THE FLIGHT
Cupid & I were having a heated argument. It’s been a long time, Cupid said...My arrows are almost finished. Cupid, you can’t give up on me now. Then a flash of inspiration...I related the following story. There was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge & Love. It was announced that the island would sink. All repaired their boats & left except Love. As the island sank Love decided to ask for help. Richness was passing by in a grand boat. Love asked to be taken on board. But Richness said there is a lot of gold in my boat. There is no place for you. Vanity passed by in a beautiful vessel. Please help, Love asked. You’re all wet and might damage my boat, Vanity said. Sadness said: “Oh Love, I’m so sad that I need to be by myself.” And Happiness was so wrapped up in herself she did not hear the pleas of Love. Suddenly...a voice: “Come Love I will take you.” Love was overjoyed to be saved & forgot to ask the name of her saviour. Love then questioned Knowledge as to who her helper was. “It was Time,” Knowledge answered. Time? But why did Time help me? Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom & answered, “Only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is.” Cupid rose to his feet & with great determination he shot his arrow to the heart of the one I so dearly love. I sank to my knees, as Moses did when he saw the burning bush, with this fervent prayer on my lips: “I Love you: Will you marry me?” On the whispering winds I heard her soft answer. My heart delighted. Tears of joy coursed down my cheeks. I felt her silken soft hands...hands that kindled the fire of my emotions. In a voice softer than the tone of the reed she whispered: “I Love you!” My soul took flight on the wings of love...
SATAN
F
eared by many. Worshipped by some. I invited him to tea. What a face! Intelligence with slyness, ugliness with beauty, and wickedness with softness. Satan, what’s your standing with God? Unlike mankind I have first-hand knowledge of The Most High. He’s the Creator of everything in the universe, including me. It’s laughable those who are atheists. Satan, how do you carry out your work? God has given me permission. I use this permission to attack mankind with all devious means. Satan sipped some tea & glanced at me with those cunning eyes. The next question was obvious. How? I whisper into their hearts. See how people’s words & their accompanying actions are worlds apart, Satan stated. I nodded. What’s your most dangerous pastime, Satan? Destroying marriages! Why? Because it’s the foundation of society. Children without loving parents become easy prey for me. Love, the milk of human kindness, is missing. Satan paused, waiting for the weight of that statement to sink in. I build rum shops & wicked houses upon the foundations of lust & self-gratification. Jesus called his people a “generation of vipers!” The people accused the most chaste woman, Mary, with the grievous sin of fornication. Satan gushed with pride as he recalled his “accomplishments.” I am the inspiration of falsehood, slander, treachery, deceit & mockery. Your other major target? Politicians & talk-show hosts. Our eyes locked...then we burst out in spontaneous laughter. Today’s people? Oh, they are easy prey. Because of their lack of spirituality, their marriages collapse easily. They are greedy for money. They sell drugs, their bodies...noticed all those music videos...we laughed again...do all kinds of dirty things for money. Why? Because I threaten them with poverty. I have so much human fodder for my furnace. Excuse me, Satan said, I need to worship God. And he bowed in total reverence to His Maker...and man walks on blindly. And then I invited God...
DEATH OF GOD
T
he process of secularization seems to be reaching its logical conclusion in removing the presence of the sacred from all aspects of human life & thought. This is what the German philosopher Nietzsche meant when he spoke of the “death of God” over a century ago. It's a pity that man can quickly eliminate God based on his myopic understanding or as in Nietzsche's case he dismissed his Christian religion totally because it condemned all non-Christians to hell. In his major work “Thus Spake Zarathustra” he presents his own ideal, the passionate man who uses his emotions in creative energy, a man he called “Uebermensch” or “superman.” Today's man is far from such a creature; resembling more of a cringing man. He faces the terror of nihilism. He faces the death of that which is human as a result of the effacing of the imprint of the Divinity upon the human face. Contemporary man wears a horrible mask moulded by the philosophy of the “death of god.” Contemporary politicians have removed the mask to display something much more grotesque. Most in America & Europe are experiencing the loneliness of a world from which the soul & spirit has been banished. Frighteningly lonely. A world deprived of the enlightening & vivifying luminosity of God. It's time, O modern man, to return to tradition---to God. This is a nostalgic call to that immemorial tranquility from which flows the fountain of eternal life guarded by the Prophets. A time & place still embedded in the peace & harmony of the traditional world before the shocking earthquakes of a world rebellious against Heaven. A return to a time of true supermen...like Adam, Moses, Jesus & Muhammad. It's time our schools assemble a vast compendium of traditional knowledge in order to show the remarkable perennity & universality of wisdom. Only a virtuous people are capable of true freedom. It all begins with One Universal God Who is All-Wise. Forever Alive. Creator of death. The death of man.
PARTY
I love clean fun. Leaves you with a feeling of exhilaration. Work improves. But parties and its after-effects on society are so damaging...know that partying isn’t just about having fun; it can actually destroy your life! Testimony to the degraded nature of our thinking. The office Christmas party has become an institutionalized occasion for lust. As the girls sway your eyes seek out the most sensual. Drinking in her movements which are a simulation of sex. Alcoholic drinks cause license to rule & dignity to evaporate. Brains become befuddled, souls burn & hearts are restless. In that corner a man reveals the secrets of his love for a girl, proud of her exposed beauty. Over there a young man arranges sweet words & subtle hints in his mind as he prepares to talk to a beautiful girl, dressed more in skin than clothing. An old man asks for songs that remind him of his frivolous youth, with his heart breaking as he eyes the young maidens. Look a woman winks at a man beckoning to him, but he looks with lust at another. A wife whose husband is drunk finds a chance to sell her favours to her adulterous lover. Men leverage for a glimpse of exposed cleavage. All are drowning in a sea of sinful flirtations. Marilyn Monroe, America’s party queen & sex goddess (what an obnoxious title) , reportedly said “I hate every man that slept with me.” Elvis Presley, America’s party king, was totally confused as to the meaning of life. Used to visit the morgue seeking life in death. Both committed suicide. A pity. But even more mysterious is the fact that they are both portrayed as role models. Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan--ended up in rehab; lots of negative criticism. Think before you drink. Your life is worth more than drugs. Life is not a party...life is a prayer. A few careless moments is all it takes to cause a lifetime of regrets.
THE FUTURE
LIES
AHEAD
If there is one thing that is a given, it is that people just can't be trusted anymore. The lies we tell (white, black and all the other shades). The simple phone lie “Call you back JUST NOW.” Has the cell phone brought out the deceit lying dormant in people. Millions of cases of people using reverse cell phone lookup to track who their partners are talking to. Cellular forensics can uncover infidelity, vindicate those wrongly arrested or prove fidelity in a relationship. Digital evidence cannot lie and it's very difficult for anyone to falsify. Deleted pictures, videos, text messages all can be recovered even if you smash your phone. Technological innovation to solve moral problems. Spiritually the tongue seeks protection from God that its user does not tell lies so that it incurs destruction. Many tongues have given up begging for its owners. The tongues that wag from political mouths are the most spiritually dead. Lies so easily trip off the tongue, especially of government workers, that you can believe that it is the lubricant that greases the gears of society’s work ethics. Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies is not a philosophy to be proud of. One should encourage as much questions as possible and respond with the truth. Even if it’s I don’t know (and don’t lie about this). Sin has many tools, but a lie is a handle which fits them all. We can never develop the ability to think coherently about social life. Look at our city...anyone thinking coherently out there? Lying is as pervasive as the common cold. Have you been sneezing a lot lately? Stop lying and you will change your life. You might even change the world. If we don’t correct the situation today, demanding the TRUTH at all levels, we could be writing a manual for the next generation “The Future LIES Ahead.” When will the true life of Jesus stop being mixed with the lies of Santa at the North Pole. Our kids deserve holidays on a platform of truth. Peace to all my Christian friends. Did you find this piece moralistic? I’m happy you did. Aren’t you tired that wrong wears the crown in today’s world? Now call Shamal for the truth on the latest computing technology. On your cell. No reverse lookup needed.
HAPPINESS
So elusive. Money doesn’t buy it. Poverty certainly is not a close relative. Some say it’s in the mind. The Chinese have a saying (they are a billion of them so they would have a lot to say): If you want happiness for an hour take a nap; happiness for a day go to the beach; happiness for a month get married; happiness for a year inherit a fortune; happiness for a lifetime help someone. Some names spring to mind in that last category: Mother Teresa, Mary, Khadija, Florence, and oh yes, my mother. All Females! Our computers can make you achieve hi-tech happiness. By the way, honey, your name means Happiness. I must say you’re all of that and much more. Elegant as a rose. Stunning as a sunset. Your smile bursting as a sunrise. You may hold my hand for a while, but you hold my heart forever. Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others stay for a while & leave footprints on our hearts and we are never ever the same. That’s you. Every moment I cherish with you. In your eyes I catch a glimpse of heaven. You are Poetry in Motion. Love. True Happiness. Definitely on my mind. God, I love it when I pick up and it’s her. Her voice--a symphony; even Beethoven couldn’t play such music. Call. I have Call Waiting...
Gluttony In the month of Fasting when I have joined 1/4 of the world’s population in abstinence from food & drink, I thought why not reflect a bit on Gluttony. The motivation for stuffing ourselves is the unconscious self-image of emptiness. Of worthlessness. We can never be made happy by cramming our inner emptiness, of body as of soul, full of the things of this world. It is a recipe for disappointment. Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. Cookbooks outsell Bibles by ten to one in America (so you didn’t think it was a problem!) There are five children of gluttony: 1. Unseemly joy; 2. Foolish talk & behavior; 3. Uncleanness; 4. Immoderate Speech; 5. Dullness of Mind. If you eat compulsively then you have created a god in your stomach. Wise temperance of the stomach is a door to all the virtues. Restrain the stomach, and you will enter Paradise. But if you please & pamper it, you will hurl yourself over the precipice of bodily impurity, into the fire of wrath & fury, you will coarsen & darken your mind, and in this way you will ruin your powers of attention & self-control, your sobriety & vigilance. And you were just worried about getting fat!!! Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign that something is eating us. Drunkenness is a subspecies of this eating disorder. Collective gluttony is our raping of nature (see Kaieteur’s problem). We seem to want to gobble up our planet’s resources. Now you have seen the enormity of the problem. Cure yourself. But how? It is NOT by dieting. How, please tell me...FASTING...in addition to reducing weight, eliminates gluttony because Fasting is PRAYER. Recommended by the Highest Authority...GOD. Now backed by doctors.
Mosques Places dedicated to the worship of God MUST reflect the majesty of the One being glorified therein. God is Beautiful and loves Beauty. But most of the houses of worship (mosques, churches, temples) are in such a state of neglect that Satan must have taken up residence there. Those who worship there would never have their homes in such a state. Leaky roofs, missing windows, unpainted. We wrangle over religion. We write for it; fight for it; die for it. We do anything but LIVE for it. The House that Abraham built thousands of years ago in Mecca, stands as testimony of his pure faith. In that is a lesson. Things built with impure money, impure faith will never stand the test of time. Unlike Abraham’s vibrant, pulsating soul, ours are asleep or dead. Preaching comes out of the memory & not out of the soul. It aims at what is usual & not at what is necessary & eternal. Preaching on the pulpits have been destroyed because it does not explore the moral nature of man, where the sublime is, where the true resources of astonishment & power lie. God’s Law taught in houses of worship should have made thought dear & rich. Alas that this life-giving Law has been travestied & depreciated. We have lost sight of the Law, lost all inspiration. We are groping in the dark, even though in our hands we hold the Book of Light. The soul of our community is sick & faithless. We stand ashamed of ourselves. We skulk & sneak through life, to be tolerated, to be pitied; not daring to be wise; to be good. A devout person stated: “On Sundays, it seems wicked to go to church.” Muslims during Ramadan bow many times but lack of results point to spiritual emptiness. Physical exercise. Mosques are like gyms. We bow just to be seen by men...And God weeps while Satan laughs. O Man!!!
Intelligence It’s something we should pride ourselves on. While scientists are pondering whether there’s intelligent life in outer space, I’ve been wondering if there’s intelligent life here on earth. In Guyana it’s as elusive as the Yeti. Current Intelligence looks at day-to-day events. (Not to be mistaken with gossip, which a lot of office workers engage in). Estimative Intelligence looks at what might be or what might happen. (Rarely to be found in Guyana as we look backward...the 28-year syndrome). Warning Intelligence gives notice to our policy makers that something urgent might happen that may require their immediate attention. (Well they get really busy if 4*4s are to be distributed. Other matters like crime, corruption, noise pollution can wait; maybe another 28). Research Intelligence is an in-depth study of an issue. (This isn’t a rarity...it simply doesn’t exist). Scientific & technical intelligence is information on foreign technologies. (Do we have info on local technology?) Did our intelligence arise from having more of what other animals have? The two-millimeter-thick cerebral cortex is the part of the brain most involved with making novel associations. Ours is extensively wrinkled but, were it flattened out, it would occupy four sheets of typing paper. A chimpanzee's cortex would fit on one sheet, a monkey's on a postcard, a rat's on a stamp. Why is it that our country looks like a huge post office? So while some search for Yeti, I’m on a special mission--S.E.T.I. (Search for Earthly Terrestrial Intelligence). White House Update: Clinton is free??? But he’s said to be a lonely Pianist seeing that he can’t play his harMONICA.
Guyana Quite a few of us would love to refer to this land as a tropical paradise. But just as Adam and Eve had to contend with a serpent in their Garden of Eden, so do we. Unlike our spiritual parents we have many serpents whispering to us. And they wear the title of politicians. People riot based on lies. Our suffering is not based on any set of years but has its roots in our spiritual depths, no, that should be shallowness. And our hammock-existence, read, laziness. The malady of the body passes over into malady of the mind & soul. The power of ideas is sovereign. We listen to whatever instruction of hope, illusion, or revenge is carried to us on the air. History is the principal in the university of life. All other teachers learn from him. Do we the students learn? The flames of many madnesses have burnt out. Russian Communism, British Imperialism. And burning low is American Democracy. On this sandy & false foundation we scheme for social improvement & dress our political platforms, pursue our animosities & particular ambitions. The winds of spiritual change will extinguish it. And out of the ashes of systems extolling man’s inhumanity to man, will rise as the phoenix, a system based on God’s love for man. Decades of empty words & phrases is sapping the creative energies of our people. To those who use terror as a weapon to intimidate, note Shakespeare’s words: “Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade.” Every tradesman know that what you sow you reap. I’m not a prince calling toward the darkness of ethnic war, but a king holding out the dove of peace. O beautiful Guyana...sing along with me!!