Picture this; you're standing at the bottom of a ladder in an enormous, otherwise empty, white expanse. The ladder doesn't seem to be standing on anything. You're not even sure what you're standing on, frankly. You try to walk away from the ladder, but there's something blocking you. You look back at the ladder.
It's one of those tall steel a-frame things, you know the ones, the ones you get 7 years of bad luck for walking under, or whatever? As far as you can tell the only way to move is to climb this stupid ladder. So, because you don't want to sit in a featureless blank expanse for the rest of your life, you start climbing. It's not hard, there doesn't seem to be anything above you, but it takes some effort. Eventually you're tiring (it's a really long ladder, guys), but then you spot the top!
There's nothing there. This ladder just kinda gets to that top step and... sits there. It's an a-frame, like I said, but you can't even see the bottom of the other side it's so far away. So you stand there, on a rung near the top, for several long minutes. You reach out, trying to feel if there's something around you you just can't see because again, featureless white expanse. There's nothing. You climb up so that your feet are on the top rung (you're not stepping on the "THIS IS NOT A STEP" step, you're no idiot), and you reach up and around again. Still nothing.
You look back below you. The ladder stretches away, back toward the weird ground you started on. You can climb back down, you suppose, but you already know what's down there. Nothing. To be fair, there doesn't seem to be anything up here either. So what's it to be, then? Your own personal Sisyphean trial, to spend eternity climbing up and down this ladder for no reason at all?
Pfft, no! You've got a choice! You can just jump off and see what happens! You're a little hesitant, since you're pretty sure this is gonna be the end, but you go ahead and just lean right back anyway, until gravity takes over, time seems to drag to a stand-still, and you fall.
About six inches. Onto your back. On a floor that wasn't there before. You sit up and look around. You can still see the top of the ladder you were just standing on. Your feet are still resting against that top rung. But the imperceptible floor beneath you has cut off the rest of it, somehow making everything below it vanish but leaving this tailing behind.
You stand up and look around. You're standing at the bottom of another ladder in an enormous, otherwise empty, white expanse. You shrug and start climbing again.
Welcome to life.
A Note: Yes, this is a metaphor. No, it's not perfect, because metaphor. A better version of this metaphor would include several ladders to choose from, but the enormity and magnitude of choice is not something I'm willing to cover right now, so neener-neener.
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| Looks a bit like this, except taller. Waaaaay taller. |
It's one of those tall steel a-frame things, you know the ones, the ones you get 7 years of bad luck for walking under, or whatever? As far as you can tell the only way to move is to climb this stupid ladder. So, because you don't want to sit in a featureless blank expanse for the rest of your life, you start climbing. It's not hard, there doesn't seem to be anything above you, but it takes some effort. Eventually you're tiring (it's a really long ladder, guys), but then you spot the top!
There's nothing there. This ladder just kinda gets to that top step and... sits there. It's an a-frame, like I said, but you can't even see the bottom of the other side it's so far away. So you stand there, on a rung near the top, for several long minutes. You reach out, trying to feel if there's something around you you just can't see because again, featureless white expanse. There's nothing. You climb up so that your feet are on the top rung (you're not stepping on the "THIS IS NOT A STEP" step, you're no idiot), and you reach up and around again. Still nothing.
You look back below you. The ladder stretches away, back toward the weird ground you started on. You can climb back down, you suppose, but you already know what's down there. Nothing. To be fair, there doesn't seem to be anything up here either. So what's it to be, then? Your own personal Sisyphean trial, to spend eternity climbing up and down this ladder for no reason at all?
Pfft, no! You've got a choice! You can just jump off and see what happens! You're a little hesitant, since you're pretty sure this is gonna be the end, but you go ahead and just lean right back anyway, until gravity takes over, time seems to drag to a stand-still, and you fall.
About six inches. Onto your back. On a floor that wasn't there before. You sit up and look around. You can still see the top of the ladder you were just standing on. Your feet are still resting against that top rung. But the imperceptible floor beneath you has cut off the rest of it, somehow making everything below it vanish but leaving this tailing behind.
You stand up and look around. You're standing at the bottom of another ladder in an enormous, otherwise empty, white expanse. You shrug and start climbing again.
Welcome to life.
A Note: Yes, this is a metaphor. No, it's not perfect, because metaphor. A better version of this metaphor would include several ladders to choose from, but the enormity and magnitude of choice is not something I'm willing to cover right now, so neener-neener.
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