The Motor & The Lantern

“Why a motor?”

“You ask from the assumption I should appear with a hollow rib cage. Instead I’m obnoxiously loud with my chest’s sputtering smoke and shine impossible to ignore… I need no reason to stalk in shadow, for it is only you who perceive me.”

“Are you the devil?”


“The premise of your question is based on inaccuracies of the cosmic cycle, symbols like Satan mean not how you think of them”

“So…you’re not the devil?”

“You’re only a child. I don’t expect you to understand. Would you like to come with me somewhere more tranquil? Or we can stay here and talk”

“I wanna stay here”

“Alright child, now look again to my chest. The motor is dancing around spitting smoke and noise regardless of me… Quiet machine! I want to speak to the child without chaos warring below my mouth!…Yet despite my volume and intention nothing changes. The motor feels no love for me and understands not a word of any language. Relentless and without question it feeds me eternal life. My motor is a beast with no comprehension beyond existing in the present moment. I am a stray brain bound to the Motor within a pillar of reality… The truth is child, I am your servant. I am mighty beyond words, yes. Still inside you lives a lantern. A single lantern’s glow powers this entire existence. Everything simultaneously in harmony. Child your lantern is going out.”

“I’m dead?”

“Your death isn’t exactly dead. The cosmic cycle continues between pillars. My motor and your lantern almost work like magnets repelling each other and within the between exists everything.”

“So I’m not dead? I want to go home to my brother.”


“That is something I cannot do… I can offer you a new lantern, you will forget everything and become a baby once again. My other offering is you pass through my motor and transcend to a higher being…Through my tired eyes, you still are a baby. You’ve been dealt an inevitable stroke of cruelty to return some cosmic balance beyond either of our understanding. I see a life like yours as a tradgedy of nature. Understand, I’ve watched millions of lanterns pass through my motor and become elevated in the cosmic pulse. It is an experience nothing from the human world can compare to. Should you ask me for a new lantern you will start all over and again be subject to the poisons natural to human beings and their chronic mishandling of the lanterns… I have no control of fate, but child I must tell you…don’t choose the light. Human life is the hard part of your journey, humanity is like watching god chase their own tail. You experienced the true terror yourself, won’t you pass though my motor? You deserve better than what you were given, you've earned peace.”

“Thank you... I know they can be awful…the ones meant to love and protect me failed…But I’ll forget them.”

“If you go back even in the best life you will face similar atrocities?”

“I’ll ask again for a new lantern. Even if I am a child, I understand one thing you’ve told me.”


“Ah?”


“The lantern we posses has powers beyond comprehension. I want the lanterns I reach to grow violet and bright.”


“but child you WILL forget all of this. Everything we spoke of will mean nothing but lunacy the moment you touch the new lantern”

“Then I’ll try again! And again! I’m sure at some point I’ll live a life where I know the lantern while the flame is still in me!”

"What would you do then?"

"Try to show the world!"

"They would call you names and riducle your thought."

"Despite the roar of a motor screaming over our entire conversation, something within me understands you. I know someone out there will understand me, even with humanity's chaos and crowding noise."


“I look forward to meeting you again child."

"Likewise."