Prophet or Not

Prophetic inspiration: Isaiah's Lips Anointed with Fire

Some say to be a prophet you must have the link between humanity and the divinity.  Prophets like Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha had this link but they also had charisma and a following of people. Having visions and experiences like a prophet Elizabeth from A question of power by Bessie head is not charismatic and she does not have a following, well at least not yet. A prophet is someone who serves as an intermediary with humanity, someone who is in touch with divinity, a bridge between the different worlds.  Elizabeth is one of those bridges.

Bessie head is working with her problems through Elizabeth. She is a middle aged woman from South Africa, a teacher, a drunk, and mentally unstable. She has lost the ability to distinguish what is reality and what is a dream. One of these reality dreams “no one had come to terms with her own powers…none of man kinds and god like figure head recorded seeing what she saw on this nightmare soul journey” (35).  She is working though her memory drawing a distinction between herself and other prophets.  She is being exposed through raw evil.  Sello is white robe prophet like figure is dragging her through “a depth of evil you cannot name” (35). Painful and exhausting Medusa was the most vicious part of her journey.

One this journey Elizabeth’s comes to a revelation about what defines god, “god is the totality of all the great souls their achievements” (54).  The sum of all the good deeds of generosity shows god.  The simpler version of that do good and god will show.  She comes to this conclusion after being asleep for fifteen hours in a mental hospital. She was in altered state of consciousness and came across a divine aphorism. Could this mean that god was talking to her?  This is the begging of what to come like Dante’s journey through hell. 

Medusa's Head

Elizabeth believes that the battle between good and evil is being fought in her mind and body in the phrase “be ordinary” is the repression the African people are in because any step towards greatness results in huge amounts of suffering (39). Being “ordinary” can stripe away all the crust and get to the human essence.  People try to control one another Elizabeth needs to bare the brunt as she is dragged through hell.  Medusa is throwing everything she has at Elizabeth in nightly torments of pain and suffering it is like being “sick to the point of death” (65).  Medusa is holding nothing back to break Elizabeth down, to rip out any peace she had insider of her to see what Elizabeth is made of.  All this pain and suffering was to test Elizabeth’s soul to know what she can take.  What her place is in this world and the next. After suffering there is growth and understanding and that is the part of the goodness.  

To be a prophet like Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha one must see and experience pure evil, have revelations of divine goodness and make it through the tests that challenge one’s soul.  Elizabeth is more than on her way to becoming a prophet with having visions, being tested, and her personal soul searching purpose to help and teach others.