THE MEANING OF LIFE AND OTHER CLICHES
1.
Half past one, GMT, earthwise.
The kids would have come home from school now.
She would be having her lunch.
What the hell!
What’s wrong?
How long are we going to be earthbound? When are we going to realize that we are stranded – trapped – on this planet of tall mountains, huge lakes and thick jungles and no sentient life? We will be spending the rest of our lives here, both of us.
I still don’t get it. What’s wrong with thinking and talking about earth and – and about our people back there?
But damn it! It seems so useless, so futile.
So do a lot of other things, like us sitting here and tossing pebbles into the lake.
One of these days, I think I am going to toss my watch into the lake. It doesn’t seem right, counting the days and nights of this planet in earthly units of time.
Hmm. You are right. It does seem out of place. Don’t worry about your watch, though. One of these days it’s battery is going to run down and it will stop functioning and you will be saved from the bother of throwing it into the lake.
2.
Do you see those strange, creatures floating on the air?
Remind me of manta rays.
Remind me more of the mythical will-o-the-wisps.
Are they predators? Could they harm us?
Why take chances? Let us hide in the cave.
3.
Are you afraid of loneliness?
Yes, yes I am.
So am I.
Why?
Why what?
Why do we fear loneliness?
I have a pet theory about it. When I am lonely - with no ties of companionship with anybody – then my mind starts working in a strange way. It projects the immenseness of the multidimensional cosmos before me and against this background I find myself, my whole existence, too small, too insignificant, too unimportant. And it is this feeling of insignificance that a person fears.
And what happens when a person is not alone?
Then links and bonds are formed between that person and the companions. With these links and bonds comes strength. With these links and bonds, the existence of the person spreads itself beyond the person remaining insignificant no longer.
4.
I dreamt of her today.
I too dreamt of my wife and kids.
Did your wife and children speak to you in your dream?
As a matter of fact, they did.
She spoke to me today.
What did she say?
She said she loves me, and she smiled and there were tears in her eyes. Did I ever tell you that she gets dimples when she smiles? We were planning to get married this year.
Of what use dreams?
Dreams are real. They are just a different kind of reality.
Listen. I just had a dreadful thought. What would happen if back there on earth, your girl friend, my wife and kids, our friends, in short all the people who love us all of a sudden stop loving us, stop thinking about us, stop caring for us.
Shut up.
Huh?
Don’t say it. Don’t even think it. It should not happen. It cannot happen. I will always be remembered.
Yes. I can see you feel about it the same way that I do. But why? In God’s name, why? Why do we feel the way we do? Of what importance to us are thoughts and feelings of people billions of miles away from us? Can you answer me that? Can you?
No. The only thing I know is that this belief that someone somewhere really loves me, this belief is one of those very few things on the basis of which I can say that not all of my life had been a waste.
Yes. Put that way, love seems to be the prime function – or one of the prime functions - of life, doesn’t it?
To love and be loved.
To love and be loved.
5.
Those will-o-the-wisps seem harmless.
They seem to like sticking around with us.
And don’t they look beautiful, dancing on the air?
Do you think they are sentient?
I hope so.
Somehow, it seems important, doesn’t it?
Another Mosque Among the Stars Page 6