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Fiction

The Returners from the Great Ocean

Ayat Aziz As-selwi tells of a deep quest.

Since the dawn of time, and at sparse intervals in the history of human consciousness, a few enlightened souls packed their bags and pierced through the fog, making their way toward the Great Ocean. There they witnessed its boundless expanse that no human eye could fully grasp, and washed themselves in its light. Soon, they were filled with longing and mercy for their own people who had never seen the Ocean. The knowers truly wanted either to bring the Ocean to humanity, which was impossible, or to bring humanity to the Ocean, which was also impossible. The path to the Ocean is neither smooth nor paved. Rather, it’s a desolate road filled with obstacles, horrors, and shadows. Anyone among humanity who dared to walk that path was considered cursed. Moreover, to the masses, the Ocean was nothing but a myth, and they believed that those who sought it would only bring back bad luck. Therefore, anyone who decided to strive toward it became an outcast, hated by all. It could even reach the point of murder if someone merely declared their desire to seek it, or if the secret signs of the ‘cursed ones’ began to show upon them.

In fact, none reached the Ocean except those chosen ones who heard the call echoing from its depths, endured the horrors, and faced dragons, serpents, and beasts to get there. But most of those who did find it did not want to dwell there alone; they wished to return to their people with a proof of the Ocean and its wonders. So some of them filled a bucket or whatever was light enough to carry with water, placed a creature or two inside, and turned back toward their lands. Their eyes were overflowing with light, and their hearts were flying with anticipation to return to the Great Ocean –but this time, not alone. That light illuminated the path of the returning knowers.

The Factions

The people divided into two factions in terms of how they received the returners:

The first faction chose to mock the returners, distort their truth, invent lies about them, and ultimately, to kill them. They poured out the water, with everything inside it, into dark holes. The elite and their priests – who claimed to know everything – could not bear to appear ignorant before the public, or to admit that the Ocean they had previously denied actually existed, and they were followed blindly by their servants, who neither thought nor acted except by the command of their masters.

The second faction welcomed the returners. They looked in amazement at the strange creatures or wondrous fish swimming inside the buckets and jars. The returners themselves hoped that their containers would serve as a proof and a guide to inspire other people to journey toward the Ocean. However, humanity, following its usual regression, built a sacred temple for the Bucket itself. Then they began to mock every free soul that decided to journey beyond the mountains, saying: “Where do you think you’re going? The Ocean is inside the Bucket! Your striving beyond the mountains is nothing but chasing after emptiness and a mirage!”

Among the returners were also those who were seduced by the glitter of power and status. When such a knower saw the ignorance and helplessness of his people he did not spill the water, nor did he leave his vessel to the public: instead, he appointed himself as the guardian of the water, monopolizing the secrets of the Ocean to ensure everyone’s submission. Thus a knower turned himself into a High Priest.

Centuries passed after centuries. The fish and other sea creatures died and turned into myth in the collective memory. The water in the vessels dried up. Yet, the empty wooden Bucket remained sacred and worshipped. Quite opposite to what the wise had hoped for, people worshipped the guide and abandoned the destination. Touching the Bucket became a sin, and doubting its source was considered blasphemy. These people convinced themselves that this ancient wooden vessel was the Great Ocean itself; and some of them, the entire universe! To them, it became foolish to think about the Ocean when they already possessed the Bucket.

The Fierce Battle of the Buckets

Every returner group believed it possessed the infinite Ocean inside its own Bucket, and that the ancient Bucket resting in their temple made them the chosen nation of the Ocean. Fierce and savage wars broke out between the owners of different Buckets, each group believing that the Ocean was theirs alone. Some said that the (long gone) fish were blue, others said they were red. Some claimed the fish had many arms, others said they looked like a star. Some said they were very small. This happened because the returners had carried different creatures from the vast sea.

Savage battles raged for centuries, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake, such that all paths leading to the Ocean were lost or abandoned, except by those who woke in the middle of the night to journey toward the faint call coming from the deep. These night travellers, walking in darkness toward the vast, limitless Ocean, are seen as fools and madmen in the eyes of the masses. Yet, light shines within their hearts, the voice calls out to them, and they fear neither the darkness, nor the beasts, nor the loneliness. When will people realize that the Ocean is not the Bucket, and that the best of them is the one who never ignored the Ocean’s call, and who never feared the journey toward it?

Ayat Aziz is a physics student from Yemen with a passion for philosophy and philosophical literature.