Neytopia › Part 2: Noon › Chapter 40

Yet another religion of love

The lightbringer took her by the hand and they ran out of the house, headed for the boats. It was the middle of the night and only his light guided them. They sailed back to the continent and walked until they found a town. She was dressed in drapes, like one of the many hobos that roamed the land: many of them were misfits who could not stand the rules imposed by the empire and therefore ended up in the streets, preying on people’s pity to beg for food.

During the first few centuries of the empire’s life, begging for food had been punished by law. But now things had changed. She approached the town and met others like her: vagabonds, wanderers, outlaws, you name them. Her charm, innocence and purity easily captivated them. After two hours of taking an interest in their lives, she asked,

Have you heard about the religion of love?

Religion of love?

Don’t you know them religions are all banned?

She smiled gracefully and replied,

Yes, but nobody can ban religion from your heart. Right here—She tapped gently on an old man’s chest—no one controls you. You can believe whatever you want. And all I’m asking is that you believe in a power greater than yourselves, greater than this empire and the man who runs it. I’m asking you to believe in the ultimate power.

The hobos were fascinated. They asked her many questions,

What is this ultimate power, woman?

Is it gold?

Does it fold?

Is it blue?

Glue?

Asked a man eating glue. She replied, always patient,

No, no, no. It’s a god that is one and many at the same time. Different messiahs have announced it, each with their own idiosyncrasies, but they all talked about the same thing.

Did she say we are idiots and crazies?–Interrupted an old, half-deaf man.

No, stupid–Smacked him his old, half-blind wife.

The god I’m talking about is It that created all you see and put your ancestors here. It watches over everything you do from the sky.

The hobos asked,

Where is it?

How do we know it’s real when our eyes aren’t real?

Then she asked them, pointing at the sky,

Do you see that star?

Yes!

Well, that’s where it lives. But it sees this world, it’s always watching, judging your actions.

One of the specially ugly hobos with bizarre facial hair asked her,

But how can we know it’s real if we don’t have any experience of it ourselves? Couldn’t you be just a sort of evil genius?

Sure, but you can say that of everything. How do you know anything you know now is real?

You know, cause we can see it, or others told us why it makes sense.

What if your senses were lying? What if what you see is not real? I guess you know about hallucinations and visions, like those induced by drugs and alcohol you probably like so much, am I wrong?

She showed everyone her open right hand, full of colorful drugs. Then she closed it for a few seconds. The people listening to her smiled foolishly at the tasty brain-mellowing candy. When she opened her hand again, the drugs were all gone, to the disappointment of her crowd.

Then, what if you were drugged and this wasn’t your “real life”?

A woman without teeth whistled,

Yo that’d be some shitty trip.

Other beggars applauded her eloquent words. One added, addressing the teethless broad,

Haha you’re fugly.

Before the situation got out of hand and they stopped listening to her, she clapped her hands creating a shockwave that knocked them back. Now she had her audience’s undivided attention. She continued,

You might be thinking—which they were not—that even mathematical truths—

She stopped, realizing they were amazed by her cheap magic trick and paid little attention to her words.

Hey, pay attention to my words! You might think that things like one plus one equals two is something fundamentally true that no one has cheated you into believing. But I’ll show you that you’re wrong: one plus one equals two is only true as far as you accept the rules that define “one”, “plus”, “equals” and “two”. But these rules are arbitrary: humans made them. And what do humans know?

Listen to me instead: this world was created with a purpose. You were created with a purpose. Whatever they tell you, whatever they show you, it will NEVER cast a shadow of doubt over what you are now beginning to understand: that there is a power above, that I am its messenger, and that your lives have a meaning you can’t comprehend.

The beggars were confused after misunderstanding most of what she had said. But her magic tricks convinced them she was supernatural and therefore right.

This is what you will do: you will not steal nor kill. And if you do, you will remember that It—she pointed at the sky with her right hand’s index finger—is watching. You will pray to It to have mercy on your souls when you die, just as you will have mercy on everyone you meet. You will spread Its word and convince everyone you meet that It is real. You will renounce lust, anger and greed. You will embrace hope, pity and love. Now go, leave, get a job, prosper and spread the word. Otherwise…

What?

Otherwise It will be disappointed in you, and you do not want that.

Although they had many questions, she left and returned to tell the lightbringer how things had gone. They camped in a cave near the town, where they would stay while they watched the results of their little experiment. When they were both lying down, looking at the night sky and holding hands, she asked him,

Do you think it’ll work?

We have both lied to so many people for so long, telling them whatever we needed to get them on our side. Who could’ve guessed the truth, bizarre and twisted as it is, would work so much better.

And both looked at the star where It lived.