Occult Observations: Grokking Harshaw's "Hanky Panky"

"Front!", he hollers, and very quickly, one of his three live in assistants runs to his side to grant his every wish. While Jubal E. Harshaw, attorney, medical doctor and neo-pessimistic philosopher, was no believer in divine beings let alone genies, it was no hindrance on his self- righteous claim to a Hugh Heffner-esque lifestyle of "hanky panky". A crucial character in Robert A. Heinlein's A Stranger in a Strange Land, Harshaw not only supervised the care and experimentation of The Man From Mars, but represented the demographic of educated, very well paid, prominent and renown men. The class of men who are well read and connected that have opted to value and explore the physical rather than the spiritual. Because He decided that God doesn't exist or care, he can watch a human being raised and metaphysically educated on the planet Mars send the animate and inanimate alike into a death sentence of oblivion, levitate these objects, even curl his body while simultaneously bringing all of his bodily functions to all but a complete stop just to be able to dedicate all of his energy to meditation, and still question whether or not God exists.

I wasn't surprised at Harshaw's agnosticism, though. I once dated an US Airman of the same neo-pessimistic philosophy. Only, these men reason on their life's sorrows in the most self-exonerating fashion and build their rhyme and reason of the world around the concept that they can do and therefore have done no wrong. This leads to the arrogant nature that causes them to look down on everyone. If the individual is simple, meaning easy to please or entertain, then he is stupid and can not possibly know all that He has reasoned on and can not lead the life of the strong. For example, his temporary fourth addition to his all American harem, Jill Boardman, was a nurse in a Federation Hospital, the only one who could dedicate her time to the social rearing of The Martian and did so flawlessly in her birthright as Woman, yet suffered Jubal's indignant nature at the thought of a woman doing so for a man as if he had the mental patience to do it better. He scorned her for implementing the ritual of washing and dressing after a swim and accused her of some terroristic pursuit of transforming The Martian into "a copy of every fourth rate conformist with a briefcase". Later the agnostic calls Boardman and all her gender a gift of "God's graciousness" to men of course, yet demeans her for her "Bible Belt morality". The neo-pessimist philosopher must have missed the discovery of Lucy, supporting the concept that before The Father, was The Mother.

Agnosticism is the questioning of the existence of God. When attempting to explain religion and who or what the concept of God is to The Man from Mars, Jubal grasped for straws in his explanation. Not because Mike would not grok if he gave a revealing dissertation, but because Harshaw himself could not define the word. After groping for what he felt would be an appropriate response he essentially left it to criminal church leaders to explain and expose the meaning of "God". Jubal went on to epitomize the theory that arrogance denotes ignorance when he philosophized, silently, that "sperm whales" and "sequoias"  were greater than humans as philosophers and poets and goes on to say that "Man is the animal who laughs". Well, dolphins, dogs and monkeys all laugh Doctor Harshaw, and unless your on a hallucinogen, I am more than certain that you don't speak whale and trees are silent. Man is, in fact, the animal capable of developing philosophy and poetry. I beg The Man from Mars, who was not allowed to socially separate himself from mankind by referencing Martians as "his people", to repose the question to the well read political socialite, "What is Man?".

Jubal did redeem himself though, in all my omniscient wisdom as Witch, when he advocated Mike's sexual exploration. Jill sought to protect his innocence, even down to withholding naked pictures sent in his fan male. Jubal wisely said that eventually Mike would meet the woman in the picture (if she wanted him bad enough) or one of her spiritual sisters. Very true, it is unhealthy and even sinful for adults of either gender to be restricted from sexual relations. It is what is needed for the proper psychological transition into adulthood and to remain there. Both are incapable of leading a relationship or pursuing secular heights without the innate confidence bestowed upon you when being honored and gifted with someone else's naked body against your own. You have proven to yourself and It that you are capable of It's equation that one plus two equals three. It is required for survival. You can be here. Take Mike for example, he made love to all the women in the house and later told Jubal that he was no longer in need of his care and was leaving immediately, and taking Jill with him, completely disregarding that Jill was essentially engaged to another man. She became is consistent mate on the path of immorality.

Though he would not and therefore did not argue with The Martian, who now knew what it meant to be a Man, I am sure Harshaw did not appreciate the disruption to his Kingdom. He had previously treated Mike the way he did women. They were all capable and necessary but could not be treated but could not be treated as such. And they were too sweet and innocent to notice. For instance, he did not take the time that a client's attorney should to explain money to Mike and what would be done with his hundreds of millions that hine inherited. It became Harshaw's money the way he passed it out at an alarming rate without Mike consultation. He belittled Mahmoud for being Muslim when he approached his household the same way. His character, though staunch opposed to traditional organized religion, still possessed the socio-religious nature of the men of his class. Socialite men, usually Caucasian, function much like Muslim men, both Black and Arabic. They prefer the respect and praise given for meeting all of the superficial requirements flawlessly while fearing the depths of the spiritual or metaphysical opportunities availed to you. They have their rituals and talismans, statues and cultural lingo for that strong pat on the back from their fellow man. While they all work hard to "stay on their dean" (I probably spelled that incorrectly) or to remain "in the state of Islam", Mike has proven that you can have the powerful capabilities of God on Earth while still striking the deadly blow in the bedroom and having the money to do anything your heart desires. You don't lose anything by prioritizing your spirituality.

I must admit though, I am a little disappointed my water brother lost his virginity. I wanted to take it from him properly. I wanted him to grok the fullness. We art God, Michael. Agape.