Friday, 18th November, 2011

Today a young man barely twenty two years old prayed for me.  He believes in miracles.  He is passionate about preaching.  He listens to you when you talk and he genuinely cares for what he does. I looked at this young man and he saw I was cynical.  I told him point blank that somewhere, somehow, someone had told me that his was a Satanic church, that people say they see flying snakes and other untold drearies when they go to worship in his church.  He took me on a tour of his church, all the way to the altar where the snake is supposed to be. He then told me that when everyone else was praying, I was not to close my eyes, but to open them, so that if there was a snake, I could see it, and not only that, he then showed me the exits so that in need, I could take a hurried exit.   

I did not see any snake. Of course the church is large but the point is, in my world, people believe all manner of things without verifying facts.  Some of the stories are so gory that even the tabloids harp on them and this frankly, just makes people confused, afraid and unwilling to find out the truth for themselves.  As a result, I notice that what should be faith in most of the people going to church in my part of the world is actually fear. Fear of what other people say, confusion over one's belief in the first place and a mixture of tradition, religion and other further handicaps.  If only people understood the one single fact holding them back is fear.  No matter how much education a person gets, no matter now much factual evidence one is presented with, that ability to separate issues, to call a spade a spade and to call laziness, that and nothing else, greed, that and nothing else, bad judgment that and nothing else exists in very few people.  A person convinces you that his is the church to go to and several weeks later, they tell you they are also getting consultations from some other quarter, to get a second opinion.  This is not an operation.  This is belief.  How can you believe anything when you need a second opinion from someone practicing the exact opposite of what someone else was preaching to you,  and this is done in one day!

Mahatma Gandhi said a small group of people who have absolute and unwavering  faith in what they are doing can change the world - and he went on to do just that.  After I wrote the witchcraft post, I heard so many stories of every other person's mother, uncle, brother etcetera being a witch and or wizard, including my own, but people, people people, while I have no way of ascertaining any of these stories for truth and for authenticity, the fact remains that even if I have also seen some strange things, I still hold the prerogative to believe what I want. I thank everyone who shared their story with me and I cannot judge what decisions anyone else has made throughout their lives but I can safely say that if you have the wrong set of beliefs and or if you cannot change them, you are not ever likely to succeed in life. That is a fact.  The witchcraft that has been tried and tested over centuries, by different gurus, is called work - and that works.  Lotteries are lost and won by those who play, just like progress is made by those who set out to actually accomplish something.

The highlight of  my witchcraft research was a black eye, which I got for telling someone facts, facts it turns out, they did not want to hear.  Its a good thing I saw the damage when I got to a mirror because when I went raging back, the culprit had the good sense to run away - I was that livid!   Still, I am enjoying the black eye because its the first one ever for me in my entire life.  Lesson, leave investigative stuff to the morons called journalists.  After this, I totally respect those people and my advice if you have witches and wizard bothering you day in and out, anyone or anything that cannot confront you direct is a coward!  Of course you run the risk or a black eye but .....