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Marcus McKillip 609 Beechwood St. Chillicothe Ohio 45601
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The Hidden Light House
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John Dobs was on flight 626 from Chicago to Columbus. He was returning home from his trip to Paris. His flight had a lay over in Chicago before heading to his home town; Columbus Ohio. The passengers exited the plane to eat and use the bathroom…Dobs however, stepped outside for a moment to enjoy a cigarette. When he returned to the terminal he discovered that his plane had already left for Columbus. They were able to get him a seat on a late night flight to Columbus. While waiting around in the airport Dobs found himself
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looking in a book store to find a book he could read on his flight. He was looking for something short that he could finish on the flight, seeing as Chicago to Columbus was only a half an hour flight. Throughout his search he found a book of short stories called The Hidden Light House. It looked interesting to him so he purchased the book and started reading a story that appealed to him while waiting for his plane to board.
The story was called The Conversation. It was a story about a man talking with the
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Devil. In the story the devil had made an offer to the man in return for his soul however the man refused. The story went like this…. “Since you claim to be the devil and since you have undoubtedly proved yourself to be super natural, It seems to me that therefore there must be a God in the biblical sense. So for you to request that I, after being told that there is in fact a heaven, to make a deal that will land m strait in hell is a bit absurd. Don’t you think?” The Devil then appeared defeated, and it looked as though he was going to abort his
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conversation. However, the man asked if the Devil would mind humoring him with some questions regarding existence. The Devil obliged but told the man that if he denies the offer that he will forget this entire meeting. The man acknowledged this remark with fair acceptance.
“So tell me”, asked the man “Have you read the Bible?” The Devil replied, “I didn’t have to. I was there when it was written.” “So how old are you?” he asked.
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“I don’t know”, said the Devil. “I can’t really say.” “I have an interesting question for you…Are you happy?” “Am I happy? Of course I’m not happy. I’m the Devil. And as according to the Bible I’m evil in everyway. Would that make you happy?” “You don’t seem like such a bad guy to me. What do you do that’s all evil?” “Well look at it this way. You know the 10 commandments right.” “Well I think so, most of them”.
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“Let’s just say I broke all of them.” “All of them?” “Yeah, a lot.” “So are you breaking some of them now?” “I don’t know it’s hard to say.” “Well are you lying to me?” “That’s what’s hard to say. I don’t really know if things are lies or not.” “What do you mean?” “OK, for example. You asked me if I was happy. Well I don’t really understand what happy is. It’s just a word that represents one’s well-being perhaps. So if I say that I’m happy
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then I am. It’s a self-fulfilling word. Though I really don’t know exactly what my well being is supposed to be for me to actually be happy. So when I said I’m not happy, I could be lying. Do you understand what I’m saying?” “Well if I understand you correctly. Then the statement I understand you, could be a lie, because it’s only my perception that I understand. Right?”
Jon Dobs was intrigued by the short story but his flight was now boarding. He continued to read the story as his went through the
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terminal sat in his seat and also as the plane took off and descended into the dark and cloudy night’s sky.
“Yes, that, in a way, is what I mean. But do you understand what is meant by many to be an actually lie. For example take that pen.” The Devil motions for him to hand him his pen and he does. “Now let’s say someone asks you if you have the pen, and you say “No”. “Now that’s lying”, said the man.
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“Yes that would be a lie in the sense of the word. I understand that lie because I know I have the pen. But think of it this way. You know I have the pen, so if I tell you that I don’t have the pen is that a lie?” “Well, since I know that you know that I already know you’re lying then I guess it’s not a lie.” “Ahh, but what if I actually don’t know that I’m lying?” “Well that would be a mistake.” “Now, what if I told you I could perceive the pen as not being here?”
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“You mean you can convince yourself to believe your own lie?” “Look at it this way I have the pen and I put it in my pocket. I can’t see it or feel it, smell it, taste it, or even hear it. So I don’t really know that I even have the pen. For all I know this pen doesn’t even exist.” “So you imagine it’s not there?” “Yes, just like humans imagine problems are not there when they declare themselves to be happy, it’s all part of an opinion. Thus them being happy is a fact.”
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Jon Dobs stopped reading for a moment to look out his window. The plane was flying over the Sears Tower and the city was shooting off Fireworks from the top of the tower. The view was spectacular. He smiled as he returned his attention to his story.
“Yes but, feelings are different then things. Right?” asked the man. “It’s all in how you perceive things, that make them what they are. If you didn’t know that I had the pen and you believed me when I said I didn’t have it. Then to you there is no lie,
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I simply do not have the pen. However, I perceive life differently things and feelings are the same, you really don’t ever know the truth. The man pondered this for a moment and then the devil continued…. “But let’s say that a man looses his legs, and then considers himself to be unhappy. It is easy for others to perceive him as unhappy because he is unhappy, thus it is not a lie, when he says that he is unhappy.”
“Yes, if he perceives it that way then it is that way to him. Everyone has their own truth”
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the man says nodding his head with understanding. “Well” said the man. “Do you think that God has his own truth?” he carefully asked the Devil.
Just then Jon Dobs’ plane suffers sever turbulence and the plane shakes wildly causing Dobs to drop his book of short stories. He looks out the window to see what’s wrong. Out the window he can see that the wing is on fire and slowly gaining momentum. Dobs puts his head between his
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legs in fear to pray for his life, when he looked down he saw his book Hidden Light House staring right back at him. So desperate for salvation Dobs picks up the book and quickly begins reading where he left off.
“According to the Bible, The Creator of the universe is a he. But there is no he. The Creator of the universe is the universe itself. So God is everything. However, the universe is filled with the good and the bad. You can’t have the bad with out the good and vice versa. However, in
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order for the good and the bad to exist there must be perception. The God that the Bible speaks of is the universes first perception. I am however, the second perception. God perceives me as he does and I perceive hem as I do. However, you can’t have the good with out the bad. He perceives himself as the good and me as the bad. I however, perceive that each of us is both good and bad, because you can’t have one without the other, no one would know what good was if there was no bad.” The Devil paused for a moment to let it just sink in. Then he went on…
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“The most interesting thing about the universe is that it is everything. It’s not just you then the universe, you are part of the universe, everything is, so when you perceive the universe or think of the universe, then the universe is perceiving itself. Humans often separate themselves from nature when in fact humans are nature. It’s their perception of loneliness, they perceive themselves as their own personal universes, when in fact we are all part of one universe, good or bad, perceptive or not, we’re all in this thing together. But if you tell this to certain bible readers or preachers they’ll tell you
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that you’re going to Hell, and they’re probably right.”
The story is reaching the end but more importantly Dobs plane is now spiraling down. The wing has burnt completely off and all Dobs wants to do is finish the story before the plane crashes into the homes below.
“Right?” asked the man confused. “I knew you were gonna say that…but to tell you the truth Hell is just an opinion…Ones mans
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hell is another mans Heaven…look at homosexuality.” “Very Funny!” “Well, am I right, or am I right?” “….. you’re funny.” “I’m right…but Hell is just figurative” “There’s no Hell?” the man asked. “Listen…What denomination do you signify yourself with…are you Jewish or Catholic or what?” “I guess I’m Methodist” he said. “Alright Methodist…Well you know how they say you should believe that Jesus died for
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your sins…Well Jesus was tortured and tortured and finally murdered by Romans and Jews and all the others because he didn’t believe what they believed?” “OK” the man said. “But Now!” said the Devil. “Christians say that either you believe that Jesus died for your sins or else you’ll go to hell and be tortured and tortured just like him. You see it’s not so much different.”
Jon Dobs’ plane was just moments away from crashing nose first into a school playground
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when he read this final line of the story Conversation with the Devil.
The man looked at the Devil smiled and said one thing, “I forgive you.”
The End