Paradise Lost
“ The present is but a glimpse at time ; it fades away as fast as it did come , since nothing which has been will ever be again .”
One man ’ s thoughts , alone . So we thought there was a world , because we experienced it and remembered experiencing it ; although everything we ’ d worked out about it relied on what our senses had given us , and the Patterns they had made . We could move , and our sight changed ; we could think , and the Patterns emerged . We realised eventually that some Patterns were telling us how to think . This was good , because they gave us more understanding as we followed them .
And there had been some things , which — they didn ’ t own a name — we didn ’ t like . They pained us , and we didn ’ t know why . But the Patterns also , sweet knowledge , they started to give us reasons for the pain . The strangest thing was , that the knowledge of nature we gained , the Patterns , would give us pain when more was likely to come ; so if we understood the future pain before it arrived , we would experience it double if we didn ’ t take action to prevent it . And the Patterns became stuck in our head , became skills , impressions of people , flutters , a micro-world within our heads . The Patterns were memory , and they stuck . We lived our lives according to their example ; we used them for abstract thinking , and we made new lives from our experiences .
I wonder what my family are feeling like down there without me , right now . I don ’ t think I quite know what my family is anymore ; I don ’ t think I ever did , either . I don ’ t know whether it ever existed . But they will miss me . I ’ m finding something else quite sad : I still have my Patterns , but their life , constant simulation , always something ( new , or familiar ), all I think they were ever designed for , well , it ’ s gone now . And I don ’ t know what to do with them anymore .
I don ’ t have any senses , but I have my memory . I think my old life was unique . The rest of my life will be inside my head …
23