Every time you hear the AUM it is the same time, it is the same AUM.

He got down on his knees and stuck out his tongue.

She gave him the drug.

"What's this called?" he asked as the little gates all over his body began to open.

"Rapture," she said, smiling beatifically, "It's so new it's not even illegal yet."

No, I'm scared, he thought to himself, No, am I going to embarrass myself in front of her? No I just wanted to fuck her and that means saying Yes and I said I'm ready for it Yes and now her bedroom is starting to glow Yes.

"What's that noise, that tone, that buzz?" he asked.

"It's everything," she said as she melted, "It's the sound of the whole universe."

"Is it real? or am I hallucinating?"

She smiled, her eyes glassy, a tangled halo. Under her clothes there was a body. Unknowing meat. There was a spark inside that meat which made it Her but he saw it was just a spark, a flickering candle, a rising cinder.

He was seeing behind the veil, and he rubbed his eyes. "There is nothing in this room, really, is there?"

She didn't answer because she wasn't even there. And neither was he. Just the humming AUM of all existence.

This time it wasn't about the meat's sensations, it wasn't even about the fucking. Sometimes it's like an expensive steak dinner - it's delicious, and then it's over. But behind the curtain, there is no steak and there's nobody around to eat it anyway.

Two tree branches intertwined fingers, the capillaries of existence going AUM it's the sound of blood rushing through the heart. This is it, behind the veil. Why is it hard to remember we're the same tree? Why can we only unite in this rapturous moment and then we forget and we remember to fear the Other, but not now.

And all the selves, ghosts, demons, gods, all went OM together, the mouth wide and sound flowing out like the entire ocean, the entire world, the sound of the planets spinning silently in space whipping around the sun at rollercoaster speeds AAAAA it goes UUUUU and then MMMMM the mouth closes swallowing it all.

It's not the big bang, it's the hot crunch at the end, the mouth of Shiva closing, all matter pressed together united in one dense singularity and then silence.

That is why they chant the mantra, they say AUM over and over again because it is the only word, it is the only sound, it is the lotus unfolding and then blowing away, it is the snake swallowing its own tail, it is the figure eight, it is the bumper to bumper traffic somebody honks at you, you and all of the sudden you're back in your body. And it's Monday. And you're 19 now and you're 23 now you're 29 now 37 now 53 now you're 79 now you're dying now and we're all together now it's silent, Yes,

and the mantra starts again.