I've always had a hard time deciding if I was a realist or an idealist. People always say it's easy to be the critic. To just sit on a throne of partial objectivity and wallow in cynicism, always forgetting that almost all things in this world are subjective.

Then there is idealism, or blind optimism as some would call it. But is it really blind? Ignorance is bliss certainly, but is it true ignorance? Are the idealists aware of the harsh reality of the universe and are just choosing to ignore it?

I've always had the idea of this graph in my head. A graph that compares overall intelligence and personal happiness. Now, I don't actually have any data to go off of, but I feel like it would be an upside-down bell curve. Where the absolutely stupid people are quite happy, such as very small children of the mentally challenged. Where they live in a bubble of their own ignorance, unaware of all the pain and suffering that goes on in this never-ending march of time.

Then, as the graph continues, one would see that as intelligence goes up, general happiness goes down. Most likely becoming more aware of how truly depressing our situation is. The complete knowledge of our own fragility and mortality as a species. The constant war, famine, pestilence and death that plague our various societies. The four horsemen that lead us inevitably to the apocalypse.

However, as depressing as this all seems...in my head, the imaginary data would curve. As the intelligence level rose even higher, the happiness would as well. Why might you ask? Well, I believe that it would simply be due to the realization that even with all these existential horrors that haunt our minds, we are completely powerless to do anything about it. And it's that very lack of power, the absence of control that gives us that happiness.

Why? Because if you are unable to control something, why worry about it? That famous quote that goes along the line of: "Give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the strength to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

It's that wisdom of knowing the difference that truly separates the intelligent from the pure genius. Now, all of this is total speculation. The odd twists and turns my mind takes when I am in that thought stimulating environment known as the shower is something that I usually keep to myself.

That is until...one day...I had another thought. It was a simple, surprising thought that captivated me. It had endless possibilities, and could keep me entertained for hours. Naturally I voiced this thought to my family and friends, and was surprised to see that they all had different interpretations. The only thing holding them back was the limit of their own imaginations.

Now, at this point you are being influenced by your natural human curiosity and are just dying to know what this thought was. Well, allow me to explain.

As I was mentioning before, as you are, a single human in this world populated by around seven billion others, and even as a whole race, we are quite powerless to do anything to control our fate.

Sure we have medicine, currency, technology, but in the end we could all be wiped out by a tragedy such as a large meteor striking our planet, or a horrible plague that swept over us all.

The thought that enthralled my mind, was what if someone did have that control. What if someone had control over every single thing in this universe. Essentially, a single human, like you...was suddenly gifted unlimited power. To once again, only be limited by your imagination.

What would you do?

Would you reshape the world? Give yourself super natural abilities? Become rich and famous at the snap of your fingers?

You could do anything. Literally...anything.

I will give you a moment to hopefully grasp how amazing that power would be.

Perhaps now you are imagining yourself soaring over a lake, inches from the water. Mountains and forests surrounding you as you zip along, kept in the air simply by your own thought and will.

Or perhaps you have made yourself a thousand meters tall and completely indestructible, and you are stomping through a city, destroying everything in your path, just to get a taste of what Godzilla would feel like.

The possibilities are legitimately endless.

Now, you hopefully picked up this book in hopes of reading a story.

Well, there is a story. The story I will be telling is if someone did in fact, suddenly acquire unlimited power.

So good luck dear reader, for as you continue to delve into the story, you might come to realize that if this power was possible, how would you know for certain that your own reality is what you believe it to be, and not just some alteration of the one with the ultimate power?

Sincerely,

J