Fables

Poetry

A Thousand Dimensions

Fables

Contents

Introduction
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Afterword

Introduction

I

I WROTE THIS Dimension in 2021. The springboard is the poem written in August 2014 in a moment of impatience with the request that was asked to abandon all logic and to accept that the entire Universe ‘is, but, a mere is 8,000 years old.’

That the rainbow only appeared as told in the Story of Noah, his Ark and a worldwide, cataclysmic, Flood.

We know that the Crucifixion took place. That is a historical fact.

To argue that that Event, therefore, proves beyond doubt that all sixty-six books of the Bible are literal and inerrant ~ that is to say, that they cannot be faulted or denied ~ words of G-D… has me wondering what really does go on in people’s heads.

How is it that educated people can be blinded to reality?

II

My faith does not rest upon literalism.

We learn from our ancestors. Here is the value I place upon their writings. Nothing more. I respect that.

Yes, but these are not ordinary writings!
These are by inspiration of God Himself!
Surely, you see that?

Say’s who?

Well, we do! And all our forebears.

Oh, you mean priests?

And people who lock themselves in from the outside world,

participate not in that world, but occasionally appear,

in order to make great pronouncements,

like some reincarnation of Moshe descending from Sinai?

Or perhaps the Prophet Elijah apparently ascending in a chariot of fire in around, it is said 870-810 BC (BCE)?

Or maybe the other Prophet leaping into the air on a white horse around 1,390 years later (about 1,500 years back from now)?! and imposing their “locked away will” upon the world they have turned their backs upon?

Or others, who have gods who worship a deity not unlike an Elephant?

Or others, still, who render the cow a god and bring their country to a standstill! The list is endless.

III

They undoubtedly dealt with basic aspects of human nature that enabled them to work out how to combat illogical thinking. They were, though, unable to account for things that would remain closed to them for thousands of years.

Religion, therefore, played the major role, the only means of apparent rational, natural explanation of the supernatural, or the Phenomena way above them from within the heavens, the very abode of their gods. When people feel vulnerable, they will snatch upon every doctrine, every utterance they hear spouted out. And then the killing starts. The acts of religious retribution.

IV

It took me a long time, a very long time, in fact, to work out that cities, kingdoms, and statements such as “Pharaoh was the most powerful King in all the earth”, were no larger than a small county town, or settlement on a few hillsides; each autonomous; each warring with the bods on the other side of the hill or mountain. I’ve only to look at Afghanistan as an example of these all-powerful communities in all the earth.

I do not smile when I see the plight of Afghanistan today.

Tiny kingdoms and provinces interlaced with dirt tracks, sheep tracks, rapidly deteriorating tarmac roads now that religion has once again grabbed a nation by the scruff of the neck, brutalised it, and rendered women and girls nothing more than sexual objects for endless male gratification because that is the will of their god!

What trollop that relies totally upon campfire stories and ancient writings passed down by every generation and embellished along the way!

V

Watching the weather forecast this evening, the presenter confirmed that there had been a “double rainbow today”. It is good to see how weather systems and atmospherics can, in certain situations, all combine to enable us to see the reflection.

I thought back to infant and primary, and even secondary, school in the 1950s and 1960s.

So implanted was the biblical story of Noah and the Flood, and God’s promise never to flood the earth again, demonstrating his promise, his bond, by causing a rainbow to appear! As a child that had an impact on me. The story presented always that until this point, the phenomenon of the rainbow was simply not there. What is not there, therefore, could not be foreseen. It was a new event! I bought it hook, line and sinker.

I laugh now, but I do not laugh when I think how that literal teaching caused me to neatly sidestep science and physics and basic meteorology, to accept as plausible explanations that swept away any questions as to why, every year, the town of Tewkesbury is flooded, why, every year, Dad drives me out to see all the fields under water.

Oh God said he wouldn’t flood the earth again Kenneth Thomas, but he didn’t say anything about local flooding. Now, come along, young man. Tidy up, it’s time for your next lesson. I don’t know. Questions, questions, always so many questions from you!

And off I toddled with the class to the next form room. Oh, well. If Miss S says that, then it must be true… … … “Kenneth. I will not tell you again. Stop dawdling. Get into line!”

Yes, Miss. Sorry Miss. (inwardly thinking, stupid old frump!)

Since writing this Dimension, I came across Miss S’s school report to my parents when I was nine. It does not make good reading. I find him a fussy little boy. He pays too much attention to detail. He’s quite exhausting.

I hope that teachers write better reports these days. Miss S was out of her depth. But my parents accepted her word simply because one didn’t question teachers in those days.

I suspect Miss S, today, would simply fall apart.

This, therefore, is the backdrop to Fables.

9 February 2024
All Rights Reserved


LIVERPOOL

© 2024 Kenneth Thomas Webb

The image is entitled ‘Man and Chain’ by Nuna Silva to whom all rights are reserved
Here, is Art through Lens!

Chapter One

My goodness me,

You have an incredible theology.

But I must doubt your sincerity,

for it is based on supposition

fairy tale and blind faith,

rejecting the tried and tested principles

all too clear in the Word.

I’m harsh I know,

and I do not mean to hurt you …

But it angers me!

You accept all these fables,

and reject the clear evidence

that this earth,

this Universe even,

is only eight thousand years

in the making!

And when I prove the fallacy

of your arguments,

the silly notions you produce

when based on nothing more

than the mythology

of physics,

of mathematics,

of science,

of the idiocy of evolution

then I fear for the worse.

I fear the influence you will have on others.

I fear the souls

to be lost to eternal damnation,

just because they, like you,

reject this simple fact.

And instead believe in your Billions,

Not to mention this silly and idiotic

theory of evolution.

Eight thousand is

constant,

true,

provable,

sustainable.

Millennia and Billennia

are just plain fable.

And we don’t evolve!

We are spoken into existence,

and there you have it,

an end to the matter!

I must therefore reluctantly conclude

that you are in bondage.

Yes!

Bondage to fable.

So I’ve brought this letter

by dead of night.

I fear to send even by text

But it behoves me to warn you …

… … that … … 

Unless you desist,

then you must be silenced.

I cannot allow my children,

yet unborn I grant you,

being dissuaded from

simple truth and logic

and falling for your silly fables.

Chapter Two

I love you very much.

Thus this letter!

One last hope.

One last exercise of my faith

that you may yet win the day,

turn from your silliness,

your arrogance, even;

And then, thereby,

to break the chains …

to know true salvation.

But it seems I may be expecting

too much!

Oh, what a plight to be in.

You are old now.

Set in your ways.

You smile at my injunction.

That is pride!

Pride is sin!!

You must recognise a lifetime’s

catalogue of shameful acts.

Shameful.

Truly shameful!

Stop smiling!

Is there no humility in you?

You express irritation

at my being a Citizen of Heaven.

Let me say this

Just one last time …

You cannot interweave 

the Word

with notions of men,

of science,

of mathematics,

of physics,

of evolution,

of what you call

‘quantum physics’ …

Shred of evidence, there is none,

of the things you declare.

Facts can be made to say

whatever the proponent seeks.

But statements are dangerous

when they seek to render the fact

a mere allegory.

Chapter Three

Please, I beg you

Just one last time.

Cease your activity.

Cease your broadcasts.

Cease your delusional writing.

These vain attempts,

yes, such arrogant attempts,

that seek to turn minds

from the “glorious truth”.

I love you very much.

You’ve taught me so much too.

But I see now that you’re either

blinded or arrogant, possibly both.

You have, I fear,

strayed from the Narrow Path

that leads to eternal salvation,

and chosen instead

that Wide Road

that leads to death

and eternal damnation.

I quietly ponder.

How much longer

do I listen to this tosh?

I just gasp for air!

I panic even!!

Your look of bemusement

as I enunciate the Scriptures,

as I warn you that the Rapture

is almost upon us …

GOD forbid!

Your arrogance is breathtaking,

and this enables me

to make this one final move

to turn away from you.

But I shall, please believe me,

always love you.

I’ll always, always, always

pray for your benighted soul.

Chapter Four

Thank you.
As you leave, do mind your step.
The path is slippery today
and you appear to be in
some state of lather.
Take a few deep breaths.
Bye… …

The door slams shut.

Right!

Now!!

Time for a Coffee.


Ian Bradley Marshall

29 September 2024
All Rights Reserved


LIVERPOOL

© 2024 Ian Bradley Marshall

Composed August 6, 2014 and written in my author name Ian Bradley Marshall

Afterword

Author’s Earlier Note

Written without intent, waking suddenly at 6 am on 6 August 2014. Having penned it, I turned over at 6.25 am and had another hour. Later, on the news, I saw the first reports that Europe’s first spacecraft Rosetta is entering into a triangular orbit around Comet 67P after “a ten-year chase”. 

I write this because my patience is tried when I’m asked to abandon all logic and to accept that the entire Universe is only eight thousand years old. 

I’ll turn over again!

IBM