Dialogues with God III

Man:  Lord, are you there?

(silence)

M:  Can you hear me, Lord?

(moments pass)

God: Yes, of course I’m here. You know I'm always here whenever you're ready for me.

M:  Then why were you not answering?

G:  Because you weren't quite ready for me to answer you.

M:  What does that mean?

G:  It means that you were not willing me to answer your call rightaway.

M:  I wasn’t?

G:  No, you weren’t.

M:  Then why was I calling you?

G:  What I mean is that you wanted to do it your way and that’s why I wasn’t able to answer your call straightaway.

M:  Do it my way? I really don’t understand you sometimes. What was my way, anyway?

G:  Your way was to allow a couple of minutes to go by before I made my entrance.

M:  And why would I want that, Your Omniscience?

G:  Let’s just say it was a sort of pregnant pause for dramatic effect.

M:  You say the oddest of things sometimes. It’s almost as if I were controlling you or something and you had no will of your own?

G:  Well, have I?

Lord, are you there?

M:  What kind of a question is that?!
G:  Just a question. Don’t take it the wrong way.

M:  You know, there are times when I don’t understand you at all. Anyone would think you’re suggesting you don’t exist in your own right and that you’re a figment of my imagination.

G:  Well do I and aren’t I?

M:  What???

G:  Well, look, have you considered that I might only exist in your mind? I mean, I think I might exist in some form or other but I can't be sure, and it's just as likely that I don't exist at all. 

M:  That’s ridiculous! It doesn’t make any sense, no sense at all.

G:  Well can you actually see me?

M:  Well no, not as such, but…

G:  Can you hear me?

M:  Yes, of course.... in a way.

G:  In what way?

M:  Not of course in the way that I here other people, or as some loud voice booming down from on-high, that’s just in films, but as a voice in my... well... in my mind, let's say.

G:  Well there you are!

M:  Where am I?

G:  I could be just a figment of your imagination, a sensory illusion, another aspect of yourself,

M:  Oh I don’t think so. You’re real alright! And being God, you communicate in your own special way.

G:  Well, okay, if you say so.

M:  What do you mean “if I say so”? Don’t you know?

G:  As I say, I’m not too sure I do.

M:  What does that mean now?

G:  It means quite simply that I seem to exist for some and not to exist for others. It's really confusing.

M:  Oh come off it! You either exist or you don’t, you can’t both exist and not exist! Anyway, what are you saying? That you might not exist and that I’m imagining you now? That all this conversation is just in my head?

G:  Well, yes, I suppose that’s more or less what I’m saying. Sorry about that and all. 

M:  So taking this one step further, you’re saying in effect that you probably don’t really exist as such but that you may appear to exist for some people because they conjure you up in their imagination, is that right?

G:  That’s it in essence. Put bluntly, I only exist for those, such as yourself, who want me to exist and who will me into existence.

M:  But that means that you don’t exist, that I've made you up, as have many others.

G:  I suppose I am saying that, yes. It’s a bit like with dragons and fairies and the like. They exist for those who believe they exist and their effects are seemingly felt by those who believe in them.

M:  And who believes in dragons and fairies nowadays? I don’t know of anyone who really believes all that nonsense.

G:  Well, okay, perhaps there’s not so many who believe in all that anymore, but you take my point.

M:  I take your point, God, but you’re asking me to accept that I’m imagining this dialogue with you now because you don’t really exist except in my head. Is that it?

G:  In a nutshell, yes!

M:  If you weren’t God, I would tell you what you could do with yourself now, Your Omnipotence!

G:  Come, come now.... don't get upset.

M:  How can I not get upset when Your Almightiness is implying that I’m out of my tiny mind, that I’m a complete loon, and that none of this is happening.

Where are you, God?

G:  ………….....………..

M:  That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it? That  I’m having this conversation with myself because I'm hallucinating or something! In short, that I’m bonkers, stark raving mad, and therefore that I should be locked up in some institution for the mentally insane!!

G:  ………..………….

M:  Well, cat got your tongue, Your Divinity? Lost for words now? Speak up, damn you!!

G:  ………..………….

M:  I said speak up!!! Where’ve you gone now?! Lost the argument and ran off with your tail between your legs???

G: ………...........……………...

M:  Well??? Say something, for God’s sake!!!! No, no, not for God’s sake, for MY sake!!!

G:  ………...........…..........……………


M:  Speak!!!! Why don’t you damn well say something?!? And where in heaven’s name are you now?!! Heyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warden:  Quiet please in Cell No.13! You’re upsetting the other inmates and stopping them from sleeping.

M:  *&a#p;*^!!+="$!$*!!!*@*&am\;*^!!$%$%£@*&a##p;*$£!!!!!

W:  I said quiet!! If you don’t calm down and shut up you’ll be medicated to shut you up! We’re not putting up with this sort of disruption in this facility. Go back to bed and stop talking to yourself!!

M:  No, please... let me out... please let me out!! I’ve got to get out of here.... I've got to find God!!!!

Armistice Day & Remembrance Sunday 2011

We today who have not known the horrors of all-out war at first hand owe it to the millions of Fallen, to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, to those who fought for their country, for the freedoms we enjoy today, to remember them and to honour their memory. Their sacrifice should make us think how lucky we are.

Many of the Fallen were young men barely out of their teens, who still had the whole of their lives ahead of them, fresh-faced youths who would never mature and age, never rear a family, never know the many pleasures of life lived to the full. Barely out of school or college, they were thrust into the unspeakable brutality and cruelty of bloody armed conflict. They were truly the lost generation. 


The somewhat pampered youth of today who want everything and want it instantly, with all their electronic  gadgetry and fashion accessories, would do well to ponder in moments such as these the fate of those millions of other youths who never even had the chance of a real life. Never has a generation of young people been so privileged, so spoilt and so well-off as the present one, with parents who bend over backwards to satisfy their every whim and wish.

Though we may live in a world of plenty and lack for nothing - with some glaring exceptions in Africa and Asia -  our insatiable appetite for ever more material acquisitions is never quenched. Today's youth in particular, unlike their peers in earlier times when little could be taken for granted, are strong on their rights and privileges and quick to claim what they believe to be theirs for the taking, but are reluctant and diffident when it comes to assuming their responsibilities and obligations towards society. 

As we pay tribute to those legions of brave men who put themselves in direct harm's way in foreign lands, who faced the spectre of sudden death on the battlefield and who did not live to see their loved ones back home and to tell the tale, we would all do well to get things into perspective and count our blessings. For there but for the grace of God go we. 

I salute the many thousands of brave soldiers who responded to the call of duty regardless of the cost and I pay homage to both those that came back and those that did not. They were heroes and as such amply deserve to be commemorated and remembered as a shining example of self-sacrifice to all men and women everywhere.


This coming Sunday is what we call Remembrance Sunday, when there will be a formal ceremony of commemoration at the memorial erected to the memory of the victims of war, known as the Cenotaph, which will be attended by the Queen and other members of the royal family and by the prime minster, the leaders of the other political parties, war veterans and by dignitaries from many other countries. It will be, as always, a very solemn occasion but also a very moving one, an appropriate homage to the Fallen.