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TITLE (EDIT)
Seeming |
DESCRIPTION
A story to make you think -- to ponder something for a few moments during the course of your normally busy (or unbusy) day. I only ask that you try to write a review if you read my story :).
A man in hell...
[850 words] |
TITLE KEYWORD
Mind |
AUTHOR
Daniel Birnbaum |
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
First, let me say the most important thing. I would love to hear your comments. Now, a piece about me. It's been a while since I've dusted off the "quill" (or should I say keyboard?). In the meantime, I've found that I am now a Junior in College pursuing a career in psychiatry. I am certainly older and hopefully a bit wiser too. As always, I hope you enjoy my work and that it will jumpstart your inquisitive nature. Read on!
[December 2003] |
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (6)
A Hold (Poetry) - [28 words] [Motivational]
An Enduring (Poetry) - [69 words] [Motivational]
Beneath A Giant Oak Tree (Poetry) - [95 words] [Motivational]
Self Inside (Poetry) - [67 words] [Motivational]
The Fantastical Adventure Of William Solney (Short Stories) A story to relive that freedom of youth which touches your heart and leaves your mind content. A young boy -- parents have divorced. He wins a painting at a carnival ring-toss. Then, strange events... [9,401 words] [Fantasy]
The Harbinger's Herald (Poetry) An attempt to bring some perspective to a nation once again embarking upon imperialism... [192 words] [History]
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Seeming
Daniel Birnbaum
In the depths of hell, I write upon the echoing recesses of my mind because only that has not yet been taken from me. Demons scream their harrowing voices; fire wracks my tender body with pain. I did not listen to the words of G-d's last, great, prophetic philosopher. Baruch Spinoza in the fifteenth century would have seen the world moving toward mechanization. His mind breathed the forewarning of his forsaken G-d. He told us what the bible had told us but which we never had the sense to interpret. G-d is all around us. G-d works through nature.
A question, I ask of you. If G-d could work through nature, why could he not work through the world of machines? But the human mind in all its glory finds these connections only through the sheer inspiration and brilliance of creativity. Mine did not. Nor did any other human mind. Only rightness of soul would have protected.
Another question, I ask you. As humanity expanded its population, why would G-d not find a more efficient method of judging his subjects. The bible says man was created in the image of G-d. If man yearns toward efficiency, why would G-d not have the same tendency?
Sometimes, as I burn here in hell, I pity myself. It comes to me like a coldness despite the heat burning my flesh. A stillness, quietness — anger searing from and into the recesses of my heart. Why, O cruel fate? How could I have been so stupid?
As the twentieth century neared its end, the numbers of mankind had soared into the billions. Inconceivable that must have been in Spinoza's time, but the Essence of the Logos knew. It set about finding a way to bring efficiency to the judging of billions of humans. And it found a way.
A new trap of heinous activity gave birth to itself. This was called the Internet. Oh, it was wonderful. One could view information from all the way around the world with only a few clicks and touches of buttons. Yet one could also view the smut of the world with these same clicks and touches. That was the dirty secret of the Internet. The force that breathed life into the foundling Internet were the governmental agencies, ARPA and DARPA, and universities across the United States. Yet, the money that sustained and grew the fledging Internet rolled in from pornography sites, streaming sex-holes, built upon the guilty pleasures of men hiding from their wives their naughty pleasures.
The idea of the Essence was no less of a test to the morality of men and was related to the smut-filled Internet. He planted within the minds of men games based upon networks like the Internet. Men would flock to these games, when they knew they could triumph in mock combat over others from all over the world. In fact, some games utilized this so well, that they became nearly addictive. What was the point? Why would G-d interfere with computer games? I ask you my final question. What better a way to test the true morality of a man than under conditions where his actions do not result in real, physical consequences? He does not have to live with the guilt of ending another man's life when he destroys the computer game character of another man for the shear power and control it gives him. He does not have to live with knowing he has set back a man's life, when he steals the items another computer game player has worked many nights to find and attain. He does not have to see the physical results of his actions: he is free to display his true morality.
So, G-d planted within men's minds the idea of these networked games. The G-d that had worked through nature in the life of Spinoza now brought a great deal of his judging system to computerized games. It is here that I must have befallen my fate because I was one of the worst. In a game that ironically rooted its name in the word devil, I stole from my fellow computer game players. I ran scams to steal their items, to destroy the characters they had slaved away at, before computers, with percents of theirs lives. Here, I found new players to unfairly trade items with that I had led them to believe were valuable. Here, I parasitized the work of others to grow my own characters. And when I was dissatisfied or unhappy, I would traipse around, killing weaker players for the fun of it. It is only a game; it's okay. I had heard those words so many times. I was a moral man in physical life, but when it came to a place where I did not have to see the results of my actions, I unleashed monstrosities of morality upon my fellow men. Here, I befell my fate. May you be moral enough not to befall the same when the consequences of your actions do not seem to become reality.
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READER'S REVIEWS (4)
DISCLAIMER: STORYMANIA DOES NOT PROVIDE AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWS. ALL REVIEWS ARE PROVIDED BY NON-ASSOCIATED VISITORS, REGARDLESS OF THE WAY THEY CALL THEMSELVES.
"I like the idea of making people stop and think for a minute and take a deeper look at all the silly things we could live without, but somehow depend on because the make us seem stronger or under control or whatever reason.. the point of view worked out well, a regretful prisoner in hell.. good work :)" -- Rae.
"I second what Rae said. I wonder though why you removed 'God' from it." -- JA St.George.
"I also agree with Rae about the idea of making people stop and think for a minute. Like for instance if you were in the middle of a robbery and you had the chance to stop it, what would you do? I think Tim Leong answers that rather well in the story Stopping For Coffee, which is just to the left of here.--The Advisor" -- JA St.George.
"jonny12" -- jonny5, jonny20, jonny19, jonny10.
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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 2001 Daniel Birnbaum |
STORYMANIA PUBLICATION DATE
January 2002 |
NUMBER OF TIMES TITLE VIEWED
2811
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