Extra Chapter: A Life of Only One Day
While it may seem that people live within "time," perhaps it is actually how many "realizations" we encounter that changes our lives.
There is a theory that if you convert the time since the Earth's birth into a one-year calendar, humanity appears only a few seconds before midnight on December 31st. This is apparently called the "Earth Calendar."
I spend my daily joys and sorrows within a span of time no longer than a blink of the Earth's eye.
What I am about to tell you is a story about a "dream."
However, it is hard to call it a "dream" lightly.
This was a definitive experience that greatly changed my values.
What I experienced in my sleep condensed decades of life and taught me something.
Perhaps it was an event akin to touching the "records of life."
Yes—
as if a page of the Akashic Records had suddenly been turned.
*That time when I wanted to disappear*
I cannot remember now why I wanted to "disappear." But in that dream, I certainly wished for it.
I held my knees in the darkness, holding my breath, feeling myself deflating like a balloon losing air.
At that moment—
*"Because it's only for one day"*
Gently, yet firmly, someone picked me up by the scruff of my neck. And then, I was swallowed by the owner of the voice as if sliding down a time tunnel.
It was a speed that left me unable to breathe.
…"Ding."
When I came to, the elevator door opened, and a long corridor stretched out before me.
Standing at the end of it was a security guard.
Saying only "To the beyond," I headed toward the room I was directed to.
*"Decades" lived within a single day*
When I entered the room, there was a desk like a reception area, and I was handed a form that looked like a medical questionnaire.
I wrote my name and paused before the checklist.
The form I filled out was filed away, and I was led to another room.
When I opened the door—
I had already become someone else, with a different age, gender, and even nationality.
As a first-year employee, I was approached by a senior colleague who asked, "What's wrong?" and I reached out to hand over the documents I was holding.
At that moment, the light in the room faded, and everything went pitch black.
*"Everything is going to change."*
The owner of the voice from earlier whispered once more.
********
When the door opened again, I had become the senior colleague. In front of me was my former self—the new employee.
As that child reached out to hand over the documents, I suddenly realized—helping isn't about doing it for them...
"What is it you want to do?" I asked.
This time, the room did not go dark.
I gave only the necessary advice and watched over them.
Ah, perhaps this is what it means to "help."
It is not about doing things for someone else, but about supporting them so they can do it themselves.
And so, I received the file from the new employee, who had gained confidence after drafting the proposal.
*And then, I became the department manager.*
The proposal was completed, and I, as the senior colleague, delivered it to the manager's desk.
In an instant, I had become that manager.
I received the file, checked it, stamped it for approval, opened the door, and began walking again to get the proposal processed.
At the end of the hallway was the first room.
I handed the file to the clerk, received a check, and wrote my real name in the signature field of the form I was handed again.
I marked the confirmation item with a circle: "Health Status - O"
When I handed the file to the attendant, I was greeting the morning.
*Was that a dream, or was it a record?*
The owner of those large hands and that voice must have been a security guard.
I have forgotten what I was worried about, but that dream saved me.
To "not rely too much on others, and not interfere too much."
That "experience is not about time, but the depth of consciousness." Having awakened, I understood that quietly.
This is the record of my "life of only one day."
If there is someone out there right now who is feeling lost,
—I hope this story becomes a security guard that gently protects your heart.