Intelligent Ignorance

Once upon a time, we might say in the winter of '71, in the old city of Nazareth near Jerusalem in the land of Israel, I found myself staying at a youth Hostel. The ancient building was said to be built over the exact place where Joseph's carpenter shop had supposedly once stood. How intellect or science could have determined this, who could really say?

For the traveler, this ancient monastery provided several high ceiling rooms of stone which housed some twenty clean beds, and for two days I was the only soul to be found in this cold dank room. Then there arrived a most unusual old traveler, who took up his place at the far end of the room. I say unusual, because he was shaved bald, toothless, and wore bright shiny red garments. I was curious about this man and when opportunity lent itself to conversation with this character; I was surprised at his cordial manner.

This is where this tale actually begins: In our exchanges this self proclaimed traveling philosopher related one of his quests against "Ignorant Society," as he so exclaimed his personal experiments with mans absurd ideals!

At one time this monk of a man was a very serious sculptor and lived in a series of sea caves along the French coast line. There he lived his life of simplicity and of solitude, separated from society's trivialities! Time had taken its toll on his life, leaving him without family or obligation, thus he lived off the land, picking up work as he deemed it necessary.

One day along the country lanes, he was called to help a friendly farmer pull his team of oxen out of a deep pit in the field. The farmers plowing team had passed over a newer area and the animals had fallen into a deep hole, apparently the earth had collapsed under them. After extracting the frightened beasts from their plight, the artist found that the hole was actually an ancient cavern.

It descended in several directions and was filled with thick mud and must have been there for eons. The spring rains had weakened the surface, thereby allowing the animals weight to break through, exposing this ancient cavern to first time views.

These discoveries were somewhat rare in this part of the country, therefore law demanded all such discoveries to be reported but treasure fever always prevented immediate report. After some preliminary exploration, having only found a few old tools along with several patterns and scratches on the walls and convinced that there was no instant wealth awaiting them, the farmer decided to send for the provincial authorities and customary scientists.

The "thinker" knew that it would be some time before the various departments of antiquity would be arriving, and so he thought he would make their trip worth while. The loner returned to his own living quarters a short distance away along the coast and set his plot into motion. There he took up his tools and skillfully began to set into old warn stone, an unusual variety of carved heads.

His first full head carving was a handsome image of himself; the second was of his poor departed father, another of his mother, grandfather and grandmother and finally a couple of smaller ones of long forgotten brothers and sisters.

With careful skill he placed several curious markings on his own stone replica and then proceeded to age them with an old technique of fire and heat, and by rubbing mud and sand into the pores of the stone. A few mysterious cuts and unusual symbols gave that final touch to his handy stone works. He then hauled them in secret back to the caverns and carefully deposited them deep in the hidden reaches of the ancient mud, knowing that it would be weeks before they were ever found, if at all!

Mr. Mystery monk continued to complete the seasonal work at the farm and also observed the on going activity that was now taking place in the farmer's field. Several tents were set up and the area was cordoned off with barriers for all the equipment that had been brought in to excavate the caverns. Both the farmer and the artist were hired onto the works for minor tasks and general information concerning the lay of the land.

Some time passed, when various activities began to stir the teams of researchers and scientists. Every inch of the cavern was cleaned, probed and explored, bringing to light faded cave drawings, bones and a variation of interesting artifacts. The word soon came out of the cavern that a tremendous find had taken place and this discovery quickly made itself known throughout the region. In a short time hoards of curious professionals were crawling over the fields with all sorts of instruments and when the stone heads were brought up, great excitement and speculation passed among the scholarly men of science.

Soon debates arose about whom this find actually belonged too, and then governmental arguments arose of where it should be taken. Of course, the greatest speculation came forth over the significance of the heads, and certainly over the strange symbols. But in time the doctors of knowledge, would make all this long lost history known to the world!

The farmer was soon compensated by the government while further research grants were issued for continued exploration. This financial arrangement set off a speculative market for the land in the area; for if there was one such discovery, there had to be others! The media was soon involved and accordingly fed the fires of interest which in turn brought out the tourists in droves, additionally stimulating the areas economy.

This was all seemingly good for the area but the interest would soon dissipate unless new finds were made. So the sculptor went to work again, creating several relatives for the stone mystery family.

One face for each of his dignified uncles and from the same stone he carved out a couple of past friends along with a few extra oddly shaped objects. These were buried into a smaller cavern found on the perimeter of the property, recently located but not yet explored. For an added touch, the thinker buried some old bones along with a few ancient coins and some pirate relics which he had found years earlier.

The unsuspecting citizens gradually adjusted to the economic benefits of the event, while the society's museums proudly exhibited a full set of the stone family faces and artifacts. The sculptor's poor family along with long lost relatives is now displayed in protective glass cases, for all like minded citizens to acquaint themselves with.

Accompanying the Stone Family are additional relics along with handsome plaques, inscribed with speculative but authoritative documentation of their certain origin dating back to antiquity. All this interwoven with a royal story of intrigue and of possible 15th century prominence.

Then there's that curious return visitor to the displays, carrying within him that irritating itch, knowing absolutely for sure that he recognizes these crude stained images from somewhere but finds no relief from the unreachable recognition!

As the red robed, bald headed toothless faced sculpture finished his story; he quietly shook with self perpetuating laughter in what he had accomplished. His humorous victory over what he deemed "Gullible Society," seem to strengthen his weary look. Then in all seriousness he returned from some distant meeting (possibly with his stone family) set straight up, sharpened his gaze upon me and with a furrowed brow keenly encompassing serious eyes, he assuredly proclaimed the "Ignorance of men!"

Henceforth, his whole mission in life was now to go wherever time might lead him and with all his heart, scheme and test or disprove, how foolish society and its authoritative knowledge really could be! And my mission was to tell the story!

The next morning the old schemer was gone and from that time on I always wanted to visit that special museum, meet the trickster's family and see science and intellectual speculation at its best!

Now the schemers family has been gathered and given its renowned, at the expense of the scientific community! And in all good humor, they sit as stone witnesses to society's quest of over enthusiastic knowledge. It is possible that the hoax was discovered along the way but most likely, if it had been, embarrassment and pride would certainly have been the determining factor in allowing this prank and its stone family to be slowly graduated unto a very obscure shelf in history!

So now when stern faces of science point to their discoveries and explain the histories of the world and the mysteries of the universe, A SURE PICTURE FORMS IN MY MIND! ONE OF A RED ROBED, CAVE DWELLING, BALD TOOTHLESS, OLD SCULPTOR-PHILOSOPHER-SCHEMER. ALONG WITH HIS ENTIRE FAMILY CARVED IN STONE WITH SERIOUSLY DIGNIFIED FACES, ENJOYING THEIR EXALTED STATUS!

This story brings a smile to my own face when I hear of these so called great scientists finding a jaw bone of an ape, and then declaring the history of an ancient civilization. Thereby establishing in stone, details and facts on how the original owner of the jaw bone once must have worshiped! How for sure he spoke, thought, lived, walked, hunted, married, fought, raised its young, worked with tools, paid its bills and eventually, who knows, even possibly evolved into a scientist or maybe even a sculptor living in a cave on the coast of France!

All this from one old bone which was most likely a cast away soup bone from some pagan celebration but there I go too, Huh, SPECULATING?

Contact Author at:

michael@ticktalk.net