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Only Johnly might read like a dark kids story, but adults will find that life lessons are hidden in the plot. When you see it, you can't miss it.
Story Summary
John is a guardian of creativity, living as a troll in a simulation devised by a higher entity to test whether the guardians are serving their purpose. Since John was created as the guardian of creativity, the reflection of an entity inside the simulation would reveal that he is happiest when being creative, and suffers without it.
As a troll who grew up in a home where he traditionally would join the family business by building a bridge and charge a toll to passing pedestrians, he couldn't serve the roll expected from him from before he was born. He loved creating things and couldn't do one repetitious activity for too long. He wanted to create a legacy that will be remembered long after he was gone.
John started building majestic castles, but as soon as kings and royalty started pressuring him to up his production and trade unique quality for quantity, his increased wealth couldn't maintain his happiness. He was working all the time and he was miserable, which troubled his wife.
A dragon which torment the community, who also killed John's mom, starts breaking bridges, and his brother seeks John's assistance in getting rid of the dragon. John loves doing the research on how to kill the dragon while making a lasting statement. He does the deed in a spectacular way, but as soon as his craft is exploited by neighboring towns, he loses interest again. Majestic entities influence the simulation without John knowing it.
He finds that creativity makes him happy, and continues living out a happy life, until he dies and meet the entities who ran the simulation. He is introduced in his role and continues serving as the guardian of creativity.
The Simulation
The easiest to explain the simulation, is to watch movies like Inception and Matrix. Once you grasp the idea that whatever you hear, see and feel might be orchestrated by somebody other than you, and you get past the initial shock that it's BS and impossible, your mind starts to wonder, what if?
There's groups who believe in a simulation theory who tries to explain with scientific proof that we're living in a simulation already. At times, we're convinced that our lives are orchestrated, but religious people will convince everyone that it is proof that God exist. We don't have concrete proof of either, other than faith in hoping that it is so.
In the story, John is guided by the ones running the simulation to test his decisions. If he's true to himself, the guardian of creativity, his options should be predictable. That is why he's not supposed to know that he is in a simulation. He should believe that he is living a normal life.
Are we in a simulation?
Like in the story, we're not supposed to know, because if we are, the test will fail. A simulation test whether predetermined hypothesis are correct. The simulation is also an area where most of the conditions are controllable and monitored.
If we're in a simulation, the way to survive is to be our selves. If we act according to unpredicted parameters which were predetermined before the start of the simulation (our reality), the controller of the simulation could stop or take us out of the test (death). Whether we're religious oor simulation theorists, the goal stays the same.
The school I grew up in's motto is, "Wees U Self", translated as Be Your Self. We might not know what our future holds or whether we're making the right choices, but one thing is for sure, we shouldn't try to be like someone else. Our qualities are the sole purpose for us being alive, whether we're in a simulation or not.
Symbolism if you've missed it
John hates building bridges. Most of us want to be unique and prefer not to pursue in a career we didn't choose. We might have similar qualities than our parent due to shared DNA, but that only makes it likely that we'll be good at or enjoy doing their expectancies of us.
John becomes rich while building castles. We're not racing to reach life's end. We believe that life is a journey. Although John's talent to build castles is unique and highly sought by those who are willing to pay buckets of money for his product to enrich their lives, he enjoys the process and what the product represents, not the product itself. Ignoring the process is like mass producing fine art. It loses everything that makes it unique. Repetition kills creativity.
Trolls under Bridges. We see trolls as ugly, overweight and emotionless creatures that hide under bridges and torments' those who want to pass on the structure. Bridges are solutions to problems in life. If we want to cross a road or a stream in the same condition as we are, we use a bridge. There are many solutions to problems in life, and we pay for them all. The solution become a business, like a phone for communication, a car for travelling, a house for safety. We don't have to use the solution, but we pay for the comfort it offers. Trolls asking money to cross their bridge safely is the same. We avoid sales people who offer these comforts and they only want to make a living using their craft. How we perceive them relates negatively on them, not the solution they offer, which often makes them hide until you finally decided that you require their product. There's always a choice.
A dragon making the town live in fear. We often hear leaders campaigning that they represent the people and needs to be in a governing position. Not everyone will like the government, because people are divided in opinion, which makes a person from the people and later for the people one sided. Trying to keep everyone happy will be impossible, but looking at the bigger picture usually helps. The dragon guards the town from other dragons because it is more powerful than the people. People feed the dragon with power, but too much food makes one fat. The dragon/ government becomes power hungry and become more interested in their own needs, or cater to the majority of power feeders.
Wealthy John. John becomes wealthy as rich people compensate him generously for the product of his craft. He basically sells his soul to what was once a therapeutic craft to a mass production industry that only cares about the product. As the guardian of creativity, the joyous part of his existence was sold, and the receipt he got was depression.
The Dragon Kite. All the stuffing that inflated the powerful ego was removed, and the memory of what it represented serves the same purpose. The power is within ourselves when we stick together. I also thought that it was quite funny.
Guardians. We are the ones in charge of our decisions while we're rarely in charge of our circumstances. Our destinies is often in the control of somebody else. Without knowing it, someone else with our best interests at heart often look out for us. We only need to be ourselves.
Relevancy to the book
As we all experience life differently, based on our past experiences that created fears in our subconscious, our goals drift apart. We become unique. We make mistakes and learn from them, constantly changing us. It is an ongoing process, but the only way we can stay happy is when we are who we're supposed to be. Trying to be a copy of another only offer disappointment, leading to depression.
Personal word
I do not have the answer whether we live in a simulation or not. Most of the time it does, and it answers many question. Theorists list proof that they gathered where they match inconsistencies between experiences. Professors calculate that computing power of an advanced civilization somewhere in the future makes a global reality possible, but although I'm not a professor, my 5c opinion is that a simulation will be much easier and controllable when you're the only one in it. All other versions of inconsistencies could have been planted for entertainment. It also makes it less likely to find proof that you're in a simulation, because everything inside isn't there by accident. Everything happening doesn't happen by accident. We all might have an uncle called Louis, but since we're only interacting with the simulation, we only get to know the same characters, copied form the 1st copy of the simulation, and not each other.
I too go through a spell of depression, not happy that I'm wealthy, no stability in my financial future, but it doesn't mean I'll be happy when I get it. I longed for this journey, and I believe that it is something I need to work through in order to become familiar with the contrast future happiness will have. We don't recognize the difference in extremes when everything is a similar colour. It isn't nice and it isn't suppose to be, but it is equally necessary.
If you like to read the story, you are welcome to buy the book from our store page. It is available in eBook format at Smashwords, Amazon Kindle, as well as in a Print on demand paperback format at Amazon Paperback. In South Africa, I recommend buying from Takealot.
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