The Legend of the Infinite

Ever since the creation of humankind, humans have tried to explain the meaning of infinity. Before the dawn of our time, we lived together with our fellow humans and animals and shared the lands around ourselves to suit our needs. But always, constantly hidden behind the shadows of the material world, there was a question that remained. There had to be more to life than the simple sensations of our senses. There had to be more in the world than that which met the eye. Ever since then the unexplainable has been slid away into near oblivion, casted away as if nothing because it did not suit our needs. But still it loomed over us, as great as life but never seen. Only because simple tasks and processes such as reason and logic have dominated the material world does not mean that there is not more out there.

And so we come back to the evolution of the meaning of infinity. Mathematicians say that infinity is as simple as any number plus one. Scientists say that infinity is something that is endless, self-repeating, and incalculable. Still many others believe that infinity is something that cannot be described, the only feature of our lives which has no meaning. The child who has not been experienced as to the ways of the world sees life as a whole as being infinite; so many possibilities, so many opportunities, expressed in meek terms each time he gets scolded for writing on the walls. Before we are molded into a set form of thought, children and all alike in some way can realize the meaning of infinity.

I cannot say that I am a reputable source on these matters, but for a concept as large as that of infinity, there is no standard for comparison. I am not here to lecture about the five billion different realities in existence here on this world. Who is to say that any one of them is right? This story is not about the concept of infinity as a whole; it incorporates something uniquely important, so important that without it, infinity in the mind would cease to exist. It is as vast and endless as infinity, but also as miniscule and newborn as the mind of a child. It is the driving force for all new creation, the seed which bears the fruit of originality. It carries with it the neverending winds of change and the endless realms of possibilities to be recognized. This unique concept carries with it the forebearers of the past, and along with that, the visions of the future. It is as infinite as the mind itself, but as finite as a grain of sand. It is the only facet of our great lives which proves to be of undeniable importance, but is forever fated to hover over the brink of oblivion, the place of no return. If there is no other meaning that can equate to this word, no other representation that can sum up all the concepts and realities of the universe, let this hold true for all time. Listen to your inner conscience, listen to a child. Believe the miracle of imagination.

The Story of Quenatha Azega

Since time immemorial, one would have watched an infinite number of sunrises and sunsets take place over the great surface of this world. Spanning great distances across space and time, it stood as a jewel against the darkness beyond. This was Quenatha Azega, a great world which long ago rounded the long-forgotten white star Azega 4 in harmony. Below the misty peach clouds, the sun once shone over the earthy landscape, reflecting deep across the great valleys of the surface and the great jagged mountains in between. It was a place of life, a wonderful place in its time.

But ever since the beginning, Quenatha Azega was doomed. Five dimensions has its space: length, width, depth, time, and speed. One day, a young Azegan would look upwards past the great tower of rock and gaze up at the rising sun and would find that it never came. On the other side of the world, a great endless night would shroud all lands for ever. One beginning to rise to a new day would never see it through, and one on the brink of death would never close their eyes. For on that immemorable day, all time on Azega stood still.

The world broke off from Azega 4, launched outwards to somewhere in a space where there was no time. Everyone alike, young and old, was frozen in time. To anyone happening to pass the great sphere of Azega, life had continued as always; the sun rose and set, people woke and slept, and life went on and on day after day. But to those on Azega, a simple task as being able to again open one’s eyes would take a thousand years or more. How radiant any light would have been for someone who had seen nothing but darkness for a thousand years? And for the person who was on the brink of death? He needn’t worry, because on that fateful day every essence of life had become immortal. A baby would never be born, and nobody could ever die.

Some of us would probably think that if they received a shot at immortality, they would take it beyond the shadow of a doubt. But would we? What about the immortality of Quenatha Azega? Because the world had broke off from its sun, all of its lands and all of its seas became shrouded in a darkness as dark as that of nothingness. Not a single ray of light, not a single ray of hope would ever shine over the eyes of anyone, ever. All would stay the same, forever and ever and ever. Could it ever be possible for a forlorn Azegan to wander off the edge of a cliff and find that he would never reach the bottom? Every day after another, suspended in mid-air with the imprints of a last scream still engraved in his face, his eyes eternally fated to see only one sight and nothing else? Every day for a thousand years? And so for ten thousand and a hundred thousand years would he remain there, repeating all the memories he ever had before then to keep his mind from the brink of insanity, for what else was there? The last thought of his mind would stay there for all time, the last bare images of the fall, and there was no rest from it. The day would never end, and he would never fall. But for all eternity, he would be there.

After a time, the world of Azega began to slowly change. Over time, there had always been those who had broken through the ice of frozen time and had actually been able to, for a brief unforgettable second out of eternity, move something. They could do something, even something as simple as opening their eyes to see for the first time since time forgotten. That single difference, though how small and insignificant it may seem to us here and now, was a great milestone for the Azegan who had never known who he was, or the one who had never seen the face of a fellow man. It was the greatest event imaginable, a single second filled with so much joy and elation that a fraction of that wave of happiness could last us a lifetime. To be happy with the most simple things such as being able to open their eyes was something that they would never forget. A simple thing that was taken for granted had become something more worthy than the most valuable thing they had that they held so dear. They never realized the importance of many things until they were lost.

But in reality, Quenatha Azega was never frozen in time. The outside observer, us, had seen from the beginning that all was the same and had not changed. Yes, all these events had taken place there, but in a different way. Count off one second in time, on a clock, a watch, or any ordinary timepiece such as your own biological clock. In that one second, what happens? The second had represented a single frame in time, a frame of the world all around you with time nonexistent. Likewise, a picture shot from a camera captures that one unique moment in time and holds it there for ever. During that one moment on Azega, the baby was born. During that one moment, another opened his eyes to the rising sun. For that final moment, there was he who saw his last glimpse of the world before closing his eyes forever. And so who is the judge of time? Who can say that eternity could not pass through the space of a second? And what if all these events did happen in the space of a single second? Would you then consider immortality if it meant you could live forever? Would you? But immortality is not the only way to live forever. What if a second could be stopped, and in that second no matter how small it may be, you were given a chance to see your life as a whole and realize how many things in life you take for granted? What if for that one second you could know yourself as a whole, when all time has stopped within that single second and you had the chance to see yourself as you have never seen yourself before? What if, like the Azegan who had taken his first step in a thousand years, you had amassed the greatest of joys in a simple thing, creating happiness out of misery and despair? Does this sound familiar?

If all the events of this story could be shrunk into the space of a single second, what would you do with your life? If you have ever felt the vague feeling of happiness when looking at an old photograph and remembering how you had felt at that brief moment in time, you can understand how seconds are much more than units of passing time. Who is the judge of time? Who says that life is only what he or she sees and nothing else? We are the Azegans; this is Quenatha Azega, the soil we stand on distorted by the paths of life we follow and trodden by the people who have lost their way. Immortality is possible, if you are able to live the course of a lifetime in a second. Time is only relative to the observer, and in this case, the observer is you. Take time into your own hands, and live to your fullest with every passing second. Realize the world around you and never forget it, and embrace every moment as if you had been reborn. Who knows? If in every second you are living a lifetime, I wish you happiness in the next.

---A Friend