On Old Gods, New Gods

… and different Gods

Photo by Dim Hou on Unsplash

Once there was the African man. He looked round and about him and searched deep within him and he found a reason to believe in a higher power beyond him.

That power that poured water from the skies and brought life to man, animal and the forests; the power in the harmattan, that drank streams till it emptied and browned earth till it cracked, and greyed skins till they were scaly. The power that could hold back harvests or bring abundance.

And he interpreted that power and fashioned objects and symbols to represent it and sought out higher men to speak on its behalf and he called it God. He understood the power of a king and knew that the power of God was more — a king had the power to kill but a king died too and his frailties were often seen. So he never questioned his God, he never sought to probe, for he knew the ire that a questioning tongue could draw. So everything he did not understand, he ascribed to mystery and everything he understood, he committed to divinity. And he lived this way for a while.

Then one day, a different man came and he brought the knowledge of the many things the African man had once arrogated to divinity and many more things he could not understand. And he brought out the sacred objects the African man had fashioned and conferred with the power of divinity and he…