1.16.2009

For INTPHIL purposes:


If there were stories of sort that i would probably believe more than anything else of how everything came to be. how the world has its own wonders and myths and legends and facts. how religion divides us into different, rough, and stubborn bricks, but binds us like concrete on a thing called belief. or how God is how we perceive Him, or them to be. Then maybe i would turn to Neil Gaiman, and sit and talk to him about The Sandman.

The Sandman is a graphical novel known for its dark humor, witty satires and familiar characters of the ancient and present realm--heroes or villains, you decide. The best way to elucidate the Sandman is to describe his family. Which i will do so in the best of my ability.

The Sandman, or Morpheus, or Orpheus or Dream, as you might have gotten an idea by now, is the ruler of the Dreaming. He governs the realm and possesses the power to shape our dreams as he sees fit. He is a tall, white skinned and black-haired fellow, with eyes like stars on a pool of darkest black. He is moody, serious, full of pride, yet possesses the knowledge and wit of someone who has lived for billions of years. He is the main character and the third oldest of a family of seven. Their family is named in the story as The Endless.




Destruction, described the Endless in The Sandman (vol. 2) # 48:
"The Endless are merely patterns. The Endless are ideas. The Endless are wave functions. The Endless are repeating motifs. The Endless are echoes of darkness, and nothing more... And even our existences are brief and bounded. None of us will last longer than this version of the Universe."


The Endless came to be in the succeeding order: Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Desire, Delirium. They have their own realms which they reign supreme as with Dream. Their names embody their responsibilities and functions, which they follow through religiously. But as with families, others are more dedicated with their tasks, and some are known to play games--mainly Desire.

As one finishes the graphic novel, one is only given but a few subtle hints as to why exactly the Endless exists. They have been best described as "creations of the consciousness of living beings". (Jimenez, Phil (2008), "Endless, The", in Dougall, Alastair, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 115, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5, OCLC 213309017) They're a lot older that gods, fairyfolk, and other supernatural beings. They have manifested themselves long before the creation of earth.

If i were to be asked, what other story i would like to believe about God, religion and the world, then this is as close to the story as i could get. The whole point of the existence of the Endless lie solely in the consciousness of beings, how they think, believe and perceive things to be. The Endless are neither gods (maybe more powerful than gods if i may say) nor humans--they are powerless if living beings do not exist. They will cease to exist when the last living thing on the Universe will die.

As my thoughts on the world, i think it is just what it all of us see it to be, a massive rock of life teeming with stories, imaginations and beliefs of sort. as my thoughts would roll on the possibilities of religion and God would go, then i think i explained the part of The Sandman well enough.

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