Father's words surprised Lird, and for a moment the whole person was stunned and did not know what to say, and Pym did not seem to be in a hurry, just quietly waiting for Lird's answer, and it took a long time for Lird to react, and said with surprise: "Father, you must know that since I was five years old, I have not believed in my grandmother's Bible stories at all, and I have never expected Santa Claus to climb in through the chimney at Christmas. ”

Pym smiled faintly and said, "This shows that you are very precocious, but it does not prove the faith in your heart." ”

Liald frowned inexplicably, thought for a moment and then smiled bitterly, "Isn't there a relationship between the two?"

"Of course not. Pym affirmed.

Lird shrugged his shoulders indifferently and said, "Okay, then I'll re-examine my heart now, and the answer is still no! I'm a very staunch atheist, and I don't believe in any gods in this world." ”

Pym nodded, and then said to Lird, "Then let me put it another way to ask you, what God should be like in your understanding." ”

Lird frowned and said: "It is a very abstract thing, in the eyes of the world or believers, it is usually a certain sage person, who was contributed to the temple after his death, and a certain idea he put forward was recognized and inherited by the majority of people, and as the leader of this statement, it has been constantly deified in the long-term accumulation of this culture, and its inferior nature as a human being has been constantly weakened and even to the point of disappearing, while the shining point has been infinitely magnified and has no boundary, in short, it is almost the same." ”

"Your understanding of God seems to be more religious, but don't you forget that the concept of God was introduced much earlier than the time you know about God, and how did the ancients come up with it at that time?"

Lird shrugged his shoulders noncommittally and said, "Fear! ”

"At that time, although human beings had emerged from the evolution of species, their wisdom was still uncivilized, and to put it bluntly, they only had the skills to deal with other wild beasts, and did not have the knowledge of the whole nature and even the universe, so they could not make reasonable explanations for many things, including many natural phenomena, so they imagined in their minds the omnipotent existence of God. ”

After a pause, Lird concludes: "It is no accident that the superstitious idea of God has existed so long in human history, and all of it has contributed to its creation, from the physiology and psychology of man, to the coincidence of time and so on a larger scale." Later, after human beings entered the feudal society, those in power found that they could use the so-called divine decree to manipulate the foolish people's minds to consolidate their political status and power, so they continued to exaggerate and expand their divine power, and finally God began to create his own unique religious culture, and made it completely integrated into human history and civilization, making it inseparable and separating. All in all, God is born from the fear and conjecture of human beings, and gradually began to consolidate it on the psychological level of human beings in the subsequent development, and finally developed to a certain heyday, and in modern times, this kind of questioning began to fall and fall in a precipitous trend, human beings gradually grasped the power of science and continued to explore and develop, and the speed is amazing, I believe that although the power of science cannot defeat the power of God for a while, but one day science will completely replace it, and that time is the time when human beings are completely enlightened and see through everything。 ”

In the face of Lird's tirade, Pym just smiled and looked at Lird quietly, as if proud of what he had said, and after Lird said this, Pym smiled and said, "But have you ever wondered if one day science completely replaces religion, then it will also become a new 'religion' in another sense?"

When Lird was about to say something, Pym shook his head and said, "I am also an atheist, but I believe in the power of science, it sent me from Poland to the Americas, and it sent me here from the Americas, but this does not mean that I have no reason to believe in science at all, so as to abandon the idea of 'God' that exists." ”

Lird paused and suddenly said: "Father, you are not brainwashed by the people of this tribe from time to time, before coming here, Jim mentioned to me that the gods they believe in are not the same as the rest of the world, they believe in their god sacrifices, although their beliefs are more concrete, you can see and touch, but in my opinion, they are more unreliable than those gods that only exist in the ethereal." ”

Pym was slightly stunned, and then said, "Jim told you all these things?" Lird said: "It's a pity that he didn't talk much, according to his explanation, he has a lot of restrictions in the dark, and it is inconvenient to reveal too much." Pym chuckled to show that he understood.

Then Pym said, "It seems that Jim also trusts you very much, so it can be seen that you have gotten along very well during this time." Lird smiled and nodded, but what was more confusing for the moment was his father's attitude.

Pym thought for a moment and said: "Actually, many of the things you just said are correct, theology is indeed very complex and mysterious on the one hand, one is its cultural characteristics, on the other hand, there are also human factors, many people hope to shroud it with a veil of mystery, but these are just the paintings of later generations, under their intentional changes, the essence of theology has changed a lot. With that, Pimnu pouted and said, "Have you ever thought about the difference between modern theology and sake?"

"The difference?" Lird wondered, and after thinking about it, he shook his head slowly, and Pym smiled lightly, he didn't embarrass his son too much, and then said: "The gods that modern people revere are more of a certain thought, just like those mythological figures of religion, whose ideas and teachings are recognized by people, so that they become believers in this 'god', so it is said that the spread of religion is not the body, but the mind. Compared to modern people, people in ancient times are much simpler, as you said, the birth of God is a lot of imagination out of fear, but in fact it is more of a conquest of power!"

"Conquest on the level of power," Lird muttered as he repeated his father's words.

Pym nodded and said, "Let me give you a more straightforward summary, the god worshiped by modern people is [mind], while the god worshiped by ancient people is [power]. ”

...

The fire in the lamp stove is still burning, and the flame and the tranquil aroma are permeating and wafting from it, and this rare incense fuel does not know what kind of construction process it has undergone, and I don't know how long its raw materials have been honed in this world, and at this moment it has been reduced to the most primitive ashes in its own ignition point, and no one cares about their demise, just as this "busy" world does not care about this conversation in the tent.

After listening to his father's comparison of the "modern gods" with the "ancient gods", Lird was in a state of confusion not because he could not understand what Pym was expounding, but because he did not understand the purpose of Pym's exposition.

The reason why my father has fallen to this point today is entirely to help this mysterious people in which he lives at this moment, according to Jim, his father is completely in a benevolent humanitarianism, and at this moment his father is more like he has discovered some kind of secret.

And for this secret, he is willing to give everything he has.

Including life.

As if seeing the doubts in Lird's heart, Pym smiled: "You are not wrong, what I have told you more is not fiction, here I found 'God', and the most 'ancient God'." ”

Lird frowned and said, "According to what you just said, what you have discovered should be some kind of... [power]. ”

Pym smiled, "It seems that you do understand what I just said, of course it is okay to say so, the term 'god' is just a little more emotional." ”

"But I don't understand what power you're referring to?" said Lird. I don't despise this place, but I really can't think of any power in the hands of a group of nomads who don't have their own excesses in the middle of nowhere. A book of sages, or a treasure map?"

Pym shook his head decisively and said, "Of course not, you think those lodgings can appeal to me so much?" Don't question my words, son, what I say is the most superficial meaning, without any referent. ”

This time Lird was really completely speechless, and at this time he even began to wonder if Pym's mind was in a state of mind, whether it was due to his lack of cultivation, or the side effects of the treatment drugs that caused his mind to be delirious.

To this Pym said: "I have been an atheist since I was a child, like you, which of course was relatively rare in my time, especially in that shabby little town in Poland, where I could be said to be like Asmodeus in heaven." ”

"When I became an adult, I met and fell in love with your mother, and I fell in love with you, and until your mother died of illness, and I sailed across the ocean to America, I never changed my mind, and I believe that until this day when I am so bad, I have never done it to any god, because I believe that it is happier to pray for them than for me to read two pages. ”

"But... This has changed in recent times, and I have come to believe that there is a 'God' in this world, not some kind of thought or someone, but simply a power. ”

Lird was mad by his father's monologue narration, and had no interest in these witty contents, and only wanted to know what his father had experienced and seen.

Pym exhaled a deep breath of air, adjusting his thoughts and language as if he were regulating his breathing, and soon after, he said to Lird, "Do you know the name of the tribe in which we are now?"

Lird shook his head and said, "I've asked Jim many times, but he just won't tell me, he keeps saying that you'll answer these questions for me." ”

Pym nodded, then said, "You may have heard of the name of this family, it is Atlantis. ”

"Atlantis?!" Lird said in surprise, and after a while he blinked, "You mean Atlantis?"

Pym nodded affirmatively, but Lird was still incredulous, and he confirmed to Pym again, "Is the Atlantis you talking about the place where it appears in newspaper science fiction?"

Pym chuckled, "I haven't read an American newspaper in a few years, but I think it's the same kind of place, but it doesn't match anything other than the name." ”

But even this Lird could not accept it, and his mind raced back to what he had read in the newspaper when he was bored, and he was constantly sifting through and distinguishing himself.

"If I'm not mistaken, the so-called Atlantis is a legend in ancient Greece, a prehistoric civilization with a highly technological civilization, and its culture can be said to be completely earlier than and beyond all civilizations known to mankind..."

Pym nodded his head as he listened to Lird's explanation, as if an old man had been looking back at what had happened.

After saying a few words, Lird found himself struggling to retell what he had seen, and finally gave up: "... But these are in the past, or rather... Vanished, and in the record they were completely destroyed in a catastrophe 10,000 years ago. ”

Pym nodded: "It seems that the content of the tabloid is quite truthful, at least some basic things are still relatively accurate." ”

Lird looked at his father and said, "You mean Jim... And the people outside the tent were all people who had survived the catastrophe of 10,000 years before history. ”

Pym shook his head and said, "How is it possible? How can there be anyone in this world who can live for 10,000 years? They are all descendants of the people who survived that devastating catastrophe, and have maintained a relatively low-key lifestyle for thousands of years, and according to their own words, they are the remnants of Atlantis." ”

Unable to accept Pym's explanation, Lird protested: "Sorry, wait a minute, wait a minute... That said, it's rude, both for you and Jim, but... But I still want to say that this statement is too much... It's incredible. ”

Pym laughed, "You're using this word very vaguely, but you're more like talking nonsense, right?"

Lird was stunned, then nodded.

Pym laughed, "It's okay kid, it's actually very normal for you to have this kind of thought, because when I first learned about it, it also felt ridiculous and unacceptable, but the truth is often more cruel than imagined, because he will crush everything you ever knew and thought with the most powerful fist." ”