He spent a large part of the day observing himself. A creature behind a window gazing upon an autonomous body. A mind attached, that raged all on its own. Every once in a while he forgot about the window and became the body and that mind that raged on its own. After a while he would slip out again, back behind the window, observing.
He was a thoughtless creature. At once, with access to every idea and sensation the body had ever felt or would feel but at the same time with no thoughts of his own. He just observed.
One morning while driving his daughter to school he asked her, “What is a Number? What are they?”
The girl pondered for a while and then answered, “labels for things”.
Surprisingly prescient.
He said, “Your brother wears shoes. But that’s not what makes him your brother”.
The girl understood.
The man with body and mind then said, “It changed my life asking this question.”
“You may come up with many answers, but the trick is to keep asking and uncovering the mystery. It is the key to many things. An upgrade if you like, like reaching the next level in a game.”
She said, “2 is bigger than 1, 3 is bigger than 2”.
He smiled, looking at the road ahead, they had almost reached the school.
“Yes, but what is bigger than what, what are these things you call numbers?”
She looked at him quizzically.
They arrived at school. They were late and she needed to run but he could see her mind was working.
The observer looked through the window, observing the body and mind quietly.
Creator. Reflection. Observer.