Theobeat, a young boy of 10 years, had a regular routine before going to bed. He had the habit of brushing his teeth, washing his face, letting his dog out to take care of business, and praying before sleeping. He never failed to complete any one of those tasks for it provided him a consistent sense of peace.
One night as Theobeat was preparing himself for bed, he saw a conspicuous figure standing in the corner of his dark room. The figure appeared to be a tall and slender man. He had on a white button up, a red tie, and a jet-black suit. His face was gaunt and old. His old age was immediately revealed by the wrinkles on his skin. The figure took his hand out of his pocket and held up a smoking pipe and lit a match. The sound of the match striking the tinder box seared across the blanket silence. As the stranger raised the burning match above his pipe, the orange glow revealed the stranger’s gloomy eyes, staring intently at Theobeat.
For a while, there was silence. A period of insanity embedded in a noiseless standoff between Theobeat and the stranger. Theobeat asked, “Who are you?” The man chuckled and replied, “My name is Kronos (Chaos). Ever since you were born, I have watched you and nursed you. We have been building a relationship. Of course, as an infant, you were not conscious of me, but your outward behavior was evidence of my existence. Whenever your heart desired anything, good or bad, you threw a tantrum. How else could you express your desire? If you did not receive what your heart desired, you knocked the plate over, crawled to danger, or even spit at your mother and father. You see, the world is immediate chaos for babies born into it. You were unable to make meaning of the world until you became more observant of your interactions in it. I was there when you were overwhelmed, when you cried, and when you suffered. And now that you have become well versed in words, we can negotiate, more civilly if I may say.”
The little boy stared at the stranger’s eyes and remained silent while the stranger continued. “Now listen carefully for I have come to give you freedom. In the morning, you will be obligated to attend school; however, you do not have to. In other words, it is completely your choice. Choose what you desire. Reward your passions and you shall be free, and I shall become younger and more able to greater increase your passions.”
Having regained his composure and quickly becoming accustomed to the stranger’s presence, Theobeat remarked, “If I do not attend school, I will miss my classes which would lower my grades. Then my mother and father would punish me severely. I surely fear the consequences of my own base pleasures which would lead only to my destruction.”
Kronos gave a smug smile and replied, “O’ innocent child, let us consider this. If you go to school, you will spend the entire day learning subjects you do not like. You will read books you cannot understand. And you will count numbers which are too rigid. For many hours, you will suffer and be miserable. The more pleasurable path would be to stay home, watch television, and eat all the sweets your parents have hidden in the pantry. It would be a wonderful day, would it not?”
Theobeat sat up on his bed and lightly laid his feet upon the ground. He looked away from the stranger and stared at the wall in deep contemplation and then returned his eyes to the stranger and began to speak. “Well as any respectable enquirer would begin, we must first establish a truthful definition of pleasure and suffering. Based on your answer, pleasure is the satiation of our carnal desires. Would you agree?”
“Why, Theobeat, why do you say carnal? Can’t pleasure be fine and rich?”
“Why, old man, we would then have to define what a carnal pleasure is and what a fine pleasure is. For an understanding of pleasure is necessary to understand why we must delay it for the sake of greater ends—honor and virtue. Let me begin with the carnal. The carnal pleasure is one that satisfies our hunger without considering the consequences and costs of filling our stomachs. It is cheap and provides only a temporary satisfaction to our lustful senses. The fine and rich pleasure is one that is nourishing and edifying to our lives. These finer pleasures are not immediate nor cheap, but one that requires a physical and mental stimulation of our natural faculties whether it be competing in sports out of honor or contemplating the moral message of a piece of literature. Such then is the definition of carnal and fine pleasures.”
The stranger’s pipe went out and his figure blackened. Lighting another match, he adjusted the tobacco in his pipe and began to puff, straining his eyes at Theobeat. The stranger’s face was emotionless. The little boy continued, “Now let us define suffering under the precondition that suffering is required for the sake of leading continent lives of temperance which leads to honor and virtue. Under this pretext, suffering then is the natural consequence of a chosen path that provides a more meaningful result that will satiate not our bodily sensations, but our souls. A kind of suffering by which our souls mature and is then better prepared to face greater suffering. Would it not then be wise for me to attend school and be miserable so that while in the process of suffering, I can at least glean some wheat of wisdom from which I may use to develop a wider breadth of knowledge that will help me develop a greater mind for spiritual contemplation.”
Kronos’ face turned bleak, and he became irritated. He began to speak with some tension. “Theobeat, my child, you speak not from experience. Look at the years of life worn upon my skin. Hearken unto me and heed my advice. You are far too young to be contemplating or asking yourself such difficult questions. Seek to attain as much that this world has to offer you and when you become old like me, then you can do these meaningful activities that you vainly speak of. You must not tie yourself down with such serious thoughts. Live and pursue your passions to the maximum degree. You will not regret it.”
Theobeat arose from his bed and raised his eyes up to the ceiling to consider his next words. He then crossed his arms and in almost a blissful solace, his face lit up. He spoke, “To live freely, passionately, and greatly is to live a life of enslavement.”
Chaos leaned backwards laughing. “Bah, you foolish boy! Hahaha, you are free! Look around you, my boy. There is nothing tying you down to your bed. You are free to eat sweets. You are free to curse your mother and father. And you are free walk out of this house. Put on a coat and follow me, my boy!” In his enthusiasm, the stranger’s pipe grew stronger, and smoke filled the room.
Maintaining a contemplative expression, Theobeat continued. “I was not finished you damned fool. While we should avoid and detest physical enslavement, our spirits will always be enslaved to our beliefs. Our beliefs inform our actions and behaviors. Would it not be better to enslave ourselves to a higher set of virtuous principles and standards than to enslaved to ourselves and our pithy pleasures such as the indulgence of alcohols, drugs, and sex which constitute wild living? Is it not better to be enslaved to a perfect, infallible, and living God than to be enslaved to our capricious idols of desire, wealth, and pleasure? To answer my own question, I would rather be obedient to a divine and perfect law than to be subject to my own licentious and empty mode of self-tyranny.”
Kronos was taken aback. He lit several matches as his pipe had gone out while Theobeat spoke. Unable to get his matches to light, he threw the sticks on the ground and stomped on them several times, cursing at the broken splints. Kronos began to pace around the room, but every step he took made him grow larger and larger until his figure expanded to fit nearly the entire room. Appearing more like the devil, the hideous being finally spoke up in a deep and angry voice, “Theobeat, you pathetic bumbling philosophic pious piece of dung! Hear now my final argument! I existed before you and before the world was created. I am an abstraction, a metaphysical being. I have come in the form of man because if I manifested my true being, it would throw your mind into great disarray and drive you mad. This is the authority by which I speak! I too am a higher being. I am the reason by which order came to be. Do you understand what I am saying, you rotting little brat!? There would be no need for Order if Chaos did not exist; however, I exit and therefore Order exists. What say you to that? Can you refute my existence?”
Theobeat looked away as he spoke and lost heart! Kronos’ eyes were burning a hole through Theobeat, and Kronos reveled in Theobeat’s sudden state of consternation. The little boy was struck with fear and paced his eyes around the room to see if anyone would come to his rescue, but no divine rapture could possibly be timed for Theobeat. Just then, he saw an ant walking across his study desk. It was carrying off a piece of spilt sugar that Theobeat had carelessly taken from the kitchen. But behind this ant, was another ant, and another and so on. A single-file line of ants neatly crossing a windowsill. Where were they headed? His eyes followed the first ant and saw it begin to lay a nest of sugar. A gathering of foods of some sort. But just then, the first ant keeled over and died. Immediately, the ants behind it scrambled into all directions. Some fell off the edge of the study desk, some attacked the others and ran off with the victim’s sugar, while some continued carrying the sugar to the nest as if nothing could prevent them from doing so. Theobeat had found his answer and articulated his final argument.
“You are indeed an abstraction and a metaphysical being. Everywhere man goes, you, Kronos, are there to throw him off his wheel. However, let me humble you by first pointing out that it was out of Chaos, whereby God created a divine Order. Likewise, man has a similar responsibility to emulate dominion through earthly order. However, when a man fails to create order in his life; it is by his failures and not by your doing that man throws himself into your arms. In other words, you are simply the result of man’s choice; thus, by God’s sovereignty, you exist so that man has purpose.
“Of course, man can be stuck in chaos and may unfortunately never leave your unholy embrace. Yet man can also take on the suffering of reality and slowly create a sense of meaning by ordering his life to reflect important priorities. While I cannot refute your existence, it is quite clear you are an unwanted, but necessary existence. Let me further add that as long as man builds his structure of order on a principle beyond himself and the universe; rather unto God, than his order will surely be built on rock and not on sand.”
And with that the sun rose and the old man shriveled into a small speck of dust that Theobeat set in the corner of his room. Satisfied with the altercation that had taken place, Theobeat made his bed, knelt on his knees to pray, and put on his shoes to go on a run—attempting another day of his orderly routine.
Image credit: Saturn Devouring a Son, oil on canvas by Peter Paul Rubens, 1636. Museo del Prado, Madrid