It dawned on me that the typical everyday perception hides a different underlying reality that is far more intriguing and interesting. I embarked on a quest to penetrate it by searching for cues that will reveal the way. Initially, I thought it's just nonsense. However, considering the possibility, little by little, I began having unusual experiences leading me to believe it actually exists. The first level is relatively easy to access. I've paid close attention to my breathing while keeping my body still. Once the first gate opened, I moved in and continued the exercise while observing the arising sensations on my body. It all felt like a moving landscape and, the only thing left to do was to keep going and observing. After 40 hours I reached the second gate. A new challenge appeared here. It felt like it was locked for a long time, while I was standing there, in front of the gate, perplexed a man sitting on the side, under a palm tree spoke to me:

> You shall not see this gate as an entrance, for you have been looking for an exit all your life.

I tried to process his words, they resonated with me, but I didn't understand what it meant. Is this the end? Am I secretly thinking there's a next level, another door to unlock? I think yes, the man was right. I was contempt with the fact of having arrived and was eager to advance. It was the feeling that carried me through from the past door onwards; It ignited my curiosity, It fueled my desire to persevere. How was I not to look forward to entering this gate, moving forward to new adventures? I was supposed to see it as an exit? An exit to where? back to my room? to work? the typical 9 to 5 remote gig I was committed to for the next 4 months? It all felt like a dream that was about to end, It made me sad. I wanted the adventure to continue. I looked towards the gate, I looked behind me and the road that brought me to where I was standing seemed endless. It was losing itself behind the dunes under an orange sun about to set. The old man said: I have been looking for an exit all my life, Was I really? He was no longer there under the palm tree, he disappeared just as he appeared, mysteriously. I saw him getting up and walking behind the palm tree and when I went to look for him nobody was there. Now, if I could ask a question it would be: Is this the exit?

Breathing the cold air of the dusk I remembered of a time long gone when I was an adolescent, taking evening courses; the only thing I was looking forward to was to finish and go see the sunset on the beach. It was the only thing I could think of, and every ten minutes I was looking at the clock and over the window to trace the position of the sun. Was that an exit I was looking forward to? It was indeed. Other times I was looking forward to sleep so I can dream of meeting alien civilizations discussing the future of humanity and receiving advanced technological secrets meant to propel us all forward. Was the dream an exit? it was indeed. And so, standing there looking at the setting sun I have understood what the old man told me. The gate was an exit toward something I could not know. The only certainty was the negation of everything else that I have experienced so far. And so, without hesitation or regret, I walked forward and the gate opened, and I kept on walking straight into an abyss of empty darkness.