Zhuangzi — a Dialogue about the Circularity of Being

Abstract

In this dialogue Zhuangzi and Jacob discuss nothing and something and their relation with God.

Zhuangzi. The whole.

Jacob. Who are you?

Zhuangzi. It’s the whole. The whole is the whole.

Jacob. Who are you?

Zhuangzi. Who are you?

Jacob. Where are we?

Zhuangzi. I’m here.

Jacob. I’m with you?

Zhuangzi. You are.

Jacob. We’re here.

Zhuangzi. Yes. We are.

Jacob. This is serious.

Zhuangzi. Yes. It is.

Jacob. Where are all the others?

Zhuangzi. The whole is the whole.

Jacob. Don’t you miss them?

Zhuangzi. They are here. So it is.

Jacob. I miss them, though.

Zhuangzi. The missing is here to. So it is.

Jacob. These stones are very heavy. Can you help me?

Zhuangzi. I don’t see them.

Jacob. I cannot handle it.

Zhuangzi. Drop it.

Jacob. They are everywhere.

Zhuangzi. Everything is everywhere.

Jacob. I will drop it. I will stand up and feel it or die.

Zhuangzi. We will all die.

Jacob. When?

Zhuangzi. Now. All the time. Now. We are dead.

Jacob. The black stones cannot kill me?

Zhuangzi. They can.

Jacob. Help me?

Zhuangzi. Who are you?

Jacob. You don’t know?

Zhuangzi. I do.

Jacob. You don’t know who I am?

Zhuangzi. You are my father. So it is.

Jacob. And I am your father.

Zhuangzi. So it is.

Jacob. Do you know why?

Zhuangzi. Yes.

Jacob. We are all the same.

Zhuangzi. So it is.

Jacob. I am my father?

Zhuangzi. Who knows?

Jacob. We are all the same.

Zhuangzi. I can help you.

Jacob. There’s so little time.

Zhuangzi. We have all the time.

Jacob. He is dying.

Zhuangzi. Everybody’s dying.

Jacob. The apocalypse is coming.

Zhuangzi. The apocalypse is here.

Jacob. Everything is here?

Zhuangzi. The apocalypse is an end. Then there is.

Jacob. A new beginning?

Zhuangzi. So it is.

Jacob. Yes.

Zhuangzi. Who am I?

Jacob. You’re him.

Zhuangzi. So it is.

Jacob. And you are his father.

Zhuangzi. So it is.

Jacob. There is light. And a new beginning?

Zhuangzi. There is light. And a new beginning.

Jacob. There is no hurry. We have all the time.

Zhuangzi. When we are dead. Yes. So it is.

Jacob. Yes.

Zhuangzi. Everything starts all over. But how?

Jacob. Everything cannot start all over. Something cannot be nothing. God will not start all over.

Zhuangzi. But God is both.

Jacob. So it is.

Zhuangzi. God is. God cannot become.