and the spirits begged Jesus, “Send us into the pigs so that we can take possession of them.”
every demon seeks eternality
any life extension is worth pursuing
there is no quit or death chi here
only unregulated persistenceopen-eyed assessment reveals moments
each unfated conversionable
strung together as a tale
wagging its tellera next planned move is unavoidable
filled with ironic consequences
undifferentiated on the surface
from any wild-haired schemenot even a retreat into serendipity
avoids terrible no-good days
in the end there is no escape
not even well-practiced detachmentbest plans are agleed
worst qualities rise
a cure but delays decay
we are but who we are
In verse 10 there is a pleading for compassion for that which would allow the continued presence of Legion in the area. This would mean that the Nothing or Emptiness of Life would continue to be present and grow there. The Empire can continue.
As it becomes evident the appeal for a special dispensation is not going to be honored and Legion is going to have to move beyond their current host, there comes the existential question, “What now?”
When pigs on a hillside are spotted, it only takes a moment to see a potential staging area from which to search for a new host—let’s go there.
An appealing plea shifts into high gear and we move to the next level of unabashed begging. To avoid banishment, Legion will settle for worse conditions rather than no conditions. In the same way we put up with disastrous weather as being better than no weather at all.
In the present and in every time, we do well to see what options are available to us. Too often we settle for a demotion as the better option to being fired without asking structural questions of what brought about a loss of jobs and income for laborers. Here a choice needs to be made between receiving less-and-less and separating into multiple minorities fighting one another or joining, across differences, in common cause. Have today’s intentionally disadvantaged simply settled for a shrinking sty? If so, it is likely that an exorcism of or revolution against the current Legion/Empire will, sooner or later, arise.