[I am reposting this with permission from Syed Abbas Ali Zaidi's blog. The original entry can be found here.]

by Syed Abbas Ali Zaidi

Mystifying is the turn of time, indeed. The same Allama Iqbal who was given fatwa’s on, by his contemporary “Mullahs” is now quoted by well-reputed Mullahs of the same school of thought.

The same Bulleh Shah, who had been refused by the mullahs to be buried after his death in the community graveyard because of his unorthodox views, today enjoys worldwide reverence and is quoted by contemporary mullahs. The tomb of Bulleh Shah in Qasur and the area around it is today the only place free of collective refuse, and the privileged of the city pay handsomely to be buried in the proximity of the man they had once rejected.

Maulana Rum (aka Rumi), who was condemned as a kaafir, is not only the top selling poet across the globe but is held in high reverence by people of all religions.

I have written on this topic previously, the verses of Bulleh Shah force me to write again. Every word that was misinterpreted by mullahs, can serve a cure for all the ills we are facing in our times.

Chal Way Bullehya Chal O’thay Chaliyay
Jithay Saaray Annay
Na Koi Saadee Zaat PichHanay
Tay Na Koi Saanu Mannay

O’ Bulleh Shah let’s go there
Where everyone is blind
Where no one recognizes our caste (or race, or family name)
And where no one believes in us

Masjid Dha Day, Mandir Dha Day
Dha Day Jo Kujh Disda
Par Kissay Da Dil Na Dhawee(n)
Rub Dilaa(n) Wich Wasda

Tear down the Mosque, tear down the temple
Tear down every thing in sight
But don’t (tear down) break anyone’s heart
Because God lives there

Hindu na nahi musalmaan,
Baheeye tiranjan taj abhimaan.
Sunni na naheeN ham sheeya
Sulha kuhl ka maarag leeya.

Neither Hindu nor Muslim,
Sacrificing pride, let us sit together.
Neither Sunni nor Shia,
Let us walk the road of peace.

Props to Junoon, Rabbi, Abida Parveen, Saeen Zahoor and other musicians of our times for helping the new generation in rediscovering the message of Bulleh Shah. Junoon started the trend and was labeled as “Sufi Rock Band” – The message that pierced my heart was through them, when I was 12.

This first aspect of Bulleh Shah’s poetry and philosophy that strikes upfront is his bold and almost arrogant critique of the religious orthodoxy of his day; specifically the Islamic religious orthodoxy. His poetry is filled with direct attacks on anyone claiming control over religion.

Mulla tay mashaalchi dohaan ikko chit
Loukan karday chananan, aap anhairae vich

Mullah and the torch-bearer, both from the same flock
Trying to give light to others; themselves in the dark

Bulleh Shah’s poetry portray him as a humanist. Someone providing solutions to the sociological/political/cultural problems of the world around him, describing the turbulence his homeland of Punjab is passing through, while simultaneously searching for God. His poetry highlights his mystical spiritual journey through the four stages of Sufism – Shariat (Path), Tariqat (Observance), Haqiqat (Truth) and Marfat (Union). He starts from the rules as laid down by Islam, and eventually ends up at a point where he accepts the existence of God, everywhere, with no discrimination between different religions, finally becoming one with God.

Pointing at someone else’s faith would only unveil how weak your faith is. Picking up guns, instead of pens to enforce your way of thinking would never have an effect that the likes of Bulleh Shah had through his soul-searching and heart-melting poetry.

Islam was never spread by sword. It wouldn’t be the fastest growing religion on earth if that were the case. Islam is spread by the message of love and by deeds, not the way Taliban “ENFORCE” it.

Lord Almighty Himself says:
There shall be no compulsion in religion – [2:256]

I cannot help pasting the verse below:

Bulleh-a aashiq hoyiyon Rabb da, Hoai Malamat Lakh
Tenon Kafir Kafir aakhdey, toon aaho aaho aakh

O Bulleh, just love your God and ignore the chidings
When they say you are an infidel, say “yes I am one”

Ok I wasn’t supposed to blog on Bazm for a while, but it’s too tempting. What? Everyone goes back on their resolutions sometimes .

Avatar was a good movie, overall. I enjoyed the action scenes, especially, and even some of the pseudo-spirituality*. I really want to see how neocons and wingnuts generally respond to this film, given its hippie-ness. They’ll probably throw up a bit in their mouth .

Some themes I could detect in the film, and general issues mentioned/inadvertently touched upon:

**Spoiler Alert**

- Colonization. There was an anti-colonial message, which has been critically discussed here.

- Environmentalism. I suspect this was foremost on David Cameron’s mind. At one point the protagonist says, about Earth: “there’s no green there”, and at another point “they’ve killed their mother,” which is a reference to the Earth. The constant recognition of the interconnectedness of life by the Na’vi natives, as well as their tree-dwelling ways, are critiques of the environmental destruction human being are wreaking on Earth. The Earth is also referred to as a ‘broken planet’.

- Atomization. The message is clear: greed and materialism (chasing after unobtainable things, hence ‘Unobtanium’) lead people to be unhappy and manipulative, separating themselves from the Earth and each other.

- Nature vs. the Machine, and its closeness to Feminine vs. Masculine. The main antagonist is a hyper-masculine American man who is as much of a military stereotype as anybody could have dreamt of. He, and the other ‘bad guys’ are always in rusty machines, and during one ‘moment of truth’ where the protagonist is fighting the main antagonist, the latter is inside a robot he’s controlling, and the latter is relying on nature’s creatures who have chosen to side with the Na’vi upon the protagonist’s request. The Na’vi are spiritually led by the females of the species, have thin builds, wear jewelery, and generally abstain from violence. They use no machines except their bows and arrows (and knives, if you count those as machines), and tend to rely on ‘organic’, ‘natural’ means of fighting or accomplishing anything. Ultimately ‘nature’ wins, and the machines lie in ruins.

- Capitalism. There are four competing interests on the human side: the corporation that wants Unobtanium, whose interest is just money; the hyper-masculine military man whose interests I couldn’t quite discern, probably because I drifted off during that part; the scientists who do not want to colonize but merely to study the unique biosphere on Pandora; and the traitor who sides with the Na’vi, aka the protagonist. Eventually two of the scientists and one member of the armed group join the protagonist and support the Na’vi.

Anyway, the fact that a corporate interest was put in there seemed like a clear critique of capitalism to me.

The device used to highlight all the themes mentioned above is the contrast between the Civilized Capitalist White People, and the Noble Savage. This dichotomy is presented as a way of reminding the audience, who are supposed to identify with the Civilized Capitalist White People since they are human and so are we, that we should reflect upon our mistaken ways, and be more like the Na’vi.

* The ’spirituality’ they present in the film is a type of paganism. I call it ‘pseudo-spirituality’ because I do not consider it a real type of spirituality. For more on my theological views, visit my blog (linked below).

(Cross-posted with modification to Yes and No.)

(Cross-posted to Yes and No.)

This makes me angry. Very angry.

Read it and weep:

“Yet, Pakistan is not without hope. In one corner of Pakistan, that hope comes from the sons and daughters of the mountains, yet uncontaminated by ‘civilization,’ firm in their faith, clear in their conviction, proud of their heritage, and ready to fight for their dignity. Though unschooled, they are clear-eyed as the eagle of the mountains. Their poverty steels their determination. They stood up against the Soviet marauders: and defeated them. Today, they are standing up again to reclaim their dignity and their lands from foreigners and native mercenaries.”

I hate to say this, but I really hope this man is killed by the Taliban. If not that, then at least he should be sacked from his position. This man who hates America so much is living and working in America! I now have a group of people I oppose even more strongly than Marxists, which I didn’t think was possible. This group is, of course, the parasites on Western civilization who despise those very people who make their careers and lives possible, and who support terrorists like the Taliban.

Here is Parvez Hoodbhoy’s response:

“But then these are not pleasant times. There is carnage in the streets. Blood flows down the gutters and body parts are strewn in bazaars and markets. Suicide bombers have also targeted mosques, funerals, and hospitals. The internet is filled with videos of Pakistan army soldiers being decapitated, pictures of separated heaps of limbs and heads of Shiites, and women writhing under the blows of heavy whips and chains.

The Taliban, mostly from the mountains of Waziristan and other tribal areas of Pakistan, are not particularly shy to broadcast such achievements. For example, their decapitation movies – culminating in heads being stuck upon poles and paraded around town – are watched for free by kids. On 15 February 2009, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan announced a ban on all female education and, at last count, 362 schools have been blown up in Pakistan’s tribal areas.”

Of course I find Edward Said, anti-Americanism and far Leftiness in general very tiresome, but at least Hoodbhoy is not as bad as people like Alam. At least he’s non-violent, however wrong he may be.

Lahore, December 9: International Human Rights Day of 2009 falls amidst the cruel realities being faced by Pakistanis.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is extremely perturbed at the huge suffering of people in Pakistan owing to the lethal brutality unleashed by Islamist militants as well as the destruction caused by internal conflicts in many parts of the country.

A series of bomb attacks carried out by Islamist militants killing thousands of civilians as well as members of the security forces has been devastating. Children and women have been most vulnerable to the accesses of militants. Schools have not been spared and women living in the conflict zones are totally immobilized. Pakistan is facing one of its worst challenges to protect the rights of its citizens.

HRCP recognizes that it is the primary obligation of the government to protect the lives of civilians against the inhuman accesses of militant groups, yet, it calls for respect for human dignity during any armed operation carried out by government forces. Regrettably, credible reports indicate that the security forces too have committed human rights violations during army operations. The so-called counter-insurgency operations carried out by the military and paramilitary forces have used heavy artillery, killing an unknown number of civilians. Access to independent observers and the press is denied by the security forces. According to government sources themselves, several hundred people have involuntarily disappeared and a large number of families of the missing individuals accuse the security forces and intelligence agencies of perpetrating the crime. Torture is used by the security forces as a matter of routine. Reports received by HRCP reveal extremely inhuman methods of torture employed by the security establishment in Balochistan. People are blindfolded, hung upside down, burnt, given electric shocks, whipped, beaten with iron rods; kept under extreme glare of lights and their heads doused in water. Despite, several reports issued by the press, accounts by the victims in courts and to the media, incidents reported by national and international human rights bodies, the government has never responded to these allegations in any constructive or coherent manner. A bland denial is no response – on the contrary it only adds salt to the wounds of the victims.

HRCP is equally concerned about army operations carried out in areas of FATA and Malakand Division. Independent sources have complained about reprisals from armed militias operating under the patronage of security forces. There are verified reports of extrajudicial killings of suspected militants and their family members and arbitrary arrests of several individuals. Mass graves have been identified but the government has failed to investigate these allegations and has not been able to establish the identity of the dead bodies.

It is imperative that in these trying days human rights concerns be expressed in an unambiguous, and impartial manner and watchdog bodies orient themselves with the international humanitarian and human rights law during armed conflicts. It is essential that everyone remains entitled to the enjoyment of human rights, whether in time of peace or armed conflicts. It is important to give particular attention to the education of all members of security and other armed forces, and of all law enforcement agencies, in the international law of human rights and international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts. There are limitation on the use of force even during conflict and on opposing forces too. It is prohibited to launch attacks on civilian populations and the use of weapons which cause unnecessary suffering to combatants or which endanger civilian populations in the area of conflict is restricted and in some cases even prohibited.

Finally, HRCP would like to draw the attention of the government that they are obliged, as soon as circumstances permit, to report the number of those killed, injured or missing owing to the conflict. It is also essential that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) be given access to prisoners of the conflict, the UNHCR and relief workers get free and unimpeded access to those in need of humanitarian assistance and that independent journalists be allowed to visit areas of conflict without being followed or directed by government agents.

Asma Jahangir
Chairperson

Source: Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Website

(emphasis added by us)

Why is the honorable Chief Justice of Pakistan and the superior judiciary silent on the atrocities committed by the Taliban and the Pakistan Army? Which NRO covers extra-judicial killings, mass graves and torture? (SA)

And another one:

I just read a guest post on Tazeen’s blog, which has blown my mind away. We need more people like Haider Shah speaking truth to power, or I should say, speaking truth to crazy communists and the evil Taliban.

The Dilemma of the Pakistani Left

I do not think the communists are genuinely evil, in most circumstances. They’re just very misguided, extremely hateful, and sometimes even nihilistic. If you read Marx’s work, for example, it has a distinct lack of clarity, and something of an upside-down quality. It smacks of the value-inversion characteristic of ressentiment, and of a muddled head that can’t produce a coherent argument.

The Taliban, however, are genuinely evil. They’re demonic, and the upside-down communists cannot see that fact. They aid and abet, and rhetorically facilitate these satanic creatures, all because of a vicious, blind hatred toward the United States of America. Their ressentiment blinds them, their destructive need to deconstruct everything and turn it upside down makes them unable to make elementary moral distinctions.

I hate to agree with Hitler, but you just don’t argue with Marxists.

Since I’m on this topic already, I should mention that I believe the secular, liberal Pakistanis should make their voices heard. Some of them — the very wealthy ones, in my experience — waste their time clubbing and taking drugs, thus withholding their contribution to a country that needs liberalism more than anything else. However, many others are sober, decent people who have started speaking out in greater numbers. It is these people — the Secular Pakistanis — who should organize both against communism and against Islamism. What do you say?

(Cross-posted to Yes and No.)

Micheal Shermer, in an article on CNN.com, effectively summarizes some of the typical reasons behind the reluctance of some believers in accepting evolution. He argues that belief in both evolution and religion need not be  a contradiction.

1. The Warfare Model of Science and Religion. The belief that there is a war between science and religion where one is right and the other wrong, and that one must choose one over the other.

2. Belief that evolution is a threat to specific religious tenets. Many people attempt to use science to prove certain religious tenets, but when they do not appear to fit, the science is rejected. For example, the attempt to prove that the Genesis creation story is accurately reflected in the geological fossil record has led many creationists to conclude that the Earth was created within the past 10,000 years, which is in sharp contrast to the geological evidence for a 4.6 billion-year-old Earth.

3. Misunderstanding of evolutionary theory. A significant problem is that most people know so little about the theory. In the 2001 Gallup Poll, for example, a quarter of the people surveyed said they didn’t know enough to say whether they accepted evolution or not, and only 34 percent considered themselves to be “very informed” about the theory. Because evolution is so controversial, public school science teachers typically drop the subject entirely rather than face the discomfort aroused among students and parents.

4. The fear that evolution degrades our humanity. After Copernicus toppled the pedestal of our cosmic centrality, Darwin delivered the coup de grâce by revealing us to be “mere” animals, subject to the same natural laws and historical forces as all other animals.

5. The equation of evolution with ethical nihilism. This sentiment was expressed by the neoconservative social commentator Irving Kristol in 1991: “If there is one indisputable fact about the human condition it is that no community can survive if it is persuaded — or even if it suspects — that its members are leading meaningless lives in a meaningless universe.”

6. The fear that evolutionary theory implies we have a fixed human nature. The first five reasons for the resistance to evolutionary theory come almost exclusively from political conservatives. This last reason originates from liberals who fear that the application of evolutionary theory to human thought and action implies that political policy and economic doctrines will fail because the constitution of humanity is stronger than the constitutions of states.

All of these fears are baseless. If one is a theist, it should not matter when God made the universe — 10,000 years ago or 10 billion years ago. The difference of six zeros is meaningless to an omniscient and omnipotent being, and the glory of divine creation cries out for praise regardless of when it happened.

Likewise, it should not matter how God created life, whether it was through a miraculous spoken word or through the natural forces of the universe that He created. The grandeur of God’s works commands awe regardless of what processes He used.

As for meanings and morals, it is here where our humanity arises from our biology. We evolved as a social primate species with the tendency of being cooperative and altruistic within our own groups, but competitive and bellicose between groups. The purpose of civilization is to help us rise above our hearts of darkness and to accentuate the better angels of our nature.

Believers should embrace science, especially evolutionary theory, for what it has done to reveal the magnificence of the divinity in a depth never dreamed by our ancient ancestors. We have learned a lot in 4,000 years, and that knowledge should never be dreaded or denied. Instead, science should be welcomed by all who cherish human understanding and wisdom.

Read the complete article here.

(Hat tip: Irtiqa)

V

The Boy had observed a kind of knowing in her quiet subversiveness and it haunted him. It was quite subtle but he had managed to pick up on it. Perhaps because he had been searching for it. He felt that his hunt for another was finally proving fruitful. Being free had proven to be a rather lonely business. He observed a subtle scepticism in her stance and he had carried that around in his chest for weeks. So he nurtured the hope of her with him everyday as he shifted in Their shadows across the timeless landscape.

Occasionally They would ask questions. On these rare occasions the Man would always respond patiently “Because He commands it”. They always felt that this answered all their reservations, that it calmly polished over any itchy doubts. He never understood why They could never comprehend the blatant farce, why it simply didn’t compute. Surely, so many different questions couldn’t possibly have just one answer. It wasn’t even an answer, truth be told … it was an even bigger question. The Boy knew then that the Man must be very clever to know how to answer all questions with one answer and still be believed, revered even. So he never asked his questions. His curiosity always seemed trivial when set against the Man’s infallible answer.

She was different. She never expressed any curiosity in what the Man said and seemed awfully content to merge in with the landscape. Whenever their eyes happened to meet across the crowd he saw that she didn’t believe the Man either. Neither did she care about what the Man had to say about Him. Yet the curiosity captured in her eyes could hardly be contained. It was of a different vein altogether, something he didn’t think he would ever be able to fathom. A deep yearning to understand the ‘underneath’; the ‘root’; the ‘mystery of and in everything. To scale every treacherous depth. That curiosity practically spilled over. It was too real to be taken in with one universal answer or any call to obedience. It was what had stopped him in his tracks that day by the trees when he saw her come out of the lake. It wasn’t her naked form or her beauty… it was curiosity. He had never witnessed it in anyone his age. They never looked at anything like that. The children did but they eventually always lost it, usually around the time they learned to speak. A child would ask a question and They would counter the curiosity by binding it with their chains of tradition. The frail glimmer would dim immediately until it faded completely.

It was all about Control and They all agreed that the Control was all about Power. Power had always been a problem with their kind and so it seemed the safest course to give all of it to something that was more Powerful than Power.
Even if it wasn’t there.

VI

A day came when They had been marching for what seemed like a thousand years and was probably much more. They moaned and complained now. They no longer felt that effervescent passion for the rules that once united Them.
They weren’t changing the world anymore. They weren’t even changing themselves.

The Boy and the Girl had known from the beginning that no matter what the Man said or what the Man said He said (they could never really tell the difference) none of this had ever been about Change. It had been about not changing. It had always been about standing still for all eternity. They just did it by constantly moving…by trudging forward aimlessly. It was all about following so that They could remain in a convenient stasis-like sludge that would flow in whatever direction was demanded of it.

They never saw it. They couldn’t see it and the Boy and Girl had learned to keep silent over the years. They noticed that as ritual began to lose its lustre, They grasped on to the chains even more desperately. Now wearing them like garlands, wrapped them tightly around their necks. They deluded themselves into thinking the cuffs were studded with diamonds. The women began to view the ropes as yards of silk.

Obedience was an integral part of the blind belief demanded of them. The Boy often asked the Girl, as they walked amidst the throng, if she thought that it was Them who had to believe blindly or whether the belief itself was blind? She could never comprehend the question. The only absolute she could conceive of was ‘feeling’. There was simply no alternative to feeling. They always approached the Blind Belief as they would a jigsaw puzzle, gathering a trinket piece every few decades.
They never solved it.

VII

The Man always kept himself at a distance. He always felt that mingling with Them might somehow corrupt his purpose. Over the years he had begun to forget much of what his purpose was, although he knew for certain that if he kept them on course he would succeed in it. One thing he did remember was that part of his instructions was to make every last one of them follow the Words. Sometimes he felt uneasy about the Boy and the Girl he had lost in the crowd so many years ago. He constantly chided himself for having overlooked them, for not coaxing them into compliance as He should have done.

Over the years he had begin to notice how They would all occasionally lose sight at a moment’s notice and break rank. They had even begun to ask some of the old ‘why’s’ again. Whenever it happened he always thought about the two young ones he had lost. While it was true that the Boy and Girl were hardly any kind of tangible threat, he found himself unable to shake the Voice’s apprehension and rage about leaving anyone behind. He vaguely recalled something about how all of this could unravel at the slightest demonstration of disobedience.
But nothing had happened yet.
And he had to admit, if only to himself, that he could no longer see them. Over the years the Boy and the Girl had become invisible and neither he nor any of Them had been able to locate the two in their midst. Still, he was positive about their presence. He knew without doubt that they were still there, skulking silently among the legions. Their presumptuousness was a perpetual pressure choking his heart, silently mocking everything he said, did and would come to do.

VIII

A minute, a millennium: it had gone on too long now, to be traceable. The path was carved in concrete, deep and consecrated by the footprints of the following. Its legitimacy was its length. Its longevity — a testimony to its strength. They had always been susceptible to the notion that if something was old enough it ought to be kept that way, just because someone else had at some time kept it that way. The Man became a legend of insurmountable proportions. They still followed in his tracks and left a place for him at mealtimes. Many would argue that he was more powerful as a Phantom than he had ever been alive.

They had never really been a species conducive to Change. And whenever Change came it hated having to deal with Them, because They were immune to all its beautiful intricacies. They sat and slumbered nearly oblivious to Change as it enacted its subtle dance in the backdrop of their days, always longing in vain for a rapt audience. It was nearly imperceptible through the fog of absolutes. Yet every hundred years it wafted through the land without fail because there were two who welcomed it. Two, who waited for it. The Boy and the Girl were the only ones who recognised that Change was the only thing that didn’t. And so every hundred years they were reborn in silence to counteract Change into that generation. Every hundred years they were allowed to utter one sentence of their Truth. Some listened, most turned away, others pelted them with rocks but the Boy and the Girl had only this one privilege. That every hundred years, they were granted a moment where they would speak and be heard.

They always resisted. Some were broken by that resistance but most of them were frightened by it and broke others. ‘Don’ts’ and ‘Cant’s’ were by now a habit of face, of skin and of mind. The predictability of the pattern was infallible. Even though the Boy and Girl no longer hid in the shadows they were still not openly mutinous. They waited. Waited for their sentences to collect in the well of consciousness and inimitable Time, until there were pages. And someday there would be a Book to counteract the Words.
This Book would map the span of thought… free thought.

IX

Every hundred years He would tally the numbers and there was a birth of a smile which never carried to full term. It never prospered long. Every hundred years there were those Two; always staring up at Him, blatantly defying His inevitability. Every hundred years they refused to adapt and bow their heads. Their fruitless revolt often seemed as permanent and intractable as His own assault. He felt that the Boy and Girl saw Him clearly from their pitiful position and this always made Him uncomfortable. None of Them ever saw Him or dared to even want to.
Those Two, however, stared up at Him unblinking. They always rejected Him. It usually made Him more apprehensive than angry because He had no idea how they did it. He could never spot them from his pulpit. It never made any sense. It also made Him feel somehow incomplete, cosmically lacking. And so every hundred years there was a thunderstorm and a flood and many of Them would die. As They perished, They would cling tightly to their chains and implore for His grace but those Two would rather drown than grasp the chains for support.
And yet they never drowned.

Sometimes He found himself feeling jealous of their odd brand of belief. What else were they searching for when they could actually see Him? They were not Blind. Why then did they not Believe?
Every hundred years He would ask them “What makes you think you can possibly win?” and the Boy and the Girl would smile and echo in unison “You do.”

And every hundred years He felt a terrifying twinge of Doubt.

This is a guest post by Maria Amir, who will be a new user on this blog very soon (everyone say ‘hi’! ). Welcome to Bazm, Maria .

The Changing of the Guards
By Maria Amir

I

It happened rather suddenly.
Time struck the Earth still, overhauling its inhabitants skin-side out.

He walked into the tiny tavern, apprehensive of His audience but conversely confident in His purpose. He was completely oblivious to the reception He would receive but was perfectly willing to wait for the one He wanted. The crowd was small and merry in that naïve, frivolous manner that only crowds can be. They would have to do. The best beginnings were always humble.
He would make something of this rabble. Of that He was absolutely certain. So He approached the nearest table and sat opposite a desolate looking youth who seemed almost as lost as his age demanded of him.

“Incomplete, isn’t it?

“What?” the youth murmured sullenly.

“Everything.”

II

They were a number now, twenty nine to be exact. It was always easy to spot when an idea was catching on. A tangible buzz simmered silently in the atmosphere as every head bobbed up and down in unison, acquiescing without reservation to everything He put in it. Yet, He still approached with caution … knowing all too well the cosmic consequences of a hasty entrance. He was well aware that real allegiances always sprung from that one ephemeral triumvirate: courteous courtship, supercilious sagacity and carefully cultivated fear. They were still raw and sceptical, frequently hounding Him with ‘why’s’ and ‘whens’. That would all soon change but this, this was the time to keep it simple… true even.

“You are all equal and you all deserve to be treated the same.”

He neglected to mention that ‘equal’ and ‘same’ were not exactly the same thing. Equal was how They ought to be treated and sameness was a state contrived to conveniently keep Them under control. Luckily They never really bothered with semantics. That was what made His job easier than even He could have anticipated. It had always been there and now He could practically taste it: a desperate yearning to be part of something that would allow Them to escape their own little worlds. That was what really made Them so easy to manipulate: They were always waiting for an out, any out. And all it took was convincing one of Them – truly, deeply planting the seed. It would sow and scatter itself.
He had picked a good host.
Humble, quiet, intense and ….not at all easy to dismiss.

Soon enough, however, the host began to develop his own ideas. It had always been a problem with operating from among Them. They couldn’t help but improvise and place Themselves in every equation. Much of it had to do with Their blasted call for constant attention. Some might argue that He sponsored the sentiment from His own desperate need. This was why He was inherently incapable of indulging any argument…ever. So far, however, the only changes He could detect were relatively minor. A mere matter of the Man confusing his own mortality with the Voice’s omnipotence. It would have to do.

At the end of the day, They all had an innate capacity to take what He gave Them without question. Programmed as They were, to receive more than give. It prevented Them from having to figure it out for Themselves. It saved on time and responsibility and it motivated Them. It worked. And there was absolutely no conceivable reason to question it. He loathed curiosity. Always struggling to identify that infernal congruent where the first ‘why’ cropped up in their vocabulary. He figured that He had managed to stamp it out of most of Them but like a virulent habit of mind it always had the power to arbitrarily pop up in some. Still, He gathered that the ones that stuck with ‘why’s’ would be bred out eventually.
Their presumption would never be tolerated by the rest.

III

A river of souls as far as the eye could see.
Terrifying in its magnitude.
They marched in time to the clinking and clanging of gold chains that bound Them in neat, narrow queues of thousands. The men and women were always kept separate. Only allowed to roam amongst each other on select days decided by the Man.

The men walked in front. Their chains gleaming, molten in the blazing midday sun as They murmured the Words the Man had given them. The Words helped lull Them into a complacent haze, one that now bound the land. The Words inspired a distinctive brand of drowsy comfort that was impenetrable. Some would come to call it security. They murmured incoherently under Their breath as They trudged their way up the mountain day in, day out. The women were bound in ropes behind them. They were clad from head to toe in dark drapes: their eyes shut, their minds shut and their mouths shut. They did not murmur the words, mutely following the followers.

Among the legion two had been overlooked. They scampered in and out of the Man’s presence never straying in his line of vision long enough to be given the message and handed the rules for their initiation. They were innocuous and rather easy to overlook. They were young and the Man eventually decided to just let them be. Two children could hardly be of any consequence to the grand design. Moreover, one of them was a girl.
They couldn’t change anything.

IV

The Girl never understood any of it. The rules, the unending routine and the eternal obedience was suffocating. And all so that They could supposedly survive something that would someday prove to be ‘eternal’. She refused to believe Them when They insisted that being miserable now was the only way to be happy then. Where ‘then’ was They never knew. It was nowhere in sight.

There were so many things she felt ashamed of and she was never able to understand why. She felt ashamed for wanting to be pretty; she felt ashamed for wanting to talk to the Boy who roamed the camps and who had seen her coming out of the lake without her clothes on; she felt ashamed for not feeling ashamed that he had seen her naked; she felt ashamed for wanting; she felt ashamed for not believing the Man who stood on the Mountain; she felt ashamed for not discarding the answers he gave to the questions They never asked by avoiding the ones that They did; she felt ashamed for wanting not to believe in Him; she felt ashamed for not caring beyond today and what she hoped tomorrow would bring.

She felt.
And the feeling was always shame.

And so she did what those who ‘feel’ shame do.
She pretended.
She faked an entire existence, opinion, appearance, agreement and obedience. It was rather easy in the end. They only required appearances and cared little if those were cultivated or contrived as long as they were there. Finally, she could walk among them freely. She tread softly and concealed herself in the shadows that the mob cast as They walked along the scorching sand. As she followed in obedience, They never noticed that her hands weren’t tied.

All she really knew for a fact was that the Truth got you killed and the Lie could protect.
She could lie and lie well.
And so she survived.

To  be continued…