You probably don’t know it, but horses can talk. Moreover, my name is Money, which makes my ability to talk even more credible. Indeed, all that follows here will be straight from the horse’s mouth.
Think of us horses and you think of power, strength, swiftness. Think also of chance, fortune, misfortune and even warfare. It is for all these reasons and more that my master named me Money.
Who is my master? No lesser a god than Mammon. He is, if you like, an overarching principle. He named me after himself. There are many other creatures who work in his service, and I will tell you about some of them later.
My master has assigned me a rider and his name is Fame. My rider is a hard taskmaster, using whips and other instruments of torture to make me do his and my master’s bidding. But oh, the results that follow!
How I glory in the power I am able to exercise over the minds and imaginations of human beings! Have you noticed how I can control them even to the point of their complete debasement?
I am not referring to all people. I work well in the service of those who use me for reasonable purposes: food, shelter, clothing, education and even a few luxuries here and there. Horse sense, after all, is not a mere myth.
Speaking of which, have you heard of flying horses? I am one of them. Folklore has it that I can make the mare fly but I do that to humans as well. For those who love me passionately, I can take them to greater heights than they ever thought possible; to any part of the world they desire; through any door they want opened.
But once under our spell, Fame and I push them past all boundaries. You see, we are committed to the downfall of many who love us. Strange? Not really. We know well enough that we are not the ones whom they love most, but themselves.
You remember I mentioned others who work for my master. There is one called Blindness and his work is crucial to our success. He employs every strategy at his disposal to convince our followers that material gain matters above everything else. And you would not believe how many fall for that old trick:
Governments capitulate, churches crumble, values once tried and true turn to dust, families and societies destroy one another. We mesmerize millions who are quick to applaud and praise us no matter the cost to country or good name.
The young, I admit, are among our favourite clientele. And here, Ignorance, hand in hand with Blindness, has a field day.
You see, like all generations before them, young people believe themselves invulnerable: It can’t happen to me is a mantra in which they truly believe, and so, though the evidence is all around them, they do not believe that the paths on which we lead our very willing disciples are nearly always destructive.
Let me also tell you a bit more about Ignorance. His job is to ensure that human consciousness remains earthbound: nothing of the spiritual or the transcendent must be allowed to interfere. Physical allurement, sexuality, constant titillation of the senses especially through the power of music, all these must occupy the minds of the young at almost every waking moment.
Thank Mammon for the new technology, especially the Internet! To put it plainly, our intention is to completely hijack the souls of the young.
Don’t blame us completely, though. Many times we stand by and watch other people or forces usher the young people straight into our arms. For example, we have witnessed how the influence of this so-called post-modern age has left its young adherents rudderless. If in essence nothing means anything, and if every boundary is to be removed, what is left for them but to come over to our broad way?
Many of you modern humans are also too “enlightened” to admit your inherent need to worship someone or something. We, however, understand that need and exploit it fully.
Let me leave this last thought with you. Surely you know that the horse and rider are a mixed symbol of power and subjugation? My rider and I have the power to raise up those who love us. We are also more than able to bring them down.
That is just the nature of who we are.
