We Are All Authors

The Elder Scrolls games have a concept called chim or CHIM. Chim is a state of enlightenment, where one understands that one is a mere part of the dream of the Godhead, but chooses to remain a part of the dream. The warrior poet Vivec and the god-emperor Talos both achieved chim. The concept is not unlike lucid dreaming, but applied to existence. When reading about this, I was struck by the similarity to the Buddhist Boddhisattvas; people who achieved nirvana, but delayed in order to assist others in reaching nirvana.

Given how human existence is defined by our stories, this makes me think. Imagine a character in a story realizing that they are fictional. And then this character decides to begin contributing their own writing to the story. Alan Moore speculated about this in his story: Judgement Day. But isn’t this what culture is? Isn’t this what humans do every day?

I would argue that much of the wheels of civilization are designed to trick people into abdicating their ability to contribute to the story. But we are all authors, and we should act like it.