Foolish
Fear Facilitates Fatal Fixation upon Falsity.
There was once a man who suddenly found
himself adrift upon an alien shore. He knew not how, or what brought
him forth, why or by what means were equally mysterious to this man.
As if we was reborn: He was once here
and then he was there. No past, no future, nothing but there. The
perpetual now of nothingness shattered by the crude realities of the
world.
Bewildered and blinded by the light,
this man was utterly, naked, ignorant, afraid and alone, but he found
a cave in which to reside. As he climbed to this cave he saw more of
the island, noting the oases and the plentiful food and water about
them, but also noting there might be some danger about – on
this his only day light trip – and these sights and sounds
reenforced his deep seated fears of this new land of which he was
wholly clueless.
He could not deal with the fullness of
his new reality – it was beyond his depth to stand up to fear, and
boldly take the course of action, and thus he retreated into the dark
cave, to await the night, which was blissfully free of stimuli.
In that cave he sat fearful of all the
sights and sounds around him, unsure, but he knew that fear aside he
needed the water and food, this he had seen could be had only at the
oases scattered about the island. He resolved to be seen by nothing
and to see nothing so he only went to the pools after dark on the
bright moons of each month.
The light he declared his enemy and
true sight was replaced with 'sights' cast upon the dark filament of
the night. He resolved that if he would, could not see it, he could
deny its threat to his person.
He went down that first night and heard
the nighttime noises. He went to the nearest oasis. The sounds he
was certainly sure that those were demons. His ears heard things all
around; Demons everywhere, as he picked the fruits and gourds he
survived upon, he was this first night and every even ever after
afraid of the sounds in the night, demons every one.
But it was not only fruits and gourds
he needed, so then as he had his full of fruits, he approached the
pool as the moon reflected its pale light across the surface, and as
he leaned down to get his drink … in the depths ... He saw IT.
The horrible thing, that stared back up
out of the water – this dark and foul being. It was he was
absolutely convinced the Devil … the source of all evil's that
afflicted him, chief of all the demons and the cause of his plight in
this alien, dark, sad, land.
He recoiled noting as he reached for
the water, as forward he went, so the devil reached, it came, at him.
By experiment it was found the moon should be allowed to set, the
light keep from behind one, and then the Devil would not see him at
the water's edge.
And so it went.
The man hiding in his cave, existing
but not living, only resolved to venture forth once a moon or at most
two from his dark sanctuary. Always fearful of the bumps and noises
in the night, his demons, keyed in terror to each and every sound in
the night as he lingered about getting his provisions; but in his
heart of hearts it was the Devil in all the pools of water he dreaded
most – yes it had been found it was in ALL the pools as the demons
were at all the oases.
He had found to his terror and dismay
that in those pools, in each and every one -- there in every drop of
moon lite water lurked, this horrible and evil devil that always
peered back at him as he went to drink and would nearly every time
ALMOST get him as he reached for the water in his thirst.
Those demons were terrible, and had to
be dealt with by stealth but the Devil in all the Pools, was always
waiting and keep the man from his rightful use of the water. The
terrible chief of his afflictions that keep him in his cave and
restricted his use of the water and food.
It was everywhere, the man went, with
him at all the pools always reaching back to destroy and engulf the
man least he tarry about the pools too long or at the wrong time or
in the wrong way!
It came to pass that the creature
became more wretched looking, more savage, more deadly, more alien,
as the moons passed – the man knew not how many rapidly losing
tract of such concerns. The demons they could be overcome to a point,
but the Devil could not, would not be brought low. He feared it, he
hated it, he clawed at and yelled into and even attacked the water
furiously … and yet the Devil it was always there looking back up
at him, each and every new moon, in the still of the water, did it
lurk.
And so it went this terrible and
disfigured existence among the dark, with its demons and Devil, until
this man's life was spent in hiding from the demons and devils on the
Island came to a dreadful end … This man, he died one night as he
staggered to the pool, barely alive, and not quite sane he saw the
Devil one last time, but this time he did not recoil but went face
down in the pool to the Devil's own arms; yet NO Devil was there to
meet him in death?
How Can this Be? This Devil – It was
only a moon light reflection of his own fears, and weakness. It had
existence only in the mental gymnastics of this man's cerebral
processes. It was a nightmare given form and substance by his own
faulty perceptions of reality. This man having rejected the light
was subject to the falsity and errors of the darkness. Fully bound by
his own foolish beliefs and actions.
That is the fact of it.
The tragedy is that he only but had to
come out ONCE in the day and seen that the pools only reflect and do
not now and did not then, contain a single thing except fish and
clean water.
The
Moral: Foolish Fear Facilitates Fatality Fixation upon Falsity.
