I Used to be a Conscience

Aramaiti Voices Her Complaint

“I used to be a Conscience,” I hear the Maiden’s complaint. “But
after so many years of being repetitively tortured and raped, I’m
not quite sure just what I am any longer.”

A stage door opens. Bertolt Brecht comes on stage, to congratulate all
of the actors in the Epic Theater

Brecht::

You now have had a chance to cry with the protagonists and hiss the villains – but in reality,all of these actors are part of our Arts Liberation Collective, so we want you to give all of them your applause.

The Devil

(bursting in through the stage door as the lightning crackles)

Not so fast now! I have come to redeem my image, which you shall find if you dig down two feet in the ground. Yes, it is true that all of you are living under a curse, because we are deciding in our Starlords Council whether or not life on earth is to be extinguished.

`For those who don’t appreciate the legal technicalities, let me explain. All of those who are parties to this proceeding have acknowledged that there is a Prophetic Principle which was intended to lead the social development of the earth. The differences among these parties do not concern the Starlords’ Council. There have been repeated observations of this Prophetic Principle, and if earthlings would have been attentive to the information gleaned from any one of these sightings,they would by now be living in peace, pledging their allegiances to each other across the whole planet, and cultivating a culture of peace.
       Unfortunately,  this is not what we see.

          We do not see a significantcommitment to the ‘I-&-I’ – it is always the little ‘I’ who is Number One. Your true faith is expressed in the saying, ‘theDevil take the hindmost.’ I appreciate your consideration inleaving something to me, but I would have you appreciate that it isthe way of a Devil to insist on having the foremost, and allowing everyone else to quarrel over the Hindmost.

Voice from just offstage:

Wait!

(Brecht and the Devil, as well as the actors onstage, turn to the side-curtain, where an Iranian woman in a green headscarf comes onstage. Bright shafts of light shining upward over her shoulders give the impression of wings.)

Aramaiti

We, who are the Seven imprisoned Amesha Spentas, plead for the case of the Earth. We have witnessed that the Wise Lord has indeed cast His glory on earth, and the answer to our witness was imprisonment. But we believe that this was the work of evil sorcerers who used illusion and prejudice to blind the eyes of the people. And yet we can see, that even though the truth of the Wise Lord has been kept from them, the people of the earth are feeling the warmth in their hearts. More and more, they are affirming the truth of the I-&-I. We pray to the Starlords Council, grant our petition that Earth should be judged by the hearts of the people, rather than by the foul designs of those who are presently asserting leadership. We further ask that the people be released from liability for the false schemes of our leaders, and that those who have signed contracts with Devils be restrained from using the peoples’ resources to finance their legal defense.

(All of the actors on the stage turn toward her, and respond in antiphon:)

Chorus:

We turn to The Mother and see:
The fires of our rebellion
Are the birth-pangs of a world striving to be.
The mirror of Black Obsidian is not perfect
Within, we see the reflected image
Of a planet that is seeking to be.

We briefly see the mirror of black obsidian standing in the center of the stage. Then it becomes obscured by the smoke which darkens the stage. All about, we hear the horrible howling of those who are being sacrificed to the Gods.