The God Principle

 

 

 

 

The door creaked open and a flash of light streamed through, illuminating dusty tables, chairs, old lamps and other furniture. The beam paused briefly to survey a derelict painting on the wall, now covered with cobwebs and caked with dirt. A young man adorned in what appeared to be the finest clothes of a bygone era, and brandishing a sword, stared back at the intruder from its depths. The beam moved on again over the walls, revealing spiders and other insects that scurried away to apparent safety, and it came down to rest upon an old chest in one corner of the room, partly hidden away by a tapestry that appeared faded and discolored. A faint light seeped in through gaps and cracks in the window sills, painting a still life picture wrought of shadows.

 

The door opened wider and the intruder stepped into the room.

 

“Wow! This place is ancient! Look at everything covered with dust. And cobwebs too… What happened to this room?”

 

“No one’s been in here for quite a while, Eloise,” replied Aliyah, following in after her daughter. “This is what happens when things are left all to themselves, unattended.”

 

“Okay, so where is it then? The great picture you said you’re going to show me? Is it the one there on the wall? I don’t think so. Perhaps it’s stashed away in that big chest over there?”

 

“Patience, Eloise!” Aliyah coughed as she struggled with a window and finally managed to open it. A shaft of sunlight streamed through and hit the floors, illuminating the rest of the room. Particles of dust swirled.

 

“There are two great movements of matter that you can easily discern everywhere, Eloise. One is that of life, of order. It is a movement of creativity, growth and expansion. Look over at that tree out there.” Aliyah pointed outside.

 

“The other great movement is that of dissipation, disorder, chaos. And that is what you see prominent in here. These two great movements are like natural laws. Their manifestations are everywhere,” she continued.

 

“Thanks for the lecture, Mom!” Eloise walked over to the wooden chest in the corner and swept away its cobwebs with a piece of wood she found on the floor. She was now very curious, and nothing else in the room attracted her attention as much. She dusted the chest a little and after a bit of fumbling, lifted up the heavy lid which creaked and swung up on a hinge. Her flashlight soon explored its contents.

 

“Aha, so this is your treasure!” Eloise exclaimed as she looked into the chest. “And it doesn’t smell too bad, after all these years! Sandalwood, is it?”

 

Aliyah said nothing and watched Eloise dig into the chest.

 

“Clothes, looks more like costumes… a bunch of old letters…small bottles...of perfume?...wooden tigers and elephants…turban…a dagger!…books… ooh what’s this?” Eloise exclaimed. “I’ll bet this is the one!”

 

She pulled out a large article wrapped carefully in ornate cloth. Excitedly, she unwrapped the package and held it to the light streaming from the window. The light revealed an old black and white photograph of a family seated in regalia in a British colonial setting.

 

“Looks like this item managed to keep your law of disorder at bay, Mom.” She exclaimed as she inspected the picture. “Now look at her! She looks just like you!”

 

“Yes Eloise, that is my grandmother. It’s a strong likeness, isn’t it?” Aliyah moved closer to inspect the picture. “And the little lady there who resembles you is my mother, your grandmother, that is. You know she died giving me life. Behind her next to my grandma is Granddad. If you look, there are three generations of the family here…” her voice trailed off.

 

Eloise studied the picture. She had heard some detail once in a while, but the information was scanty and she hadn’t been very interested anyway. Now the picture took on a special meaning as she contemplated her family tree and life as it would have been, generations ago.

 

Then something caught her eye.

 

“Look at all the stuff around them! And those people, were those…?”

 

“Servants, yes. In colonial times the family was indeed rich. My great granddad was born soon after his dad was posted there on official business. Within a lifetime they acquired large estates. Now all that is gone. We manage with what we have here.”

 

“But isn’t that country poor, Mom? Why would they choose to live there?”

 

“I am not sure, Eloise. It is said that it was very rich once, and then all that was taken away. There is a letter from my grandfather on the matter somewhere in here. You know, he was something of a philanthropist. And he was into studying their religion and philosophy. Now he did have some interesting views…”

 

Aliyah picked up a bunch of letters, thumbed through them and finally pulled out one. “Here it is, now be careful with it!”

 

Brown at the edges and somewhat wizened with age, the papers and the scribbles on it bespoke a vanished time and culture. Excitement was plain on her countenance as Eloise held it in her hands. However, she couldn’t make much sense of their contents and puzzlement appeared on her face. But she looked at them for a long while.

 

“Here, let me read out some of it for you.” Aliyah gently took the papers from Eloise. “Now be aware that the way he writes, meaning his style, is a little different from what we are accustomed to.”

 

She proceeded to carefully scan the letter and then read out loud:
 
"To this country was once gifted the high truths, very long ago, which are to be found in her sages of old, their teachings and their writings. They wrote the great truths within their hearts and minds, and taught her kings and her commoners.
 
But what she made of that great inheritance was to oppress her fellow man, create castes and creeds, and practically enslave those who were always meant to be equal and free. And did she all this in the name of truth.
 
With the gift of higher truth also comes great responsibility. When higher truth is misused, the punishment is even heavier. She was in turn enslaved to a conquering nation, and found herself ground under its heel, even as she oppressed her own supposedly lower castes. Her glory was taken away, and she found herself in a veritable desert of body and spirit, haunted by ghosts of charlatans and recurring mirages, her spiritual oases few and far between. Such is the power of the great law of retribution at work in her being, for she reaps only what she herself did sow, and reap she does, many times over."
 
“Is that true mom?” Eloise whispered, “Were there slaves there?”
 
“Not in the letter of the word Eloise, but in its spirit I think. There were and still are many castes and other divisions there. He is talking about those who were called the lower castes.”
 
Aliyah continued reading:

"But all is not lost, for in her are still to be found the seedlings of that great fount of wisdom and truth, if one but searches among the weeds that now litter her vanished orchards. And when she has paid for her mistakes to the utmost farthing, they will raise her up once again to her past glory, with a great wisdom of life unequalled by any other nation anytime in history. But her path upward appears long and arduous, perchance strewn with blood and littered with bodies.
 
Weep for this nation, o man! For hers is a great burden, a horrendous debt of law that keeps her in poverty and misery.

Pray for this nation, o man! For there is much more she has to endure before her sun truly rises."

Aliyah stopped reading and looked up.

“Whew! I can see where you got your genes, Mom!” Eloise exclaimed. Then she was thoughtful. “I sure hope he was wrong. He mentioned a law of retribution, and of sowing and reaping. Are there such things?”

 

(continued here)