From silence, tardily the response emerged, "I don't know. I really
don't know. He is Δημιουῥγοϛ, Maker of the World to me. He is Το Ἁγαθον
to me, Truth and Righteousness and Beauty. He is Πανταναξ, Lord of All
to me. He is First. He is Last. He is Perfect. He is Supreme. I believe
in God, the Father Almighty; I believe in God the Son, Redeemer of
the World; I believe in God the Holy Ghost, the Lord, the Lifegiver;
One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. I absolutely believe in Him.
There isn't in my mind the slightest shade of a question about Him. I
unconditionally trust Him. I am not afraid of Him, because I can't
think of Him as anything but righteous and merciful. To think otherwise
would be both absurd and unfair to myself. And I'm quite sure that I'm
ready and willing and delighted to make any kind of sacrifice for Him.
I don't know why. So far, I clearly see. Then, in my mind, there comes
a great gap,--filled with fog."
"Do you love your neighbour?"
"No, I frankly detest him, and her. Let me explain. Most people are
repulsive to me, because they are ugly in person: more, because they
are ugly in manner: many, because they are ugly in mind. Not that I
never met people different to these. I have. People have occurred to me
with whom I should like to be in sympathy. But I have been unable to
get near enough to them. I seem to be a thing apart. I can't understand
my neighbour. What satisfies him does not satisfy me. Once I induced
a young lover to let me read his love-letters. He brought them every
day for a week. His love had appeared to be a perfect idyll, pure and
lovely as a flower. Well--I never read such rot in my life: simply
categories of features and infantile gibberish done in the style of a
housemaid's novelette. It made me sick. This kind of thing annoys me,
terrifies me. You see, I want to understand my neighbour in order to
love him. But I don't think I know what love is. But I want to--badly."
"Do you love yourself?"
"Father, do you mean the essence of me, or the form?"
"Yourself?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account