Illustration by Susanne Gold, written by Sabine Stemp

The Flying Chair

It is the year 2118 and I am Oskar the discoverer of the technology that ultimately saved our planet.

Back then, in my workshop

I would like to tell you what happened in my workshop when I discovered IT:

The sun is shining beautifully from the blue sky. Break.
I sit quite contentedly outside my workshop and simply enjoy.

Some time ago we humans have reached a completely different human level and are now able to use our emotions to their fullest extent.
At this moment I feel my whole energy spectrum for the first time in my life.

This feels so awesome!

At the same time my chair on which I am currently sitting begins to rise with me into the air. Wicked!
So panic is nothing against it – but I calm down again pretty quickly, because I realize that it is my own energy that I can transform into the chair. Awesome!

How do you steer a flying chair?

. . .and how do I control myself and my chair now? I immediately realize that I can influence everything through my thoughts. I’m thinking, “Go left,” and I’m moving left. I think, “Faster now,” and I get faster. I think: “Park now” and I am immediately back at the starting point.
So now I am all run down.

I’ll just keep this to myself for now

Nobody will believe me anyway. I spend the next days flying and it works – always. The first visions arise within me. A world that no longer needs infrastructure. No more omnipresent noise. No more stinking fumes. No more discussion about the energy problem.

No more industry – a small workshop will suffice

Every person operates his own means of transport with his own emotional power. I’m thinking of a cool design for this thing that will save our planet – an ultra light flying chair.

I will manufacture the seat shell from transparent carbon

Light as a feather. The backrest will be extended with an umbrella that will provide protection from rain and sun. This umbrella can be designed in the owner’s favourite colour.

I think of colourful butterflies, light balloons floating in the sky and the weightless flight of birds. Yeah, that’s the way it’s gonna be.

But then suddenly a problem appears that almost destroyed my dream

I sell my first flying chair to the first customer. A few hours later he is already back and tells me that his flying chair is not flying at all. We’re checking everything out – everything is fine.

He’s just not flying

After hours of fruitless research, I finally give up and put the thing that was supposed to save the world from destruction in the corner for now.

When I remember when it all started with this revolutionary discovery – who would have thought that the only environmentally friendly and renewable energy is hidden within ourselves and who would have thought that money has the power to extinguish this energy immediately?

The next day I see my children flying as a matter of course – with this very flying chair they found in my workshop.

My courage returns

I try it again and sell it again – this time to another customer. Same scenario again – he just doesn’t fly. The whole thing takes place a couple more times just like this. I am disappointed, clueless and have sleepless nights. I just can’t find the reason for it.

One day, completely disillusioned, I give my flying chair to the next customer

A few hours he appears again in my workshop – this time beaming with joy.
This thing flies!!!

It’s beginning to dawn on me. If I sell the chair, it won’t fly. If I give him away, he’ll fly without any problems.
Money seems to immediately cancel out the emotional energy flow. That’s fucking awesome!!!

So I’m left with only one option

When I remember when it all started with this revolutionary discovery – who would have thought that the only environmentally friendly and renewable energy is hidden within ourselves and who would have thought that money has the power to extinguish this energy immediately?