Little Thinker (2)

For the last three days, I was waking up from the same dream with a racing heart. I was dropping into my futuroscope while making observations and was getting stuck amidst the waves of time, once coming into existence and then out of it. Whenever someone tries to help me, I disappeared all of a sudden, and I cannot get rid of that doom. Then, an unknown person hugs me tight, and we fall in the existence-nonexistence adventure together. This cycle gets so frequent that it synchronizes with my heartbeats, and I wake up...

Whenever I woke up, I sat down with the special notebook I had committed for writing my book. Just looking at it with long, empty gazes, I used to fell asleep. I thought about whom to tell my dream, but I didn't feel like opening myself to anyone. After the school, I reckoned that I could talk to that teacher who had talked about the owner of two times. She listened to me, and said "wish the good of it from the Lord". That was it. On one side, I felt relieved, and on the other side I was distraught as a child whose walnut turns out to be empty upon breaking. All that she could say was that much, really? Even I could say that: "wish the good of it from the Lord". Nothing more, nothing beyond that?

The bad thing was that the dream that had assailed me for three days in a row disappeared after that day. With the dream gone, so did my aspiration for the book and other stuff... History classes became a matter of my memory rather than my dreams. Putting away my futuroscope, I went on with enjoying my youth as my other schoolmates. It turned out that the book that I had seen with my futuroscope had really disappeared. And not with my death or something. On the contrary, it was because my interests had changed and the thought of writing a book had never existed in the first place, and was not to flourish any time soon. After all, what would humanity lose, if one more book was not added to a compilation of millions of books that were in existence?

Little Thinker (1)

In my childhood, the history courses were taught differently. Not just the past but the all times were covered. When I say all, past and future included. In the evenings, after the evening news, in addition to the weather forecast, they would give the future forecast. Based on the things done by people during the day, how the future of the country and future of the planet has changed was conveyed to people.

The instrument to observe the future was called futuroscope. Using it, you could watch as the future continuously evolved with the actions of people. With that information, usually people took care of their deeds, and tried to exercise will power in the face of the temptations of the world. But sometimes, some person would say "one person can't hurt anything" and keep their benefit in front of everything else, another would say "future forecasts are different than the weather forecasts; they have a margin of error" and prefer the instant but temporary gratification to a permanent but later gratification. Because of the storms triggered by the actions of these people, the entire community would suffer, and worse, the coming those storms were observed day by day with the use of futuroscope. Preventions to avoid such disasters worked sometimes; but at other times, no matter what precaution was taken, the calamity settled on us as we watched it come. This is why, as I said in the beginning, in the history courses, both past and future were covered so that the new generations could learn history not just in theory but also experimentally.

Still, the futuroscope images were not clear enough to pinpoint who caused what, and the future was a culmination of the actions of everybody, instead of just one person. So, from time to time, there were people who got away with the evil they committed. And their existence led some others to say "don't worry, it's all right". Nevertheless, despite these and other imperfections, our community was a stable one in the long run, and it was able to digest the evils and conflicts, and the futuroscope was of great help for these.

Like me, there were futuroscope enthusiasts, who bought one for their home use. By observing the ever-evolving the future, we were trying to prepare ourselves and our friends. But as you can appreciate, our very actions to prepare ourselves changed the future, too. So, a very long term prediction of the future was not probable. You can call this a kind of turbulence in time.

In one such observations of mine, I saw myself writing a book. This looked so curious and strange, becasue I had no such intentions at the time. By changing the focus of my futuroscope, I tried to see what I was writing, but the waves of the time were too strong and were constantly changing and intermingling what I was writing. I waited for a while, in case the storm would cease, but to no avail. "If the same future is still valid tomorrow, I can try it then" I told myself. What was odd was that despite what I saw with the futuroscope, I still didn't have an idea about a book or any other literary work what so ever.

The following day, I tried to see myself and my book again, but they were gone. We were nowhere to be found. I thought what could have happened. Was it that I gave up the idea? Or did I go on a trip or something?... Don't know why, but a quite different idea occurred to me and all of a sudden, I got goose bumps. Was I going to die before writing the book?

This thought shook me from deep within. I was just twelve... I went around like a to-be-mother who had a miscarriage at seven months. I didn't feel like watching the future, either. But later, another thought occurred to me. It wasn't that I was immortal and was becoming mortal! If the reason behind the disappearing of my book and myself was my death, nothing was abnormal. Maybe my devastation was because of the disturbance of my dreams extending to infinity. With my end date fixed more or less, I would not be able to make 100-200 year plans, and I would not be able to think of humanity and the planet like in my palm. Also, thinking of all this, future forecasts were like weather forecasts; they were not certain. What they showed was the ever evolving future, not how it is going to come to pass exactly.

As I calmed down and got thinking on what to do, I thought maybe I should write a book. But a book of what? I was just twelve, what could I write? I decided to go out with the hope of finding people who could help me on this. Either I had to find those who read a lot or those who write. Around me, there were many who read; but someone who writes... That was the hardest thing. Usually, people preferred the books authored in the past, and their authors were dead. How could I talk to the dead?

In one of our history classes, I learned about a person who is dubbed "owner of two times". What could be the reason for such a nickname? I asked the teacher. She mentioned the possibility that this person could be a prophet, and a miracle given to him could be time travel. Even the thought of such a thing was enough for my imagination to undergo nuclear reactions, and much like a black hole, swallow my entire being scattering gamma rays. I wondered if I could see that person. Maybe the second time he lived could be ours or some other time in the future that I could observe... And could it be that my disappearance from my future with my book is because I am embarking on a travel with the owner of two times?

Untold Story of Evil

They say that good always triumphs over evil! If you think so, too, I just have one good question for you. Imagine those countless stories, tales, cartoons, animations, etc. In each of them, they show that the good triumphs over evil. But they almost never show where those evil people or characters originate from! Or when they come to life, for that matter! Why? Why is there always an element of evil despite being "killed" over and over  by the good?

That's because they are afraid of showing the big picture. In the big picture, sometimes good wins and sometimes evil wins. And the parts where evil wins are censured by people, thinking that good must be promoted. Hah! So ironic! I'll tell you why. But first, you need to understand that this problem is not a single problem. It is actually the tip of an iceberg. Take another example.

They do the same thing in the love stories, too. Eventually love wins, and the heroes of the story get married in a wedding that is celebrated for 40 days and 40 nights. Have you ever heard the remainder of the story after the wedding? No! Because, that part is not as fun as they want it to be. That is because "the love" they have been seeking for so long disappears soon after the wedding, and their life becomes a permanent burden that they cannot give up. Their marriage becomes a dungeon from which they cannot escape to another love story. But still, people keep telling the nice stories of love.

Another example. Even the characters or people that you deem evil do not consider themselves as evil. They have good reasons, and perhaps also "a cause", that justify what they are doing. Sometimes they do what they do in order to earn the bread for their families; sometimes they act out of fear of something/somebody else. When asked, they say "normally I wouldn't do this if I didn't have to", but in the end, they serve to the propagation of evil. Sometimes they would say that it is the other person/group/etc. that is evil, and so, they try to kill the evil in their understanding. The list can be extended. But again, those that you deem evil interpret the stories of "good winning over evil" as a glimpse of hope for their own cause. As a result, "good people" fight with "good people", and the one that wins engrave their "good winning over evil" story to history.

Overall, in the appearance, good wins over evil, but actually, evil takes a night sleep and gets up stronger, or evil returns in disguise as good. By picturing good as the ultimate triumphant, as the invincible power, they are actually fostering the burgeoning of evil. How is this possible? When everybody tries to be good, how and why evil arises again?

Just like love doesn't happen by itself and needs work, good doesn't happen by itself. It is a work. And when you get tired, you stop doing good. And eventually when you get bored with what you have been doing, you look for entertaining things. Other good things. That's when the evil comes to flesh and bone. The very agent that serves to the continuity of good also serves to the birth of evil. That agent is change. If you change things, evil is born. If you are a bigot and don't change things, then gradually, your perception of good changes, and again you find yourself changing. Changing towards what? Towards an easier and more comfortable state. That's exactly how evil feels. Easy and entertaining.

When you constantly prefer the "easy and entertaining good" over the "difficult and less entertaining good", then in the long run you find yourself as the object of entertainment for somebody else, who is also trying to do good; and you call this last one "evil".

In fact, this is how the evil started in the first place! Some person trying to show that he can achieve great things by inviting people to obey their desires, no matter whatever it takes. The more people follow their desires, the greater the achievement of that one person. What is his achievement by causing great corruption? By proving that he can do great things, he wants to show that he is praiseworthy, and most of all, he is worth loving. This person is called Devil. And he is seeking to be the most beloved of God!