The Five Pillars of Innocence

In the beginning there was the Great Páhaná and he said many things all of which were conveniently forgotten and yet some remained as ripples on a lake.

Then there came the stillness of time and dreams were recorded by the dreamers of Saärdés at the Edge of Chaos.  There they sang the five pillars of innocence and I heard them one day while in between wakefulness and sleep and wrote them down for posterity, but mostly for myself.

These are the sacred commandments of the philosophy of innocence:

The first commandment of innocence is that thou shall reject; for some questions should never be asked, as some answers should never be sought; this is applied ignorance.  To practice it, know yourself.

The second commandment of innocence is that thou shall accept; for doublethink is the necessity of an intelligent man to hold two diametrically opposite ideas as equally true, and to believe in both; this is applied agnosticism.  To practice it, know the world.

The third commandment of innocence is that thou shall marvel; for to understand the structure of something is to de-mystify it, though even in de-mystification the bizarrity of the miracle does not vanish, it is merely obscured by our arrogance and ego; this is applied mysticism.  To practice it, know the child.

The fourth commandment of innocence is that thou shall ignore; for some things exist to boggle your mind; this is applied absurdity.  To practice it, know the unknown.

The fifth commandment of innocence is that thou shall dream; for if something is unnecessary, useless, outdated, anachronistic, or trivial you must treasure it; this is applied nostalgia.  To practice it, know your heart and soul.

Konrad Tademar- September 26, 1995
An excerpt from “Prometheus, the Diary of a Poet” – Book II: the Jigsaw, Epistle III