A Common Understanding

A man is shown a pile of shit. Someone says: "This is the greatest stuff you'll ever come across in this world. This is what is real and true. This is the truth." The man has no one to tell him otherwise, so he believes what he's told.

He sees a man sitting in the pile of shit. That man says: "Come join me. Come into the blessed world of this pile of shit. Bow before this pile of shit which has dominion over us all." So our man gets into the pile, since that will get him closer to it.

Someone says: "You need to defend this pile of shit. People may come and tell you it is foul or bad. They may mock you for coating yourself with this shit. Know that they are trying to humiliate you. Don't let them.

"Defy them! Defy and condemn completely their efforts to humiliate you. Remember they are ignorant. Many are even evil!

"Challenge them instead! Tell them they are lost, sinners, ignorant, damned. Tell them if they persist in their ways they have no possibility other than ever-greater suffering. Tell them they MUST realize they too need this pile of shit, that it is their salvation, that they have forgotten they have come from this pile of shit and they are really part of this pile of shit. Invite them to join you in this pile of shit.

"Tell them they need to accept this pile of shit. Tell them they need to let it enter into their life just as you have. Tell them they cannot endure beyond death without accepting and entering into this pile of shit.

"And if you find your worldly fortunes are not going well, then know it is because you are being treated badly by people who don't accept this pile of shit and your allegience to it. Know that this pile of shit is greater than all those material and worldly things. Remember this shit is even greater than you! It is that above which nothing of value exists. Nothing!

"Know that sitting in this pile of shit, you have arrived, you have found your life's destiny.

"Your life before you learned about this shit was nothing. You were at best wallowing in the mundane ordinariness of average people. Now you are found. You have come home.

"Know also you will be rewarded for your defense of this pile of shit. You will gain a great reward in your afterlife. We all have an afterlife, and yours, as a defender of this pile of shit, will be the greatest possible, far better and more than you can possibly imagine, even if you try.

"You will be honored for the magnificence of your defending this pile of shit. And you will gain a special place of honor should you die defending this pile of shit. Whatever else you might be able to do with your life, it will never even come close to the blessings you will receive as a martyr in defense of this pile of shit.

"And do not despair if, by your actions in relation to this pile of shit, you feel isolated from your family, your friends, and all those ordinary concerns that occupy common people. Your destiny, if you choose to become a defender of this pile of shit, will surpass that of any person you know or know about. It will surpass anything you could even imagine! Know that the joy you will earn as a defender of this pile of shit will grace you forever.

"Our work as custodians of this pile of shit is to spread it around the world, to find others who can recognize there is no greater accomplishment than to become a servant of this pile of shit. Do not betray your potential or the gift you have already gained by your contact with this pile of shit by being seduced away from this pile of shit by any of the temporary and quite false charms of this world. They exist only to deceive you. The are evil incarnate. Beware of their trickery.

"Know that before the presence of this pile of shit you can do no wrong if your intentions are devoted to defending and promoting this pile of shit. Bow before this pile of shit. It is your Master. And know while you are bowing that you bow to acknowledge you are nothing in comparison to this pile of shit. Yet by your bowing you join others who serve and are blessed by this pile of shit."