Miracle in Everyday Life.

The Catholic Church has decided to sharpen the definitions of miracles and reached out to me, asking if I wanted to participate in the work.

-Absolutely, I replied and was flown down to the Vatican City in Rome in Business Class. I felt honoured to be involved in the modernisation of an institution that otherwise excelled in resisting any kind of change. They asked if I wanted a choir boy in my hotel room when I arrived, but I politely declined, blaming it on a urinary tract infection. One wouldn't want to seem ungrateful and create a bad atmosphere.

-You are a critical outsider who can contribute with perspectives that we lack, said the man from the Vatican when we met early in the morning. I was led into a room with a gigantic oak table surrounded by a group of old men. The table was so polished that I could see up everyone's nostrils. The man leading the meeting had a red hat with slightly creased edges on top, like fins on a fish. Or perhaps it was a sundial?

-In our digital age, many try to bluff and manipulate miracles to gain attention. It undermines the credibility of the church and affects our ability to verify real miracles, he said, throwing his hands up in despair. The other men shook their heads in concern and exchanged looks of agreement.

-Let’s have some refreshments while we start working.

-Will there be choir boys with the coffee? asked a frail-looking man with a hint of hope in his voice.

-We'll save that for dinner, said the man with the red hat matter-of-factly.

I cautiously raised my hand, unsure if I could speak freely.

-Yes, Anders?

-If I understand correctly, do you mean today that a miracle is a Divine intervention, beyond the laws of nature, and should be extraordinary and perceptible by the senses?

-Yes, exactly.

-And now you want a more scientific approach?

I was met with completely blank stares.

-We always hire doctors to confirm medical miracles, said one of the old men.

-Yes, but they are your doctors, so they are hardly objective, right? If you were to evaluate miracles completely scientifically, it would be impeccable.

-Science cannot explain everything in this world, said the man with the red hat irritably.

-It can at least prove that no one can rise from the dead, walk on water, heal the blind and lame by laying on of hands and that statues cannot cry or bleed. You appear a bit ridiculous by believing in fairy tales. Isn't that why we are here today? The man with the red hat stared angrily at me and pointed towards the door.

-OUT! BLASPHEMER!

I left the meeting and thought it was a shame that I couldn't complete my reasoning that had led to the placebo effect. Where belief in a treatment or medicine can have positive effects even though the treatment or medicine is entirely ineffective. It's the miracle of our time. I passed a group of choir boys on the way out. They looked terrified, and then it hit me.

The creases on the red hat looked just like horns.

To throw away your life.

I hesitated for a second before turning the moving box upside down. Going to the dump and getting rid of old junk has always been delightful and cathartic. But now, when it was about everything I love, it was a bit more emotionally taxing. The books and authors that shaped and inspired me, the movies that touched me deeply, and the music that defined me. All the time and money I had invested in something that had turned into worthless pieces of paper and plastic that wouldn't fit in my future home.

Once I crossed that threshold, it was as if something broke inside me. Suddenly, nothing was sacred anymore, and I decided to throw away my wife, my children, my parents, siblings, and elderly relatives. But my wife and daughters were not on board at all and showed immense physical strength when I tried to cram them into the wood chipper. Pushing them into the incinerator container was also not an option; an employee at the station informed me that living beings are not to be recycled at all. I had to give up and tell the family I was joking and settled for throwing away all my photo albums, videotapes, and slides instead. Everything fell into the container's welcoming mouth like rain-heavy leaves.

The journey back from the dump was understandably a bit frosty, but I kept my spirits up and explained that this cleansing ritual was vital to me.

-My past is erased, like an intestinal lavage. All that remains is my genetic heritage and the future, I explained to ears that didn't want to listen.

When I recounted the episode to my friends (I omitted the attempted murder of my family, I don't think they would understand), they sat with their mouths agape and appalled. How could I? 

In reality, I had portrayed myself as more progressive than I am since I didn't mention that I had digitized everything before it went to the dump. So, in reality, I haven't thrown away my life at all. On the contrary, I have preserved it and made my past more accessible than ever. Up in the attic, it gathered dust in oblivion. Now it's in the cloud, ominously hovering over me around the clock. Always accessible and a constant reminder that I am an insignificant cog in the machinery of life until the internet implodes and dies under the pressure of humanity's collective stupidity.

Then everything disappears forever, and only then - maybe- we truly will be free.

The heart of the home.

After 30 years in the same house, my wife and I have decided to move. Without children or a dog, it's as if we live in a gigantic memorial park where we have to use 'find-my-iPhone' to locate each other.

We carefully chose a real estate agent and since then, we have done nothing but clean and style our home. First for a photo shoot and then for viewings when complete strangers will stroll around our home and hopefully be able to see themselves living there. The real estate agent came to inspect our work one day. He silently walked around the house with a critical gaze. He opened closets, peeked into bathroom drawers, visited the attic and storage spaces, and made small notes in a notebook.

-The large framed photo in the living room? he said with a concerned tone as we sat down at the kitchen table.

-Yes?

-What is that, it looks like a piece of meat?

-Christ, no! That's my wife's placenta from our first daughter, the Tree of Life, I replied enthusiastically.

The real estate agent's face whitened slightly as he glanced down at his notes.

-I think it would be best if...

-We ate it afterwards, my wife interjected. We sautéed it lightly in cold-pressed olive oil with some garlic and tarragon, then served it with pickles and salt and pepper. Such a beautiful moment and surprisingly tasty.

-Yes, almost like goulash but with a hint of liver, I added.

-I understand that it means a lot to you, but perhaps another painting won’t steal so much focus from the house itself, struggled the real estate agent.

-Well, you're the professional here. I don't want to end up like my own clients who are willing to pay for my services but aren’t willing to listen, I said, laughing.

The real estate agent gathered his strength before moving on to the next point on his list.

-The old man sitting in the guest room closet?

-Mr Wallén? Yes, he's a close family friend who has been with me since I was young. He was the gardener at my grandmother and grandfather's place on the outskirts of Stockholm.

-I think he might have to go, the real estate agent stated flatly.

-But he's been there since we moved in, I tried to explain.

-It can be perceived as offensive to have a stuffed person in the house, the real estate agent explained pedagogically and sought support from my wife.

-How can it be offensive to honour the memory of a beloved gardener? my wife wondered, tilting her head slightly. (Always a warning sign.)

-Homebuyers are often sensitive beings and very afraid of moisture, mould, and radon.

-I don't think there's radon in Mr Wallén, although he may have grown up in a home built with blue lightweight concrete on a glacial ridge and an exterior covered with asbestos tiles, so who knows? I chimed in.

-No, precisely.

-So what should we do with him? I asked worriedly.

-Maybe he can be in the tool shed until the viewings are over? the real estate agent suggested.

-Yes, he might be right, my wife said to me. He would probably feel at home among all the rakes and tools.

A little later, the real estate agent and I carried Mr. Wallén out through the kitchen door, across the lawn, and towards the tool shed. He was surprisingly heavy, and suddenly one of his legs broke off and we dropped him on the ground. The real estate agent stood there holding the leg, looking foolish.

-What the hell, I exclaimed irritably.

-He can probably be fixed, the real estate agent tried. And besides, he doesn't feel anything.

-No, but I feel something. Because he was my gardener and stood firmly on two legs his whole life.

Suddenly I sense that someone is staring at us from the driveway. It's a man and a woman with two little daughters, one of whom is crying silently. The real estate agent quickly composes himself.

-Welcome. We just need to remove the gardener and then I'll be right with you.

-He’s not included in the sale, I added and dragged Mr Wallén by his remaining leg towards the shed.

A handful of men.

She went home to a loveless relationship held together only by variable interest rate on their joint mortgage. Dinner consisted of leftovers from the fridge that she managed to create something from. They ate in silence while studying the perfect lives of others in short clips on their phones. Their necks were bent, as if for an execution. He suddenly laughed at something, and she looked at him in surprise.

-What was that?

-Oh, nothing really.

-But you laughed.

-Did I? he replied and returned to the screen.

After dinner, they watched a show formatted by an algorithm that had learnt their tastes over the years, making it so predictable that they fell asleep on separate sofas. When she woke up, he had already gone to bed without waking her.

The TV was on and CNN was repeating world news that made her to reconsider her stand on the death penalty. Imagine being able to cleanse the earth of the handful of men who are at the root of all the shit happening on the planet. But she doesn't believe in the death penalty. It might solve some problems, but what would it do to her? What kind of person would they turn her into? But at some point you may have to strike a balance. If you can reduce the suffering of millions of people by getting rid of one, isn't that a good deed?

She brushed her teeth and changed into a nightgown before crawling into bed where her husband was sleeping with his oxygen mask on and still snoring. She studied him and the foggy mask over his nose and mouth. If he didn't work at the Land Survey, could he also have become a powerful despot who oppressed and duped his people, threatened neighbouring countries and executed critics? She hesitated, reminding herself that her thoughts should not be applied to all men. One should not generalise. But at the same time, she could not ignore the fact that it is almost exclusively men who make the world a worse place. A handful of men, but still men. That's a fact.

She suddenly felt lucky that she only shared her life with one really boring man. At the same time, she was glad that she didn't agree to them taking out a life insurance policy on her. They might not love each other anymore, but she wasn't going to give him the slightest reason to want to kill her.

Opportunity makes the thief and all that.

The Promised Land of Oblivion.

It's funny how a phenomenon transitions from being seen as a groundbreaking form of treatment to eventually end up being regarded as unscientific mumbo jumbo. The believers studied for years and read books by old dead men who had no clue what they were doing. Afterwards, the believers spent their days in a chair listening to patients ruminate on their inner selves. Some may have left the sessions with increased self-awareness, but many emerged even more confused than they were initially. They would have achieved more lasting positive results if patients were served coconut balls instead.

However, there is one field where psychoanalysis has made a lasting mark - filmmaking. I'm not referring to all those depictions of neurotic characters endlessly lying on a couch at their therapists. No, it's rather the idea of repressed memories that has been utterly irresistible to screenwriters. I don't know how many movies and series I've seen revolving around childhood trauma. Preferably abuse or traumatic experiences in relationships or in a war that the main character doesn't remember and hinders him from living his life to the fullest. In reality, there is nothing we humans remember better than horrific events in our lives. They are the ones that stick despite our desire to get rid of them. Unfortunately, it's not as spectacular to make a film about what we truly have forgotten.

-What’s the movie about, Anders?

-A man who has repressed what kind of shorts he was wearing on a vacation in Egypt.

We remember what matters. We remember what deviates from everyday life. That's why memory researchers encourage us to associate facts with obscenities, so we trick the brain into sticking a permanent Post-it note there. Albert Einstein = pubic hair.

But in the world of film, there is nothing more attractive than a protagonist carrying an unconscious trauma. Cut to flashback: A man hits a little boy on the head with a saucepan. Cut back to the adult protagonist: Rubbing his eyes and looking bewildered. It's only through a breakthrough with his psychoanalyst (who is also his love interest) that the lead character becomes aware of what he has been through. Cut to reconciliation scene. Tears. Embrace. Strings. Plinky piano. End credits. The end.

An unforgettable film.

The Defrosted

In the year 2324, a spectacular discovery was made by chance. A sealed cavern was found containing hundreds of cryogenic chambers, each housing a frozen human from the year 2024, hoping to one day be resurrected. Some sought to cure an incurable disease, while the vast majority longed to wake up in a future where science had paved the way for extended lifespans.

As it turned out, their $200,000 was not entirely wasted. Technological progress had made it possible to thaw people from -197°C and revive them. The bad news was that the majority in the tanks were around 80 years old and filthy rich. So the planet suddenly had a flock of privileged individuals scurrying around smelling like old freezers that had never been defrosted. They might get their long-awaited 40 extra years of life, thanks to new diets and genetically engineered drugs. The fact that they still leaked like a sieve and had to wear adult diapers somewhat reduced the initial joy. The butt plug took on a whole new function.

Sadly, dementia was still not curable or stoppable, leaving many with decades ahead of them with the consciousness of a mandarin. Those who were still mentally intact were hugely annoying people who were used to being listened to. They demanded media attention and could never stop talking about how amazing and successful their lives had been. It soon became clear that the ultimate motive for the freeze was that they believed they had so much to give to future generations. A crash course in ruining the planet? someone asked and was met with a slightly frostbitten evil eye.

Relatives of the Defrosted were also allowed to meet their distant ancestors, which didn't lead to anything good. Small children were frightened out of their wits, and adults were faced with the dilemma of dealing with an ancient relative who demanded attention, service, and meat-based fast food. What the Defrosted people didn't realize was that in 300 years, humanity had evolved. Among other things, it had stopped being obsessed with the idea of living as long as possible. The optimum is to live as well as possible for as long as possible. The human body has an expiry date, just like any other living thing, a scientist told them matter-of-factly. The Defrosted shouted angrily that it was just an opinion and that they felt offended by having their dream questioned. They therefore demanded to be frozen again and thawed when scientists had learned to become more customer friendly and market oriented. So the Defrosted bitterly went back into their capsules for another dreamless sleep.

What they had forgotten is the indisputable fact that you can't defrost meat more than once.

Killing dogs.

I'm thinking about my dog today. She died a year ago. Died and died, by the way, we went and put her down at the vet's. She fell asleep in my lap and was clearly less affected by the moment than my wife and I were. We cried like children.

Signe was a beloved Jack Russel. In fact, I think most people liked Signe better than me. People cuddled with her, gave her treats, let her sit in their lap, jump up on the sofa where no other dog had ever been, etc. To be honest, I also liked Signe better than myself. She was our second dog, even though we swore never to get another one after our Labrador Gillis. He was also amazing in his own way and with an eating disorder that made him constantly hungry. An evolutionary defect that had the positive effect that as long as you held out something edible, you could get him to do anything. Unfortunately, his long-term memory didn't seem to be great, because he forgot what he was taught almost immediately. Or maybe he was so clever that he pretended to forget in order to get another bribe.

I don't know. But when you look into your beloved dog's eyes, you hope to catch a glimpse of intelligence, caring, keen friendship, or why not love? Anthropomorphism is the fancy word for attributing human characteristics to animals. But it feels like most of us only apply it to animals that we don't plan to eat. If we saw fragments of our own emotional register in other animals, there would probably not be any Christmas ham or turkey. Attributing animal characteristics to humans is called zoomorphism. Often it is negative characteristics that are emphasised. Eating like a pig, being slippery as an eel, being scared as a hare. Hung like a horse also occurs, but it’s unclear whether this is a compliment or a handicap. Yes, this is how my thoughts wander sometimes. Like a donkey. Anyway, we have decided not to get a new dog. Neither of us has the psyche to put another one to sleep.

However, there will be a turkey at Christmas