Brick on the River
By Bill Fountain
My name is Kos and I am the god of a universe I created. I wanted to share an experience I had with one of my people named Tom, which I thought the people of your Earth could relate to.
My universe is very similar to the Earth you live in. However, I wanted to do something interesting with mine.
I wanted it to conduct an experiment of powerful positive thinking, so I made the rules simple: Anyone and everyone can have anything they want, which I call their “prize”, but there is a catch.
For every positive thought one has, they are awarded 5 poz-points. For every negative thought one has, they are awarded 1 neg-point.
If you go three days in a row with more poz-points than neg-points, you will receive a tool that you need for your prize. The amount of tools you must collect depends on the magnitude of the prize.
As long as a soul is able to keep their poz-points above their neg-points, they will feel happy and meaningful. They will have the strength to get through setbacks.
If they have more neg-points than poz-points, they will increase the number of tools needed to receive their prize. They will also feel more sad and meaningless when this occurs.
There are also millions of events and variances that can happen or certain things people can say to another person for an extra boost of points, either in the poz-points, neg-points, tools needed for the prize, or overall happiness. This adds a certain degree of randomness to the universe but also is designed to create karma.
None of the souls in my universe know of the rules, but I send natural messages to them to try and demonstrate the point.
Near the middle of the 53rd year of his life, aspiring stand-up comedian Tom had the following score:
POZ-POINTS: 0.5 million
NEG-POINTS: 2 million
HAPPINESS: 6/10
TOOLS NEEDED FOR THE PRIZE: 1
Tom was in the right place to make his break and create a career that would bring family and success into his life. However, he had a serious gambling addiction. He found that slot machines were a way to make him forget about the anxieties he felt about criticism, his self-doubt, and were a means of creating a sense of hope in his life. Tom heavily believed that one day he would make it big gambling, and would then be able to use that money to finance a more aggressive stand-up strategy in his career.
That’s right- Tom believed money was the thing that was in his way of success. If only he had this much amount of money, he would be able to advertise his YouTube channel, and create higher quality videos with celebrity guests.
Tom met a fellow struggling comedian, Jacob in a Gamblers Anonymous meeting. They both have only one remaining tool until they find what it is that will give them their break.
Here’s what they don’t know: the tool Tom needs is that he needs a friend who shares his goal. That’s his one remaining tool. Once he gets that, I will give him and his friend both a highly successful comedy career.
Jacob’s one remaining tool: He needs to move town.
He already is a seasoned comedian, but he is an area that nobody with real comedy authority lives is. He’s performing for the wrong crowds, and all he needs to do is move, and he will make it big.
After spending some time with Jacob, it appears that he and Tom are friends, but I know what’s really going on and can’t give Tom his prize yet: He is only hanging out with Jacob because he knows Jacob has opened for one of his hero comics. He thinks that if he spends enough time with Jacob, his hero will show up and give him his break.
Tom is using Jacob. He isn’t serious about the Gamblers Anonymous program, or his relationship with Jacob and is instead using the connection to try and make it big.
I see so much hope for Tom and want him to stop trying to find shortcuts and truly be himself.
But he keeps gambling. He decides he’d rather try to gamble than become a comedian. At first, he was rationalizing that this was how he would finance his career, now it was clear he just wanted to get rich quick, and no longer had the comedy dream. Jacob, who takes his gambling problem and Gamblers Anonymous very seriously, has no choice but to stop hanging out with Tom.
Tom stopped showing up to Gamblers Anonymous meetings, stopped performing at comedy clubs, quit his delivery job, and moved to Las Vegas.
I make sure there is a comedy club he didn’t know about near the hotel where he is staying. I put some people in his path to make it clear to him that they were looking for opener comedians, but he ignores the signs and continues studying slot machines- analyzing what he believes is the best way to play them to achieve maximum results. I put a female who needed a man, that matches his type perfectly on a slot machine next to him, but he doesn’t speak to her, only jerks off to her at his hotel room that night.
Tom developed a heroin habit after being offered it one time by a fellow gambler who saw he was losing. His happiness stayed at 0, and the tools he needed for his prize kept increasing and increasing. Every time he lost money gambling, he would be filled with self-hatred that made it impossible for him to even replace his “prize” with a prospering gambling career. His addiction problem ultimately ended his life at age 60.
I fear that Tom’s path may be emulated by people in your Earth. The tragedy of not keeping your eye on the prize- but instead wallowing in what you perceive around you. I don’t know the rules of your universe, but I know all Tom needed was self-love. He was rebelling in an effort to disguise his ignorance, his slothfulness, and his own self-hatred. He was trying to change the world when all he needed to do was change himself.