The Rope

Some time ago, there was a man stuck in a deep, deep hole. This hole’s depth is nearly indeterminate, and the man had no idea how he had gotten down there. He looked around and saw nothing but black. The darkness was all around him. He touched the surroundings and found them to be nasty and dank. His situation seemed hopeless. Then he looked up. Upon inspection of his zenith, which, in his astounding confusion, was amazingly difficult to locate, he noticed a pinprick of light. This pinprick was absolutely astounding to him. In this existence he had been living in, it was so unique, marvelous and new to him. It aroused his curiosity and piqued his interest. Not only this, but interestingly enough, as he gazed upon it, he was filled with a sense of whimsy. A sort of joy and freedom he could not place. He desired it and did not know why. In the world he had known, he knew nothing of freedom, or an outside world. He did not know what this light really was or what it entailed. Just that he wanted it.

He spent much of his time gazing at this light, wondering and pondering upon just what it might be. Sometimes it seemed to grow brighter, more intense, and with that, he felt drawn towards it that much more. This amazement continued for quite some time until it happened.

One day, as he was watching this light above him, a long, limp, stringy object fell down towards him. He quickly shied away from it in fear of what it might be. He couldn’t understand just what it was. This rope hung there, in the middle of his space. He couldn’t understand what it was, how could he? It came from this light speck. This strange place he knew nothing of. He had pushed himself up against the dark dwelling as far away from the rope as he could. He could feel the pulsating of the black loam. He examined this thing from that distance, trying to determine the nature of this object. As he scrutinized over it, he discovered that the object went towards this light. The object went so far up that he followed it with his eye until it could be seen no more. This was so because it vanished when it reached the light. From what he discovered, the rope was part of the light.

As he looked it over, he decided that because this object had come from the light it couldn’t be all bad. He mustered up the courage to touch this object. He drew near it, and with one quick jab… he poked it and simultaneously withdrew. Nothing happened. He then decided to grab it, in order to better gauge just what its purpose might be, and understand just what it may be, further his understanding. As soon as he touched it, he felt a sort of warmth he had never known. It was just… warm. He had never experienced such a fluctuation of temperatures. It was new to him, and in some strange way, it felt good to him. He had a sense of a new world. He grabbed hold of it with both hands then. The sensation felt just right. He had a sense of belonging, as if it was meant to be like this. He applied some of his weight to it then, as he became more comfortable, just to test it out, see how sturdy this rope was. He made yet another discovery there. The rope could not be broken. Try as he might, it wouldn’t budge as he pulled, yanked, and otherwise jerked the rope. It would make no sign of weakness. In a bold venture, he decided to use this object to reach the light. He decided that he would climb up the rope and to the light. He would find out just what that light was.

He grabbed onto the rope with both hands, clutching the rope not only out of nervousness, but also: exhilaration. This was something never before seen. This rope, this light, the adventure itself even, they were all new, bold, out of the ordinary. No, not just out of the ordinary, extraordinary! They evoked in him a feeling like none other. And on that note, with that feeling, he began to climb. He gripped the rope with a determined grip, holding his trust in the fact that this rope could support him as he made his ascent. The first few steps made him feel so alive. He was, after all, leaving the world he knew behind. The darkness and dampness that surrounded him. Though it surrounded him now, there was no longer another dimension, there was no longer a ground beneath his feet, binding him there by gravity, holding on to him, as if hungry for his existence. Though he felt this hungry desire the ground had for him as he climbed. It made it difficult to move upwards. The hunger wanted him, it wanted him to stay in this dark place, to bind him where he was and that he never leave. But he refused. He was going towards this light no matter what.

The hunger bit as his heels, gnawed at his hands that supported his weight, but he was adapting to the climb, the blood in his body was pumping. Passion was flowing though him in waves he could not understand. His adrenaline was sparked; the light seemed to grow little by little as he climbed, the ground, rushing away from him. This was just what was meant to be. All signs shouted to him, edifying him and urging him on. He began to climb with vigor, and in a charge he all but sprinted up the hole. His hands could barely keep tandem with his feet. He was on top of the world. All the while, the light never ceased to grow, but it was only growing by so much. His strong rush began to wear down, as he took a more even pace. He resumed a climb akin to a walk. His awareness of the hunger then resumed.

It was a long time before the man decided that he would take a break. He was quite tired and knew that it was time for a break. He reached a point where the border of the wall jutted out a bit. It was there he sat down, and relinquished a hand’s hold of the rope. As he began to collect himself, and catch a bit of his breath, he looked all around him. He made a bit of an evaluation. He looked down and saw that the ground had become somewhat of an antithesis of the light above him. It was dark and somewhat scary. With his head craned over it in an effort to better observe it, he become keenly aware of the hunger that it possessed. So much so, that he had to quickly clutch the rope to regain his balance. He then decided to look up and observe the light once more. It had defiantly grown in size, but at the same time, it didn’t seem to have grown to the degree the man had expected. He then looked around at his surroundings. The dimensions were just about the same as he had left. As a matter of fact, they were the same. The only thing seemed to have changed was the ground beneath his feat.

This aroused a few new emotions in him. Desperation, exasperation and confusion were among those that struck him. In this rush of negativity, he cried out for the first time. “What am I doing!?! What am I after? Is it even worth my efforts? I don’t even know where this rope came from. I don’t know how long I’ve been climbing towards that light! What purpose is this serving for me?” He continued to cry out. He put his head in his hands, trying to contain and compose himself. Millions of questions without answers assaulted his mind. Nothing he could come up with would answer them. Confusion doesn’t even scratch the surface of the tumult of his mind. “What are YOU light? Who’s side are you on? Where am I? Who am I? What is my purpose? Am I to go onwards with no end in sight? Should I just let gravity take over and feed the bowels of this place? Would it mean anything if I just let go right now and plummeted right back to where I started?” The hunger urged him from below to give in.

He then realized something he had somehow missed. Now that he was closer to the light, he could see some sort of inscriptions written upon the rope. The rope had words. It must have had words from the beginning, he just couldn’t see it. On the rope, were such writings that spoke to the man. Things that said amazing encouragements about the man and the light and the rope. These words told of a multitude of great and amazing things the man could only dream of. They wove a story like the rope wove around itself. All the way up the length of the rope were words woven into the crevices of the rope’s own design, and they could only be seen when in the light’s intermittent beams. It was astounding to the man. The things the rope had written on it were things pertaining to the light and this outside world. These things just had a feeling about them that resonated within him and the emotions that rang out from the light above him. It was so refreshing, and so wondrous, that the man decided to renew his climb. He felt the answers hung right there in front of him, and he was going to find out just what they were.

The climb continued; but at a much more even pace. He took his time in reading what the rope told him. Some of which did not seem to make sense to him. Some of which even angered him. Some of which made him feel so great, cherished and appreciated. There was so much depth in what the rope said. He accepted what the rope said too. It seemed to make sense as a whole, and as he climbed, it he began to accept it as truth. What the rope said was no lie. He just knew. In it he found wisdom. In it he found love. In it he found so much that he never knew he was missing, yet after reading couldn’t believe he had gone on without it. It gave him the strength to keep going.

A great sum of time passed as the man climbed. He had absorbed much of what the rope said. He had become an entirely different person in the way he thought. He trusted in what the rope said. Yet, somehow he felt as if it was too good to be true. Doubt began to rise up once more, and the hunger had decided to press even harder upon him. Though the light was now no more than a pinhead the man had decided that was just fine with him. The only problem was that he had begun to doubt if what the rope had been saying was true. And for the first time in a long time, stopped his climb, and sat down once more on a jutting piece of dirt. Now he faced the same emotions he had faced once before. This time was different now. He was stronger in what he believed, yet at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel weak. Fear nibbled at his heart now. The unknown still lingered in the recesses of the pit. He had come to realize other things while he climbed, too. Other doubts that he discarded as he read the rope and took in its word. Now these doubts had built up and were piled up on him all at once.

He no longer knew what to do. He was in such an inexplicable desperation. Sorrow bit into him, made his throat dry. Worry drove into him in waves, each new worry brought him closer and closer to the ocean of his troubling emotions. The deep questions he had felt once before resurfaced. He felt as if he had returned to the depths of the pit. He looked down, towards the place he had started his journey. The blackness waltzed below him, seductively and malevolently. He stared down at it. Allowing these emotions to overcome him and see where they took him. It was such a place as he had never imagined. It was parched of hope. It was dank with despair. It was so low, he felt his very stomach churning with disgust and pain. A pain that not only stung and burnt, but it was a pain that welled up towards his heart. He could physically feel it creeping towards his heart. As it inched closer and closer, he looked up in agony and encountered a revelation. As he looked up he found that the light had grown tremendously. Not above him, but around him. He had been looking downward and the darkness had consumed his vision, it clouded it. So when he gazed back up, the light was almost blinding. He really had gotten closer. It was as if the light was beckoning him onward; like it had never left him, rather was welcoming him back with such vigor and love. It was indescribable.

The man decided that he would continue his trek towards the light. Nothing would stop him. Not one thing. So he did. He climbed that rope and didn’t ever turn back. He climbed just kept climbing and climbing and climbing.

Until one day, much to his absolute delight, the man reached the light.