An Unorthodox Welcome to the VAT
aka the Vomit of Astute Troglodytes
“Enlightenment must come little by little — otherwise, it would overwhelm.”
-Idries Shah
You awaken in an unfamiliar place. Well, not exactly unfamiliar. All your surroundings are the same except for one element — the air.
You can’t quite put your finger on it, but there’s something different about the air. It’s not until you let your eyes adjust and focus that you see it. The air is filled with tiny streams of words flowing through it.
Wait. No, these aren’t just words.
These are questions.
Intrigued, you try to take a closer look only to realize the closer you get, the quicker the questions zip away.
From the few words you catch, you gather something even more remarkable.
What you’re seeing is not just a slew of random inquiries. No, these are the big questions. Life’s most complex.
Confused, you pick a stream of questions and follow it back to its source — the head of some random person. A quick scan of the area reveals many people with similar streams flowing from them.
But where do they all lead?
You decide to follow the streams.
The task feels impossible at first because the streams are mostly flowing aimlessly. Suddenly, you notice them pick up the pace in a more direct path as if sucked in by some unseen force.
You follow them until you reach an ominous freakishly large basin in the middle of nowhere. Standing at its edge and peering inside, you are surprised to find a pool of more words. But there’s a distinct difference between these words and the questions you’ve been following.
These aren’t the questions.
These are the answers.
A strange sound like that of someone retching breaks your gaze. You look up to find a man standing across the basin at its opposite edge.
There’s nothing special about this man. Nothing about his appearance shows notes of brilliance or even anything over a high school education. He’s dressed as if he’s comfy at home with nowhere to be. And his demeanor gave no hint of wealth.
He was as average as they come. Yet, looking closer, you realize all the streams of life’s greatest questions flying overhead are flowing directly into this man’s head. Then, perhaps overloaded by the plague of inquiries, the man analyzes them and doubles over, spewing the answers into the basin.
Your gaze falls back to the tempting pool of answers below you lying just out of reach. You try to lean further in on the tip of a single toe to catch a glimpse of anything you can but to no avail. If you go any further you could fall in and, at this depth, there’s a risk of no return.
Now you have a choice to make.
Do you let yourself fall into a bottomless reservoir of an average man’s enlightenment?
Or do you walk away?
This is the VAT and you’re standing at its edge.
Shall we dive in?
