Pato and Gato

A thread of discussion on Facebook has prompted me to share this piece that I wrote several years ago (around 2002?) when I quest lectured at TAMU-CC to several Philosophy classes... my first time speaking to a group of over 200 students and faculty. Still not sure if I should thank my 'friend' or not for that opportunity. I jest, it was a pretty amazing exeprience. The topic was of religion and the written word: what is the relevance? Under discussion at the time was legislation that regulated that a religious path could only be defined/recognized if it had a written set of theologies to go with it. Several religions argued the invalidity of that arguement and won, opening the way for several well established non-mainstream religions to finally be recognized by the United States Government and thus the people who serve in the military the freedom to worship as their path calls to them.

I was alloted an hour to speak to the group of students. The speech itself was relatively short. Three hours later we were deep in discussion when Campus Staff came in and asked us to move the discussion elsewhere. The 50 or so students/faculty and I then went over to the commons area to continue the discussion. Happily to say, several of those present and that joined our discussion in the commons are now a part of the Haven and follow a spiritual path that is uniquely their own.

Pato and Gato

Scriptures. Every religion has them. Christians have the bible, Jews the Torah, Muslims the Koran, so on and so forth. Basically these “teachings” were started because a common ground was needed to unite the populace. A common ground is needed for anything to form. Cities, states, countries. Many of those who follow these religions will swear to you that what those scriptures contain to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. While not wanting to discount the original intent of those scriptures, as they were very well intended, I just doubt how valid those scriptures are now. Let me explain better what I mean for intent is one thing - the result is another.

Please view what I am about to say with some humor. I have found it to be a very effective tool in teaching.

Consider the "rumor" exercise that I am sure most of who have had to endure in TEAM Meetings. Twenty people in the room. The team leader tells the first person "Doug does a good job." The first person tells the second, the second tells the third, and so on. By the time the last person tells the leader it has morphed into "The Duck is on a sub." Before we had written language, children were taught by rote. From one generation to the next, who in turn taught it to the next generation. How many generations was it before the first scriptures, in any religion, were written down?

Intent is one thing - the result is another

Flash forward those generations. Now, you have scribes. Scribes are human. They work many hours bent over a book with little lighting. Often times they have been tasked with transcribing someone else's over flourished handwriting or from damaged texts, possibly from one language to another. Example. The original student of Gato (cats), write their a's with an extra flourish because that is how one properly trained should write. The student's "people" speak and write in Spanish. It is written "año del pato." Correctly translated to English is "The year of the duck." Ducks are very sacred to this student of Gato's society. They bring us money for when we have bad times in our lives and we have expended one of our nine lives. Pato and Gato have shown us the way, so we unite!

Intent is one thing - the result is another.

A scribe two or three generations after this student of Gato, sees the handwriting and has a copy of poorly maintained texts. English is the current language. He reads it as "asno del pasto” We now have a problem. He wonders what the heck the student meant by "a$$ grass". He looks ahead of that sentence and behind that sentence and determines that a Cat was talking about a nine year cycle of prosperity and so therefore must be referring to the "year of the a$$" or donkey. So, for the next hundred or so generations, everyone assumes we are celebrating a cat and his lucky pet, donkey.

Intent is one thing - the result is another.

Gato's original texts get found. French is now spoken. Spanish is an old language that only a few schooled people read or understand. Gato is now Chat, a supernatural being that allows people to communicate worldwide and send money. Manière de l'âne! The Way of the Donkey is how everyone goes. Science does its carbon dating thing and determines it to be the "original" scriptures. They also have cool gadgets that can see where the ink was originally put on the paper, computers that analyze hand writing style and notices a funky flourish on all the a's, and presto chango...we have a problem.

Intent is one thing - the result is another.

The scientist now have to tell society that they have been wrong for the last several hundred generations. New books are printed to show the change. Old books are still being printed because they were already there and ready to go. Two factions develop. One faction points to the current translation of scripture and says, "THIS is the truth!" Another faction points to the original scripture and says, "NO! This IS the truth!" The bickering escalates to war. The winner decides who is right and all scriptures/people that do not agree with them are sentenced to be burned.

Intent is one thing - the result is another.

Several more generations pass. Society has entered a stage of reasoning, enlightenment, and exploration. Our language has morphed and changed. Chat has lost all meaning to anyone and no one really follows Kat anyways. Pato now means liver and society celebrates the "Month of the Liver." With its ritualistic drowning of souls in green beer once a year. Great bodies of water are turned green to represent the grass that allows for such substances to be produced, large parades with brightly colored floats, hundreds of people flock to the streets, little men in funny hats, dance around while the women are rewarded with mass quantities of beads and jewels for revealing themselves in public. The Liver is great! and must be celebrated!! For without the liver we could not do these harmful things to ourselves and still live. Ducks are to be eaten for they are fowl and donkeys are nothing more than a bunch of a$$es out in the grassy fields. Cats? Who cares about those? They have no meaning.

Intent is one thing - the result is another.

A discovery is made of vast amounts of scriptures that have survived what appears to be a fire. Some of the texts are barely legible because someone threw water on the books to try and save them. The all say something different, yet they speak of the similarities. Different languages, different words with different meanings, some are not even translatable to the current language of the society. Some say we are to celebrate ducks, other donkeys, some; we don't even have a clue, as that language has been lost. We can only guess. The scientist, religious leaders, and, most importantly, each person must now decide which is right.

This is where I feel we are right now. The original intent of these books have little to no meaning for us, as we were not there, we cannot understand. It is simply the history of our species as passed down to us by a tired scribe, a fanatical scientist, and a political winner. We have dozens of different scriptures available to us. Some in languages that are no longer spoken. The result? If we study each of the scriptures that are available to us, we can find the facts that have been recorded by all societies. Somewhere in that lies a common thread that can unite THIS culture.