The Hallway and its Many Doors
There are many doors along the hallway. The hallway seems to have no ends. One might try to walk endlessly along, but no one has ever found the end of it. The hallway is of course full of people, who are entering and exiting the many doors along it. The doors are also countless. There are those who do not care about the hallway at all, and are determined to enter through the right doors. There are those quite confused about this whole business of entering and exiting, and walk along aimlessly, seemingly deciding what to do. What is even more strange is that no one knows how they first came to this hallway at all. All they could remember is the hallway, and the many doors along.
There are those who enter door after door, and found themselves in midst of more hallways. Some cunning people learned to build hallways themselves, and once they found a door which leads to utter emptiness, they build a new hallway. But the new hallways, of course, all have ends to them. No one could ever build the first hallway, which seems to stretch to infinity.
The doors have been given names by the people. Strange names they give. We do not understand their language, so it simply sounds like a bunch of gibberish to us. But to these names the people have given real importance. And many people begin to stand guard at the doors. They would question people, on which doors they have been to, and based on the door names, they would either allow or disallow entry. There are also people who allow or disallow exit. In this entering and exiting business the people are very motivated. Nobody seems to care why they are motivated, but since everyone is doing it, might as well stick along.
Sometimes, some people walk through many doors, and after a long journey end up in the first hallway, and they realize they must start everything again. Oh, and there are so many more people standing guard now. It breaks some people down, and they might become crazy. They couldn't face the loss, because it seemed to them they had this door business all under control. It makes some people question why they would walk through doors at all. But what other options are there? To not walk through doors? Then one end up with a hallway with no ending, and can walk eternally without any purpose, and that sounds, somehow, extremely terrifying to them.
Some people have come up with myths, that there is some place much greater than the doors and hallways. They say, enter this door, and it will lead you to that greater place. And many people, after suffering long journeys and finding no more doors that would interest them, pick these doors for the promised land. Then on they go again, entering and exiting doors. It is still the same.
So, we might ask, how can this tedious, meaningless activity of doors come to a stop? Is there anything other than the doors and hallways at all? If we go in there, and tell the people, please stop having so much fuss about the doors, their names, and guarding. Don't guard it. Don't make up rules about which ones are allowed and disallowed, or which ones are better or worse. Don't you want to be free? The people might look at us with utter shock, and think we are just the crazy ones who have given up living.
Cover photo by Aman Upadhyay on Unsplash
