Smoke and Mirrors: A C0VID Perspective in a Short Story FB Post 2020 11 22
A voice spoke in the ether, the uppermost edge of earth’s atmosphere, the nethermost edge of space:
“I would never have imagined this happening down there,” the voice said, making an unseen gesture toward earth. “They are spreading like a cancer – no, more insidious than a cancer. They are spreading like darkness over the face of the earth, blotting out the Light from above.
A second voice, sympathetic but uncertain asked, “What is this terrible thing? This is not my planet, so I am not as familiar as you with its present state.”
“It is well that you are a stranger to this place, and you should remain a stranger to the evil that infests the air, water, and land.”
“But this is my assignment, and you know well that my calling must be here. Please, tell me what is happening. I have been shown the history, but you know the present.”
“There is a dark speck…or, let me rephrase that, a life form, or maybe a life form, but it does not seem to be alive except when destroying the lives of others. I cannot seem to give it an accurate name, so perhaps I could describe it and, from your past experience and new perspective, you could help me to identify it.”
“I will do my best, but you must give me some very specific details.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” the first voice affirmed.
“Against the blue/green backdrop of the sphere, you would not be able to see these small dark specks…life forms, let me call them life forms…were it not for your supernatural vision. But if you follow my figurative finger to that spot, you can see the tiniest dark speck, er…, life form, moving amidst the artificial backdrop of a wall. They are building these walls with great speed!”
“Yes, I see. And in that setting, there appear to be a great many dark life forms and walls. Are these life forms distributed evenly over the planet?”
“Not yet, but they are replicating very quickly. Normally there is a doubling over a period of time, which continues until the process loses energy and it dies out. But this has spread even more rapidly than any past exponential doubling, and it shows no signs of burning out.
“You can see the darkness spreading over the globe, particularly in the more densely populated areas. There seem to be few places left totally untouched.”
“I think you just gave me a clue as to this life form’s identity. Tell me,” enquired the second voice, “are they creating totally new life forms, or are they simply converting old life forms into their new, shall we say, ideology?”
“Ah, that is an excellent question. I have the distinct impression that it is more of a spread of ideology than of actual new life forms. Now the newer ones are neophytes, little more than babes in darkness blindly following without understanding. They do not exercise independent thought, they do not question their masters, and they are totally dedicated to this ideology or belief system, whatever you want to call it.”
“In the history, I think I have read of similar events. Have you seen anything similar on this planet in the past?”
“Well, yes, there have been several instances somewhat similar in the past. But travel was so much slower then, and communication methods were very inefficient. Contamination moved more slowly.”
“Mmmm, yes, I think I am getting the picture,” the second voice said thoughtfully. “I know you are sensitive to the emotional feelings down there, are you not? Do you have a feel for what is happening in this area?”
“Well, let me focus on that for a moment,” replied the first voice, closing both metaphorical eyes. Then with figurative wide-eyed surprise, he exclaimed, “Yes! It is still fear and it is growing stronger. It seems to precede the darkness, or…No! Fear and darkness move as one! The fear, this darkness, is very contagious. That is why when He addresses them, He often begins with ‘Fear not.’”
We picture a silent sage nod from the second voice, but this voice remains quiet, allowing the first one to come to its own conclusion.
At length, the first voice states flatly, “Yes, there have been, shall we say, epidemics of misplaced beliefs in the past, darkness in many places and in many silos of knowledge.
“This often happened in response to a more or less accurate belief system corrupted by denying the validity of any knowledge outside their own narrow doctrine, be it religious, political, medical, scientific, moral, or whatever. What I see now does bear marked resemblance.”
The sage second voice affirmed, “Yes, and so has the news from your planet spread to the others, though I could hardly believe such an event until viewing it now. As I understood it, the good and bad fervent outbreaks here eventually gave way to the most insidious belief system of all: scientism, the illusion of science in a field of smoke and mirrors.
“Begun in fear, aided by confusion, and then powered by force, it destroyed all in its path, devastation left behind it. The life forms built walls to hold the darkness and to block out the truth. And so the darkness remained until reason and hope and faith were restored.
“As I say, I have seen the history. Was this not the cause of the meteor so many millennia ago, and then the more recent flood?”
He continued before the first voice could respond. “And here they are again. First, they make a god in their own image. Then they make laws in the name of their god to supplant the laws inherent in Creation. And then they become as gods, using genetics as if they could remake Creation.”
Compelled by this new understanding, the second voice questioned, “Should we not go down and make known to them their error, help them to change their course, even by force, if necessary?”
“No,” stated the first voice, thinking of a conversation he had heard. “Todd said that would be enabling. We can only use the Spirit to speak. If we continually interfere and reset their course, they will never learn anything.”
“Who said that interference would be enabling?”
“Oh, did I misspeak the name? Well, He would have said the same thing.”
As if his own words had awakened understanding within himself, the first voice continued, “So these…er, ‘life forms’ are really people infected with false beliefs and fearful expectation! Not like the original Creation, they are more like their fictional zombies: dead to life, alive only in fear and hate.”
A moment later, the second voice affirmed, “Yes, if only they could see lies as the darkness that we see, that the evil has substance – or better, a lack of substance, an emptiness that is but a black void.”
After a further pause the first voice spoke with the calm tone of acceptance, “I was in need of a fresh viewpoint, a reminder of the power of enduring truth. Let us hope these Dark Ages below are not for too long and the light of reason and hope and faith will soon restore truth and the inalienable rights of all of God’s creation.”
“Yes, it is time for the Spirit of Truth to make its presence known, but even He is challenged by a world blinded by fear, its rational senses held captive.”
They watched the darkness spread against a backdrop of smoke and mirrors, a planet descending into the gloomy mist of primeval darkness.
Next Chronicle
A voice spoke in the ether, the uppermost edge of earth’s atmosphere, the nethermost edge of space:
“I would never have imagined this happening down there,” the voice said, making an unseen gesture toward earth. “They are spreading like a cancer – no, more insidious than a cancer. They are spreading like darkness over the face of the earth, blotting out the Light from above.
A second voice, sympathetic but uncertain asked, “What is this terrible thing? This is not my planet, so I am not as familiar as you with its present state.”
“It is well that you are a stranger to this place, and you should remain a stranger to the evil that infests the air, water, and land.”
“But this is my assignment, and you know well that my calling must be here. Please, tell me what is happening. I have been shown the history, but you know the present.”
“There is a dark speck…or, let me rephrase that, a life form, or maybe a life form, but it does not seem to be alive except when destroying the lives of others. I cannot seem to give it an accurate name, so perhaps I could describe it and, from your past experience and new perspective, you could help me to identify it.”
“I will do my best, but you must give me some very specific details.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” the first voice affirmed.
“Against the blue/green backdrop of the sphere, you would not be able to see these small dark specks…life forms, let me call them life forms…were it not for your supernatural vision. But if you follow my figurative finger to that spot, you can see the tiniest dark speck, er…, life form, moving amidst the artificial backdrop of a wall. They are building these walls with great speed!”
“Yes, I see. And in that setting, there appear to be a great many dark life forms and walls. Are these life forms distributed evenly over the planet?”
“Not yet, but they are replicating very quickly. Normally there is a doubling over a period of time, which continues until the process loses energy and it dies out. But this has spread even more rapidly than any past exponential doubling, and it shows no signs of burning out.
“You can see the darkness spreading over the globe, particularly in the more densely populated areas. There seem to be few places left totally untouched.”
“I think you just gave me a clue as to this life form’s identity. Tell me,” enquired the second voice, “are they creating totally new life forms, or are they simply converting old life forms into their new, shall we say, ideology?”
“Ah, that is an excellent question. I have the distinct impression that it is more of a spread of ideology than of actual new life forms. Now the newer ones are neophytes, little more than babes in darkness blindly following without understanding. They do not exercise independent thought, they do not question their masters, and they are totally dedicated to this ideology or belief system, whatever you want to call it.”
“In the history, I think I have read of similar events. Have you seen anything similar on this planet in the past?”
“Well, yes, there have been several instances somewhat similar in the past. But travel was so much slower then, and communication methods were very inefficient. Contamination moved more slowly.”
“Mmmm, yes, I think I am getting the picture,” the second voice said thoughtfully. “I know you are sensitive to the emotional feelings down there, are you not? Do you have a feel for what is happening in this area?”
“Well, let me focus on that for a moment,” replied the first voice, closing both metaphorical eyes. Then with figurative wide-eyed surprise, he exclaimed, “Yes! It is still fear and it is growing stronger. It seems to precede the darkness, or…No! Fear and darkness move as one! The fear, this darkness, is very contagious. That is why when He addresses them, He often begins with ‘Fear not.’”
We picture a silent sage nod from the second voice, but this voice remains quiet, allowing the first one to come to its own conclusion.
At length, the first voice states flatly, “Yes, there have been, shall we say, epidemics of misplaced beliefs in the past, darkness in many places and in many silos of knowledge.
“This often happened in response to a more or less accurate belief system corrupted by denying the validity of any knowledge outside their own narrow doctrine, be it religious, political, medical, scientific, moral, or whatever. What I see now does bear marked resemblance.”
The sage second voice affirmed, “Yes, and so has the news from your planet spread to the others, though I could hardly believe such an event until viewing it now. As I understood it, the good and bad fervent outbreaks here eventually gave way to the most insidious belief system of all: scientism, the illusion of science in a field of smoke and mirrors.
“Begun in fear, aided by confusion, and then powered by force, it destroyed all in its path, devastation left behind it. The life forms built walls to hold the darkness and to block out the truth. And so the darkness remained until reason and hope and faith were restored.
“As I say, I have seen the history. Was this not the cause of the meteor so many millennia ago, and then the more recent flood?”
He continued before the first voice could respond. “And here they are again. First, they make a god in their own image. Then they make laws in the name of their god to supplant the laws inherent in Creation. And then they become as gods, using genetics as if they could remake Creation.”
Compelled by this new understanding, the second voice questioned, “Should we not go down and make known to them their error, help them to change their course, even by force, if necessary?”
“No,” stated the first voice, thinking of a conversation he had heard. “Todd said that would be enabling. We can only use the Spirit to speak. If we continually interfere and reset their course, they will never learn anything.”
“Who said that interference would be enabling?”
“Oh, did I misspeak the name? Well, He would have said the same thing.”
As if his own words had awakened understanding within himself, the first voice continued, “So these…er, ‘life forms’ are really people infected with false beliefs and fearful expectation! Not like the original Creation, they are more like their fictional zombies: dead to life, alive only in fear and hate.”
A moment later, the second voice affirmed, “Yes, if only they could see lies as the darkness that we see, that the evil has substance – or better, a lack of substance, an emptiness that is but a black void.”
After a further pause the first voice spoke with the calm tone of acceptance, “I was in need of a fresh viewpoint, a reminder of the power of enduring truth. Let us hope these Dark Ages below are not for too long and the light of reason and hope and faith will soon restore truth and the inalienable rights of all of God’s creation.”
“Yes, it is time for the Spirit of Truth to make its presence known, but even He is challenged by a world blinded by fear, its rational senses held captive.”
They watched the darkness spread against a backdrop of smoke and mirrors, a planet descending into the gloomy mist of primeval darkness.
Next Chronicle
