In Front of the Scenes

If you want to taste the cream of reason which is belief in God, listen to the following allegorical story with me.

A gullible person who lived in the early 20th century enters a vegetative state, and wakes up in our time. After he wakes up, his grand grand children takes him home, and a period of memory update begins. They show him several pictures that have been taken throughout the years while he was asleep, and they tell him what had happened in the mean time. As the technology advances through the century, the quality of the pictures shown to the man increases, and at some point, they become color photos. This fact makes him so happy that a smile shines on his face.

Another thing that happens with technology is the motion pictures. Our man watches the videos taken of him, of his loved ones and of his relatives. Enjoying them for hours in a row sometimes, he tries to update himself with his own history. Sometimes, he cries for the death of his loved ones and also having missed good moments with them; and sometimes he laughs at joyful moments.

But throughout all those days, one thing escapes the attention of everyone, including the man himself. Since no one from his time is present, and since no real life situation has happened since his recovery, and also because he is treated with respect due to his old age, his gullibility goes unnoticed.

After few months of treatment and intensive care, he recovers a normal life, albeit in an old age. To celebrate his recovery, his grand grand children take him to a theater, and they watch a movie together. Facing such a thing for the first time, the man's mind blows out with awe and bewilderment at the same time.

When they get back home, a discussion bursts between him and the grand grand children. Being an older person and haven't spoken for almost a century, he goes into a lengthy account of his experience:

It is so difficult for me to understand this. They have these people in real life, and it so happens that there are cameras to record their life, like those you showed me of our past relatives. And those people in the motion picture don't seem to be bothered by the presence of the cameras, they argue and shout, they allow the recording of their dirty moments, and even they expose their love affairs. And worst, when there is a criminal situation, the cameramen do not interfere with the people to prevent the evil. What's more, how come those serendipitous occurrences repeatedly happen in the lives of the same people? I mean, it can happen once or twice in a life time of a person. And and... Yes, how is it possible that a man would allow another to hit himself in the face or shoot him to death just for the sake of entertainment? The only explanation I have for these is that these people are like those in the Roman times. For the pleasure of the elite and the public, a few people are expended. After all, human population has increased so much in your time, and disposing of a bunch of them wouldn't make a difference, right! 

Hearing these comments, one of his grandchildren answers:

Grandpa, it is not how you are thinking. None of the actions are really happening. Those are all pretension, and the shooting stuff is staged. It looks like it on the screen, but they are using fake tools. There actually is a film director who organizes all these, and there is a script that tells the actors what to say. So, they are not really sharing their private life nor they really mean what they are saying.

The grandpa listens to these astounded. He promptly blurts:

• What about the car crashes and the explosions?
• Well, those are real but not real.
• What do you mean, real but not real?
• They are actually blowing out a car, that's true. But it is a staged explosion. Nobody is actually hurt!
• That's exactly what I am saying. They are staging things for the entertainment of others. And humans are just another tool in this stage. They are spent under the image of heroism.
• No! No humans are spent. They look like dead, but they are actually not. They are doing their jobs and making money. In fact, the actors are some of the richest and most famous among the people.
• Then show me! Where are they?
• Well, they don't really mix with people much. Only on certain occasions they come out.
• Then, how are you so sure that they are actually not spent during these actions, and that whom you see on those occasions are really them and not an imitation with make-up? Have you shaken hands with them? Have you wiped their faces to ensure there is no fake face?
• No, I haven't touched them myself. And I know that they wear make-up.
• So!?! For all practical purposes, until you prove me otherwise, those motion pictures are the proof of the wickedness of the people of your time, like the cruel Romans. How unfortunate I am to wake up in such a period in history...

Oh my soul and my dear friend! The story is over. Now comes the reality of it. We wake up into this life through birth, and try to make sense of things. But just the intellect does not account for everything that the human heart comprises. Love for the existence and longing for eternity are two foremost of such things. Witnessing injustice, suffering the devastation of beauties and seeing death countless times, human soul seeks an answer from the intellect. But reason can see only within the limits of the seen. Faith is the radiotelescope that can see beyond that limit. Therefore, reason fortified with belief in God has the sharpest vision in existence. And without it, reason becomes a means of suffering. Justice, compassion and eternity are concepts that are born with conscience, and reason is the vehicle of conscience.