To Russia, with Love - a novelette - Part 1

To Russia, with Love - a novelette - Part 1 - by P.K.Odendaal - January 2012 
 

Amended February 2013

To me is all, I to myself am lost,

Who the immortals' fav'rite erst was thought;
They, tempting, sent Pandoras to my cost,
So rich in wealth, with danger far more fraught;
They urged me to those lips, with rapture crown'd,
Deserted me, and hurl'd me to the ground.

Goethe, Marienbad Elegy, the last stanza, translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring

This poem was written by Goethe when he was 73 years old and in love with a woman of 18 years, to whom he proposed via a friend and got turned down. This theme of Goethe was later incorporated in a book and later in the film: 'Death in Venice' where Gustav von Aschenbach, an artist, author and philosopher, in his early fifties, falls in love with a young man, about 13 years old.

Dialogue with an atheist - Part 8 - Tree of death

Dialogue with an atheist - Part 8 - The tree of death - by P.K.Odendaal

January 2013

 
Note added by the narrator 13 March 2013.

Our Protagonist's acronym GLC stands for God Loving Creature. 

GLC:        Hi Atheist, why do you look so intoxicated today - have you had some drink or drugs?

Atheist:   I will have you know that I do not drink and I don't do drugs - and I am very sober as I stand here. My behaviour conforms to the highest moral standards of society - much higher than most of you Christians.

GLC:        I was talking of your intoxication with the drugs which come from the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, because I see  that you have had too much it. It intoxicates the soul with temporary pleasure and vainglory, takes away hope and faith, sells you as a slave and in the end kills you - like all other drugs. It burns you from the inside until there are only ashes left in your soul.

Goodbye, the beloved country

Goodbye, the beloved country - by P.K.Odendaal - December 2013 

I am emigrating from South Africa to Canada in February 2013. 

The progress in South Africa had just become too much for me. We have climbed every ladder and list of dubious goals in the world, reaching for the top of each. Although we have not reached any of the top positions yet, we might, with some perseverance, reach them soon. These lists include the most corrupt country, country with the highest crime rate, country with the highest murder and rape rate, and other such coveted accomplishments.

Our murder rate for a peaceful South Africa is still in excess of those killed in Syria at the height of their civil war, and far in excess of those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq - what a noble feat. Peace has never been so violent. 

What do you not want to see

What do you not want to see? - By P.K.Odendaal - January 2013

I was inspired by the article by Annemie titled: 'What do you see?' She inspired us to look deeper into everything to see the detail, emotion, meaning, creativity, art, light and darkness, texture and colour, harmony, emotion and passion in everything.

Of course, there are also times when we do not want to see, and these are times I call: 'What do you not want to see' - the things you turn a blind eye to. It is times when we wish our eyes were closed. Some people then stick their heads in the sand, but I, not wishing to get sand or smoke in my eyes, look, but do not see, plainly because some things make my eyes sore, and some things make my heart sore. What would happen if I really tried to see these things? I think the world would be a much better place, if I also saw that. However, I am programmed not to see it.

Dialogue with an atheist - Part 7 - Spirits

Dialogue with an atheist - Part 7 - Spirits - by P.K.Odendaal - December 2012

Our Protagonist's acronym GLC stands for God Loving Creature. 

GLC:        Hi Atheist, why are you coming back time and again. I thought you would have shunned my company many moons ago.

Atheist:   I don't know. I do not like Christians, but somehow you give me something to think about now and then. You sometimes have a point - a weak one, but still. And you do not shun or force Christianity down my throat immediately, like other Christians do. I am so fed up with them about that. But ... what are we talking about today.

GLC:        We are going to jump directly into the spiritual world - the one you are so sure does not exist. You must have gathered from the subject of our previous dialogue, called 'Evil', that I would now follow with Spirits, because spirits are the abode of evil. Evil does not exist anywhere else, despite this humorous poem by Lewis Carroll (from Phantasmagoria):

Dialogue with an atheist - Part 6 - Evil

Dialogue with an atheist - Part 6 - Evil - by P.K.Odendaal - December 2012.

Our Protagonist's acronym GLC stands for God Loving Creature.

Atheist:   Last time you talked about evil, and I wish to take you up on that. Why do you say Dawkins and company are evil and the Israelites are not? I thought the latter were indeed the worst - if one can believe the Bible.

GLC:        Sorry for the ambiguity. I meant that I regard Dawkins and company as evil, but they cannot be described as evil to an atheist, because there is no concept of evil for an atheist. Evil, Satan, Hell, Perdition and the Last Judgement are words defined and created in the Bible - by God and the writers of Scripture. Of course, if you do not believe in God, then Evil, Satan, Hell and the Devil are also non-existent concepts.

Atheist:   That is an insult to me - of course I know what evil is and means. I see it around me every day.

Dialogue with an atheist - Part 5 - War and peace

Dialogue with an atheist - part 5 - War and Peace -  by P.K.Odendaal - December 2012

Our Protagonist's acronym GLC stands for God Loving Creature.

Scripture

Atheist:   Hi GLC, I have been looking for you everywhere after you insulted my heroes or revered writers last time. You got very uptight, and I thought that you were so clinically rational.

GLC:        Hi Atheist. I am not only rational - I am also passionate and a lot of other things. You however are the strictly rational one. So what are you up to today?

Atheist:   I am throwing you a curved ball today, and I cannot wait to see you being caught out on first base.

Dialogue with an atheist - Part 4 - by P.K.Odendaal - Determinism and Agnosticism - December 2012

Dialogue with an atheist - Part 4 - Determinism and Agnosticism -by P.K.Odendaal - December 2012

Our Protagonist's acronym GLC stands for God Loving Creature. 

What is an atheist really

GLC:        Hi Atheist, interested in another session with me, about things material and immaterial? Or shall I say physical and meta-physical? Or what about this one ... carnal and spiritual?

Atheist:   You have this funny effect on me - I detest you, but still I cannot help but listening to you - the same effect as people like Dawkins and hitchens have on Christians.

GLC:        I do not mean it to be a sort of punishment, but rather an excursion into realms and domains where you would feel ill at ease, but still domains which exist. I know you are a materialist, and that you only believe in physical things, but leading a life of bondage in only one domain must cramp your lifestyle immensely.

Atheist:   Ok, go ahead, what do you have in store today?

Dialogue with an Atheist - Part 3 - Gravity of the situation

Dialogue with and atheist - Part 1 - by P.K.Odendaal - October 2012

Our Protagonist's acronym GLC stands for God Loving Creature.

Gravity of the situation.

GLC:        Hi Atheist, I did not know that you would come back for another session of our dialogue. You looked very perplexed last time.

Atheist:   You left you too much to think about, although I cannot get myself to think where you got it wrong - but wrong you surely got it. So I might redeem myself today with some fresh new arguments.

GLC:        And speaking of redemption. Why would you want to redeem yourself. Where did you get lost or lost your faith or your self-composure. I thought that only Christians looked for redemption.

Dialogue with an Atheist - Part 2

Dialogue with an Atheist - Part 2 - by P.K.Odendaal - November 2012

Our Protagonist's acronym GLC stands for God Loving Creature.

Less tangible objects.

GLC:        Hi there, Atheist, where are you hurrying to?

Atheist:   I am off to some business at the bank.

GLC:        Why did you all of a sudden remember to rush off to the bank just when you saw me?

Atheist:   I do not like you Christians. You think the world belongs to you. Everywhere you have people in high places trying to dictate policy along Christian principles, which the rest of us do not like.

GLC:        You are not perhaps talking of some church going people who wish to force their church dogma onto you?

Atheist:   Yes, exactly.