Once there was a bacterium.
He lived apart from the rest of his kind by his own choice, this was strange,
for bacteria are social creatures who live in constantly growing (or
diminishing) colonies, living and working together.
This bacterium very much wanted to know the purpose of life, and very much
questioned the answer he was given every time he asked any of the other
bacteria. He suspected that he might be given a different answer if he ever
asked anyone other than his own kind, but he had never really come across
anything but other bacterium just like him. He was also too terrified to
venture out of his usual rounds in the small, soupy world he lived and swam in.
He didn’t know much about what else was or could be out there. Even though this
was what made him so scared and paralyzed, he was also desperately curious
about the world outside his own.
One day, (if you could call it a day, maybe it was more a fraction of the many
cycles that dictated every bacteriums life,) as he was wrestling back and forth
between his fear and curiosity for the unknown world that lurked the edges of
his lonely routine, something much larger than him appeared on the edges of his
consciousness. He thoughtlessly fled, uncaring as to whether the thing might be
possibly friendly or definitely predatory.
He was heading straight for the edge of all he knew, and would have stopped,
fleeing for his life or not, if he only had noticed, but he was too busy
fleeing the unknown behind him to have any thought for the unknown ahead.
Still unaware, the bacterium quickly overtook his carefully plotted boundary
and left it far behind, along with his pursuer, who had stopped stock-still,
curiously, at the border of the bacterium’s familiar world.
But he was once again unaware. Numbed by terror, and oblivious by nature, he
raced onwards still, everything a blur to his frantic consciousness.
Completely spent, he
finally directed his attention behind, the good news: he was no longer being chased.
The bad; he had no idea where he was.
If bacterium could hyperventilate, this one would have at that very moment of
realization. Instead, he swam in rapid circles, faster and faster until instead
of being small and rod-shaped, he was rather large and oblong and hollow in his
middle, like a dog chasing its tail. Eventually, he came to a stop, and
returned to his normal size and shape.
Finally calming down, he noticed a steady, thrumming vibration, as if another
bacterium was trying to get his attention, but the thing emanating this pulse
seemed nothing like any bacterium he’d ever encountered, which, granted, hadn’t
been very many.
“Who are you?” The bacterium cautiously communicated with a dim pulse from his
own body. He would have fled, as before with the other unknown entity, but he
was too exhausted, and intriguingly, this new thing made him feel calm and
peaceful. He had no idea why.
“I am” The thing simply emanated, and drew closer, greatly alarming the
bacterium. Before he had time to flee, he had been absorbed into the unknown
being.
And yet the bacterium still was. Still aware, still alive,
even though now he knew what it was he had confronted; An Eater; something that
consumed bacteria, something he had known from other bacterium’s experiences,
but never actually met before.
But why hadn’t his consciousness snuffed out after the Eater had consumed him?
The bacterium was still conscious, still himself, but now, somehow, he knew
that he was part of something much bigger and grander than just a single
bacterium separate from everything else.
He became aware of new things tickling the edge of his consciousness, concepts
and memories he had never thought of or experienced himself; communication
from the I am. (As he decided he would call it, it wasn’t like any Eater he’d
ever heard of, though it bore a striking resemblance to the stories he did
know.)
Even though he had been “eaten”, the bacterium was still very calm. This was a
strange feeling to him, after having been terrified of everything new and
unknown for most of his life.
I am came again into his consciousness, “ I am and you are,” it communicated,
“But we no longer have the illusion of separateness; we are one. You are
correct in naming us “Eater”, but also correct in setting us apart from that
predatory creature.”
The bacterium became aware of a warm glow, not really around him or within him,
for though he was still himself, he was no longer anywhere. The glow just was.
He had no sight, and had never experienced life through sight before. But
suddenly he could see.
The bacterium was still calm, albeit a little bewildered by everything that demanded
his attention, and I am’s talk of “us” and “we”.
Through the glow, images began to appear, much to the bacterium’s further
disconcertion.
“We would like to show you our world,” I am softly conveyed, “There are many
senses available to forms of life in the entirety of creation, you have not
experienced many of them, but to truly understand the answer to the question
you seek, you must experience all viewpoints.”
And with the images came sound, and smell, along with the bacterium’s familiar
taste and feeling; even that sixth sense of inner knowing sometimes called
“intuition”. The “third eye” is not a sense like sight so much as a
better-developed touch that envelopes and knows the whole of the thing
perceived.
Even more senses ricocheted around the bacterium’s awareness.
He began to understand the things shown to him by I am, even without a sense of
self.
Worlds and creatures previously
unknown to him crowded into his mind, their names and words somehow
accompanying their images.
I am was also pulling up every memory, hope, and dream the bacterium had ever
had from his mind, and presently said;
“You wish to know the meaning of life, but first I will tell you this: every
creature’s purpose is different, though they all follow the same pathway;
striving towards higher consciousness. This is something that goes on and on,
forever and ever, and is once again different from one being to the next.”
Throughout I am’s short speech, different images, sounds, and feelings flashed
through the bacterium’s mind; first the touch of fur, feathers, skin, and
scales accompanied by thousands of three-dimensional pictures of all creatures
known and unknown throughout creation; then a bright point of light, and a
feeling of great warmth and yearning; and finally, an image of a great, winding
staircase, a snow-capped green mountain, and the darkness of space, stars
twinkling and streaking by as if the bacterium were traveling at a great speed.
He had never seen or felt any of these things, but he knew what they were.
“But what is my purpose, I am?” The
bacterium asked, his mind straining to take everything in.
“Your purpose, dear one, is whatever you
choose. The general purpose of your kind is to grow and reproduce and
digest, as it is the general purpose of my kind to consume your kind. This is
the purpose that creatures are often lost in, passing over the universal
purpose of walking the path of higher consciousness, but that does not mean
that both purposes can’t coexist peacefully in every creature’s life.”
“Does that mean I can deviate from the general purpose to pursue the higher
purpose?”
“Of course,” I am
answered, “Your life is what you choose.”
“How can I do that? I have
no idea where to begin, though I’ve been feeling around for the path all of my
life.”
“You are already on that
path.” I am kindly said, and the bacterium experienced the sensation of a hand
on his shoulder (he had none), lips on his forehead (he didn’t have one), and
compassionate eyes peering into his (he hadn’t any).
“You always have been,
that is what led you here, to us. You must remember that you’ve always known
all of this; that was why you had that wish in your core, to know the meaning
of life.”
“Will I ever achieve this
'higher consciousness', I am?”
“Of course you will; you
are and you already have many times already. Higher consciousness isn’t
something to achieve and forget. It is the journey of ages, progressed over
many lifetimes.
“Now is the time for
parting; albeit not the kind you are thinking of. It is the time for you to
become Yourself, though not separate, bacterium.”
The bacterium found his
shape again, he was once more himself, and he saw I am before him, his shape
rippling, and faintly glowing.
He found that he also
glowed also, and his heart (though he didn’t really have one) leaped with a new
feeling; joy. So many emotions all at once; he had discovered love as well
after his strange and enlightening encounter with the being I am.
The
bacterium set forth once again, with new eyes, new tranquility, new love; and a
great eagerness for life, the unknown, and the journey that lay behind him and
stretched on ahead of him forever.