Why Didn’t I Think Of That!
By Steve Griffin
The gods of the universe were having their every other million year conference to discuss how things were going in their respective universes. As usual, their conversations got around to the topic of causality and their appropriate roles as the greatest powers and more or less determining energies in their universes. They were not physical beings and something even more refined than pure mental energy. It taxed even their enormous capabilities to have a presence outside their areas of existence, and it was very draining to exchange feelings with the other powerful viral like presences. Hence the rareness of these meetings. To maximize the opportunity, all thoughts, ideas, feeling and perceptions existed simultaneously in a complex code that every computer ever invented by humans, or ever to be invented by humans, could not have deciphered in an eternity.
“Just sit back and let it happen, like billiard balls careening and colliding, acting and reacting at random. There need be no plan, no purpose, no goals. I’m not sure any of us is powerful enough to fully control what happens in our areas anyway, so why try? From what I’ve observed, those of you who have tried, failed miserably, especially those of you who imagined living, and thus mortal, entities.”
“You could be right, I’ve certainly tried many times but there have always been too many unforeseen accidents, co-incidents, and unexplained occurrences.”
“You seem to have forgotten one of the inter-universal truths we all are bound by, “Shit Happens.”
“Right. I’ve given up hoping to have life forms achieve the level of harmony I hope for. My universe now is back to the original primordial soup we all started with. It’s been like that since our last meeting. I’m beginning to get a little bored. Maybe I’ll stir the pot a bit, see if I can influence something to happen.”
He, or she, was interrupted (although all communication was simultaneous). “By making something happen I suppose you mean a movement toward sentience, consciousness, toward what we have agreed to refer to as life. Most of us have given up on that idea. My own universe is totally lifeless, but observe how beautifully efficient it is, a delight of inter moving parts in eternal harmony, without a single thought to suggest it needs to be more.”
“Point of order. You violated another of the inter-universal laws: ”Nothing is Eternal”
The mirror universes were engaged in their ongoing disputes about which was the universe being mirrored, getting as close to emotional as they were capable.
Another thought focused, “You lifers so over rate that quality. I empathized once with a highly intelligent life form that had somehow evolved in a far corner I wasn’t paying much attention to. It was horrible, the terrible thirst to know what is unknowable, and worst of all, the overwhelming knowledge of mortality. I could sense the rot of my own matter.”
Yet another added, “I agree, what we refer to as life seems only to create chaos and pain, in violation of another of our laws, “The Goal Is Always Peace, Harmony and Perfection.”
“But don’t you have a grudging admiration for that spark, that force that rises out of the formless, the primordial soup, one of you said, to try to understand, even somewhat control?”
“No I don’t admire that. It’s pathetic. We don’t try to understand everything, and in that one little planet in your rather undistinguished universe, earth, I believe it’s called. Look what a mess those life forms with the oversized brains have caused. What have they accomplished but to try to create answers for the unknown, the unknowable, religions I believe they call their answer systems, and these only serve them to hate and kill those of their species who have alternate answer systems. I can’t believe you tolerate it, even if it only exists in one tiny speck of your universe.”
Another had spoken, “Don’t worry, it won’t last much longer. Look how in every few hundreds of time specks they call centuries, another species appears, dominates, and in a blink of an eye, disappears. Who could have imagined those furry little mammals, scurrying around under the feet of those huge lizards, would have risen to the top of the food chain there. In their defense I’ll say, I do enjoy much of the music they’ve created. Many of us do.”
“You’re right of course, but I thought that with their intellectual capacity, their ability to reason, they would of necessity, have created a virtual paradise, however temporal. Their sun is dying quickly you know, and besides, I can’t see the future anymore than you can.”
“What I don’t understand is why your program for them didn’t include just a bit more compassion, a bit more wisdom, a bit more common sense, a bit more empathy for their other life forms. Then they would have created the peaceful harmony we all strive for.”
“You’re right. I just didn’t think of that.”
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