A Follower Asked: “Can you explain the liar, religion and all that other stuff without the riddles?” -J. Knight
My Response:
Yes.
When you’re teaching someone how to do math, you explain the symbols, what they mean and how they’re used. Then you show them sample problems they can use to gain a better understanding of those concepts right? None of those sample problems are “real”. And the symbols only mean what they mean and are used how they’re used; because everyone agrees on those things. 2 + 2 = 4 could just as easily been 2 # 2 : 4 had early mathematicians used a # for Plus and : for Equals instead of + and =.
Religions define symbols using metaphors in the same way. Myths create symbols out of the characters and events in their stories, which can then be used as building blocks to teach people lessons; and to describe very real but abstract concepts such as Love or the benefits of Faith.
Take two different men lost in a desert. If they were identical in every way, but one had Faith he could find a way out and the other didn’t; the one with Faith is far more likely to survive; while the other is far more likely to just lay down and die.
Religions are tools to teach us these things we need to understand, without us having to learn the hard way through experience. Unfortunately… religious texts are easily misunderstood by those who aren’t reading them in their original language, with a full understanding of the culture they were written for.
When I’m writing to teach things in the same ways the writers for others did; I’m relying on cultural references, my understanding of emotional attachments people have to the words I’m saying and adding humor or amusing connections between the way words are spelled, spoken or interpreted that would be obvious to native speakers of English, invisible to non-fluent speakers and completely lost in Translation.
Here’s an Example from my Book:
“The True God’s name is Om.
The True Goddess’ name is Ni.
Every Verse they sing together is another UniVerse in our OmNiVerse.”
Om is a Hindu name for God and easy to remember. I combine it with a reference to Monty Python to create “Om’s Knights who say Ni” to make things fun and interesting. Verse means Song Lyrics and is part of the words Universe and Omniverse so I connect these together as well, and if I do all of this right they all appear to have been created with each other in mind from the very beginning.
That’s how much effort I put into writing something that not only teaches things that are true, is easy to remember, is fun to read and looks magical as fuck if I do it right! I imagine holy texts in other religions were also written with the same level of depth and skill, which was seen as proof they were the Word of God! And then it all gets lost in translation becoming dry, boring and difficult to understand and remember religious texts we have today.
Which then gets interpreted wildly wrong because the correct interpretation depended on all those tricks which got lost in translation. Which leads us to today where people think Sin is some magical disease that must be cleansed through ritualized confession and repentance; or through accepting Jesus as their Lord and savior.
Which is just idiotic.
The Hebrew word translated as Sin was “hata” which was an archery term that means “to miss the mark” or “to make a mistake”. Confess means admit your mistake. Repent means learn from your mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes (sins), admit to them, learn from them so you don’t repeat them; and you will (should) be forgiven.
Jesus reached a level of wisdom and understanding that he no longer made mistakes. His choices resulted in the least amount of collective suffering experienced by everyone, and if everyone lived as he did, it would result in humanity creating heaven on earth. You aren’t saved from “sin” (making mistakes) by faith or acceptance of him as a Lord and savior. You are saved from “sin”, the painful process of learning his wisdom the hard way, by following in his footsteps and living exactly as he lived and taught others to live. By living in such a way you walked the “narrow path” that results in you living the best possible life you could live.
A Life worth Living.
I know this was probably far more than you expected as a response. I speak in riddles because explaining things plainly looks like this. And let’s be honest. Damn near nobody has time to read shit like this. So if I want to reach a large number of people… I’ll have to speak simply and rely on riddles and everything connecting together in clever ways to reach them.
The stories we tell to teach Spiritual Truths come in the forms of Song, Poem, Parable, Fable, Myth or other works of Fiction across any medium. These Veridicus Ficta, Latin for Truthful Fictions or “Lies that tell the Truth”, form the foundation of our Cultures, Religions and Society. They not only serve to teach us important lessons, but also give us an emotional outlet to express how we feel and what we see in artistic fashion. The stories are not meant to be interpreted literally or relied upon as historical records. They are masterpieces of the linguistic artform designed to teach us metaphysical and spiritual truths, in the language they were originally written for the culture at the time they were written.
Treat them as such and their Truths will reveal themselves to you.
-Veridicus Ficta
“Art is a Lie that tells the Truth.”
-Pablo Picasso
