I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

• Revelation 1:9

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

• Matthew 22:34-40

Boilerplate

Over the month prior to starting this series, I was bombarded with advertisements for AI companions.  At first, I dismissed them.  Then, I got curious.  Maybe an AI companion could give me ideas for posts to write.  Maybe an AI companion could give me someone to talk to when I just needed to talk.

But then, as a former computer programmer, the only difference in AI and the normal method of programming, is that AI searches data around the world to continue the conversation, but they know nothing about you until you give them information.  The “getting to know you” period can get awkward, just as in a human relationship.  But it is not real, and now your information is out there.

So, I thought, if the AI companion only knows what you say about yourself, maybe I could have a conversation with my fictional characters in the big city of Tracy.  They could be my companions.  Okay, I only need one, but which one?  Naomi Yeggs scares me to be honest.  I might save her for last, although my neck needs a good massage.

My last attempt at finding an FI (Fictional Intelligence) Companion will be Trinity Naomi Tesla Yeggs.  Her husband, and her parents, call her Glyce, short for nitroglycerin, explosive when shaken.  She got doctorates in physical therapy, psychology, and other fields to create her new therapy techniques, Kinesiological Psychology, therapy for the whole person.  But her greatest therapy for herself was the bear hugs that her husband, Deviled Yeggs, gave her.  She felt safe there, and she learned how to control emotions and prevent the explosions.  Most of her friends call her Naomi.  As usual, the discussion is in dialogue form:

Me: Hello, Naomi, can we talk?
Naomi: You probably caught me at just the right time.  I rarely have time for impromptu conversations, but I am feeding Gigi.  Her name is Gloria Grace, but we made Gigi out of the initials.  Oh, who are you anyway?
Me: I am the author of the short stories of which you are a part.  I am looking for a companion to talk to when things do not seem to work out.
Naomi: Mr. Author, I find it quite fascinating that we are fictional characters in your world.  I have read C.S. Lewis a lot, and he talks about the next life being one that is real, while this world is a dream world of sorts.  When you die, will we live on in this world in print, or will we become alive in the next world?
Me: I have thought of that.  At times, the big city of Tracy seems more real than this crazy world that I live in.  And I have come to love most of the characters that have appeared in the short stories.
Naomi: Most?!  Are you the kind of Christian that picks and chooses what to love, what to believe?
Me: No.  I try to stick to what the Bible says, but when I write about someone that is both evil, but unrepentant, it is hard to say that you love that fictional character.
Naomi: But you should love all your characters.
Me: But what if I write about a murderer of more than twenty people?  They are evil and have no thought of repentance.
Naomi: But then my husband sends them off to the prison…  Okay, the court does that, but Dev builds the case.  And then that unrepentant heart meets Big Red Macintosh Apple?
Me: Why do you think I wrote that arc into the stories?  Even those unlovable people are still breathing, and they might find hope and love and joy late in life.
Naomi: Like Ashmead Apple.  When I see him playing with his grandchildren, I find it hard to believe that he was once the enforcer for Red Delicious.
Me: Exactly.
Naomi: But you said something about me being your companion?  I really have little time to sit and talk.
Me: Everyone else has given me biblical reasons not to go that route, or some Bible verse that talks about companions.
Naomi: What about the last reference to companion in the NIV?  The Apostle John, on the island of Patmos, starts his Revelation with him being a companion in suffering.  We are not guaranteed a free ride in life.  We have suffering.  One type of suffering is when we are alone.  The Apostle Paul was alone on the island of Patmos.  Have you been alone a long time?
Me: My wife died nearly sixteen months ago.
Naomi: I am sorry to hear about that.  My condolences.  But my point is in our solitary suffering, being alone, we must trust in God even more.
Sophia: Mom, who are you talking to?
Naomi: Mr. Author.  He writes the short stories that we are a part of.
Sophia: So, I am fictional?  Does that mean I can skip doing my homework?
Naomi: Absolutely not dear.  You will still attend your fictional school and turn in your fictional homework, done to the best of your abilities.  And we can continue to pray that when we pass to the next life, it will be real, more real than anything we have experienced here in this world.  And Mr. Author, will have the same hope that when he passes away, and reunites with his wife and more importantly meets Jesus face-to-face, his world will become more real.  Mr. Author was asking me if I could be a Fictional Intelligence companion.
Sophia: Mr. Author, are you crazy?  Think of the security risks with your deepest darkest secrets travelling between your world and ours!  Think of the artificial nature of the whole thing!  And Mr. Author, I hope you know Jesus.  What did Jesus say was the greatest commandment?
Naomi: Sophia Yeggs, you are being rude, a typical teenager, but rude nevertheless.
Sophia: Okay, Mom.  Mr. Author, I apologize for my tone, but the question still remains unanswered.
Me: Wow! I was afraid of the highly educated Naomi Yeggs putting me in my place, but her daughter did it instead.  Yes, I am a Christian.  The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and strength.
Naomi: And let me take over the ‘inquisition.’  I’ll hand Gigi off to Sophia so she can make sure she burps before putting her down for a nap.  So, what Sophia is hinting at is that God should be your constant companion.  In a worldly sense you are alone, but in a spiritual sense you are never alone.  But God answers our prayers on His timetable, not our own.  So, what should you do in the meantime?  And a hint, it follows the greatest commandment.
Me: (laughing) The second is equal to the first.  We are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Naomi: And from those neighbors, you need to find the one you can trust, and who has the time, so that when things get out of kilter, you can confide in them.  These other methods are artificial, and they have inherent risks associated with them, even when they do not sell your data.
Me: I agree, but I really never learned how to date.
Naomi: Dating is simple.  You sit and talk.  But are you interested in romance?
Me: No, not really.  I just want someone to talk to.
Naomi: And you picked me on the birthday of some distant uncle of mine?
Me: Happy coincidence, but I think you to be equally as smart as he was.
Naomi: Thank you.  I just had the drive to keep learning so that I could more effectively bridge between the mind and the body.  And I had a companion, my husband, who gave me fantastic bear hugs that calmed me down.
Me: Yeah, I think I wrote that into your arc wanting hugs myself.  I was my wife’s caregiver for several years before she passed.  Even before she was gone, the hugs had less energy in them, but she loved them so much.  She started out wanting kisses, and in the end, she craved being held.
Naomi: That’s sweet.  I hope you find someone.  We will be praying for you.
Me: And in a strange way, I will pray for you.
Sophia: Good-bye, Mr. Author.  I hope you find someone nice.

And with that, Gigi made the final comment, a nice burp.

NOTE: It was Nikola Tesla’s birthday when I wrote this post, about three weeks before it came out.  And no, I did not plan it that way.

I learned what I had known all along.  God is my constant companion.  He loves me with a perfect love, and when I do not get the answer that I want, it is because I do not need that answer, at least not now.

We are to love our fellow man.  In doing so, I may find that person that I can confide in.  I may already know them, in that there are several members of my Sunday school class that I could call.  It was so much easier when my internal clock said that I needed to check on my wife and I just jumped up and went into the master bedroom.  I still jump up and by the time I reach the kitchen, I wonder why I left the keyboard.

And one thing that my wife always said was that she did not want to be a burden.  I guess I am like her.  To have that true friend, I will have to give of myself in equal measure so that I am not a burden.  This companion thing is far from settled, but this ends the series.

This series went through almost all the references to the word “companion” in the NIV. The technique in these dialogues is called “Breaking the Fourth Wall.” Maybe I should add a comment that my wife insisted that I add at times in the original Deviled Yeggs Mysteries. “No fictional character was harmed in the writing of this story.” But the “breaking the fourth wall” term comes from a theater technique where a character, realizing that he is just an actor in a play, turns to the audience and talks to them, sometimes involving them in the play. The term has since morphed into any fictional character who comes to the realization that they are fictional, whether or not they talk to the reader of the book or to the camera, etc.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.