| After he left work, he realized that worse than not having the orb was spending his time pining away for it. He spent hours walking across the city. Wandering, he began to realize things. After the orb, he had regretted all the wasted hours he had fretted away before the orb. Now he regretted the hours he had wasted wishing he had the orb. For the first time, his mind was clear. All his life he had been so distracted – first distracted by life’s little nuisances, then by his own yearning for the orb. He had never taken the time to open his eyes, and see what was around him. The world he used to know had been gift-wrapped and shipped in a disposable container. Everything was hidden behind billboards and TV screens. Advertising saved you the trouble of paying attention by getting progressively louder and flashier, so you didn’t have to bother with noticing anything else. Now he was looking behind the billboards, tearing the colored paper off of his world to see what it really looked like. He was amazed at what he had always been too busy to notice. Every day he wandered the city, and every day he saw more and more beauty hidden, until just then, by his own preoccupation. Eventually, every night he made his way home. He would sleep, and as soon as possible, he returned to life, eager to find what the world held. Good or bad, he found contentment in all the subtle beauties, the unnoticed nuances of life. When he had entered the orb, he had freed himself from the pains of existence. Now, he had done the same by realizing the inherent beauty that came from every experience. The world he saw was the greatest masterpiece ever conceived. Every little detail, every movement was an essential part of life’s grand symphony. Even life’s saddest scenes held breathtaking beauty. Everything was part of the elaborate puzzle of existence. The pain was beautiful, because it belonged. He saw everything and he loved it. He didn’t have perfection. The orb alone held perfection. But he was happy. He saw the world around him, and he loved it. He was satisfied. And then it was back. The second time he saw the orb, he really wasn’t sure how long it had been there. The familiarity he had felt the first time the orb appeared was compounded by his previous experience, when he found the orb again, it seemed to fit perfectly in the room, it was right where it belonged. And this was the most beautiful thing of all. He sat for hours, content to simply watch the orb floating, as before, in the middle of his bedroom. It was a magnificent scene. Eventually, he got up and, without hesitation, walked right to the orb and put both hands firmly upon it. It was bright. Brighter than anything he had ever imagined. Bright enough to burn his eyes out of his head. Pure white light was all around him, was him, this was his existence. He heard voices, felt them. They welcomed him. In his mind’s eye he saw himself lying on his bedroom floor. In the sea of light he once again found perfection. The orb had returned to him, and he had returned to it. The beauty enveloped him. And he saw God. |