a poem in paragraphs

Non-philosophy: there was a single point of dense energy. It spread as heat dissipated and lumps formed due to uneven cooling over time. One of the lumps, that we know of, was far enough—but not too far—from a glowing star. It was wet enough to grow mold.

The mold grew unchecked and changed as stones from the heavens—carrying minerals—showered over many revolutions. Some mold slithered, others walked, but only one spoke. It saw meaning and relationships among the stones, the other mold, timed movement, and prayed to the heavens to avoid death. For it knew it was going to die like all the other mold. It’s meaning-making-machine could not compute a consistent relationship for all that it knew. For it did not realize knowing, truly knowing, anything was impossible. Because all the mold was doing was arbitrarily synching symbols and patterns to refer to how it “felt”. Its feelings had only one function, well two in fact—process new knowledge and have a relationship with itself and all the other molds. Alas, this was selected by nature through a combination of molecules that were activated for a priori goals set by life that powered all mold.

With a knack for forgetting what it learnt, the mold continued to grapple with philosophies and non-philosophies hoping that some semblance of a cosmic sense must be out there. It cannot say this for sure. There was no clockwork. There are no patterns except what the meaning-making-machine impressed upon all the “knowing” it thought it did.

The mold proclaimed in despair: “There is an internal consistency, yes. But we will never know if this is real. Well, this is a prison we can never escape and it is truly the second level of hell.”

The mold created causes to fight for. Raped, killed, and tortured other mold to feel more powerful. Collected trophies of the mold that did not speak. Nothing seemed enough to transcend its prison.

And then it found a window through an easel, which was really the first true mirror that reflected the room in which the mold stood hunched.

The end. 😁