I of the Sun

Richard Arthur

Description

In terms of your place in the world, it is your actions that define you. Every moment of your life you are always, necessarily doing something. And so the question is - why do you do what you do? A young man travels on a one-way ticket to South East Asia in search of freedom and everything that comes with it. Free from responsibility, free from others, free from himself. That way he'll really learn what makes him tick. He discovers paradise islands, beautiful mountains and electric cities; gets hooked on crazy liquor, cheap pills, loose women and easy living. He has various run-ins on motorbikes and in the jungle, with butterflies and ladyboys, socio-narcotic minefields, hustlers, mafia, mad men and mystics. All the while surfing the fine line between East and West, imagination and reality, sanity and madness, life and death; as he follows the crazy, impossible dream to go everywhere, meet everyone and do everything. On his quest to discover the meaning of freedom, he also goes on an intellectual journey through various areas of philosophy, history and science, in order to discover whether or not we are truly masters of our own will; and if we are, then how do we control ourselves? His quest takes us to the very core of human consciousness. At turns beautiful and ugly, hilarious and horrifying, exalted and base, I of the Sun takes the reader on an epic journey following the Sun around South East Asia and into the heart of what it means to be human, on a young man's literary and philosophical tour de force.

Sujets

• Travel writing

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781780888804
• Langue: English

Extrait

I OF THE SUN

Copyright © 2013 Richard Arthur
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
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ISBN 9781780888804
Cover wrap image © Peter Holm www.homezproductions.com
Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
ONE
We drift into life slowly as if waking from a long dream. Memories appear like broken fragments of an unwritten book, gradually taking form as we emerge from the darkness. Bleary eyes open ever wider with each rise of the morning Sun. Eyes of brilliance, a mind of meaning, gazing forth upon a world too great to comprehend.
Life flows by in a heady haze of youthful colour, people and places, joys and pains, the future twinkling on the eternal horizon beyond. Growing within the borders of our circumstance, our lives intertwined with those around us. Stories are told, pictures of the world passed on and transformed. A human world of happiness and sadness, good and bad, right and wrong, truth and falsehood. A world of endless variety and diversity, yet one where ideas cluster to create cultures, philosophies and religions; some of which we may agree with, yet other parts leave us cold. Facts and opinions accumulate and blend, as we cling to that we find desirable.
* * *
I grew up in a regular place, a life as normal as the next. Little to do but gaze at the world beyond and wonder what it really looks like, the light on the horizon growing ever brighter. A blooming fascination with the phenomena of life – its sheer size, complexity and beauty. Ideas reverberated – about the mind, people and the world. Analysing, questioning, always wondering why, why, why?
I yearned for simple truth. An understanding of that which clearly exists, is obvious and undeniable, about which we can all agree. An acknowledgement of that which is true, that which remains unknown, and that which will never be known. The triumph of rationality and common sense over irrationality and nonsense.
As I grew into adulthood, the curiosity turned to intent. I’d lived in the same country all my life. I was bored. I wanted to break free, cross the line and step out into the world alone. Go somewhere new, somewhere I didn’t know. Start afresh – without purpose or prejudice – and simply be in the world. Reborn into complete independence and ignorance to live unimpeded and free. Free from responsibility, free from others, free from myself. Free to do whatever I wanted, anytime, anywhere. That way I’d really learn what made me tick.
As far as I could see I only had one life and I wanted to live it. Really live it. Experience the world. Push myself and find out what I was capable of. I was searching for something, but I didn’t know what it was. But I wanted love, happiness, joy and revelation. To swim the oceans, explore mountain tops and jungles, and conquer the cities. Dreams of parties under the stars, falling in love on the beach, epiphanies at dawn, beautiful people and friends for life. Bright lights, hard liquor and neon jungles. Crazy days and endless nights, journeys to new frontiers and the beauty of nature, forever seduced by the lure of the unknown. Chance meetings, road warriors, mad men and mystics. Expectations satisfied and the thrill of the unexpected. The crazy, impossible dream to go everywhere, meet everyone and do everything. That was what I wanted – I wanted it all – everything and nothing.
* * *
I woke up at 6am in my old bedroom in my old family home. I’d moved out a few years before but the bedroom remained. I’d grown up in this room. My old familiar bed, furniture and wallpaper. The same as it had always been.
Cold outside, early spring, the Sun barely above the horizon. I lay there for a few moments in the dead calm of dawn, dark shadows unfurling in the silence. After a lifetime of waiting, the day had finally come. This was it. I was leaving today. Alone into the world. I lay still for a moment, surprised at how calm I felt, not nervous or excited as I thought I’d be. I felt nothing. Just a quiet acceptance, a readiness for action. Just for a moment. Then I got up. The time is now.
Goodbye to my family and home and everything I’d grown up with. Daylight wound slowly over the dark morning plains, the rooftops of the city gradually emerging through the fields. Round the shadowy metropolis to the airport, gateway to beyond. A silent breakfast in the faceless crowd looking out over the drizzle-grey tarmac. Time to leave. My final footsteps down the tunnel and onto the plane. No turning back now. And with that kick of acceleration, soon all that I knew disappeared behind me in the thick clouds.
The trip I’d been dreaming about for so many years was finally upon me. I could have gone anywhere, but I’d chosen Southeast Asia. It looked like the place for me. The other side of the world. Lots of strange, new countries on a map: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam. I barely knew one from the other, but they all sounded tropical and exotic, full of promise and adventure. Tropical beaches, lush jungles, rolling mountains and steaming cities. On a whim I’d chosen to fly to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. The long peninsula north through Malaysia and up into Southern Thailand looked like the perfect runway into the mysteries of Asia.
It was my first time there and I had a one-way ticket. There was no going back. All or nothing. No time limit, no plan, no clue what I’d do when I got there. I’d saved enough cash to keep me going a while but it wasn’t much. I guessed I’d travel a bit, find somewhere I liked and get some work. Until then I was just going to hit the road. Only I who made the decisions about what to do next. That was the plan.
Cruising high towards the tropics. Meals, toilets and movies. The long wait as the flight dragged on into the night. A line on the map, speeding through time and space, night quickly turning to day again.
The ocean below soon burned a brighter blue than I’d ever seen before. Land approaching. Bright green trees and fields. That swooping descent, ground rising, the angel of dreams coming into land. Then that thud of undoubtable certainty. The plane swung round, Kuala Lumpur International Airport looming like a vision of the future – all stainless steel and glass domes.
I stepped into a new continent, the biggest of them all. Elevated train ride to the main building and through Immigration. I grabbed my backpack from the belt and gazed around the huge glass arrivals hall. Outside a wall of eager taxi drivers waited to pounce. The plane ticket in my pocket was now a useless scrap of paper. This was it now – on my own in Asia. No idea where I was going, let alone when I was coming back. This was exactly what I’d wanted. And now I’d got it.
* * *
Where do we begin this search for simple truth? Perhaps by acknowledging that which clearly exists. What simple things in life can we all agree on?
Two aspects of life are instantly apparent to us all – the world and I. One is unique to me, about which only I know. The other is there in everyone. Yet they exist as one – two sides of an equation. The world exists and you exist in it.
We live in a very complicated world alongside billions of other people. But by standing on the shoulders of our ancestors, we have developed a clearer picture of it. The makeup of the world is learned in a gradual progression over many generations. The wonders of nature are learned through science; the wonders of mankind through history. By looking back to the beginning of time and moving forward to the present, we can get a clearer idea of the big picture – the world we find ourselves in.
And I? The human mind is so everyday to us all, yet so mysterious. The brain and the mind can be studied externally through neuroscience and psychology respectively. But another method of understanding is through this very means itself – delving deep within one’s mind to uncover its essential properties and structures.
Our whole experience of the ever-changing world is filtered through our body and brain to our consciousness, flowing through time like a river. A bewildering fusion of phenomena – sights, sounds and sensations in synergy with our emotions and thoughts – remembering, learning, judging, reasoning. The brain performs countless operations subconsciously while only the most pertinent issues rise to consciousness. It continues every moment of our waking lives and even echoes in our sleep.
What can we say about the complicated and intertwined phenomena of the mind? Well, our thoughts are our own and we can think about virtually anything. And we are always feeling emotions – sometimes strongly, sometimes more subtly – both positive and negative. And we are always judging things and deciding what is good and bad.
But we are not merely conscious, thinking, feeling beings. We are active beings, living and doing things all the time. In terms of our place in the world, it is our actions that define us. Every moment of our lives we are always, necessarily doing something.
And so some questions arose in me. Every moment of your life – why do y