Trial of the Fool
SAGE: Fool, you stand before this court under trial
for the tribulations of mankind. You are charged with eating the fruit of the
Tree of Knowledge, of casting us out of Eden to the forsaken land. You are
charged with causing the pain, suffering and strife that plagues mankind. This
charge bears the highest penalty. This is your one chance to explain yourself.
Do so, now, to the jury of mankind, and they will decide whether you are guilty
of these crimes.
FOOL: You try me unjustly. This I can see, despite my
foolishness. For from the very beginning, have you not banished me to my own
fate? Have you not scoffed at my pleas for wisdom? How then am I to be punished
for the crime you accuse me of? I have not deceived you. I never claimed to be
wise, and if I did it was only because I was a fool and knew no better. You ask
me why I ate the fruit. I will only tell you, it is because I knew no better,
and neither would you if you too were a fool. You who were supposed to be my
guide, where were you when the serpent appeared and whispered in Eve’s ear,
that most vile prompting? Where were you when the Fool made his foolish plans?
You were in the great palace, making great plans of your own. You who cast me
out, you now place too much blame. I have searched the faces of men, looked for
an answer, but no one would confess so much as a trifle of wisdom, and that in
a language I did not understand. I turned to Heaven, but was scathed and cast
down upon my face. I begged you for an ounce of that most precious of gifts,
that wisdom that you hold so dear, but you would not offer me even a drop. You
mocked and chided me, threw me scraps from your table as if I were a dog. You
told me, go ask God. And again I would turn to Heaven with my prayers, only to
be cast down in the sod.
It was you who named me Fool. I had no choice in the matter. I might just as
well have been called Man, had you known better. You claim to know, though
perhaps not outright. But deep in your hearts you hold fast to your wisdom, and
it is bound with bitterness, and even, spite! For I see the way you look upon
me. Your scolding glances cut me to the quick. You cherish my foolishness, for
it gives you right to be called wise. Your neglect, your mistreatment of
me—that is my, and Man’s, undoing. Why don’t you try acting on impulse for once
in your existence? Ah, but your only impulse is to learn. But learning only
makes a thing fact, it does not make a thing real. You see through such thick
lenses, you have forgotten that your eyes are also alive. My eyes are quick, if
rather dim. They have seen much, perhaps more than your own. They have seen men
with great wisdom striking down the meek and helpless. They have seen sages
turn their backs on the world for the sake of more wisdom. Is this wise? I ask
you, is this not the greatest folly, to forsake life itself for wisdom’s gain?
I have lived more life in an instant than all the greatest sages have for a
lifetime, for I have allowed myself the ability to be wrong, I have been in the
dust, and known its taste on my tongue!
Instead of punishing me for my folly, you might learn from me, perhaps even
worship me. I have such gifts to give! The gift of laughter, yes, but also
beauty, and even truth. What is the statement? “Live and let live.” There is a
bit of wisdom for a fool! You say that deep down, I myself lust after wisdom,
which is why I’ll never find it. That it is this lust for wisdom that makes me
the Fool, but I will tell you, it is not the lust for wisdom that makes me the
Fool, but the lust for life. You sages do not lust for life. You readily admit
this. What, then, do you lust for? You say you do not lust? I say you lie, and
in fact I would say you lust for death. The difference, then, between us is, in
my lust for life, I consummate the desire over and over again, whereas your
lust is in constant denial for something inevitable, and when it comes you do
not even know it is there. Wisdom, your prized possession, is nothing more than
a retreat from life itself. Folly, then, is the blind assault upon life, and
life is its own reward. Not so with death, oh sages. If that be folly, then
strike me down.
Why not pass on your wisdom to me? You fear I would use it falsely, but I would
say the opposite is true. To attempt to teach a man how to live, that is
your folly, oh sages! Man will live as fate would have him live. A life of
wisdom leads to death, as does a life of folly. It is not his wisdom or folly
that a man gives, but himself and himself alone. His life is his only legacy.
You fear this truth, so you build your towers of wisdom to block it out, but
when the door is closed, the tower will fall, my friends! And who will be there
to pick up the pieces? Only the next fool who desires wisdom.
But what is a fool to do with so many pieces and no direction? He only
constructs chaos, a maze for other fools to wander through that has no end. He
builds this maze around himself, leaving himself in the middle with no escape.
Yes, the Fool is the loneliest of creatures. And you would condemn him further,
when he already suffers immeasurably? The fool holds no sway, his foolishness
is his own and no other’s. He alone suffers. Why does the sage not come to his
aid? “Leave a fool to his folly.” That is what they say. Why then do you insist
on punishing me? Let me wander off, if you must. I will gladly leave this place
behind. I assure you, even if you deign to execute me, Foolishness will not
die. The greatest of sages will find folly somehow. This I can guarantee.
And indeed I would argue that this trial is folly. You say I cause pain,
suffering, and strife. This may be true, but the majority of these things are
mine and mine alone. And further I would say that in my pain, I bring others
the greatest joy, and even, understanding. In my nakedness, others are aware of
their clothes. In my sorrow, others are aware of their joy. Do you wish to also
remove these elements from your lives? If so, do as you must, but be warned: a
life without foolishness is a life of foreboding, for how are you to appreciate
life if you are not reminded of your own humility? You sages fear death. That
is why you worship it. Without the fool to recall you to your lives, from what
platform will you worship? The scale will tip, and all of your wisdom will
scatter to the four winds.
You may negate all this by saying it is foolishness. But deep in your hearts
you know that there is wisdom in it. You laugh and mock me to hide your fear,
but your eyes behold this fool and see a man, just like you. Look into your
hearts, you know it is true!
Even now I can sense it. You are expecting me to make light
of the whole issue—to make jokes and be silly, to act a fool. Do you not think
that I hold my life dear, that I do not take this seriously. For I assure you,
despite my foolishness I take life very serious. I have the same unanswerable
questions, the same longing as you. Won’t you let me answer the questions in my
own way, fill my longing in peace? No. You wish to punish me. But why? Simply
because you’d rather that than punish yourselves.
I have committed no crime by choice. I have lived my life
only trying to serve, but have been unable because I was never able to serve
myself. I have my whole life relied upon you to be my guide. Yet now you wish
to punish me, and I will say this: By punishing me you will be punishing yourselves,
for it was your failure to guide me that caused the strife, the pain, the
suffering. So let it be so! Do what you will. I will speak no more. My
conviction is not my will.
SAGE: Enough! Each word you speak brings us all one
step closer to death! Your folly is endless, it seems. You have stated your
case— beyond all wisdom and folly lies fate. Let us hear what yours shall be.
Let the jury discuss, and we shall wait.
MAN: We have reached our decision. The Fool is
guilty as charged.
SAGE: Because the folly of the Fool is the root of
all evil in the world, we must dig deep in the soil of existence to uproot him,
and that is what we sages will do. We will send you, the Fool, to the outer
reaches of existence, where nothing grows but doubt and darkness, and cut out
your tongue that your folly may not echo back to us. We will put out your eyes
that you can see nothing but the folly of your own making. We will cut off your
hands so that nothing of folly will ever reach creation. You will sit in the
chair in the room of perdition. Solitude and darkness await you there. This
punishment will perhaps teach you the meaning of wisdom, and if you ever learn
to be happy with your condition, you may return, and will be forgiven.
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