The Sound of Affliction

"I must continue to strive for more knowledge...even though the new knowledge always contradicts the old...and is the destruction of the fools who misuse it" -George Bernard Shaw

The world gives birth to many extraordinary and gifted people, some of which show up in the most unlikely of places. One of these people was a nameless orphan, who had no other wish than to know as much as he could. One day he was seen by a scholar who could easily see that the orphan had a passion for learning, and a potential to learn a great deal about the world that we live in. So the Scholar took the orphan, and raised him as their own. The Scholar was a scholar of philosophy, so in turn that's what the boy learned, to see the world in a light of curiosity, and find the answers to the omens it gave, and the questions it brought up. The Scholar, teacher as well as student, asked the orphan one day "What is the answer to what occurs after death?" The orphan, without any hesitation, "The answer to what occurs after death is the unknown, and it should be left at that. People aren't afraid of death they're afraid of what they don't know or understand." This surprised the Scholar that the orphan could answer this question so quickly and was convinced that the orphan had made a mistake. "What of the religious people? They have beliefs for what happens after death." The orphan sighed quietly to himself so the Scholar wouldn't hear him, then responded, "In the words of George Bernard Shaw, 'There is nothing in religion but fiction.' and I agree with him."

After that encounter the Scholar decided to name the orphan Athea, after the religiously neutral atheist god. It eventually became natural for the Scholar to test, and try to stump Athea with increasingly difficult questions. "Athea, another question, Do we have free will?" At this question Athea smiled, and the Scholar was surprised, "Why do you smile?" Athea, still smiling replied, "Because you asked one of the most argued points in history, and you expect a mere child to answer it. In my own words I say determinism or indeterminism is determined by mindset. If you believe that you don't have free will than you're right, and vice versa. In the words of Jawaharlal Nehru, '...The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.' That is my answer." The Scholar gave up for close to a year, constantly thinking of another question to ask and stump Athea. After the year was almost up they had it. While the two of them were playing a game of weiqi, the Scholar asked Athea, "What is the root and stem of all evil?" Athea was stumped for a while at this question, and the Scholar thought that they had finally won. However, come two hours later, when their game had ceased Athea had an answer. "The root and stem of all evil according to Plato is ignorance, if we are to go along with this idea, then people are ignorant of the good in life and if they are ignorant to the good then they do the evil unintentionally." The Scholar thought for a while and asked, "But what if they aren't ignorant of the good, and intentionally do the evil?" Athea smiled, "Then they are ignorant to the fact that they are able to love. In the words of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, hell is not being able to love." The Scholar shook their head and gave up for another three months, and eventually had another question sure to stump Athea. "Athea, how can the world be a place of suffering for some, and a place of prosperity for others?" This question caught Athea off guard, because he thought the answer to this one should be easy, but in fact it was a lot harder than he expected. Athea thought about it, and thought about it, but couldn't come up with an answer. The Scholar thought to themself, I've finally won our game. However, later that night Athea finally had an answer.

"The world gives people what they want. Not what they wish for, but what they really truly want. Confucius said that those who say they can and those who say they can't are both usually right. So the world is what people make of it and nothing else, that's why it is a place of prosperity for some, and a place of suffering for others, because that's how they see the world." The Scholar was dumbfounded by the fact that Athea seemed to always come up with an answer to these questions, but come five years later, when Athea was on the verge of becoming a man, the Scholar finally had the one, truly convoluted, question for Athea. "Athea, what is the sound of Affliction?" Athea was truly stumped by this question. How could Affliction, the state of pain or suffering, make a sound? It couldn't be possible could it? But there had to be an answer or the Scholar wouldn't have asked. Athea thought and thought, unable to come up with an answer. He holed himself up in his room, reading book after book. He slept very little, and ate or drank only when reminded, and all the while he was quiet, thinking, analyzing, dissecting the question. This went on for close to two months, and the scholar began to worry for Athea. "Athea, come down from there!" Athea sluggishly obliged. "You must stop this Athea, you're beginning to worry me." Athea smiled. "But I've finally got an answer." The Scholar was taken aback by this. "Very well then, what's your answer? What is the sound of Affliction?"
"Why, the sound of Affliction is silence of course. For most suffering is done in silence and is quiet compared to the drowning sound of prosperity and health. Wouldn't you agree?" The Scholar smiled at Athea and saw the little orphan boy from all those years ago, and she watched him grow mentally as well as physically. Conquering the questions she gave him, beating her time and again at chess, and weiqi, and she couldn't help thinking of the quote; when one teaches, two learn. "Yes Athea, I agree, because I'm dying from an unknown disease. It's in my chest, just a lump, but it's weakening my immune system."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm dying, and there's no cure. I'm going to drink some death tea, so I might go quicker and with less pain. Go pick the hemlock for me Athea."
Athea picked the leaves and even went ahead and brewed the tea as well. He brought it not to his teacher, but his mother. "Thank you Athea."

"I love you"

"Oh Athea, I love you too. The property and the books are yours. Continue to learn, and teach, and please know there really isn't much difference between the two." Athea sobbed as he watched the woman who took him in and taught him, and raised him, drink away the air from her lungs. "I will, you know I will. Just like you taught me."

"I know you will. Now come give me a hug." Athea embraced his mother, and held on, even long after the heat left from her body, and sobbed into her shoulder.