thegodwhisperingsofhanqingjao6to10

Chapter 6: Life Is a Suicide Mission

"Do the gods of different nations
talk to each other?
do the gods of Chinese cities
speak to the ancestors of teh Japanese?
To the lords of Xibalba?
To Allah? Yahweh? Vishnu?
Is there some annual get-together
where they compare each other's worshippers?
Mine will bow their faces to the floor
and trace woodgrain lines for me, says one.
Mine will sacrifice animals, says another.
Mine will kill anyone who insults me, says a third.
Here is the question I think of most often:
Are there any who can honestly boast,
My worshippers obey my good laws,
and treat each other kindly,
and live simple generous lives?

Chapter 7: I Offer Her This Poor Old Vessel

"How do we remember?
Is the brain a jar that holds our memories?
Then when we die, does the jar break?
Are our memories spilled on the ground
and lost?
Or is the brain a map
that leads down twisted paths
and into hidden corners?
Then when we die, the map is lost
but perhaps some explorer
could wander through that strange landscape
and find out the hiding places
of our misplaced memories."

Chapter 8: What Matters Is Which Fiction You Believe

"My father once told me
that there are no gods,
only the cruel manipulations
of evil people
who pretended that their power was good
and their exploitation was love.
But if there are no gods,
why are we so hungry to believe in them?
Just because evil liars
stand between us and the gods
and block our veiw of them
does not mean that the bright halo
that surrounds each liar
is not the outer edges of a god, waiting
for us to find out way around the lie."

Chapter 9: It Smells Like Life to Me

"Why do you say that I am alone?
My body is with me wherever I am,
telling me endless stories
of hunger and satisfaction,
weariness and sleep,
eating and drinking and breathing and life.
With such company
who could ever be alone?
And even when my body wears away
and leaves only some tiny spark
I will not be alone
for the gods will see my small light
tracing the dance of woodgrain on the floor
and they will know me,
they will say my name
and I will rise."

Chapter 10: This Has Always Been Your Body

"Oh, Father! Why did you turn away?
In the hour when I triumphed over evil,
why did you recoil from me?"