, but they find us quaint and simple and they may envy us, but they think we’ve been blessed with this life because we are uneducated and child-like and do not see the world in all its colours like they do – being rooted in one place has kept us  uncorrupted...or so they think.’ 

‘The world of nature that lies at your feet holds all the views of life from pure and good to corrupt and horrible – the human world just mirrors it,’ Mima said. ‘I can tell you that your Luna sees astounding transformations in this world at home that you and your fellow globe trotters have never seen as you race from city to city or one mountain top to the next. I know she sees like the moon – like the moon sees grand pine trees topple hard to the ground in the middle of nowhere…a rock avalanche tearing apart the landscape…the tides rock back and forth…even a honey bee collecting pollen among a tiny flower does not escape notice. In this collage of life unfolding in nature every ounce of energy goes on with clear purpose and aim – structure and form are subject to decay and destruction, leaves turn into mulch, fallen trees turn into dirt – all this under the gaze of the moon – you could travel the world ten times over and never find this synchronization with the ebb and flow of life – Luna found it because she never felt empty inside…instead she was simply an open canvass and was ripe with a honest curiosity - bursting out with wonder.’

‘And here is what I’ve seen in the lovers you’ve been exploring – like this Helen,’ said Mima. ‘You have been attracted to the know-it-all type because you are in search of knowledge – to help fill your so called empty vessel. And there are two types of know-it-alls - one who actually knows what she's talking about and one who merely pretends to know. Nevertheless, they have one personality trait in common: narcissism. Hiding behind the need to let the world know exactly how smart, how funny, how interesting or how great they are, is the need to convince themselves of their own value.’

‘All know-it-alls suffer from a lack of self-esteem,’ said Mima, ‘and what they seek, through their tireless attempts to impress, is usually approval and validation. As a result, a know-it-all like Helen is a braggart and usually chooses to surround herself with friends and lovers who are appreciative and even admiring of her knowledge. Another thing, severe know-it-alls cannot be convinced of the errors in their ways - they are completely sure that their views and interjections are valuable insights to share - a gift to the world.’

Ron thought about this...and it was true...most of the people he met on the road were self-indulgent blathers. Whether provoked by a game of trivia, or by a friendly conversation, they will jump at any opportunity to show you exactly how much they know and how intelligent they are. He remembered a long list of friends on his travels that had a habit of interrupting conversations to show everybody just how much they knew - better than anyone else. 

‘They are "one-eyes",’ Ron heard Mima say.

‘One-eyes,’ replied Ron – looking perplexed and confused and envisioning a Cyclops.

‘No, "when I's",’ said Mima, pronouncing the words very exactingly, ‘when I was in China, when I was at the Thai National Ballet, when I was on the Oriental Express…"When I’s".’

'Ron, have you ever heard about the "moreso factor."' asked Mima.

'No, I've never heard of such a thing...what is it,' asked Ron.

'If you are a know-it-all or short-tempered or negative and so on when you're young...you'll be "more so" when you're old,' replied Mima.

'The sad thing about know-it-alls is that even if they've seen almost everything they learn almost nothing,' said Mima.

This woke a memory in Ron. While in Hungry, he remembered having an obscure Lebanese wine when he was having dinner with Helen at a friend’s house. Mustafa, the host, was about to tell the guest about the wine, but Helen took this as her cue to embark on a long story about what kind of wine it is, the region of Lebanon that produces it, how it draws its robust flavour from the special soil that the vines grow in and so on. At the time Ron was used to her showcasing her smarts and he wasn’t very critical of it, but now he realized how disrespectful this was to Mustafa – and how this likely turned him off – come to think of it, he thought, they were never invited back for dinner. Even the next day after their dinner at Mustafa’s place Ron was planning a three week trip to Spain. Helen launched into a spiel about once living in Madrid and then she continued on ranting about the history of Spain and how superior the Spaniards are to the rest of Europe. 

‘We know what you must do now,’ said Mima. ‘You must go back to Toronto as soon as possible and declare your love and commitment to Luna.’

‘But, she probably has moved on,’ replied Ron. ‘How will I know if she will take me back?’ he asked.

‘It is simple,’ Mima exclaimed, ‘I have an old Roma ancient and mystical incantation that will tell you and her whether the two of you should reunite…in the morning I will give you two envelopes that I will prepare…you must not open them and you must present them to Luna and let her decide which one to open,’ explained Mima. ‘The envelope she opens up will tell her what she must do – she will listen to it because it will be close to her heart and true.’

Ron saw Luna drive into the parking lot in her blue jeep – he could hear her radio – a Van Morrison song…

Out on the highways and the by-ways all alone

I’m still searching for, searching for my home

Up in the morning, up in the morning out on the road

And my head is aching and my hands are cold

And I’m looking for the silver lining

Silver lining in the clouds and I’m searching for

And I’m searching for the philosopher’s stone

Luna was lit up by silver moon rays as she walked across the sand beach toward Ron. She smiled and gave Ron a big hug. They sat down on the blanket. The full moon was shimmering off the calm waters of Lake Ontario. Ron poured two glasses of wine. They caught up on how their moms and dads and other family members were doing as they sipped the wine. There was a comfortable silence…and Ron knew what he had to do.

‘Luna, I met a mystical person on my travels half way across the world…she knew all about you and I hardly told her a thing about you,’ said Ron. ‘She told me that you were very special and that you were my treasure…she asked me to let you chose one of these two envelops.’ Ron showed Luna the red and purple envelopes. He added, ‘She said the envelope will speak to you and you will know it to be true – I don’t know what is written in them – but, please try it out and we’ll see what happens.’

Ron was shaking inside and overwhelmed and hyper with anticipation and yes…fear. Luna picked the purple envelope, opened it up and began reading it to herself. 

Luna finished reading the letter. She looked deeply into Ron’s eyes and held the gaze for a few moments.

‘I can see us in a house we’ve built together…I can see us sharing the splendours on our own doorstep and uncovering the mysteries across the Universe,’ said Luna. ‘I can see us bringing out the best in each other…I can see us channelling our passions and controlling our energies to balance all we have to give over an entire life time…certain in who we are and never having to look to the outer world for confirmation of who we are.’

‘I’m glad we’ve come full circle,’ said Luna. ‘I love you and want to be with you forever.’ 

It began to shower even though there was not a cloud to be seen. Ron and Luna looked into each other’s eyes and laughed…jumped up and danced under the moon as the raindrops tickle them.

Luna never showed Ron the letter.

That year Ron and Luna got married and the next summer they built a house in the country.

Many years later Ron decided to open up the red envelope.  It read:

Dear Luna,

Ron is not your true love…move on.

With the greatest of admiration and respect,

Mima