Do the Devil's work.
Mundane Citizen: Is she here now?
Holy Mystic: Yes, my son, she came from the sky, borne by angels. She is coming to you now. A great energy filled their wings produced from refined chemicals from ancient life forms that had for millions of years been hidden deep in the earth. This energy powered these benevolent waifs temporarily removed from the company of God and allowed them to introduce many of God’s children to the wonders of the earth and far away cultures. People are no longer limited by the winds and the forces of the sea. They are finally lifted up into the sky like the stories of old. We are not belabored by our muscle, sinew, bones and lungs; we no longer have to ride on the backs of beasts; this same form of energy now powers our chariots allowing us to do more work, and to navigate greater distances many times faster than before. Our home is both bigger and smaller now. You know all this of course, but I am still amazed and I love talking about it. Praise be to God.
Mundane Citizen: It seems God loves Engineers who create such amazing things.
Holy Mystic: Engineers do the Devil’s work. God uses the Devil to perform miracles.
Mundane Citizen: I see.
Holy Mystic: Do you feel better now, knowing that she is on her way?
Mundane Citizen: Oh yes, I feel much better. Is she well?
Holy Mystic: Yes, quite well, spirits entered her mind changing its state releasing her anxiety like air escaping a tight place.
Mundane Citizen: It seems God loves Psychiatrists and Neurologists who spend their days learning how the brain and the mind works; indeed it seems that these Scientists inspire Chemists who find ways to use chemicals to relieve pathological states of mind and body.
Holy Mystic: Both psychiatrists and chemists do the Devil’s work. God uses the Devil to reveal great mysteries to mankind. But these discoveries are actually revealed through God’s Laws. The laws of this particular universe are the One God's Laws; make no mistake. Certain miraculous methods and best rituals help mankind produce substances, materials, and tools that help us live longer, more productive, happier and healthier lives. Praise be to God.
Mundane Citizen: Surely God made humans very clever to uncover these mysteries of nature. Indeed, Scientific Theories are useful and predictive.
Holy Mystic: Yes, God is great. Prophecies are the closest we come to any truths. Many don’t understand this. Do you feel better now?
Mundane Citizen: Yes, Priest, I feel very much relieved. Theories and prophecies are synonymous are they?
Holy Mystic: Yes and no, but no matter. Did you know that later she will journey to the Heavens with divination practices and tools to discover, on some deeper level, how the stars and their intimate objects move and behave. Mysterious writings and characters are constantly being written to make these things possible and their workings transparent to the mind. These symbols are used to represent the mysteries of God’s mind and God's Laws; even though one can never really know God's mind, but God's Laws are actually available. All of this is done with a certain amount of independence and freedom of will. And from these musings they create fantastic tools that help them create even more amazing things. All from God's Laws. God is great!
Mundane Citizen: Indeed, God must love Inference too. Why not I suppose? It seems God also loves Physicists, Cosmologists, Mathematicians and those Engineers who do the Devil’s work. They produce Spacecraft, Gravity Detectors, Nuclear Power Pants, Rockets, Particle Accelerators and Colliders, Telescopes, Microscopes and Satellites that both discover things about Nature and this particular Universe and serve to make Life more convenient for us. Life is messy but super interesting isn't it.
Holy Mystic: You are learning my friend, but I must insist, physicists, cosmologists, and mathematicians are also doing the Devil's work. God uses the Devil for many things. ‘Life’ is not real but an illusion. This is a temporary mind place, a stopover on the way to somewhere else. Even God was mystified by his creation so he created another conscious being to give him a new form. When this happened he split in two and can only be brought back together when mankind finally understands. Mankind’s understanding is vital to Cosmic Integrity. A fall from Grace can only be made right through Faith in this understanding, this Vital Integrity.
Mundane Citizen: May I ask what it is that we are to understand ultimately?
Holy Mystic: You are to understand that you are to cling to God your Creator.
Mundane Citizen: This seems selfish to me for some reason. Shall I pursue knowledge in order to understand how to cling to God? Which books or practices must I adopt?
Holy Mystic: Just do the Devil’s work my son and many generations from now perhaps God will Reveal himself to mankind. The process for this is the process for this. As for books; concern yourself only with the books that haven’t been written yet.
Mundane Citizen: Am I to understand that God’s ancient prophets were more pure or less pure having not known the Devil’s work? Were they not more interested in composing books than considering the future? Is the word of God not important? It seems they were more concerned about humanity's end— at least, many were.
Holy Mystic: Precisely my son, the Devil’s work was still hidden in those days. God did not tell Moses to write e=mc2 on a stone tablet. You must die first before you can be Reborn. The ‘age of wonder’ was the beginning of all of the Devil’s work, but as the generations come and go throughout time (as time is perceived by us) bodies of nature constantly change, and the light may be switched on or off depending on the caprice of circumstances and probabilities. As for those kinds of books, bibliolatry will sully your heart and pollute your mind.
(mundane citizen thinks for a moment)
Mundane Citizen: It seems at that God also loves Biologists.
Holy Mystic: Yes, you are beginning to see. Biologists do the Devil’s work. Any science known to mankind is the way of the Devil. God's mind is infinitely open and much more than full; God's mind is creative.
(quick pause)
Holy Mystic: Do you feel better now?
Mundane Citizen: I suppose so, perhaps things are not as complicated as I thought.
Holy Mystic: Things are both complex and simple: when you engage in the Devil’s work complexity becomes simple until you meet complexity again. It is a great cycle that is constantly begging the question in order to Reveal the right question.
Mundane Citizen: Father, what is time?
Holy Mystic: There are many answers to this question. I will give you the best one of many. Time is an illusion, my son. Space and time— both illusions. The material world is also an illusion whether dark or light. Energy is also an illusion, even dark energy. A form is an illusion. Nothing bends. There is nothing small and there is nothing big. Relativity is not relative. All things as we perceive them are derived from only one thing— God. God is everywhere and nowhere until one is reunited with God. One either observes God and is not forgotten by God or ignores God and does not truly live. I would say, does not even exist.
Mundane Citizen: Oh, I see. The quantum of God is truly spooky.
Holy Citizen: What you said just now is interesting. This is an insight that should be more common.
Mundane Citizen: Thank you, Father.
(A long pause... A thoughtless quiet ensues— an almost pure meditative state. Here our interlocutors can almost feel the gaping mouth of the void.)
Mundane Citizen: What is love?
Holy Mystic: Love is also an illusion. Love, a movement and a rest, an action; there is only The Loving— but, this action comes and goes; it oscillates. The Right Intention is the important thing (if one can call a thing a thing at all) people often mistakingly call this ‘God’s Love’. And yet I must say that God's Love is very close to the Right Intention.
Mundane Citizen: Yes, I can see that a thing isn’t necessarily a thing but only a designation or category, a tool for human thought. If one presumes that certain premises are correct... Sorry, I'm lost. It’s hard for a simple person like me to make such assumptions. The right intention? This escapes me for now, but I am getting something from contemplating it. I feel it.
Holy Mystic: It doesn’t matter.
(a pregnant pause)
Mundane Citizen: How can an illusion exist? Or does a kind of meta-illusion perform some necessary function in your Cosmology, Philosophy, Exegesis, Theology or spiritual Insight?
Holy Mystic: Yes, in a certain— sense.
Mundane Citizen: Is wisdom difficult to interpret?
Holy Mystic: Not necessarily my son, Wisdom is like pornography, a trained mind will know it when it experiences it.
Mundane Citizen: Interesting analogy...
Holy Citizen: Let your mind do what it must. This 'doing' you will perceive as your will. In reality, only God’s will is done. You are only here for a short while. Your real place is not a place, your true life waits for you in another dimension, in another state of being. For now just do the Devil’s work and see what happens.
(Holy mystic puts his hand on Mundane Citizen's shoulder for a second)
Holy Mystic: Do you feel better now?
Mundane Citizen: Yes, Father, I suppose so. God uses the Devil’s work for the good of humanity, or perhaps not, or perhaps it shouldn't really matter what God’s intentions are. I guess I will have to find out what the right intention is. I am still not clear on that.
(a short pause, Mundane Citizen takes a deep breath)
Mundane Citizen: I sometimes feel as if I am God’s creator. But this is ridiculous.
Holy Mystic: No, my son, God simply is the Devil’s work. When all is united in God something different will begin again. Do you see now? Do you feel better now?
Mundane Citizen: May I say something— I mean no disrespect…
Holy Mystic: Certainly my son, say whatever you wish and do not fear. I am not your judge or your punisher. I am not the one to show you the way or any which way. Only mankind can oppress mankind. Only an individual can oppress an individual. Freedom is also an illusory state of perception and can only be experienced in fits and starts. Only mankind can grant licenses or grant liberty. Remember what you render unto Caesar. Only mankind can imprison itself. Temporary states of being moment-by-moment lead nowhere but where they are determined to go. A true man of God cannot oppress another human being. We are here to facilitate your liberation if only for a moment.
Mundane Citizen: You are a very strange Priest.
Holy Mystic: All true Mystics are strange, surely you know this. I didn't figure you for a fool.
Mundane Citizen: I am no fool, I just wanted to say that. One more question?
Holy Mystic: Ask as many as you wish.
Mundane Citizen: What is God?
Holy Mystic: Never mind God— just do the Devil’s work.
Mundane Citizen: Thank you, father.
Holy Mystic: Farewell my son…
(Holy Mystic directs a short, dignified bow towards Mundane Citizen and Mundane Citizen reciprocates respectfully. They part.)
Mundane Citizen: Oh, Father— why do you use the word “mankind”.
Holy Mystic: It doesn’t matter, we all know we are only human.
(Holy Mystic turns away again and then says over his shoulder...)
Holy Mystic: Tell her I said hello.
Meanwhile, in a parallel universe…
Dr. Francis Crick is giving a seminar on consciousness at Salk Institute in La Jolla California.
Attendee: “But Dr. Crick, you haven’t bothered to define the word ‘consciousness’ before embarking on this.”
Crick: “I’d remind you that there was never a time in the history of biology when a bunch of us sat around the table and said, ‘Let’s first define what we mean by life.’ We just went out there and discovered what it was—a double helix. We leave matters of semantic hygiene to you philosophers.”
