When you’re around 4 (or 5)

You peer at a person and think...

Oh

Hey

You have

Beliefs Desires Intentions Perspectives

Just Like ME!

But different. Mostly.

 

This can be a depressing realization to 4 (or 5) year olds

i.e., you can’t expect to know whether your friend hid your lunch box

in the tree or behind the trash can

Because

ya know

you weren’t there. Or inside their heads.

 

It can be really exciting as well.

Like if you and a friend are on opposite sides of a tree

You aren’t seeing the same thing.

But

You can Share!

Few epiphanies in this world can match

Realizing

the Discrete, Distinct, Diverse nature of Human Minds

 

However

I remember entering a

Roomfullofstrangers

In my early teens and seeing

 

Rows and Rows and Rows

Rows and Rows and Rows

 

of faces. Faces that stir, and speak, spasmodically.

But still.

Just Faces

(and sometimes, I see faces in a room full of friends)

 

When faced (pun intended) with such terrifying blankness

the blankest blank page imaginable

I scrawl instinctually.

My wildest imaginings are not reserved for the night.

 

From the consequences of head transplantation

To the NFL Draft

From vacation locations

To the last time Joshy laughed

 

I lumber over the landscape of my cerebral cortex

Dipping into valleys and folds

Powered by boredom

(and loneliness of old)

 

My eyes drift down from the white tile ceiling

Just as one of those Faces across from me does the same

Our gazes link

In his stare I see another pearl diver resurfacing

And I think

In Gandalf’s name

That man has

JUST AS MANY THOUGHTS AS ME!

 

Or even crazier, what if every single one of the

7 BILLION PEOPLE ON PLANET EARTH

Has as much stuff inside their heads as I do?

Or more?

 

According to Anne Morrow Lindbergh every man

is an Island

That comes into contact with other islands, but is ultimately

Alone

 

Perhaps every person is a Planet

And every relationship a welding of Worlds

A 3D Venn diagram

7 Billion Bubble Worlds

Interlocked in a Multiverse

Dewdrops on a spiderweb

 

I don’t know if Mind and God are Equal

Or if the Collective Unconscious is real

But the Collective Conscious awes me daily

Universe- we are at least as large as thee.