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But maybe it's not all that easy, either. You have all the facts that you need intact, you've learned how to build any number of boats, you know about islands and how to map, but can you actually do it? Maybe it's true that boats are a way to help you be in the Territory, but how to begin? It's such an important thing to do that it's easy to freeze and to stop at the start.
Take heart. It's not at all bad if you feel a bit timid. Everyone here in the Boaters Cafe feels that way from time to time, some of us every day. Really you know, it's a fellowship of timid souls; you're bound to fit right in. But letting go of that point of view of the everyday world that's always been described to you over and over all your life, that's a big step. What if you somehow get stuck inside the sight of the Territory just as it is? There you'll be, moving around in a wide open way in a world where everyone else has their mind and their eyes on their maps. What will the rest of the world make of you? What will you make of it?
Look. Don't worry. It's really okay. Everyone else is already inside the Territory just like you. Even if they never do see it at all, that doesn't matter, they're still right there. If you see the world as Territory you'll be better able to do whatever it is that you need to do. You'll see people better than you do right now and do just exactly what needs to be done. And everyone else will treat you the same, they'll do what they need to do with you even though they won't see you the way you've become. The Territory will act through them you see in the same way you act through the Territory to act with them.
And you won't lose sight of the everyday world. When you see the Territory just as it is, you'll be able to see the everyday world just exactly the way that it is as well. It's an added sight, not a subtractive one and when you act you'll act in a way that will work in both ways simultaneously. Initially though this added sight might lead to a little discomfort. You're bound to get a bit of eye strain from looking away from the maps that you hold. But if you exercise your sight a bit, you'll find it's a muscle that you can make fit.
Still, getting out in your boat at first, it's hard to know how to do it. You want to see the Territory, to launch your boat and sail the sea, maybe you know that you have to let go, but how to loosen your grip a bit and jump off the end of the pier? Will your boat really be there, will it really float? It may be easy for me you might say, I've lost it already, I'm already wet.
Starting from where you are right now, how can you ever possibly believe all this Territory stuff. It's not really true, how could it be? Boats and islands and sailing ships, tunnels and Pirates, it's right off the wall and it's not on the map, it's all just some kind of crazy story! Listen, if you want to see the Territory it's important to act as if you believe that you can. Which isn't to say that you actually have to believe anything. It doesn't even mean that you have to suspend belief. You are free to believe whatever you want. All that is asked is that you sincerely try to act the way you would act if you did believe everything involved with the Territory. You have absolutely nothing to lose by doing this! If it all turns out to be just a lie you never really did believe it anyway (you just acted as if you did). If it does actually turn out to be true (or somewhat true) then you've already had practice in acting the truth and you can easily just carry on. It might even be that it's neither true nor not-true so it won't really matter how you believed (and it'll be quite all right to act as if you do so go right ahead).
Nobody's actually telling you that the Territory is actually true (but they are telling you that if you act as if you believe that it is, you might be able to actually see it). See the thing of it is, you aren't going to ever change your sight of the world if you don't pretend that the world is different from the way it appears to be now. So if you act as if you believe that it's different, you might just naturally start to see it as being different (which it actually is you know).
Now I could tell you just what the world looks like and then you would see the world differently (but not as it really is of course). You'd just see it as I described it to you (and that's just the same as it is right now only different). What you want is to see the world just as it is through your own eyes (so I better not describe it to you). That's where the whole Territory story comes in: it's a way of telling you that there's something there to see without telling you what it is. But are there islands and are there ships (and is there a Boaters Cafe)? Don't worry about it! There is something there (and all you have to do is see it). Just act as if you believe and you'll see what it is and you won't have to ask yourself (or anyone else) if it really is there or not.