Guru 2

‘Does God exist?’

asks one of the Guru’s acolytes.

‘And can I get a straightforward

Yes or No answer

without all of the usual equivocations?’

There’s a small ripple of laughter

at this stipulation.

The ripple fades to silence.

‘No,’ says the Guru.

There is a gasp of shock

from his followers.

‘How like children they are,’

thinks the Guru.

‘Fundamentally stupid,

and desperate to believe in things

which are beyond belief.’

‘But if there’s no God,

then what are we all doing here,

sitting on the floor like five-year-olds at story time?’

asks the questioner.

‘No to the lack of equivocation,’ says the Guru,

‘but yes to the first part of the question.’

Shock is replaced by joy,

and a few people even start clapping.

‘How do you know that?’

asks the annoyingly persistent acolyte.

‘I don’t,’ says the Guru,

‘because I don’t know anything.

‘Then how can we learn from you

if you don’t know anything?’

‘You learn from me that you know nothing,’

explains the Guru.

‘For if I, a great teacher, know nothing,

what chance do you have?

Abandon your search,’ he says to the whole room.

‘Words are the enemies of truth.’