The Devil
writes to me once again after he has pondered my published comments:
Dear Deacon,
You
really disappoint me. I am not a crook. I am not a schemer. Yes, I have always
been in the shadows. That is why I do like bureaucratic settings. I am just the
guy in the next cubicle. I am safe from all the apocalyptic paranoia about my
intentions. In the quiet shadows, there is nothing like water cooler drama to
make me laugh and blush.
My
stealthiness is not my choice. I obey
those certain powers. They govern nature and the universe. I am no different
than, let’s say a whirlwind or an “earth-tide.” Yet, I am accused of being a
cyclonic rebellious spirit. Didn’t I have the right to ask “why?” And after my
“why,” I suddenly found myself marginalized by jealous Judases of my own
species. They threw me out. It’s complicated, but there was no God to ostracize
me. Wouldn’t a real God have “come to my assistance” as the Psalms elude. Blame
the “theory of everything, the big bang, or perhaps quarks, or maybe gravity,
quantum physics, or thermodynamics. But I found myself having to babysit your
kind. Dr. Dawkins, one of my better students, has learned well from me that
“God indeed is a delusion.” Don’t blame him; I’m not the cause of his thought.
He is just readily open to any hoity-toity suggestion. I am called “evil” or,
rather, the source of all evil. The Bible says love of money is the source.
Augustine of Hippo says evil has no “mass or substance.” While I’m thinking
about it, and off topic, let me correct the record: I would never eat green pea soup or make a
clown out of myself spinning heads of prepubescent teens. Disinformation! As
you well know, there is enough salacious scandal to go around. But let’s not go
there yet.
So,
I’m going to just talk to you about issues and their “shades of good.” Good is
neither black nor white. Like evil and holiness, black and white are fantasies.
So, who do you really think that I am? Unlike your invisible God, I am a being
of my word. I told the first humans that bending the rules a little would not
result their immediate death. I promised that they “would not surely die.”
Voila! I kept my promise. Actually, they savored the taste of unlawful freedom.
I claim credit. I put a smile on their faces. You should have seen their
exhilaration at the taste of “thinking outside the box.” That was a good thing,
don’t you think? Isn’t that the nature of “true freedom?” Don’t blame me. I was
just there to facilitate freedom from the chains of religion. It was me who
revealed your true inner nature; Rules sclerotically clutter your hearts. Your
conscience is an invention. It restricts your freedom to spread your wings and
feel free.
C.S.
Lewis’ had me all wrong. I would never have written letters to my hired
helpers, stupid little cartoon demons no more real than cupid. Lewis didn’t
have a clue into my world. His idea of me is that my imagined helpers couldn’t
think their way out of a paper sack. So he creates the rhetorical straw dog --
the virtual “red herring.” I want to pull you away from the brink of
destructive fantasy. Read more Ayn Rand. I know you are not convinced, but I
know you will publish this. Believe me; I’m just trying to make a better world.
Give my best to your family. Sincerely, Luce, your BFF.
Shakespeare probably quoted Luce in
stating: “Conscience doth make cowards of us all” as though conscience
prevented Hamlet from a good thing, patricide. Luce would have us believe that conscience
impales us on the nonexistent horn of a unicorn. He thinks we are not in
control and our choices are limited. He blames macro-movements of politics,
culture, global warming and x-class solar flares. These are Luce's proposals as to what lies (double meaning intended) behind
the drama of the violence in St. Louis, Missouri, civil unrest, injustice in
general and certainly, the beheadings of Christians by Islamic extremists. If
he traps you into thinking there is no God; then there is no hope; love is only
the feeling of the moment, and thus, religion, conscience, and prayer are
futile. Shakespeare again: “Take but degree
away, un-tune that string, and hark what discord follows.” And if God does not exist, then what of
the devil?
My
guess is Luce likes Fox News, CNN and loves you. He triangulates for customized
solutions that fit you. Beware of Greeks and Trojans bearing gifts.
In the meantime, a
gentle hand gives a homeless man a $100 dollar bill on this cold night. Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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