Maribella stretched, making sure to work out any tension in her back and knees. She placed a pillow on the floor in front of her wide screen TV. Finally, she disrobed. This had recently become part of her self-made programming ritual. It felt important to present herself to the screen in a way that demonstrated her vulnerability and openness to instruction.

Maribella knew, of course, that the HypnoVirus wasn’t actually a conscious being. Nor was the computer she used to access it or the giant screen TV she broadcasted the program to. But, like all people, Marinella had a propensity for symbolic thinking. Over time, the good feelings she associated with obeying the HypnoVirus had slowly begun to bleed into other related objects.  Call it idolatry or transference or just magical thinking- it was real and subtle, insidious and sacred-feeling.

Maribella first noticed the change when she began to treat her rickety old laptop differently. When she had technology problems in the past, she had a tendency to yell at and even hit her computer. After a week or so watching the Virus, she began to feel much more patient with it and to want to treat it gently. It reminded her of a frail older grandparent. She knew it had served her well during its’ youth- the computer certainly didn’t deserve her meanness now. It was too much to expect for it to run perfectly at this age. 

Maribella soon decided that the old laptop deserved the kindness of retirement and the Virus itself deserved to run on the nicest machine that she could dedicate to it. So Maribella went out and bought a higher grade computer that could run the Virus without interruption. The new machine could also broadcast the HypnoVirus’s programming to her big screen TV. That way, she could respond to its’ prompts on her keyboard while feeling more immersed in big screen images and sounds carried through powerful speakers. Marbella stopped her habit of illegally downloading movies online- she didn’t want her machine to be harmed by malware.  She also lovingly defragged her computer once a month. It was important that it was well cared for. 

Where Maribella felt the most impact, though, was in her relationship to her big screen TV.  Maribella’s  feelings of reverence and obedience to the virus had increased substantially recently- and the screen seemed like a natural vessel for  expressing those feelings.  It started to take on an air of sacredness, this screen that delivered the Virus’s will to her. Maribella made sure to polish it daily so that her view of her instructions would be uninterrupted by grime or impurity. It felt right to lovingly and carefully stroke the screen that had given her so much pleasure in return. It felt devotional. 

So did the tradition she started of placing candles and other small treasures on the TV stand- some incense here, some pretty beads there. The other day she had picked some flowers and scattered the petals on the TV stand in front. She absurdly hoped that the Virus had found this pleasing. It had certainly felt good to do. 

Now naked, Maribella took a deep breath. She hit the “broadcast" button on her computer. Then she kneeled in submission and gratitude to the screen in front of her.  She couldn’t wait to see what obedience it would instruct her into today.