Belief
This is a short story inspired by Dan Brown's book, Demons and Angels. I wrote it as a response to a question a person asked me about the book. They asked me 'why don't people stop fighting, and work together?' If you haven't read the book, the basic plot is Religion (or rather, the Catholic Church) vs. Science. This was the impression I got after I read the book, and some of this stuff doesn't reflect my normal opinions, but I wrote it anyway. Some of the ideas belong to Dan Brown, not to me.
Picture a room. The four walls, floor and ceiling are painted in the purest white. There are no windows or doors and a single candle glows from a bracket, hung in the ceiling, casting a yellowish beam on the walls and floor. No stain or blemish touches the fortifications of the white room. The room stretches wide, out in all direction, and into darkness, yet the walls are still white and pure in the darkness. This room is the Universe, unknown and never ending.
Two children are sitting beneath the candle in the tall ceiling. Their names are Faith and Logic, the images of religion and science, yet they are siblings. Both carry bags made of cloth, called Life Belongings, because they contain everything the children need in life. Logic stares outwards, into the blackness around him, wondering what is out there. Faith sits patiently, his eyes closed, praying silently that the little candle above him should never go out.
"To think, brother," Logic says abruptly, "that all this was formed in an explosion. The great Big Bang."
Faith opens an eye. Fury burns there. Then he speaks, carefully.
"This, brother, was all created by the Lord, my Shepherd." Faith says proudly. "Not by any explosion." He adds indignantly.
Logic glares at him, and demands proof of Faith's words. Faith grabs his bag, and produces his book of knowledge, from which he preaches to Logic, foretelling a fiery doom to come. Logic snatches the book out of Faith hands, and declares it obsolete. Faith swallows a retort, and demands proof of his brother's words.
Logic reveals a textbook, which he reads to Faith. Faith turns red in the face, and calls the book a lie. Logic tells Faith he has no proof of his beliefs. Faith yells that Logic's facts are based on guesswork, assumptions of fools.
Faith is generally a hesitant child, despite his name. Yet he argues fiercely now, his palms flat on the floor, his face inches from Logic's. They scream at each other, and bite and kick, rolling under the candle to which Faith prayed, and into the darkness, into which Logic stared. Their Life Belongings bags fly around their bodies, and out of them spews symbols and texts, words and scriptures.
Hear a gentle clink of glass, as Logic raises his bruised face and Faith turns a black eye, and together, they see something, glittering in the blackness around them. It is beautiful, ornate, the size of an orange. It sits in the glow of a second candle, high in the ceiling, and is made of shimmering glass. The light that hits it, parts, splits, and blazes in a vibrant rainbow. This ball is the world, in all its glory, wonderful, young and innocent.
The children reach out and take the ball together. They both stare in wonder at it in their hands. Then Logic speaks, his voice trembling.
"I have never seen anything like this before. I must study it! What will it teach me…?"
Faith growls and jerks the ball out of Logic's hands. He glowers at Logic.
"You will do no such thing, brother!" he cries. "This is a sign, and a candle has been put here, to guide me, me, the loyal servant! This belongs to me, and I shall care for it." Then he smiled peacefully at the scowling Logic. "But do not fret so, brother. Come, sit by my side, and watch the beauty of this gift to us."
Faith sits calmly down, and raises the ball over his head. The colourful light emitting from the ball grows brighter. Logic pauses, then sits, watching the light. Then, after a moment, he reaches inside his Life Belongings, and draws out a battered notebook and pen, and begins to write, glancing at the ball every now and then. Faith notices this, and grows annoyed.
"Why can't you just enjoy it?" Faith asks bitterly. "Why do you always have to spoil everything?"
Logic looks up. Faith is now cradling the ball in his arms, like a child. He glares at Logic, sitting there with his notebook.
"With you, everything has to have a reason, facts, and usefulness. Why cannot you love something for being there?" Faith demands, and there are tears in his eyes.
"I'm tired of being your signpost brother! You want to murder unborn children in the name of research that will save lives, and clone living creatures. And it is I that must direct you, point out the fallacy of your reasoning! How do you fail to see the divineness of that which you try to understand?"
Logic leaps up, his fist clenches, anger is on his face. He towers over his brother.
"Ha!" The arrogant laugh, full of sourness bounces away into the darkness.
"Who are you to talk?" Logic sneers. "You, my dear brother, let people starve and die of diseases, and you will not let me help them. You say, 'My Lord will help them, my Shepherd will save them', but he doesn't!"
Logic spits on the white ground in rage.
"And you, my dear, my ignorant brother, call them sinners, failures!" He points at Faith with a shaking finger. "You say they deserve death!"
Faith howls in rage, and jumps to his feet. His hand flashes in front Logic's face, leaving a stinging red slap mark on his sibling's cheek. Logic cries out, and tears form. He chokes, and glaring through his watery eyes, he grabs his brother's hair and pulls, hard. Faith yells, and kicks Logic's shins. Logic falls on top of Faith, and they collapse. Then a smashing sound rips the air.
The spun-glass world is lying shattered under the flickering candle. It fell during the fight. The glass glitters sharp and pointed on the white floor, stained orange in the candlelight. Faith and Logic stared horrified at the splintered ball. Then Logic jumps up from the floor and screams at Faith.
"This is your fault!"
Faith splutters in protest, indignation. He crawls slowly over the shards of the world, and picks a few up. Then he wails, and lurches forward, hiding his face. He begins to pray, feverishly.
"Go on." Logic grunts. "Pray to your invisible gods. Not that they'll hear you."
Faith stands up. He raises his eyes to the candle above him. When he speaks, his voice is firm, resolute.
"Brother, you say you want to help people, yet you do not want to talk to people. You want to heal people, yet you do not care for them. Every time I try to warn and guide you, you raise your voice in anger, calling me ignorant. Paranoid. Controlling! Your ideas spread like cancer!" Faith's voice rises.
"Behold science – the new Lord of endless miracles, omnipotent and benevolent! Ignore the chaos it creates! Ignore the weapons and hatred! Ignore the loneliness, the peril of evil!"
"But what about you?" demands Logic, as he stands, arms crossed. "You say your Shepherd fills you with love. Yet you act as though you hate everything. You show no compassion. Why do you preach love and mercy when you show neither? You tell me I must stop trying to understand my life, or I will perish. I must be on my knees all my life, and never question anything!"
Faith turns and hits Logic in the mouth. Blood peppers the white floor. Logic spits out blood, and wipes his mouth on the back of his hand. He smirks and then leaps forward, smashing his foot into Faith's stomach, and they fall, sliding into the darkness, screaming and lashing out at each other. Their misery is tangible, as they struggle with each other, trying to justify their existence.
See now, that three children stand in shadows, watching the other two children fight. Two of these children hold hands, they are twins. Their names are Hope and Doubt. Hope stands silent, and Doubt talks constantly, trying to be rid of her fears. Hope speaks suddenly, her soft warm voice like a light in the gloom.
"Do not worry so, my sister." She comforts Doubt. "They will resolve their differences, and fix the world again."
"Will they? Will they really? How can they?" Fear is etched in Doubt's face, and she bites her bottom lip. "They hate each other; they are too different to work together."
Hope embraces Doubt, and whispers in her ear.
"Have faith in my judgement."
The other child, standing apart from Hope and Doubt snorts derisively. Hope glares at the child. The unnamed child turns and walks away through the gloom, watching Logic and Faith fight endlessly.
Her name is Atheist, and she, of all the children in this room, of which there are hundreds, hidden and unhidden, is content. She does not worry about death or life. She has no rules to live by, and does not change her mind for anyone. She smirks at the two brothers squabbling. Yes, Hope says the brothers can fix the world. But if they had never been there, the world would never have broken.
Atheist turns and vanishes into the blackness, leaving chaos behind. She only needs faith in herself. She entrusts herself with her life. Why entrust your life to anyone else?
Why indeed?
Fin
Thanks for reading! If you wanna tell me your opinion, please do!