If I believe what you tell me

If I believe what you tell me

I give you power

If only for a moment

If I do not believe it

I empower myself

And take your power away

If only momentarily

If I believe you sometimes

I retain the power of judgement

And diminish your authority

But not always

If I believe nothing you tell me

I am calling you a liar

And increase my self-esteem

By judging you

If I always believe everything you tell me

You are my parent or my teacher

And I am very young

Or very stupid

If I am not very young

And still believe everything you tell me always

I have lost the capacity for rational thought

And need to give you power

By making myself stupid

If I am not very young or very stupid

And still believe everything you tell me

However improbable

Unlikely

Or impossible it seems

I have relinquished what intelligence remained to me

And have made you into a GOD

Because I need to worship someone

Or something

Irrational

That cannot be explained

Or believed

This makes me happy.

OK Ive made you into a God

So now what happens?

You have to find me a name I suppose . . .

Cant I just call you Fred?

Its not very Godlike . . .

But it is your name . . .

Yes . . .

So now I can worship you?I dont know. There may be other considerations . . .Like . . . ? Im not sure Im qualified to be a God . . .

But if I worship you isnt that enough?It depends what you want . . .

Just the usual stuff remission of sins and so forth . . .

Have you got any sins to remit?

Of course. We all have sins dont we?

Such as . . . ?

Let me think. Hostility. Aggression. Impure thoughts. That sort of thing.

But have you actually DONE anything? Committed a crime for example?

Of course I have! Im sure I have. I just cant think of one at the moment.

Well let me know if you do and well see what can be done.

And in the meantime I can keep worshipping you?

I suppose so.

THANKYOU! You see? You just needed to believe in yourself . . .

(from THE FRUIT THAT BITES BACK Copyright E. J. Ward 2015)