THE CREATOR

I am the stars, I am the planets, the mountains and the rivers.

I am the wind, I am the rain, the sun and the snow.

I am the universe that cradles you. The endless, desolate universe.

That is, besides you. Sitting on a lump of rock, encompassed by a warm bubble.

Breathing and moving and thinking. Nothing desolate about that.

The vibrant wash of green and blue you call ‘‘Earth’’ is unique and valuable.

A sparkling, exuberant jewel in an otherwise stagnant crown. This was not a mistake.

I always preferred some stillness.

I enjoyed the tranquillity of the slow expansion and collapsing of universes; of supernovas writhing in the dark expanse. I caved though, on Earth. I figured I owed the universe some expression of my true power.

So I created the planet on which you sit. And most importantly, I invented life — my biggest feat, but not all that original.

I already existed, everywhere and nowhere.

All I needed to create was a physical vessel to hold a consciousness like mine.

So I created a cell. An architectural masterpiece.

Over millions of years, I allowed this cell to multiply and develop into a multicellular organism, eventually creating every single piece of life on

Earth.

These cells, over billions of years, gained the ability to think, an ability previously reserved only for me.

And then arose billions of consciousnesses just like mine.

Admittedly I didn’t give you too much power.

You only have a quintillionth of the capacity that I possess.

And so off you went.

Every life form on earth. Impacting every life that has been, and will ever be.

Every single action expanding into an infinite web of immeasurable impact. All for me to watch over.

I don’t control it though. It would be easier that way. Sitting down one afternoon and planning out every event and interaction exactly, for the next few billion years.

Everything would be so predictable. If I so wished, I could prevent anything from ever going wrong.

Noone would ever need to feel pain.

But this raised the most challenging question of my existence.

Was it moral to force every life into a predetermined existence? Admittedly, a happy existence, but a linear one.

This is a question I have pondered since I chose to invent life.

I have decided though, for now, that a life of concrete destiny is a life without purpose.

I haven’t completely abandoned life on earth though. I’m still here.

I still watch over every being on this planet and I don’t just let everything run its course.

If I had, all life would have ceased to exist before it had even begun.

I heavily alter what you call the future.

The waves of fluid time, I make constant for you. Events in life, I make smoother.

I force this turquoise planet to keep its course.

Most crucially though, I reward the good and punish the evil.

Every action has a consequence and I attempt to have these consequences aligned with some moral compass.

It doesn’t always work without infringing upon the free will of others to a massive extent.

So sometimes bad things happen to good people.

Every event is not simply a reward, however. It is an opportunity to learn.

Many spend their life questioning what comes next and to be truthful — I do not know.

I arose similarly to you. Submerged in a completely dark expanse.

But instead of wallowing in this darkness, I chose to create.

An ability reserved only for me at the time, but now one shared by all living things, and to the greatest extent humans.

I do not sit and ponder what happens after this.

I do sometimes fear that I will find myself in another dark expanse, without my powers of creation.

If I discovered them once, though, I hope I can find them again.

But now, few powers belong to me.

My neurons stretch lightyears, a web of knowledge, but here they condense to a size just bigger than a walnut.

Rustling beneath the shrubbery, I grip a poroporo fruit in my beak.

I quite enjoy the form of a kakapo.

One of my many unique creations. A simple life.

Soon though, there may be none left and I’ll be forced to take another form.

Until then, I am everywhere, seeing everything, and trying my best to teach the life on this planet to find their own powers of creation.