From Ralph

09/04/04

So....3000 B.C. and beyond......

Now, and more frequently of late, horrified people, we- all of us, brace ourselves at the announcement of some new tragedy unfolding, somewhere, but all around us too, as it happens, wall to wall media coverage, speculation first, then re-informed statistics by the hour, as the gory details trickle out, like the very blood of those that appear, the confirmation, the cry of anguish and despair, punch-drunk as the tornado of hideous nightmares cauterizes our sense of shock, we strangely stand as naked as the child who was never there before, receives the full blow of our spite, but was never at fault.

We grasp for some kind of sane explanation, a leprous reason! a faulty God, anything, to clear the senses of this unspeakable evil unfolding before our eyes. We, the lucky ones, who watch the nightmare, like cinema, in the comfort of our own homes, scream at the screen, into our newspapers, mutter in moral tones at total strangers, at walls, and still ask the the eternal question, 'Why? Why now? Why before? Why in the darkest, distant past and why, probably in the future? Then we invoke the name of God. How could he let this happen??

God was not responsible for this tragedy, or any other. If there is a God, then it is quite likely that he created the Universe, and probably, he/she- is an IT- rather than a He or a She. IT made possible and allowed the miracles in the creation to happen, the miracles of order and harmony to happen and then the miracles of environment and a nature, to manifest itself, in order that life shall flourish and reproduce, at which point he invented HE and SHE, so that this would most certainly happen. What God did not do is invent our EGO. Neither did he anticipate the raging hell in the minds of human beings that emerged out of the Physiognomy of the body IT created in the fire of IT's own creative turmoil. We invoke God's name when we gaze upon a beautiful flower, hear the song of a Thrush, and thank God for someone saved. We use God as an anchor for the inexplicable and we cry out, 'Thank God!'- but we don't believe in him. Neither do I. This has nothing to do with belief.

What has happened is our doing. By a logical process of cause and effect we have shamelessly willed all our woes onto ourselves with hedonistic glee. We have evolved by a process of power struggles and self-gratification. We have ordered the world to react in a way which suits whoever has the power. In the minute history of time, of which we are such a tiny part, we have succeeded in transforming natural harmony into a mastication of personal ambitions, arrant posturing and downright murderous intent. Nobody can deny it and nobody can claim one miilimetre of high moral ground. I am ashamed of a human race that can continue to allow the sordid ambitions of politicized groups who genuinely feel that right is on their side, and can therefore instigate such atrocities in the name of their own sense of right and wrong. And incidentally, you can teach a child absolutely anything. They will obey as faithfully as any suffering dog.

How dare anyone violate the sanctity of life in the name of some footling cause of their own making. But more importantly, how dare the monstrous powers that be in our world, stand back in horror and gaze omnipotently on what is happening, as though it has nothing to do with them at all!! Shame on you all, GREAT POWERS!!! We are the HUMAN RACE, for Christ's sake, in the name of Allah, Bhudda, Vishnu, Brahman, even WACO, Texas.....and the moral of this tale is, be true unto yourself, contained within yourself and unto yourself only. You are your own property- the transitory ego of flesh and blood. Bless yourself and in so doing, bless all your fellow Earthlings'