What if all the world's religions, mythologies, and philosophies derived from a single herd of goats?...
...Well, that's exactly what happened.
Imagine if you would, a time long, long ago, a time when goats freely roamed the earth.  In this time there existed a herd of super intelligent goats known across the land for their philosophical belief systems.  Every evening they would gather at the Algonquin stone to partake in witty discussions about the nature of things, the realm of reality, the meaning of existence, and so on.  These sessions more often than not concluded with the conjuring of the drunken deities Hodge & Podge, the creators of the universe.  Unfortunately for the goats, Hodge & Podge were seldom sober and their hallucinatory speeches often sounded more like drunken talk than insightful wisdom.  Unbeknownst to the goats, that was precisely Hodge & Podge's point.
One evening, in a moment of confusion, Jesus called forth upon Hodge & Podge.
Now listen,
Hodge & Podge appeared before Jesus in all their yellow-eyed-whiskey-stenched-splendor. Giggling and gurgling, babbling and burping, the majestic brother began their dialogue.  Here's what they said:
Hodge:  That, which is above,
Podge:  is like that, which is below,
Hodge:  and that, which is below,
Podge:  is like that, which is above.
Hodge:  Everything is nothing,
Podge:  and nothing is everything.
Jesus, taken aback, proclaims, "But is not my role, my goal, my soul on earth to teach just the opposite?"
Hodge & Podge began laughing hysterically - Jesus bows his head in shame.
Hodge & Podge simultaneously scream, "Exactly!"
"If you're not with us, you're against us, which is basically the same thing."
Jesus lifts his gaze from the earth to the sky, "Then there is a larger meaning to life?"
Hodge & Podge have meanwhile poured themselves some whiskey and began shooting shots.  Hodge responds to Jesus, "Sure kid, whatever."
And then the baffled Jesus stood alone.
As time advances, an unusual and peculiar organism begins to proliferate the earth.  This new life form is soon to be known as a human being.  Our goat protagonists were immediately taken with the strange creatures that walked on two legs.  They adopted them, as they're own and provided for them.  As the humans developed a strong intellect was recognized and nurtured by many of the goats.  Lao Tzu taught them the way of nature while Kali taught them the cycles of life and death.  Before too long humans were quite confident in the goats philosophical teachings.  They too would hold evening philosophical discussions, however unlike the goats, the humans would often become angered and begin fighting.  This fighting became so disruptive that eventually the goats were forced to banish the humans from their presene.  And as they departed Buddha called after them, "Go forth and spread confusion across the vast earth, exhaust the human mind in a constant pursuit of meaning."

And so it goes.
A Short Narrative by
Justin Gabriel McInteer
A part of the installation of the same name