Peter and Eric sat at their usual chess table over tea and crackers in the latter's manor. The cardinal's arm had healed so he could wear his robes again and the taipan was smoking.
"I hear you, ah," said Peter after sipping his cup of tea and putting it down on the table, "ordered Vincent to remove the pituitary glands from some of those cultists."
"What about it?"
"That was too extreme-"
"Would you prefer if I had them all done away with? Besides, it was Vincent's decision not to use anesthetics on a few of those fakers."
The cardinal pondered for a moment in silence. "Could you tell me more about those people?" he then asked. "Your son doesn't want to talk about them and your wife knows next to nothing, only that you were involved with them for some time."
Eric crushed his cigarette in the ashtray and moved a piece on the board. "I'd rather forget about those people," he said. "I'd say my son and I were duped by what I'd refer to as 'spiritual greed.'"
"'Spiritual greed?'"
"Oh, appealing to one's awareness to the frailties of human existence by claiming a cure for them only to find out that such claims are bogus."
"Could you elaborate?"
Eric poured tea into his cup and leaned back on his chair. "Here comes this group one day, claiming that you can become successful if you join them and adhere to their teachings," he began. "You attend their free seminar and they teach you some meditations and and exercise that's really painful. They claim you'll become successful if you practice them for a total of two hours and thirty minutes a day. After some hesitation and subsequent assurance from friendly people, you join that group."
Peter took a cracker and spread butter on it. Eric leaned forward, picked up his cup and took a sip. He put it back on its saucer, leaned back on his chair and continued, "The moment you join, you're handed materials about stuff you learned about in Asian history back in high school."
"Such as?"
"History of India, the Aryan conquest, the creation of the caste system, the making of that system and all that comes with it religious law like reincarnation and karma."
Peter bit his cracker as Eric went on, "Only this time they elaborate on it more. They talk about mystical systems like Kabbalah and alchemy-"
"I've heard of Kabbalah," remarked Peter.
"Yes, Jewish Kabbalah, not Hermetic Kabbalah. But anyway, so they show this stuff and they suddenly introduce this Indian stuff and in comes ideas like the world is an illusion and the absolute necessity of devoting oneself to the guru as a prerequisite to liberation from the cycle of karma. They make you attend these so-called 'transmissions of energy' to make you advance on the path to enlightenment... And you know what?"
"What?"
"They say their lessons are free but charge you handsomely for their 'energy transmission sessions,' you can't receive their supposedly free lessons if you don't don't pay monthly dues, there are different subgroups with corresponding lessons and dues -might I add that they encourage you to join all of them- they teach you that enlightenment is the only true success and wealth isn't necessary-"
"Well, wealth isn't a goal in itself," interrupted Peter, finishing his cracker.
"Of course, it's not an end in itself," Eric went on. "But it does form part of the hierarchy of needs, if you remember Maslow."
Peter nodded. "Of course," he said. "I remember Maslow." He poured himself another cup of tea and made a move on the board as Eric continued his story.
"Then they have people they call monks, their so-called 'battery of the order.' These people supposedly don't receive salaries. For some strange reason, these so-called monks aren't like the monks we're familiar with."
"In what way?"
"Well, you know that the monks we met back in our seminary days were fairly normal people: benedictines, franciscans, carmelites, and even the buddhists and daoists we met on our exposures were normal people. They were not like these monks of this group, no, these monks were different. They were so full of themselves. They believed themselves to be god-men in the making and some of them lorded it over the others to the point that they made threats and maltreated some of the members. Are we supposed to donate to these people? I know that every religious order and the Church, for that matter, have grievance machineries but these people don't have them. What they have is their guru, whom they believe is a god, and the leaders of the subgroups who are supposedly enlightened. And that guru of theirs is a chain-smoking, beer-guzzling, old pervert."
"I see where you're heading," said Peter as he sipped his tea.
"And do you know the absolute worst thing is about this group?"
"What?"
"They've been able to fool a good many people into joining the group but from what I observed, the only successful people in that group were already successful before they joined it. And to think that the teachings they claim are ancient and authentic were actually downloaded, copy-pasted, edited and photocopied."
Peter chuckled slightly as he set his cup down. "And how did you find that out?"
"A former 'monk' spilled the beans."
"So in the end they turned out to be a bunch of frauds," Peter concluded. "Checkmate."
"Oh shit," sighed Eric, looking at the board. "Don't tell me you weren't listening."
"Oh, I was listening, Eric."
Eric lit another cigarette.
"So they raked in millions while posing as non-profit," Peter continued. "How much did you lose to them?"
"About seventeen thousand and five hundred pesos."
"Philippine or EOGC?"
"Philippine."
"But why fume over that amount? It's not really of any consequence, considering the money you make."
"That's true, but that doesn't give them the right to do what they did."
"And the rest is history," said Peter, taking another sip of his tea.
"The guru dies, his immediate subordinates quarrel over the money, the scandal's made public and in the end, they do something really crazy."
"Two things really crazy," Peter corrected him.
"Two things really crazy." Eric repeated. He blew a puff of smoke.
Eric poured tea into his cup and leaned back on his chair. "Here comes this group one day, claiming that you can become successful if you join them and adhere to their teachings," he began. "You attend their free seminar and they teach you some meditations and and exercise that's really painful. They claim you'll become successful if you practice them for a total of two hours and thirty minutes a day. After some hesitation and subsequent assurance from friendly people, you join that group."
Peter took a cracker and spread butter on it. Eric leaned forward, picked up his cup and took a sip. He put it back on its saucer, leaned back on his chair and continued, "The moment you join, you're handed materials about stuff you learned about in Asian history back in high school."
"Such as?"
"History of India, the Aryan conquest, the creation of the caste system, the making of that system and all that comes with it religious law like reincarnation and karma."
Peter bit his cracker as Eric went on, "Only this time they elaborate on it more. They talk about mystical systems like Kabbalah and alchemy-"
"I've heard of Kabbalah," remarked Peter.
"Yes, Jewish Kabbalah, not Hermetic Kabbalah. But anyway, so they show this stuff and they suddenly introduce this Indian stuff and in comes ideas like the world is an illusion and the absolute necessity of devoting oneself to the guru as a prerequisite to liberation from the cycle of karma. They make you attend these so-called 'transmissions of energy' to make you advance on the path to enlightenment... And you know what?"
"What?"
"They say their lessons are free but charge you handsomely for their 'energy transmission sessions,' you can't receive their supposedly free lessons if you don't don't pay monthly dues, there are different subgroups with corresponding lessons and dues -might I add that they encourage you to join all of them- they teach you that enlightenment is the only true success and wealth isn't necessary-"
"Well, wealth isn't a goal in itself," interrupted Peter, finishing his cracker.
"Of course, it's not an end in itself," Eric went on. "But it does form part of the hierarchy of needs, if you remember Maslow."
Peter nodded. "Of course," he said. "I remember Maslow." He poured himself another cup of tea and made a move on the board as Eric continued his story.
"Then they have people they call monks, their so-called 'battery of the order.' These people supposedly don't receive salaries. For some strange reason, these so-called monks aren't like the monks we're familiar with."
"In what way?"
"Well, you know that the monks we met back in our seminary days were fairly normal people: benedictines, franciscans, carmelites, and even the buddhists and daoists we met on our exposures were normal people. They were not like these monks of this group, no, these monks were different. They were so full of themselves. They believed themselves to be god-men in the making and some of them lorded it over the others to the point that they made threats and maltreated some of the members. Are we supposed to donate to these people? I know that every religious order and the Church, for that matter, have grievance machineries but these people don't have them. What they have is their guru, whom they believe is a god, and the leaders of the subgroups who are supposedly enlightened. And that guru of theirs is a chain-smoking, beer-guzzling, old pervert."
"I see where you're heading," said Peter as he sipped his tea.
"And do you know the absolute worst thing is about this group?"
"What?"
"They've been able to fool a good many people into joining the group but from what I observed, the only successful people in that group were already successful before they joined it. And to think that the teachings they claim are ancient and authentic were actually downloaded, copy-pasted, edited and photocopied."
Peter chuckled slightly as he set his cup down. "And how did you find that out?"
"A former 'monk' spilled the beans."
"So in the end they turned out to be a bunch of frauds," Peter concluded. "Checkmate."
"Oh shit," sighed Eric, looking at the board. "Don't tell me you weren't listening."
"Oh, I was listening, Eric."
Eric lit another cigarette.
"So they raked in millions while posing as non-profit," Peter continued. "How much did you lose to them?"
"About seventeen thousand and five hundred pesos."
"Philippine or EOGC?"
"Philippine."
"But why fume over that amount? It's not really of any consequence, considering the money you make."
"That's true, but that doesn't give them the right to do what they did."
"And the rest is history," said Peter, taking another sip of his tea.
"The guru dies, his immediate subordinates quarrel over the money, the scandal's made public and in the end, they do something really crazy."
"Two things really crazy," Peter corrected him.
"Two things really crazy." Eric repeated. He blew a puff of smoke.
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