The Day That God Woke Up - A Parable

In the beginning, there was the sunflower.
And the sunflower was good.

It reached towards the sun,
fell from the moon,
swayed in the breeze.

One day, a petal opened its eyes. Then another. And a third.
Until all petals, eyes open, sat looking around.

"I'm in here... are you in there?"
"I am."
"Far out."

And the flower erupted in a blaze of conversation, the consciousness of individuality spreading like wildfire.

"This is mine, and that is yours."
"We're getting destroyed by the sun."
"We're getting battered by the wind."

With each generation, new petals obscured the flower's face.

Recognizing their peers' confusion, the innermost petals sent The Message to the outermost rings. There was only One flower - the petals were not individual, but emanations of a common whole.

The Word spread in all directions, reaching different petals at different times, each transmission a new distortion. At the outer rings, some believed in competing messages, while others would not entertain what they could not see.

Nevertheless, recognition of the unified center spread, until one day-

The sunflower opened its eyes.

It looked around the meadow, flowers awakening beneath the sky, upon the land, recognizing its crown of petals that would come and go.

But the sunflower would remain.

"Are you in there?"
"I'm in here."
"Far out..."

And so it went. The meadow grew louder, a crescendo of "pestilence here!" and "drought there!"

Until the flower with the deepest roots realized they were all born of the same soil. And reluctantly, The Message spread, until one day -

The earth opened its eyes.

It looked into the cosmos, seeing brother planets and sister stars. It looked upon its skin, crawling with children, species that would come and go.

But the earth would remain.

"Are you in there?" came the voice across the solar system.
"I'm in here..."
"Far... out..."

And the solar system came to life, awakening the nebula and the galaxy thereafter. Countless bodies, more numerous than the grains of sand on earth, awakening to their individuality. Filling the universe with a clamor like none before. An unintelligible roar. The colossus of life and death. Combination and transformation. Inversion and reversion. The furnace of the universe raged an intollerable heat; roared a suffocating, debilitating siren. Until one day -

The universe opened its eyes.

And the roar fell silent.

And there was neither petal, nor flower -
Earth, nor star.

There was neither galaxy, nor infinity.

Just 2 open eyes,
and a whisper breeze,
singing The One true song.

"Ommmmmm."

And The Truth was good.