One

Last night I had a peculiar dream or perhaps you might call it a nightmare, about numbers.

 

I dreamt that all numbers became united by a mathematical principle called Unition; the opposite of division.

 

The number 2 was united into 1 and I saw two wooden blocks merge together to form one larger block; then the number 3 united into 1; then the number 4, then 5 and 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 until there were only 10 lots of 1 and then those 10 ones were united into 1.

 

“How can that be?”, I asked, “How can all the numbers become 1?”.

 

“There is only 1”, a voice replied.

 

“Only 1?”, I asked, “But there are so many numbers”.

 

“All numbers, united, become 1 and all whole numbers are just fractions of infinity which is 1 and every whole number is just a quantity of 1’s. The existence of other numbers is really just an illusion”, said the voice.

 

“No”, I said, angrily, “That’s nonsense. 2 is 2 and 3 is 3; there are other numbers”.

 

I saw 3 wooden blocks now appear in front of me.

 

“Alright”, said the voice, “How many three’s do you see in front of you?”.

 

“One “, I said, “But there are 3 ones”.

 

“Just wait a minute”, said the voice.

 

Now the 3 blocks turned into 6 blocks.

 

“Now how many 6’s do you see?”, asked the voice.

 

“1”, I said, “But I also see 6 1’s and 2 3’s and 3 2’s”.

 

“Yet in spite of being 6 instead of 3 has it ceased to be 1?”, asked the voice.

 

“Well, no it is still one something”, I said.

 

“Exactly. It has changed from 1 three into 1 six but it is still 1 and it would  still be 1 even if it became one hundred or even two hundred”, said the voice.

 

“There’s no such thing as 1 two hundred”, I said.

 

A 200 pound note now appeared in front of me.

 

“Would you say that this is 1 two-hundred pound note? You wouldn’t say it was 2 One hundred pound notes or two hundred 1 pound notes, would you?”, asked the voice.

 

“Well, I suppose you could say that its 1 lot of 200”, I said, “But that’s not the same as being 1. It’s still 200”.

 

“But the point is that, however large or small a quantity becomes it never stops being one lot of something; it never stops being one. Even Zero, as I will show you, must be 1 lot of zero. You see it can’t be Zero Zero because Zero Zero wouldn’t be Zero, if you know what I mean?”.

 

“Zero zero wouldn’t be zero?”, I asked, confused.

 

“Yes. If you had Zero amount of Zero then you would have no Zero which would be the opposite of Zero and since you can’t have 2 lots of Zero therefore the only amount of Zero you can have is one”, said the voice.

 

“This is just crazy”, I said, “So your saying that everything is one?”.

 

“Yes, although not every 1 appears the same; 1 mountain looks different from 1 molehill just the same as 1 ten appears different from 1 million but its all about perspective because the same mountain, seen from the air would appear like a molehill and both the mountain and the molehill are just part of the bumpiness of the earth, like ripples and waves on the sea, part of the same thing and everythings like that, not just numbers and molehills; really, everything including you is part of or a manifestation of 1 giant cosmic whole and your separateness from it; the separateness of everything from everything else is just an illusion or a perspective”, said the voice, "Like the five fingers that are protrusions of your 1 hand or the two hands that are protrusions of your one body or your self that is a protrusion of the sea of nature; a wave rising up from its surface that will one day collapse and merge again with the water".

 

“Who are you?”, I asked.

 

“I am you or you are I or We are Me or U are Us”, said the voice, “Like you told me. Everything is 1. Everything is I”.

 

I opened my eyes, in two minds about the dream I had just had. On one hand it just seemed like a crazy dream that perhaps I should simply forget; on the other hand I wondered, was it true? Are all things just 1, even all numbers just 1 and if everything is 1; is everything me; am I everything? Perhaps the solipsists are right and everything is a dream or perhaps I am a dream or one of the many multiple personalities of some cosmic mind.

 

What do you think reader, as you read this story? Am I you? Are you me? Well, don’t blame me if this story sucks, you wrote it.