British Lit Is Not Physics 101

One day, a random stranger may decide to reach out and touch my soul and tell me I can have anything in the world I want. I'll reach back and tell this unfamiliar friend that the only thing I would want in my hands by such an unbelievable gift might be something that's not in this world at all. I'll tell this new face that anything they can give me may only be as vast as the speck of dust suspended in an ordinary sunbeam that we happen to inhabit.

They'll tell me of all the emotions I'm disregarding, and how with that mindset, I can never experience the greatest Earthly feeling of all: love. I'll tell them that what I want, I only want because of love—love of existence, love of another's presence—the love of life itself.

They'll tell me of all the gold and shiny diamonds I'm passing up, and of all the wealth I'm not considering. I'll tell them that money only has value because we all agree that a chipped and shaped piece of Earth's property has a number latched onto it. I'll remind them of how any symbol on any mix of our planet's elements won't matter when there is no one left to apply the meanings.

They'll tell me I'm no fun because I want no backstage access at my favorite concert I can't afford to go to, or no encounters with any of my biggest heroes, be they Jesse Lacey, Carl Sagan, or the fictional characters from the books of Chuck Palahniuk. I'll tell them that fun is only a delusion measured within the mind; I'll tell them we can manipulate the idea of a good time to whatever we want it to be.

This conversation will go on for awhile before my revelation. We'll go back and forth, understanding the other's rationale no better, no matter how much humble reason flows from our human lips. Eventually, I'll tell them that all I want is knowledge.

The thing is, I don't want just any knowledge. I want to know one thing, and I want it to be negative or affirmative. I'll ask the stranger, “Are we alone?” When they don't understand, I'll ask, “Who else is out there?”

If more than six billion people and millions of species are truly solitary in the vastness of all the cosmos, the generous friend I've never known will let me down lightly. Since this magnificent being's power ends outside the Earth's exosphere, a blank answer will tell me more than I ever believed I could know in my lifetime. There is more. We are not the end.