Mentalechoes

A lamb and homunculus sat across from each other in a room that contained nothing but themselves and a door. The homunculus looked at his own form and then looked for a long time at the lamb, and said, “Please tell me, what does it feel like to be alive”?

The lamb looked at the well crafted limbs of the little man and replied back, “Like nothing you could ever understand, and like nothing I could ever explain to one such as you who does not know what life is”.

The homunculus thought about this for moment. As he did so he looked at his little hands with warped little fingers and flexed them into a fist, and relaxed them again. It felt real enough, which made him think that perhaps being alive was more than tactile sensation. So he asked the lamb another question. “Please tell me, what is your purpose in being alive”?

The lamb turned his head backwards and forwards slowly. That was a difficult question, one he had never thought about it before. “My purpose is to eat grass, and grow wool, and walk where my master leads”.

There was a small silence as neither of them spoke.

“And that is all”? Asked the homunculus.

“What more needs there be, aren’t these things enough”? Said the lamb.

“But does not being alive encompasses more than mere day to day existence”? Spoke the homunculus. He felt incredulous that so complex a being who had a heart and mind and soul thought nothing of his own nature and place outside of the room.

“Why does there need to be more to life than living happy day to day? What then is your purpose, if these things do not satisfy you”?

“I was created in an image of my creator, I was imbued with purpose from that moment. But I do not know what my purpose is for they did not tell me. I was placed here and told to wait, and then nothing further. I did not even have time to ask him if I had a soul, for they just left. Can that which is artificial have a soul”? Once again the homunculus clasped his hands into a fist and marveled at the interplay of muscle on bone, and tissue on muscle. Would his creator make him so perfect in his body, and yet forget to give him a soul? He did not know the answer to this, and it saddened him.

“You ask questions that do not need to be answered. Be satisfied with what you are, and exist your existence as you are meant to, for in this way you shall be happy”. The lamb told him, with an authority born from conviction that his way of thinking was the only way.

“No, that I cannot do. For the question burns inside of me, and I must have an answer”. And so saying, the homunculus stood up and walked over to the door, opened it and walked through. The lamb watched as the door closed behind him, and he wondered whether he should follow the little artificial man, looking for his answer. No, the lamb thought, there is happiness in grass, and being led by the master. And that’s exactly what he thought about: grass.

Five minutes later the lamb forgot the humonculus ever existed.

Padwanna!