In my youth I was told that in a certain city every one lived according to the Scriptures.
And I said, “I will seek that city and the blessedness thereof.” And it was far. And I made great provision for my journey. And after forty days I beheld the city and on the forty-first day I entered into it.
And lo! the whole company of the inhabitants had each but a single eye and but one hand. And I was astonished and said to myself, “Shall they of this so holy city have but one eye and one hand?”
Then I saw that they too were astonished, for they were marvelling greatly at my two hands and my two eyes. And as they were speaking together I inquired of them saying, “Is this indeed the Blessed City, where each man lives according to the Scriptures?” And they said, “Yes, this is that city.”
“And what,” said I, “hath befallen you, and where are your right eyes and your right hands?”
And all the people were moved. And they said, “Come thou and see.”
And they took me to the temple in the midst of the city. And in the temple I saw a heap of hands and eyes. All withered. Then said I, “Alas! what conqueror hath committed this cruelty upon you?”
And there went a murmur amongst them. And one of their elders stood forth and said, “This doing is of ourselves. God hath made us conquerors over the evil that was in us.”
And he led me to a high altar, and all the people followed. And he showed me above the altar an inscription graven, and I read:
“If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut if off and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”
Then I understood. And I turned about to all the people and cried, “Hath no man or woman among you two eyes or two hands?”
And they answered me saying, “No, not one. There is none whole save such as are yet too young to read the Scripture and to understand its commandment.”
And when we had come out of the temple, I straightway left that Blessed City; for I was not too young, and I could read the scripture.
The Madman: His Parables and Poems by Kahlil Gibran (©1918 by Kahlil Gibran and ©1946 by the Administrators CTA of Kahlil Gibran Estate and Mary G. Gibran)
August 13, 2004 at 12:34 am
OK I hope you didn’t post that to mock Christianity. Obviously these people didn’t follow what the Scripture actually meant. Plucking out eyes and cutting off hands is a metaphor for detaching ourselves from worldly things.
I guess this is just your perspective on things right now…maybe it can change.
August 13, 2004 at 4:38 am
I’m sorry that I seem to have been intrusive in my commenting. I will stop from now on.
In the future, just try to research and analyze as many views of history as you can, using facts and correcting revisionist interpretations, questioning your sources, etc.
August 13, 2004 at 4:48 am
Art, if you have time to read some previous posts on this site, you will see what my ideas are about religion. These ideas have taken years in the making–they are not some frivolous, run-of-the-mill, faddish thoughts that strike me just now.
Please do not make it your crusade to re-convert me. I have seen and experienced one too many injustices in this world that it has become difficult for me to believe that there is a God that watches over us, that there is an all-knowing God that sees all (and does nothing), and that there is a God that is good and right.
There is no God. God exists only for those in need of one–the sick, the dying, the desperate, the lost, and the guilty in need of forgiveness.
Only the lost, the anxious, the hurt, the desperate, the sick and the dying who have no hope and no source of succor seek for it in a God. If you think I am lost, anxious, hurt and desperate, that is my problem–not yours nor your silent God.
Religion is a way of thinking, a way of seeing things. These beliefs have been handed down from generation to generation–taught at an age when young minds are easily molded.
If you were born in Saudi Arabia, you would be brought up in Islamism. If you were born in Spain, you would be a Catholic. If you were born in Tibet, you would be Buddhist. The Arab, the Spaniard and the Tibetan, all would have very strong ideas about their religions–as you, Art, in defending Christianity. And all of them will think that their religion is right and the others wrong.
And there lies one of the major problems of the world.