Thursday, May 8, 2014

Savior with a Gun


In every world I've heard of there are Saviors. The key thing with conscious creatures is we quickly sink into semi-consciousness or worse, not knowing our true selves and place in the cosmos. Everything bad (speaking existentially) stems from that Original Sin, the Big Bad O. So Saviors pop up as needed.

This particular Savior, on one of the worlds, like all Saviors, is full of great wisdom. The big difference is he teaches wisdom at gunpoint. It's like this: He's born, he grows up, he buys a gun, he reveals himself, and he gathers disciples, later to be charged with taking his message to others. But they also lack wisdom, so there's a period of teaching, preparation for the future.

The first day, the Savior raises his gun and shoots it, telling his disciples to go find the bullet, what's left of it. Off they go for a job that could take hours and never pay off. The Savior's purpose in this, without saying another word, is to draw out their willingness. How will they handle the bigger job later without sharing his will?

The second day, as before, the Savior raises his gun and shoots it, sending them forth to find the bullet. Off they go! As said before, it's tough to find a shot bullet, or slug. Of course they know the general direction, but once you get out there, it's virtually impossible to find. His purpose is to teach patience, something most of us definitely need.

The third day, the fourth day, and the fifth day, the Savior raises his gun and shoots it, sending them forth to find the bullet. And each day they're off with this unenviable task, since it's really just more of the same. Monotonous, thankless, and probably disgusting. But he has an overall purpose. Those days he's teaching attention to detail, teamwork, and diligence. I can see how attention to detail would come in handy looking for an expended bullet. It'd be mixed in with dirt, rocks, and who knows what. But if you used teamwork, maybe a few of us would look over here and some over there. And diligence. You can't give up easily. Shrug off tiredness, let's find it!

The sixth and seventh days are much the same. The Savior raises his gun and shoots it, just as before, and directs them forth to find the bullet. Naturally, as you might readily guess, he's teaching them thoughtfulness and self-reflection. Thoughtfulness is one of the ways we absorb wisdom, and you'd need it after six days of looking for bullets. Self-reflection centers in on who we are and what we can become, things definitely needed for the task ahead. The task ahead will be even harder than looking for slugs.

The disciples, though, thinking it over, have heard of Saviors who do it other ways. Whereas theirs doesn't vary in the slightest. Shooting his gun and having them hop-to to find the bullet. They bring the matter to him, spelling it out, really complaining, "You shoot the gun and we look for the bullet, day after day after day..."

Inscrutably, in response, the Savior remains silent, picks up his gun and shoots it, this time twice, directing them forth to find the bullets. In silence he teaches them two things, obviously great wisdom: 1) Get used to it; and, 2) Be my guest ... When you're the Savior do it your own way.

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Coming up: Stories from the "Savior with a Gun Bible," and leading a class or seminar through our "Savior with a Gun" curriculum. For preparation, you will need our material and a gun. Please note, we advise a country setting with lots of land to which you have access. For those staying in town, you will need to make do with a rubber band or PCP pipe marshmallow gun. In an inner city environment, of course you have other options.

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