A short story. I think it's worth the read 
Once upon a time there was a book. In this book were all the answers to life. All the reasons, mechanisms, and truths that there are were in this book. It contained the mind of God. The book wasn't in a particular hiding spot. In fact, everyone had a copy of this book if only they knew where to look for it. But over time, many people forgot they had their own copy of the book. Some people even forgot the book existed at all. Time passed and the forgotten book faded even more from people's minds. But the questions addressed in the book weren't forgotten. Asking the questions was a basic function of people.
It is around this time you should know about a man we will call Aprabha. He was not a good man, but was in a position of leadership in the world. Aprabha loved being powerful. He loved ruling over the people and telling them what to do. He had more money than anyone could ever possibly need, more wives than he could even keep track of, and people were constantly trying to satisfy every request he could ever come up with. He was a wretched man, unhappy even with all of his material possessions, constantly craving more money, more power, more control over the people. The masses didn't know any better really, they needed someone to look up to and tell them what to do when they felt lost, because the book with all the answers had been so long forgotten all that remained of it was little more than legends.
Aprabha knew about the book. He also knew people would come asking the questions to which the answers could be found only in the book. Keeping it a secret was his highest priority, for if people could read of it he would be obsolete. No one would depend on him for the answers to the difficult questions. He would have no more money, his wives would leave him, and above all else, the power he savored would evaporate if people read it. When the people came asking him these questions, he devised a truly fiendish scheme.
Telling the people there was a book with the answers was out of the question. Telling them each and every one of them had their own copy of it was an even more remote possibility. Instead, he gave half of the people tools and told them "Fix the good things in the world that are broken. Build nice things with your tools. And that will make the world a better place for you all. That is the answer to your questions." He gave the other half of the people weapons and machines of destruction. "Destroy what is bad in the world. Kill those who are not righteous. And that will make the world a better place for you all. That is the answer to your questions."
So the tool people set about their repairs. And the weapons people set about their destruction. Both sides truly believed they were righteous and were improving the world. Even more so, they both despised the other side and felt they alone were the cause of all of the world's ills. Wars were fought. Even single countries were divided along the lines of the groups.
Aprabha was delighted at how his plan worked. The people were so busy fighting with each other about irrelevant issues that no one even thought to ask about the book. What's more, the few scraps of knowledge from the book that had survived the eons of time up to this point began to be twisted and perverted even further. People reinterpreted and then rephrased and then reinterpreted again the sacred knowledge to fit in with their own agendas. Thus the true meaning was all but lost. Even worse, hardly a soul remained on the outside of the groups. And those who weren't in either were hardly listened to by anyone at all.
Aprabha sat back and drank his wine while his mistresses fed him grapes. An evil, disgusting grin remained plastered on his face, and he couldn't wipe it off. After all, he'd come up with a plan so brilliant, so sneaky, so diabolical, that people couldn't even find a book that was weaved into the fabric of their very own consciousness.
What happened? Did the people find the book and get rid of Aprabha? My friends, this point in the story is the present time of our world. What happens to Aprabha and the people of the world is being decided right now, by all of us.
Edited by Fiend (01/10/03 04:29 PM)
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