Somewhere between gratitude & reciprocity, things started to go wrong.
Because we were given time, we invented drumming.
Because we were given trees, we invented floor-length dresses.
And because we were given crops, we invented sacrifice.
When God sent a messenger to the sacred table & said Stop burning my meat — give it to the needy instead, we invented elaborate rules for hospitality that involved frequent bathing & fine clothes.
But because the needy were still exceedingly numerous, we went over God’s head & invented games of chance.
This invention was the mother of Necessity, otherwise known as That’s Just The Way Things Are.
And we took our chances and groveled in the dirt.
OTHER POSTS IN THE SERIES
- Next Life
- Leaving
- The Last Lion in Pennsylvania (Version 2)
- Sensei
- The Origin of the Ear
- Medusa, Bodhisattva
- Air: A Grievance
- Valediction
- Project
- Iconoclasm
- Celestial Body
- Of Two Minds
- Educational Films
- Two Kinds of Boxes
- Comforter
- Before Genesis
- Anonymous
- The Viking Buddha
- The Legend of the Cosmic Hen
- Sacrifiction
- Seahenge
- Without
that’s such a powerful piece of writing – Im sorry I tweeted it before asking if it was OK – well..guess it’s out there now..oops..let me know if I need to remove it or something… and thankyou for sharing your work – I love it!
Eh? You don’t need to ask permission before sharing links to public pages on the web! But thanks for liking it enough to do that. You’re too kind.