....."No, Jonathan, there is no such place. Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.” He was silent for a moment. “You are a very fast flier, aren’t you?” 46 I . . . I enjoy speed,” Jonathan said, taken aback but proud that the Elder had noticed. “You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn’t flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.” Without warning, Chiang vanished and appeared at the water’s edge 50 feet away, all in the flicker of an instant. Then he vanished again and stood, in the same millisecond, at Jonathan’s shoulder. “It’s kind of fun,” he said. Jonathan was dazzled. He forgot to ask about heaven. “How do you do that? What does it feel like? How far can you go?” “You can go to any place and any time that you wish,” the Elder said. “I’ve gone everywhere and everywhen I can think of,” He looked across the sea. “It’s strange. " The gulls who scorn perfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly. Those who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly. Remember,Jonathan, heaven isn’t a place or a time, because place and time are so very meaningless. Heaven is . . . ” “Can you teach me to fly like that?” Jonathan Seagull trembled to conquer another unknown. “Of course, if you wish to learn.” “Tell me what to do,” Jonathan said, and a strange light glowed in his eyes. Chiang spoke slowly. “To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is,” he said,“you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived. . . . ” The trick, according to Chiang, was for Jonathan to stop seeing himself as trapped inside a limited body that has a 42inch wing span and performance that could be plotted on a chart. The trick was to know that his true nature lived everywhere at once across space and time |
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