Peering into Parallel Realities
A man watches the news and worries about the state of the world as he sips his coffee. He wonders how we’ll make it another 50 years. He wishes we had people in power who would do right by the people, who would mean what they say. He spends most of his days thinking such thoughts and goes through his routine without much question. He is merely just one single man.
A younger man at the table is eating his lunch next to him is from a rougher part of town. He lives a dog eat dog existence but he loves his mother. When he walks in a room he first asses his means of keeping an upper hand. He knows how much it matters to stay the alpha dog, he’s seen people lose their life for failing to do as much.
Three women from a country much different from this one gossip over their half finished plates. They spend much of their time thinking about shiny things, like their nails and designer bags, things which their friends back home dream of. They’ve worked hard to pay for these little symbols of status, despite being considered quite low status due to their occupations. It is precisely this perceived low status which drives them to seek such material things when otherwise their happiness comes rather easily. To them their friends smile or a new bracelet is the only thing that exists in the world.
A couple sits in a corner, puffy eyed and toying with their phones and boxes of cigarettes. They haven’t slept. They are still coming down from the pills they took at a party last night. It was a temporary escape from the struggle of every day. They owe a lot of money and take out their stress on each other.
A family sits on the other end of the restaurant, a man woman and child each in their own world. The woman worries about her career and how to prove to her boss that she deserves a promotion. The man is daydreaming about the crypto market. The little boy is hypnotized by his phone, it’s games are his reason for being.
There are others we pass by every day. The one who knows he is being watched by the government. The one who sees God in everything. The one who is fighting for a cause. The one who is completely zoned out just trying to get through the day. The one in so much pain that they cannot think of anything else. The one who wants to be loved. The one who eats and breathes their favorite sports team or idol. The one who is entirely absorbed in their craft. The one who worries too much about what everyone thinks. The one who is just happy to be alive. The one who keeps thinking of ways to die. The one who has images and inspiration flash into their mind. The one who panics about the safety of everything that goes into their mouth. The one who pays attention to every detail. The one who merely observes. The one who longs for home, The one without a home, and the one who is home wherever they go.
How many parallel realities have you crossed paths with today?
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Sometimes when I walk a quiet street at night, I think about the fact that most of the houses have people living in them. Families, individuals, people with hopes and dreams, fears and secrets. It's a beautiful thought.
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This is what has driven me to write, the kind of lack of awareness we have every day when we interact with others, we always assume that they are thinking similar thoughts to us or we assume that we can never imagine what they are thinking and how they see the world and we don't even try. I like to try! And I think it can help us to interact more harmoniously
Everyone has their own unique realities I guess, which is what makes us so special as human beings. It is kind of fun to observe it though
It's great to be in your own world. I think we need some balance though, where we can observe and attempt to understand all the other "own worlds" around us though. That's why people watching is one of my favorite hobbies.
Asking the age old question of our spirit, "Who am I? What am I doing here? What is my purpose is life?"
What spurred that on exactly? :-D
I've sat in coffee stores just people watching and wondered what keeps them going, what are they living for, how they find meaning in this world amidst the bustle of everyday living.
The one is in all of us, and each of us is the one.
I'm usually that guy, not always but often. This can be understood on many levels though :-D
Why do you think the dinosaurs went extinct?
Because their scientific development advanced far faster than their spiritual development?
Only a familiar handful today. I'm down this rabbit hole in various incarnations (back stories for characters, motivations for background characters, when I don't feel like being bored and quiet on the train, am wandering along knowing where I'm going and there happen to be people passing by which is pretty much all the time if I'm walking along a road and there's cars...) and it does start to hurt my brain after a while XD
Sounds like you could have been in a cafe or something when you wrote this, were you or was it just a good setting? :D
I was in a cafe in my mind, a mix of past experiences, stories I've heard, people I know, much of the same stuff my fiction comes from. All the experiences kind of blend together to protect the innocent.
It seems you are too busy creating realities to notice the ones around you sometimes, which is great, we need time for input and time for output.
I notice the ones around me, I just tend to make up a lot around them :)
Very deep. Thanks.
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ThIs is so beautifully poignant!
I'm at loss for words!