Materialism

           They got a patent on it at moved it to Israel and they're working on setting up the metal detectors. Of course they are. Hell, they might even put it at the Wailing Wall. Great idea, right? Look, it is a great invention, a telephone to communicate with the dead, but any time someone invents something, something bad is done with it by evil bastards. Look at how much evil has been done through electricity, the nuclear bomb. You don't care though, because you think you'll market it and be rich: Speak to your loved ones from the dead for only $1,000,000 a minute, right? Forget that mediums have been able to do this for millenia, because now you have a fucking phone. But what if the Christ Believers say it's the work of Satan and try to blow you and your fucking machines up? Oh, that's what the metal detectors are for. I'm telling you, it's a great invention, but don't sell it. Yes, I know you paid for a patent. I know this will help grieving people, but what about the evil bastards who want to contact Hitler or Hussein? 

           What if someone contacts a psycho bomb maker and tells them they're God? You'll have them sign a disclaimer? You will? It's not about your ass getting sued, it's about the future of this fucking world. What if one the Spirits are tricksters? You don't care. You just want to be a billionaire. Idiot. 

           Look, what happens if the people your selling to aren't satisfied. Will you give them their money back? That's what the disclaimer's for? What if they sue you? That's why there's a fucking disclaimer. What if they dial the wrong number and get the wrong dead motherfucker? The phone doesn't work that way? How the fucking hell does it work then?  That's what the goddamn patent is for. Well, look, there's nothing I can do to stop you, I'd just rest on it and think about it. You don't wanna. So, the informercials start, the commercials, the advertisments on the highways, radio commercials, special offers, and all that other bullshit. The usual business shibang. Opening day, first 100 peole get a special suveneir. Order now, get a BOGO. Tickets are selling fast and you don't want to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to talk to dead people. 

           Next thing you know they'll have a company credit card with rewards. No, it's not a good idea, I was being sarcastic. 

*

           So, he opened. Big neon letters at the front gate after the metal detectors: Medium Mania, flicking on and off. Idiot. What if someone on the other side prescribes something, gives a diagnosis, manipulates, or does counceling. What? You gonna get a medical license. Fuck the disclaimer. The disclaimer won't do you any good in court. 

           But, the people starting coming in of all races, religions, and economic statuses and they bought the time on the phone for whatever inflated price this moron charged them. He sold them pictures, suveneers, let them take videos with their phones, and people cried because they were happy they got to talk to their relatives. People who lost their spouses, their children, their parents, their dogs. Dogs can't talk, but they bark. And everything seemed to go well. My idiot friend got an accountant, a book keeper, operators for reservations, and it seemed to go well. There were no major law suits. The occasional slip and fall or robbery, but that's normal. So, he installed security cameras everywhere. It just seems to me this should be a holy thing, like something done in church in private or done through counceling, not a marketing strategy. But, I'm old and ethics is a thing of the past. People don't care about right and wrong, they care about materialism. Maybe you don't know this word. “Materialism is a tendeny to consider material possessions and physical comfort more important than spiritual values...” That's what Medium Mania is. It's materialism. 

           But people don't care about right and wrong anymore, since they're taught different shit in school nowadays. Shit like, look at the war from the other side's perspective. See, both sides feel they're in the right. Shit like that. Kids swear left and right and don't care if the teacher calls their parents since the parents care about money instead of the kids. Someday we'll thank them. And I look at this moron's face. He's going to be rich, invest in IRA's, probably get married, etc., for doing the wrong thing. 

           So, I challenge my buddy to use his own telephone to contact the other side to see what they think about what he's doing and he agrees.

           He puts the phone on speaker so we can both hear and we both ask whether what my friend is doing is ethically okay, but then something weird happens: One person from the other side says it's fine while another person says it's not fine. 

           See, not everyone on this side agrees. There are Republicans and Democrats here and there, there are people who like teddy bears and people who don't like teddy bears on both sides, so they're just people like you and me. If Aunt Berta was a drunk here, Aunt Berta is a drunk there. But, why ask them for advice then? Why even talk to them? Is it just because the family misses them. We ask this and apparently, time is different on the other side. The past, present, and future all exist as one. So, they can see what happens if we make one choice or if we make another. But, it doesn't make sense. If the past already happened, how do we have choice? They assure us there are multiple pasts and multiple futures, but we have free will. 

           Think of astrology. Astrology, we ask. Is astrology true? Yes, it is. But, it tells you what's likely to happen when the planets are sextile, square, or retrograde, but we have choices in how we feel about these things. And our feelings create our future. Wait, that doesn't make any sense. If the future's already happened, how could we shape it. There are multiple pasts and futures, depending on our present. 

           And then, confused, I realized my friend may have opened Pandora's Box. See, with all his advertising, there was no way he could close it down, but we both knew it was dangerous to keep it open. Materialism is death.  Spirit and God are life.