Reality Test
Alice looked at the caterpillar and wondered what had gone wrong in her mind to make it appear in front of her like this.
“Typical,” said the caterpillar.
“What’s that?” asked the confused little girl.
“Well,” he explained, “here I am. I’m here of my own volition and design. I have free will and am in control of all my actions…”
“I hardly see how any of that relates -” Interrupted Alice.
“And you,” re-interrupted the caterpillar, pointing all of it’s hands at her, “try to take credit for it.”
“Oh no,” she stammered. “I wasn’t doing that at all.”
“Dear girl, that’s utter and complete bullshit,” answered the hookah smoking bug.
“No, really-“
“Bullshit all the same,” he finished. “You automatically assume that I’m here because of you. I exist as I am because of something wrong with your head.”
“Well, it would explain a lot,” she conceded.
“Sometimes,” offered the caterpillar, “you have to accept things as they are. Who I am, what I am, or that I am, has absolutely nothing to do with you.”
Alice thought long and hard about this. The concept frightened her. She was fine accepting that the world she experienced existed solely for her. The thought that things would be the same regardless of what she thought or did was more than a bit disconcerting.
“But,” she meekly offered to the caterpillar, “this is MY dream isn’t it?”
“Maybe,” said the caterpillar, “but that doesn’t mean you get to be in control.”
