The Machine {James, recall the writing of philosophy we talked about !.. here is my arrow}

There is a machine, and in this machine there are two gears, a first gear and a second gear. We will call them (Gear #1) and (Gear #2).

#1) "Gear, why do we turn ?"

#2) "We turn because we are gears and in turning we are being."

#1) "Gear, I do agree that gears turn and in turning we are being, but gear, are we being ?"

#2) "Are we not turning ?"

#1) "From where does this conviction come, that we are turning, and that our motion is not superflous ?"

#2) " Look around you gear, do you see the other gears, do you see the machine ?"

#1) " I do see them."

#2) "Do you see the stone that comes near you and then pass on far off into the distance ?"

#1) " I saw the stone as well."

#2) "The machine in moving gear, it is going forward. In turning we stay with the machine, in the machine is where gears are and where they are in being."

#1) " Gear, what is to go forward ?"

#2) "To turn is to go forward. To go forward is to be."

#1) " I ask you again gear, how do we know that we are turning in our motion ?"

#2) "We know that we are turning in our motion because in our motion we stay with the machine and the machine is going forward. Hence in our motion we are going forward, and going forward is to be. It follows that to be is to turn is to go through the motions."

#1) "And If I were to be still ?"

#2) "If you were to be still then the machine would pass you up. You would stop going forward and hence stop turning so that finally you would no longer be."

#1) "We are coming to a most beautiful stone gear."

#2) "It will pass like many before it have."

#1) "Is the stone not being ?"

#2) "No, it is not going forward, it is not moving with the machine."

#1) "The stone does not exist then ?"

#2) "Only for a moment, when it is in the machine."

#1) " I will be still gear !"

#2) "Then you will cease to be !"

When the machine came to the stone the first gear stopped moving. He was sure that he would cease to be. All the gears were sure that he would cease to be.

#1) " I have not ceased to be !"

#2) " You are still being !"

#1) "Gear, you are turning, but not in your motion. Your motion is superflous gear. I have been and am now still, yet I have not ceased to be. I have not stopped turning."

#2) "Soon you will be too far behind gear. I must think about you."

The second gear thought about the first and realized that his motion is not turning. The second gear realised that the gears themselves are moving the machine. That they are all moving the same way and in so doing they move the machine. He realized that the machine would move in whichever way the gears moved and that forward is an illusion. He thought on this and was faced with the futility of going through the motions of an obsurd world where direction and progress are an illusion. The second gear realised that the motions are empty and that true turning coems from being still.

#2) "I will be still."

And the second gear vanished into the nothing that is. And all the gears went on turning and thinking that they were following the machine forward, and that they were being.

HEHEHHEHEHEHEHHEHEHHEH