The desert walker
A man is walking alone in the desert. As the scorching sun burns his skin, his sweat fails to cool him, and eventually fails to come out at all. His hands are filled with holes, and as he tries to protect his eyes from the sun, he fails and they burn. In the distance he half-sees a pool of water, he walks to it and tries to scoop it, but it spills. His feet now fail him, he stumbles and eventually falls.
Every so often a stray soul passes by his lying body. This soul is not naive, it came to the desert prepared. It knows the desert offers no value and is dangerous, so it is only here by necessity and for a short period of time. When they talk, the man says, “I can build a tower in this desert. It will be tall and sturdy, and it will provide shade from the sun. The wind will enter it and cool it, and those inside will be refreshed. From the underground depths, endless waters will stream up, and it will quench everyone’s thirst. Life will bloom from it and all around it, and the desert will be turned into a paradise.”
The stray soul invariably believes the man deluded, and tries to help him off the desert, into a nearby settlement. But the man is resolute, he will not leave. He says he must keep walking, until he builds his desert tower. And so the stray soul leaves, leaving the man to die.
What kind of soul would listen to this deluded man, believe his words, and agree to help him build his tower? Such a soul would doom themselves to have their skin and eyes burned, their hands filled with holes, their thirst unquenched, their feet unresponsive. They would doom themselves to a slow, painful death. No such soul exists, and no such soul will ever exist.
Those who believe in the uncommon, who see the unseeable, must by necessity be alone. For if their beliefs and visions were easily understood by stray souls, they wouldn’t be valuable beliefs nor visions. The desert walkers must carry the burden of their uncommonality alone. Trying to share this burden can only result in denial, as stray souls often already do, or it can result in acceptance.
But acceptance is a profound rape. The stray soul who accepts this sharing sacrifices their commonality, as to accept this sharing, they have to agree to have their perceptions violated, their truths questioned, their body broken, their will tested, they have to agree to be raped and to enjoy it. And they have to agree to this for a vision they cannot see. Such souls have to engage in the ultimate act of faith, an act of faith even stronger and more deluded than the walker’s. No such soul exists, and no such soul will ever exist, therefore the walker must walk alone.
There are many desert walkers. Each believes he can build his own tower, each is irreparably damaged by nature, each rejects help from stray souls, each keeps walking until his tower is built. Most of them will stumble, fall, and never get up again. But some will build their improbable desert towers, and they will bring about paradise.