The Farm on Mars

Everyday I try to figure out different ways to explain the predicament humans are actually facing with respect to God/reality.

I’m gonna try it this way today…

We’ll call this: The Farm on Mars…

There was this farmer who moved his relatively large family to a newly terraformed Mars. This guy had a rack of kids; I mean, dozens — north of 30, from multiple marriages and past relationships.

They all moved there with him to help tend to the crops and livestock. Because the farmer undertook this bold and dangerous mission, the global governments decided to compensate the farmer well; and as such, the farmer was able to buy many nice things for his children, for them to enjoy while they were there on the planet…

The farm they moved onto was a self-sustaining system. As long as it was properly tended to, the effects of the system would gradually stabilize the terraforming effect on and for the rest of the planet.

The farmer’s family was the largest family on the planet, however, there were a few other families there with them. Everyone lived in one huge mansion, almost like a luxury apartment building. That structure, along with several hundred acres of farmland, was encased in a protective dome and was basically the only habitable place on the planet to that point.

About three months in, the farmer starts noticing that crops keep coming up short and that livestock are dying and not being properly tended to. He looks at the monitors and sees almost no one is in the fields or tending to the livestock. He then starts cutting on all the cameras around the grounds.

To his dismay, he finds most of his kids behind a group of barns on the far side of the field. They’re all heavily invested in this huge roleplaying game that’s being augmented by VR headsets. He watches them do this for about a week before sending his elder son to go fetch them.

The farmer gives the son a package and a list of instructions, and sends him to go meet his siblings…

The son gets in his shuttle, and after about a half hour reaches the spot where his siblings are.

Apparently his siblings had become so enveloped in this game that they simply couldn’t divorce themselves from it, or focus above, beyond or in spite of it.

Son to Siblings: “Guys! What the hell are you doing?”

Siblings: “We’re living our best life! What the hell are you doing?”

Son: “Dad sent me here to get you. He’s been watching you and this game you guys have been playing.”

Siblings: “This isn’t a game! This is REAL LIFE, you arrogant jackass!”

Son: “Actually it’s just a game. Y’all have real work to do out here in the real world, and your workloads have been significantly increased by all your neglect and by all the damage you’ve caused to the farm and each other while playing this game. Dad gave me a list of things that need to be done before you get home tonight. We’d better get a move on because sunset is in just a few hours.”

Siblings: “There’s no such thing as dad! There’s no such thing as the farm either! We’re out here doing important work! This is the world we live in! In fact, who even gave you permission to speak to us? What status and rank do you hold in this game we’re playing?”

Son: “…you just said it wasn’t a game…”

Siblings: “Life is a stage and we’re all actors! Everything’s a game, and we’re out to win big!”

Son: “Oh my God, shut the fuck up all of you! We’ve got serious work to do guys! Cut the game off or stop it, or whatever you need to do, but let’s get to work…”

Siblings: “You’re just jealous because we’re important and you’re not! You’re mad because we outrank you in the game and you have no power in it at all!”

Son: “You do realize dad’s been watching you for a while now, right? He’s been watching you play this stupid little game, and hurt and torture each other, and hunt and kill the livestock, and damage crops in the REAL WORLD, because of this stupid thing you guys have been living out in IDEALISM. Your imaginations are not what create the reality of the circumstance we’re actually facing.”

Siblings: “Shut up and play our game or we’re not going to listen to you! We know how to make you suffer, asshole!”

Son: “You do realize that you’re still being watched, and that whatever happens to me is going to happen five times worse to you, right? Don’t let this game you’re playing get you fucked up in reality. You might be tough in your little game, but you’re not fit to see me in the real world.”

Siblings: “Just shut up! There’s no dad, no farm and our only obligations are to and within this game! We don’t have to listen to you!”

Son: “Here’s the deal guys… Either y’all start working to rectify all the damage you’ve caused to each other, the livestock and the farm, or dad’s going to strip you of all your possessions, including the clothes on your back, and kick you out of the house, off the farm, and even outside of the dome itself. He’s going to then use (and/or sell) everything he stripped from you in order to a hire new staff to help restore everything you’ve destroyed while playing your stupid little game.”

Defiant Sibling: “Don’t listen to him guys! I’m dad’s favorite! I’m the one who dad gave the real message to! Dad said that I’m more important than all the rest of you, and that means I should be in charge of the game and that all of you should make me feel special and more comfortable!”

Son: “Really dude? Okay… If dad actually gave you the message, then what does is say about how to fix the barn doors?”

Defiant Sibling: “Dad’s message just says I’m special and that I deserve more in the game than everybody else.”

Son: “Yeah… y’all need to ditch idealism and snap back to reality real quick, because you’re about to get fucked up in ways you can’t even imagine. What exists outside of this dome is sheer pain and terror. You’ll lose all mobility within a few seconds, and then, due to the fact that the planet’s already partially terraformed, you won’t even be able to die immediately. You’re just going to be hurting until you decay, which will take a very, very, very long time…”

Siblings: “If dad loves us, then why would he even do that to us!”

Son: “Because it’s NOT FUCKING ABOUT YOU, you arrogant little shits! This is a FUCKING SYSTEM. This system is tethered to other systems! If we don’t keep the right ratio of plant-life to livestock, then this self-contained system and everyone in it dies, and the terraform process on the entire planet reverses! You guys are going to get everybody killed because you don’t want to stop playing a goddamn game! Dad isn’t turning his back on you! You’ve turned your back on dad and all the rest of us, so that you can keep doing this stupid little thing that makes you feel special and important! Why should everyone and everything else die because you’re too stupid, mentally lazy and narcissistic to stop playing a game? If this is your way of thinking, then you’re a danger to everything in the system including yourselves! Your behavior is leading you down the path of death anyway! Dad cutting you off and preventing you from dragging everyone else down with you isn’t cruelty on his part. It’s conscientiousness for the fact that you are not EVERYTHING! Dad doesn’t WANT to kick you out, which is why he sent me to help you get things in order!”

Siblings: “If dad really loves us, shouldn’t he make everything easier for us then?”

Son: “Dad isn’t hurting you. YOU’RE the one hurting yourselves and hurting everything around you. Get your shit together or get fucked up. Those are your only options…”