The Cranky Old Gnome

Writing Exercise: Develop a religion where people worship something that no one would ever worship in our world. And it can’t be silly.

These people worship Rhythm and Vibration.  They believe that their deity manifests itself through vibration.  It’s not all sound that’s sacred–it’s specific rhythmic vibrations.  The longer, louder, and slower, the better.  They believe that the chaotic noises of nature (e.g. wind, thunder, quakes, etc) are their God fighting the Silence.  The Silence seeks to still everything, and stop all life.  These people believe that the human heartbeat was given to mankind as a reminder and connection to God.  They believe that the Silence seeks to quiet their rhythm by causing chaos in man’s soul. Sin causes the harmony of their own rhythm to fall out of sync with their God’s rhythm.

Adherents always carry with them a small drum that they can bang on to keep rhythm while they meditate.  Their holy sites are places where the natural vibration of the earth can heard without wind, thunder, or earthquakes.  Their churches are oval shaped, open roofed amphitheaters, that are acoustically perfect.  At their central headquarters they have constructed a massive gong that rings twice an hour.  It is loud enough to be heard miles and miles away, and the bell takes nearly half of an hour to stop reverberating.

Musicians are considered holy men.  Adding tone to the rhythm is the ‘creative’ way of praying.  Those that play an instrument that emits tones that can be controlled are venerated.  However, percussionists are more highly respected than any other because the simple rhythm is considered to be more powerful and more directly connected to God than anything else.

It is said that the greatest of this religions holy men was a percussionist who laid out a beat for over a year, without stopping.  The very rhythm itself was enough to sustain him.  He did not eat.  He did not speak.  He did not move, save it were to beat on his drum.  When he finally stopped, not out of exhaustion, but seemingly out of nirvana, he immediately died.

Physical vibration is not the only form of holy rhythm.  Natural cycles such as life and death, the rising and setting of the sun, the phases of the moon, or the changing of the seasons happen in a steady rhythm. These are dependable things. War, selfishness, hatred, etc are all things that disrupt the natural cycle and rhythm of things and pull people away from God.

Hell for these people is to be pulled apart by their own chaos that they cease to exist in any recognizable way. They are simply scattered sounds.

Their ultimate desire is to bring their own lives into such rhythmic harmony that they transform into beings of pure vibration and are caught up to be with their God forever.