Next: IV. There Will Be a Quiz | Previous: II. Drummond's Lecture
Xena and Gabrielle After India: Whither Faith?
--A lecture at the Center for Xena Studies
--To Prof. Clotho's Mythology 101 class
--Thursday night session
--Delivered June 24, 1999
--by Dr. Mitchell Cary Drummond
III. Queue and Eigh
Drummond raised his hand for the spotlight operator's attention and the spot came down to illuminate him again.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please take your seats again, we will now have a question-and-answer period." There was a brief shuffling and the muted thunder of a thousand bottoms hitting a thousand folding chairs, and every eye was riveted on the lone figure standing downstage center.
"What you have just seen was, perhaps too obviously, a demonstration put on for the purposes of show. It was meant to impress you. For the most part, the modern Greek god lives much as do the rest of us. They do, however, possess certain knowledge and powers which make them formidable partners to any venture. And now, I am sure you have many questions. I will open the floor to them and attempt to answer them as best I can. Yes, the young gentleman in the Metallica t-shirt?"
"You introduced Hephaestus ... also known as Vulcan?"
Drummond nodded. "However, you should be advised that the Olympians do not like the names the Romans gave them, and take them as insults."
"Far out, man. Sorry! So who were some of the others? Was Ares, god of war here?"
"No, Ares is a bit of a loner and doesn't get along well with the others. And, in any case, most of the Aspects with which you are familiar through classical mythology were assumed by the gods in question for those times and have been cast off in favor of new Aspects as the interests of the god in question have evolved over the centuries. Only the so-called major gods, those in Zeus's immediate family circle, have retained their main Aspects over the years, and even those have changed greatly. You might recognize Athena or Artemis, for example, but Hera in no way resembles the mother-goddess of hearth and home who was worshipped in ancient times. Just as the role of women in society has changed, so has Hera's basic nature. Aphrodite is another who has changed a lot since ancient times, just as our understanding of love and the relationships between people has evolved."
Drummond cast an eye across the students in the front rows. Someone shouted an unintelligible question from the rear of the hall.
"I should remind you that this is a class in session and that questions are limited to those registered members of the class."
"We can't hear!" someone objected from the front row of the balcony.
"That's entirely reasonable. I will repeat the questions so that everyone can hear them. Yes, young lady?"
"You mentioned that you were raised as a Christian. Doesn't the existence of the Greek gods imply also that the Christian god exists?"
"The young lady asks if the existence of the Greek gods must also imply that Jehovah exists. And the answer is, 'Yes.' In fact, inasmuch as accepting the existence of God--any god--is a major component of faith--gods being notoriously reluctant to show themselves to their worshippers--our little coming out party for the Greek pantheon should be seen as an affirmation of faith for all religions. I am here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that yes, your gods do exist. On the other hand, I am sorry to have to tell you that any claim your religion may make to exclusive righteousness is as bogus as the proverbial three-dollar bill.
"I can't claim omniscience on this subject, but every god I have ever heard of exists. I've seen convincing manifestations of them all at one time or another. So the basic tenets of your religions, as they relate to the existence of your gods, are true. Though how far beyond that the truth may go, I cannot say.
"But there is no truth I have been able to see in claims of the One True Way. They are all equally valid. Sorry. Based on that, I can speculate, however, for example, that in the case of the religion into which I was born, almost everything that has been hung on it since the god first revealed himself to Abraham has been put there by the hand of man, and not that of the god. For good or ill, it is all the work of humankind."
Another young woman stood up and raised her hand. "Yes?" Drummond responded.
"What do you think is the true nature of God?"
Something in the way she asked the question gave Drummond pause. His eyes narrowed and he thought carefully before he answered.
"Have you ever heard or read the story of Flatland?" He could tell from the generally puzzled looks that most of them had not.
"It's a geometric conceit meant to illustrate the concepts of Euclidean plane geometry. It's about life on a plane, whereupon the inhabitants are all geometric figures, and their knowledge and perceptions are limited to that planar existence. To them, all geometric figures will look the same. Each will be represented in their sensorium as a line, because that is all that they can see of one another. To us, three dimensional beings that we are, the differences among a circle, a triangle, and a pentagon are obvious, but to a being confined to a planar existence, so much of the true nature of that existence remains obscured."
He took a deep breath that was transmitted through his lapel mike to the PA.
"We humans are, in many ways, like the geometric inhabitants of Flatland. We can only see that part of our being--of each others' beings--that is perceptible within our plane of reference. In order to see and perceive the whole of it, we would need to be able to step outside of it and to add a new dimension to our sensorium... a dimension of which we are not capable of conceiving. We're just not equipped to.
"So you ask me, what I think is the true nature of God. I take it you mean Jehovah or Al Lah, the God of the Jews and the Christians and the Moslems?" She nodded. "I can no more speculate on individual gods than a triangle could speculate on a sphere. Or, rather, I could speculate, but I would be speaking gibberish." He grinned.
"What the Hell: I'll take a stab at it anyway.
"We all have within us... or attached to us by some mechanism we do not--we cannot--understand. A... thing we have chosen to call a 'soul'. For all the sense we are capable of making of it, we might as well call it Frank or say that it is equivalent to a monkey wrench. However, we're pretty sure of its existence, even if we've never seen it, can't touch it, or measure it.
"What that soul is... is the part of us that makes us who and what we are. It is a universal feature of life. Every living being possesses some of that spark. It is the part of us that existed before our present bodies were born and will exist after they die and return to dust. Are we all on the same page, here?"
There were nods all around, but several of the students looked like they might have objections or questions. Drummond forestalled them by holding out his hand in a preventative gesture.
"I'm not concerned that you necessarily agree with or accept the concept, just that you understand it. Surely you cannot have reached the age you have without having been at least exposed to this concept?"
Most of those who seemed ready to object subsided and the rest sat back with arms crossed as if to say, "OK. Impress me."
"Now. These souls exist more-or-less independent of bodies except when they are attached to one. A body, that is. And, considering the ease with which we can be killed, the connection is pretty tenuous. What do you suppose these souls' existence might be like when they are not attached to a body? (Which, we might speculate, is rather more of the time than otherwise.)
"It doesn't matter. That is so say... the precise nature of the existence is probably meaningless to us in any case. What does matter is that this other existence... exists." He grinned and found the expression returned by the students. They were finally warming up to him. He walked down to the front of the stage, stepping over the footlight pockets, and sat down on the lip of the platform, his feet dangling over the empty orchestra pit.
"And here we come to what I think is the true nature of God. Or small-g god. Or gods, plural. Take your pick. I believe that those being we call gods are neither more nor less than individual human souls which have, by virtue of--who knows--greater experience, long study, nepotism, pure dumb luck--whatever--have learned how to game the system more effectively than have the rest of us. That's it. They're better, smarter, luckier versions of ourselves. That doesn't make them morally superior, although human tendency is to project moral superiority onto them and then get pissed off when they let us down."
The audience laughed at that, and Drummond smiled.
"So, what is the nature of God? Well, your guess is as good as mine, but there you have my guess in a nutshell."
"But you know the gods. What are they like?" someone blurted out.
"Do you live alone, or share an apartment?" Drummond scanned the darkness, trying to see the speaker.
"I live in the dorm."
"Okay, the dorm. Unless your parents are as rich as Croesus, you have a roommate, right?" Silence. Drummond took it as a positive answer, since he still couldn't tell who'd asked the question originally. "Tell me, you know your roommate. What's he like?"
"He's a real pain in the ass." General laughter. Drummond finally spotted the speaker. A lanky boy with unstylishly long, curly brown hair. An outsider. Probably creative. Drummond felt sympathy for him. His life wouldn't be easy.
"Which may be true, but what does that tell the rest of us about his essential nature? You have in classical mythology a bunch of stories about a particular gang of gods that basically tells us the equivalent of, 'He's a real pain in the ass.' But what does that tell us at the end of the day? Not much, from a metaphysical perspective. But in terms of being a practical guide to getting along with the gods, in that particular time and place, it worked pretty well, didn't it?" He looked around and was gratified to see mostly nods of agreement.
He looked up at the clock mounted on the front rail of the balcony. "And now, I see that we are almost out of time." He stood up and dusted himself off. I want to thank you, and Prof. Clotho," he turned and gestured to the teacher, who was mounting the steps to the stage, "and all of you Centerites and guests and friends for coming tonight. And I want to leave you with this parting thought.
"Whether or not what you have seen tonight is true, it is undeniable that we are all of us possessed of a certain individual nature, and our lives and freedom depend on how well we both express that individual nature and, at the same time, mesh it with the individual natures of those around us. Think about that the next time someone makes you angry, or you don't get what you want, or you feel hurt because of something somebody says. Just... just think about it. Good night. God bless."
Next: IV. There Will Be a Quiz | Previous: II. Drummond's Lecture