Once Upon a Crumpled Napkin

     In times dimly-lit and hardly remembered, I used to live without a shape.  That is to say, I knew not what shape was my shape.  The people of Circles and Squares told me that I must be a Circle!  Or surely I must be a Square!  And after repeated attempts to pound me into the proper shape, they went away, disdained that I could not be aligned.

     Through the years there were many others… the Triangles, Hexagons, Trapezoids, and so on.  But to no avail.  Then came the more esoteric and eclectic ones… the Spoon-shaped, the Dusty-Carpet-shaped, & the Crumpled-Napkin-shaped ones.  Each shape I would try on like a glass slipper, but alas, it was never my own.  And each person, believing their shape was the correct one, pulled and pushed and twisted to try to “fix” me.  …And one by one they faded away.  And I was left with the belief that I was simply the wrong shape to fit into the worlds that they had made around them.

     But one day I was speaking to a Glass of Water, and it shared with me its secret.  It said to me “What… is the shape of water?”
     To which I replied “Clearly you are Glass-shaped.”
             “Ah,” said the Water “but if I am in a Cup?”
    “Then,” I pondered “you would be Cup-shaped!”
             “Yes, but,” it spoke patiently “if I were a Puddle?”
    “Then you would be Puddle-shaped.”
             “And what is my shape when I just am…?”

     I was awed… “Then… you… would be You-shaped.”
             “Yes,” the Water replied “I am Me-shaped.  And so are you.”

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     And that was how I came to see my own form.  And when you understand your own shape it allows you to smile at the Circle-people and the Square-people when they try to push and pull.  When you know your own form you stop trying to fit into holes made for people who want to be the shapes of others.  Many shapes are bee-yoo-tiful and they lure the unconfident in.  Many shapes are powerful or frightening or elite.  They attract and corrupt, leaving the people always unsatisfied, always feeling off balance.  

     You are one with everything, indivisible and interconnected, but your shape is yours, and no one may take it from you.  Know your shape my friend, for you are a beautiful creature, infinite and divine.  And empowered with this knowledge, the world is yours. ​

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