“That’s what logic does. It breaks things down.”
   “We can talk to each other anywhere in the world because we put comm satellites in space. That’s not breaking things down.”
   “And yet we still can’t talk to ghosts,” Kevin rags.
   “Science brought us all of our technology, all of our conveniences – industrialization, automobiles, the computer age.”
   “Are you telling me those are strictly good things?”
   “Are you telling me they’re bad things?”
   “We’re isolated from the order of nature, we have toxic pollution and climate catastrophes, and we add millions of tons of un-biodegradable plastics to the landfills and oceans every year. Outside of that, no.”
Brent’s unhappy with Kevin’s trenchant comeback.
   “Shit, given the damage cars alone have done … maybe the invention of the wheel wasn’t so great after all.”
   Now Allison glowers at Kevin as well, but strives for diplomacy. “Science is certainly beneficial, but can we put it on the back burner? Logic confines our thinking. If we rely only on what’s been proven, where’re intuition and invention?”
   “Your ideas about the leaf weren’t entirely scientific,” Kevin throws in.
   “I don’t get why we can’t be inventive and intuitive and logical all at once.”
   Allie rebuts, “Pi.”
   Brent gapes, puckers and ventures, “You want some pie?”
   “A circle is finite, but we need a number that has no end to describe it logically,” she concludes.
   “Ha!” Kevin lauds with glee, “That’s true, at least decimally.”
   “How much sense does that make to you, Brent?” Allison jabs.
   “That’s damn confusing, thank you very much.”
   Kevin vies, hands all-inclusive, “But we get this – living existence – without ever getting that.”
   “We have a higher consciousness that’s one with the totality of the universe,” Allison designates her temple. “We have to rediscover that awareness after years of boxed-in language and learning.”
   Brent rephrases, “I need to forget everything I ever learned?”
   “That’s a good first step,” Allison backs.
   He allows conditionally, “I know that words are abstractions. I know that linear thinking is limited. But when you master the rational process, there is a profound clarity.”
   Kevin, “That’s you.”
   “What?”
   “The words are the words. The clarity is your broader perception, beyond words.”
   “I don’t –”
   “He’s right, Brent. Ditch the word works.”
   “Yeah,” Kevin steers, “And get out of linear space and time too.”
   Brent informs, “That would require something a bit stronger than pot.”
   “Like what, LSD?”
   Allison asks, “Have you guys ever tried it?”
   Kevin nods. Brent, though, admits, “No.”
   “You don’t need to.”
   “He doesn’t?” Kevin demurs.
   “Take a trip on these walls – or the candles. Commune with one little flickering flame.”
   “Self-hypnosis,” Brent grasps.
   “Quit naming it and start doing it.”
   “Give me a minute.”
   “Meditation takes practice, but there is no time. There’s only now,” Allison says. “Life in endless movement, loosed to conjure this moment.”
   Kevin evokes, “Let the world we see be the world we imagine, and the world we imagine be the world we see.” The wind picks up, its wheezing whistle heavier and more urgent.
   “Reality becomes the fantasy …”
   Embracing the weed’s visionary potential, Brent cycles, “… becomes the reality becomes the fantasy …”
   Allie’s pleased with his progress, “Now you’re getting it.”
   “I think I just got higher.”
   Cheering his friend’s initiation, “Now you’re definitely getting it.”