Stephen is an expert swimmer, swimming in the open ocean. But it is sometimes exhausting, and he fears he will go down. He is terrified of what would happen, so he keeps swimming. It is especially hard because he is swimming dressed in metal armor. It is exausting, but he feels the armor protects him, and he has no other choice but to continue to swim.
Suddenly, a mermaid pops her head through the surface of the water next to him. Stephen is startled and she is beautiful. They introduce themselves and have a pleasant conversation. Stephen is blushing because his new friend doesn't have any sea shells covering her cleavage, and he is doing his best to only look her in the eye and not at what is just bellow the surface of the water. She asks him why he exerts himself so, swiming on the surface. It looks awfully uncomfortable and tiring. He explains that unlike her, he would die if he left the surface. He envies her care-free attitude. She has no armor, no worries, no cares of the past or future. No fear of the air, the sun, the sharks, or the depths of the water. She is frolicing in the present moment--oblivious to the entire concepts of worry and fear. He is jealous of her ignorant bliss.
Just as Socrates did to the man who wanted wisdom, the mermaid unexpectedly grabs onto Stephen's head and pushes him under the surface. And she keeps on pushing. She pushes him further and further down, 15 feet under the surface of the ocean. His ears throb from the pressure. He struggles and flails around, trying to save himself. But it is to no avail. She is stronger than he and holds him under, laughing. His lungs are burning with desire for air as he holds his breath, trying to extend the length of his life for a few more tortured seconds by doing so. The burning in his lungs gets so intense it spreads to his entire body, and every muscle he has is more contracted than it had ever been in his life. He hopes that she will let him back to the surface at this point just as Socrates eventually did, because he knows that otherwise, it is going to be all over within a few seconds. His mind is screaming two words as he struggles: MERMAID BITCH!
He begins to get dizzy, and the pain is so intense it no longer feels like pain. He knows that even if she were to let him go now, that he doesn't have time to swim to the surface. The pain is something very different and stronger than anything he has ever felt. He becomes dissacioated from it and oddly enough he finds the whole situation to be humorous--being killed by a blissful mermaid who is unaware of the fact that humans have no gills. And he begins to fade out, exausted. His muscles relax and he stops struggling. He can feel himself loosing consciousness, and knows that any moment he will be out and his unconscious body will try to breath, will then choke on the water, and will then inhale water once again. He knows he is at death's door. As he slowly fades out, a small piece of his soul becomes disacciated from the experience, and he watches his body loose consciousness and try to breath the water. It flinches in anticipation of the effets that a huge breath of water will have on his lungs.
But nothing happens.
He thinks he is dead. He looks at himself, and it appears he is still dressed in his body, just as if alive. Wondering if that is the way spirits see themselves, he looks around for some of the other things that people have discribed in near-death experiences. He doesn't see his drowned body floating in the water. He is amazed at how clearly he can see. He looks for a light and sees the sun, but he knows it is just that. It is not calling him. He looks for a guide and only sees the mermaid who has now let him go. She is hovering in the water, contently smiling at the beauty of the moment of Stephen quickly learning new truth about himself and the nature of things. Stephen considers asking the mermaid to pinch him, but being shy he chooses to pinch himself instead. It feels real and he can't imagine a spirit being able to pinch itself and feel that.
Contemplating the feeling of the pinch, he suddenly realizes that he is breathing water. It feels different than breathing the air. It enters his lungs more smoothly and feels more satisfying than air ever did. And the goodness of it radiates from his lungs throughout his body. He is surprised at how natural it feels. And he is surprised that something that feels so natural could be so surprising. The goodness of breathing water is what he always craved, but never found. He wonders again if he is dead. But he knows he is not. But this is so unreal he thinks he is must be dead. But it is so intensely real he knows he is alive.
Just then, he sees a cow swimming by. The cow is a bit deeper in the water than he is. He is amazed at how graceful the cow swims. This association of cows and grace is something that he has heard before, but he doesn't struggle to recall when. Rather, he basks in the beauty of the moment. The moment feels good. He notices how vivid the colors look, and how content he feels. That triggers it, and he finally understands what the people on the other side of the fringe were talking about.
And he realizes that he is now on that side too. He thinks about what he knows in his heart, and he only knows one thing:
All is well.
It isn't a lot to know compared to what he claimed to know before. But it is so clear, so obvious, so abiding, that this truth doesn't need to be defended. It is so true, it can stand on its own without defense. And it feels liberating to know that he doesn't have to defend it.
He feels the warmth of the sun as it filters through the water from the sun, and he realizes that he is still in the presence of his mermaid friend. He looks at her, and she is still blissfully observing and smiling, enthralled in the moment of watching Stephen discover reality. He looks in her eyes and smiles back. They feel a connection. He feels naked and realizes that his armor is gone. And it feels good. He now knows the truth, and knows that there is nothing to fear, nothing to hide from, nothing to defend himself against. Without the armor covering him, he feels the truth. And it feels good. The mermaid and Stephen sense the moment, and they embrace in a hug. A warm, passionate, naked hug. She tells him that she has some friends that she wants to introduce him to. He doesn't feel alone. Doesn't feel scared. Doesn't feel tired. All he feels is everything--pure, naked love.
Stephen confidently reaches out his hand and takes hers, and together they swim away.