And God saw the world. And it was not good. It was time for a drastic downsizing. But he thought unto Himself, ``Everytime I do something I am blamed for taking unilateral decisions, or else my employees are blamed. So this time I shall create a healthy spirit of competition.''
And He summoned 3 Noahs: (a) TechNoah the technologist (b) Prof. Noah, the scientist and (c) ThinkNoah, the philosopher and spake to them thus: ``There shall be a deluge. The entire world shall be wiped out except yourself, and whatever you save unto yourself. Each of you is being provided with an ark.''
Hardly had the good Lord finished speaking when TechNoah ran out and started buying things in desperation---not just TVs and computers but also shavers and mixers and all such crucial amenities of modern life.
When Prof. Noah met him later he asked him, ``You are taking these electronic gadgets. Do you expect the new world to have power? And what TV stations / cable connections do you expect to find there?'' But TechNoah was not hearing. After years of living with objects, he too had become one---a scampering object collecting others.
Prof. Noah saw that TechNoah was wrong not just in his choice of objects but in his very method. It was no use collecting objects that would perhaps be useless and would certainly degrade. ``I must collect knowledge'', he thought and he frenziedly started buying books on all manner of subjects. The vast knowledge that mankind has acquired over the years should not be lost, he mused. As an eminent scientist, would he not be the right one to rebuild the world? Of course, being a practical person, he also bought up sizeable stocks of food!
As he went about, he saw ThinkNoah sitting in his room smoking a cigar. There was nothing about him, no objects, no books, nothing. ``Start moving my dear fellow,'' said the professor, ``the time of the deluge is at hand. Have you started collecting what you want to carry with you?'' ``I am trying...'' answered the philosopher. ``At the least save some food for yourself. How will you survive otherwise?'' The philosopher gave the scientist a look, blew it out with a whiff of smoke and answered, ``Hmm...''
And Prof. Noah left the philosopher, bemoaning the misfortune of poor men not trained in modern science.
Shrieking with terror, he ran out only to find ThinkNoah sitting on his ark, smoking his cigar. He too had a new body and yet he was the same. With his professorship and his science and everything he valued rendered useless he cried like a child, ``What shall I do now?''
``Come!'' smiled ThinkNoah, ``Its not so bad.'' And he held his hand and guided him, not what food to eat, but how our forefathers discovered what food to eat. And he opened his eyes and showed him, not what the laws of science were but the inquiring spirit that had uncovered those laws.
``The old answers do not work, not even the old methods. What remains?'', Prof. Noah wondered and wandered a while, and then asked his newfound mentor, ``Before the deluge, when I asked you if you had started collecting what you want to take with you, you said, ``I'm trying.'' but you don't seem to have brought anything.'' To which his thinker namesake laughed, ``That's what you think. I brought myself.''
The Prof. confused, ``I don't understand!'' The thinker with a twinkle, ``Well I am a poor man, not trained in modern science. How can I explain to the eminent Professor?''
And then he turned his eyes inward. And he beheld a wonder. Scientific laws would change but his spirit of discovery would remain. The body could change, but his Will to Life would remain. The world would change but he its witness would remain. Lo! Here was the Eternal Treasure---in himself.
And with his hubris of science gone he sat at the feet of the philosopher and suddenly remembered, ``There were 3 of us. What has become of TechNoah?'' The twinkle in the eyes of the philosopher dimmed. ``Let us find out.''
When they found his ark, it was unopened. Opening it, they found it packed with goods---all useless in the new world. But where was TechNoah? After an extensive search they realized what had happened. He had packed his ark so full of objects, there was no space left for himself---the subject.