Story About the Discovery of Being

Once upon a time, in ever present times, there was a Being that was born, just like any other beings, in an unnamed and unknown place on the face of this earth.

The Being learned from its creators which its place in life was supposed to be, what its path would be, but while it tried to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors, it noticed, not without some sadness, that it found it a bit harder to do everything that seemed so natural and easy for others.

The Being wanted very much to do everything its role as a being entailed. It didn’t want to disappoint its creators; it longed for its own place among beings. But somehow, in an entirely incomprehensible way, it found it very difficult to accomplish all these things.

It tried its hardest to adhere to the rules, forcing itself every day to fulfill its duties as a being as best it could, always hoping that at some point, it would also come easily and naturally to it, and that what it felt inside and all those colorful waves of dreams would fade away.

Thus, in this continuous struggle with itself, trying to be what it was supposed to be, the Being eventually grew tired, so, so tired that everything around it lost its meaning.

The Being no longer understood itself, nor its supposed role, and it could no longer see the point of this endless battle. Not knowing what to do, not knowing which path to follow, and with no one to guide it, the Being made itself very small, smaller and smaller, until it withdrew into itself.

At first, it was so dark inside that it could barely see anything. By keeping at it and looking more closely, its eyes adjusted to the lack of light, and little by little, it began to see what was inside itself.

There was chaos! Many books scattered everywhere, pictures of beings it could no longer remember meeting, imaginary maps covered in cobwebs, all sorts of papers, large and small, filled with stories, poems, and drawings.

Scattered memories thrown in all directions, an overwhelming number of neglected and misunderstood feelings. This mess and chaos frightened the Being; it looked at everything inside it and was convinced it could never be able to tidy up.

So, it stayed overwhelmed, hiding within itself, hopelessly staring at all that lay within.

While staring inside itself, a small bottle, covered in dust and lost among the countless papers, caught its attention. It timidly picked it up, dusted it off, and curiously examined it.

The bottle was the smallest one it had ever seen, and it seemed empty, but when it moved it, it noticed a drop of something silvery that, even with the slightest motion, appeared to come alive, bouncing playfully inside the tiny bottle.

The Being was fascinated by that tiny silvery drop that seemed alive, that vibrated at the faintest sound, movement, or color. Unable to resist the temptation to see what the drop would do outside the bottle, the Being released it, feeling both fear and excitement.

As soon as it emerged from the bottle, the drop enveloped the Being in a wonderful silvery light.

Now everything became clear.

The Being could see exactly what was inside it, and somehow, it was no longer afraid of its inner disarray. It understood that the drop, that tiny dot of quick silver, was its very essence.

It was itself, the part it had tried to lock away in a tiny bottle when stubbornly trying to follow the path laid out by its ancestors.

Happy and liberated, under the influence of its inner light, the Being began to organize and tidy up within itself.

It beautifully arranged the pictures into albums, remembering exactly who the beings in them were. With its own hands, it built a library to house all the scattered books.

It created a portfolio with all the stories and poems of its dreams, hung all the imaginary maps, lovingly brushing away the cobwebs, and promised itself never to abandon exploring those fantastical realms.

Before long, the interior of the Being sparkled; everything was beautifully sorted and organized. It knew exactly where everything was: which feeling came from where, which stories cradled its hopes.

Now the Being was at one with itself, and this marvelous feeling made it want to emerge from within, to use the power of its quick silver to create a beautiful world, a world of its own, a path of its own, on the outside as well.

Before emerging from its depths, the Being carefully placed the bottle on a little shelf within itself, keeping it as a memory of all that had been and as a marker of all that was to come. But it no longer locked away the quick silver. Instead, it let itself be guided and carried by its own light and identity, determined to use the sensitivity of its quick silver to sound, movement, and color to transform its world.

’We all have superhuman powers,’ the Being told itself on the way back, ‘and it’s up to us to choose how to use them, for good or for evil.’