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pels the ship across the ocean. Since the natives have never been to a movie theater, swam in a pool, used a bowling alley, eaten in dining rooms or seen an engine, they are totally befuddled.
So the civilized person breaks down those concepts using further analogies; he likens a movie theater to a play that the natives perform during special occasions, the pool to a tiny drop of water that he places on the leaf floating in the bowl, a bowling alley to a place where the passengers play games such as the natives sometimes play, a dining room to a huge hut where hundreds of people gather to eat, an engine to the mill in which the natives grind their seeds.
In this way the modern visitor gives the Urps a very limited idea of the ocean and the ocean liner. What he describes is far from the reality but it is the closest the natives can come within their conceptual framework. Even among the Urps, there are differing levels of understanding. Those without much imagination only see the bowl and the leaf and cannot comprehend how thousands of people can fit on it, much less perform a play, play games, eat and grind seeds on it. Even those with greater imagination are able to imagine only a very huge earthen bowl filled with water upon which floats a very large leaf and on which is a smaller bowl of water, a shack in which to have skits, some room for playing games, a place to eat and mill for grinding seeds. It's nothing close to an ocean and a real transoceanic liner.
Without having experienced anything similar to an ocean, whether it's a lake or a large river, they are simply unable to imagine the depth and vastness of an ocean. Without knowledge of boats, they cannot comprehend a ship. It is simply beyond the range of their experiences. But what the visitor has done is to give the Urps the idea that there is much more to the world than their small corner of it. That there are people, machines, systems, ideas and natural wonders that they can experience by going beyond their horizons. The minds of the Urps have opened up to a new reality. When the time comes when the visitor departs, a few brave Urps want to go with him.
***
We are the Urps in our small corner of the universe. The Visitor comes in many forms and can be a thing or person. Unlike the story, he may not be easily identifiable as such. It is the avenue of knowledge and wisdom that streams out from the Creator and penetrates into our personal and collective souls. It can be a book, a person, a song, and/or a picture. The messages and stories are all around us, we only need to open our eyes, ears and our hearts, and use our imagination to see beyond the material. And if we can trace the path he took, we, too can go to those lands from where he came. When we do, we will find a universe filled with creatures way beyond our present comprehension.
Could this be true, or just a fantasy? Are we but isolated creatures in an otherwise thriving and populated universe, or are we alone in the vast expanse of the cosmos? Are we to work out the mysteries of life by ourselves or are there others out there, possibly a universal family of creatures - material and spiritual with whom we can associate? And…is it possible? Can we really live forever?
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