A chat with God - 2

"AH Soh! How should I address you? My Lord? " I asked Him, "and what's with the trishaw puller gig? It is not easy to address someone with a mouth full of rotten teeth and raggedy wardrobe as my 'Lord', if i might add."
" You can dispense with the formality, just call me Mamu, like everyone else, easier that way to communicate, being eternally older than you,calling me uncle will not raise too many eyebrows."
He replied as He mounted the cycle seat making ready to leave. 
"As for the trishaw, well I think it is perfect for us to move around while we chat. I like to check out this old city before they tear it all down for development's sake. Come on, hop on, lets take a ride to the esplanade and the water front Weld Quay area."

I climbed into the passenger's seat and settled myself for ride in the trishaw pedaled by none other than the Good Lord Himself! He wore a straw hat  and had a pair of sunshades making him looked like urban cowboy. A Black T-shirt with a worn out design of a Maori death mask, he had a pair of cutoffs and sandals for his lower body. He seemed fully at home with himself as he pedaled the trishaw in and out of traffic while always keeping the silly grin on his face. 
" The Hungry Ghosts are all over town!" He yelled from behind me as we passed a pile of ashes on the roadside where a huge stage had been erected for the event. Smoke still rises from the burning incense logs, these cannot be called sticks as they were way too large. Straining my neck I looked over my shoulder at Him ans said." You know i don't mind the Hungry Ghosts hanging around and even the loud blaring music that happens every night on stage, what i cannot stand is the disregard for the environment, all that burning, not to mention the smoke, the amount of paper being used to burn at these ceremonies is phenomenal! Do You approve of such rituals, I mean as God?"
"It beats the hell out of watching them kill man women and children all in My name at the very least. Ancestral worship has been going on for thousand of years and it has evolved like all else into what it is today, a business, a means for some to earn a living. The paper money maker, the incense stick maker, the musicians and the rest of it that keeps the celebration going, they all make a living out of this one ritual. As for if it is right or wrong, well it is a matter of faith and belief and that will take a whole lot of explanation to begin with, it is all relative as Einstein's theory."
Einstein's theory? What has that got to do with the Hungry Ghosts, i thought to myself, but i said nothing about it as i know it would be a futile question to ask at the moment. As we arrived at the Esplanade ground He parked under an ancient rain tree and set about rolling his 'rokok daun' while i lit up my John cigarette and stretched my legs while laying my head back on the seat so I can see him. The trishaw puller who was God incarnate lighting up his smoke.
"So! Why all the suffering?" I shot the ultimate question at Him.
" Am I responsible for all the suffering in the world, you are asking," He muttered to himself without looking at me.   
" I created man in my image in the Garden of Eden and all that. I am the Creator, why did I create evil along with it all, why? you ask." 
" Yes, why?" I asked, "it really makes no sense, does it?"
" No it does not, at least n not to an ignorant mind and i did give man the mind to think with as a gift that he can figure it all out for his own understanding, a mind that no other creature on this earth possess and that which place him above all other creatures, I gave him free will, the will to choose from right and wrong and so forth.What has he done with it?"
" Ya, but you also created the bad guys like Satan and Jinn and  evil spirits to throw us off in making our decisions."
" I also created angels and prophets, saints and sages, wise men and teachers to come to your aid if you know how to ask or take refuge in them. I did not create light without darkness, right without its opposite, wrong."
"Ya, but how does a blind man tell the difference if all he sees is darkness?" 
"You who sees through your pair of eyes are blinded by what you see, often mistaking the rope for a snake, you become attached to what you see and often tempted by what you see. Whereas the blind sees with his mind's eyes or his heart and less tempted  by the external visions, he trusts his own heart and his choices comes from within, not like yours that is conditioned from without. You trust your sight while he puts his trust in his heart."