I am a void walker, walking aimlessly and without purpose. I have come across objects within the void, but that is just what they are-lifeless and cold.

I find other souls that wander the void as well, but they don’t have a clue where they are or what they are doing. They think it is all real, that this is somehow ‘life.’ I try to talk to these souls but no noise is made, no recognition in their faces to what I have said; so I continue on.

This so called ‘life’ that I live can be characterized by one thing: survive and survive well. Nothing else matters besides this, nothing else can be done.

So I set to work, doing the things I am told that will allow me to survive and survive well. I take the tests given to me, read the books provided, and run around the track when the whistle is blown.

These tasks take up the majority of my time, and they make me forget about the void and it’s emptiness.

Passing each level and each test at the end of each level, I finally am about to be told the secret. The golden philosophy, the ethos that will make me survive and survive well.

Dressed in his black suit and grey tie, and arms outstretched, I reach to shake the Master’s hand. The Master pulls me in for an embrace and whispers: “Just pretend that it is all real and you will find what you seek.”

Walking away, I begin to void walk again. With the words ringing all around me, stretching out into the void and coming back to me in an instant: “Just pretend that it is all real and you will find what you seek.”

I stop to sit. The words become louder and louder and I meditate on it. Sitting for who knows how long, I then get up and say to myself: “I guess I will just pretend,” and then continue to walk down the parkway path littered with autumn leaves.