Finding Profound Wisdom in Fiction

I never hide the intensity with which I have always read science fiction and fantasy. After all, I’ve been a voracious reader since I was ten years old. I’ve slowed down some lately, so I’m not consuming a novel a week like I was when I was in school, or regularly commuting by train but I still read at what I’m sure most others would consider a ridiculous pace.

When I was much younger, I was a subscriber to what was known as the Science Fiction Book Club (SFBC). It was a subscription service which published special hardcover editions of science fiction and fantasy works. You were required to purchase a certain minimum number of books per year in order to continue using the service. Every month, there would be a new monthly catalog. This catalog listed the two “headliner” books for the month (which would be sent by default unless you explicitly canceled / rejected them) as well as a large list of a lot of other books (including anthologies or short omnibus versions) you could order – either additionally or as replacements for the headliners. Honestly, the large majority of my hardcover library is, indeed, composed of the SFBC editions of books.

For that matter, I wound up discovering some of my favorite authors by being intrigued by either a headliner book or something else featured in the catalog. Listing just a couple, these include L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (The Fires of Paratime – later retitled The Timegod), Guy Gavriel Kay (The Summer Tree – book #1 of The Fionavar Tapestry), and Dan Simmons (The Hyperion Cantos – omnibus of the first two, and then only, books in the series).

Hyperion / Endymion

It’s this last author and series I’ll be, sort of, talking about here. Years and years after I’d read the first “half” of the entire Hyperion saga (being Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion), I became aware Simmons had written another two books, taking place … “later”. These books, Endymion and The Rise of Endymion, moved onto my “find and read” personal list (before I was actively tracking such with anything). Eventually I ordered them and placed them on my “To-Be-Read” stack.

And when I got to them and started to read them … I was reminded (once again) of why I generally enjoy reading Simmons. And, indeed, before I’d gotten very far through the first book, I went out and (re)purchased the first two as paperbacks so I could reread them to “remind” myself of the initial part of the story.

Philosophy in the Mundane

I’m reasonably certain everyone, at one point or another in their lives, has run across the concept of “Finding Beauty in the Mundane” – either as a general approach to life or just by experiencing it.

About two-thirds of the way through the second (and final) book, I encountered what I can only describe as “Philosophy in the Mundane”. I had never before experienced (and certainly never expected to experience) encountering something which was quite as … world-view-altering … as a section (and the “punchline”) I read in The Rise of Endymion.

To … loosely … set the stage, there are two main characters, Aenea, who is a young woman basically sent into the past (her past, still our far distant future), and Raul Endymion, the “first-person protagonist” from the in-book present time, who has become her protector. I am glossing over massive levels of detail and plot-weaving here, but, functionally, she is a … new “prophet” / “Messiah” sent into the past to help guide humanity.

Allow me to excerpt the relevant philosophical section from the book. I’ll try to keep it tight to the “meaty” bits. The “I” referenced here is Raul Endymion

“Aenea.” I said softly, “are you the new messiah?”
I could not hear her sigh. “No, Raul. I never said I was a messiah. I never wanted to be a messiah. I’m just a tired young woman right now.”
…
Aenea chuckled. “I’m not the messiah, Raul. I was just chosen to be the One Who Teaches. And I’m trying to do it while … while I can.”
…
“All right,” I said, “but if you were the messiah, what would your message to humanity be?”
…
“When I was a kid … I mean a little kid, before I met you … and I knew that I’d have to go through some of this stuff … I was always wondering what message I was going to give humankind. Beyond the things I knew I’d have to teach, I mean. Something profound. Sort of a Sermon on the Mount.”
…
“So what message did you come up with?”
…
“I kept working on it,” she said at last, “trying to get it as short and important as the Sermon on the Mount. Then I realized that was no good – like Uncle Martin in his manic-poet period trying to outwrite Shakespeare – so I decided that my message would just be shorter.”
“How short?”
“I got my message down to thirty-five words. Too long. Then down to twenty-seven. Still too long. After a few years I had it down to ten. Still too long. Eventually I boiled it down to two words.”
“Two words?” I said. “Which two?”

The Rise of Endymion – Dan Simmons

Before I reveal what those fateful and profound two words are, I will make a little bet with you, dear reader. And my bet is how you will most likely “read” a word which isn’t there. I know I did at first and it was only after I delved deeper into the explanation when I was able to fully grasp the … utterly overwhelming nature of JUST TWO WORDS.

Choose Again

Now, if you’re like me, the word you most likely “read” – which isn’t there – is … “differently“.

Note – from here on, this gets into my interpretation and subsequent understanding of this whole thing

And that’s where everyone (myself included) goes “wrong”, at least at first. It’s not about choosing again! Live through choosing to live your life. If you’re comfortable with who you are and as you are, then you should be equally comfortable choosing to continue doing so.

Alternately, if you’re not, then … Choose again. Choose to go a different route or to change things.

But don’t just keep “living in the rut” because this is what you’ve been doing. Perhaps your “rut” is exactly where you do want to be. And if so, that’s also perfectly acceptable – to you. However, be willing to tell yourself that you’re making the choice to stay there, rather than change anything.

Ultimately, though, choose to be in your life, not just “letting it happen”.