We live in a tangible world, not a vacuum. Eight billion of us. Nigh on ten. It is a world with priorities often different from our own, situations we often do not comprehend, forces we often do not control, with boundaries as arbitrary as snowdrifts at the edge of every new summer breeze. Each of us, gripped as we are by a panoply of desires with fleeting rewards, feel we are doing our level best to get through better than we entered.
How are you doing?
We have been at similar junctures before. On occasions we opted to perform a unique thought experiment dubbed Eden. We imagined ourselves the first human being at the dawn of time, there presented with a certain set of fixed conditions. We would make a decision, take an action, and visualize the outcome. And through that exercise discover ourselves newly enlightened.
This time around we've made a unique adjustment to this thought experiment, and have dubbed this one, EDENAI.
Are you ready?
You will need the following:
- a clear mind
- a pad to record your decisions and actions
- a sober heart (head?) - okay, guts may come in handy.
(If you are not ready, we recommend you skip and return at an appropriate time.)
EDENAI
Day One
You just awoke with the full realization that you are the first and only human on earth. You have your full capacity, your intelligence, your capabilities; you are just as you know yourself to be. No doubt about it. But you are the first and only human here.
The world you occupy is just as you know it to be, equipped with every amenity, every capability, everything as you are aware exists today - this very day - created by whatever miracle makes such things possible - yet you are the first human on earth and there is no backwardness in time. Repeat: this world (your world) is exactly as you know it to be. Again: you are the only human on earth. You can do whatever you want, using any capability or capacity that exists - as is today!
You just awoke.
a) what is your next move?
b) why are you making this move?
c) make your move!
d) what happens now?
e) your first evening has arrived: what was your first day like; what did you achieve?
Day Two
a) what is your first move?
b) why are you making this move?
c) make your move!
d) what is your mission in life? (make a record of it)
e) your second evening has arrived: what did you achieve?
Day Eight
You awoke to the news that seven humans (by whatever miracle that is possible) have emerged on earth in every whit a similar manner as you arrived (all of their faculites completely in tact), each fully aware that there are eight human beings in existence on earth.
a) what will you do now?
b) why will you do that?
c) take your action!
d) what did you achieve in these eight days?
d) describe your calendar so far?
e) has your mission changed (if so, how? if not, why not?)
One Month Later
On this your thirty-second day you awake to find earth is occupied as it is right at this moment - nigh on 8 billion people doing exactly what they are doing right this very second.
a) what are you about to do now?
b) why?
c) take your action.
d) has your mission changed (if so, how? if not, why not?)
What have you accomplished in the last thirty-two days? What difference did that make?
Informative
"Isn't it amazing what a boy with a slingshot, a few pebbles, a good brain, and an unconquerable will can do? This is the question a missionary posed to our Sunday School class years later. That night, however, on that box, mommy's eyes and teeth flashed under the starlight and I felt her breath as this story bounced and swirled from her like an expertly tossed yoyo, and this time, David's triumph over Goliath informed me in a very different way." What did the people see?
[ ILICET - A Time To Begin Again ]
ILICET - A Time To Begin Again (True Story) 
