We do a young person great harm when we fail to prepare them for the onslaught of vocational idolatry described in the previous post. A vocation – no matter how wonderfully unearthed on a reality tv show – becomes a vice when we offer no gratitude or glory to the voice of all vocation. And thereby hangs a tale of how a great archangel who was enjoying the experience of using his vocational gift to bring grace and joy to others, then had a great realisation; to the effect that he was being ‘used’ and not allowed to reach his full potential. It was his vocation after all, and despite what his parents might say, he was a victim of exploitation.
You could say that he ‘grew up’ overnight and got a feisty attitude, which lead him on an astonishing journey of self discovery, an unearthing experience really. And it all started when he was unearthed one day on a mysterious radio show. The manager of the show offered to be his mentor and enabled him to see that if his creative talents were not to be squandered on the ambitions of ‘Another’, he needed to be rid of his naive scruples and to cast aside his present Manager who was using him for His own glory.
‘You could be the greatest!’ he told him. ‘Even equal to The King himself.’ So, in order to make the break, he decided to ruthlessly express himself by constantly telling everyone that this was ‘all about me’, a mantra he would repeat loudly every morning when he looked in the mirror. Finally, having realised that the so-called ‘voice’ behind vocation was only a figure of speech and not a real person, he got over his naivety, matured and took himself much more seriously and responsibly. He was determined now that he would be the first ever original musician.
Tragically (and I use this word advisedly), after this falling out with his owners he had a different kind of fall and became the first ever ‘devil’, a word that means ‘one who throws, slanders or accuses; harrases or worries.’ It seems that, having made a dog’s breakfast of things, he had to justify himself and to ‘cry victim.’ We all know the type: far too concerned about their own problems, and conversations become incessant autobiographical monologues. GK Chesterton described the problem this way: ‘The devil fell through force of gravity.’
Many years later he was discovered up to his old tricks again, harrassing and worrying a young woman in a garden and urging her to ‘look out for number one’. Unfortunatley she was never the same again and ever afterwards had a tendency to also worry that she might be missing out on something, and to harrass those who were content and even to slander those who loved her.
