In a galaxy billions of light years away from ours, in the farthest reaches of the universe, there is a planet which orbits a star very much like our own. In this world, there lives a man who calls himself an astronomer although most others call him a trickster at best and a liar at worst. He spends night after night, day after day, year after year at the top of the highest mountain in that land, where he has vowed to himself to stay dedicating the rest of his life to finding the answer to a mystery that has perplexed him for a long, long time. At the top of the mountain he has built a large observatory, and within the observatory he has built the largest telescope that planet has ever seen, and it is through this telescope night after night that he directs his gaze into the black space upwards and beyond.
To the naked eye there is nothing to see. In this world, there is no moon, and in this world, there are no stars. Just a silky, inky blackness once the sun has gone down. And nothing else. There are no stars.
The people in this land would stare at you blankly if you telepathed the word “star” to them. Their telepathy language has nothing resembling our word. No such rhymes as twinkle, twinkle little star. They have no idea in the slightest what is meant by “star”. It has no meaning.
So when the astronomer came down from the mountain one evening, his face all aglow with the setting sun’s light, running down the mountain waving his arms: “I’ve seen something! I’ve seen something! There’s something out there. Something bright. And there’s so many of them, such brightness you have never seen!”, those at the bottom of the mountain looked at him with that blank look as if to telepath, “Who’s that crazy man!” and went about their business.
Unperturbed, he ran to the Ministry of Science with his discovery. Here he telepathed them his theory. This particular world they lived on was only one of perhaps billions of other worlds existing up in the sky, and the sun they experienced in the day was only one of perhaps billions of suns. His claim was that they just happened to live in a part of the universe where there were no stars; where there were no other suns. The other stars were so far away that they couldn’t be seen with the naked eye. Their part of the galaxy was one of the darkest corners of the universe. But with his telescope he could see further than anyone had ever seen. And there was so much light out there!
The important people at the Ministry of Science looked at him with blank faces as if he had telepathed to them in a language they could not understand. And they frowned and telepathed important long thoughts and telepathed of the centuries and centuries of learning that had brought them to the conclusion that nothing was out there in the sky. Centuries and centuries of learning by some very very important people who had established the way things were. How preposterous of him to telepath he knew better! A telescope!? What could a telescope tell us about how things are!?
And so the man walked away and went back up the mountain and sat and thought about what to do next. The world must know what he had discovered. But how could he convince anyone that this was true? The universe, far far away from their world, was awash with starlight!
In another galaxy, so far that it would take light traveling at 300,000 km/s 2 million years to reach its outermost stars, in a small gemlike world of blue and green, two girls sit by each other on the shores of an ocean. In the sky, the moon, and the light from the moon washes everything in a pearly glow, and above the moon stars strewn across the sky, like diamonds. Two girls on the beach holding hands, wrapped up for warmth under a soft, brown rug, looking out at the night and the ocean and the moon and the stars.
“When I was in Thailand, I was on a ferry going from Ko Samui to Ko Pan-gan and I could see the shape of the Milky Way. The spiral of the galaxy. The stars were that close,” said one. “It was night, we lay on the deck looking up. I felt like I was perched on the edge of the world, like I could feel the spherical shape beneath me.”
The other looked at her friend. She said nothing. For a second she did nothing, and then slowly, she unwrapped herself from the soft brown rug, stood up, wiped the sand from her legs, and walked over the beach to some rocks, dark, untouched by the moonlight. Here she sat.
In her mind, she spoke to the other girl still sitting quietly on the sand.
“They will never believe us.”And in her mind, the other replied:”They will have to. We will show them. We will prove to them.”
“But this is crazy,” said the girl on the dark rocks to her friend through her mind.
“Only if you don’t believe,” the girl on the beach telepathed. She turned toward the rocks and smiled. Both girls. Wordless communication. Just the millions of whispering voices of the sea.
They took themselves to the Ministry of Science and some very important people listened to what they had to say. They could communicate. But not through the conventional ways. They could speak – mind to mind. There was no need for words. They had discovered something that had been spoken of for centuries, but which they could prove. The implications were amazing they said.
But the important people at the Ministry frowned upon what they had to say. And they frowned and spoke of important evidence and of the centuries and centuries of learning that had brought them to the conclusion that this mind to mind communication was impossible. Centuries and centuries of learning by some very very important people who had established the way things were. How preposterous of them to suggest that they knew better! Telepathy !? What could telepathy tell us about how things are!?
Tonight the girls sit again on their beach watching the stars. They sometimes wonder if they are indeed crazy; if they are imagining they have powers that they really don’t have. Sometimes one girl goes to sit on the dark rocks and tries her best to block out any mind to mind communication with the other girl. She hopes she will succeed. She hates being this freak. She wants to be like the others.
Tonight the man sits by his telescope alone unsure what to do. He thinks of smashing the telescope. He thinks that maybe he is crazy too.
But telepathic thoughts travel faster than light across the universe, and somehow everything that needs to be connected is truly connected. And the man’s thoughts racing across time and space tell the girls: “Don’t give up! Don’t give up!” And the girls’ thoughts come like a flash of realization to the man, and all at once his mind is struck like lightening, like he has been blessed with divinity, with vivid, explosive images of billions and billions and zillions of stars.
To the naked eye there is nothing to see. In this world, there is no moon, and in this world, there are no stars. Just a silky, inky blackness once the sun has gone down. And nothing else. There are no stars.
The people in this land would stare at you blankly if you telepathed the word “star” to them. Their telepathy language has nothing resembling our word. No such rhymes as twinkle, twinkle little star. They have no idea in the slightest what is meant by “star”. It has no meaning.
So when the astronomer came down from the mountain one evening, his face all aglow with the setting sun’s light, running down the mountain waving his arms: “I’ve seen something! I’ve seen something! There’s something out there. Something bright. And there’s so many of them, such brightness you have never seen!”, those at the bottom of the mountain looked at him with that blank look as if to telepath, “Who’s that crazy man!” and went about their business.
Unperturbed, he ran to the Ministry of Science with his discovery. Here he telepathed them his theory. This particular world they lived on was only one of perhaps billions of other worlds existing up in the sky, and the sun they experienced in the day was only one of perhaps billions of suns. His claim was that they just happened to live in a part of the universe where there were no stars; where there were no other suns. The other stars were so far away that they couldn’t be seen with the naked eye. Their part of the galaxy was one of the darkest corners of the universe. But with his telescope he could see further than anyone had ever seen. And there was so much light out there!
The important people at the Ministry of Science looked at him with blank faces as if he had telepathed to them in a language they could not understand. And they frowned and telepathed important long thoughts and telepathed of the centuries and centuries of learning that had brought them to the conclusion that nothing was out there in the sky. Centuries and centuries of learning by some very very important people who had established the way things were. How preposterous of him to telepath he knew better! A telescope!? What could a telescope tell us about how things are!?
And so the man walked away and went back up the mountain and sat and thought about what to do next. The world must know what he had discovered. But how could he convince anyone that this was true? The universe, far far away from their world, was awash with starlight!
In another galaxy, so far that it would take light traveling at 300,000 km/s 2 million years to reach its outermost stars, in a small gemlike world of blue and green, two girls sit by each other on the shores of an ocean. In the sky, the moon, and the light from the moon washes everything in a pearly glow, and above the moon stars strewn across the sky, like diamonds. Two girls on the beach holding hands, wrapped up for warmth under a soft, brown rug, looking out at the night and the ocean and the moon and the stars.
“When I was in Thailand, I was on a ferry going from Ko Samui to Ko Pan-gan and I could see the shape of the Milky Way. The spiral of the galaxy. The stars were that close,” said one. “It was night, we lay on the deck looking up. I felt like I was perched on the edge of the world, like I could feel the spherical shape beneath me.”
The other looked at her friend. She said nothing. For a second she did nothing, and then slowly, she unwrapped herself from the soft brown rug, stood up, wiped the sand from her legs, and walked over the beach to some rocks, dark, untouched by the moonlight. Here she sat.
In her mind, she spoke to the other girl still sitting quietly on the sand.
“They will never believe us.”And in her mind, the other replied:”They will have to. We will show them. We will prove to them.”
“But this is crazy,” said the girl on the dark rocks to her friend through her mind.
“Only if you don’t believe,” the girl on the beach telepathed. She turned toward the rocks and smiled. Both girls. Wordless communication. Just the millions of whispering voices of the sea.
They took themselves to the Ministry of Science and some very important people listened to what they had to say. They could communicate. But not through the conventional ways. They could speak – mind to mind. There was no need for words. They had discovered something that had been spoken of for centuries, but which they could prove. The implications were amazing they said.
But the important people at the Ministry frowned upon what they had to say. And they frowned and spoke of important evidence and of the centuries and centuries of learning that had brought them to the conclusion that this mind to mind communication was impossible. Centuries and centuries of learning by some very very important people who had established the way things were. How preposterous of them to suggest that they knew better! Telepathy !? What could telepathy tell us about how things are!?
Tonight the girls sit again on their beach watching the stars. They sometimes wonder if they are indeed crazy; if they are imagining they have powers that they really don’t have. Sometimes one girl goes to sit on the dark rocks and tries her best to block out any mind to mind communication with the other girl. She hopes she will succeed. She hates being this freak. She wants to be like the others.
Tonight the man sits by his telescope alone unsure what to do. He thinks of smashing the telescope. He thinks that maybe he is crazy too.
But telepathic thoughts travel faster than light across the universe, and somehow everything that needs to be connected is truly connected. And the man’s thoughts racing across time and space tell the girls: “Don’t give up! Don’t give up!” And the girls’ thoughts come like a flash of realization to the man, and all at once his mind is struck like lightening, like he has been blessed with divinity, with vivid, explosive images of billions and billions and zillions of stars.
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