...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlrJa_O-g2k

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He shrugged,

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shifted the rhetorical register - 

adjusted the appeal - like 

acrylic stones 

on the rungs of an abacus, like 

the transparent pieces

to a Glass-Bead Game.

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Nothing had really changed, 

except 

the way that the players 

viewed the movements of the board.

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It was exactly the same - all he'd done 

was added dimension, rotated

the landscape  

by altering the direction of the seats. 

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And he shrugged, because 

it's a sorry testament to the game 

if the rules that dictate 

the way that it should be played 

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can be so conveniently, or readily

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          changed.   

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He shrugged, 

because he found it a shame -

shrugged, 

as if his shoulders were saying

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that if the truth were really so relative

why call it the truth in the first place?

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(author's note:) 

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I watched a film once that had this quote - "truth is singular, its versions are mistruths." 

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When I heard that, I couldn't help but wonder if god viewed humanity through a singular, objective lens - one truth, encompassing many. Or, if on the other hand, he was stuck sifting through its versions in the same way that we are: running our fingers through sand, wondering after its plurality, but confounded by the idea that if we pack it into a shape, it becomes a castle, or a ball, instead of so many grains that we haven't even the capacity to count them.

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Then I imagined that's probably why god never answers prayers - he's too busy counting truths, ensuring that they aren't falsehoods, because it's only humans with the wherewithal to pack sand into a shape that suits us, and god in all his omniscience couldn't possibly be fucked with that. 

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