Come join the hokum cult! Does anyone else suffer this affliction? It’s terrible. Months and months pass by, with nowt so much as tonsillitis happening, then everything all happens at once. Like busses in a way, wait ages, then a flurry of activity. Yes, I have got off my backside, and got busy. Another job has parked up alongside me, rolled down its darkened windows and bundled me inside (a website commission in fact, jolly good show old boy, etc), and generally, things all seem to be trundling along nicely now. The camping holiday is gradually taking shape (flights booked, thank you Anne), socially things are exciting (dare I say it, I’m actually enjoying it), the Maths tutorials are progressing nicely (bring on that calculus…) and generally goodness abounds.

Literature-wise, I have just finished reading for the second time We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, and I rarely re-read books, so this must be a goodun. Basically it is the daddy of all dystiopian novels, with Orwell citing it as his inspiration for 1984. I love the style of the prose, it’s heady accounts towards the end of the “soul” that D-503 (our narrator) feels stirs deep within, resonating perhaps with contemporary fears of abuse of authority. I say contemporary, but on second thoughts, I think the fear is timeless.

To follow on from We, something equally as stirring was required, so I bought Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and have begun reading that. I’m quite enthralled by Murakami-san, already owning two novels and a collection of short stories, and this latest addition was on a recommendation by Ian, a man of very discerning taste indeed. It is already a joy to read, and I’m flicking the pages rapidly and being swallowed into it. Murakami’s work, I find, is both distorted and painfully clear at the same time: like looking at an object in water, the detail is perfect, yet disorientating.

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In other events, the Jehovah’s Witnesses continue to astound me in their fatalistic view of the world. Sometimes discussions with ultra-religious people can be quite enlightening, so when accosted by two of them sitting in Green Park yesterday (see below), I thought I’d have a natter and see what drivel they could come up with this time. I’m told that only our faith in their god can bring salvation- and we must wait for it to happen. So, I ask them to discuss about how we, us, the species of human beings, can speed things up a bit by not being so evil to each other the whole time. Apparently “only God can bring goodness and drive out evil”. What? We sit around and do nothing ‘til this god puts in an appearance and saves our backsides?
“Yes. Exactly.”
That’s a bit fatalistic isn’t it? Surely it’d be better to live a good life rather than wait an indefinite amount of time hoping for the best?
“Only God can bring salvation.” Yes, yes, you said- but isn’t your god’s work done through his (or her) followers?
“No. God will save us.”

Ok, that line of thought isn’t going anywhere. While we destroy this world, we sit by, become a Jehovah’s, preach hokum, and watch all the nastiness happening while doing sod shitting all. Fantastic, just great, that’ll work for sure. And anyway, how will this god actually save us?
“He’ll cut off the bad from the world, and all others, the good, will live forever more. There will be no sickness, there will be no death.”
Eh?! To raise what is quite obviously a teensy tiny problem here, the planet will become over-populated. What will happen then?
“Yes…”; a blank stare gazes back.
Ok, to put it another way, no-one is dying, but babies keep being born. Our food will run out, there will be no space left for us, so what’s gonna happen then?
“Yes, er, God has this all in His masterplan. He knows what He will do. When I live forever, I will find out too.”

Sorry? Run that by me again?! Eternal life- which you unshakingly believe in, and no side-effects… and you truly believe this?
“Yes. You see- no, let me show you-” he gets out a magazine, front cover a drawing of a scene of a happy (they look too happy if you ask me- why isn’t the big brother pissing off little sis? That’s not normal) family, surrounded by plentiful, bounteous fruit, and beautiful scenery; you know the type of picture. The type of picture only a crackpot religion could come up with, to tempt you into the unknown… “You see here, this woman-"
Her?
“No, not her, her” his finger is stabbing the page, as much as his words stab at me.
Ok, sorry, why her?
“It doesn’t matter, I’ll use the other woman if you like”
Use her for what?
“My demonstration. So you see her, right, she’s 300 years old.”
Good complexion, I must say.
“That’s because she is in paradise, and God gave her that paradise, and I, and you, will join her there. And her family, see him, her husband, he’s 300 years old as well. You can’t tell though, can you?”
It’s a picture.
“It’s a diagram. Of the future.”
Ok. Erm, I have an appointment to get to. Lovely chatting, see you in 5 000 years’ time.

I swear he tried to brain wash me, that one, he looked into my eyes, and I looked back, not breaking his gaze. Now that’s something you should never trust. A piercing stare when being told you’re gonna live for all eternity, don’t trust it, no.

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Sitting in Green Park I also got sunburnt- silly old me forgot to remove a plaster covering a scratch on my arm, and not having applied sunscreen (erk), I am now left with a gorgeous tan-line, or more tan-square, on my right arm. D’oh!

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Moosic: Stellastarr* - Sweet Troubled Soul

Posted: 24-08-05 17:15 :: Permalink: http://ben.corale.co.uk/archive/v1/198.html

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Laurie writes Look, I'm commenting, so link to my blog ;-) Commented: 25-08-05 19:39

The blog author writes Ok, here's a link... http://www.seldo.com/weblog/ :p

(I'll put one on my link bit shortly) Commented: 25-08-05 20:25