See this box? Yes this one, right here, in my hand. Study it closely; here, I’ll turn it around so you can see it from every angle. I guarantee you have never seen anything like this box before, it’s the only one of its kind. This box is fantastic. This box is amazing. This box has the potential to change the world as we know it.
I suppose you want to know what’s inside this box. Let’s do a little thought exercise first; close your eyes and imagine the most amazing image you can conjure up. Something full of meaning and metaphoric weight. Something so powerful, so moving, so poignant and pristine that it brings you to tears just to think about it. Go ahead, think about it.
Can’t quite get it, can you? Know why? Because it’s inside this box.
The thing inside this box would completely change your life if you could see it. In fact, it would change the lives of everybody around you; its wisdom would spread like a virus, creating a pandemic of goodwill, enlightenment and euphoria. This box contains something so logically grand and absolute that it would render all mathematicians obsolete. Within this box lies a metaphor so heart-rending and emotionally genuine that the poets of the world would all put down their pens and breathe a collective sigh of relief. The idea inside this box is so philosophically profound that it could make the would-be Hegels and Nietzches crawl back out of their claustrophobic heads and run naked through the streets, blowing kisses to the sky.
Notice how this box seems to shimmer slightly, how it changes color depending on the light? That’s because it’s made out of a mysterious and undiscovered precious metal, one that is completely impenetrable. Hammers are shattered on impact. Diamond-bladed saws are ground to dust when weilded against this box. Lasers are neatly reflected by its smooth surface, and its melting point is beyond that of a hundred suns.
If this box were opened all the religions of the world would become obsolete; it contains an icon with such spiritual potency that none could deny it. If the leaders of the world could see inside this box, the would end their bickering and unite for the sake of humankind. Fuel emmissions would drop alongside poverty levels and crime. Prisons would be abandoned and, crumbling, reclaimed by nature. This box doesn’t contain the cure for cancer, but it’s contents would most certainly lead to one.
Countless attempts have been made to open this box. Colossal research budgets spent in vain, state-of-the art equipment foiled by its unknown composition. Entire lives have been devoted to its secrets, nations have been destroyed and rebuilt in pursuit of its key. And yet, here it is: completely intact with an uncomprehensable power waiting just inside its shell.
You may wonder how I ended up with this box. Well frankly, when you really think about it, this box is pretty useless. It’s a paperweight. It’s a doorstop. It’s a bookend. In fact, I’m sick of holding on to this stupid thing —here, you take it.