1. There was a master come unto the earth, born in the holy land of
indiana, raised in the mystical hills east of Fort Wayne.
2. The Master learned of this world in the public schools of Indiana, and
as he grew, in his trade as a mechanic of automobiles.
3. But the master had learnings from other hands and other schools,
from other lives that he had lived. He remembered these, and
remembering became wise and strong, so that others saw his
strength and came to him for counsel.
4. The Master believed that he had power to help himself and all
mankind, and as he believed so it was for him, so that others
saw his power and came to him to be healed of their troubles
and their many diseases.
5. The Master believed that it is well for any man to think upon
himself as a son of God, and as he believed it so it was, and
the shops and the garages where he worked became crowded
and jammed with those who sought his learning and his touch,
and the streets outside with those who longed only that the
shadow of his passing might fall upon them, and change their lives.
6. It came to pass, because of the crowds, that the several foremen
and shop managers bid the master leave his tools and go his way,
for so tightly was he thronged that neither he nor other mechanics
had room to work upon the automobiles.
7. So it was that he went in the countryside, and people following
began to call him Messiah, and worker of miracles; and as they
believed, it was so.
8. If a storm passed as he spoke, not a raindrop touched a listeners
head; the last of the multitude heard his words as clearly as the first,
no matter lightning nor thunder in the sky about. And always he spoke
to them in parables.
9. And he said unto them, ''within each of us lies the power of our
constant health and to sickness, to riches and to poverty, to
freedom and to slavery. It is we who control these and not another.''
10. A mill-man spoke and he said, ''Easy words for you master, for you
are guided as we are not, and need not to toil as we toil. A man
has to work for his living in this world.''
11. The Master answered and said, ''Once their lived a village of creatures
along the bottom of a great crystal river.
12. The current of the river swept silently over them all - young and old,
rich and poor, good and evil, the current going its own way, knowing
only its own crystal self.
13. Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks
of the river bottom for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the
current what each had learned from their birth.
14. But one creature said at last, 'I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot
see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going.
I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom.'
15. The other creatures laughed and said, 'Fool! Let go, and that current you
worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will
die quicker than boredom!'
16. But the heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was
tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks.
17. Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him
free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.
18. And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried,
'See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah,
come to save us all!'
19. And the one carried in the current said, 'I am no more Messiah than you.
The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is
this voyage, this adventure.'
20. But they cried the more, 'Saviour!' all the while clinging to the rocks, and
when they looked again he was gone, and they were left along making
legends of a saviour.''
21. And it came to pass when he saw that the multitude thronged him the
more day on day, tighter and closer and fiercer than ever they had, when
he saw that they him to heal them without rest, and feed them always with
his miracles, to learn for them and to live their lives, he went alone that day
unto a hilltop apart, and there he prayed.
22. And he said in his heart, infinite radiant Is, if it be thy will, let this cup pass
from me, let me lay aside this impossible task. I cannot live the life of one
other soul, yet ten thousand cry to me for life. I'm sorry I allowed it all
to happen. If it be thy will, let me go back to my engines and my tools and
let me live as other men.
23. And a voice spoke to him on the hilltop, a voice neither male nor female,
loud nor soft, a voice infinitely kind. And the voice said unto him,
''Not my will, but thine be done. For what is thy will is mine for thee.
Go thy way as other men, and be thou happy on the earth.''
24. And hearing, the master was glad, and gave thanks, and came down
from the hilltop humming a little mechanics song. And when the throng
pressed him with its woes, beseeching him to heal for it and feed it nonstop
from his understanding and entertain it with his wonders, he smiled upon the
multitude and said pleasantly unto them, ''I quit.''
25. For a moment the multitude was stricken dumb with astonishment.
26. And he said unto them, ''If a man told God that he wanted most of all to help
the suffering world, no matter what the price to himself, and God answered and
told him what he must do, should the man do as he is told?''
27. ''Of course Master!'' cried the many. ''It should be pleasure for him to suffer
the tortures of hell itself, should God ask it!''
28. ''No matter what these tortures, nor matter how difficult the task?''
29. ''Honor to be hanged, glory to be nailed to a tree and burned, if so be that God
has asked,'' said they.
30. ''And what should you do,'' the master said unto the multitude, ''if God spoke
directly to your face and said,
''I COMMAND THAT YOU BE HAPPY IN THE WORLD, AS LONG AS YOU LIVE.'
what would you do then?''
31. And the multitude was silent, not a voice, not a sound was heard upon the hillsides,
across the valleys where they stood.
32. And the Master said unto the silence, ''In the path of our happiness shall we find the
learning for which we have chosen this lifetime. So it is that I have learned this day,
and choose to leave you now to walk your own path, as you please.''
33. And he went his way through the crowds and left them, and he returned to the everyday
world of men and machines.
The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
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All these post-modernists with their alternate views of reality miss the fact that this world is perfectly tangible and manifest in of itself. Why do they feel the need to throw out these bizarre ideas when the trees sway right before their eyes? Lamenting the superficial unreality of our Cosmos has its amusements, but it also has its limits, and the latter come quickly.
Originally Posted by Renwick Schofield
