The Mind and the Matter story
A man uses the power of concentration to remake the world in his image. Directed by: Buzz Kulik. Story by: Rod Serling.
10 total · 2 choice · 5 major · 2 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| the need for privacy | choice | Mr. Beechcroft was utterly fed up with life in the big city and longed for solitude. |
| unbounded thought powers | choice | By concentrating, Mr. Beechcroft was able to make people vanish, make a train arrive, make a clock be quiet, conjure an earthquake and a thunderstorm, and conjure up a bunch of people that were like him. |
| boredom | major | Mr. Beechcroft began to feel bored and lonely after he made everyone disappear. |
| ironic twist of fate | major | Miserable misanthrope Mr. Beechcroft used his newfound mind powers to replace every disagreeable person in the world with clones of himself, only to find that he was perhaps the most disagreeable of all. |
| lesson in humility | major | Mr. Beechcroft came to re-evaluate his misanthrope attitude to some extent. |
| loneliness | major | Mr. Beechcroft began to feel bored and lonely after he made everyone disappear. |
| misanthropy | major | Mr. Beechcroft so hated people that he made them all disappear almost as soon as he had the chance. |
| coping with an obnoxious chatterbox | minor | Mr. Beechcroft took exception to Mr. Rogers badgering him in the men's room. |
| coping with having a bad day | minor | Mr. Beechcroft was left at his wit's end after commuting to work in a jam packed train, having coffee spilled all over him during a hectic day at the office, and then settling in at home only to hear his landlord knocking at the door, looking to collect on the rent. |
| wishing or wanting something really hard makes it happen | not | Mr. Beechcroft had the ability to make anything happen by wishing for it at a whim; he didn't have to concentrate hard. |