Page 23 - Unlikely Stories 1

Madagascar Madness

by sophisticated Americans and Europeans while they flock,
fascinated, with open purses to the latest imported swami or guru
performing the same deceptions.”
“I guess so,” mumbled the soldier, beginning to squirm a bit.
“That sort of thing never interested me.”
“Because you are a secular American Jew: if you looked deeper into
your own traditions, you would find as crazy a streak of mysticism as
anywhere else. At any rate, I had advanced from simple physiological
mastery of bodily functions to a study of the wisdom behind them.
They taught disciplines of fasting and meditation leading to
refinements of consciousness far beyond anything dreamt of in our
philosophy, bound as it is to a strict distinction between physical and
metaphysical realms. For several years I traveled about the States,
debunking spiritualists—you see, I knew all their tricks—but
knowing my true calling was to pursue the self-knowledge and self-
extinction offered by the ancient and subtle teachings I had
discovered through my studies—I had a huge library, you know—it
became imperative for me to use the illusions to escape from my
identity and fame and seek the reality.”
Seidell nodded slowly. “So that would be the explanation for
disappearing into the middle of nowhere: but you don’t look very
good now, if I may say so.”
“Correct.” Weiss shrugged. “You should have seen me before the
war: I had attained yogic powers achieved by few people outside the
Indian Subcontinent. I grew a beard, bought good-quality identity
papers on the black market. I stayed away from Europeans until my
French was adequate, at least for a Romanian expatriate—my new
citizenship; I knew Romania had no consular representative here. I
dared not keep my American passport; it is long gone.”
The soldier fidgeted. “Sir, I do need to return to Diego Suarez
before dark.”
“Yes, of course. Forgive the ramblings of an old man, finally able
to unburden himself to a countryman. To summarize my time here
before the war broke out, I made slow but steady progress in my
practice, at last detaching from my ego and former life as a celebrated

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