Big Business
by JoËoL
written January 2010
There was a man who ran a big business.
One day, this man asked me for help. As he was facing very complex circumstances in his business, which was as anyone could tell on the verge of failure, he sent off for help from men all around the world – scientists, priests, doctors, philosophers, magicians, free-thinkers, musicians, whoever might be of assistance to him, for he was not in this business for money – he was in it because he loved it and the people in it and if there was anything he could do in his power to save it, then he would.
When I received the call, I was not in a position where I could easily come. But come, nonetheless, was what I did, for not only did I owe this man my life but also he was such a good friend of mine – of course that’s a different story altogether.
When I finally arrived at the building where I would meet my friend, walking past rooms filled with books and employees, I came to a room at the end of a hall whose doors were open. An Indian man who had also been called in to help was sitting in my friend’s office, dressed in a red robe, singing blessings on the room and doing something with a certain oil. It was just at the end of this man’s meeting when I arrived. He smiled at me, and me at him, and my friend called me in from his desk. The Indian man left quietly as I entered the room and sat down opposite from my friend who was at his desk.
“Long time, no see,” he said, quite predictably. I would have said it first were it not for his quicker wits. I could only smile. Words couldn’t describe how happy I was to be sitting and talking with him again. He explains, “I’ve called in people from all around the world, the highest esteemed professionals… you know, the ones with letters after their names and plaques on their walls, and stuff like that.” I laughed. He is a hilarious man in his own way. Continuing, “But you know something… you’re the only mathematician I called.”
“Yeah, we aren’t usually thought of as useful for this sort of thing.”
“Maybe I agree, maybe I just wanted to see you again.”
“And I, you… I’m not really sure I can be of much help to your business…”
“The man who was just in here did something he thought would help, a strong religious ritual he said he had learned from the elders in his village, something that had been passed down through many generations… Hindu, I think…”
“Yes I caught the end of it. Very interesting, never seen anything like it myself.”
“What do you think of that sort of thing? I think it might be the only hope this dying place has left.”
“You could be right. Sometimes rituals can have powerful effects, but I think that might depend on the person doing the ritual as well, whether or not they are just going through motions or really have an understanding, or a feel, for what they’re doing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, see the thing about religion is that in it we think that we know, we think that we understand something already, and so we limit ourselves to this set of ideas, beliefs, rituals, and so on, without really understanding what we’re holding onto so vehemently. And then everything we do or say or think becomes just a remixing of these ideas and beliefs. We box ourselves into this very narrow perspective, even if sometimes that narrow perspective calls for us to say we’re trying to look from a wider perspective. The key word there is trying. So we try so hard to do well inside this box, but the walls are opaque, we cannot see outside of it no matter how hard we try. Sometimes we might think we are seeing straight through the walls, but we are only seeing the painted pictures that cover them, formed from our own imagination. I think that if for a moment we could see clearly then we might understand that truth itself can never be boxed up, and that we too, as individuals, should not limit ourselves to this box.”
“So you see clearly?”
“Sometimes… and when I do, I’m not afraid to speak about it, nor am I afraid to admit if there was error in something I’ve said before. It’s that fear that bottles us up and boxes us in. Fear of change. Just think about it… Let’s talk about things we can all experience. For instance, we see all these stars in the night sky. We know they are stars much like our own Sun, some even much larger than the sun. They only appear small because they’re shining from so far away it takes thousands of years for their light to reach us. So here we have this beautiful solar system, and all these other systems out there, but even this, all of it, will one day be gone, and new systems will have been born, are being born. Everything we can see has a lifespan. We all know this. And so all these things are forming, playing out, and dying… for what? Over thousands of years, billions of years, these things unravel… for what? Is it so that we can fall on our knees and worship an idea? Or maybe a person? Don’t get me wrong, respecting something bigger than you, or asking for help, is good, like asking a teacher to be taught, or respecting an older brother, or loving a friend. But why do we box ourselves in?”
“So would you say all religions are bad, inherently?”
“No, not inherently. Many religious texts I’ve read have the ability to instill in the reader certain deep connections in his own psychology that are otherwise left closed. It’s just that something inside of each one of us has us fatally afraid of stepping outside of the box, admitting the unknown and accepting it. And even religions hold warnings against these tendencies! Take Jesus, for example. Why was he put to death? Because he challenged the Pharisees. He put himself on par with God, and put all of us as his brothers and sisters on par with God, and the Pharisees didn’t like this. He traveled, masterless and free, finding answers in himself, between him and his God. The Pharisees had their ways and his did not fit in with theirs. They didn’t like all of this, and eventually this man, Jesus, who had never done anything wrong, was put to death. But now today, what do we do? Christians today have become the Pharisees, holding onto rituals and ideas, waiting for those higher in command to interpret things for them. Why? Why do we act like this? What is all this for? Even one day all this will die. Did eternity burst into timely existence for only a blip, just this once so that we can live from the cradle to the grave in a box? In ritual? In beliefs? Why do we exist? Surely it’s not for these reasons. I don’t think it is.”
“How can we learn to think for ourselves? Or how can we be sure that our thoughts and ideas are genuine, not just mash-ups of other people’s words?”
“Only each person can know that for themselves. As for me, personally, I just try to make sense of things. When I have a thought, or when I say something, I ask myself, Why do I think that? For instance, I could say ‘Jesus is a living symbol of the sun.’ And for all intents and purposes, understanding religious texts and connecting them with each other and astrology, it seems to be true. But why do I think that? No matter how intelligent of an assumption it is, it’s still just an assumption… if I don’t understand what I’m saying. I could study theology and come to many such conclusions, and I could even write books about it so that other people could understand correlations as well, but what good is that if no one is ever thinking for themselves? That’s why I decided to go for math. One plus one is two, untouched by human opinion or human error, it’s just an infallible fact. This is the way numbers are. For me, they make much more sense than words.”
“Would you say that ritual altogether should be abolished?”
“I don’t see why… I’m sure some rituals are very useful. For instance, I can drive a car without knowing how the engine works. There are some things I have to know in order for it to work, and I can see the results of it working, and for it to be useful to me I don’t need anything more than just to know how to operate it. So I would say that if a ritual is useful, if there is something someone gets out of it, tangible results, then it’s worth doing. I don’t like to think that people are just performing rituals for the sake of performing rituals, you know what I mean?”
“Yes, I believe I do…”
My friend looked over and I turned to see what he was looking at. It was the next man to come help him. He looked like a doctor of some sort, still in his scrubs.
“Oh, I see my time is up, I just get to talking and find it hard to stop! I hope I haven’t interrupted your business-saving endeavors too much, it’s been so great to see you again.”
“And you as well. If you can, I’d like to talk some more at a later date. Please feel free to stay around. I can provide a room for you if you need it, just talk to the secretary if that’s the case.”
“I can’t make any promises, but I’ll see what I can do.”
