Ordinary Person

Before they arrived, we had our ideas of what they’d be like, and we often wondered if they existed. But when they did, our powers of comprehension failed us, and we couldn’t fathom who they were and what they did to our world.

I remember that day more than any other. We didn’t see spaceships landing or hear eldritch screams. They didn’t come with laser guns in their hands or look like little grey men. Hollywood had failed us. It took us a while to even realise that they had invaded us. But then again, is ‘invasion’ the right word to use?

Our notions of reality, evolution and existence died that day. Our intellect—which we had always heralded—did not decipher anything about them. And to this day, we cannot articulate what they’ve done to our world. We thought that no one could disprove the laws of physics, but they were beyond them. We thought that language had no barriers, but they proved that there were more extraordinary forms of communication. We believed that consciousness meant sentience, but they proved that our awareness was nothing but a shadow compared to their ‘perception’ and that we were like inanimate objects.

Imagine if you find yourself in the void, which paradoxically also possesses substance. So, you exist and don’t at the same time. Now, it’s easy to envision this and write a sonnet revolving around this absurd concept. Some might even think that you’ve attained ‘enlightenment.’ But what if it happened? How would you then express your reality? If you did, you’d wonder if you were giving it justice. I use this bizarre analogy to tell you how ludicrous it would be to describe our world after they arrived.

So, why do I write this? Why even bother writing about them if they are indecipherable? Well, something innate in our species makes us want to solve every riddle, which owes itself to finiteness. But we think this gives us cognisance. They ‘think’ it’s asinine but observe us as we continue on our ridiculous path. Some might now opine, “If they observe us in our world, then they are in time and space and finite too.” But the truth is that they are both within and outside time and space. They are within our three-dimensional reality but also outside all dimensions. Are they then omniscient, omnipotent and ubiquitous? No. They have shown us in ways that we can understand they are not gods but have also proved, metaphorically speaking, that a fish cannot ‘see’ a towering oak. Are they evolving? No. They have shown us that evolution doesn’t exist despite technological advances and cognitive growth.

Do they intend to help us become like them? No. We will always be human, and they will always be them. So, why then did they ‘invade’ us? Once again, I’ll use an analogy: A fish doesn’t know why a fisherman entices it. Maybe it realises once it’s hooked, but then again, we’re not fish, and they’re not fishermen. They do not intend to assist or harm us. They only want to observe us. Will they leave one day? The answer is that they have always watched us but ‘manifested’ themselves only when they thought the time was right. And even if they were to leave, our limited consciousnesses will believe they’re still with us. Some might now say, “So, they possess matter since they had to reveal themselves.” They don’t. They revealed themselves in a way that we can never understand. It didn’t involve flashes of light or corporeal forms or even telepathy. It was beyond our meagre powers of conception.

So, what was human life like after they arrived? It was how it was before the ‘invasion,’ but also unfathomably different. Many of us have spent our lives attempting to communicate with them. Still, we fail unless they converse with us using inexplicable ways. Governments try to develop technologies to fight them in vain, knowing it’s impossible. News channels feature debates by specialists from different fields discussing them. Still, all their theories do not even come close to explaining our new reality. New religions have sprouted, and the old ones have changed their beliefs. We go about our lives, knowing that they’re always watching us. And all this is only the explainable part of our new world.