Somewhere off in a strange world similar to our own, Ted Briggs and Phaedrus are offered a one-time chance meeting. They are to watch Jocelyn Moorhouse’s film Proof, enjoy the atmosphere of a completely empty
theater, and walk together, speaking about whatever it is that comes to their minds. Unusual you say, perhaps, but no more time for haste, the movie has just ended…
Ted: Hello there friend, I am not sure that we have met, my name is Ted Briggs.
Phaedrus: I am Phaedrus, and I do not recognize my surroundings, quite strange! Could you tell me what I have just witnessed?
Ted: What you just witnessed? You just saw some crazy movie with Russell Crowe and that guy from the Matrix.
Phaedrus: Matrix, I do not understand, what language am I speaking.
Ted: Yes I know that it is strange, but due to our limited time here together I can only give you the abridged version. That was a motion picture and although I know that you were quite taken aback by it, they are not new, nor are they small in number. In fact, you would be amazed at how many have been made that have just been garbage. Anyway, I also know that Greek is a little more familiar to you but somebody more powerful than us has had their way so for the time being and so that I can understand you, we are speaking English. After that it gets really complicated so just don’t ask any more questions.
Phaedrus: Fair enough I suppose, may I inquire as to why your leg is damaged as so?
Ted: An injury, incurred in battle, you know war.
Phaedrus: Yes, war is a term that is common in any language.
Ted: No big deal really, I have learned to live accordingly, but enough about me, how about you, I hear that you are an intellectual.
Phaedrus: Oh yes, more of a self proclaimed philosopher I would say.
Ted: Philosophy, I see, well what did you think of the film that we just saw?
Phaedrus: That was beautiful, yet it was sad, it really made no sense to me, why would Martin act as he did?
Ted: Martin, what did he do? If anything could be said it would be that Andy let himself get caught up with his desires.
Phaedrus: Those are foolish desires; they mean next to nothing, it was for pleasures sake only, nothing more.
Ted: Oh I bet there was more, if you know what I mean, it just doesn’t happen once, not with a woman like Celia, it will only be more and more.
Phaedrus: But that is not important, not at all, Martin is the loser here. Celia shall lose as well, but not as badly as Martin.
Ted: Sure Martin’s losing, but Celia, I think that she did all right for herself, for she got what she wanted.
Phaedrus: She did not get what she wanted. And because of that very fact Martin shall never get what she was giving.
Ted: Why all the talk about Martin, he has his chance, he passed on it and Andy stepped right in, a shame really if you ask me. Martin seemed like a nice guy but didn’t come across as being that social, he should have been grateful for what he could get.
Phaedrus: You perplex me with this talk of what one can get, as if the physical involvement with someone is the most important thing to have. I see no reason for your emphasis upon it.
Ted: No reason, have you ever had it, or even felt it, that feeling inside, when you are in a state of total bliss, time stands still, you forget who you are, where you are and for just one moment you feel like the only two people in existence.
Phaedrus: Yes, love, exactly what I am saying, know you are beginning to make sense.
Ted: Love, no, no, not love, Sex, you know, sex, the act of coitus, two people throwing inhibitions aside and indulging in the ultimate act of affection.
Phaedrus: No I do not understand, love is the ultimate goal, it is love to which I am referring. Love is what Celia was offering Martin. Martin felt it, perhaps he was unaware of what it was or how it felt, but he knew deep down that he was the loved one and that Celia was the lover. That she felt strong enough to do anything, even things she would not normally do in order to express her love. Martin simply pushed it away; he shunned the very thing that would bring him happiness, and virtue and all of the best in life.
Ted: I just think that he pushed away any chance of getting laid, and for that I brand him a fool, it’s not everyday somebody gets an offer like that.
Phaedrus: Why such a dependence upon the physical and not the emotional. I presume that you are afraid of it as well, is that right Ted? Have you ever been in love?
Ted: In love, of course, tons of times, I have been in love more times than I can remember.
Phaedrus: More times than you can remember, I have never heard of such audacity. No one can be in love as often as that. Were you in love, true love?
Ted: What the hell does that mean, true love? I don’t know, so I slept with some women, and then I talked with them and I spent time with them, they made me happy for a while, but it never lasted long. Maybe it was just me, I don’t know.
Phaedrus: Love is not that, love is the most beautiful of all the gods. To be in love, and to be the loved one, to know that you would do anything for the affection of that one person, that they would do the same for you, they would give their life to be with you or to honor the way they felt. The act in which all good things follow, that is love Ted, nothing more and certainly nothing less. That is what that film was about. Martin did not know how to handle Celia’s love, perhaps he was afraid of it, and so it removed it from his life. As for Andy, he did not receive Celia’s love, for it had been growing in her for Martin, not him. Andy was the recipient of the outlet of Celia’s frustration with Martin and his rejection of her love.
Ted: That thought never crossed my mind, I just thought it odd that he turned her away when he knew that she was all over him, he didn’t have to see to know that.
Phaedrus: Not lust Ted, love, and the one thing that the gods truly intended for us all. The beautiful way that two people know each other and find harmony through one another. Find it Ted, if you haven’t yet. Only that love, that feeling will make you happy.
Ted: I wish it were that easy, to open up your door one day and find that someone. Yet I haven’t been looking, maybe I have never looked.
Phaedrus: I am afraid that I must be on my way; I must head back on the path that brought me here. To you Ted I bid you farewell and I wish you luck and happiness and I encourage you to look beyond your ambitions to find the one thing that you lack.
Ted: Goodbye and thank you for some of that philosophy. I used to only think of it as useless chatter.
Ted: Yeah, a philosophy, maybe that is what I need, a philosophy. I need love. I need a wife.