PARADOXES IN THE WORKS OF STEPHEN GILL

Nikola Dimitrov

Immigrant, a novel by Stephen Gill, is about peace, equality, human rights, freedoms, and about the quest for relationship, intimacy, as well as about the craftiness of the world’s systems, the mundane life, and about the plague of ignorance. The novel is also about discrimination.

People are discriminated against everywhere and about anything with only slight variances. Any one who is a little different to the existing identity may become an object of discrimination. Stephen Gill gives an example in the Preface to his collection of poems Shrine:

In 1947, shortly before and after the partition of India, the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs got involved with killing each other. The Hindus and Sikhs were on one side and Muslims on the other. Humans were killed in the midst of a crowd because they happened to look different because of their dress or shaving pattern.¹

Billions of people in the world are discriminated against in various forms, including physical, verbal and mental abuse and even death. This is one of the most stupid paradoxes, because the Creator has made every being in His own image and likeness. Who authorizes some humans to consider themselves superior to others on the basis of color, intellect, place of birth, social, political and financial status? Life has become miserable because humans attempt to be equal to God.

War is also the outcome of discrimination and prejudice. Since the time of the creation of the world, there have been wars between brothers, families, cultures, ethnic groups and nations. Scholars can give several explanations and reasons for wars, but to look at from a pure humanistic point, war is a paradox that is born because of the pride and lust for money and power and also because of ignorance. Wars are fought even to obtain peace, independence, democracy and security. But wars have brought nothing, except destruction. Wars have been crippling people, affecting the spirit, soul, emotions, and educational, political and economic systems of every nation. Their effects continue for generations. This is what Stephen Gill tries to point out, particularly in his poem “About War”: “war/ sheer fraud/ war chokes the joy of life/ victor and loser suffer / it kills man’s hopes/ bringing destruction to all.”² In another poem “War Fever,”² he says:

War fever

poisons the air of surroundings

disturbs the calm of the sea

crumbles human relations

Kills the appetite of the soul

weakens the lover of love,

turning everything upside down³.

My own nation – Bulgaria-- has been in wars and bondages ever since its foundation. Bulgarians have come from the famous Kazaks in distant Asia, mixed with different tribes in Europe and produced mighty warriors of their time. Within its existence of 1326 years as a nation (681 – 2007), Bulgaria has been free for less than 200 years. When the final bondage of Communism fell in 1989, the country became so much devastated that it would take now generations to recuperate. Most people have no idea about a computer, internet, to say the least about business opportunities, creative thinking, higher education, science, technology, health care, and so on. The whole generation that Moses led through the wilderness, had to die, because of their mentality. They could not reach the promised land. Wars bring bondages and slavish thinking-- serious obstacles on the path to enter the promised land of prosperity, joy and peace.

Bulgaria entered the European Union at the beginning of 2007. Now Bulgaria has a tremendous opportunity to be a great nation. However, there is not much progress in this direction. The difference between Eastern and Western Europe is vast, because of the mentality. It is almost impossible to keep the young people in within Bulgaria, because, to realize their potential, they want to go abroad and study and work in a more developed nation. This robs Bulgaria of the most valuable resource. There is absolutely nothing good in it and still people wage wars, forgetting peace that brings prosperity. War is definitely a paradox.

The Bible defines the Lord as the God of Peace in the book of Judges 6:24⁴ . This is the kind of peace that results from being a whole person in the right relationship with God and to one's fellow beings. In the New Testament, apostle Paul calls the Lord: “The God of peace.”

Even in the Hindu scriptures, God is peace (Om shanty, shanty, shanty, om). It is obvious that God desires His children to live in peace and enjoy the beauty of His creation. It appears that it shall be so in the coming age, as Stephen Gill says in his poem: “Prince of Peace”. It seems, he is referring to Millennium or the Age of Truth (Satyug) in the Hindu philosophy:

He shall awaken

the season of blossoming.

Prince is

the strength in the autumn

that is plagued by wasps.⁵

Stephen Gill expresses a hope. He describes this hope in his novel when he talks of a world government. Hope is there also in several poems. Prof. Dr. Frank Tierney finds that in the poetry of Stephen Gill,

prevailing tone is cynical of mankind's contemporary attitude, there is hope for those persons and nations who transcend selfishness, aggressiveness and opportunism. There is, in Mr. Gill's mature work, a public despair but private hope. Survival and growth of the person and the nation begins with inner enlightenment, inner awareness of the principle of survival-- love…But there is in Tennyson's poem and Mr. Gill's volume a hierarchy of values. The first and most important is, as John Henry Newman insisted, "growth with in." This growth requires spiritual priority. This principle leads man to personal, national and international harmony through an understanding that comes from love.⁶

Mr. Pritam Singh also finds this kind of optimistic note in the poetry of Stephen Gill:

Stephen Gill is more concerned with the sunny side rather than seamy side of life. He takes optimistic view of life. He fixes his gaze at far distant horizon where there is always a rainbow for him. He always strives and longs for a rosy future. “Dreams For Sale” is one of the most representative poems in this mood.⁷

Political, religious and business leaders have perverted the true meaning of pure religion and have turned it into a weapon of mass destruction on the basis of prejudices and lust for money, power, fame, and glory. In order to achieve these symbols of success, humans have turned themselves into beasts – predators, eating alive their victims and leaving behind only death. It seems that Darwin was right because human are turning into monkeys.

A favorite sub-paradox is the movie industry. This sub-paradox represents actors of prominence, who stand against wars and dirty politics. Yet, the same actors play in the movies that are filled with wars, violence, and perversions. The people who stand against wars and violence may not comprehend the fact that most wars in families, neighborhoods, as well as the greatest percentage of acts of violence are largely due to the fact that there is no control on the film industry.

A devastating product of war is famine. That is what Stephen Gill says,”I rather believe/ famine is man-made/ and sunshine a child of peace.”⁸ This is still another paradox. According to one estimate 10% of the population of the world control 90% of the world’s finances. This is not fair.

Everything, when not taken care of, degrades and dies, whether it is a non-living object or a living object. Humans do not take care of their bodies, habits, behavior, and the place where they live and still they want to be healthy and live forever. They spend billions of dollars to recover what humans previously destroyed. This is another paradox!

In the world, there is so much pain, including the pain from rejection, loneliness, pain from not being able to provide for the family, losing a loved one, being powerless against the systems of this world, and the pains due to fear and torments. People would give everything so they can have peace and be acknowledged by others.. If somebody wants to be acknowledged, they would lose their inward peace to achieve it. They do not treasure their peace because of their strife to become famous and be widely acknowledged. Those who do not have peace hanker after fame and acknowledgement to have peace, not knowing that they are after a mirage. These desires for peace and acknowledgement also form a paradox.

The following words from Immigrant, a novel by Stephen Gill, amplify this way of thinking:

People in the west seek peace in yoga, meditation and eastern values, whereas easterners envy the westerners, for their hard work and material comforts and in their scientific progress. From time immemorial man has sought peace in various objects and places always ending in despair. A child, the father of man, is an ideal example. He is never satisfied with one toy for long. He keeps changing his pursuits or games. As a grown-up man, he plays with other forms of toys, such as politics, health, money, education, marriage, sex, children; but nothing brings him a lasting happiness. Man seems to be destined for this end. Tolstoy had everything to be proud of. He was awarded the highest degrees and honors that a nation can bestow on its worthy child. He had wealth, good health, his children were obedient and good, yet the poor man continuously sought for peace of mind. He often thought of killing himself⁹.

Stephen Gill explains the same philosophy though in a different way in his poem “Harmony and Peace,” where he says I searched for you/ within the walls of temples/ mosques and shrines/ in poor man’s places/ the mansions of graces….” The poem ends with the following lines:

For which of those sins

offenses and crimes

have we lost the time to breathe?

No hope, no spark

to own your tranquil eyes.¹⁰

The message in Stephen Gill’s writing is that humans have become proud, selfish, self-consuming and are not concerned about others. This is a way to lose peace and harmony. Humans have to be humble and caring in the image of the Lord who has created everyone to prosper in peace. This is what Rig Veda, a Hindu scripture, means when it advises citizens of the world to live in harmony and speak with one voice.¹¹

WORKS CITED

¹Shrine (poems) by Stephen Gill. The World University Press, April 1999, page 8

²Songs Before Shrine by Stephen Gill. Authors Press, India, 2007, page 54

³Shrine (poems) by Stephen Gill. The World University Press, April 1999, page 49

⁴The Bible (Old Testament), Judges, 6:24.

⁵ Songs Before Shrine by Stephen Gill. Authors Press, 2007, page 109

⁶Glimpses by Hamadan Darwesh. Vesta Publications Ltd., Canada, Fall 2005, page 151

⁷Glimpses . --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. Page 46

⁸Shrine (poems) by Stephen Gill. The World University Press, April 1999, page 157

⁹ Immigrant, a novel, by Stephen Gill. Vesta Publications Ltd., 1989, page 106

¹⁰ Songs Before Shrine by Stephen Gill. Authors Press, 2007, page 14

¹¹Rig Veda, 10: 191: 2-3

Nikola Dimitrov is an ordained minister of Living Faith Ministry International in Bulgaria. He has authored three books

nikolahelen@gmail.com