An Egg
September 1, 2012
It was a car accident. Nothing
particularly remarkable, but fatal
nonetheless. You left behind a wife
and two children. It was a quick
passing. The EMTs tried their best to
save you, but to no avail ...
An Egg
Strange and Unexplained / 5 minutes of reading
Estimated reading time â 4 minutes
It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but
EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail.
Youâre so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.
And thatâs when you met me.
âWhat⊠what happened?â You asked. âWhere am I?â
âYou passed,â I said, matter-of-factly. No point mincing words.
âThere was aâŠa truck and it was skiddingâŠâ
âYup.â I said
âI⊠Iâm gone?â
âYup. But donât feel bad about it. Everyone passes.â I said.
You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me.
âWhat is this place?â You asked. âIs this the afterlife?â
âMore or less,â I said.
âAre you god?â You asked.
âYup.â I replied. âIâm God.â
âMy kids⊠my wife,â you said.
âWhat about them?â
âWill they be alright?â
âThat what I like to see,â I said.
âYou just passed and your main concern is for your family.
Thatâs good stuff right there.â
You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didnât look like a God.
Some vague authority figure. âDonât worry,â I said. âTheyâll be fine.
Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didnât
have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside
but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart.
If itâs any consolation, sheâll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.â
âOh,â you said. âSo what happens now? Do I go to the afterlife or something?â
âNeither,â I said. âYouâll be reincarnated.â
You followed along as we strolled in the void. âWhere are we going?â
âNowhere in particular,â I said. âItâs just nice to walk while we talk.â
âSo whatâs the point, then?â You asked. âWhen I get reborn, Iâll just be a blank slate, right?
A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life wonât matter.â
âNot so!â I said. âYou have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives.
You just donât remember them right now.â
I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. âYour soul is more magnificent, beautiful
and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are.
Itâs like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if itâs hot or cold. You put a tiny part or yourself into the vessel
and when you bring it back out, youâve gained all the experiences it had.â
âYouâve been a human for the last 34 years, so you havenât stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness.
If we stay out here for longer, youâd start remembering everything. But thereâs no point doing that between each life.â
âHow many times have I been reincarnated, then?â
âOh, lots. Lots and lots. And into lots of different lives.â I said. âThis time around youâll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 A.D.â
âWait, what?â You stammered. âYouâre sending me back in time?â
âWell, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.â
You pondered. âBut wait. If i get reincarnated to other places in time, could I have interacted with myself at some point?â
âSure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own timespan you donât even know itâs happening.â
I looked in your eye. âThe meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.â
âYou mean mankind? You want us to mature?â
âNo. just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature, and become a larger and greater intellectâ
âJust me? What about everyone else?â
âThere is no one else,â I said. âIn this universe, thereâs just you, and me.â
You stared blankly at me. âBut all the people on earthâŠâ
âAll you. Different incarnations of you.â
âWait. Iâm everyone!?â
âNow youâre getting it.â
âIâm every human who ever lived?â
âOr whom will ever live, yes.â
âIâm Abraham Lincoln?â
âAnd youâre John Wilkes Booth, too.â I added.
âIâm a criminal?â you said, appalled.
âAnd youâre the victims, too.â
âIâm a leader?â
âAnd youâre everyone who followed you.â
You fell silent.
âEvery time you victimized someone,â I said, âYou were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness youâve done, youâve done to yourself.
Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.â
âWhy?â You asked me. âWhy do all this?â
âBecause someday, you will become like me. Because thatâs what you are. Youâre one of my kind. Youâre my child.â
âWhoa.â you said, incredulous. âYou mean Iâm a god?â
âNo. Not yet. Youâre as a fetus. Youâre still growing. Once youâve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.â
âSo the whole universe,â you said. âItâs justâŠâ
âAn egg of sorts.â I answered. âNow itâs time for you to move on to your next life.â
And with that, I sent you on your way.
Credit: Andy Weir