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The dim, flickering light cast dancing shadows on his facial features. Alfraser was in the centre, as the Listeners circled around him. There was silence as the atmosphere was soaked in both a profound reverence and an insatiable hunger for the Speaker’s words. Alfraser lifted his gaze from the ground.
“Listeners,” he began, as the circle became as a sponge of attention. “They have forgotten.”
He paused, almost as if contemplating a better introduction. Apparently there was none.
“They have forgotten that what they believe is older than that which they read. Like a dream vaporized with the sunrise, so is their memory for their lineage. Such a lost thought, to them, is the reality of their ancestors who sought what they sought – yet sought with only their hearts.
“They say, ‘We have the Book, and therefore we believe,’ but they forget those who believed before there was a Book. They forget that before the Book was formed, the Faith was sought. The Book did not give birth to faith. No, faith gave birth to the Book. The Book did not write faith, but faith wrote the Book.
“For centuries in their time did their ancestors seek the truth, for thousands of years they strove to understand their Creator. Long before any pen marked a page or a paragraph was formed, you will find humanity pursuing and contemplating its Creator. To this common ambition come those in our time, their plight the same as their ancestors.”
The Listeners remained transfixed on Alfraser.
“Everything in the Book,” Alfraser continued, “is a rich and beautiful reflection of their ancestors – stories, thoughts and dreams of this great pursuit. As community and individuals, they have recorded their history – their reactions and reflections – to their quest of knowing their Creator.”
Alfraser stopped speaking for a moment, as he often did. The surrounding silence became like liquid glue, holding the thought and the moment in space. Even without words, great emotions emitted from the Speaker like waves. He spoke even more slowly now than he had when he began.
“The harshness of the truth I speak to you; even now they worship the Book. They worship the words that speak of the Creator, as though such words were equal to the very essence of the Creator. Herein lies their sacred idolatry: they worship their faith, not the Creator who gave them faith. They place their faith in words and pages, not in the Creator who inspired the writing. They ascribe absolute truth onto mere words, and then settle for the truth they render from these words.
“Forgetting their ancestors who sought the Creator, they interpret the Book to explain the Creator. Forgetting their ancestors who knew the Creator before there was a Book, they claim the only way to know the Creator is through their rendition of the Book. They assert that knowledge of the Book is a prerequisite for communion with the Creator, yet it was communion which first brought the Book to life. They proclaim that the Book must be understood for faith to take root, yet faith is what gave root to the Book. The Book tells the stories of men, women and children who knew the Creator before the Book, and yet they claim the only way to know the Creator is through the Book.
“May it dawn upon this generation that the communion they seek with the Creator transcends even the scope of the Book. May they embrace and value the book above all others, yet not derive and measure the soul of their faith by their limited interpretations.”
Alfraser gazed at the Listeners, who were still perched on his words, though moved with grief by their meaning.
“How inexpressibly joyful they would be if they could truly trust the Creator and not simply try to understand a book. Imagine what freedom and peace might yet still overtake them, if their faith was defined by the pursuit of their ancestors who wrote the Book in the first place.”
Hope now came from Alfraser’s words, hope which invisibly flooded the meeting area. “What great revolution might occur if they truly discovered the heart of their Creator? Imagine with me the limitless possibilities! Oh, that humanity may be enraptured once again in a hunger for far more than the study of a book or the worship of contrived ideas. Let them intimately search for the Creator, not fabricate their cognitive explanations about the Creator from the Book.”
Alfraser fell silent. Time passed. The circle slowly started to evaporate, until it would be time to convene again.
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