"There must be some consciousness outside of what we can sense that drives life …"

Sketch by Joshua Jacobo Sketch
Sketch by Joshua Jacobo

“I am not an expert at anything,” Sally said.

Ami swallowed a last mouthful of baby carrots and humus. Sally rearranged the beef on top of her noodles. Her forehead crunched together above her nose and she made low ‘hmm,’ ‘mmm,’ noises as she worked something over her lunch. Ami wiped his fingers without looking and tried to stand.

“But if democracy is justified,” Sally said, “and all people posses the capability of reason, then my attempts to answer questions that defy understanding are also justified. Right?”

Ami passed his empty tray from one hand to the other, then sat back down. “Sure, absolutely,” he said. He tapped the table top with his finger tips and glanced at his watch. “Okay, well … ” Ami said.

“The meaning,” Sally said, stabbing a fat cube of red meat, “the purpose, the reason. These terms imply intention which implies that there is a consciousness who intended something. Likewise, purpose, from its early French and English origins ‘purpos’ meaning ‘to propose’, implies that there is an Object to purpose.”

“Are you feeling alright Sal?” Ami said. “We’ve got that after lunch meeting. You’ve got your half of the presentation right?”

Sally spoke to her noodles. “Well, what about ‘meaning’?” She said. “Nope. ‘Meaning’, from it’s middle English root ‘menen’ means to have in mind or intend. So is the question ‘what is the meaning of life,” the right question to ask? Is it answerable?”

“Oh my God, you’ve lost it haven’t you?”

“There must be some consciousness outside of what we can sense that drives life,” Sally said. She looked up into Ami’s face and grabbed the lapel of his lab coat. “Something has to give it purpose right? All things serve one purpose. Why else are all things, living and inanimate, constantly attracting one another?”

“Have you been talking to Mark about this? Is this about what he said about setting goals, because you don’t need to sweat about that stuff, it’s just a bunch of ‘PR’ ‘BS,’ you know?”

“All things are attracted to one another in accordance with their mass,” Sally said. “I read that. No matter how random the circumstances, there must be an explanation of this force that directs the ingredients of the universe to move, attract, grow, and split.”

“Okay Sally you’re starting to worry me,” Ami said. “Are you sure you’re ready to present our findings to the board?”

“Where does this active force, or energy, come from?” Sally said. “Is it a product of masses far from our universe shifting and causing a ripple effect that echoes in galaxy and disrupts our matter?”

“Listen, I don’t know about active force, or shifting galaxies, but if you don’t man up, or woman up, we’re both going to be blacklisted from internship for the next millennia.”

“Right, you’re right,” Sally said. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess I just stayed up too late watching PBS.”

“You’re lucky you’re so smart you know that?” Ami said. He took Sally under the arm and lifted her from the lunch bench. “Let’s get in there and blow some minds.”

“But the mind I wish to be blown is my own,” Sally said.

“Well,” Ami said, “let’s start with Nexcorp and then we can worry about blowing our minds.”

“Kay.” Sally said.


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