The story with which I am about to present you is one that I recently dusted off and reread. It deals mainly with human relations on a global scale and is told through the lens of an outsider, an alien observer who has sat for many years patiently observing the works of the human species. I hope that you enjoy it. The piece is entitled "Comprehension."
All species share a connection. Their collective minds shout out into the Great Void. Each planet cries out, "We are alive; we breathe; we feel." No part is separate. All have a place, a purpose, a meaning that many minds define.
Not I.
I am separate, alone, drifting from brightness to brightness amid the endless stars. Endless. Such a strange word. Implying eternal expansion, unending vastness. It is in fact the wrong word, yet you who hear my recounting require it. The fortitude needed to fathom the truth of the matter exists only in those of my species, and I am the last of them.
So there is an end. An end to stars, to space, to all you comprehend. Suffice it to say that should you reach it, and I believe after ten thousand of your years' worth of study that you shall, you will be the first of the Young Ones to do so. I have seen many of my kind pass over the Edge of Endless, flying out into the Beyond, but as you say in one of your many, many expressions, I am "getting ahead of myself." Perhaps I should start from the beginning, or at least the beginning as far as your species is concerned.
Your histories and sciences tell you enough of your evolution and the events that brought your planet into existence. I shall not elaborate further on these points. I have seen the process a thousand times upon a thousand. There is never a great deal of variation. Stars grow and die, along with the planets that they spawn; such is the order of our Universe. You are not unique in that respect, but do not despair. Your physical sameness belies an inner distinctiveness that I have never perceived in any of the other worlds that I have tracked. For this reason I have lingered a full five thousand years beyond my time. You see, you are the last hope. Your race must take up the mantle that mine will soon let fall.
From your dawning, you displayed a heightened awareness. You knew, however instinctually or unconsciously, that there was something beyond yourselves, something greater, a governing force giving meaning to your existence. I have done my best to foster this sensibility in you. I cannot articulate the excitement that ripped like fire through my veins the first time I reached out to you and you felt me. None ever had before. To hear a mind respond again, to feel waves of awakening comprehension…it was a thrill I had not known since the last of my kind passed beyond the Edge.
The other Young Ones I observed never sensed me. Their minds were too concerned with bending the world beneath them to their wills. It was disheartening to see all the species look down at their feet instead of up to the heavens, all failing to realize their potential. All but one. All but you. When I saw this, I began to shape you, to lead you toward the path you must now follow. I admit that my method of teaching has had some adverse effects, but that could not be avoided.
I have tested you, warping your fates, changing probabilities against you, forcing you to ascend above ever-increasing adversity. Always you managed to surprise me with your responses. While none of my manipulations have proceeded as foreseen, all have driven you toward the knowledge I am now imparting. Granted, there have been conflicts, some of horrific magnitude. I would watch saddened as you tore into each other with the same tenacity that you used to overcome my obstacles. These conflicts are solely my responsibility, and I beg your forgiveness for them. Had I but realized the unique power I was trying to mold, I would have approached this situation differently.
You understood that there were other worlds beyond yours, yes. You reached up to tug on the hem of the sky's jeweled robe and ask your questions. Little did I know how many questions you would have, or how many ways you could find to interpret what answers you gained. Myriad explanations for all manner of phenomena began to filter through your ranks as your awareness increased. Ideas and speculations gained form and substance and soon walked unaided, forming the constructs you call "religions." I believe that these creations show with striking accuracy your progress toward the goals that I have tried to instill in you.
You began with somewhat elementary beliefs, equating the different natural processes of your planet and the surrounding galaxy with spiritual figures of great power. Your pantheons grew to encompass all that you encountered. Though you only had the most rudimentary understanding of the Universe, you always left room for the sky in your equations. Whether it rained lightning bolts upon you from a seat on Mount Olympus or comforted you with the warm rays of a flaming chariot, you never turned your eyes from what was above, what you sensed was so vital, so transcendent in its magnitude. You conquered your planet as well, classifying the lower life forms given you by "gods" for your sustenance and progress. Soon you developed your sciences, your theories that explained in more concrete terms what you saw, felt, smelled, heard, tasted around you.
This led to a narrowing of your focus. The old "gods" passed away. Natural phenomena were now within your reach. It was the celestial that continued to baffle and amaze you. "Gods" became "God," a being residing above your planet somewhere within the seemingly infinite cosmos who gave you direction. Science soon elaborated on your understanding of the heavens as well, giving you the ability to see into space, to map your solar system, to view other planets and stars, supernovas, black holes, and all manner of vast, cataclysmic happenings above you. Your findings suggested an order to things that extended even to the stars. This reinforced in some of you the belief that "God" had created all of it according to some massive schematic that "He" devised in the far past. For others, science became deity and "God" faded. Both groups had the same passion, the same need to know, to delve and explore. You wished to meet your "God" face to face, or to disprove that entity's existence altogether. This need drove you ever further heavenward, pulling the veil back farther and with more insistence. Only one obstacle remained: the great, nagging "how."
I was ecstatic on the day you achieved space travel. The little point of light that blossomed toward me, pushing ever upward through your atmosphere, confirmed that all my efforts were not in vain. You ventured further, setting foot on your Moon, planting your flags, looking ever outward, searching the void for the answers to those many questions of yours. This year, upon the successful establishment of the Moon Colony, I decided that the time had come to contact you directly. You stand on the giddying brink of more discoveries than you can possibly grasp. You have trained your eyes and scopes and probes toward the Great Beyond, but an obstacle remains. There is one conflict left to be resolved: the massive threat coming not from the Beyond but from within your own ranks.
I mentioned earlier the unique construct called religion that your race devised. Overwhelming numbers of you have put your faith in a staggering plethora of different doctrines and dogmas. These "cosmic sensibilities" evolved greatly over the years, and now only two remain. In the west of your world reigns Christianity, while in the east Islam has firm control. Such similar belief structures, and yet you manage to find so many reasons why they cannot coexist. The battle lines are drawn across your entire planet, and barring the kind of "spiritual" intervention that both sides claim to monopolize, you will destroy yourselves before your true calling is fulfilled. To enlist another of your quaint phrases, "you want it, you got it." I am your intervention. I do not wish all my effort to go to waste, so I am establishing this direct communication with you in order to relate some of the truths of the Universe before you continue making up your own until destruction becomes imminent. The first may come as a shock, but I promise I will explain.
There is no "God." Well, at least not anymore.
The figure you refer to in your mythologies passed over the Edge long ago, before my people were even a sentient race. Little is known of the Maker, who drew all the myriad materials out of chaos and into order, but it did not spring from nothingness in a spontaneous burst of consciousness as you maintain your "God" did. Instead, it came over the Edge into a place that had no life or shape to speak of and bestowed upon it a gift. It is said the Maker gave the First Maintainer his orders directly, but there is no way of confirming this. I am the Ninetieth Maintainer, the last of a long line of entities who have helped to spin the fate of this Universe and to hold its fabric together. It is my hope that you will not simply become another set of Maintainers. I believe that your potential is far too great for that simple task. In fact, I am confident that your species marks the next step, the first of the Evolvers. You will link all the peoples in this vast Universe together. There will be conflict of course, but you have dealt with your share of that. The survival of all of existence as we know it depends on your ability to take up this task.
My time grows short. I will aid you as long as I can, but soon I must go to seek my own people and leave you to your own devices. I implore you, in light of this new knowledge that I am sending, put aside your foolish bickering. Your religion is trivial in comparison with the magnitude of your mission. Find oneness in the cause with which I charge you. If you cannot, all is lost. Keep your faith, but remove your prejudice and dogmatism. Put your faith where it really belongs: in the Universe itself.
I have always been flattered that you found some way to include me in all of your belief systems. It was the surest sign that you felt me and that you could one day carry out your purpose. I apologize for the fact that, due to the nature of my approach in shaping your species, I always appeared as an adversarial figure in your various theologies. This was the only way to truly drive you to the point that you have now reached. My challenges have made you strong, and I hope that you will take up the cause for which your race is destined. Goodbye, my Evolvers, my children. As a token of my affection, I sign this letter with one of the many names that you have given me over the years. Go forth, and unify the stars.
With All My Love,
Lucifer
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