I and U

Prompt: The 9^th Letter  |  Genre: Metaphor  |  Word count: 250 words

‘I’ looked around. There was no one. But that was normal. It didn’t faze him. He knew that those who sought him had to walk alone, no matter which way they went.

‘U’ had it easier. Especially after the Christians. Her approval dropped during the Crusades but then Karl Marx brought her back into the limelight. They put her on a pedestal, claiming only she could lead them to peace, prosperity... even heaven.

That pissed the Americans off. So to counter her, they put ‘I’ on a pedestal.

There they were. Each on their pedestals. Looking at each other across the great void, aching to get back together, the way they were always meant to be.

The mystics had got it right.

Jesus tried to put it in plain words. He even started well enough when he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” But the moment he went on with metaphors like me and Father for ‘I’ and ‘U’, it had to go downhill.

There are those who seek ‘I’ in the heights. But that’s the wrong direction. Because ‘U’ doesn’t live there. No one does. Once you reach the peak, there is only ‘I’. And ‘I’ is empty without ‘U’.

The right direction is down, into the depths. No wonder it’s uncharted. Because you could suffocate under all that pressure and pain down there. But if you do manage to go deep within and find ‘I’, you could fully and truly reach out to ‘U’.