The Tefillin Files

i: First Contact

It was 1:46 am when I logged on to OutaNowhere.com's chat line. I had to get the real story behind those black leather boxes old man Goldstein had tried to wrap me in. One look at those things told me they were definitely not from any intelligence that originated on Planet Earth. But nothing prepared me for what I was about to find out—stuff that made my wildest imagination look like grey-scale home video.

The dude on their tech-support line really knew his stuff. I described what I saw and what my suspicions were and he knew just what I was talking about. He said I was right on track—but missing valuable data. When he started throwing out terms like neurocardiokinetic fields, mind-body interfacing and asymmetric sympathetic response to the infinite power I could see what he meant. There was a lot I needed to know. But how could I get it?

"For that" the techie responded, "you'll have to visit our VR simulation lab. It's not yet open to the public, but for a case like this..."

The first bus to Greenlane County left at 5:30am and I was on it. The driver woke me up at the stop and I clambered off, not really remembering where I was or why I was going there. So it was real weird. Here's this corporate steel-concrete-and-glass building out in the middle of a pasture and people walking in and out like it's perfectly normal. Still rubbing my eyes, I plowed through the front doors and looked for the reception desk. Security frisked me, held on to my phone. Sorry, no photos. That's how I knew this was the real thing.

"You must be Jay." The receptionist lady was talking before I even hit the counter. "The young man from Westfield."

"Uh, yeah."

"Have a seat. Your mentor will be down to see you in a minute."

"Mentawhah?"

I didn't have time to sit down. There he was, this little guy with a long beard in a lab suit that could have doubled for a Druid gown. His hand was out, so I shook it. It was warm but rough, like the hand of an old man who's been through a lot. But his eyes were bright and from his voice, even though it crackled a bit, you could tell he had a lot of spunk.

"So Jay, I'll be guiding you through the multi-world generating simulation today. It will take about five hours and then you'll need a debriefing. I hope you've brought a lunch with you."

"Lunch? That's not included? How much is this putting me out today, anyways? I got a student card here somewhere."

The little guy laughed. "Jay, we don't charge our beta testers. Okay, we'll throw in a lunch, too."

We were in the elevator already. Nobody else.

"So this is beta?" I had to say something.

"Just about," he chuckled. "Don't worry, everyone's come back so far."

"Kewel."

He laughed again. I wasn't worried. I felt I was in good hands.

The doors opened and we were in this wired-up room. Something like one of those planetarium domes with stars all around you.

"Is this like a space-travel simulation? Are those like the multiple worlds I'm going to be flying through?"

"Actually, you'll do more than fly through worlds. You'll be creating one. We use the matrix of those particular galaxies to generate the intelligence needed to format a single new world. You see, this world won't be like those silly sim-worlds you make on your computer. This world will be..."

"Real 3D?"

"...and tangible. But more than that. We've found a way to generate consciousness within these worlds we create."

My mentor and I sat down on padded leather chairs facing each other in the center of the room. I leaned back and was just getting comfortable when these cables started coming out of the arm of my chair.

"Yikes! What are they doing to me?"

ii: Getting Wired

Both my arms were paralyzed. I was sweating. One of the cables was wrapping itself around my left arm like a slithering snake, starting from my biceps and working its way down.

"Take it easy Jay, that's just the first module of the neurocardiokinetic interface we were talking about. In simple terms, we have to get the creative energy in your brain to interface with your active powers so that it can be actualized in real-time worlds."

"So where's the brain interface?"

That's when I heard this whir over my head. I couldn't look up, but I could feel this cable coming down over my head and wrapping around it. There was something heavy just above my forehead between my eyes. I looked at my mentor and saw the same thing happening to him. The heavy thing was black and cubical. He seemed cool with it, so I calmed down. That's when I noticed the same sort of black box on my bicep, as well.

"Okay, so what's this thing going to do to my brain?"

"Jay, your brain is fairly topped-off in imaginative power—as far as a standard human brain can go. You can recall scenes that you've experienced or even imagine places that you've never been to. With a little training and concentration, your mind could hold up to seven distinct objects at once. But that's nowhere near the sufficient power needed to generate an entire world of billions upon billions of details—especially one where every being will need some degree of its own consciousness."

"And this little black box can?"

"This little black box is just a receptor. It tunes into a much higher intelligence. Not just an intelligence. Something that can generate intelligence out of the void."

The cable was extending from behind my head and making its way down both sides of my chest. The mentor kept on talking.

"Once we have that intelligence in place, we have to interface it with your reality. For us human beings, things are real when we can touch them and manipulate them with our hands."

"So these cables are connecting brain and hand?"

"Initially, we thought we could do that. But we found that mind and action are hopelessly distant from one another. We needed an indigenous median device to bridge that gap. We found that device in the human heart."

"But the heart is just a pump!"

"Not according to our studies. We found that just as the brain is the seat of consciousness, the electrical impulses of the heart pairs up with the lower stem of the brain to generate human emotion. Emotions are just the midway point we needed between consciousness and action."

"Okay, so that's why this cable is coming down from the base of my skull and passing by my heart. And this other box is right next to my heart and going down to my hand. So why does it have to coil around my arm like that?"

"It's generating two fields within your active domain: a consciousness field and an emotive field. Consciousness is built from a matrix of three modalities, so you need three coils around the upper arm. Emotions have a seven-modality matrix—so you'll count seven coils on the lower arm."

I looked to count. I turned my hand to look at my palm and watched as the cable continued slithering around my big finger. The mentor was still talking. It struck me that he never gave me his name.

"Ultimately, the power of consciousness needs to be actualized. So you'll see that there are three more coils around your finger."

That's when it hit me. "What's old man Goldstein got in this?" I demanded. "So he's one of your agents out there?"

"No agents in Westfield, as of yet."

"So how does he come to have one of these things? These boxes... the cables... it looked just like this! And what was he doing trying to wrap it on me?"

Another chuckle. "What he had were creation-side modules. We'll get to those—you'll see, Jay. Hold on a..."

"So you're telling me old Goldstein sits in his basement apartment generating conscious worlds with stuff that makes Star Wars technology look like Mario? Man, that old geezer claimed he couldn't even dial a cell-phone. So it's all a front, right?"

"What the elderly gentleman you are discussing has are called tefillin. They've been around for over three thousand years—since ancient Egyptian times, when they were called totafot. We examined them to discover that they are resonating devices, tuned to the frequency of a source that exists outside of our time-space continuum. The tefillin themselves don't generate worlds, but the signal source apparently does."

"But they look just the same, so they must be..."

"They do something beyond that. The next step."

He paused. He could see I was just about frothing at the mouth. For a moment, I thought he was going to reveal the whole thing right there and then. But not yet.

"Jay, I could tell you the whole thing and you'll never really get it. Or you could learn it through vicarious simulation, which we were on our way to do. You've got an opportunity here to learn first hand just how the signal source module works. From there, it will become clear to you where the creation-side module fits in. So what do you want to do?"

"Okay, let's go."

iii: Playing G‑d

"We will begin the meditation."

"Do I gotta wrap my legs in a pretzel?"

"No, Jay. Just wrap your head around what's happening in your hand."

It took me five blinks to believe what I saw in the palm of my hand. Wild images, swirling in and out of focus before you could get what they were, mixing together in complete chaos.

"Those, Jay, are your thoughts right now. We need to organize them. But first, we will engage the intelligence receptor."

First, the coil on my head warmed up. And then...

"My brain! It's going nuts!"

"Keep cool, Jay. Your mind is everything right now. Do not allow the heart to override its power. You have control. Tell your mind to be still and you will see."

Stillness. "Got it."

"Now focus on that ball of confusion in your hand. Bring to it a luminance and clarity."

I focused my mind. The ball began to shine. Soon it was a clear, luminous globe.

"Now, can you distinguish in this sphere the reality you desire from the background?"

"Yeah. Got it." The sphere—I can't describe it now. It just made sense. It was good.

"Check the coils on your arm. We have completed the first module."

To be sure, the first of the seven coils on my forearm was glowing and warm.

"Look, Jay, at the sphere once more. It needs to become a distinct entity from you. It needs an envelope to encompass it and protect it. Pull yourself away and allow an atmosphere to develop that will distinguish between your consciousness and its own."

I know it sounds nuts, but I was able to do it. The sphere now became its own realm, outside of my consciousness. Even though the whole thing was really nothing but my consciousness.

"We have completed the second module."

"That's it?"

"Look at your arm."

Sure enough, the second coil was glowing and warm.

"Jay, take a look at your world. What do you feel is missing? What would you like to see there?"

"Well, it would be nice if there were some places for things to happen. Like, right now it's just this emptiness. There's no real stage for anything."

"Desire it."

I witnessed a cataclysm on my planet. Volcanoes erupted under the water, bringing up islands of land that joined to become an entire continent. Then the continent ripped apart, making seas and oceans. It was starting to look like a real world: hills, mountains, lakes—the works.

"Why did you desire this?"

"I guess I wanted it to come alive."

"So desire that. Think about what it means to be alive. To create, to grow. Focus all that into your world."

It happened. My world was no longer just a dead sphere. It was alive; it gave life. It was creating—just like I was creating. Beautiful things, growing things. So many different things. It was good, real good.

"That is the third module."

--Which a quick check on the third coil confirmed.

"Jay, your world lacks context. It needs a place to be within. To measure its own time, to be oriented. To know that it is small. And to be able to receive from above."

I didn't know what that means.

"Let your mind step back and think about the space around your world. Take as much space as you like. You have infinite power."

"Well if I have infinite power, you can bet I'm going to use it..."

I didn't really realize what I was saying. I thought my brain had gone nuts before, but this was past overload. It just kept repeating these loops of creating in space over and over in endless patterns of explosions and orbits at lightspeed velocity. Space just kept expanding—this virtual space that has absolutely no limits—and my mind was speeding through it like someone had thrown a brick on the accelerator pedal.

"STOP!" That was me screaming.

It stopped. There was a universe. Galaxies. Quadrillions of them.

"I guess that got a little out of hand."

"It's good Jay. These two spheres here make a clock for your world—one for darkness, one for light. Now just connect the light from the other spheres to your world..."

I drew their light inward to the place of my palm.

"...and now we have module four."

I didn't need to check the fourth coil. I could feel it burning.

"I want it to make more life."

"It is all in the power of your mind."

That's when I really started having fun. I made the water form into swimming things. The swamps generated flying things. I just let my infinite imagination go wild and it became all these creatures. It was good.

"Do you feel the fifth coil, Jay?"

"You bet."

"We must go on to the sixth module now. This is the most crucial stage."

"But I haven't finished making creatures!"

"Continue with your creatures, but in a new mode. The mode of the sixth day."

Now my creatures began to live on the central stage—the dry land. Each idea I had branched into a thousand new ideas, creating whole families of creatures with slight variations. Some ideas were just too nuts—big and clumsy or just too stupid—I trashed them pretty fast. Others were sublime. I was just starting to get the handle on this deep intelligence engine I had. I realized I didn't just have to use its power to make things—I could invest some of that power into the beings I was making.

"Jay, you are becoming a master. What do you want to create now?"

"I have an idea for the ultimate being. Something that contains all that I have learned in a single box—the light, the darkness, the confusion, the clarity, the atmosphere, the oceans, the plants, the galaxies, the fish, the birds—and all these other neat creatures I just made. All in one."

"Where will you begin?"

"With the mud. So it will have the lowest and the highest, all in one."

"Then focus all the powers that is flowing through you and bring it forth."

I had to reach deep inside-like, to get in touch with where all this was coming from. Sure, I was tuned in to a much higher source, but ultimately all this was coming through me, Jay, the guy. So I pulled together all of that, everything within me; I brought down as much power as I could from that infinite source running through me. And I focused it all into a chunk of mud in my world.

So there was this being. The everything guy. So now this whole world could be like a role playing game and he would be my avatar. He could take control from within and I could be there through him. Sweet, real sweet.

"Jay, that is the sixth module. You now need one more module: To sit back and enjoy. And allow the creatures to enjoy. No longer to create or to be created, but just to be.

"Yes, but..."

"Jay, what is wrong? There is something you desire that you are not bringing to your active consciousness."

"I'm still on the outside. On the outside looking in."

"You want to experience your world from within. As one of those creatures."

"As that creature." I pointed with my other hand at the everything guy I had made. I really identified with him. But I wanted to see things from his eyes, hear those birds with his ears, touch those critters with his hands, feel the ground of my world beneath his feet and feel his heart thumping inside when he gazed out at all that awesome beauty I had made. I didn't want to be just out here looking in at a fantasy. I wanted it to become real, as real as digging my teeth into a juicy hamburger.

"Then breathe in deeply, Jay. Withdraw all of yourself within. Now grab that self and, with all the power of your essence, blow suddenly within your guy down there."

Which I did.

And now I had two minds.

iv: Connecting

You can't describe life in two minds to someone who's never been there. Life in stereo. Like, I'm up there looking in at a figment of my imagination and at the same time I'm down there inside this world that's very, very real. From the outside, I could see myself inside, but from the inside I could just hear this voice which was really mine but...

Description stops there.

Looked, we talked a bit, me and me, but the me on the inside couldn't really get who it was that he was talking to 'cause if he's me, then how could I be talking to him, right? Like the me on the inside had this feeling that he is the only me and that's it. Which was real frustrating if you're trying to do the avatar game thing.

I looked up at the mentor guy.

"Pretty neat, isn't it, Jay? You've actually managed to breath consciousness into a three-dimensional realm with its own time-continuum. From within that world, things appear as though they have always been. And the beings are conscious of themselves as independent entities—not just as figments of your imagination or digitally-generated sprites."

I shook my head. "I gotta connect with that guy down there."

He leaned forward on his chair. "Why is that, Jay?"

"'Cause he's me. And we can't go on being two beings like this."

"But you wanted to be both within and without, didn't you? And now that's exactly what you've got."

"But I want to do both at once!"

"You want everything, don't you?"

"Isn't that the whole point?"

Another one of those chuckles.

"You're playing a game with me." I was annoyed. "You got me stuck at this point for a reason. Okay, so let's get on with it. What's the deal?"

"Jay, anger is dangerous. Anger can sever your bond altogether. Look what you're making happen in your world."

I looked in horror. As bad as it was from outside, from within was even worse. I saw myself now as a million clones of that first me/everything guy—destroying, doing everything ugly and horrid to all that my imagination had made.

Now I was getting scared. "Okay, so just tell me. How do I get past this parallel-time schizophrenia? How can I get this thing working as a single whole?"

"How do you expect it to work as a single whole if it were created through a duality to begin with?"

"I don't get you. Look, I'm seventeen. I don't get all the philosophy stuff. I just wanna get back in one piece again. But in two worlds. So can we make it real simple?"

He gave me a long stare. I was getting nervous.

"Jay, are you one person. Or two?"

"Right now, I'm two."

"Before you started."

"One."

"You were two."

"Wrong. One. You can ask security."

"You were a brain and a heart."

"Huh?"

"Your brain was figuring out what you wanted in that world and designing it..."

"With some help."

"...and your heart was creating it. In seven modalities." He pointed at the seven coils on my forearm. By now, they were dim, barely above cool. Something told me my world was in danger.

"Your mind," he said, "stayed up above. Beyond. Now you have to bring it within."

I glanced back at my world. It was fading, not so slowly.

"Hold on! I thought this device was supposed to be a brain-heart-action interface thingy. That's what you explained: Connect the brain through these cables down to the heart and from there to the hand."

"From above to below. Meaning, as far as the top-down scheme of generating a world goes. But not from within. And the proof is--" he pointed at the little me-guy inside the world, "--he doesn't have one."

He doesn't have one. I looked. It was simple. He doesn't have one.

"So if he has one?"

"He'll connect his brain with his heart and then with his action. And his brain will be connected to your brain—just like your brain is connected to the infinite intelligence beyond you. And then everything will be connected."

"Okay, let's do it."

"Sorry, Jay."

"Why not?"

A smile flashed over his face. "We haven't got there yet."

"Bummer."

"At least, not at this site."

"Where?!"

"For that," he paused, "you'll have to see old man Goldstein."

He pressed a switch. The head device lifted off back to where it came from. The cables unslithered off my arm.

"Better hurry," he said. "It's only effective until sunset."

He rushed me to the elevator. As I was about to leave, I turned back for a moment. "Can I come back to work with my world again? I have some cool ideas I didn't try yet."

"Jay, you are a first class beta tester. We'll be glad to have you back in our lab anytime. Finish school and there's a job waiting for you. But first you need the realtime, non-virtual experience. Get back home and connect. To the true Master Intelligence."

By the time I was pounding on the side door of the house where old man Goldstein had his basement apartment, the sun was already at the top of the trees and it wasn't waiting for me. He opened the door cautiously, but was glad when he saw who it was. I asked for the tefillin. He got them out.

"So do you still think they're from some alien intelligence?" he asked as he helped me wrap them on.

"No way, Mr. Goldstein. Higher. Much higher."

"Shma Yisrael..."