geo geller

* and in this place of dreams whatever you wished for, was yours for the dreaming.. it didn’t matter what you wanted… you see, in the land of dreams there was no one who had bad thoughts or wished bad things… there was no need for police or arguments or anything bad.. everybody was happy… it was the land of dreams… there was no reason for anybody to be unhappy… even the plants and animal were happy… and everything was just the way it should be and could be…

* it was very simple… if you wanted something, anything at all, then all you had to do was close your eyes and dream… whatever you wanted was there… there was plenty of everything and anything… people were nice to each other, they helped each other, there was no sickness, no poverty, no fighting, no wars, no pollution, the earth and plants and animals were all as happy as could be, it was simple you see… it was the best of all possible worlds as my old friend Dr. Pangloss once said.

* and then one day, so they say, a young fella asked, “if you can have whatever you wanted… what is there not to be happy about ?,” and then he thought about what he just said, “what is there not to be happy about ?”… he wanted to know everything about everything, anything that under the sun he wanted to know about… but, on this one day, he wondered “if everybody is happy what is it like to be unhappy ?”… he asked his mother and father, and they didn’t know, he asked everybody… they all looked at him strangely, but,nobody knew what it was like to be unhappy?

* he had to know… and that was all… he knew about everything else… but not about unhappiness… nobody else knew either… the little fella decided to go in search of unhappiness even if it meant he had to go to the ends of the world… he asked everybody, people, animals and plants on his way, “if they were happy ?” and knew what unhappiness was?”. They all said the same thing “what is there to be unhappy about… we live in a land of dreams, where everybody lives happily ever after…

* one day while walking in the jungle he came across this big old turtle it was the biggest turtle he had ever seen, it looked as if it was as old as time itself… it moved so slow it seemed it would take forever to get any where… the little fella asked the turtle… “please, if you would be so kind to tell me if you are happy ?”…

* the turtle thought for a moment, and said, when i was young I wanted to fly like bird, as high as the sky, i didn’t know why. i wanted to run like a tiger and climb like a monkey

* i wanted to be as big as an elephant

* to dance like a mountain goat… sing like the nightingale. i wanted to be and do everything, and i did…

* it was such fun… but as i got older i realized i didn’t know what it was like to be me… like you wanted to know everything about everything and i did… it was fun being everything i wanted to be, but now i am happy to be me, as you can see… and the little fella listened very carefully and then said, “wise turtle, i have been everywhere talking to everybody trying to find out what it is like to be unhappy but nobody knows…

* the turtle laughed, and said, “of all the things to be looking for, unhappiness ?.. nobody wants to be unhappy!” it is better to look for happiness”… “but what is unhappiness,” he asked again… “you are looking in all the wrong places”.. “it is you” the turtle said, “look at yourself, you are looking for yourself, and can’t see it”… the little fella shook his head as if he didn’t understand… you are unhappy because you can’t find out what it is like to be unhappy?”… the little fella thought how could i be unhappy and not even know it… and finally he understood or so he thought he understood.

* he went back home to tell his parent and friends that he finally found somebody in all the world who was unhappy and they all gathered around to find out about this incredible discovery.. it was unheard of… nobody in their history had ever been unhappy… he began his story and told them about talking to everybody, the animals and plants and everything to find out what unhappiness was, and then he came to the part about the big old turtle… the turtle said, he was looking for unhappiness in all the wrong places… he said, it was “me”… i went all over the our world looking for unhappiness and all along it was me who was unhappy…

* they all said what? everybody looked confused… the turtle said, i was unhappy… and they all looked at each other and looked at the little fella and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry…

* then the little fella said that as soon as he found out what it was like, and that it was he who was unhappy he immediately became happy again… and everybody gave a sigh of relief… they were worried they didn’t know what to do. one person said, even in the land of dreams where you can have what ever you dreamed, you can even find unhappiness in yourself. And since that day the little fella and everybody in the land of dreams have lived happily ever after.