Consider this. In infinite nature, the stars continue forever, and then ever more. There will always be more in every direction. Everywhere you look, you’re surrounded by an infinite universe. It goes on and on forever. This is about you. Look in any direction and the world goes on forever, and from every direction it all comes back to you. You are right in the middle of everything. You are the center of the universe. Do with it what you will.

Both Ethan and Eldon died during the transcendence. Eldon’s shot triggered everything, including Tara literally exploding into a new medium for our species. It was a percussive event and Eldon was at the epicenter. He, as well as Ethan, were blown into particles.

The transcendence wasn’t just an evolutionary moment. It was an eternal moment, bringing eternity into the flow and potential of our species. Eldon wasn’t excused from the sentence. He now found himself completely in the world of the abstract. His only connection to the material world was space and time and he had an eternity of both. In every direction, there was nothing but space and time.

The vastness of a void can be extremely confining. It’s no place for the animal mind. The animal mind is driven by fear and anger, and there’s nowhere to go beyond a cycle of the two. You’re caught in the void where nothing changes, and all you have is your fear and anger. Eldon knew there was something greater than the void. That’s what sustained the anger and fear. That and the knowledge, there was no chance for change.

Ethan went to the exact same place as Eldon. He did not find confinement, he found connection. Both solitude and connection live distinctly in the new world. Ethan went to a world full of interconnectedness. He had broken through the barrier of self, and that was the only difference between him and Eldon. Ethan opened himself and his love to others and now he was sharing in the collective. He was of them, while remaining of himself.

Far from a void, Ethan gained unlimited access to change. He had the physical and abstract world to live in. It was impossible to be harmed on earth. AI forbade it, and made it preventable. Ethan found the same protection in the collective. While in the abstract world, they were with him, period. He could go to the extreme limits of his mind, and the collective would be there, like a warm swaddling blanket if he needed it. His potential was limitless. The only limitation was his imagination, but it was his imagination that would fuel his eternal experience.

Ethan felt like he walked into a big, warm hug, that would hold onto him forever. An extra layer of skin. He felt safe. He no longer felt fear and anger; only love and freedom. He had transcended the animal state.

This is what Ethan gained when he separated himself from Eldon in the quest. The harmonious, never ending. The Universal Frequency. Transcendence.

Prior to the transcendence, the entire world faced the same choice as Ethan and Eldon. It could have gone either way.