2 + 2 = 5

“Before you go in to your final room, I just wanted to have a chat with you.

Why don't I break the ice; let me tell you a secret. A lifetime ago, I used to be sitting right there, where you are sitting. I used to be considered ‘undesirable’. I used to have the strongest belief in individuality and independent thinking. I secretly hated both parties and dreamed of rebellion. I believed I really was ‘The Last Man in Europe’.

Well with that in mind, my job is to give you a pep talk. I want to tell you my story. I really think it will help you.

That glow inside your head, that peace that calms the madness.

I can give you that.

I can finally help you accept ‘the truth’. I can make that your new bellyfeel.

It is like, an Oceania actress a long time ago said,

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow”.

Right, let me begin.

We are very similar.

Do you know what I used to do?

I used to be a member of the Outer Party, just like you. I worked at one of the ministries. Yet all the time, I was secretly committing thought crimes and refusing to accept what the status quo was.

At first, when I was asked to accept it, or more accurately offered the indisputable truth that two and two makes five, I found it painful. There was an element in my core screaming, an instinct to go rogue. It had finally happened; reality was unravelling beneath my feet.

My friend Syme spotted my anxiety. He took me somewhere quiet and explained.

“You are being confronted with facts that contradict your beliefs and values. Your ideals are wrong they are dangerous. You must find a way to resolve this contradiction. You must end your discomfort.”

“But how Syme? How?” I said.

“Your mind it is like a scale, a balance. Here on one side is everything you think you believe, and here on the opposite side is ‘the truth’. When ‘the truth’ gets too heavy and you start to go out of sync you must place more stuff on that first side. New information. You must reset the scale.”

“But where do I find this information, Syme?” I replied.

“It is everywhere, have no fear, I will help.”

“Thank you. Is there anything else I can do?” I offered.

“When ‘the truth’ gets too heavy and you have nothing to counter balance it, you must stay away from it. Close your eyes. Shut it out. Just run for the trees.”

With that he turned around and went back to work. During the shift he slipped me a piece of paper unseen. I placed it in my pocket.

The paper spoke of Lord Byron and something he said to his wife.

"I know that two and two make four—& should be glad to prove it too if I could—though I must say if by any sort of process, I could convert 2 & 2 into five it would give me much greater pleasure."

It gave me hope.

Syme gave me more guidance. The mathematician, Descartes believed that the idea of 2 + 2 = 4, had no reality outside of the mind. Dostoyevsky, Balzac and Victor Hugo all wrote statements affirming that 2 + 2 = 5. Now I am a simple man and when great minds such as these, speak with such authority, I must listen. I was lucky to have Syme form their opinions for me into hard and relatable facts.

Then one day Syme gave me the cherry on the cake.

An Italian Catholic priest, good friends with the last ever pope stated,

"Theology is not Mathematics. 2 + 2 in Theology can make 5. Because it has to do with God and the real life of people."

By arguing with God or even the real life of people, I was starting to realise the absurdity of my initial angst. I left work that day and took the long route home settling all my questions on ‘the truth’. The world had recently become very strange to me. It was travelling faster than I could handle. Just as the motion of a boat can make you seasick, the motion of the world was creating a similar sensation.

Friends of mine, who told me they were liberal or from the left, would tell me now that there were certain words I was not allowed to use anymore. They would tell me; I was responsible for things that I did not comprehend or had happened before I was born. They would tell me about new words and new things that I did not understand. When I asked questions they got angry; so very angry. It scared me. The questions went unanswered.

Friends of mine, on the right would all talk in doublespeak, an ability to lie. I cannot tell whether it is being done knowingly or unconsciously. They seem to get away with it. They chose and shaped facts selectively, blocking out those that didn't fit. They were also angry, so I did not ask any questions.

Syme told me I could not have friends on both sides, he said even the people in the middle leaned one way or the other. If I had friends on both sides I would spend all my free time resetting the scale. He told me I had to choose. The problem is I did not want to. Both sides seemed flawed, corrupted and wrong.

This was my big mistake. The world is a machine and the two parties, power the machine. It is not important what side you are on. It is just important that you take a position. It is important you become a part of the larger system. I lied to Syme. I only pretended to choose a side. When you stand outside of the machine, it is no longer efficient. Then anything can happen. I was such a fool. My indecision was affecting everyone.

I mean in the world back then, there was a country that wanted to leave a continent.

A continent, that was once obsessed with building walls not bridges.

In the light of this, of course, two and two made five.

It was inevitable. The logic of the position demanded it. Not the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was now denied by all philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And that was terrifying; not what could happen for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four?

Or that the earth revolves around the sun?

Or that Tuesday truly follows Monday?

If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?

I am lucky to have Syme help me to make sense of it all. Syme was the smartest man I knew.

It was doubleplusgood.

Then one day Syme was gone. I did not know this, but on that day, he too was sitting where you are.

Without Syme; I fell off the wagon. I went back to my old ways.

In no time at all, I was going where the ‘proles’ live. A girl called Julia started leading me astray. We were buying illegal books and consuming them. We were playing riskily with dangerous ideas. We were even having unauthorised sex. When I think back to that time I am truly ashamed. How did I sink so low? It was inevitable; I ended up where you are. Sitting just there. Waiting to go through that exact same door.

Do you know how they caught me? When Syme went through that door, he told them all about me. He saved me a second time; good old Syme. Ignorance is strength, we have God on our side. Look at me now; fully rehabilitated. Look how I came back to society. Look at how strong and useful I now am. How could I have ever doubted the plan?

Now, on the other side of the door is some scary stuff. I am terrified just sitting here on this side. I never want to go back in there, so let me help you. You think you know what you are going to do. Listen, you are wrong. I have seen it. This is the most important thing I am ever going to tell you.

Syme was the smartest man I knew. Syme heard a very wise priest in Africa once say,

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”

Syme held onto that and it gave him strength. He used that as his armour when he went through that door.

Do you know something?

Syme was a fool.

Do you know where Syme is today? He does not exist. He is an ’unperson’. He has completely disappeared, his existence completely destroyed. Do you know what did it? The space on the other side of that door.

The only thing that can save you in there is 2 + 2 = 5. To think any other way is madness.

Now I think my time is up.

I wish you good fortune.”

With that last part of wisdom bestowed, I left the young man thinking over his options and walked away from the opposing final door. I looked back at him. I recognised his fear. It still gripped me all these years later. I took one last look at my nemesis. The chill of its presence, its power was terrifying. Finally, I turned away.

I turned away from the door to Room 101.

Note. This is heavily inspired by the book and characters of George Orwell’s ‘1984’, and the current political climate all over the world, I suppose this is 1984 fanfiction.