Monday, March 31, 2008

BLOG HASH: There is no Dog, only Zuul!



Original Post Date: Friday December 2, 2005

For those of you that know me, you all know i do NOT spout religious dogma or the like. But someone asked me what my true beliefs were, and I wrote the following fable to show EXACTLY how I believe the divine is. It's kinda long, so pull up a chair....

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Agog and His Search

By: Eric Craig

Once, there was a man named Agog. He was a normal man in every respect, except one. He really wanted to know the truth about the divine. He wanted to know soo bad, he always stayed up late at night, pouring over books about religion, God, and all of it's aspects. He didn't find anything that rang true to him as a definite answer to the question- what is God? He fell asleep extremely late one night right on top of his books.

"GOD WAS HERE!" Agog woke with a jump, and looked out of his window early the next day. There was a well-dressed preacher, running through the street, crying in happiness, screaming "GOD WAS HERE!" Agog went outside and stopped the preacher.

"God was here? Where did he go?" Agog asked.

Sobbing and pointing up the road, the preacher smiled. "Yes! That way!" and before Agog could ask what God looked like, the preacher ran off in the other direction, spreading his words.

Agog took off up the road. By-and-by, he came upon a tall, gruff looking man with a beard sitting on the side of the road. The bearded man was looking at a little pile of wood blocks, with funny letters carved upon them. Agog asked him, "Have you seen God? What did he look like?". The bearded man beamed. "Aye, I did. He was a tall warrior. He had wild white hair, carried an oak staff, and it seemed as if the seas would bow before him, for you could almost hear the waves. And he gave me these..." The bearded man pointed at the small pile of blocks. Agog took off running up the road, anxious to finally meet God.

By-and-by, Agog came upon another man, this one was walking up the road, wearing long grey robes, and walking with a staff. He thought this might be God, so he called out "God?". The man turned around, and Agog saw that he wasn't the old warrior the bearded man described. "Hardly!" the robed man laughed. "But he just flew by, a while ago." This stopped Agog. "Flew?" he asked. "Yes. God is a giant dragon. He slowed just long enough to wrap his huge wings around me for a protection blessing. He then took to the sky, and with a mighty roar, breathed fire into the air, and departed." Agog believed the robed man, for he still could smell the heavy smoke in the air. Agog took off running up the road, scanning the sky for a glimpse of God.

By-and-by, as Agog was running, he tripped over an old woman kneeling and praying in the road. "Sorry," Agog apologised, "I was looking for God." The old woman brushed herself off and chuckled, "That's Ok, God teaches forgiveness. But He wasn't in the air, he walked with me, and even helped me for a while." Again confused, Agog asked, "What did he look like?" The old woman smiled, "He was a handsome young man with long hair. He wore white robes, and had holes in his wrists. He had died for us, but now he walks among us again! He even changed my waterbag into the finest wine!" Agog, thirsty for more knowledge, took off running up the road again.

By-and-by, Agog ran right pass a young woman leaning against a tree. He stopped and turned to her, "Have you seen the God walk by?" The woman looked at him, "THE God? Silly, don't you know God is TWO people?" Agog froze in his spot, "Two?" "Yes," she continued, "Two. A noble Lord and a beautiful Lady. The Lord shone with the brilliance of the sun, while the Lady sparkled with the coolness of the moon. They taught me many things, and as they walked around in a circle, all the plants grew!" Sure enough, Agog looked around, and all the plants had wildly overgrown in the area, brimming with beautiful flowers. There was even a ring of toadstools growing about the young woman. Agog took off running up the road, once again.

By-and-by, Agog came upon a young man, dressed only in a loincloth, painting pictures right upon the ground.. "Have you seen God?" he asked. The young man stood, "Yes. The Great Spirit was with us today." "Us?" Agog asked. The young man pointed off the side of the road. There, playing together, were a bear, a wolf, a deer, and a horse. Agog was amazed. "What did God look like?" The young man spread his arms wide to the sky, "The Great Spirit is over all. He is everywhere. He is invisible. Sometimes he's in a tree, sometimes an arrow. He helps us grow in peace, and even protects us from enemies." Agog was unsure if he could see something invisible, but took off up the road nonetheless.

Agog came upon many other people on the road. They were old, young, man, woman, and of many different races. But all had seen God. He continued so far up the road, that he wasn't even sure where he was, and the sun was starting to set. Agog turned for home to continue looking through his books, when he heard a voice say his name. "Agog, why do you give up?" He turned, and saw himself sitting on a boulder by the road. Agog stood transfixed. He did not have any siblings or family alive, so this could not be a relative. "Are you God?" Agog asked. "Yes." God stated simply. Agog approached him gingerly. "I have been looking for you for a long time. I have met a lot of people who have seen you or know you, and they all give me descriptions, but they all saw something different." God stood and put his hand on Agog's shoulder. "Everyone sees Me differently because they know where to look for Me. They know when they have found Me, and accept Me how they see Me. " Agog hung his head sheepishly, and asked "Then why do you look exactly like me?" God playfully pushed Agog's shoulder, and crossed his arms with a smirk, "Because you are still seeking me. You know where to find me now. So go there!" Agog looked up at God, and mirrored his smirk. "You're right...I do!" Agog took off down the road, and ran all the way home. He burst into his room, and hurriedly shuffled through all his books, stopping on one. "There you are!" Agog exclaimed with glee. He put the rest of the books upon his shelf, and happily read.

The moral of the story is: What book did Agog choose? That is what we each have to decide for ourselves.

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