The Other Face of God

Chapter 1 - A long night-2

The audience buzzing subsided, all eyes turned to the figure moving toward the podium. His attire, his cloak, the hologram engraved on his leather breastplate inspired both uneasiness and reverence. The hologram, an eye with no lid, was the Psychic Guild symbol and represented the clarity of pure thought but most people had forgotten it, or so pretended.

The Deans whispered among themselves, questioning his youth and probable inexperience, but the two theologians, Deeper and Clauster, seemed to relax.

Flavus steps reverberated in the deep silence that followed him. When he started talking, his flawless voice raised strong and clear among the pillars of the Aula Magna and slowly descended over the crowd.

He started with the Bear's Paradox, now legendary.

“I would like to tell you a story” he said, skipping the preamble, “it is called The Bear's Paradox.”

The silence became thicker. “Has any of you heard of it?”

The students looked around perplexed.

The Master began quietly: “A huge bear sits at the foot of a mountain” he paused “it is its territory. It is surrounded by rocks, lush vegetation, a river...” another pause “the whole forest seems to be its domain. Can you tell me why?”

There was an uncomfortable silence, no one had expected to be directly addressed.

Flavus looked at the baffled faces of the academicians in the first row: “Come on, no one..?”

From the back of the hall a student timidly raised his hand : “Because it is...well, it is a bear!” he stammered.

The answer was received with a loud, derisive laugh that eased the tension.

“Yes, it is the bear!” confirmed the Psychic.

“Ehm, I mean... no one can beat it unless, perhaps, a good Remington 887!”

Laughs, again, but also nods of agreement. The kid sat down, pleased with himself.

“That is correct” said Flavus “The bear is the predator at the top of the food chain and his law rules the forest. A law enforced by its mere strength.”

The silence fell again.

“Now I will assign a part to each element of the story. The bear represents humanity in its entirety. The forest, the river, the trees and its den are our big cities, highways, buildings and modern technology.” he paused “What can you tell me about the rest? The interaction with other species, the alliances, the conflicts... the predation?”

“Business! Workforce! Fast-foods! Coca-Cola!”

“Cops... Laws.... Priests!” someone shouted from the back.

“Professors....Boooooooooooooo!” everybody laughed.

“Enemies!...The Fanfins!”

A heavy silence fell again.

“And the Remington?” challenged Flavus “even if, in this case, a bear trap would have been more suitable...”

While waiting for someone to eventually find a solution, Flavus directly sent to their minds a simple image: a bear hopelessly trying to climb out of a deep trap dug into the ground.

A stupefied Oh... resounded in the hall. At least a hundred students got up and left. It was the most common reaction to a display of the Psychics' powers.The religious leaders recommended attitude, whenever new human abilities were publicly manifested, was: “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”

The new uncomfortable truths were clashing with the still unquestioned most sacred traditions. The monotheistic religions, after centuries of antagonism, had created a strategic alliance against the new common enemy that was threatening to annihilate them: the denial of God's existence. This radical reaction was manifesting in our Aula Magna too.

When all the dissenters had left, Flavus resumed his speech, addressing now a half empty hall. “A bear trap, then, but the obvious question now is: who sets the trap?”

“A hunter!”

“Why?”

“To remind the bear who is the strongest, who is the smartest...What the heck, the forest doesn't belong to it!”

“Just for fun!”

Flavus addressed the last one: “Interesting opinion Mr...”

“Jack McNamara” said a tough looking kidin sixth row, obviously proud of his muscles and bad reputation “Jack the Bear, for my friends.”

“Very well. We are really lucky, Mr. McNamara, to have a hunter among us today. Who better than him, can explain us why his traps are always empty?”

“May be because I already wiped all the bears out?” McNamara suggested insolently.

“Way to go, Jack! You are the best!” cheered his gang members.

“It's a possibility. The young and inexperienced bears, that put their paws in Mr. McNamara's traps trying to collect the food, will surely have no future and, in the long run, will deprive our poor Jack of his favourite pastime, on top of making him a useless good-for-nothing bum.”

The animal lovers applauded loudly.

“Anyway, every good story has alternative endings” said Flavus, leaving the bully to nurse his defeat “because it is a fact that the old bear is strong, but cautious. It attacks only if threatened and risks its life only when it is unavoidable. It smells the trap, assesses the danger and instinctively knows when to stop.”

The Master leaned towards the audience, now totally enthralled: “Now, tell me. Who is Jack in our story?”

“Misfit? Unemployed?” laughings “a left over of old times!”

With this, the audience dismissed Jack The Bear for good.

“An arrogant... yes, a damn i***t!” they shouted from the back rows.

“Guys...” suggested Flavus “he, perhaps, symbolizes our ignorance and the bears he has captured so far are the weakness and the idleness typical of part of the human race. But...what about the trap?”

No one answered.

“Here we are at an interesting crossroad. Whatever direction we decide to take will bring deep changes in our lives. One of the roads goes downhill and seems easier, but leads to the trap. The other one is a narrow, winding path going uphill. Nobody knows where it leads.”

The students murmured confused.

“Will we let chance or prejudice or, worse, dumb blindness, set the rules for our future or will we trust our own common sense?” he asked with conviction “Anyway, back to the story, the bear choice will just be the usual old dilemma: will it risk its life for an easy meal or consider survival a more important reward?”

“But the story doesn't end here, does it, Master Flavus?”

The heavily accented voice that broke in belonged to Mons. Ernest Clauster, a German Jesuit, professor of story and theology: “You are not going to deny us the pleasure to discover how common sense and prejudice are represented in your fascinating paradox, are you?”

“Us, my dear Professor, they represent us.”

“But your allusions were quite clear. You cannot back out now!” said Rabbi Moshe Rosembaum Av Beth Din “You will take responsibility for your inferences!” he affirmed.

“I confirm my opinion that the future generations choices must be made disregarding every pre-existent cultural prejudice. My efforts are focused on reaching this goal.” said Flavus.

All eyes turned to Mons. Clauster.

“So, you consider faith a mere cultural prejudice. But, I ask you.... what will be left to man if he looses his faith?”

“All the rest: dignity, objectivity and the certainty to be the sole maker of his own destiny.”

Mons. Clauster, now enraged, retorted: “It's outrageous how Psychics can talk about free will! The doubts you have spread about God's existence have generated confusion and desperation everywhere!”

Flavus calmly turned to him: “Psychics are mere observers. Throughout the centuries, history has demonstrated that confusion and desperation have been humanity's companions regardless of any eventual divine intervention. But we are hoping that a new awareness will be able to free the men's minds and put old and obsolete superstitions where they belong.”

“What you call old superstition is the highest spiritual value man can aspire to: faith in God's mercy and forgiveness!” added the other theologian, Rev. Deever.

“Managing God's mercy has always been a most profitable activity for sacerdotal castes of all religions. Faith in an afterlife and its depending on divine judgement, are, and have always been, very effective tools to control and limit the evolution of human potential: the oldest bear trap.”

“On the contrary! Their rejection will be the noose tightening around humanity throat if you will dare to show the world your abominable beasts, selling them as a product of natural evolution!” a red faced Mons. Clauster objected “Your arrogance has brought us on the verge of destruction. God has nothing to do with those monsters, created in your...compliant laboratories. They are but the result of a perverted intent. Divine Grace can't manifest thorough beings of such hideousness!”

“God, Devil, Man! An explosive mixture indeed! But you, Monsignor, overestimate us if you think us capable of creating a new evolving species. As for their physical appearance...well, it's curious that the Fanfins too find human quite repulsive.”

Taking advantage of the audience mixed reaction, I felt I had to intervene: “Gentlemen, I remind you that old antagonisms must have no part in today meeting. We are here to evaluate together urgent and sensitive facts. Please, keep the debate within these boundaries.”

Mons. Clauster, visibly annoyed, reluctantly sat down.

The audience was split. Some were attracted by the Psychic progressive ideas, some others seemed reluctant to openly deny the very concept of God.

Flavus waited for a few moments, then proceeded with his closing argument: “Thesis and Antithesis are the foundations of every logical reasoning. They both give the basic guidelines to establish effective and consistent rules. But, given the new discoveries, we now know that no thought template is everlasting. Every theory, every belief belong to its own time. We don't discard Ptolemy's Almagesti just because his innovative idea on the solar system was, in time, overcome by the Copernican Revolution. We still honour his talent, framed within Alexandria's culture and beliefs in 200 A.D.

In 1700, Sir Isaac Newton wrote “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Matematica”, where he speculated that time was an immutable constant.

Had we uncritically stuck to that concept, we would have probably dismissed poor Einstein's theories with a good laugh, since, two centuries later, he affirmed the variability and relativity of time, the exact contrary of Newton's theory. Newton's reasoning was affected by the cultural limitations of his time, that led him to the wrong conclusions, but his contribution to the advancement of human knowledge is still considered invaluable.”

Flavus stared at the audience with his intense, bright eyes. “Error is an intrinsic part of every human activity, but understanding and learning from our mistakes is a huge intellectual victory. Try and observe everything for what it really is and if new facts may later disprove your assumptions, I wish you all to find within you the strength and the courage to let them go.”

The students, conquered by his logic (and his natural charisma) enthusiastically applauded, overcoming the few dissenting voices. From the back of the hall they started to sing: “Fanfs: the other side of God! The other side of God! The other side of God!”

The Deans left in silence, before the official position of the President was made public.

A few minutes later, we were informed of disorders outside the gates, brawling among students and some cars afire (mine included!). We were led out through a back exit. Once outside, we immediately realized that the troubles were caused by well organized groups following a pre-established plan, with the intent to arouse public condemnation. They needed an expendable victim and they found it: Benjamin Sellers, a worker going home after his night shift. He is remembered nowadays as the first victim of the long series of killings that followed all over Massachusetts and brought havoc among the population. The media gave full coverage of the tumults down to the most gruesome details; the fires, the brutal beatings, poor Sellers head smashed to pieces on the concrete.

Those images broadcast worldwide over and over, were but a foretaste of the terrible blood shed we were to witness in the following months.

As widely announced, two days after the conference, the Collector delivered his telepathic message about the origin of life on Earth. The Masters, strategically positioned all over the world and telepathically linked, succeeded in transmitting it in its entirety to every single mind able to receive it. Human beings learned that life had sprung and evolved without the need of divine intervention, and were forced to re-evaluate their myths and legends, their dogmas, their superstitions. Of course, it also stirred the usual old questions. All the basic certainties that had held humanity omnipresent fear at bay had suddenly been swept away. And the abrupt loss of values and directions led to violence, abuse, anarchy.

It was the beginning of the fall.

In those days, we were anxiously waiting for the cultural repercussions. We were expecting the situation to cause a media galore: endless talk shows on television and holographic networks, innumerable controversial articles on newspapers, but we got...nothing. The planet and we, its leeches, behaved like nothing had happened. Public maxi screens kept showing sports finals, stock exchange trends, weather forecasts, deliberately creating an information vacuum, like the pressure under the lid of a steamer.

For quite some time, nothing happened. There were arguments, discussions, but the indifference of the media made things worse. People found no help to metabolize the absence of God and accept the presence of a mysterious new species. And very, very few were able to understand the Collector's message.

I did not hear from Flavus for several weeks. I knew he was very busy and stifled my disquieting gut feelings with a moderate optimism.

I admit I didn't notice the worsening of the situation and it took me some time to understand that there was a scheme in motion. An elite group of perverted people was deliberately trying to stress social instability and fright.

From fear to violence the step was short and easy.