Always Consider the Source by Don Nigroni
While sitting on a bench by a small pond near the nursing home, Arthur, a friend of mine, confided in me about a disturbing matter. He said, “I know of a covert cabal of academics. I myself was once a member until . . . Regardless, an acquaintance who still belongs told me about a deceitful and dangerous experiment they’re planning on performing in order to decide the question of immortality once and for all. When we die, do we cease to exist, period? Or do we continue to exist somehow somewhere? And, if the latter, then as an individual person or by merging into a godhead and losing our individuality?”
“How would they conduct such an experiment and why are you so concerned?”
Arthur was in his late eighties and frail. He took a long drag on his cherrywood pipe and said, “They believe the world and our personal consciousnesses are just manifestations of the Source, some transcendent something or other. They’re convinced the double slit experiment revealed that this ineffable entity can make mistakes. They want to trick it into revealing its innermost secrets. And I think they just might succeed but I don’t think they should try. I also think the Source manifested the world and everyone’s personal consciousness. However, there’s no telling how it would react to being fooled.”
Well, they did their unholy experiment and perhaps learned what they wanted to know but then the Source, in disappointment or in anger, erased the old world and manifested a new one. But they were right, the Source can make mistakes. I can remember the old world.
Don Nigroni is a retired labor economist with a master’s degree in philosophy from Notre Dame. His flash fiction has appeared in Ambit, Asymmetry Fiction, Mystery Tribune, Theme of Absence and 365 tomorrows.
Photo – The New Pond at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve in Pennsylvania by Don Nigroni.
Tags: