The Egg (Weir)

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Disclaimer: This summary was generated by AI, so it may contain errors.
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The Egg
2009
Summary of the Short Story
Microsummary: Following a fatal crash, a father met an omniscient being who explained that he was living every human life throughout history. The universe was created for his soul to grow into a cosmic entity.

Short Summary

A man died in a car accident, leaving behind his wife and two children. After death, he met a mysterious being who identified itself as God.

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The Recently Deceased — middle-aged man who died in a car accident, married with two children, caring father and husband despite failing marriage.
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God — appears as a vague authority figure resembling a grammar school teacher, gender-ambiguous, omniscient being who created the universe.

God explained that the man would be reincarnated, not as a blank slate but carrying the unconscious knowledge of all his past lives. The being revealed a profound truth about existence:

In this universe, there's just you and me... All you. Different incarnations of you... I'm every human being who ever lived? Or who will ever live, yes.

God explained that the entire universe was created as an incubator for this single soul, who would live as every human being throughout history - from Abraham Lincoln to Hitler, from Jesus to his followers. Every act of kindness or cruelty was ultimately done to oneself. The purpose was for this soul to mature and eventually be born as a being like God. With this revelation, the soul was sent to its next life as a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.

Detailed Summary

Division of the summary into chapters is conditional.

Death and the Meeting with God

A person died in a car accident after a truck skidded into their vehicle. The death was painless, though the body was severely damaged. The deceased left behind a wife and two children. Upon dying, they met a mysterious being in a place of nothingness.

The being confirmed they were God, though they didn't appear as traditionally imagined - instead appearing as a vague authority figure, more like a grammar school teacher. The deceased's first concern was for their family's well-being.

All religions are right in their own way... You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don't remember them right now.

The Truth About Reincarnation

God explained that instead of heaven or hell, the deceased would be reincarnated. When the deceased assumed this meant the Hindus were right, God clarified that all religions were correct in their own way. As they walked through the void, God revealed that the deceased had lived many lives throughout different times and places, and would next be born as a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.

Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It's like sticking your finger in a glass of water

God explained that time only existed in their universe, and that the deceased's consciousness was far greater than what could fit in a human mind. The deceased learned they could have interacted with other versions of themselves in different lives without knowing it.

The Ultimate Revelation

When asked about the meaning of life, God revealed that the entire universe was created for the deceased alone. They explained that there were no other people - every human who had ever lived or would live was actually the same soul in different incarnations.

Every time you victimized someone, you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you've done, you've done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was experienced by you.

The deceased learned they were everyone - from Abraham Lincoln to John Wilkes Booth, from Hitler to his victims, from Jesus to his followers. Every human experience throughout history was or would be experienced by this single soul.

You're a fetus. You're still growing. Once you've lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born... So the whole universe, it's just... An egg.

Finally, God revealed the ultimate purpose: the deceased was actually a fetus of God's own kind, growing and maturing through all human experiences. The entire universe was created as an egg for this developing being. Once they had lived every possible human life throughout all time, they would have grown enough to be born as a being like God. With this revelation, God sent them on to their next life.