Invisible Neighborhoods: Prax and Dox, Dox and Prax
September 1, 2009
Rabbit came down from the moon and entered a neighborhood whose inhabitants could never decide upon its name: Dox or Prax.
You see, at first Rabbit was impressed. Some inhabitants were busy fasting and praying, observing rituals with great srcupuosity. Others studied sacred texts and learned them by heart. They followed each piece of advice from mystics and prophets.
Then Rabbit saw something disturbing. Those who called their neighborhood Dox were always trying to get everyone else to believe just as they did. Each Dox individual believed only she understood just what the mystics, the prophets, the sacred texts meant on how to live a life of faith and honor to the Gods.
Meanwhile, all of the denizens who called their neighborhood Prax ran around yelling, “No! No! No! You’re doing it all wrong!” They would then try to get everyone else to say the prayers, sing the songs and perform the rituals exactly the same way. Each Prax individual believed on he understood how to honor the Gods and live a life of faith by performing the rites a certain way.
Dox or Prax, Prax or Dox, there was always a lot of argument going on.
When they saw, Rabbit, they accosted him: “Ho, stranger! Do you best honor the Gods by what you believe or what you do?”
Rabbit was silent, thinking very hard. Finally, he spoke. “It is good to follow protocol and observe the rites in a traditional manner. It is also good to hold the Gods dear to your hearts and seek to imitate Them. At worst, it is prideful and wicked to put your conception of yourselves and the universe above all else and each proclaim that you and only you know the path to Divinity. At best, aren’t you all overdoing things a bit? I mean, really…”
At this point the citizens of Dox and of Prax threw rocks at Rabbit and called him a heretic.
Hopping away, Rabbit returned to the Moon. He spoke with the Queen of Heaven about what he had seen. She praised his wisdom and told him, “Life would be too easy if we spelled out everything for mankind. How would they ever grown and join us?”
Sighing, the Queen of Heaven pulled out her to-do list and scratched off the entry that read: Answer the prayers of Prax and of Dox.
