• Recently while traveling through some small islands in the Caribbean, I met an old priest sitting in a dark corner of a local bar. His skin was dry and his eyes spoke of ages of experience. From what my translator, Sonchis, told me he had been on the island as long as anyone could remember, but no one knew where he came from. The local legend was he washed up on shore over fifty years ago, naked and insisting he had no name. When I walked up to him, he spoke to me in a strange accent in what I could tell was a combination of Greek and Spanish. Intrigued by his ancient mystique, I asked him where he had come from. Before he would tell me anything, he insisted that no matter what I told him, it was the truth and I was not to question him. This is his story.
    This old priest told me he was born into an average family in an average town in the United States. His only interest while growing up was in the new technology of submarines. During the outbreak of WWI, he was recruited to develop a submarine that could do battle against the German U-boats. Despite his age, the young man was good at what he did and developed a submarine that used an electric battery and compressed air, meaning it could go deeper and faster than any previously invented.
    It was a calm, summer day when he decided to test his new machine. It was to be a short mission from the coast of Florida down to the Azores Islands and back. The trip started out normally enough; but as they approached the Azores Islands, things began to act funny. The crew didn’t have much to do because this invention practically steered itself. They had just settled down to nice game of cards when the young man realized something was wrong. It was quiet. There was no noise of the motor or any equipment running. As the young man ran around checking the equipment, he noticed that anything that had been running off electricity had stopped working. The compass wouldn’t stop spinning, and even his watch had stopped ticking. The submarine was being consumed by the darkness of the ocean.
    Trying to get them help get the ship moving again, the young man began to order the crew about. They wouldn’t stand for it. They were all much more experienced than the young man was, he wasn’t the captain, and he had dared to interrupt their card game. He had to go. At the bottom of the submarine, the young man had been inspired to build a latch that could allow access to the ocean without letting any water in. It was this latch that the crewmen were inspired to open and give the young man access to the ocean without letting any other young men in, and that is just what they did. As irritating as it was, the crew barely lost any time in their card game.
    The ocean was excited to find a new toy; but as soon as the young man entered the water, all the life fled from him, and the ocean was left with nothing but a broken rag doll. Not wanting to play with a doll, instead it turned to play with its new toy submarine. Now the body of the young man lost no time in searching for the bottom of the ocean, but instead of falling through the water like it expected, pretty soon it was falling through nothing but air.
    The young man was woken up by a splash of warm water and sat up spitting and choking. Standing in front of him were two nude, short men who were grumbling and poking at him. Surprised, the young man jumped up and retreated. The little men paid little notice of him and began attending to the bush that he had landed on. When they were finished, they began to walk to the city. The young man followed.
    As they walked to the city, the young man anxiously glanced in every direction, and tried to figure out where he was. It was an island a little over a half-mile in diameter and was surrounded by several concentric rings, some consisting of earth and others of water. He was walking through a great field overflowing with food. Surrounding the field and the city were great mountains, which touch the sky. The sky was not a sky at all, but a gel-like substance ribbed with electrical current. Once they got to the city, the gates automatically opened for them. The city was a marvel of architecture and engineering. Every building was spectacular and covered with precious metals. The city was composed of a series of walls and canals. At the very center was a hill with a giant temple holding a gold statue of a god driving six winged horses. From the hill, two fountains, one hot, one cold sprayed water into a pond. The pond, where the hot and cold water met, changed colors with every passing minute.
    The little men went straight up to what looked like a courthouse. Inside was another little man behind a desk sitting with a calm expression on his face. The young man’s guides began pointing and muttering to the one behind the desk. They then went over to a cabinet and retrieved a small bottle with a yellowish liquid. Beckoning for the young man to lean over, they put the drops into his ears, which soon began to ring and give enormous pain. The young man fell to the ground and began to writhe in pain, that is, until he passed out. They stood and watched knowing this would allow him to understand the language.
    When he came to, he was surrounded by what looked like a sea of flesh. The sea consisted of five hundred people. Each person was naked with a head-crest, and was no more than four feet high. One man, who seemed no different from the rest, stepped forward.
    “Welcome to the Land of Atlas. We are the Mu,” he announced, nodding his head to the young man and then to the crowd. In unison, the crowd nodded back and then began to file out of the building. He then introduced himself as the young man’s “guide and instructor.” But when the young man offered his name, the guide just shook his head and explained that on the Land of Atlas there are no names, which are only labels that are given to create domination.
    The people of Mu are descendents from an ancient people, who, because of their greed and corruption, were condemned to only see the depths of the ocean. The most shocking thing about them is they have no death. They found a method that mixing hot and cold water would create an elixir that heals all wounds and keeps them young. Unfortunately, they later discovered that by drinking this water, it would cause them to be infertile. However, living forever does have its advantages. Each of the Mu have lived for the same amount of time, and so each of them have the same amount of experience in every area. Not one person is more knowledgeable than another. With this there can be no deception, all know when they are getting a fair trade, and so are treated fairly. Long life has taught the Mu that all temptations are fleeting. The intrigues of all evils have become boring. No one has a reason to be evil and therefore aren’t.
    The true lecture for the young man began in front of the temple where on a pedestal sat a shining book. There is only one rule for the Mu. Do not open the Book of Knowledge. The Book of Knowledge is an accumulation of the entire ancient wisdom and technology of their ancestors. The feeling of superiority that comes out of this book is what caused the greed and corruption and eventual demise of their ancestors. Every once in a while a Mu, bored of everyday monotony, will read the Book of Knowledge and upset the status quo. Once the book is read, the Mu is somehow transformed and begins to pester and nag the others, in trying to explain new inventions and new ideas. They become full of excitement and understand the meaning of pain and joy. The other Mu will cast them into the Ocean, which instantly devours them.
    The young man was soon taught the ways of the Mu. The Mu don’t take pleasure in anything but their gardens. The gardens are a place of serenity, where they can ponder and walk in peace. Their gardens are where the Mu spend all their time and are their only responsibility. It is their responsibility to name and take care of every creature and plant in their garden. All socializing and important events are centered around their gardens.
    The government is similar to the democratic system we are familiar with. The city is divided into five different sections, each with a government party. Each party selects and individual to represent their group. These “selected” then choose one to become the “Rah” or ruler. The Rah is in charge for one decade and no one can become the Rah again until everyone has had a turn. It is the Rah’s responsibility to delegate jobs to the people. Because every Mu has the same abilities, the Rah decides who gets what job by pulling straws or casting stones. When the new Rah first becomes in charge, most of the Mu support them, but halfway through the term, not many support, and few every support them to the end. Each Mu always thinks he can do a better job pulling straws or casting stones. There is one group in particular that are never happy. It could be their worst enemy or best friend who is in office; they just never like what they have decided and always complain.
    In the Mu economy, a group known as the “sayers” follows each businessman. It is their responsibility to agree with everything the businessman says or does. If he asks a question, it is their job to nod. To make things balanced, for each sayer there is a nay-sayer. It is their responsibility to disagree and tell the businessman there is a better way. To keep things fair, the businessman will switch between choosing the sayers and the nay-sayers, so they each get their turn.
    The young man couldn’t believe the land he had found. He had lived his life with war and torture. Finally he had found a place where peace reigned and there was no suffering. It wasn’t long before the young man had stripped his old life from his shoulders and began working side by side with this new culture. Unfortunately, no matter what job the Rah assigned the young man, he was insufficient. The young man agreed that neither walking through the gardens nor pondering man’s state of nature was what he had been born to do. So instead, they created a special job for the young man adequate to his knowledge. He was in charge of foreign affairs and security. It was his job to greet and plan for any visitors that might come to the island and ensure the safety of the Book of Knowledge from any of their enemies. So the young man spent his days trying to live up to the expectations of Mu by wandering the fields searching for any signs of friends or enemies, or standing guard at the temple watching over the precious Book of Knowledge. The Mu were very kind to the young man, and to ease his boredom they would recruit his help to get fruit off the tall branches or fetch something from an upper shelf. If the young man had any questions for the Mu, they would often give him the opportunity to learn for himself by turning back to their gardens without giving him more than a glance.
    Guarding a book and retrieving things from the top shelf is not the career the young man had dreamed of. There was a constant nagging in the back of his mind, but it wasn’t until thirty years later that it finally hit him. He was dozing in front of the Book’s pedestal when a slight shift caused the book to fall right on his head. It landed open in his lap. In bold letters across the page was a simple phrase. It read, “If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living. Learn from the past, but reach for the future.”
    Although his body remained young, his mind grew old with wisdom. The young man had lived with the Mu for thirty years before he realized that pain and suffering were what life was all about. Without the heartache and anguish that everyone has to live through there is no joy. A life lead in innocence and ignorance is no life to live. The ancient wisdom insisted that progress was a necessary to living. The young man had broken the one rule and was cast into the Ocean, who was unhappy about receiving a toy he had already played with and spat him out as quickly as possible.
    Upon returning to the world above, it wasn’t what the young man was hoping for. The Mu had stopped the future because of the past. But the world he returned to lusted for the future but forgot the past. The young man, who had not fit in with the Mu due to the lack of knowledge, no longer fit in his world because his wisdom was unwanted.
    When the old priest was done telling his story, I sat in a stunned silence. What he had told me was something straight out of a storybook. And so I leave it up to you, my readers. Is what this old priest told me an accurate depiction of his life, or a story created in senility?