The world rushed back into focus as Barrett slid off the headphones and replaced them in the basket at the pavilion’s mouth. As the daylight stole his vision and the dream state of the dancefloor, he felt Mary’s hand on his shoulder as she tumbled out behind him.
“Mate! That silent disco might have been the peak of my life. Your presents are almost too good Barrett – I’m not sure if I’ll ever be this happy again.”
They pushed toward the bar as the screech of the nearby main stage indicated that Miley Cyrus hadn’t yet finished her slot. Mary cringed. “Ugh, that girl is garbage. There goes my zen moment!”
Barrett signalled them into the fastest-moving queue. “Mary, I’ve been on your arse for years about meditation.”
“Yes you have, pal. I just think my experience of breathing is already rich enough. Plus, if I have a thought, I typically want to follow it instead of letting it dissipate into the ether. My brain is an interesting place!”
“Didn’t you ever read Elbert Hubbard? You know – ‘we are gods in the chrysalis’?”
Mary sneered. “I always thought he sounded conceited.”
Barrett ordered two beers before turning back to her. “Conceited? Nah. ‘Gods’ is just a representation of the paramount state of being; something like honouring the biology and tradition that made you, and acting with truth and virtue despite the inexorable tragedy of existence.”
“Keep the change, man,” Mary dispensed with a twenty and they shuffled back into the sunshine. “That’s all fine, but acting with virtue and feeling like an irate piece of shit are still perfectly compatible.”
“Ha-ha, yes! Cheers,” Barrett knocked his cup against hers and took a generous guzzle. “That’s the point of the chrysalis, my friend: thought trumps deed, and you create your future self in the things to which you pay attention right now. It’s like this: say you fix in your mind that you’ll be a grand architect, and suddenly every time you walk down a street you’ll be soaking in the work of previous architects, noticing things that will literally facilitate this future. Optimism is the same.”
Mary nodded into her cup and gulped in agreement. “Sometimes when I’m checking out a fit guy in public, I’ll pretend that I’m a fashion designer so that I can feel exonerated from my voyeurism.”
Barrett chuckled. “That’s a twisted example, but also a perfect one. The point is that it’s not the circumstances in which you find yourself that matter the most; it’s the state of mind you build that actually shapes your experience in the present.”
The squeal of ten-thousand teenage girls erupted in the distance, and Mary’s face softened. “Ah, hell. Let them have their fun.”
“That’s the spirit. “Barrett drained his beer and let out a tidy belch. “You can’t be too judgemental if you want to keep dancing like that.”
“Oh piss off, brain-on-legs!” Mary spied a friend and ran to greet them, and Barrett smirked.
Brendan McBryde
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