B - 143

 

There are several well-worn paths within my thinking.  I always attempt to deviate, though not always with success.  Thinking seems to be my choice of adventure.  It combines all of life’s experiences, mountain climbing, scuba diving, camping in the desert, or hiking through the rain forest.  No matter what I have done or where I’ve gone, my memory has constructed a map.  More than a GPS, my map contains the feelings that go along with each adventure, the excitement, a little fear or concern.  It holds all aspects of travel, minus the expense and danger.

Whenever I reach the end of a path, I know that I have come to the farthest reaches of my knowledge or understanding.  Not unlike walking to the end of an old country road.  My shoes have gathered dirt and dust along the way, just as my body feels the stress and aches of having accomplished the journey, and yet I still want to know what comes next.  Why has this particular road ended?  What's just over there?

With space exploration my mind is nothing but dead ends.  How can there possibly be endlessness?  If there is an edge to the universe, then what is just on the other side of it?  Is there a long row of numbers going off in one direction, and an equally long row of letters heading off in a different direction?  Can we be simply standing on some massive, floating grid?

Of course, there would be lightyears between each number and letter.