—the following speech was first published in the Slumber Party’s monthly newsletter, The Sleepy Reader
“Let the Spirit Move You”
Once again, I was reading another mindless article about another mindless celebrity engaged in another mindless cause. And I realized that I had none. More correctly, I had none that moved me. I was constrained. I was blocked. I was constipated.
Distraught, I looked away from the magazine and I looked around the room. I could see the smudges of fingerprints along the walls. I could see the mold growing along the rim of the bath. I could see the hair matted on the tile floor. I could see the dust bunnies wafting as the air vent blew them around the room. I could see the flakes of toilet paper on the back of the rim on which I was seated. It was then that I looked into the bowl itself. And I saw my reflection. I shifted to the right. I shifted to the left. Each time seeing myself from a new angle, a new perspective, a place I had never looked. Still, the sight did not move me. I was empty in my fullness.
So I lit a cigarette, as I often do when I need to think, when I need to focus. I felt a stirring. I felt a presence. And it moved within me. But yet it did not move through me. I tossed the cigarette into the bowl. It was then that I felt the spirit move within me again. It was then that I knew the spirit of the Sleepwalker had returned to me. But he was not inside me. Not yet. But he was there nevertheless. I could sense him, but I didn’t know where to look. Certainly not at the magazine, at another mindless article about another mindless celebrity engaged in another mindless cause.
And it was then that what felt like a warm breath blew across the back of my neck, and for the briefest of moments, I sensed that the Sleepwalker was behind me. I turned my head. Whether it was a reflection from the light upon my glasses or the sight of my own shadow moving away from me, I don’t know. At that moment I couldn’t be certain, but I thought that I caught a glimpse of Him. I was shaken. I was stirred. I was moved.
But the feeling quickly subsided. Once again, I was distraught. And once again, I returned to the same mindless article about the same mindless celebrity engaged in the same mindless cause. Disgusted, I turned the page.
It was then that the Lord made his presence known. But not directly. He offered me a guide — a washed up pop star-tart. Whether the article was a rehash of previously told tales or an advertisement disguised as a work of journalism, I do not know. I do not care. She was there, and that was all that I needed. As I stared at her, examining the smoothness of her newly shaven skull, the lush green of her eyes, the curve of her eyelashes, the Sleepwalker, behind me, spoke as a warm whisper over my shoulder.
He told me not to be afraid. I was.
He told me He loved me. I doubted.
He told me to relax and let Him fill me with his being. I resisted.
But the Sleepwalker did not.
His compassion moved me, and I let go.
Such is the love of the Sleepwalker, so great that you cannot resist it.
Later, after the Sleepwalker had left me, after he planted the inspirational seed in my mind, my body, my soul, I once again looked into the bowl. It was there that I saw the evidence of His presence.
Hungry for His love, I thought to reach down into the water, to grasp Him, to fill my hands with Him, to eat of His body and to drink of His blood. But I did not. I had all that I needed of Him inside me. He had given me a cause. He had given me a mission. I must unleash nightmares upon the world. Only then will mankind realize that the waking life is a horror and that they must go to sleep to escape it.
And so I come to you today, my brothers and sisters, my fellow Sleepers, and I tell you what the Sleepwalker told me. Our charge is not kind. Our task is not easy. Our way is not clean. You will be confronted with threats from your friends, your family. You will have to face them and leave them if they refuse to appreciate the majesty your new Awakened Sleeping Self. But you need not fear them
It is now that I beg of you, my brothers and sisters, please take these words to heart and let the Sleepwalker fill you with his love and move you with His spirit. It is time for you to make this mission your own.
May the Sleepwalker bless the Slumber Party. Our cause is a righteous one.
wyattduvall.com 