There is a place in this world where the lonely souls go to. They are attracted to it. They need to be there. It is a solitary place. A dark place. A quiet place on the edge of world. It is calling them to it.
In this mysterious place, the quiet waters slip by under an eternal moonlight as mist drifts past and stars sleep away eternity in the night sky.
There is a story about this place as obscure as its beginnings.
It is said that when the first lonely soul found its way to this place that there was already someone there.
They lived in a small lighthouse that over looking the edge of the world. The dark midnight waters drift quietly by the lighthouse, falling into eternity thereafter as mist and then eventually just shadow.
When the lonely soul landed and stepped onto the lighthouse’s ancient steps, they saw the original tenant with a small, simple fishing rod in their hands dangling into the mists over the edge of the world.
“What are you doing?” the lonely soul asked the man.
“I am fishing,” the man answered simply without looking up. The lighthouse twinkled its single little light in above them and only the soft, dark waters murmuring filled the silence that followed.
“What are you fishing for?” the lonely soul could not stop themselves from asking.
The man smiled slowly and pointed out into the dark space beyond the edge of the world where the eternal moon hung and the infinite stars twinkled back.
‘What is there,” the lonely soul asked, confused at this answer?
A long silence followed, but eventually the man finally turned and looked at the lonely soul. It was hard to tell how old the man was, but it was obvious that he was not young. Perhaps he was even older than the lonely soul dared to imagine? Perhaps he had no age whatsoever? Perhaps time did not exist out here?
“I am doing the same thing that all of them are doing too. I am doing the same thing that you will soon be doing.”
The lonely soul stepped forward, ancient dust rustling below his feet and repeated, “But what are you doing, I don’t understand?”
The man smiled again and handed the lonely soul the fishing rod.
“This world is not for me, so I am fishing for another one. Just like all of them in all of their worlds are doing too. We all seek where we below.”
And suddenly the lonely soul saw it. The twinkling stars in the night sky were not stars, but countless lighthouses on the edges of countless worlds. Each twinkling lighthouse in the night sky had a lonely, misfit souls fishing for their places in the universe.
The lonely soul was about to exclaim that all was suddenly understood, but the man has disappeared. The man had simply vanished, and the lonely soul was suddenly all alone on the ancient lighthouse with its single twinkling light.
Only the fishing rod that the lonely soul held was proof that the man had ever been there.
Eternity passed, but time never noticed. Except for the dark waters slipping by, there was nothing else here at the edge of the world. And, so, shrugging, the lonely cast the rod and its starlit bait out into the misty space off the edge of the world. The lonely sighed and peered out into the darkness beyond the edge of this world, wondering what he would catch and where he belonged.
You see, they are all fishing for their places in this vast universe.
So when you next feel lonely, look up. When you next feel as if you do not fit into this world, cast your line out and find another one. When you feel that darkness closing in, look to the twinkling lighthouses in the ancient night sky and know that you are not alone.
