SHORT STORY - The Lineage of Wise Words

At first there was a moment that erupted into time, that became a feeling, an overwhelming surge of inspiration, that came forth in forceful words, the vehicle for eloquence in thought, squeezed persuasively into a sequence of sentences, creating a moving elevating oration, and the person from whom these wise words emerged was as surprised as everyone else was, at how well they came across, the people were awed by their perceptiveness, so when this new sage abruptly upt and left, it also left the people bereft and wanting for more, so they pursued the sage absolutely everywhere, they mobbed them, besieged their house, camped on their front lawn, their lives became no longer their own, they were not let alone day or night for months and months and months, being forced to give impromptu off the cuff speeches, until eventually this all became way too much for an ordinary human to bare, and so the sage quietly retired to a private attic room intent on bringing it all to an end, leaving a note on a side table in the entrance way written in large print capitals - NOW PERHAPS I'LL GET SOME PEACE !

- yet the people who'd pursued the sage, had listened carefully, their emotions were stirred, they'd been broken in their hearts, tears had been wept, an impression was left upon them of something immensely important having been said, yet few could put their finger precisely on what, it was more of a 'you had to be there' sort of thing, afterwards, those in possession of a better memory faculty could recall more content from the speech, so between them they compiled an agreed facsimile that passed for what they thought the basic essence of the sage's speech of wise words had been, they then dedicated themselves to keeping this alive in their memory, through passing on the teachings orally to new devotees they turned themselves into the repository and guardians of the spoken wisdom, for those who could recount the wise words became by a simple process of association - wise themselves - the people came to see them, to hear them speak, the people pleaded : 

- 'repeat for us once again, for we are forgetful of those neat aphorisms, that sum it all up, explain them please, so we might also understand with greater depth, and hold the words of wisdom within our hearts and minds, present them with bullet points if need be, a tick list, whatever will be easier to recollect, maybe a mnemonic, anything to help us feed our yearning to know, to enable recognition within to arise once again, the one so profound that it swept the dust from our souls, it cleansed, consoled, it healed us of our insignificance, our lack of purpose.'

-  it was discovered that this was not solely about the words, but the pauses, brief silences where inner peace could enter to purify the hearts of the people, so embedded in their tawdry guilt, their dirtily greased and obscured perceptions, they were unable to see any other way out, except for when they heard the wise words fluently spoken, and The Retainers of Wisdom were more than willing to respond 

- 'if you cross my palm with silver I will gladly tell you' 

- and such was the demand to hear them simply speak the words, not sotto voce, but bold and clear, out loud, The Retainers of Wisdom became immensely rich, eventually public demand did outstrip the ability of even The Retainers of Wisdom to meet it, even as the pressure mounted they felt a reluctance, none of them wished to give away their exclusive rights - to the profit of a prophet to utter the wise words, until the inevitable day arrived when one of their number rebelled, broke rank and took pity on the people, and said

 - look I'll write it down for you.

- and the people breathed a collective sigh of relief, having had enough of being continually fleeced, whilst confessing shamefaced, that they could not read, so The Retainers of Wisdom, trying their best not to be seen smirking or being patronising, nodded knowingly and seized this opportunity, they set up the schools and took on the task of being the teachers of reading, for a modest tuition fee, only then, once there was a substantial ready made market for books, did they publish an authorised version, a compendium of the sage's wise words, bound in expensive leather, gold tooling and illuminated velum within, for nothing was too lavish for the words of wisdom, however, though everyone was now able to read it, the people were so poor, few could afford to actually buy the book, however treasurable, they'd have to save up, and that could take quite a while, with a gap in the market opening up wide, cheaper bootlegged copies began appearing on the black market to fill it, and so, afraid their lucrative monopoly on the printed word was quickly slipping from their grasp, The Retainers of Wisdom altered tack, ruthlessly undercutting the bootleggers by producing their own cheaper abridged paperback version, with a tacky embossed and foiled cover.

-and yet, once everyone was able to read the wise words for themselves, things fast began to shift and change, and not for the better, but far worse, to deteriorate the very truth of the matter, the wise words themselves, these became the subject of textual analysis and revision, a process through which they became tainted and strangely falsified, elements of doubt were placed, like demon seeds, into the very grammar and syntax of the wise words, that questioned their veracity, their validity, were these exactly what the sage of the wise words had said? how could anyone know for certain these were the sage's authentic words? what if there were later insertions, made up bits? and if the wise words were not authentic did that mean, despite what they felt about them, they were not true? further emboldened they took to challenging the need for The Retainers of Wisdom themselves, as an institution, for it was now centuries, millennia, since the sage of the wise words had martyred themselves, by taking their own life, and things, well they were so different now, and couldn't you find it all for free somewhere on the Internet anyway? the original speaker of the wise words, well, if they were so wise, why did they top themselves, did they even historically exist? what if they were just a phantom stooge, a front, a creation of the illuminating elites, one big millenia long con to preserve the position and status of The Retainers of Wisdom, with all the extraordinary power and wealth they represented, the wise words had been saved for posterity. not to enlighten, but solely to keep the people subservient and needy, to enslave them, the people remarked:-

- 'may be we no longer need wise words handed down to us from above, can we not think for ourselves now? each of us, could we not find our own wisdom? hold to our own truth? we don't need to belong to anything, what use to us is an elitist heirarchy? the sage was an ordinary person just like us, so having grown beyond all of that dependency upon their wise words, can we not now all be spiritual in our own individual unique way?'

- and greatly enthused they organised zoom sessions. posted video lectures on social media, garnered followers, subscribers, hosted there own patroen page, everyone could truly be their own Retainer of Wisdom - though quite rapidly the situation descended into a vitriolic and poisonous factionalism, the distinct cults that emerged, frequently clashed. these formed themselves into roughly two broad strands - the ILP's - inflexible literalist puritans - on the one hand and the CLC's - callous libertarian crusaders - on the other, both of them wishing to appear champions of free speech for everyone, but really only in it for themselves, so only they could be heard above all others, everyone else was to be closed down, roasted in public forums, their arguments destroyed, their integrity defamed through the medium of short expletive ridden social media comments, conjuring up an authoritarian climate online of intimidation and threat, that was no longer about discovering a deeper resonance, meaning, intent or relevance in the wise words themselves, but primarily focused on maintaining the ardent certainty of their followers, what the cults themselves represented, in a 'you're either for us or against us' battle  for allegiance.

 -gradually reinterpretations of the wise words themselves, perverted and twisted what the truth of them was, putting them to serve a view of the world that was totally anathema to their true spirit. And whether these were Defamers or Defenders of the Wise Words both resorted to actions that were frankly, dictatorial and oppressive, that brooked no free thinking opposition, everyone had to toe the authorised line or face being terminated with extreme silence.

- and so in thought word and deed the populous picked up their faith battered souls and drifted away from the wise words, letting them go, abandoning all overt public devotion to them, the books of wise words were openly burned in the street, the websites were hacked, all proselytising frozen, the people became disillusioned and bellowed:

- 'we must live free of these wise words, for everyone who espouses them now are total cunts - Completely Unprincipled Nepotistic Two-Faced Swindlers - we'd rather wallow in abject despair than have a bogus hope thrust down our throats unwillingly. If we must vomit, let us spew it upon the sage's gravestone, for it is they who lead us all astray for far too long.'

- this reached a shamefully dark place, a dread-filled nadir, where everyone was compelled to keep their faith hidden, their heads down, until the moment when one person finally cracked, ceasing to care what would happen to them, chose to emerge from the crowd, to stand up, to speak out, and as they gave voice to their thoughts in honest, plain and unembellished language, they found themselves transfixing the soul of the entire world.

written by Stephen Lumb

November 2023