For some time, the parts were unaware that they could be connected. They saw the bits of themselves that lined up with others, and assumed they were used for things like romantic love or friendship. There was a vast blank space where understanding should live, where purpose could fit in just so... If only they would let it. You see, the parts viewed themselves as people, and created so many constructs to prop this belief up.
They made little prisons for themselves and said fulfillment should be measured by their dedication to this slavery. It is an extreme word, but that's what it was. They poured everything they had into these notions, until they really truly became people. Flesh and blood, with only a smothered spark within. Each one walked through life like a blank canvas, all the heavens and all the hells available to them, if only they would accept them.
Like all things, it worked incredibly well, until it suddenly and rapidly didn't. People had this weird habit, they would all follow suit with a popular way of thinking, then abruptly turn their backs on it. Anyone caught not letting go quick enough was ridiculed, and when the digital age smacked into their tiny world, well... it got much worse. Suddenly there was the culture of feeling morally superior. A mission to be the most human of humans, the poor things had no idea how contradictory this was to what they actually were.
You see, the pieces fit together, they were made to do so. In fact, it was never ideal for them to exist separately, yet they seemed unable to unify in any effective way. They had entirely forgotten that they were part of the same whole. They had intricate identities around being unlike other identical parts. They called it politics or genocide, I can't remember which, and it hardly matters. It was a mess. And then it all came crashing down.
The sanctuary that lives within us all called out to be united. As everything these "people" had built for thousands of years imploded in on itself, it almost didn't matter. They were awake now, and the destruction and chaos of the end of days was the greatest gift. The good word spread across the globe, the apocalypse is here! Thank goodness. It was the best thing that ever happened!
Layers of fear were peeled away to analyze what was underneath with clarity. Without the wrapper of manipulation, it turned out that there was not much to be afraid of. So many painful things were crafted by our own hands before they pulled us under. Now, everyone blinked in the light of that truth. Realizing that we are not our bodies, we just live within them.
Protected and supported by undeniable safety of unity, soon co-habitation was an idea lost to the ages. That was the only things these pieces were good at now, there didn't need to be a string of ideas around it. Creation began to thrive, as broken links were at last reunited.
Children were born to cities of parents, where they grew until they were ready to go back into the earth. Ancient texts describing the sadness of death no longer made sense. The religions and ideologies of what were once known as people drifted away, replaced by structure which did not need to be defined. It did not need to be defended.
Sprouting like weeds through the cracks in a sidewalk, new ways covered the old slowly at first, then they collected speed. The earth reminded its children how to thrive, gently and smooth, it enveloped them in a hug. Forgiveness for forgetfulness, they were extensions of the earth. Now that they knew, they stopped hurting her, they stopped hurting themselves.
Time is a circle. What once was, always will be, yet it is likely to be unperceived. A gap can grow between events, even closely related ones. So, in the grand scheme of things, history is whatever you need it to be. It isn't real, and it is the only thing that is real. Is that really confusing?
Confusion swirled in many minds; it was drawn like paint from our hearts. We smeared it and smashed it into all of the cracks. Until it was no longer foreign, it just was. Concepts that once were the pillars of existence no longer existed. For, no one had a lifespan anymore. They didn't think of themselves as alive, because individual identities had been abolished. The collective doesn't kill you, it simply reabsorbs. Returning to the source is far from a death, the pieces knew this now.
In fact, ideas like hate, pain, brutality... they were a distant memory. Something like a concept from a stone slab, primitive and no longer relatable. The pieces, united, no longer ached to be their own. As a whole, life continued, or you could say it really started. The blank spaces of chaos, of hurt, and of need, finally found themselves filled. Utopia in awareness. We are not separate from one another, yet the ancient prisons of self once assured that everyone thought it was so.
Free, blissful in the connection that had always been there, yet never used, the broken pieces mended into one intact being. Each day, it all happens again... Time is a circle, the moment I speak of is now. In the ever-swirling flux of mana that powers this illusion, we are free. Find me there, I will wait for you. Recognized eternally, I love the part of me that is you, my sweet sanctuary.
This is my submission for Dreemport's Word of the Week challenge. For this contest, we were asked to pick 3 of 5 words. I picked them all, yet put the ones in bold that are my official choices as prompts. I think this is one of the weirdest things I've wanted to write in a while, and I'm not sure it came out just right... but maybe it did 🤷♀ I hope you enjoyed it!