"Modern" was Meant to Be

Oskar Herrfurth

There once was a Master of Language named Nefarious. He was quite the philosopher in 12 AD: a Gnome that could command a vocabulary spanning five continents. He could talk also with the deceased in spirit-speak; even echo the voices of heaven and more, much more than this, spin an idea as though it was the finest golden or silver thread, which would wind its way around the world, until it had worked its yarn into every thought the men in that time were given to.

Nefarious was an originator of contemporary works; he knew how to break paradigms skilfully with the appeal of a better broader thought, he could take a principle and bend it like no other, and when the sun shone, it illumined yet further his fantastical new array of principles and dictums.

Nefarious was the all-time king of comedy for he understood the benefits of jocular enlightenment; when a man was struck by a surprise, he could split the conflicting feelings of awe and former knowledge with a sense of humour, a para-sense of humour, that could take someone beyond their ordinary grasp, and teach them to think differently - unlike the philosophy of religion that is so determined to beat the soul into its position.

He was rarely wrong, but on those occasions where he misjudged the acumen, it was nothing short of a disaster for Humanity - for example: on one occasion Nefarious was reworking a concept of ‘modern’ - however it did not appear as he had intended originally … In point of fact Nefarious had lost the thread of his own thought momentarily, when interrupted by a junior dwarf who had brought his beverage ten minutes too early … and this interruption was to cost civilisation for centuries its own undoing - for you see, an element was left out of the concept that made it complete.

The word modern, the paradigm as it were, was never intended to be a replacement for that which was formerly held in high advantage and honoured with timely worth.

Modern was meant to be: ‘that which is engineered in evolvement’ - not ‘contrary to’ - a fine distinction and separation - and yet when we look today you will find everywhere that modernity on its own implies ‘better’, merely by its point of difference in historical sequence.

This was just one of many things the Master got wrong, amongst the many he had tooled right. 

-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series