《White life》


 Dream of freedom

    "I have a dream", a well known, yet overused term, but it fit my situation well: I dreamt that my grandparents and parents would wake up. Wake up of this self-induced pleasure capsule sleep.


    We live in a utopia, they say. No one needs to work, every job is taken by robots and everyone can do what they want. And they did, at first, but the physical limitations of humankind stopped its greed for more. So they invented a virtual world, individual customizable for every person. Now they did not have to fear pain, did not have to stick to physical laws, were gods. Some threw in that it is not real, however, what is real, they countered. Everything we see, feel and perceive with our senses are just electrical impulses our brain sends out, so if the same signal is sent out through a machine, wouldn''t that be us creating reality?


    People loved it, old people could be young, lost dear ones could be recovered, dreams could be achieved safely or if they wanted to, with difficulty. Everything could be done.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    I, on the other hand, hated it, I lost my grandparents first. They entered and never returned. Their new reality seemed to have been more pleasant than ours with pain. Then my parents, my friends, everyone...


    Did they not see how our government used these to limit us? To control and let us feel this fake happiness? Where is the freedom in that?


    I laughed, as I pushed the last number that would set up the bomb, that would destroy the core of Alexei, the main AI for project Creating reality. I don''t know how long I fought these bastards, all for this one day. To free all humans from this machine slavery. To give my life for it? A cheap price and with that I set it off. White light engulfed me.


    The capsule, I was in, opened its lid and reality hit me. Crueler than ever, I tried to wipe the tears with my frail hands, only to discover that my skinny with liver spots sprinkled arms would not move. I remembered, there were no people, no family, no friends, just an old man with a dream. "Alexei", I repeated for the who knew often time, "give me a purpose".


    END

 Emptiness

    Ok, let''s try this: Picture ten books all at once in detail. To tell the truth I can''t do that. I can maybe concentrate on three covers at once, but more, and I can only perceive their existence, however the lines blur and the image shatters. So I got back and concentrate on one book to bring the picture and title back in my imagination, only to discover that I lost the other nine covers.


    "I know that I know nothing", a truly fitting quote from Plato. We are dumb. We know nothing. However, that''s not our fault. The universe is just too vast and we are just too insignificant. Our life is like a little spark in this ginormous..., ooh, you fell for it, I''m sorry that gives us too much credit. Our sun, that could maybe count as a tiny little spark in this universe. Well, we, we are nothing. You live a short while, you die for eternity, nothing changes, nothing remains, there is no purpose, you might as well not exist.


    And like that, I persisted here, too afraid of an eternity of nonexistence, haunted by my own mind. Sometimes I would have loved to shout at those dumb peasants: "Can''t you see it? Why are you living? There is no purpose!", keenly aware that I was only jealous, jealous of their lack of intelligence. Oh, how dumb I was.


    I only realized it, after I met her, that I was wrong. It started with a simple "Why are you crying?", to my smiling face. I threw, thinking I was smart, Nietzsches quote in: "God is dead" and tried to walk by, she smiled stood in my way and answered, "how can someone nonexistent die?". "What do you want?" I replied, now with a frown. God, how I would have loved to recall her face, her gestures, yet I can not. "A hug" a short answer. I recall thinking: "how can someone be so unreasonable". I threw a bit of pseudo intellect in: "Why should I be happy, the only thing, awaiting me is a life without purpose and an eternal end in this cosmic emptiness called the universe."Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Why end? You are a part of the universe, everything is, even your thoughts and self-awareness. Rule of energy conservation, nothing truly ends. Even better: We are currently the thinking and feeling part of this cosmic emptiness. If there is no purpose, we can give it to ourselves. And mine today, I decided, is to give you a new perspective" and with that, she walked away.


    "We are a part of this universe? Its thinking and feeling part? Sounds stupid."


    Yet those words did not leave me, stayed by my side and, as it turns out, would not leave me, even to this day. They fermented like good wine. At first, I gave it a little stupid try, giving myself the purpose of finding my purpose. Every new day I would try something new. Till one day, I realized, that I believed her, I was a part of everything, feeling and thinking for it, maybe I was already crazy, megalomaniacal. But it was worth it. In the end, she truly managed to give me a new perspective on life.


    I never met her again, life is not a story. I can''t even remember her face, but she is the most important person in my life.