The Unknown Fin

I call him Fin because I don't know his real name.  I thought about making up a complete name for him, as if he had told me his name, for narrative's sake, but I won't.  It might disparage his family's wishes.

Fin met me on the street after my shift at the cafeteria.

"And you speak no Finnish whatsoever?"

"Not that I know of.  But I do put a dash through my seven and 'z' and slash my zero."

"Let's continue walking.  What do you know of the unspoken socialisation that our species carries on?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know, or you don't know if you know?"

"I don't know if I don't know."

"Good answer."

"Look, all my life, it's been people like you coming up to me, asking questions and then leaving me with this vague understanding that I might or might not be part of something that does or does not exist.  It's getting annoying."

"Are we that obvious?"

"Who is 'we'?"

"That you already know."

"I do?"

"Yes.  Think back.  You have in you the history of our species.  What is it that you already know?"

"History is a fairy tale written for the duped by the dupers."

"Well, I wouldn't have put it that way but you're right."

"And your point is..."

"Hmm..."

"I don't have all day.  I've got to get ready for a frat function tonight and it's very important that I get there early."

"Frat?"

"Fraternity.  You know, brotherhood, bonding, parties, social functions, charity work, that sense of belonging we all long for and are willing to pay for the privilege."

"Hmm..."

"We're almost to the apartment house.  If there's something to say, let me know now or I'll have to catch you another time."

"Time... you bring up an excellent idea.  If I could show you here and now, in front of everything you see as existing in this moment, that space and time do not exist, would you give me more than a few minutes of your time?"

I stopped walking and turned around, taking in the whole scene, including the building entranceway, the students walking about, the bushes, the grass, vehicles passing by, the cliffs over the river, the sound of a distant train whistle and the smell of sweet perfume.

"Okay.  You've got me attention."

This is the part where I say, "And this is the part where I say, 'And this is the part where I say, "This is the part where I can only say that my life has never been the same."'"

Fin didn't wave his arm around, wiggle his nose, blink his eyes or make any motion I would attribute to the sudden change.  I didn't enter a dream state or melt into the body of a creature unknown to modern science.

Instead...

Instead...

Instead, I laughed uncontrollably.  My thoughts were suddenly surging with absurd ideas.

Even so, I stood there as if Fin and I were having a normal conversation.

I was not one person and I was one person.  I was nobody and everybody.  I was here in time and looking at all the moments that living things have and will exist.

Despite the few short paragraphs above, I have no idea how to describe what happened.  It was as if the universe as we know it was both infinitesimally small and large at the same time.

I saw myself as a five-year old listening to ignorant adults, knowing then more than I know now, that the world in which we practice living does not exist.

I saw myself as an eighty-five year old watching the whole species come to the same conclusion and moving on to an existence I never thought possible to see in my lifetime, three lifetimes compressed into mine because of the exponential growth of group consciousness brought on by artificial technological means.

I blinked my eyes and all of those images disappeared.

"Hmm..."  Suddenly I was talking like Fin.

"And your frat?"

"What?"

"Your social function."

"Oh...that..."

"Yes, that.  Do you still plan to attend?"

"I don't see why not."

"Then the decision you make will affect all moments radiating out from this one."

"I know."

"Hmm..."

"Precisely.  I still like to have fun."

"We have anticipated this decision of yours.  Fun, as you call it, will alter the course of events we had planned."

"I know."

"And your reason?"

"Time does not exist."

"But your body.  It still ages."

"I know.  As you know, it doesn't matter whether it is me or someone else who uses this knowledge of the way things really are."

"We disagree."

"There you go with 'we' again.  I already know there is no 'we.' No 'them' or 'they.'"

"And you will go off for your fun because..."

"Exactly because of that reason."

"If only you spoke Finnish, you would have a philosophical understanding that counters your American individualist mentality."

"The way things really are makes no room for individualism."

"You say that and yet..."

"I go to the frat function, anyway."

"If you attend the party tonight, you will put four years between now and the next moment."

I was too young to understand Fin's concern about time.  Despite our full cognisance of mortality, we carry within us a belief of immortality that our knowledge will exist in some form after we're gone.  Little do we know how much is lost over and over from one generation and one civilisation to the next.

It doesn't matter.  So much of what we'll accomplish is bound by physical constraints to be lost.

That's why I thought the E-Brain was important, to break those bonds, until an associate of Fin's showed up a week or so ago.

I really am just this guy, flesh and bones and pickled liver.  These are words.  Nothing special about them.  It's what's outside these words and away from all our cares and concerns about living and surviving and thriving that I and others like me, writers and wonderers, are bothered by strangers to see what's really going on.

Time does not exist.  The scale at which we measure the movements of the universe, ruled primarily by our heartbeats and breathing rate, is immaterial.

But most of us are not supposed to see what's really going on.

At least not yet...

Otherwise...

Ah, the elliptical pause... what if all of us knew we could control the universe that we think exists but doesn't?

'There can be only one,' right?

Wrong.  That's where I come in.  I've got one of the keys to open an imaginary door for seven billion people all at once.  But I know better than to do so.

Besides, these are words and always will be.  Again, it's the space between words, without sound, where we'll find the answer that I've only got a small part to tell you about.

You will find the answer when you put aside all talk of talk.  Erase any topics of conversation.  Do not think about life or death.  No job titles, life privileges or games of war will give you the answer.

It takes our whole species, about seven billion people currently, plus the rest of our ecosystem partners, to get you to the next step.

I don't know why but I'm pretty scared.  The tiny insight I have, the little piece of information given to me, reveals what the absence of power can do if we get our act together and see what everyone is doing in the moment.

And that's just a wee step in the right direction to reveal the reveal!

Until next time...