Riddle of the Rings
A simple arrangement of notes drifted through the room as the dozen or so students filed in. To the stranger it seemed an odd way to begin class, but Doc found his flute playing a good way to focus on the task at hand, and set the mood accordingly."So what happened to the man next," a student asked following Doc's query into last week's story."It's been said the man got a new life," Doc smiled, "Like a child reborn.""Is his onion still planted at the foot of Bodhisativa?""Yeah, you could say that," said Doc, "because the story isn't finished yet. That's only the first part of it.""So what happens next," the new student asked."We'll get to that soon enough," said Doc. "But right now we're going to take another look at the onion, only this time from a different perspective."And with this Doc began to cut his second onion, not lengthwise like the first one, but rather in cross-section, as you would to make onion rings. First he cut off the top and bottom of the onion. Then he cut away the skin and the outermost layer and separated it from the rest of the onion. Then he cut the remaining onion crossways, creating with each slice of the knife about 6 to 8 rings of various sizes, big to small. And when he was done cutting the onion, he separated all the rings from each slice and randomly spread them all across his slate tabletop. This chaotic work made quite the display of abstract onion art. Some 50 to 60 thin white rings of different sizes were dispersed all over this pitch black backdrop, most rings overlapping to varying degrees one upon another in pairs and threes and fours and sometimes more, and some rings sitting alone, not touching any others at all. "There we are," said Doc, seemingly pleased with himself. "all of us in this classroom, right there on the tabletop. Any questions?"Aside from a few laughs and giggles and quizzical looks, most of the students sat silent, waiting for Doc to finish. But all they got was another long silence. And more flute music. Then, still no hands in the air, Doc finished."Ok, class dismissed," Doc said matter-of-factly. "See ya next week."Another a long pause with more students now puzzled. Finally a student broke the silence."Wait a minute Doc, we've only been here 20 minutes. Aren't you going to finish class?""If you don't have any questions," Doc grinned, "I have nothing else to teach you now. I'm done."A brief pause....then..."That's it?!" the same student protested. "You gotta be kidding.""No, not really," Doc said seriously. "Goodnight everyone."A longer silence. Then a few students got up and walked out. But some stayed behind. Doc looked at them. Then one of his more astute students raised her hand. It was Mary, the daughter of Carol, one of Doc's very first students years ago."Doc, I know you well enough to know you've got something up your sleeve. What's up?""Your mom taught you all my tricks," Doc grinned."I've figured a lot of them out myself," Mary grinned back."I bet you have smarty-pants," Doc laughed, "There's intelligence in them genes if ya know what I mean.""My mom warned me about your riddles too." said Mary, "But she didn't give any answers. So what's the Riddle of the Rings all about?""I'll give you a hint," said Doc, as he took three of the rings from the scattered grouping and set them apart. Then he pointed to each of the three in turn. "This ring is me...this one is you...and this one is your mother. And this tabletop...this tabletop is our universe, in other words, the time and space we occupy. Now watch this. This is how we share our universe together."Doc pretended to pull up his sleeves, though he wore a t-shirt. Then he began to shuffle the three rings around, weaving them up and down, moving them back and forth, as if playing an onion ring shell game. Then after a bit he stopped."Ok, there you have it," said Doc as if sharing some great secret. "That's the way we share time and space. Any questions?"Another long silence, his audience unimpressed. Then Mary spoke up."Doesn't look like much to me. We're just moving around each other. But there's really no interaction, no close connection.""Oh I see what you mean," said Doc. "How's this?"Doc again pretended to pull up his sleeves, picked up one of the rings and set it aside, then took the two rings remaining and partially overlapped them together, one ring part way on top of another."Ok, how's that?" Doc asked. "Now we're connected. We can interact. Because right here, in this area where the rings overlap, that's the place we both occupy at the same time. That's the time-space we share together. The more the rings overlap, the more time-space we share together. Now, if I begin to pull the rings apart, we share less and less time-space together. Once the rings are completely apart and no longer overlap, we share no time-space together and we are completely separate in this time-space universe. Or so it seems."
"I think I followed you all the way to the so it seems part," said Mary."Hmmm..." Doc thought for a moment, then he put the two rings back together, partially overlapping. "Ok, let's get back to sharing time-space together. Now, by sharing this time-space, we can look at each other, we can talk to each other, we can touch each other, we can do any number of things together...we may even ignore each other. Let's take the last case and say we've decided to ignore each other, and we do it so well we completely block each other out, no longer even noticing the other exists. Now let me ask you, do our onions still overlap?"Another long silence, more meditation, breath and flute, musical wind. Then Doc pretended to pull up his sleeves again as he picked up the third onion slice that represented Mary's mother, Carol."Ok, how 'bout this?" Doc said, pointing to the two overlapped onions. "Mary, here we are, you and I connected together, two onion rings sharing the same time-space here in this classroom. Now, just for arguements sake, we've ignored each other to the point that we don't even know or perhaps even remember the other exists. With me so far?""Yes.""Ok, now here's my friend and your mother Carol," Doc said, holding up the third onion ring. "In this three-ring example of mine---just as in our real class now---your mother Carol is not here. She is not sharing this time-space with us right now. In this moment, her onion ring does not overlap with either mine or yours. Would you agree?""Yes.""Now," said Doc, "Is it fair to say you think about your mom a lot, whether you share the same time-space with her or not? In other words, is she still in your mind, even when your rings are not connected?""Yes," Mary nodded her head."I'm right there with ya," smiled Doc. "As a former student and friend, Carol is still in my mind too, though our onion rings haven't overlapped in time-space for quite a while now. Still with me?"Mary nodded her head."Ok, so to summarize this three-ring circus of ours," Doc chuckled, entertaining himself with word play, "our two onions Mary, yours and mine, are now connected, that is, we share the same time-space. However, we've ignored each other to the extent that we don't even know or remember the other exists. And yet my friend Carol, your mother, is still much in each of our minds, even though her onion ring does not overlap with either of ours in time-space right now. Does this summary accurately reflect how I've set-up this thought experiment?"Again, Mary nodded her head."So now I ask you," said Doc, "Which is real? Even though you and I share the same time-space now, if we completely ignore each other, do I really exist for you, and you for me? How 'bout your mother? Even though she does not share this time-space with us now, does she not in our minds still exist? So this is my riddle for you Mary: Which relationship is more alive, the one you have with me in time-space, or the one you have with your mother?"Doc paused for a moment, as his attention turned from Mary to the rest of his audience. "How 'bout all of you?" asked Doc. "What's your answer to the Riddle of the Rings? What makes for relationship and connection? How does time-space and mind-memory fit into the equation? "Ding. 
