49. ... And Choices

After another long silence, I said to Hama Batu, “Your father’s death must have been a great tragedy in your life.”

“That is what I thought at the time. But looking back I can see that it was through losing him that I discovered Our Granny’s purpose for me.

In the forest, the branches of the treetops cast a dense shade so that there is very little light at the level of the ground. Not enough for the lush growth where there are no trees. When one of the enormous forest giants dies and is blown over by the winds, it opens a great gash in the forest through which the light of the sun can penetrate.

In the glade that is formed, seeds germinate, different plants grow and the forest is reborn. It is sad to see the death of an ancient tree on whom the insects and flowers, creepers and animals depend. And yet, this is part of the natural process of the jungle; changing always just enough to remain the same. The individual tree dies to give life to the forest. The individual man dies to give life to the tribe.

We can even think that my father may have been fortunate. He lost his life but his soul was not eaten and, through his death, my purpose was revealed and my soul was also saved and, with me, many others. We see in his death Our Granny’s purpose, Morakeewa’s purpose and that is the most important thing that we must accept.

Every one and every thing has a purpose and one of the reasons that I have come to see you tonight is to ask you whether you have found your own purpose. Do you know what Our Granny plans for you? When you write down the thoughts of others or, indeed, your own thoughts, do you have that burning sense of Our Granny’s Will? That should be your aim. You should search for the purpose of your own life.

If, in dying, I can achieve as much as my father did, if my life can fit into Our Granny’s great scheme, then I will die gladly. My prayer is that after I have gone, then I will leave people that are awake, that burn to execute Our Granny’s will. And perhaps you could be one of them. With your talents and your knowledge of the island, perhaps you could be a great warrior in Her cause.”

“But, Hama Batu,” I answered, “What if I do not know what that purpose is for me? A person doesn’t choose what they believe. By choosing, I cannot make myself believe that if I throw a stone off a cliff, it will not fall to the bottom. My mind interprets my experience automatically and believes its conclusions.

I can concede that my belief may not be true, I can hold my belief with greater or lesser certainty and I can act as if my belief does not exist, but in the end the belief itself is a fact, outside of my own control.”

“You have fired your arrow into the heart of the question. Your belief is based on your experience. If you do not have a belief, it is because you have insufficient experience, or perhaps you ignore experience that you have.

When we sit in the dark of the forest, with a small fire to warm us, then we can see a little way and we do not know what lies beyond the light of the fire. All is shadow, fear and uncertainty. So we build our fire until it shines brightly and then we can see a little further. By our own efforts, we can never see everything. We must wait for the sun to rise before we can see the whole forest. Until the morning, though, we must try and understand that which the sun owns, that which can come within our comprehension.

That is how we seek the Will of Our Granny, by finding now some part of what she would show us. When I read what you had written, I saw that you are a seeker after truth. That is why I have come to speak to you tonight.”

“You may well be right,” I said, “but I have not found that my certainty has increased as I have gathered information. In some ways, the opposite. When I began to write, I had a few simple questions and I thought that, if they were answered, I would know the island and its people. Each time I discovered something, however, I found further problems that required more answers so that the more I know, the more issues I seem to discover.

Sitting by the small fire, I see a small amount of darkness near me but, as I increase the light to illuminate that small darkness, I also discover a greater darkness beyond.”

“That is why we must have faith. That is why we have to believe that there is a purpose to everything. How else can we interpret what we know if we do not think that there is a purpose beyond what we can see and understand? That is the doubt that we must fight against. You have lived in the Village and the plantations all of your life. You have heard of the Shai Hathan, but you probably do not have any direct experience of such an animal. Let me tell you about it.

The Shai Hathan is a large lizard but it is not much longer than a man is tall and it stands a little lower than his knee. It has small teeth and yet it is the most fearful inhabitant of the forest. It cannot tear through healthy meat and it does not attack its prey directly from the front. No.

The Shai Hathan cannot win in open combat so it must conquer by stealth. From behind it creeps up, silent and unobserved and then it bites. Not much more than a scratch, but filled with deadly venom. Venom that paralyses the victim so that he cannot escape.

Once its prey has been poisoned, the Shai Hathan waits patiently for it to become immobilised. This may take some considerable time and, for a while, the victim may not even be aware of what has happened. He has a scratch on his leg, say, and he thinks that it was cut by a thorn or by grass but all the while, the Shai Hathan is following him, stalking silently behind until he begins to move more slowly and then he cannot move any longer.

Then the true nature of things is revealed. The Shai Hathan emerges from the shadows and begins to feed. It starts with the soft parts, the stomach and the intestines and the victim can still feel the pain. If the paralysis is not yet complete, he may be able to call out or shout or scream. But he is beyond help. The poison will kill him in the end and anyone who goes to help him is himself at risk. Just a scratch and the poison of the Shai Hathan will kill the rescuer too.

The best thing for such a one is to take an arrow and to shoot it into his brain so that he dies quickly and his pain is relieved. Then the Shai Hathan will be left with his prey, waiting for it to rot and soften so that it can be eaten.

In the forest, we hunt the Shai Hathan with fire. When we know that there is a Shai Hathan in a particular area, then we must first of all confine it so we begin to cut down the forest around it. Gradually, the Shai Hathan will retreat into the thickest jungle and gradually we cut off its means of escape. We do not go near it. That would be too dangerous and expose us to its venom.

Then when we know its exact whereabouts, we pile brushwood around it. Dead wood that forms a pile, with dried leaves and fronds. We know that the only way to destroy the Shai Hathan is to create a great fire that will consume the brushwood and dry the jungle so that it will burn. We build the pile like a fence about it and then we light fires all around. Small fires to begin that dry the brushwood and the leaves and when that is dry it begins to burn and the fires grow larger and larger and in the end, they consume the dense jungle where the Shai Hathan is hiding and the Shai Hathan itself.

That is Our Granny’s Will.”

“I do not understand,” I answered thoughtfully, “why you have told me this story of the Shai Hathan.”

“Tommu, there is a great struggle on this island. I tell you about the Shai Hathan because of that. Many people have already been bitten by the Shai Hathan. Their death is just a matter of time. The Tractor has already paralysed their souls and the kindest thing for them is a simple arrow.

The Tractor, if left to itself, would destroy the whole island. The jungle would be no more. There would be no other animals so the people would become animals, living in cages with no thought except how to have more of what little is left than their neighbour next door. That is the future and then, the fuel for the tractor will be exhausted and there will not be enough to eat. The true nature of the Shai Hathan will be revealed as the people fight over the crumbs of what is left.

Some of us are resolved to prevent this. We have begun to create restrictions and isolation which already show those in the new townships the true nature of what is being done. More and more people begin to see that they must act, that they must destroy what is eating the soul of the island and return to Our Granny Frum, Our Pure Granny of Morakeewa who will save them by her Will and return the island and its people to what it should be.

I come to invite you to avoid the Shai Hathan, to help us to destroy it before it poisons you and before it destroys the island and the Village and the people in it. There are many ways to serve Our Granny. For some of us, it is meet to be out in the forest, in a small tent, moving from place to place. Others remain here, waiting. Waiting for the brushwood to become dry so that the fire can take hold.

I do not know which of these is Our Granny’s Will for you but I invite you to join us and discover it for yourself. I invite you to find your own purpose and the purpose of your book, to end here, with Our Granny’s Will.”