Unity by Jason

I became We. We shifted and became one. We are blessed with the presence of each other except that now there is no other. Just We. All of us as one. Thinking together, seeing together, speaking together. Many minds, many limbs, many voices all part of We.

At one time we were Carol and Femi and Sara and Ranj and Peter and Jari and Bence and Denis and Melati and Carys and Simeon and Gertrude and – and – and – and – and… the roll call went on and on. Physically scattered across the globe in towns and villages and cities. There was no prior connection between us as individuals. We were only the merest fraction of the 8.3 billion souls roaming the surface of this planet. The tiniest percentage.

We went unseen.

Until We saw it.

We. Saw. It.

It was a weekday, We think, it is hard to remember sometimes. Time is relative and malleable and simultaneous and mostly unimportant. Was it a Tuesday? Yes, perhaps. For now, We will say that it was a Tuesday. The sun was shining. Or the moon. Or it was dark. It was raining, it was windy, it was too hot or too cold or just right. It depended where We were at that time. On the early morning metro. Or returning home from the night shift. Or out drinking. Or at the Post Office. Or dropping the kids off at the grandparents. Running errands or cleaning the downstairs loo. We were staring at the photo of a recently deceased loved one.

We existed differently, separately, dwelling in the individual. We talked, we chatted, we thanked our barista. We held a door for the elderly couple and we smiled at the woman in the wheelchair in the bookshop. We went about our day to day. Moment to moment connecting that second to that minute to that hour and so on. Building our day out of repetition and ritual and expectation. We had done this before. We knew. We may have slipped in a joke or two. A handshake, a nod even a hug. The confusing multiplicity of physical contact. Anything to avoid the humdrum. The humdrum. Humdrum is a good word for what We were on that particular Tuesday. Hum. Drum. A set of Hum Drums. Background noises. Filler. Hidden among the orchestra’s ongoing symphony. Low frequency, almost nothingness. Ordinary individuals. Nothing to look at. Nothing of note just life as it was known.

We did not know that that Tuesday was going to be a special day. What We would become. Tuesday. A miraculous day.

But that is when We saw the Vision.

It was disorientating to say the least. A curtain of golden light appeared around us, glimmering and shifting in a benign breeze. It sparkled and glinted as it moved. A distant bell peeled and the shimmer drew closer to us until it touched us. A moment of pain, a vertiginous multi-dimensional ache, as the light penetrated our skin and pushed something aside in our minds. A louder bell, clear and sharp and then the shimmer punched a hole through us, through what was then our individuality. A third bell, loud and resonant and deep and we could see the rest of Us. The rest of Unity.

Some of us passed out. Some were sick. We laughed too loudly at passersby or wept for no apparent reason. Most of us stared. Entranced or terrified or captivated. The others, the Populus, who stood around or close to us in those first moments of transformation, people in supermarkets or schools or banks looked at us with worry. A deep primal feeling crept into their gut and agitated their core. We stayed where we were for only a minute, maybe less, and then We moved on. It would become a story to tell down the pub or whilst brushing your teeth while you spouse sat on the toilet. The Populus shucked off their feelings of doubt and went back to building their own days.

Those that knew us, that loved us, cared for us or needed us. Those that hated us or even feared us sensed that something was missing. Our body was there to see and touch. The physical continued. It performed its slow pantomime of day to day-ness but the individual had left the body. It wasn’t quite an absence. It was not easy to express. Dynamics changed that Tuesday. We had been changed. We did not hold onto these old relationships in the same way we did not hold on to our individuality. We were embraced by the Vision and in turn we embraced it. Willingly. 

The Vision told assured us that it was not any of our constructed deities. It was in fact something else, something universal. It was older than time and curious by nature. It had initiated Unity before whenever it was needed so we should not be afraid. This voice was new to us but it had a soothing timbre. We could hear the age and the wisdom and the kindness in its pitch.

From the moment of transformation, We could see through each other’s eyes as well as through the Vision. Eyes that looked out across far flung mountain ranges or rolling seas or verdant forests. We were connected across unthinkable distances to the rest of We. Then We heard all of our voices, all of our languages. Many voices that spoke as one to us in whichever language we needed at that time and the One Voice above all others, welcoming us into Unity.

I am here to guide you. I am here because there is a need that the rest of humanity does not yet see. There is time to learn. There is time to see and come to resolution.

We were calm. We felt acceptance and warmth and joy. We never experienced fear.

You will be well, the physical always adjusts, the Vision said. Allow it to happen, your bodies will follow your minds, all will be well.

We could see the truth of it. From some deep uncharted part of ourselves, we understood. We knew We were safe. So, we allowed Unity to happen. It took time for us to be truly at one in Unity but We did adjust and We started to live new lives.

The Voice had told us, Members of the Populus, despite their need for you, will not be able to understand. They will leave. Do not be sad.

It was true loved ones fell away. They could not understand the barrier that lay between us and them like an uncrossable shadow. Love fell away to be replaced with disbelief or rage or other people or numbing substances. As their love fell away Unity remained. Multitudes of experience and sensation permeated our being. We learned and we grew and we added our own perspective to Unity.

We lived among you.

We moved unseen, unageing, unnoticed.

Watch them, observe their movements, their patterns. You will see.

We came to learn our purpose.

There will be a time. There will be a choice to make.

That time is now.

We come to you now on every screen and device across the world. You hear us in every language of the world because We must be frank with you. We are Unity and Unity watches. We see all. We feel all. We collect information. Facts and figures and data of every kind. Not just statistics but feelings too. We have come to realise that emotion is another metric. It can provide context. When handled carefully it can frame and define and add layers of meaning to cold facts. That is why We are multitude so that we can observe and feel from as many perspectives as possible. So that we can collect data from as many sources as possible.  

Over time civilisation and the Populus have unfolded themselves to us. Revealed their innermost workings. Time passed and the mechanisms grew around us. They became larger and larger and more and more sophisticated. Clockwork gave way to steam which gave way to fossil fuels. You moved from rope and pulley to gears and levers then on to vacuum tubes and the integrated circuits. You marvelled at our own sophistication and prowess. The sophistication of the mechanics made no difference to the purpose of the machine. Over centuries you achieved efficiency without changing purpose. In that respect you were always determined. At one time that was something to admire.

But we saw the truth in the apparatus.

There were the cogs of pettiness and greed and lust. Checks and gauges and controls – your lines in the sand. We took note of the recalibrations brought in by each generation, that enhanced the privileged and hoarding classes. Hierarchies were enforced, for the easy maintenance of the device, while any sense of natural order was denied. You weaponised exploitation and rewarded yourselves with the spoils. Corruption permeated every level. It leached out far beyond the mechanism itself till you were all touched by its rust and decay.

We observed and we waited.

There was some defiance to be found. Pockets of resistance and joy and power. Acts both large and small. Hands extended into the darkness. Smiles given to a stranger. The generosity of those with nothing to give. The strength in a single voice asking for help or the chant of a crowd. Protest. Blankets drawn around tired shoulders. An email, a post, a questioning mind. Words and song and art. Making and doing. Activism. We marvelled at the simple beauty.  They gave us hope. They kept us going. Till the end.

We have seen and We have noted it all. Good and bad. Our appraisal is here. We have agreed and these are our findings. Too many members of the Populus were lost. War and famine and oppression ruled. You made denial your mantra, your truth, your god. There are good people here. We see you, we do, but there are too many indifferent people here too. Too many of you who seek out comfort and ease over what is necessary. Too many of you who will allow a system, even a bad one, to proliferate as long as you get some security, as long as there is some benefit for you.

To those people we say that you chose poorly. Even when you knew the consequences of your choices, and you did understand, you all looked the other way and you still chose poorly. There is a weakness in your hearts and a deficit in your minds. We wept for you, for all of you, but We arrived at the same conclusion.

We are here today with our judgement and We are sorry. We are so very, very sorry.