7.1 The Two Headed Beast

I see, said the JD, consulting her inner vision.

Behind the curtain torn apart is evident a world of innocence, bestrode a Two Headed Beast. It comes amongst the people in disguise and in the open, at the breaking of the day and at the laying down of the head to rest, even unto the invasion of dreams. It wait with unlimited patience in the corner by the cooking fire, by the roadside, by the small path behind the house which we all must take, by the left hand of a friend or neighbour or the right hand of a sibling or stall holder. It speaks in silence but cannot be unheard, it can not be unseen or unremembered.

In disguise the Beast crawls into the houses and farms and shelters and tented encampments of the people. It whispers and presents its defiled wares, bending and bruising the dreams and prospects of the simple people who toil and make their way across the world in silent number. Eating their dreams, it vomits forth a froth and frippery of mights and maybes to be paraded in the sight of the people that they may fall down and regret the simplicity of their love for their children.

This disguise is dressed in finer silks, in softer sheets, in fine respect and in little things that glint and shine and reflect the light. This disguise blinds the mind of the people who are enchanted and become confused and their hearts are filled with a false joy that, once set, cannot be extinguished. Even by a flood of cool water, even by a time of reflection in the desert, even by the talking of grey haired elders, even by the reading of wise texts by the elders, even by the seating at table with family, even by the wind across the grass or the birds singing there, even by the swimming in the lake or river, even by the singing of fine verses that have been remembered all those generations.

Theses sharp glints of light from the gold and silver cannot be forgotten or reduced. They linger as scars upon the dawn, breaking the skein of light which heals and is supported. These respects are drawn in adulation and deference, bought with heavy coin in quiet corners.

 This then is the First Head of the Two headed Beast called Wealth. This Head is dressed in leathern shoes that the children have seen, in a stone house beside the marketplace, in a full wineskin or cellar. It is hidden in the display of wares, rich draped o’er the trestle tables in the market. It cannot be assuaged by mountains of goods, decorative and gaudy, resulting in stick-on gold curlicues, beloved of despots, which never satisfy and to be honest look quite silly. It is hidden in the place between need and desire, masquerading as need, when it is in truth desire. Example, I must have a new suit, phone, video game.

The Second Head comes not in disguise but in full view, domination and dominion, these twins insufferable to all. When one man has a stick and another has none, who will take the vegetables home. When one woman rises to high office is she more just than a man, will she give the vegetables in her care equally, or will her children get bored of courgettes. When a man owns the field or house or vehicle or ox or ass or vote or tenacity of another, will he act without favouritism and is he then not loaded with vegetables at the end of the day when others are in need.

If the people place one man or woman above the others that they might carry some burden of responsibility, will those that are raised up relinquish their exultation at the end of the day when the vegetables are gathered in. Will the raised woman or man use their fingernails to cling on to the exultation with which they have become accustomed and lavish their children with foreign broccoli and avocados until they complain.

This, then, is the Beast of Power. The wiles of this beast cannot be shielded, neither from man nor woman nor child nor baboon or indeed any socially organised animal, even unto elephants. The beast lays its claws in the flesh and mind of those who should walk together in equality. One small taste of its bounty is oft times sufficient to claim a victim who, when visions of a higher standing are place before their eyes, cannot see the downside, which is the destruction of parity and an even playing field.

The Beast of power comes in many forms and faces, The office manager, the playground bully, the tyrant, the annoying parent at the school gate who knows someone high up in the order of pecking, that man on television that thinks he knows everything because he has more, the puffed up and the proud. The politician who, once elected in fair process, becomes blind to the malpractices of cronyism, extortion, nepotism and many other isms which are, by and large, dodgy. Offshore taxes, shell companies, bias tendering, favouritism, having parties when no one else is allowed, etc.

So it goes, this Beast comes with two Heads, its powerful jaws, supporting the steal teeth of a predator, lighting upon the easy innocent, its ears of hard stone, hearing and searching out the misery and discontent to exploit and lead astray. The necks are of brass hewn, any amount of shame may slide off without damage, like water off a ducks waterslide. The shoulders sprouting wings of recycled feathers, stolen from the pillows of babes, who as a result don’t sleep very well. The wings in use at the end of the day to escape judgement and repercussion. Its back is always facing those in need, its front is covered in trinkets and medals in long rows like scales that are made merry in the breeze. Its legs, one each side, are trunks of ancient trees washed upon the shore carrying small creatures from one island to the next, in improbable feats of colonisation, conquering the vastness of the Pacific Ocean as if it were a puddle.

In the minds of men its vision, once seen, cannot be erased neither power blasts nor sweetmeats, even by caresses or endearments, neither sleepless nights nor early mornings, nether discussion at the end of the day nor ignorance at its outset. The depth and security of its place in the mind surrounded by tall posts of iron and thorn bushes. None may enter in to eradicate the allure of power and position.

This then is the Two Headed Beast which has ruled the world of men and women since before the aural histories and memory sticks were conceived. Its power and governance spanning the passing millennia in rampant excess and derangement, bringing low the best endeavours of those who would and grinding those most in need into the dusty corners and backwaters.